Me Lucky Star?

I just received a call from Hubby. He was quite excited about the interviews he just went through this afternoon for a new position. With a famous company boys both big and small dream of :-).

It would certainly send his flying career soaring. Though as usual, something has to give and it will be our family life - whatever's left of it, that is.

If he accepts the job, he'll have to live away from the kids and myself during the week. Because the town where the company is situated has no French school. But come to think of it, we see little of him as it is anyway since he travels regularly for business. And as he liked to tell me each time I complained about it, "If you want to see your man every day, you should have married the Postman..." Touché.

When I met him many years ago, he was just a French Engineer who recently switched to doing something other than R&D. Earning a French Engineer's decent salary, not more not less.

I was never a fan of Engineers. I do not share the French's enthusiasm, love and admiration for this race of humans. In France, very often, to succeed in life, even if all you want to do is sell or market, very often you would have to have an Engineering degree to start with. They don't find them "square" or boring, which when you come to think about it, is logical since they really do have a thing for Cartesians.

Myself, Doctors in white, Lawyers in black and Professors with PhDs were more likely to turn me on. But I didn't count on my Tarot reading... :-)

Actually, before Tarot, mom brought me once to a Chinese fortune teller at Clarke Quay and the guy said that I've "Guì Rén" life. Meaning that I bring meaning and fulfillment to those who come into close contact with me. Well, I certainly have been filling up quite a few stomachs if that's what he meant...

Back to Hubby and his career : ever since he married me, his career literally flew. I left my own budding career (after 2 scholarships and a few Postgrad degrees in Political Science) behind to follow him to Spain after we got married. We never looked back since, it has been one expatriation leading to another, each job more interesting, important and of course better paid than the last one. And 3 kids.

Hubby said that this is normal because I have given up my own ambitions (among them the Diplomatic Corps) and have been pushing him to fulfill his own (and mine as well). It is true that he always consults me when it comes to making major decisions about his career, and I am always on the ready to provide the pros and cons (good training - Political Science), and most of all, encouragement and all kinds of support. I mean, let's be fair. If the guy has to work, he must be motivated about it, right? Heh heh he wasn't far off the mark when he said that I am working him to the bone so that he could afford to buy me diamonds and other goodies. Well, I like having something concrete to look at every day, and retail therapy for tired and frustrated housewives works very well as long as there is always credit in the credit card.

But seriously, I've always said that if he earned less, I would have spent less. I am delicious, not delirious. The Asian in me says that what is important is that the guy be ambitious and smart. Everything else naturally follows. Normally.

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised.

So says my Tarot card from yesterday. When I mentioned that to Hubby, he started singing some tune from John Lennon and ended up by saying that I'm his Star. (grin)

I seriously do not think that money should be the most important consideration in any career. Though of course I would be the last to spit on it. I rather treasure the challenge (both external and personal) factor. Thinking (of), knowing (that you can) and wanting to stretch yourself and making it. What was the motto we were brainwashed with in Singapore? Strive for Excellence. Voilà, simple as that.

We are trying to convince ourselves that the "sacrifice" will just be for about 3 years - the amount of time necessary for him to prove himself (once again) and continue the climb. Anyway, the real hard work will be on my part - having to deal with the 3 monsters all on my own (chauffeur, home tutor, cook, cleaner, mother etc all rolled into one), with no one to complain to at the end of the day, no regular sex (shucks, to think that I married him for his libido), and no guinea pig to try my new dishes on.

On the other hand, I'll also have nobody to stop me from snacking, eating my pungent stuff, blogging all night long...and I can sleep with my babies. I do love them so very much. I tell them that they are the most beautiful babies on earth and I really believe it. :-)

The other downside though is that my vague plans to return to the workforce will have to be shelved - yet again. But I will continue learning Spanish and German, pick up Italian, and maybe do another Masters. I am thinking about Development Management. I can keep my ONG dream alive this way.

When I first met Hubby, he kept repeating to me that he expected his wife to work. Not for the money, but to remain interesting. Now of course his worst dreams have come true - I am a housewife, have put on a good 12 Kgs in the past 4 years, and I know the current price of Zucchini better than anybody or anything else.

BUT, what is wrong with living around zucchini? There are women who buy (or not at all) zucchini without knowing the price nor what to do with it. The good thing about formal education is that it gives me THE interest, ability, confidence, approach etc to deal with just about anything, zucchini included. If I want to, I can write an agricultural, cultural, economic, political, religious, sexual and whatever thesis on Zucchini, use it as a dildo, cook it (in at least 10 ways) and eat it too. Voilà. pourquoi. je suis. UNE ÉTOILE*.

*Read it with a fake British accent

My Tarot Card

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised.

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Got this from a fellow Singaporean's blog this evening. And quite funny since my mom told me once that my Christian name signified "Hope" (according to the relative that gave me the name) :-). Though I'm quite lost at the last 3 sentences, so am I supposed to be the unexpected help or should I expect unexpected help? Caught no ball...

Quick Fixes

Between Christmas and the New Year, we've had family over so alot of time had been spent cooking and eating. And in between more elaborate meals, we had to admit that it was quite humanly impossible to binge on 3 to 4-course meals twice a day every day, that we would have to go for simpler fare at times, better, some fasting here and there wherever possible.

I had therefore concocted the occasional one-dish meal :

Spaghetti al arrabbiata (basically olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, red peppers, chilli...) with an egg for some protein

Cod Fish and Prawn Curry Ceylon-style (highlight = curry leaves, star anis, lime juice, coconut milk...) with toasts for dipping (would have binged out on prata but didn't feel like sharing my frozen stock)

Vietnamese Meat and Vegetable Nems with a sweet chilli dip (from McDonalds, ha ha)

Bacon, Potato and Cheese Soup with Rotewurst (grilled sausage)

And the usual Sweet and Sour Chicken, Stingray in Lemon-Butter Sauce, Leek and Potato Soup, Tomato Soup etc.

Actually, if you ask me, I'm just quite happy with lots of rice or bread and a bit of curry or sambal chilli sauce. No need to eat fish or meat. But so fat must cut down on carbo...sob sob.

Visit to Munich and the Dachau NAZI Concentration Camp

The NAZI period must be a heavy cross to bear for the Germans. Yet I think that they are doing really fine since unlike the Turks (vis-à-vis the Armenian Genocide) and the Japs (WWII in Asia), for example, they have chosen to face their past and as such earn the permission to move on.

Though this morning I was talking to a German mom and she told me that she didn't want to visit Dachau as the past is best kept where it is. I said, "Everybody coming here wants to visit Dachau..." and she retorted, "Not if you're German!"

It would be unthinkable not to visit Munich when we live just 2 hours away by car. And it would be unthinkable not to visit Dachau when we were in Munich. But well, we're not German :-).

Last December was a good time to visit Dachau. It was cold and bleak enough for us to visit the camp memorial and try to imagine how horrible winter must be for its former inmates; and the unnaturally warm winter we are having now made it easier for us to bear walking around in the cold.

Entry is free. Though you'll have to rent an audiophone (3 Euros for adults). Guided visits are available, but only on Saturdays and Sundays (if I'm not wrong). We started with the camp grounds (but it seemed a little antiseptic as almost all of it had been torn down), the cremation buildings, the sleeping quarters (picture above - newly reconstructed) and finally the museum.

The cremation buildings were a very bleak, impressive and necessary sight to behold, but I didn't feel brave enough to have pictures taken of the ovens or the gas chamber...The film being shown in the museum (in English at 15h30, for example) was well-done and really gave one a feel of the horrible atrocities being committed by the Nazis during WWII. One must make sure that one has enough time to visit the museum, there is much to read through and the camp closes at 17h.

Man's senseless cruelty is hard to bear. And millions of Jews, German and other soldiers, homosexuals, opposition politicians etc etc had died because of a power-mad regime gone crazy. But I personally still do not believe that the creation of the State of Israel was a really good idea. Or at least not in such a rush. We should learn from History, but not tamper with it. But that's just my opinion.

Come to think about it, millions of people from different parts of the world have been killed and continue to be killed for the most senseless of reasons. Why is it that nobody seems to be doing anything for the bulk of them?

As we left the camp, it was dark and the air felt heavy and much more oppressive. We all wondered aloud though how so many Germans could bear to live so near the camp memorial, there are houses everywhere - probably built above the thousands still buried underneath!

On a happier note, Munich, the City of BMW, is a really lovely city. Stately homes, wide avenues, many shops, restaurants etc. The people dress up really nicely too in general - quite a contrast to Stuttgart. There's a river near the Modern Art Museum and the English Gardens where people could actually surf the waves. Quite a sight in the heart of town.

We always stay at the Mercure Hotel in the Rudolf-Vogel-Bogen street, in the south of the city. It is children-friendly and is quite comfortable (4*). We've also established some sort of food routine when we were there : a meal at a fine Vietnamese restaurant Thang Long (www.thanglong-muenchen.de) in town (good Pho and Roast Duck with Kangkong), and some cake (excellent carrot cake) and sandwiches at a bakery near the castle. And we always try to bring some stale bread along as the kids like to feed the ducks, geese, swans and other birds in the lake in front of the castle.

My little Armand had been very brave (sigh), you see him going after the goose even when he had just moments ago had his finger caught in its beak because he stupidly held the bread in his hand for too long a time.

I must say that I wouldn't mind living in Munich.

On our way to Munich we stopped by in Ulm (famous for its cathedral) for lunch. Had typical German food in a warm and friendly taverna - meaning heavy, hearty and rustic, sometimes good and to be eaten only once in a while - Zwiebelroastbraten, Sauerkraut mit Bratwurst, Hirschgulasch...

Sugee Cookies

I haven't made this in years. Maybe more than a decade come to think of it. It was one of my childhood favourites (during Hari Raya, my Malay Mak used to make them, oh how I love the way they melted in the mouth!). And as a teenager doing Home Economics, I would also make them when I was in one of my frenzied "practising" moods.

I had a big can of Ghee (clarified butter). Bought it on a whim on a visit to an Indian grocery store here in Stuttgart.

In December 2006, I found myself in this situation whereby the classes of my 3 kids were all organising a class party where parents were invited and where we had to bring along some cookies, cakes and/or drinks. To kill the different birds with one stone, I had the bright idea of baking a huge batch of Sugee Cookies (and using my Ghee which was about to expire) and turning up in all 3 parties with the rich stuff.

Sugee cookies are not for the faint-hearted. They are so rich I'm sure they go direct to the heart so woe to those with clogged arteries. And you know that those I baked were good because my French MIL (very tough cookie critic) liquidated those remaining at home (a good 2 boxes) when she was here. She called them "sablés" and couldn't stop popping them into her mouth. That plus all the expensive chocolates that I had bought for the fêtes...

450g Ghee
340g Icing Sugar
750g plain Flour

Chopped almonds, chocolate rice, ground cinnamon etc (optional)

Very very simple to make (which was why I made them). Shame to those who made chemical-filled cookies out of ready-mixes when they had to make any.

Cream ghee and sugar for 5 minutes. Add flour and knead into a soft dough. Leave covered for 4 hours.

Pre-heat oven at 120ºC.

Traditionally, the dough will be rolled into rolls where you'll be able to cut them into small pieces to make marble-sized cookies. I wanted to test out some of my newly-acquisitioned cookie cutters (heart-shaped ones), so I made big and small heart-shaped sugee cookies. I also added ground cinnamon, chopped almonds and chocolate rice in some of them for a change.

In any case, bake them for about 20-25 minutes. They should remain creamy in colour : melt-in-the mouth creamy.

St Sylvestre Dinner 2006/2007 : French Fusion

We invited an interesting German-Mexican couple and their 2 children to join us (MIL and SIL included) for our New Year Eve's dinner. Our children go to the same French-German school in Stuttgart and as the small French expatriate community would have it, we have a few friends in common and to top it all, hubby used to work in the same company as the male half of the couple so they could really relate to one another.

The Sommerhalters arrived at 6pm for a dip in our indoor pool before dinner. They brought champagne from Moët et Chandon and a really huge variety of cheeses from France : Comté, Roquefort, Camembert, St Marcellin etc etc.

On our side we have started to prepare dinner from 2pm on, as the dinner will have at least 7 courses with a good wine/liquor from our personal wine collection for each course. This is a typical French meal in a good restaurant though of course I have added my Asian touch here and there to make it a little different.

Here it goes (Food in Red and Drink in Blue) :

Amuse bouche en variation de quiches
Champagne Moët et Chandon

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Foie gras mi-cuit marbré cacao et son mesclun aux noix
Riesling vendange tardive 2004, Wolfberger

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Marmite de fruits de mer et son consommé à la citronnelle
Chablis 1er cru 2002, Mont de Milieu, Thierry Lafay

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Trou normand Heumaden
Granité aux deux citrons et Vodka russe

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Magret de canard au miel et vinaigre balsamique
pommes de terre Sarladaise et haricots verts du Kenya
Pauillac 2000, Prélude à Grand Puy Ducasse

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Plateau de fromage
Ladoix 1er cru 1999, les Joyeuses, Domaine Prin

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Croustillant de framboises et sa crème fouettée
Champagne Moët et Chandon

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Café Vergnano, Arabica
Et son pousse café : Armagnac 1966, Tequila Don Julio (reposado), et plus si affinité…

I prepared the ingredients for the mini quiches, but only assembled them before serving. We made 2 types of quiches : Tomato-Egg-Cheese-Onion-Bacon and Tomato-Egg-Cheese-Onion-Anchovies. The recipe can be found in one of my earlier postings, though this time around I added some beaten egg with crème fraîche.

Hubby made the foie gras himself a few days ago. I'll post the recipe another day, but basically one has to de-nerve a beautiful 600g lobe of raw duck liver, season it with salt, pepper, a sweet wine (we used a Monbazillac), in our case coffee etc and cook it in a bain-marie in the oven. Then put a weight on top of the terrine and leave it to settle in the fridge for a few days. The foie gras was beautifully half-cooked and tasted really good. Félicitations au Chef!

I've also posted the recipe for the seafood soup a few months back, though this time around I have added a stalk of lemon grass to give it an exotic touch. The consommé was as such nicely perfumed with the seafood (Mussles, Clams, Tiger Prawns, Scallops, Cod Fish...), vegetables and lemon grass.

The trou Heumaden was named as such as we made the lemon-lime sorbet ourselves and served it with vodka between 2 main courses so as to facilitate digestion. I'll put up the recipe another day too if I have the time.

The duck magret main course was cooked by Hubby this time around. It consisted of grilling the breasts on their skin (make light parallel cuts on the skin beforehand) till much of the fat has been melted and the skin nicely roasted. And then to finish the cuisson on the flesh part - but only till it's pink/rosé on the inside, of course. The sauce was made with balsamic vinegar, honey, fond de veau and the juice (containing some blood) from cooking the duck. We served the meat sliced reasonably thick with the sauce, garlicked sauteed potatoes and very fine green beans gently sauteed in salted butter and garlic.

We finished the 2nd main course just in time to run out of the house to watch the fireworks. Alot of them seemed to be sponsored by our neighbours (those living in the flats). I have toyed briefly with the idea of setting off some myself (saw them in PLUS etc), but images of exploded fingers and a burnt house stopped me and we just had to be happy with what we could find in the sky above us.

So we started on the cheeses after midnight. At 1am, I put in the finishing touches to my dessert and served it. It consisted of layers of Greek Filo pastry (that I baked beforehand earlier in the day with salted butter and sugar between the layers), thick cream (that I beat up in the morning, adding in mascapone, almonds, fleur d'oranger, rum, fruit sugar...), fresh Raspberries (that I was lucky enough to find in Strasbourg a few days earlier)...AND dark chocolate discs that I made myself a few hours earlier. For decoration, I sprinkled ground pistachio nuts and icing sugar over the whole thing before serving. It was light, delicious and quite refreshing.

We ended the meal with coffee and liquor for those with a strong stomach (not me). An old Armagnac (hubby's year of birth - haha), excellent Don Julio (Reposado) Tequila he bought in Mexico on one of his frequent trips there and of course some quality Swiss and French chocolates.

It was 4am. MIL was falling asleep at the dinner table, our baby girl was sleeping on one of the sofas, their baby boy on the other sofa, our baby boy at the dinner table, though both our eldest children were busy playing Monopoly on the floor and trying to get richer than the other.

Talking about children, we fed them a different meal as they had to be fed earlier. Hainanese Chicken Rice and free-range Roast Chicken à la française (white wine, herbes de Provence, salt, pepper, paprika...). The amazing thing was that those kids (5 of them) finished the chicken in no time (nothing left) and kept asking for second, third etc servings of the rice. What appetite!

The Sommerhalters decided to call a taxi and come back for their car the next day. I was told that Mister was so happy with his St Sylvestre that he gave the driver a 10 Euro tip!

Happy New Year and Lots of Good Tidings in 2007, Everyone!

Yakitori and Sauteed Mushrooms

When we were living in Paris, we used to bring the kids to a nearby Japanese restaurant (unfortunately run by some Chinese) for a few makis and yakitoris. Easy and fast to eat and the kids just like them.

In Stuttgart, they seem to have only one Japanese restaurant, and I was told by my Japanese neighbour that it was expensive and so-so. The Chinese here seem mostly into all-you-can-eat lousy Chinese buffets than pseudo Japanese restaurants, so it means that I'll have to make my own yakitoris if I want to eat them.

The good thing is that the possibilities are quite endless when it comes to what we can put on a skewer. I usually do it with chicken filet, wings, minced meat rolled into balls, beef filet and cheese, pork, seafood, vegetables etc.

I always make some Japanese rice to go with the yakitoris (the kids like to eat the sticky rice with the sweet yakitori sauce) and occasionally some mushrooms (brown and white button, shitake, golden pin, abalone etc) to accompany them.

I like to marinate my meat before cooking them. And I bake them quickly before putting them on their skewers to be grilled so as to make sure that they are cooked through.

Meat (cut into skeweable portions)
Onions
Bell Peppers

Leeks
Mushrooms
Sherry/sake
Light Soy Sauce

Sesame oil
Sugar
Mirin
Ginger (minced)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cucumber (juliened)
Wooden or metal skewers (the former are best put into water to be softened in order to prevent burning during cooking)

Sweet Yakitori Sauce :

100ml Mirin

3 Tbsp Sake

100ml Soy sauce

50g Sugar

Marinate the meat in the sake, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, mirin and ginger for at least an hour. Remove from the marinade and drip dry, reserving the marinade (if any) for later. Skewer the meat with vegetables like bell peppers, onions, mushrooms etc if desired. Bake the skewers in a hot oven for 10 minutes.

Prepare the yakitori sauce by combining the mirin, sake , soy sauce and sugar in a casserole and simmering it till the sugar is dissolved. Pour the leftover marinade from the meat to the sauce.

Return the skewers to the new marinade, making sure to coat both sides generously with the sauce. Grill the skewers (e.g. on a BBQ) for 2 minutes on each side. Return them to the marinade to be re-coated with the sauce and then grill them again. Brush the meat with the marinade while it's on the grill.

Sprinkle some salt on the cucumber and serve it with a few yakitoris and a bowl of rice.

As for the mushrooms, just stir fry them with a little oil, garlic, oyster sauce, soya sauce, sherry, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Add some chopped parsley or coriander leaves just before serving if you wish.

Christmas 2006 (Cold Seafood, Pan-seared Scallops and Foie Gras...)

We have MIL and SIL over for Christmas this year. Not that it changes much of anything, no matter where we are, we always eat well for the occasion. And too much.

This year, to keep up with the tradition of serving mainly seafood, we drove 1h35mins to Cora Hagenau in France - grocery paradise with excellent wines, meats, seafood etc and etc. I am still wheeling from the sight of so many goodies on offer, so many culinary possibilities...

We started out with 4 dozens of 3-4 types of raw oysters, all from Brittany this year. Served with a shallot and red wine vinegar dip, bread and butter. Followed by a few hundred grams of crevettes roses (pink prawns cooked at sea), crevettes grises (tiny grey shrimps), raw shells, 2 home-cooked Tourteaux (giant crabs).

For those interested, I first made a stock with water, white wine, lemon slices, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, aniseed, carrots, onions, celery and a fish stock cube. Then we plunged the crabs (kept overnight in the fridge to numb them as nobody knew how to spare them torture by killing them outright) in the boiling stock and cooked them over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes (depending on the size). Took them out of the stock, cleaned them and then cut them up. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

For the main course, hubby came out of semi-retirement and prepared Pan-seared Scallops and Foie Gras (duck liver) déglacés with some honey, balsamic vinegar and fond de veau (concentrated veal stock) and decorated with slices of black truffles. The scallops were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the lightly seared raw lobes of Alsatian duck liver simply melted in the mouth. Simply heavenly. Accompanied by fresh green beans lightly cooked in butter and garlic.

We had excellent wines to go with the meal, a dry Chablis for the seafood and a heavenly, very fragrant Gewurzstraminer to go with the scallops and foie gras.

For dessert, we just had lychees from Île Maurice, passion fruit, clementines, pineapple, blood oranges... Very good coffee from our new Nespresso machine and chocolates from Marquise de Sévigny to end the meal.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Baby Girl Turned 4

It's amazing how little kids love Birthday parties. It was little girl's 4th Birthday in early December and it was her little brother who spent the day singing the Happy Birthday song...

She prepared her list of friends to invite like a month before the big day. It was long and I had to play the wicked parent and cut it down quite drastically. In the end she was allowed to invite 7 kids (3 boys and 4 girls). It wasn't too bad for a first-time Birthday party, I thought.

Even though it was officially winter, the sun was shining and the day was actually quite warm. The kids were therefore able to play in the garden and we even had a father staying around to help us out. They took turns going down the slide and being pushed on the swing, played catching in the garden etc.

Then we ushered them into the playroom and had a few games going on : snakes and ladders, kapla, pretend play (toy kitchen etc)...

It was difficult attracting the kids' attention for more than 15 minutes at any one time, so we brought them to the kitchen to eat the Bob the Builder Chocolate Birthday cake and open the presents and then just put them all in front of the Plasma TV. They watched Pinocchio and were really quite concentrated during the show.

I gave each kid a little doggy bag with a picture of PUCCA, stickers, tattoo, candy, chocolate, a wooden ring for the girls and a wooden spin for the boys to take home with. Baby girl was really very happy with her party and so was her little brother who participated 101% all the way and looked all set to have a party of his own come March.

As for the parents, we were exhausted and relieved that it was over for another year (especially when we just had a party in October for the big brother), though I had to spend an hour or so cleaning up the kitchen thanks to our failed attempts at making coton candy with this lousy machine we bought from Amazon.de. There was sugar EVERYWHERE, I could hear the ants marching here...

Somaly Mam's Le Silence de l'Innocence

I've recently read this book “Le Silence de l’Innocence” written by Somaly Mam. Former teen prostitute (raped at 12, forced into a loveless marriage, later sold to a brothel etc) in Cambodia, she managed to get out of her hell by marrying a French man with whom she was to set up AFESIP, an organisation that aims to rescue young girls from human trafficking and sexual slavery.*

It is very sad to read about the way young girls and women in general are treated in this country. This is just so inhumane and exasperating. Fancy girls as young as 8 or 9 being sold into prostitution by their own mothers or sisters and then raped, abused, drugged every day of their lives. Many would catch AIDS, STDs, Tuberculosis etc and suffer all the way to their early deaths. Why is there no justice for these poor souls?

And just as exasperating is the physical lack of justice in these countries. The corruption among the judiciary, the Police etc is rampant and the work of associations like Afesip is often ineffective because of that. And the culture of having sex with virgins and young children is sick and to think that those culprits often consider themselves Buddhists or Muslims and lived as righteous individuals in their societies. And not to forget all the men from developed countries like Japan, Germany, the UK etc making their way to Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos etc by the planeloads to abuse young girls, may they grill slowly and painfully in Hell for that.

I know that I sound like a broken record, but please let us not accept the belief that prostitution has to be tolerated because it is the world's oldest profession. Please pressurise Governments into punishing all the pimps and owners of brothels and especially their policemen and soldiers for their part in the trade. Please let us give hell to all the Johns who abuse these women and girls often forced into the trade. Please tell anybody whether they want to listen or not that it is inadmissible to close an eye to sexual abuse in any form and on anybody. And please start in our own homes by educating our own sons and husbands to what it means to respect another person, women in this case.

By the sad state of the world economy, many has been forced and will be forced to sell themselves. But if demand can be reduced if not eliminated, surely the attractiveness of using women in such inhumane ways would also see some decline. It will be a very long and tedious battle, but we have succeeded in warming up the globe in a few generations, I don't see why we can't deal with human slavery and trafficking.

*PS : www.afesip.org : "AFESIP exists to combat trafficking in women and children for sex slavery; to care for and rehabilitate those rescued from sex slavery; to provide occupational skills and to reintegrate those rescued into the community in a sustainable and innovative manner. AFESIP also seeks to combat the causes and effects of trafficking and sex slavery through outreach work in AIDS prevention; through advocacy and campaigning; through representation and participation in women’s issues at national, regional and international forums."

Our Flat in Paris

When I visited the flat in February 2004, I could hardly believe that it could be within our budget. "There must be something wrong with it," I kept telling myself.


But apparently there wasn't anything wrong with it. The owners had bought a bigger flat elsewhere using a prêt-relais (a transition bank loan) and were in a hurry to sell it as the delay in doing so was costing them alot in interest.

We visited it on a Friday, made an offer the same day and signed the papers the following Tuesday.

The flat is situated in a quiet street in the 16ème arrondisement de Paris. A chic address. Even better, it is between 2 métro stations (Kléber and Charles de Gaulle-Étoile), 300m from the Arc de Triomphe, and 3 avenues away from the Champs Élysées. I often walk to the Tour Eiffel when I felt like taking a look at the monument (it's more or less at the other end of my street). When you think that I arrived in Paris in 1995 with only 3000 Francs in my pocket, this would seem far-fetched.

I love my flat. Our flat, since I bought it with my hubby and our 3 kids. It is on the first floor of an early-20th century free-stone (pierre de taille) building. It has top-to-floor French windows, parquet flooring and the different rooms are logically distributed. The flat is not very big, about 120m2, though for Paris this is a considerable size. It has 3 bedrooms, a large living-cum-dining room, a separate kitchen and 2 bathrooms.

We often imagine ourselves retiring in this flat. It would be great for city-lovers like hubby and myself. Walking distance to some of the best restaurants in France, the cinemas, theatres and shops in the Champs Elysées, the marché des Ternes, a straight coach to the airport, museums and palaces...

But we do not live in it now. A German family is renting it. And loving it. When they move out next Summer we'll return to make a few renovations and spend some time in it. And in Paris.

Moules Marinières (Mussles in White Wine Sauce)

Mussles we can still find in Stuttgart (Nordsee, Real, Edeka...) so mussles we will eat - from time to time. Besides there is no need nowadays (unlike a few years ago) to wash and scrub the mussles, a lot of time and effort is thus saved and one just needs to rinse and cook them.

I do my mussles in different ways (à la provençale, curry, à la crème...) but the best is the simplest - Moules Marinières.

1kg of fresh Mussles

Olive oil or Butter

1 Onion and 1 Shallot

1 clove of Garlic (optional)

White wine

Salt and Pepper

Parsley

Heat up some olive oil in a casserole or pot. Brown the sliced onions, shallots and garlic. Add in the mussles (washed and drained), stir a little and then add in the white wine. Cover. When the mussles start to open up, remove the cover, add salt and pepper to taste, mix in the chopped parsley and serve hot (do not overcook the mussles) - best with French Fries.

Tarzan in the Forest

We visited Hubby's colleague (who's also French and who like us has 3 kids) in Reutlingen before the end of Summer. He had this good idea of bringing us to Schloss Lichtenstein where there was this amazing tree-top walk in the forest (www.abenteuerpark-schlosslichtenstein.de) that the 2 men and our combined 3 boys (the women we ended up stuck with 3 other children on the ground) did.

The park's open from June to November and has 5 itineraries (easy to difficult). It takes about 2 hours to complete 2-3 itineraries. It costs 12 Euros for children between 8 and 15, 15 Euros for teenagers from 15 to 18 and 17 Euros for adults.

There's a parking (paying) and a small restaurant where one can have a drink and eat a snack.

Could be an interesting Birthday Party venue when the kids are older (14 onwards) as the younger ones would need supervision in the order of 2 kids to one adult.

My eldest completed his course. At one stage I thought that he was going to give up as he was stuck and afraid, but peer pressure (from the other 2 older kids) gave him the courage to continue and once he gained confidence, everything became easier. Another reason to be pleased with this outing and to feel better about spending 2 hours waiting in the cold running after 2 babies.

PS : For lunch we had a pot luck. His colleague's Chinese MIL from Madagascar made the dish on the extreme left : Beef with Chinese Cabbage. I made the the other 2 dishes : Prawn and Green Beans Szechuan Style and an Indian Chicken Curry.

Cream of Mushroom Soup and Chicken Pie : with Campbell

At the German discount store PLUS the other day, I saw cans of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup on sale. That really set me down Memory Lane, to a 14 year old me back in Secondary 2, learning how to make Chicken Pies during Home Economics class.

So while I am not a fan of canned or industrially-made food in general, I went ahead and bought a few cans of the soup out of nostalgia and since I have nowhere else in my very full pantry to keep them, I promptly made a meal out of 2 cans : improved Cream of Mushroom Soup and Chicken Pies.

I do not want to know how the soup would have tasted like just directly out of the can. If it's anything like the Tomato Soup from the same brand, it would be quite disgusting. What I did was to slice some onions, loads of fresh mushrooms (white and brown), and a stalk of celery and brown them together with bacon bits in a bit of butter. Then I emptied 1 1/2 cans of the Campbell Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup into the pot and stirred in 1 can of water and half a can of milk. Heat up the whole thing for about 15 minutes (do not let it boil though) and then mix it with a handmixer. Add a dash of cream if you wish. I served it with some puff pastry pieces. The soup had lots of flavour and my hubby actually loved it.

The remaining half a can of the condensed soup was used to make a few Chicken Pies. Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC. Using round cutters cut out Puff Pastry rounds (I'll put up a simple recipe another day, but just use the ones sold in the supermarket they are quite good nowadays) and line a muffin tray with them. Use a smaller cutter to make puff pastry rounds to cover the pies.

In a frying pan brown a few chicken filets in some olive oil, sprinkling some salt, pepper and Herbes de Provence over them. When they are done, take them out of the pan and place them on kitchen towels to absorb the oil. Dice them into small cubes.

In the same frying pan, brown some diced onions, potatoes (use a boiled potato), celery, carrots and mushrooms. Add in the chicken cubes, some green peas, the condensed soup and some pepper. Stir fry everything for a few minutes, adjusting the sauce with a bit of milk if necessary. If you wish, at the end of the cooking, you may add in a hard-boiled egg (diced, of course).

Fill in the puff pastry cases with the filling and cover with a pastry round before putting the muffin tray in the oven. If you wish, you may waste an egg and brush the pastry cover with some egg yolk so that it turns out prettier. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Eat them hot.

Simple Peking Duck with Tortilla Wraps

I had visions of Peking Duck wrapped in pancakes recently. When I kept seeing magret de canard (duck breast filets) being sold almost every where (Christmas' coming) and added to the fact that I have a few packets of tortilla wraps at home (I didn't feel like making Fajitas and the wraps were about to expire) - my simple Peking Duck with Tortilla Wraps was thus born.

When I said simple I really meant it.

2 Duck Breast Filets (can also use duck thighs)

1 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1 Tsp Ground Ginger

1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

Pinch of ground Nutmeg

1 Tsp Ground Coriander and Cumin

1/4 Tsp Ground Pepper

1 Star Anise

1/4 Tsp Ground Cloves

3 Tbsps Red Wine Vinegar

1 Tsp Sesame Oil

2 Tbsp Sherry or Rice Wine

Hoisin Sauce

Tortilla Wraps

Cucumber (finely sliced in 5cm-long strips)

Spring Onions (ditto)

In a small saucepan put the sugar, spices, vinegar etc to boil. Remove from heat and let the marinade cool.

Bring water to boil in a pot. Remove from the heat and plunge the duck breasts into the water for 5 minutes. Then take out the breasts and put them in a pot of cold water for another 5 minutes. Pat them dry with kitchen towels and spread the marinade generously all over with a brush. Leave at room temperature for at least an hour.

Pre-heat the oven at 180ºC. Place the breasts skin side up and roast till the skin is crisp and brown. It should take about 40-45 minutes. Take them out of the oven and let them cool a little before slicing them into very thin slices (about 5 x 1 x 0.5cm).

In a bowl, pour in a generous amount of Hoisin sauce and mix in the marinade from the baking tray. Microwave the tortilla wraps for about 35 seconds. Spread a little Hoisin sauce on each piece of tortilla wrap (about 10 x 10 cm pieces), add in a few strips of duck, cucumber and spring onions, roll it up and enjoy.

PS : Needless to say, it works well with a whole duck too. But may need to marinate for at least 2-3 hours in this case and roast for 1 1/2 to 2 hours breast side up. The carcass can then be used to make soup.