Trip to Paris & London I

Good times end fast, and always seems not quite enough.... Finally I am home after 2 week holidays and yet I still have got some 'Regrets'. There so many things to do at home after a long trip on top of that my helper was still not back from Indonesia. I know this is going to be a long post so I plan to split them into two for both London and Paris. I am supposed this will take me a long time to complete each post, so do be patient with me.....

  Wish I could complete all the visits in my list. Hoping my next one will allows me to complete them all. It was a lot of walking during the whole trip and yet I think I could walk some more!! hahah... Not enough simply not enough! My son cried on the day we left our apartment in London, and told the daddy he'd want stay for few more days...

My boy enjoyed strolling in the park and bring some bread and nuts to feed the ducks and birds and squirrels there. He came to me and said : '' I love this park mama, I want to stay here for long long time.'' How I wish we could.... St. James's park is the park he visited for both his trips to London, and indeed the place is so calming and the beautiful weather at this time of the year is perfect to walk around, relax and have a picnic. This is something we simply wouldn't able to enjoy in Singapore. I could barely step out of our house to expose to the scorching hot sun, not to mention about picnic!!

I was having my Chausson a pommes and Mr. Squirrel would like to share some! How cute. One of them even crawled up to my hubby's jeans hoping to get some food. Think they are a bunch of friendly squirrels.

During the stay in London, we rented an apartment so we get to have home cooked food on some days, as my little one needs to have that! I really enjoyed the stay and will always go back for it if I happen to go again. We are very blessed to have Paul just right outside our apartment, so we get to have nice bread and bakes every day. In total, I had 16 Chausson A Pommes / Apple turn over throughout my two week holidays. The highest record was 3 in one day while I was in Paris! Crazy right??!

 It's Chausson Pommes again... and this time I have a new found love, Chounquette. The simple taste of these little choux just so good that I could finish at least 5 at one go. I thought I would put on some weight after the trip, however not, I lost instead. Till now, I am still craving for them.

Harrods

 

 

                                                               I was wondering who would actually buy these spicy and hot jams.

 I was trying my best to take better photos while in the store, however there were always people walking around and these are the best shots I could get. Of course how could a famous store runs without many customers? I was only interested to be around the Food Hall area and I love this castle cake displayed at the patisserie section.

Many tourists for sure would end up buying short breads and biscuits from Harrods, and I did the same too. I wouldn't go for the normal shortbread as I know there are better ones somewhere else. So I picked up a tin of Clotted Cream All Butter Biscuits. I know this sounded very sinful, as the usual butter shortbread is already fattening enough, and yet now I am having one with clotted cream. But I guess being sinful once in a long long time it is quite fine with me. I would strongly recommend this if you ever come by. Simply so buttery and rich, I love the real taste of butter in biscuits.

Whole Food Market

A supermarket that sell most stuff that are organic. It is located at High Street Kensington which just a tube stop away from Gloucester road where we stayed. Their prices are pretty reasonable compared to Singapore. I ever bought a jar of organic peanut butter that cost me $10, and I could get the same peanut butter over there for just 2 pounds! I was at the dairy section and I saw these eggs beautiful eggs therefore I took some pictures... I love the colour called egg shell blue and finally I got to see the real blue eggs! Wonder could I find them in Singapore?

My boy was fascinated by these gigantic ostrich eggs...I guess the people there must have found us very 'Mountain turtles'!! ( country pumpkins)

Cafés , Fortnum & Mason, Covent Graden ; La Duree!

 One of the famous café recommended on many travel guides, which I found it by chance while I was doing shopping alone along Regent street. I am supposed it is an Italian café by looking at the desserts served on the menu as well as the name of the café. I didn't have time to sit in and have a try though. Many people would stop by and take some pictures of it just like what I did.

   They have beautiful Gelatos too!!

I guess this is not the right time to take a picture of this store. Fortnum and Mason, a place where the Queen shop! Went in there and got some teas as I heard they have a Royal Blend which is quite good....

 A very old market in London and it's an interesting place to be during weekends. They have all kinds of activities going on and the place was really flooded with people. We saw this 'Dog' busker along the street and I really find it a clever idea from the usual ones we see. My son thought ti was really a dog!

Well, guess what I found next?! It's La Duree in London Covent Garden!!!! The very immediate thing I did was went into the shop and bought myself some macaroons. It was packed with tea timers and we had lots to do than sitting down for tea. So I was happy to just have some of my favourite macaroons to go.

 

YOu will be spilt by the choice of these pretty macaroons. SImply counldn't decide which to get. So I stick to the usual and popular ones. And the lady told me rose and cream is the best seller.

Aren't the cakes are so tempting??

From the left: Caramel and Salt, Green Apple, Vanilla and cream, Chocolate, Coffee and Rose with cream

 The hall at the basement selling food and many other stuff. I spotted the Spanish seafood rice and that was our tea!

As Covent Grade is very near to China Town, we walked there to try the 'World Best Roast Duck Rice'.

The popular Chinese restaurant , Four Seasons which many people know about. They have three branches in London , two in China Town and one at Bays Water. All these years I have only tried the one at Bays Water and I just got to know they have new branches in China Town, and was told the one in Chinatown supposed to be better. I love the duck since my first try and would always think about it whenever I crave for roast duck. The sauce is simply so good that I think it's the key to the dish, and of course the duck skin is also to die for. It's so crispy and I wouldn't think too hard for the oily or fattening matter. Just eat!! If anyone of you is going, please try it. Unless you are afraid of getting addicted!

A beautiful patisserie- Valerie. Very pretty cakes and pastries displayed in the windows, and all of them are so tempting..... 

This is a heaven to all cooks and bakers! Divertimenti, a shop that has everything for baking and cooking. It's like William Sonomas in the States, but this has got more in details. It's so amazing, I love this shop!! The shop is along Cromptom road or you take a tube to Knights bridge and turn left walking down Cromptom road. They have another shop near Regent's Park too.

Potobello Market &  Holland Park

I love the feeling walking along Potobello Market during the cooling season. It's so relaxing to be around there though it could be crowded at some days where there are lots of stalls up for business. Since I like most of the retro stuff this is quite a right place to be. There are shops selling tea sets, China, antiques, meat, vegetable..... basically they have everything! Even you have nothing to buy just walk along the street and you will find so many interesting things around you.

 

 

Look what I've found!!! It's The Hummingbird bakery! I read about this cook book on Homes and Gardens magazines sometimes ago, and was tempted to buy the recipe book. Now I managed to find their shop and tasted their cakes as well. If you wanna know how the cuppies taste? I would say... ok. Nothing really fantastic that I would go back for more. I just find the cuppies are little too sweet for me and the taste has nothing much to talk about. However, the texture for the cake crumb was quite good tough. I bought the carrot cake and red velvet, and red velvet supposed to be their best selling cake.

Vanilla cake.                                                                    Carrot cake and Red Velvet.

 Aren't they pretty??

I was looking for a kitchen shop named summerill  & bishop to get a my French wire rack. I was lucky enough to buy the last piece left in the shop! I wish I could lug back many more other stuff , but.... I love the shop as they are my kind of things I would love to have in my kitchen. If you check out their website, you will know what I mean.

Summerill and Bishop is located near Holland Park. Along the way from the tube station, you will find Paul, Patisserie Valerie and Ligate Organic butchery and dairy shop. Of course they are many more shops but those were the three that caught my attention.

Right after Holland Park, we headed for Fifteen hoping to see Jamie Oliver. ahaha.. of course we didn't, but we enjoyed our lunch though!! 

 These are really good. Hubby's grilled steak with rockets, beef and pork ragu with pasta and green minestrone soup! I am sure many people would find the soup looks yucky, but it's one of the best and healthy soup I ever had!

Fifteen  is near to Old Street tube station. It's less than 10 minutes walk from the station.


After our lunch we took a tube to Borough market ( London Bridge station)which is just 3 stops away from Old Street . I had a good time walking around the market and we bought  live lobster back to our apartment to bake grilled cheese lobster for dinner!

Borough Market

A dairy stall selling fresh butters. They have both English and French. The big dome shape like are fresh butter. I wasn't very sure whether to buy some to try, so I ended up buying a churn of French butter just to be safe.

Well, I guess that is about all my London food experience, and something I must share with everyone in Singapore. The best milk I always love - Jersey creamy milk! I love every drop of it, especially with my tea. It's so rich and thick that the milk fat actually stayed on the side of the bottle whenever it's moved. The colour of the milk is yellowish and from there you would know it's super rich and yum !

Meanwhile, I am planning for my boy's birthday party, so I may take a longer time to complete my post about Paris, do stay with me!