Cookie, in her "sulky" mood.

Cookie and her new best friend. Hee...

My days with Cookie.

It has been half a year since we have moved into our new flat and all these while, Cookie, the neighbourhood cat has been keeping us company.

On weekdays, she will usually wait for us at the void deck in the evenings, and she will respond to our calls by running to us immediately upon hearing her name, and she'll meow while she trots over, seems to be telling us "what took you so long....?"

she will then follows us upstairs, and stations herself right in front of the gate because she HAS to be the first living thing to step into the house. Then she'll head straight for her water bowl and spend a few minutes lapping some water. After that, she will bug you relentlessly until you feed her.

Dinner is usually a small portion of canned food mixed with pieces of boiled Kunning fish. She has learnt the word "fish fish", and will immediately jump up from her sleep/nap if you ever mention "fish fish" to her, which is, of course vey cute. Heh...

We recently got ourselves a white porcelain cat as a decoration item, and Cookie at first, mistook the procelain as a real cat. She saw the porcelain and froze, her whiskers pulled back and she immediately leapord crawled towards her "new enemy". It was really hilarious!

She then stared at the porcelain for a few mintues, with a puzzled face, most probably thinking "hey, this idiot doesn't move?!" She moved even closer and started sniffing the porcelain cat.

Her body language immediately relaxed upon realizing that the procelain was a fake and she simply went to her usual corner to nap. Not at all interested in her "new best friend" anymore...

Haha.

That stupid cat. But how I love her so.

My Blue X'mas Tree, only $16 from Carrefour.

The items that we have bought and donated to the Boy's Brigade Gift Box.

X'mas Dinner 2010

Hrm, previously I had grand plans to make my very own X'mas tree but when I stacked up all my vintage boxes, it didn't look like a Xmas tree at all. Bleah... So, Project Xmas Tree was a failure. I needed a Plan B.

Thankfully Plan B was only 16 bucks from Carrefour! The tree technically only cost $10! As the tree came with LED lightings at the tips, I just needed to pay for another $6 for the socket to activate the pretty, little blue LED lights. As for the ornaments, I bought them from Daiso, and in total, I spent about $16 too. A grand total of $32 for a Xmas tree is quite budget eh?

As for the food, I ordered a pre-cooked turkey and honey roasted ham, threw in some home-made salsa, sweet corn, beef steaks and veggie frittata. E also made a really delicious carrot cake with cute, little reindeers as decor.

Alas.... I was too busy hosting all 15 of my friends that I forgot to take photos! ;(

In anycase, for this year, instead of gift-exchanging, I requested my friends to donate cash or basic food items to the Boy's Brigade Gift Box, where the boys would in turn, distribute these items to the less fortunate during this festive season.

With the amount raised, I bought adult diapers, tooth pastes, tooth brushes, halal canned foods and some packets of high-calcium Milo.

And I hope I can do this every year and with each year, I hope I can donate more. ;)

Hmm... I wonder whether Cookie is willing to dress up for the party too? Haha...

No gift exchange for my X'mas party

I'm going to host my very first Xmas party/dinner at my place on this coming Saturday!

Relatively small crowd, only about 12 of us actually. Hub gotta attend a wedding dinner on that day though, so I'll be the one running the show. Heh heh...

I've done up my Xmas tree (ok, will update about the tree on my next post), bought the X'mas decorations from Daiso and planned my menu. So, I'm all set.

As usual, there will be a theme for this party, and the theme is .... ... ... *drum roll*

REINDEER!

Sounds a bit lame and childish, but I'm looking forward to see what/how my friends will turn up for the party. These bunch of people are really creative, I tell you. Yup, the very same bunch who dressed up for the Shanghai Chic party and Retro party previously. ;P

Some friends have asked whether there will be any gift exchange, and my answer: a flat NO. From my past experiences, X'mas presents from gift exchange sessions usually end up in the storeroom or "recycled presents for next year".

In fact, I'm thinking of asking my guests to each bring some grocery items, such as a small bag of rice, cooking oil or tins of Milo that cost about $10 in total, or do a donation of $10. And I will then bring these groceries and cash to the Boys’ Brigade Xmas Gift Box or to the Lions Befrienders.

Merry Xmas and may you have a peaceful year ahead. ;)

My favorite wine tasting session of the trip: Domaine Jacques-Frederic Mugnier. He is such a great wine maker, and his wines are characterized by both elegance and power. I was so, so,so happy to be able to meet him in person!

Our group dinner at our "chalet", which is actually an old barn owned by Anne Gros (another outstanding wine maker). We prepared 2 steamed pomfrets, cereal prawns, stir-fried mung bean vermicelli & clay-pot rice!

A famous plot in Chambolle-Musigny.

The youngest and best-looking wine maker of the trip. Well.... the rest are old men afterall! Domaine Arlaud's wines are very elegant, with good length. And since he is still so young, he has great potential...
On my last day, there was a thin layer of snow. Beautiful!

Domaine Ramonet is one of the very best white wine producers in Burgundy. I am a great fan of his wines, and in person, he's such a jovial and warm person, very generous too!

The vineyard of Domaine Romanee-Conti, aka "DRC", the most expensive wines in Burgundy. Every fan of Burgundy wine will defintely come here to take a picture!

France Trip Part 2 -> Burgundy

Part 2 of the trip, in Burgundy was extremely educational. I'm not a Burgundy expert but I sure like to drink wines from this region. It doesn't have to be "Grand Cru", but a well-made AND well-priced "village" will always make my day.

Some of the winemakers are actually in the "Superstars" league of the wine-making world. They are like the Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt of Hollywood, but... hrm, not as good-looking lah. Some are very camera-shy, and extremely down-to-earth. One of them even said that "he's just a farmer who likes to do lab-work"... ... Woah, I wonder whether he is aware of his celebrity status.

Other domaines visited included: Domaine Jean-Francois Coche Dury, Domaine Armand Rousseau, Domaine Roulot, Domaine Carillon, Domaines Mugneret-Gibourg et Georges Mugneret, Domaine Anne Cros and Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue.

After meeting the winemakers in person, in future when I drink any of their wines, will be even more meaningful.

Environmental-friendly Xmas trees

My family, being old-school Chinese has never celebrated Xmas. I have never decorated a Xmas tree in my life nor have ever own one. And being a non-Christian, I spent my Christmases partying away during my younger days. Now that I'm older, Christmases are spent with friends, usually over dinners and some bottles of good wines.

Now that I finally have a place of my own, I'm thinking whether I should do up my place a little for the up-and-coming Xmas.

The no. 1 headache: the Xmas tree.

I'm not keen to buy a fake tree and having to worry about fitting that darn tree back to its box and where to store it for the next 11 months. Having a real Xmas tree, smelling of pines is very appealing but to spend hundreds of dollars on a single plant that last for only a few weeks, is like burning my hard-earned money. Not to mentioned all the decorations that I've to buy either.

So... I'm thinking of innovative ideas to make my own Xmas tree.

It'll be environmentall friendly, save me some cash and will most probably be a conversation piece during the Xmas party.

Kill many birds with 1 stone eh?

The above pictures are some ideas that I've stolen from the ever-resourceful Internet.

1) Choc-a-Box Xmas Tree: This is my no. choice as I do have a few vintage-looking luggages and boxes that I can stack up to form a Xmas tree, ala Picasso-style. Then maybe just buy some green or white streamers and a mega-big-ass star for the top of my Xmas tree to complete the look eh?

2) Beer bottles Xmas tree: Thinking about the amount of beer that Hub, our friends and I drank, I really could have made that Xmas trees IF I HAVE KEPT ALL THOSE BEER BOTTLES!!! Alas, all the beer bottles/cans have been sent to the recycling bin. Maybe I'll give this tree a try next year instead.

3) Hang-on-the-wall Xmas tree: This must be the most fuss-free of all. I have also thought of using a streamer to outline a Xmas tree on a wall, and ta-dah, A Xmas tree! But using a cloth or chalkboard is definitely more chic. In fact, the overall feel of Picture no. 3 will fit my aprtment very nicely.

4) Kachang-Puteh Xmas tree: The rolled-up "leaves" of this Xmas tree remind me of eating Kachang-puteh. This tree takes takes the most effort and I really doubt I have the time to make this tree at all. Nonetheless, it is done up very tastefully and maybe, in the future when I have my own child labour, I can bully them into making that tree. Hahaha...

Ok, will gotta convince/con/cheat Hub into this little project of mine... Hopefully it will be a success and I can post some pics!

Vineyards at chateauneuf Du-Pape (CDP). Golden leaves against the bright blue sky. This picture doesn't do justice to the beautiful scenery!

The "mansion" that we stayed at Avignon, near CDP. This mansion is now a Best Westin Hotel, very charming with a big courtyard.

Walking along the street in the city center of CDP. We were on our way to visit Domaine Henri Bonneau.

And this is the legendary Mr. Henri Bonneau. He is known as the best wine-maker of the CDP region. Already 72 yrs old, I feel extremely privilege to meet him in person!

Walking along the river in Lyon.

Lyon's city center.

France Part 1 -> Paris, Chateauneuf Du-Pape and Lyon.

We spent 4 nights in Paris, 1 night in CDP and 2 nights in Lyon, before heading to Burgundy. What I can deduce from the 1st part of my trip:

1) Paris is still the most beautiful city (to me) day and night. There is just something about Paris... the old buildings, the lights, the small streets and the River Seine make Paris beautiful in her own way.

2) There are still tons of dog shit all over Paris?!?! This is one thing I do not understand... why do Parisians allow their dogs to treat beautiful Paris as 1 big toilet bowl?

3) Parisians are a bunch of super angsty drivers. Chill it, dude!

4) I cannot eat another Foie gras . In fact, I've concluded that I am not thaaaaaat into French food. The more I eat, the less I like. I am a china woman at heart, Chinese food is da best!

5) Do check the internet for the latest updates with respect to the museums. We spent the whole morning walking to the Picasso Museum and it was closed for the next TWO years for renovations!

6) I'll like to visit CDP and Avignon again. Hopefully with more time to walk around.

7) Lyon has better food than Paris. Not kidding. And Lyon is almost just as beautiful too, and with slightly nicer people.

8) I discover the peasant in me. I prefer simple food and small villages. I enjoy hanging out at the vineyards while freezing my ass off. As much as I like Paris, I think I'll give Paris a miss if I ever come to France again.

Part 1 of the trip was basically a prelude, the real action was in Burgundy! I'll update in another post. ;)