Ile de la Cite, La Defense and Avenue Kleber

Paris, 29 June 10.30pm

Once the rain cleared I walked to Ile de la Cite and past Notre Dame. As a 15 year old I climbed the stairs to the top of Notre Dame and then climbed out onto the roof and stood holding onto one of the metal spires at the top. Somewhere I have a photo of this. These days the roof is surrounded in razor wire.

Later on today I was told that the best icecream in Paris is to be found nearby. Shame I didn't know that at 10am this morning.

My first real adventure of the day was catching Le Metro, by myself. I was to meet some colleagues at our offices in La Defense the (mini) skyscraper district to the West of central Paris.

The centrepiece of La Defense is the Grande Arche, an enormous marble square-shaped arch which was extremely difficult to photograph up close. Think ultra modern Arc de Triomphe.

With unpredictable Paris traffic I was advised to take the Metro. Too Easy. After lunch I was advised that the quickest way to get to our other offices near the Arc de Triomphe was by RER - the high speed express Metro. Am now officially adept at Le Metro. It took 15 minutes to get from La Defense to our meeting place via two metro lines, a trip which may have taken 30 minutes by taxi in lunchtime traffic.

After our afternoon meeting we went to the Cafe Palais Royale in the 1er arrondissement for dinner. Driving down Rue St Honore I was disappointed that with late opening times I wouldn't get a chance to check out all the boutiques before I have to leave tomorrow morning.

Leaving the restaurant was still perfectly light at 10pm. It is now 10.30pm and twilight has just descended.

Tomorrow, the Musee D'Orsay and then off to our global seminar outside Paris.

Raining in Paris

Paris, 29 June 6.51am

Before I left home on Sunday night I briefly considered packing a small umbrella.

I now wish I had.

I have woken up to a rainy day in Paris which puts a hole in my plans to walk from my hotel in the Louvre-Le Halles district along the Rive Gauche past the Eiffel Tower and back over the Seine again to my meeting in the 16e arrondissement.

There is also a slight chill in the air so I am glad I have packed long sleeved shirts/trousers as well as my summer work dresses.

On the plus side I am able to open the windows in my tiny hotel room so I am sitting here at a tiny desk, looking out a large open window onto a side street with classic Parisienne apartments.

Update 9am

The rain has stopped and the sun is peaking through the clouds. Once I have finished preparing my presentations I'm hoping to go exploring for a couple of hours with my Beijing colleagues. My Middle East and Sub-continent colleagues don't arrive until later. I'm hoping to catch a look at the Musee D'Orsay.

J'arrive a Paris

Paris, 28 June, 9.45pm

No entry card to fill out, no customs to speak of. Welcome to Paris.

It has been 21 years and six months since my last visit. Staying in a little tourist hotel in the 1e arrondissement about 50m from the Comedie Francaise with Le Louvre within sight.

My colleagues from the Beijing office arrived earlier today but are already in Monmartre having dinner. Not hungry after 30 hours of travel so had a chocolat chaud at a cafe opposite the Comedie Francaise. Cost: 4.5 Euros. Yikes. If I just pretend that 1 Euro = 1AUD then I'll stop hyperventillating at the prices.

What's not to love about Paris? At 8.30pm there are people milling about everywhere; tourists having their photos taken in front of the glass pyramid at Le Louvre to locals and tourists eating at over-priced cafes. All the patrons waiting for their performance to start outside the Comedie Francaise were dressed in black and white. What was with that? Looked fabulous.

I have a meeting tomorrow. Have brought along a packet of Tim Tams for afternoon tea.

Not quite in Hong Kong

In transit at the airport.

I just know that you will all nash your teeth in envy when I say that I am on my way to Paris. For work, not play. I'll be back on Sunday hopefully with a photo or two.

Is it just me or is Hong Kong airport counter-intuitive? Perhaps you just have to have been here once before to get the system. I disembarked from my Qantas flight to find no simple explanation on how to find my way to the transit area or an airline lounge. It didn't help that I arrived at 5.30am local time and there was no-one at any of the information desks.

So I followed the time-honoured tradition of milling with the crowds until I worked out that I had to line up for another 30 mins to go through security, again. But find a lounge? Had to ring Firegazer in Sydney to look that up on the interweb. No clear signage.

Changi airport much better.

So here I am brushing up on my basic French phrases. Despite working for a French company I haven't managed to re-ignite my schoolgirl French.

I figure that I need to be competent in catching a taxi and finding my hotel. Alarmingly my phrase book notes that an important phrase to know when catching a taxi will be: S'il vous plait roulez plus lentement.

Please slow down.

Okay, wish me luck.

M's list of what she wanted to be when she was 12

Journalist

Spy

First female prime minister of Australia

Egyptologist

In which M attempts to curry favour with her children by baking MasterChef recipes

MasterChef is pretty popular with Clan EasternMax. So much so that our Screen-Free Weekday rule for Blossom and PL is broken for this show.

MasterChef is in fact the only show on television we can all agree on. Sure, it's a little hyped up and it grates on my nerves when the presenters try to eek out a dramatic story about the failure to correctly stuff a zucchini flower or pip a cherry. But if you pay attention to the cooking only then there is fun to be had - later that week when we try out the recipes.

Last weekend we made Pizza from scratch. Unlike the 1 hour allocated to MasterChef contestants it took two hours to prepare the pizza dough; and really, it could've done with another hour or so to prove. However, the result was DELICIOUS. I am now the proud owner of two terracotta tiles (cost: $2.20 each from Bunnings) on which we baked said pizzas - with a hygienic layer of baking paper just.in.case.of.I'm.not.sure.what.

Last weekend we were invited to one of those early dinners you have with friends who also have kids with the idea that you get home early, but still fail to get home before 10pm.

Anyway, I said I would bring Creme Brulee because I've been hankering to buy a blowtorch and finally I had the excuse to buy one. I should point out here that I had never made creme brulee before.

Here, courtesy of iPhone is the result.

The MasterChef recipe is excellent but don't believe the cooking time of 40 minutes. I had mine in the oven for about 55minutes and even after three hours in the fridge to set it was still only slightly thicker than thickened cream.

I've read online that the recipe needs about 1 1/2 hours in the oven. But still, it was YUM and the best part of course was using the blowtorch to caramelise the sugar. Everyone wanted a turn. I went with George's recommendation of a double crust of toffee which was well worth it.

But I couldn't settle for just one dessert. I needed a backup plan in case the Creme Brulee was a disaster. So I made Matt Moran's Frangipane Tart from the Masterclass on Friday night.

Above is Matt's styled version.

And here is mine, lovingly placed on Tupperware. In a fit of food pretentiousness I attempted to place a quenelle of cream on each plate which resulted in much giggling (from children) and scoffing (from adults). All was, however, delicious.

And unlike the creme brulee this recipe worked just.as.advertised.

Genealogy for Novels

This year our bookclub read The Legacy by Kirsten Tranter. Kirsten is a Sydney girl who spent quite a few years in New York and other parts of the US where she undertook a PhD in Renaissance Poetry.

At the Sydney Writers' Festival Fairlie and I saw Colm Toibin (my aide-memoir for the pronunciation is Column Toe-Bean) and Kirsten speak about how both of these books are a re-imagining of the story in this famous novel:

Which in turn is apparently a re-imagining of the story in this famous novel:

So what's a girl to do but consult the gurus at www.bookdepository.co.uk and have The Portrait of a Lady plus Middlemarch delivered to my door for a total combined cost of $10 with a plan to read them in their correct genealogical order.

Who knew books had relatives hidden in their past too?

Finished GFC Blanket/Knee Rug - thingy

It's more than a knee rug, yet not quite a blanket. It's a sort of snuggle up on the couch blanket. The main thing is it's finished! I sewed in all the ends yesterday and it has had its first official use.

It is made from the left over balls of yarn from other projects so, apart from my time, this project has cost me nothing (can you feel the smugness?)

The thing is, now I need a new project.

Twelve: The birthday questionnaire

Blossom is twelve today!

The Birthday Questionnaire

Years ago I started to ask Blossom a series of questions on her birthday with the hope that I'd keep them for posterity. However, like many of my ideas, I never followed through and have no idea where the other lists are. Now, at least, I can post this list to cyberspace where it will float for all eternity...

(for last year's questionnaire, see here)

How old are you? Twelve

What is your favourite colour? Silver

What is your favourite animal? Owl

What is your favourite food? Icecream and Avocado/Tomato/Hummus Bruschetta

What is your favourite drink? Banana Smoothie

What do you want to be when you grow up? Author

Where has been your favourite place to visit on Holidays? Vail

What are your favourite subjects at school? Sport and English

What subjects to you like the least at school? Maths and Spelling

Favourite book that you've finished reading? The Magic Thief

Favourite TV show/s? Masterchef and Big Time Rush

Favourite board game? Cluedo and Trivial Pursuit

Favourite songs? Replay, Fireflies, Break your Heart

What makes you giggle the most? Bad Jokes and my friends

If you could travel overseas where would you go? Skiing in France

What is your favourite car? Aston Martin, Ferrari and Audi

What is your favourite item of clothing? Scarves

Favourite Movie? Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

Favourite Sport? Skiing

Happy Birthday Blossom!!

Horror Builder Quotes: Reprise

Are you wondering whether the quotes are getting better? Perhaps the first quote was an anomaly produced by a drug-crazed builder for laughs?

It appears not.

Or perhaps more than one builder is out getting high and laughing at renovators.

We now have two more quotes in.

One of them is EVEN HIGHER. Way higher.

One of them is right.on.the.money.

The catch is that the one who is right.on.the.money can no longer do the job. He's too busy.

Of course he is, he's the only builder around charging reasonable rates.

Meanwhile, we here at Chez EasternMax are going back to the drawing board.

Next stop - a Quantity Surveyor. We wanted to get one involved earlier but were convinced not to by our architect because our job was so small it didn't warrant it. Ha. There are houses in Sydney cheaper than the quotes we've received. I can't imagine what she thinks a big job looks like.