Zen Mama

Something about living in Paris inspires the chef in everyone. Not only have I started my own home-based cake and cupcakes business, I've also joined a group of 3 cooking mamas + 1 (me). 2 of the cooking mamas are fellow Asian women who moved to Paris with their European husbands and children. We met through a great group of Asian women who had been meeting socially once a month, and then we decided that this group was so meaningful to us that we volunteered to set up a Board, to keep the group going. We are now known as the Asian Women's Association of Paris (www.awa-paris.com), we have 80+ members and we keep growing with each new event. So, now back to my assignment! As part of this group of Cooking Mamas, we are supposed to try 2 new recipes/menus a month. My first assignment was Paris Bresse ( poulet de Bresse farci avec asperges ) or Stuffed Bresse chicken with asparagus. Recipe here:  http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Stuffed-Bresse-Chicken-with-Asparagus I only ...

Blogged about by a gourmet food lover with her own cooking blog. Thanks Eva!  http://baguslahandsedaptoo. wordpress.com/

My little business mentioned in Parisian Style blog: lourivka: Creamy time : "Depuis un moment déjà les cupcakes connaissent un succès fou. Les gourmandes que nous sommes chez Lourivka Chineuses de style n’ont pas manq..."

I was recently at a branch office of my bank on Avenue Emile Zola in the 15eme depositing a check, and I had a question about filling out the envelope so I went to the  acceuil (reception) desk. During this time, a French woman came into the small agence . When I turned around to go back to the ATM, she was just finishing up filling in her envelope and we both approached the ATM at the same time. She pushed in front of me brusquely saying that she was here first. I corrected her and said I was there before her, but whatever, I told her to go ahead and “ pas de soucis ” ( no worries). She continued to grumble, and I told her there was no need to be rude, I was already letting her go first. She told me to go back to my own country. I said: “yes, you French are all racist (not that I meant ALL French, of course, but people like her)” So she told me again to leave France. This is the 3rd time since arriving in Paris that I’ve been confronted by such direct racism in my...

My kids are spoiled. They have not only come to expect birthday parties each year -- they also have started to request the exact theme of the party and the design of the birthday cake that they want to have. So, this year, as Jean-Michel is about to turn 4 years old, he requested a dragon cake. But he loves dinosaurs as well. So, I made this dragon/dinosaur cake! After sharing this photo with a number of friends and acquaintances here, I've started to get orders for other children's birthday cakes! Why not? I can do something I love to do, and start a little business! Strangely enough, in the pastry and gourmet mecca of the world, there IS a shortage of places in Paris where one can find novelty cakes and cupcakes that Americans are used to. So, let's see where this may lead...

I can't believe it's been 1/1-2 years since we moved from Hong Kong to Paris! It's hard for me to answer the question: "So how do you like Paris?" Where can I start? It's a beautiful city, and I've met a diverse group of people from all over the world, mainly tapping into the local, international community through our children's bi-lingual international school, and through a group of Asian women living here. But, as anyone who lives or has lived in Paris before, life here comes with its frustrations...

Hard to believe, it's been 9 months already! Jean-Michel is now a crawling, babbling, very loveable and cuddly baby, wanting to pull himself up to stand every chance he gets. He admires his brother Alexandre to no end. Every time he hears big brother's voice, he turns to scoot that way. Not quick on the dental development side of things, he has two little teeth on the bottom gums and 2 more just erupted on the top. EVERYTHING he picks up has to go into his mouth. Loves: looking through his little books, and tapping on his little drums, bathtime, a dip in the swimming pool, crawling and standing everywhere. I take him to Kindermusik once a week, and he seems to love clapping to music or falling asleep to it. So far, he sleeps quite well through the night, with the exception of the times he's been teething, or a little sick. And, maybe it's wishful hearing, but I swear he says "baba", "mama", and "dada" in all different ways. So far, he has s...

Jean-Michel turned 5 months this past week! Here he is smiling away... He's a sweetie. Alexandre has sort of gotten used to having a little brother around. It's your typical love/hate relationship. Developmentally, it's been an amusing time! A typical moment with Alexandre: I put down my bag on the hood of the car parked next to ours to get Alexandre out of his car seat, and as I was holding him in my arms while picking up my bag, he said: "Mommy, you put your bag on somebody else car?!" Me: "Yes, honey, just for a little while so I could get you out of the car." Alexandre: "Mommy, that's no good!" Hmm... What do you say to that? Jean-Michel is getting quite good at pushing himself up, and is just about to start turning onto his side. Whenever his big bro Alexandre is around, he just can't keep his eyes of of him! It's as if he's studying Alexandre's every move. He's a fiesty little one too. Smiles alot, but also will re...

What a lovely way to break into nursery... feeding rabbits outside, and making your own bread inside. Today, Alexandre started his 1st day at Highgate House School. As is tradition with all 1st timers, the school allowed parents to sit in during the 3 hour morning session. We only lasted 2-1/2 hrs, because Alexandre started to get tired... so next week, we'll probably just have him stay for 2 to 2-1/2 hours, and gradually build up to the full 3-hour session. With rabbits, slides and a garden to play in outdoors, plenty of free play and activities to choose from, he seemed to really enjoy his time there. Next week is the real test, when I leave him there with the teachers and other kids. He seemed to be happy to play independently, with me in sight. Knowing him, he should be fine even without me in sight, as long as he is around other kids and has activities aplenty! He was especially pleased with himself when one of the teachers handed him a paper bag with his freshly baked bread ...

So, Alexandre turned 19 months yesterday on the 24th of May. All they say about toddlers his age running around with no sense of boundaries is true. We've been walking to a park nearby my brother's house, where there are two baseball pitches and lots of green grass. Once he steps down from his stroller, he's like a wind-up toy which keeps running and running and running... He's also started using some new words over the past few days -- While I was buckling him up in his car seat, he said "Keys" when he wanted the car keys in order to push the red panic button which sets the car alarm off. Over dinner the other night, he was so excited to have rice that he kept repeating the word "rice" (with an "SH" sound at the end, over and over again... Tang's family has two Labs, Daley and Kikko, who have become Alexandre's best friends. Especially Daley, the older golden Lab, who's a bit calmer. In return for Alexandre dropping him food fr...

It has now been about 12 days since I officially became a full time, "professional mom"... We kicked off our round-the-world major tour on May 10th, starting off in my hometown of Chicago (well, we're actually staying where my brother lives now, in Des Plaines, which is a suburb of Chi-town, with a population just over 59,000). With my brother and sister, Bertrand and Alexandre, my Aunt Sau Fong, Uncle Kam and Aunt Betsy, we brought some flowers to my Dad's grave on Saturday May 13th. It's hard to believe a whole year has passed since we were last there watching his remains being laid to rest. Bertrand was with us till Sunday, the 14th when he left for London. Between the jet lag and the erratic weather (from 72degrees F one day to 40 degrees and rainy the next), Alexandre and I inevitably came down with the sniffles. We're staying with my brother, who has 10 year old and 15 year old sons, a golden Lab named Daley and a black Lab named Kikko. Alexandre took to...

Here's Alexandre sitting contentedly on the steps at the Musee D'Orsay... one of our only outings in Paris over our Christmas/New Year's holiday aside from visiting family and friends. He was just having fun running along the corridors, surrounded by sculptures and beautiful works of art which he will hopefully one day learn to appreciate!

Tuesday, December 6, 2005 I can’t believe another Christmas is coming soon! We’re going to Paris for Christmas, with Alexandre. The flight should be interesting… I haven’t traveled with him since he started walking! Alexandre’s starting to really show that he understands more things each day. He’s been mimicking me for a few weeks now… when I point my index finger at him in the stereotypical parenty way while saying “no” if he’s sticking his hands into something he shouldn’t, he stops and sticks out his index finger and makes an "ahh ahh ahh" sound as if he’s saying “no” as well!!! How about that for cheeky!? Even if I just say “no” without the gesture, he makes the gesture for me! Then, he gives me a cheeky six-toothed smile… which makes me want to laugh out loud. But then, I try to resist or else I know he won’t take me seriously when I say no. This weekend, he showed that he’s starting to learn some of the baby signs that we’ve been trying to teach him also! I think we sta...

Tuesday, November 8, 2005 So, just a couple weeks ago, mid-October, he was starting to take his first few tentative steps… By his birthday, Oct. 24th, he was still doing more crawling than walking. And even when walking he liked to be aided by one hand. He was walking around with his arms up in front of him, his shoulders scrunched up a little, and his hands sort of dangling down… a little bit like a sleepwalker but with a smile on his face! In the past few days, walking (well, actually, waddling) has almost completely overtaken crawling… He’s talking much more and, with his inflections, he sounds like he’s having a mini conversation. I think he’s learned to mimic our “what’s that?” And “What’s This?” when we point things out to him… because now, if he’s being pushed in a stroller, or just walking around, he’ll point to something and say “Dat?” “Dis?” or “Da?” It’s really such a marvel to watch him grow and develop each day. He barely plays with all the toys he received as birthday gi...

Sunday, October 16, 2005 Alexandre grows stronger and stronger each day! In the past few days, he’s started to take a few steps on his own!! He does it slowly, tentatively, by keeping one hand on the bed, sofa, or whatever he’s been holding onto… while reaching forward towards me, then, very quickly shuffling his two feet one in front of the other, while his arms are spread out as if he’s using them to keep his balance. When he does this, his facial expression (open mouth, a tense smile, and laughing at the same time) reveals the combination of fear and excitement he has at being able to move on his feet without holding onto something. But, while he’s still not completely confident about walking on his own, he walks really fast while grasping onto one of your hands now, instead of two. This has only happened in the past few days, and you can feel him cruising ahead. It feels like if I let go, he’ll just keep going… but not quite yet! When he wants to get somewhere on his own, and quick...

Alexandre now has four little teeth , with a couple more on the way soon. Why does Nature have to make teething such a painful ordeal for our poor little ones? Alexandre’s been pretty good about his teething so far (no fever, etc…) but he had a tough night last Saturday (Aug. 27) when his two upper middle teeth cut thru his sore gums. This little kid cracks me up… he has developed a very mischievous laugh nowadays ( how do they learn this ?). He’s already learned the art of letting out a short, clipped laugh when he wants to get your attention, or in response to my saying “no” when he is about to do something he’s not supposed to do (like licking the walls)! [That’s the look in the photo you see here] First time parents like me often torment ourselves thinking about ways to keep our infants stimulated and how to help them along with their development. But, you realize that, at this age, almost anything can occupy their time… For example, when he finds an open drawer full of clothes, or...

Alexandre turned 10 months on the 24th of August, and it seems as if he's always been in our lives. Each day, when I arrive home, he hears the door open and crawls quickly towards me, with his hands loudly pitter-pattering away across the living room floor. Then he stops at my feet, sits back on his knees and, with a beaming smile, he reaches his arms up to be swept up into my arms. At that very moment, everything else melts away and my heart surges with joy. Lately, he's been doing laps around the apartment on his hands and knees, pulling himself on everything he can reach. He's fascinated by drawers, doors and cabinet doors of all kinds. But -- a true sign that we're living in the 21st century -- the mobile phone (or my Blackberry) wins hands down! With an intent look on his face, he will sit with a mobile phone (or any cordless phone at home) and explore every button and crevice of it as if he's trying to dissect it... Then, there's Kleenex !! He's pass...