Restaurant l’assiette Alésienne – Ales, France

02 Wednesday Mar 2011

Posted by in France, Gastronomy, Oversea Restaurants, Travel

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For some reason the image of this meal kept haunting me this morning. Sigh.. So, I decided to give in to my cravings and blog about it instead… ;p

During one of my business trip to Alés in France, hub and I accidentally found this little gem tuck away in a little alley.  To be truthful, if I were travelling alone, I wouldn’t have venture that far off the safely ‘marked’ streets from the map which hotel usually give out.

But, since hub is with me, we decided to be adventurous and roam about this little town. This little place is known as Restaurant l’assiette Alésienne ran by a couple. The husband is the chef and wife serves.

English is not on the menu but with my minimal french, alot of hand gesture, we manage to order our meals…

For starter, I had Prawn Salad with crispy bacon. Prawn was lightly salted and saute to perfection. It was so fresh that you can taste sea in it.

And, my Main. I ordered the Marguerite de canard. The duck tenderloin was fried just nice. the skin was crispy while the meat is still pinkish. Juice oozing out when you slice open. To top it off, they serve it with fig sauce. The combo was just too amazing.

I can’t wait for my next trip back to Alés. Hopefully, this place is still around. 🙂

Wedding Planning

02 Wednesday Mar 2011

Posted by in Wedding

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Chulet wanted to write and share her experience about wedding planning. However, never got around to it… until now. :p

She’s officially happily married now. Hubby is safely trapped in her spiderly web. MUAHAHA… and he have no where to escape… Hehehe…

Chulet’s very lucky as hub is a great sweet kind lovable guy. Ok ok … enough about the gushing. Back to serious business.

So, what about wedding planning?

I’ll try to split this into a basic summary page and then, will write more about each stage later… Bear in mind… this is MY own experience and is no way a professional guide. Remember, it is your wedding after all… Wedding planning is FUN.

Marriage on the other hand… is another subject all together.

I opt to keep this post strictly on Wedding planning. Let’s begin… (I’ve separate it to 6 sections)

What do you do after he proposes?

One

You need to answer him… YES or NO !!

This may seem silly, but, seriously this question is really tough. Don’t let ‘the moment’ blind you. IF he took the effort and courage to ask, you (female) need to think if this is the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. (Imagine waking up to see the same guy everyday till death do you part)

If you say NO – you need not read further. I applaud you for your bravery and pray you’ll find someone who you can really love. J

Proceed if you say YES

Two

Decide on your budget and prepare check-list.

Pull in all your resources (your parents / his parents)

** Allow yourself some room to tolerate +/- 10% (remember, to keep it real and prioritize)

Three

Decide on a DATE(s).

–        Date you to officially seal your marriage (registrar of your country)

–        Date for all the dowry giving / gift exchange (for some customs)

–        Date for the morning bride collecting (mainly Chinese custom)

–        Date for ‘THE’ dinner / Reception

For Chinese custom, there might be need to seek a specialist in giving good dates which match the bride & groom’s birthdates.

Four

Confirm your booking for those which you need it on that day. Meaning, you cannot change it to another day and you need that person there.

Venues

Photographer (Actual Day)

Make-up Artist

Religious officer

Five

Additional frills which you would like to throw in to make it SPECIAL

Wedding Rings

Wedding dress / evening gown / Bridal party attire

Pre-wedding Photograph / Bridal House

Custom made wedding invitation card (Not the mass production type)

Venue Decoration

Flowers

Favours for guest

Wedding Cake

Entertainment

Caterer (if the venue doesn’t provide food)

Liquor (if you plan to serve)

Six

Guest list

Appoint suitable person for roles / responsibility on the day

Pampering Session (me, me and me time)

Honeymoon

 

After several months of planning, the wedding day comes and goes… And, another chapter of your life begins… and this time, it has no deadline / expiry date. I would like to introduce you to marriage.

Happy planning.

Fukuya Authentic Japanese Cuisine – Valentine’s Day

14 Monday Feb 2011

Posted by in Festival, Gastronomy, Local Restaurants

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To avoid the crazy crowd on Valentine’s Day.

My hub decided that he would celebrate it with me in advance.

Hub woke up early to ran out and buy nasi lemak from the little road side stall.

This stall has been around since I was a wee lass. Today, it is being run by the lady’s children. I have to say the rice is not as fragrant as before. Packet is smaller. Chicken is smaller. But, I still love it. Perhaps it is for fond memory’s sake. For a road side stall, it is very popular with the neighbours. So, if you are not there early to grab it, it will probably be gone by 9am on the weekends. On weekdays, it will be finish by 8:30am.

After our Nasi Lemak breakfast, hub surprise me with a couple’s massage in Bangsar. A nice little spa place along Jalan Bangkung…

We were ushered to our herbal foot bath. Halfway thru that, the whole place went into pitch black. The electricity tripped. The owner not knowing what to do ran up and down the building. Luckily, hub was around to help the boss locate the master fuse box. They manage to locate the faulty problem and viola, the whole place got electric again.  (No – we didn’t get discount) ;p

The massage for ok (not fantastic in my opinion – maybe just a bit strong for my liking… hehe)

After that, we head down to KL.

Hub brought me to this nice little quaint Jap place, Fukuya.

The Outside of the restaurant is deck with the RED cloth, interesting. ..

The place is so nicely decorated. Perhaps it was the time we reach there (around 2pm), the place was practically empty.

(I checked with hub – he didn’t book the whole place for us, hahhaha…)

Anyway, hub ordered their mini Kaiseki, which is basically small meals of a few variety.

The First course is some appetizer thingy. The best part of this dish is the Uni tofu. So.. good.

The tofu is smooth and cooling with a touch of Uni (Sea Urchin) taste to it.

Next, is the Chawan Mushi. Hub like it but i still prefer the ones from Hokano.

 

Shasimi is OOO- SO-FRESH. REally good !!

Cod fried in miso served with preserved papaya and ginger stalk. Overall ok dish. Not much surprises – except the ginger (redish thingy) is REALLY spicy !!

Some stew taro thingy in seaweed. Yuck. Don’t like it at all. so fishy…

Tempura Chilies & Crabstick wrapped in some leave (I don’t know the name but it is like a cross between betal and mint leaves)

Yummilicious Rock Melon !! So sweet..

The Meal also includes a bowl of rice with salmon flakes & Miso Soup. The service is THUMBS up !! They bought us 2 spoon for all the dishes. :p

And I topped the order with some other side dishes .. and these are all mine.. MINE !!! muahahaha

Deep Fried baby prawn.. done really well. LOVE the crispy-ness.

Kanpachi Carpaccio with fish roe (ok – but I think I like the Kanpachi shasimi style without any additional flavouring)

Don’t get me wrong. The flavour is quite good but takes away the sweetness of the Kanpachi. Kind of like destroy the real fish taste to me.


Tempura Wild Garlic…. very interesting.

Abit dissapointed with their agedashi tofu…

Yummilicious Pan seared scallop top withFoie Gras in sweet sauce. good combi. If I were to eat the foie gras by itself, the taste would be not as good. Together with the scallop.. Perfect. 🙂

Now, for the finale, the BEST dish (in my opinion) is their Cha Soba. I have tried many Cha Soba in Malaysia… This is definitely my favourite. Noddle is nice and cold without being placed on ice (hate that as it makes the noodle wet and dilutes the sauce). The sauce is really good (not to salty) with heaps of sesame and spring onions !!

Overall, I had a GREAT valentine day.

This is our FIRST valentine’s day as husband and wife… 🙂

Hub Hub !! I can’t wait for the many many more we will celebrate in future !!! Thanks dear.