No stress please, we are Japanese!

A friend sent me this interesting piece of news from the BBC news website:

To read the entire article click here

My sympathies lie with the gentle, hopeless Japanese tourists! Personally I tend to think of the average Parisian as a time bomb just waiting to go off (preferably on you). Unfortunately my personal circumstances require that I spend a considerable amount of time in this cranky, PMS-stricken city, so here's some advice I can offer to those seeking a stress free sojourn:

• Just cruise through town in stealth mode and hope that the bomb will not hit you! (so far this method has proven quite effective and I am occasionally able not to think about the inhabitants and enjoy the city's views, which I admit are quite striking)

• Do not, under any circumstances, seek to interact or even make eye contact with the locals (just remember: they may snap anytime) and, most importantly, do not ask for directions if your French is anything less than fluent - it's just too risky...

• Another thing I do, which seems to fit well with the moral of the article, is to seek refuge in Japanese restaurants and oriental tea houses (luckily Paris has many such options). At least there I know I will get consistently polite service in a peaceful environment - but that may be taking your Zen principles just a little too far!

Don't be an "ideas killer"!!

Picture source: freeFoto.com

I recently came across a book called “Change the world 9 to 5” which is a directory of little things you can do which make a big difference to the world. I will not profess to go about implementing all of the book's recommended actions from now on, but this one particular entry stayed with me: "Don’t be an ideas killer"! I read this bit while nodding and forming a mental picture of my office as the perfect breeding ground for idea bounty hunters.

But there is no need to worry if your day job is not the optimal place to think, create & speak your mind: the same book recommends this really cool website called Halfbakery where you can go to canvass support for your wildest ideas – surely a great idea in itself!!!

Top 5 tea places in London and Paris

It's winter again... Being a creature from the tropics, I take little pleasure in this chilly and dark season. So what keeps me going during these frosty months? The prospect of occasionally seeing some sunshine (even if for 5 minutes) and, of course, tea - lots and lots of it!! Here are my top haunts in London and Paris:

London

The Lanesborough. £££

A special treat. High tea is served in this hotel's beautiful and light filled conservatory. Great variety of teas (they even have naturally caffeine free rooibos) and the usual trimmings (sandwiches, crumpets, scones, cakes and pastries - as much as you fancy or your diet allows!).

The Dorchester. £££

If you are a cucumber sandwich purist, this place is for you: they offer one of the best in town. And they spoil you so much I bet you can choose to have nothing but cucumber sandwiches with your tea if you like (yes please!). Did I mention their tea is also very good and generously served? On the downside, you have to book loads in advance.

Yauatcha. ££

The ground floor of this revolutionary dim sum restaurant doubles up as a tea house. They have a vast Chinese tea menu (including bubble tea for the pundits!) and you can opt for either dim sum style (venison puffs, char sui buns and green tea scones) or western (sandwiches, scones and their beautiful pastries) formulas to accompany your precious liquid.

The Wolseley. ££

Great value high tea in this beautiful grand cafe. If the choice of tea is rather limited (after all they are not just a tea house!), at least the sandwiches and usual trimmings are delicious. Good hot chocolate too. Worth mentioning that The Wolseley is a strong contender against Yauatcha for the best patisseries in town.

At home. £

The coziest option! You may want to jazz up your home brew with take-away cakes from one of these magical places:

Yauatcha (as before)
The Wolseley (as before)
The Hummingbird Bakery
Ottolenghi
Macaron
Laduree

Picture source: Laduree

Paris

Hyatt. €€€

Original tea menu in beautiful fire side lobby. Service is really attentive (it almost made me forget I was in Paris) and, for those of you with a developed sense of smell it may sound strange but this hotel has a fabulous and unique scent.

Mariage Freres. €€€

This is the tea lover's mother ship. Over 500 varieties of tea (which you can also take-away from their tea counter) brewed to quasi-pedantic perfection and served in a smoke free environment (for Paris this is progress indeed!). The food is also something to enthuse about.

Toraya €€

Heaven on earth for green tea aficionados. These guys know how to froth up a respectable cup of matcha! This is also one of the few places I know (along with Zuma in London) featuring Soba cha, a "tea" made from buckwheat and naturally caffeine free. The Japanese patisseries are well worth a try and so is the "matcha hot chocolate".

T'cha €€

T'CHA La Maison de Thé
6, rue du Pont de Lodi
75006, Paris
+ 33 (1) 43 29 61 31

In the absence of a decent dim sum spot in Paris, this place is the next best thing since you can find a small selection of steamed little parcels among their delectable savoury offerings. Many varieties of prime Chinese teas and as much hot water as you like to refill your teapot, that is, provided you can grab the staff's attention (service is friendly but a little slow).

Zen Zoo €

A Taiwanese tea house in Paris. They specialise in bubble tea (aka pearl tea, boba tea) and have as many different flavours as you can dream of (my favorite is black sesame). If you are well acquainted with this milky concoction then this is probably part of your hit list already. If not, go and find out!

A Few Good Chick Flicks

Winter special: here's a random list of movies that give us a warm fuzzy feeling and do not insult our brains!

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife

Picture source: www.lubitsch.com

An underrated Ernst Lubitsch gem marvelously played by Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper. It surprises me that this one is not as well known as The Shop Around the Corner and that it's not yet available on DVD! I love this line said by an inebriated Nicole (Colbert's character): "the caviar was too salty!" One to watch out for on those TCM reprises.

Grosse Pointe Blank

Picture source: www.imdb.com


This is more "prom-com" than rom-com but there are some great moments between Minnie Driver and John Cusack, plus an original screenplay, full of quotable cool one liners and a killer soundtrack. You actually don't need much convincing for this one because you just know Cusack rules in whatever he does, am I right (wink)?


How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days

This surprisingly good modern rom com, proves that following a formula can sometimes work, which it does here because: (1) the usual plot contrivances are discreetly "slotted in" so they do not hijack the movie, (2) there is a solid, smart script and (3) great chemistry between the leads Kate Hudson and "Matt" McConaughey. Speaking of formula, this is the one "Failure to Launch" should have used.

Picture source: www.imdb.com

Cold Comfort Farm

A great adaptation of Stella Gibbons's funny and spirited book. Kate Beckinsale gives us a memorable Flora Poste, a "do-gooder", bossy, sensible type.

No task is too great for Flora when it comes to reorganizing chaotic lives and instilling the "Higher Common Sense" into them. She sits somewhere between Emma Woodhouse and Amelie Poulain, in the indomitable-yet-comical heroine time line.

Picture source: www.imdb.com