Countdown: 11 weeks down, 5 more weeks to go!!!!!

okay…..I know I haven’t been updating but I had busy weekends for the past few weeks.

First of all the most important update was my family reunion!!!! They all came over to ski and spend Christmas here, unfortunately I could only spend about 6 days with them…

My youngest brother, Wei Shen 

with my other brother, Hong Shen

 

 

Snapshots of Courchevel, I dinn’t take many photos this time cause I have already tons of shots of courchevel. there are more pictures from my earlier posts back in February and March I think.

The next week, I took them to Lyon’s famous Brasserie George. Had a wonderful meal. I actually ate here the other time with my Japanese friends this past summer check this link out.

What hong shen and I chose: the Royale which includes smoked belly pork, pork loin, sausages, served with steamed potatoes and saurkraut!!!!! DELICIOUS when you each this dish, it would remind you again how not to give up eating PORK!!!

 

Stepdad’s choice: Sole meurnier…….huh….I didn’t get the chance to try it.

Mom’s Choice: Quenelle served with a crustacean sauce.

Wei Shen’s Choice: pot of 3 meats – chicken, pork and beef I think.

On a whole, time was well spent with each other. I am really glad they came to visit me, our family reunion was a much needed boost of motivation to complete the last leg of my internship.

Want to know how I spent christmas????!?!?!??? THis year’s christmas must have been the most uneventful one in my whole life!!!! I had to work through the festive holidays. But to give our boss credit, he did give us a nice lunch. I hope he will be as generous when it comes to signing our paychecks…..I hope for a big bonus hehe!!

 

Our staff dining area was nicely made up with table cloth, wine glasses and lots of wine!!!! and all of them tasted good, I had to control my alcohol intake though cause we had to work that noon service.

 

NOW>>>>>> on to my internship. As of now, there are like 34 more days left until the end of my internship!!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!!! I can’t wait I can’t wait!!!! I can’t wait….and after that I will be heading off to LONDON!!!!! to visit Vicky, Jo Ying, Rita, Shajitha and of course my dear brother, Hong Shen.

Oh god….please let the next 34 days to pass as quickly as I turn the pages of the calender!!!!!

And after LONDON, I will be heading HOME!!!! not as in Lyon Home but my home in MALAYSIA!!!!

oh yea and before I end this post, Merry Christmas and a very happy new year!!!!! god…come to think of it, it’s almost been a year since I arrived in France!!! how time flies…argh!!!!  getting old …no!!!!!!

 

First time out of Roanne in 8 weeks

And where did I go?

Take a wild guess!!! I hopped on the train and 1 hour later I arrived at Lyon!!! ( never been so excited by Lyon, I was that day cause I was going to do shopping!!!)

 

Christmas spirit is in the air…

Had lunch with good friend, Nolwenn…

at Paul Bocuse’s South Brasserie….I thought that the food was a bit disappointing. I remember vividly how good it was during the summer when we came with Magda.

Did a bit of shopping. As it was getting cold in Lyon. I got meself a nice white beanie hat, she got herself one too.

Walked around till night.

Instant noodles, they are the  main reason I went all the way to Lyon.

I was glad I went back to Lyon, it’s good to get out of tiny puny Roanne. Plus, I caught up with my taiwanese friends, Lun, Yi Chang and Lu Wei.

Anyway on to my internship…

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Just finished week 8

Mental state: stress is the only word I can use to describe my life in the kitchen…

Physical state: cuts (and more recently I cut myself with the slicing machine yikes!!), bruises blisters escpecially on the sole of my feet. Initially my back hurt a lot in the first week, but I have no such problems now

Attire: ehm…my cooking vest is as white as ever cause I use clorox religiously when I do my white washing….my shoes however are at the end of their life span….

State of my shoes on the 6th week

State of my shoes on the 7th week.

SHould I get myself a new pair?

State of my shoes at the end of the 8th week.

At this state, I think they practically became an eyesore in the kitchen that my head chef barked, “Sue Ching!!!! you better not finish your internship with those shoes!!!”

 

Smiles…

It’s such a simple gest, so effortless and most of the time last only a few seconds, and yet how come one can be so fulfilled and satisfied after being smiled at?

Your smile gives me light and shines the darkest days of my life

With your mere smile, you lift me up when I am down.

Your smile gives me the warmth that I need when I am cold

Your smile motivates me to climb the steepest, highest and rockiest mountains

 

Although your smiles and embraces can be a bit forceful to others at times….

you never fail to offer that wide comforting smile to those who are in need of it.

 

we are in awe of how generous you are with your smiles

And most of all it’s your smile that tells me everything’s all right when things are rough and it is your smile that makes everything hard somehow a little bit easier to overcome.

Despite everything you’ve been through all these years, you still go on smiling and give us life. thank you for filling my life with hope and making me whole.

And big thanks to you, Uncle howard for making her happy and keeping her smiling. Without you, Uncle Howard, the four of us would not be the people we are today. Love you so much!!!

For the first time in my life, i wasn’t by her side to celebrate my mother’s birthday with her, let alone do something special for her. So I dedicate this post to her and to celebrate her life. It is a tribute to a superwoman and her soul mate.

 

White water marks on wood.

OMFG I almost had a heart attack just now!!!!!

My very kind friend who is lending her apartment for me to stay told me firmly the other time that I am not allowed to put mugs, cups …blah blah anything wet on her wood furnitures.

Being the forgetful type, I chose to eat my lunch in front of the telly and placed a pot of soup on a piece of cotton towel right on the wooden table. After lunch I totally forgot to clean up and left it there the whole afternoon. When i was clearing up some stuff, I saw horrible white water stains on the wood!!!!!

Then automatically I dont know why I did it, but I started trying to rub off the stains. Then, it hit me!!!! Like HELLO!?!?!?!? how can I possibly get rid of the white stains by just simply rubbing the wood!??!?!?

SO, did a quick search on youtube on how to solve my problem and guess what!?!?!? I tried and it work!!!!! THe table looks like it was never exposed to moisture at all!!! All i did was placed a cotton cloth over the stain and ironed it for a few seconds. The iron has to be set on high.

Can you imagine if I’d let the stain be ???? she would probably kick me out or even possibly KILL ME!!!!! thank god for the internet, google and youtube!!!

Phew!!!!

 

In the midst of all the greenery

So yea!!!! I survived yesterday night without much struggle. It was much easier than I thought, if fact it was much more calmer than normal service that we do during the week. The only thing that we stressed on was the cleanliness of the kitchen. The sous chef instructed a few of us to go around the kitchen every now and then to clean up the mess, as many of the diners wanted to visit the kitchen. I would say that it was a successful night, and gosh imagine how much money the restaurant earned that night.

Anyway, today the big boss treated all of the staff for a luncheon at his other establishment about 25km away from Roanne in the middle of nowhere, but miles and miles of green pastures. Exactly the way I like it!!!!

I got a lift from one of my colleagues, and the moment we parked the car we saw these…….everyone were so uninterested of the country side and just walked passed these cute donkeys, I stayed back just to get a shot.

We walked a bit and arrived at La Colline du Colombier.

This is sort of like a bed and breakfast type of accommodation. You would think that it will be ideal for backpackers to stay for a night, but this “bed and breakfast” place will cost you 300euros a night!!!! yikess….it’s B&B only for the rich!!!

The reception and restaurant. This building used to be a barn.

The moment I entered, chef Troisgros was the door waiting to greet all of us with our head chef. (FYI, the big man is 3rd from the left wearing a beige cardigan.)

  On the right after entry, is an open kitchen. There, it’s cedric and Yogji busy preparing for lunch.

 

Then more and more people arrive.

See??? from the look of the ceiling and the walls, can you imagine that this used to be a barn???

These 4 ladies were waitressing for 50 odd people!!! We were served champagne as aperitif.

Then, the general manager of the lodge offered to give us a tour of the property.

Around and about the property.

First we had a look at the so called “cabins”.

 

One of the cabins.

Inside the cabin

The Bedroom

The bathroom

After having a look at the cabin, we were taken to another type of accommodation. This is actually an old farm house that was converted into a suite.

 

Inside: there is a fully equipped  kitchen. ( Of course!!!! it is a must, it’s troisgros!!)

 

Guest bed room with two sofa beds. By the way, that is a Japanese intern like me too. His name is Yas.

The bathroom on the ground floor

Second floor: Children’s bedroom.

  

Master bedroom.

 

Master bathroom. I couldn’t understand why they needed to include such a big bench in their interior design.

Then, it was time for lunch. Plus it was freezing cold outside, everyone wanted to be somewhere warm.

People at my table.

Later on, I became bored and all alone. It turned out that I sat at the wrong table, I didn’t know anyone at my table. And so during lunch, I kept dozing off.

People at the next table, at least I know them.!!!!

Anyway, here is the first course. Macedoine vegetables in a light consommé

Then chicken supreme, cray fish with yucky pilaf rice. It’s not that the rice is not nice, it is prefect the way it’s been cooked. But for an expert rice eater all of my life, I hate hate hate pilaf rice. It’s so hard and yuck!!! I prefer simple plain white rice.

Then we finished off with a light tarte au pomme with a vanilla ice cream quenelle.

Before the luncheon ended, our big chef gave a few words. And thanked the 4 waitresses who did a wonderful job serving this many people. Then the whole crowd started doing that patriotic bourgone chant. I didn’t know what they were doing at first. Being an outsider, I started laughing at them, then i controlled myself. See for yourselves, it looked so bizarre to me. I was laughing my head off when I replayed this video!!!