Summer Evening

On a balmy summer evening, I took our dinner to the garden, we listened to the calming trickles of the water flowing from the fountain and the mockingbird singing on the tree, while the sun goes down in our bubbles... cheers! 

Mediterranean Pasta

... made of shell pasta, tuna, capers, cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper, lots and lots of garlic and a generous drizzle of olive oil. Yum!

Baked Croque Monsieur

These are bread rolls buttered on both sides, ham in the middle, sprinkled generously with mozzarella cheese and then drizzled with bechamel sauce.  

On to a 350-degree pre-heated oven until they turn golden brown.

Hainan Chicken Rice

Ready in less than an hour!  Just four cups of rice, four cups of water, a tablespoon bouillon, thinly sliced ginger, a little bit of salt topped with boneless skinless chicken thighs and green onions on a pot boiled on low fire.

For the dipping sauce, I used thai chili sauce, soy sauce + juice of one lemon and sesame sauce + ginger.

Lavender

The smell of Provence on our doorstep...

Beef Wrap

Garlic-marinated grilled beef with  tzatsiki or kashk bademjan wrapped in sun-dried tomato basil wrap.

On the 4th of July

A 4th of July early evening BBQ supper outside. Steak, asparagus, potatoes, peaches and glasses of refreshing sip... berry juice with floating blueberries for the Little Guy and French rosé wine for the grown-ups.

 

Grilled Snapper

... marinated in ponzu sauce, sprinkled with salt and pepper, then topped withs sliced lemon and fresh oregano from the garden is what we had for dinner on a lovely summer evening.

Beach Day

It's a beautiful day, in the high 70s, so we ventured out to the beach to play in the sand, soak up some rays with the scent of salt water and had a fun summer morning.

Lunch and Movie Date

Our office closes at noon before a major holiday so today husband and I went for lunch and movie date at The Americana in Glendale.  Lunch was at Din Tai Fung and  movie was "Me Before You"... a beautiful movie, but sad, very sad.

Have a great long weekend everyone!

Picnic in the Garden

Watermelon, peaches, strawberries and ice cream for our lazy afternoon picnic in the garden.

Le Procope

Founded in 1686, this is the oldest café in Paris and the world’s first literary cafe – where Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo and La Fontaine used to meet.  At the entrance, on a glass case, is Napoleon Bonaparte’s hat.  Legend has it that it was left as a collateral for the bill he could not pay.

On the table: 

• Royal Procope which is a platter of oysters, clams, prawns, crab, langoustines, whelks and shrimps
• Calf’s Head Casserole, 1686-style

Food was great.  Oysters were ultra fresh.  Atmosphere was lovely.  Definitely worth a visit!

Back at the Eiffel Tower

Little Guy was asleep when we went to the Eiffel Tower the day before.  So we tried one more time.  He was awake and excited while we were walking to St. Lazare station, but then halfway to Havre-Caumartin he started to drowse off.  It was a very looong walk so by the time we got  to the  train platform, he was asleep and was totally knocked out when we hopped off at the Trocadero station. Despite that, we still managed to capture some nice shots…

Boating

While at La Flotille, we saw couples, families and a group of teenagers hopping onto the boats. 

Growing up, it was our favorite past time during nap time… sneaking on the boat of our neighbor. So when husband said, “it looks like fun.”  I said, “let’s do it.”

So now we’re in the middle of the lake trying to figure out how to maneuver the boat.  Should we paddle to the left? Should we paddle to the right? Should we paddle together?

Then the rain came pouring down -- goodness gracious! We tried so hard to paddle toward the edge of the lake.  Then I hopped off, ran to the station, told the crew while pointing to my husband, “he needs to be rescued.”  LOL!

La Flottille

What a perfect place to spend a lovely afternoon in Versailles.

Château Versailles

A UNESCO World Heritage site visited by 7 million tourists a year, the opulent estate of King Louis XIV, used to be the envy of other European monarchs, is the greatest and grandest of them all.

We’re not here to visit the palace, we’ve seen it before. What we would like to see this time around is the Queen's Hamlet near the Petit Trianon which unfortunately was closed for lunch break when we got there. So we walked back to the tram and then got  off at The Grand Canal.

Off to Versailles

Little Guy was taking a nap, or most likely asleep and still in Los Angeles time zone, so we carried him to mom’s room and then off we go to St. Lazare station.  Took the metro to Invalides then hop on RER C to Château / Rive-Gauche.

Picnic at the Hotel

We shopped at Carrefour for our little picnic at the hotel -- wine, cheese, baguette, duck mousse and apricot sauce.