Snippets from Paris

Finally, finally... I've started editing my Paris photos. :) I have a feeling I'll be bouncing back and forth between the Paris and Montreal ones (because I think I'm still just about halfway through with the Montreal photos. I did take a lot of photos when I was there.) but at least I'm getting started! The boy has been pestering me about our Paris photos so after listening to one too many reminders, I decided it's about time I got started on at least a handful. And it helps that this weekend is more relaxing too. :) I was able to bake Citrus cookies and a loaf of Japanese milk bread that I must say I'm pretty proud of. But a separate post for that soon!













This is just a teaser but when I look through the photos, I can only think, gosh, Paris is just so damn gorgeous. Especially the most ordinary of things/places/scenes, at moments when you least expect such beauty, it's there. -- Looking forward to sleeping today. I've never loved weekends more. Don't you just love the feeling of waking up in the morning and then, knowing that you don't need to get out of bed, you rest your head on your pillow, snuggle in deeper beneath your comforters and think to yourself, I looooove this feeling? That's me on weekends. xoxo

Home-cooked: Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins

This weekend has been soooo good. I wish I could have more of these slow-paced weekends when I don't really feel pressured to study and time flows slower... like a warm dribble of liquid honey. ;) Managed to exercise (FINALLY!), take a nap on Saturday, bake... all things that make me happy. And today, to combat the insane heat (S'pore's seriously turning into a sauna >:( and that's to all the people who don't believe in the threat of Global Warming), I decided to go for a swim despite it meaning I would have to be out in the hot sun. I figured I was sweating so much I might as well immerse myself in a pool of water to distract myself from all that sweat. And it totally worked. Nothing like feeling that you've done your body some good.

I actually baked some Matcha shortbread cookies this weekend (which turned out great!:D) but since I'm always one step behind in my photos, I'll be sharing instead of some Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins that I baked a couple of times recently. This recipe comes from Joy the Baker whose website I've only recently discovered but am REALLY LOVING! The muffins turned out SO well each time I made them and have been to date, probably the most well-received goodie that I've baked for my friends in the past few months.



LOVE LOVE LOVE blueberries. But I like them better when they're mixed with strawberries and cereal in soy milk than eaten alone. 



I've now discovered the incredible goodness that is BROWNED BUTTER. I've never made it before prior to baking these muffins but the instructions on Joy's website were pretty easy to follow. All you have to do is melt the butter over medium heat and wait... until the butter starts bubbling then you wait some more... and slowly but surely, a delicious smell will start wafting from the pan. Very much like the smell of caramel. Which is pretty magical, since a few minutes before it was plain butter. It's a little hard to tell when the melted butter has browned (especially if you're using a regular black based pan like me) but a trick is to use a spoon and scoop a little of the butter out to check its color. And, by the time you should have tell-tale brown bits at the base.  But really, the best gauge is going by the distinctive caramel-ish scent. :) You'll be pretty amazed the first time you smell it. 

 



Ta-dah! Really easy recipe that takes less than an hour. Plus, the crumble is a real winner. Everyone who's tried it somehow really likes the crumble on top. Take note though, if you go by the measurements in Joy's recipe, there is WAY too much crumble even for two batches of muffins (and her recipe is only for one). So I really don't know why there's so much excess crumble but you can definitely halve it (or quarter it even) if you're only making one batch of muffins. 

P.S. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone! Didn't quite celebrate it this year but I happened to be in the west just now and managed to catch some fireworks that were going off at Chinese Garden. :) So that was pretty nice. And the best part about MAF so far would have to be all the food fairs that are going on at the shopping malls (so far I've been to the ones at Takashimaya basement and Vivocity). Samples GALORE! On Friday, I happened to go with two friends to the one at Vivo and we just whiled away our pre-dinner time poking our noses at various stalls, requesting for samples of new mooncakes (we didn't bother wasting tummy space with the traditional lotus paste/yolk mooncake fare, no siree!). And take it from me, it's possible to actually get full on samples. 

xoxo

Montreal's Best: Fitz and Follwell

One of the absolute highlights of my Montreal trip? Going on bicycle tours held by the amazing people of Fitz & Follwell Co. :D Montreal is such a bicycle-friendly city - there are Bixi bicycles available for rent every other street corner; tons of bicycle lanes (which is pretty much non-existent in Singapore, thus my enthusiasm when I first found out about it) covering a substantial portion of the city, and pretty much all the students cycle around to and from the universities. At least it seemed that way. So when I happened to walk by the Fitz & Follwell store, not only was I taken in by the very cool interior decor and extremely friendly staff (yeah, they actually remember your name ;p), but I was totally psyched when I heard that they would be holding all sorts of bicycle tours when Spring arrived. I ended up going on two - Montreal Highlights, and Hoods & Hidden Gems. Both of which are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I think I took more photos on the tours but these were the few that I could scrounge up for now. :)



It's great that the tours are suitable for cyclists of all levels. I'm pretty much a novice rider (and surprisingly enough, only fell ONCE. Every time I managed to stop my bicycle successfully at a traffic light without falling off was a pleasant surprise. I blame it on the very high bicycles that just weren't built for a midget like me. -_-;;) but it was still incredibly enjoyable. There was one guy from London who probably cycles everywhere as a hobby and actually brought along his own extremely funky Brompton bicycle that was FOLDABLE. If it weren't so expensive and if S'pore had a couple more bicycle lanes, I might want to get something like that one day. :) You can just stow it in its case and carry it on the plane easily!  



The guy second from the left was the tour guide Martin. He is just PLAIN AWESOME. :D Extremely warm and friendly, knowledgeable about Montreal, speaks great English (you know someone has a real mastery of the language when they can  naturally pepper their speech with so many humorous jokes) and was just a great tour guide all in all. He happened to be the tour guide for both tours and if you manage to get him as your guide, you're in for a really enjoyable tour. :)


Here's a point we stopped at along the Lachine Canal which is a beaaaauuuutiful cycling path along one of the canals in Montreal. 



Lunch at Atwater Marche. Yummy pizza and a drink of your choice. Nothing but hot chocolate for me because it was coooooold that day. Remember, I was there in like March. 





The resident dog of Fitz & Follwell. Can't remember her name but she was a real calm sweetie. 

Look at all the incredible tours they have. Would you believe they even conduct FOOD TOURS in the summer? I felt like dying when I realized that they would only be conducting them in the summer and I was leaving right before that. Montreal is already a haven for foodies based on guide book recommendations but with actual locals leading the way and the chance to work off those extra calories along the way? YES PLEASE. 

Fitz & Follwell Co. 

115 Avenue du Mont-Royal West, 

Montreal, QC, H2T 2S9 

(514) 840-0739 

Remember, going on one of these bicycle tours is an absolute MUST if you're ever in Montreal. It's such a warm, welcoming store that you'll want to keep going back in there if only for the cosy atmosphere and warmth of the staff and store owners. :)

Nooks and Crannies

Ta-dah! :) Latest project of mine.

I have no idea why I'm always starting on projects though really, I'm supposed to be studying. But this is something that I've been thinking about doing for quite awhile! I've been meaning to have some form of an online portfolio for all my photos and I wanted it to be on a site that's a little more elegant than Flickr. I might've ended up using a Wordpress theme of some sort but then I happened to chance across a link for Wix, a website building...website that allows you to create your site without any html. That's the biggest draw for me because I know next to nothing when it comes to html coding!! (One thing that's on my bucket list - LEARN HTML)(but it's on the non-priority list) It's pretty easy to use and I just love the layout of the theme that I chose.

So here it is. A little online portfolio of my photos. Not all, but some to start of with!

VISIT IT HERE 

Psst. I just figured that an easier way to get to the site, instead of trying to remember that really long wix address, is to use this: 

 http://tinyurl.com/nooksandcrannies 

 Easy enough eh? :) Cheers!