Sewing with MK

Busy weekend before Christmas, still last minute presents to buy, and lots of cooking ahead. We managed to get the sewing machine out and this afternoon MK is going to make some clothes for her doll that's sitting read and waiting.

This is our first floor landing, we kept Mr H's table (was in kitchen at the beginning)  It is a good space for sewing and other activities with a nice view of the garden.

Shang Palace, Paris

We left the office around 11.45 to travel the 7 km to the Shang Palace. It took over 45 minutes to get there, as the traffic was thick and made worst by the pouring rain.

Parking places are hard to find in this area so we used the hotel's valet service which turned out to be free if you are a diner. 

J & N (two of my colleagues) arrived before us, and were still taking in the opulent surroundings and enjoying an apéritif.

I had booked a private room and it was quite something.  The photo above is of the lighting above our table.

The photo is not good, but this is of our salon area in our room.  Only J & N got to sit here as they arrived earlier than us.

Our director asked if we minded if he ordered all of the food and of course we weren't going to say no.  From this point onwards, I only took a couple of photos as we were all too busy eating and talking, but especially  eating.  One of the dishes we shared was a Vegetarian Pagoda (above), this was very refreshing and delicate.
We all had soup, I chose Bouddha Jumping Over the Wall.  I was curious to try this one, mainly because of it's title.  It was excellent, but I'm not sure it was worth 55 Euros!! (I was not aware of the price until today, Sunday)

We shared Roasted Peking duck with Pancakes in two services, this was good, but weird to have one service with the meat with lettuce leaves and the other with just the skin and pancakes...I would have liked just some meat still to be attached to the skin and this was expensive too, 200 euros for based on five people eating it.
The Shang Palace Rice cooked in a Lotus Leaf was ok, but at this point we were all becoming rather full* and I much preferred the Fried rice Chef style that even when full I managed a couple more chop sticks full. 

We were service great tea throughout the whole meal and myself and M (anther colleague) enjoyed a few glasses of some excellent Meursault.  Culinary wise, I just love the Fried rice Chef style and the Barbecued Meat Combination (with meat and skin this time) and a special mention has to be made for the "plum sauce" . The wine was excellent, would have enjoyed another...and this was the first time I drank tea with a meal and I just loved it.

Some of the dishes  were a little fade, including the Deep Fried Cod and the Crispy Bean curd Rolls and the seasoned celery with dried shrimps and fired garlic which lacked garlic and taste.
Our waiter was amazing though, really professional and main some great suggestions that improved the overall experience greatly.

I would go back again, however not with colleagues, but with my family, and we'd go with the set lunch menu.


*Even in a one star restaurant you can ask to take your left-overs home...I wouldn't, and I didn't, but my boss did.

Christmas Present for us..Hang On It Coat Rack

 We had a late Christmas present delivered this morning here at the crack of dawn, something just for Alain and I, something useful but so lovely and it's pink.

I just needed a drill and a screwdriver (note for Alain...tidy up your tools please)

 And put it between the stairs and bannister, just enough place for it.  It's by the designers at Normann Copenhagen and comes in several colours, and for some crazy reason pink just appealed and I'm so glad it did

 Only room for five or six coats, I have three I wear a lot and Alain just two, one of which he's wearing today and the other one is with all the mess in the mud room....arghhh

Off to the DIY shop this morning to get sand paper and wood for mud room. Yes I'm motivated.

And Alain has been to the town hall and will now be able to vote in the next election here in France....we even have appointments for the children to get all their vaccinations up to date...

yippee.

Christmassy

 We bought our Christmas tree on Saturday, the biggest one so far, measuring over 2m50.
Every year, one of the children get to put the angel on the top and this year it was Alexis' turn.
Charlotte made this angel when she was almost 5 and it's been part of Christmas ever since.

 Alexis had a little help to get up so high.

 And voila, there she is.

 Gaby decorated some cookies so they looked like melting snowmen and Charlotte took millions of photos of them, but here's just two.

Christmas has come early

New chair in bedroom and downstairs a new imac.

Our room is ready to paint sometime in 2011, we've even bought the curtains, but until then I shall sit in my rocking chair and read, surf and watch the world go by, when time and children allow. And in 2011, I'm going to learn to knit (again).

M-K's Rocky Road Cake

One thing I miss about where we lived before is our neighbours, Dédée and Robert. Last night, we ran out of icing sugar, I really could have done with Dédée to save the day as MK's Nigella Lawson's inspired cake would have looked better with a snowy sprinkling of icing sugar. 850km is a little far so we had to do without...

Une chose qui me manque de notre vie précédente à Sanary est la présence de nos voisins Dédée et Robert. Hier soir nous étions à court de sucre glace, j'aurais aimé pouvoir demander à ma voisine, tant pis 850 km est un peu loin, donc on a fait sans...

1st December

One of my most fond memories from Christmas as a child was waiting for Mr and Mrs Christmas to be unpacked for another year. Christmas only began when they were wound up for the first time to turn around to music, it was magical. I wasn't allowed to wind them up though.

Mum gave me Mr and Mrs Christmas during one of my recent visits back in the UK. Apparently this eldery couple date back to the early 50's, even if they are a little kitch, I still love them so, and my children do too. And guess what, I let my children wind them up so they can see them turn around as if they were dancing.

Yesterday we decorated the Christmas tree. We seem to have lost a box of decorations between Sanary and here so the girls made some salt dough stars and snowball shapes and then painted them gold or silver or both.

When Charlotte and Gaby were younger (5 and nearly 1) they made an angel for the top of the tree and there is always a fight about who should put it on the top of the tree ( our teenagers excluded for the first time this year, way too grown up for that, in their opinion...sniff, sad really).

This year Alexis had the honor. Our tree is so tall that he needed a chair and a papa to reach the top!

Christmas Spirit

Gaby and Marie-Kate made our advent calendar this evening (the walls are bare still as we haven't had time to go to Brittany to pick-up all our art work from Mamie and Papy's...besides that, probably better off painting before we get them back).

And then papa brought back the 2m80 Christmas tree, tomorrow we will have to go and find the decorations in the basement.