Friday, November 25, 2011

Pamplemousses Garden - Birds

At Pamplemousses Garden one can see a large variety of birds and animals like deer, tortoise... and so many fish... but let's have a look at some of the birds...










Pamplemousses Garden - Flowers

I was having a look at my daughter's photos of Pamplemousses Botanical Garden in Mauritius and here are a few pictures of beautiful flowers...






Friday, November 18, 2011

On television...our favorite series

Autumn is a season where we tend to stay at home a little more, relaxing, enjoying a good book or a film or a game. We have opted for ADSL TV and our provider is Orange, the main French telephone operator. We currently have a package with TV+phone+internet. We added to this package a subscription to Orange Cinema Séries (12€ monthly) which adds a few interesting channels with recent series and films and which allows you to watch the programs on demand, very convenient indeed.
Anyway right now we are watching (just mum and dad) The Walking Dead, season 2, which is being aired from November 2011 on Orange Cinema Séries. The family enjoys M6 channel's The Good Wife and NCIS, TF1's channel Mentalist, France 2's series Castle. Then I must admit mum and girls like to watch Gilmore Girls from time to time, Malcolm in the Middle is a lot of fun for us! These are two old series but we just love the characters and it gives you a good laugh. This month we are also seeing a few John Ford westerns from Ciné Géant... which remind us of our 2007 trip to West USA, and this gorgeous visit of Monument Valley... So tonight let's take a hot chocolate and go for a film...




Thursday, November 17, 2011

Let's travel into space

I'm currently working on a translation about space and figured that's what I would post about today... direct from Hubble site, amazing pictures:

Dust around a super giant
 Light Echo  Illuminates Dust Around Supergiant Star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon)
Source: Hubblesite.org

Crab Nebula
Combined X-Ray and Optical Images of the Crab Nebula
Source: Hubblesite.org

Multiple generation of stars
The Hodge 301 Cluster: Multiple Generations of Stars in the Tarantula Nebula
Source: Hubblesite.org

mysteries...
NGC 6302
Source: Hubblesite.org

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Cécile de France

A few words about Cécile de France  (born in Belgium July 7, 1975)

A few years ago we had fun watching Around the World in 80 Days... where Cécile is Monique La Roche artist and young adventurous lady who follows Phileas Fogg and Passepartout round the world. Today Cécile de France is a brilliant and wonderful actress.

A few films:
Marie Lelay in Clint Eastwood's film Hereafter.
2011 films are "A Kid with a Bike" and "A Butterfly Kiss"
Coming next "Talk Show" and "A Chinese Puzzle"...

A few photos


"A Kid with a Bike"... Young actor is Thomas Doret


In "The Singer" with Gérard Depardieu

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Dal Makhani, ready to eat...

While I didn't stay in Munich long enough to see everything it had to offer, I transited through Hauptbahnhof train station almost everyday - my daughter and I stayed at Adagio Hotel for a few days and then she moved on to an apartment she shared with a musician in Laim. Anyway we went into a small ethnic shop in Hauptbahnhof  one day and decided to try some ready to serve Indian food.
As I opened my cupboard looking for some lunch, I found this Dal Makahni "Black Lentils in true Mughlai tradition"... Microwaved it and ended up eating this with some salad. It was a little spicy and main ingredients were black lentils and red kidney beans in it. Although it was warm and a good stew like of food, I would rather stick with my Mauritian lentils recipe that I love to eat as a thick soup.


Friday, November 4, 2011

Autumn on Appalachian Treks Website

I love autumn, strolling in the park, watching these gold and red leaves. It's so beautiful and it's a sight I never saw while in my little Mauritius island where we only have two seasons (but of course gorgeous flowers, sea etc., that's not the point.
Anyway walking with my kids when they were small as they would walk on the crunchy leaves in the forest or collect these beautiful leaves or chestnut pods. Simple treasures but yet such lovely memories. Rain or dull weather does not matter, autumn is a precious season. And I find Appalachian Treks website a beautiful place to take a look at autumn in the US, the site focuses on Tennessee, western Northern Carolina and southwest Virginia... I would love to visit.  Here's a screenshot of the website





Mini Pizzas...

I've decided to try making mini pizzas and they were just perfect as appetizers for a little dinner we had with some friends. In fact I didn't use pizza / bread dough but instead a pate brisée - shortcrust pastry. I made some tomato sauce that we call rougaille in Mauritius. Used a glass to make nice round mini pizzas, spread some tomato sauce, fried onion, sardines-pilchard and grated cheese.
One thing about sardines is that since I'm a child I've always loved eating sardines - usually with piment confi - small pickled chili! So simple and yet delicious!!!! Only problem as I was a kid is that I didn't know how to open the cans - at the time we needed a can opener and that was too hard for me... always had to rely on my mum to open my sardines can!