The beauty of Chenonceau, a chateau with a colourful history

 The chateau de Chenonceau is among the prettiest of castles in the French Loire Valley because it has the particularity of being perched over the river Cher (called enjambant in French). It was once the residence of Diane de Poitiers, favourite mistress to Henry II, who oversaw the project to improve and expand the chateau's structure and gardens. However, the king's demise saw the poor Diane chased out of the castle by the then queen Catherine of Medici and regent to the throne. Catherine did further improvements with her italian taste and the rest was history. the two sides of the gardens still reflect the different tastes of the two women today...

the entrance by the moat

Christmas is always a good time to visit chateaux because they could be decorated for the festive season. Above a decorated tree in the ticketing office. https://www.chenonceau.com/chateau-renaissance/histoire/ 

A long avenue of trees leading to the main gate of the chateau...

a pair of seraphines guard the entrance...

row of christmas lit trees leading to the main entrance

the weather was morn and chilly - at minus 1 degrees with wet winds

one needs to cross a bridge over the river to access to the entrance

the bridge overlooking the Cher river

very nice indeed

the entrance hall with typical vaulted gothic ceilings

view from the garden

some italian sense of aesthetics from the Medici influence?

the vast symmetrical garden a la francaise by Diane de Poitiers

the hallmark of Chenonceau - the bridge-structured foundation

the wilder gardens of Catherine of Medici

Traditional Chinese fares in Raub

In the once almost forgotten gold-mining village in Raub called Bukit Koman, there are 2 existing traditional Chinese cake makers that still survive thanks to the spurt in local tourism in recent years and of course, it didn't hurt that they got featured in TV and YouTube makan-makan shows. Well, now they are mostly fuelled in parts by the durian economy as a by product of durian tourism. One particular one called Chop Yoon Thye was the go to brand in Raub when we were children and recently, I made a stop to get some more "rustic" moon cakes after having had those fancy city ones ad nauseum with too much untraditional flavours and colours not to mention a few. These days, buying moon cakes is more like buying a fancy box with a few fancy moon cakes thrown in as a gift. Too much commercialisation of a traditional event I think...

 Well they updated the packaging to go with the packs - used to be rolled in a cylindrical packaging of white glassine paper with a red label.

 Modern packaging but at least the moon cakes still taste "traditional" a.k.a rustic. A good substitute to wean off the commercialized products in the city.

 The lady of the house. It was her husband's grand papa's recipe that we are having here...

 House speciality: a rather soft and chewy glutinous rice cake

 Outside the shop, they sell traditional fares like dumplings, "chien loong pau" (meaning pan-fried pau) and "ham chien piang" (meaning salted fried bun). All as hakka as can get...

 Even more - traditional Chinese cakes known as "char kor" (meaning tea cakes). The yellow ones are of mung bean paste filling and the redones red bean paste filling. The green one is called a "chit chang kau" or 7-layered cake.

 The dark one on the left is a "chu-yap pan" or herbal leaf cake. Seasonal.

 White one is always made of radish and dried prawn filling. All these cakes are made of glutinous rice flour skin, sit on a piece on Jack fruit leaf (never banana which is the hallmark of Malay cakes) and steamed.

Finally, the bane of my childhood: steamed egg cakes.

Our annual pre-Christmas dinner with friends...

A forthnight ago, a few days before Christmas, we organized a dinner with friends chez moi, comme d'habitude...

The menu was inspired by some of my previous experience in France...

petite entrée 1

terrine de porc, sauce balsamique, pain grillé

pork terrine, balsamic reduction, toast

petite entrée 2

pomme de terre à la vapeur, beurre truffé

steamed potatoes, truffle-infused butter

petite entrée 3

fleur de courgette, frite

fried zucchini flower

petite entrée 4

crème de champignon d’automne, feuilletée

autumn mushroom cream on puff pastry

*     *     *     *     *

Soupe

soupe de fèves aux chips de bacon, garnie de ciboulette et crème fraiche, croûtons aux herbes de provence

broad bean soup with bacon chips, garnished with chives and sour cream, croutons flavoured with herbes de provence

*     *     *     *     *

entrée principale

poitrine de porc au vin blanc, legumes provençales, sauce aux pommes

pork belly in white wine, provencal vegetable stew, apple sauce

*     *     *     *     *

fromage

Brie, salade de tomates cerises et du jardin au vinaigrette

Brie, served with cherry tomato gems and garden salad, dressed in vinaigrette

*     *     *     *     *

dessert

fruit cake de noël, sirop d’orange, chantilly au parfum de fleur d’orangier

Christmas fruit cake, orange syrup, chantilly with orange flower blossom

*     *     *     *     *

sélection de thé exceptionnel,

chocolat

selection of exceptional teas,

chocolate

A recent (not so recent) art show in KL

Last year's art show at MARTRADE (couldn't make it this year)... and some of my pick...

A photo op with the artist...

and some friends...