Thursday 15 March 2007

Little treats from Paris, and my inedible stash

Although I live only an hour away from Paris by train, or 3 hours by car, I only go there when I have a reason to, and not when I have an excuse. I do have a very dear friend - a fellow Singaporean and the only Sindhi I've ever known - living in Paris, meeting up with whom can only cheer me up, but we'd been living all our lives apart, and have gone on very well with life without having to meet regularly, so as callous as this sounds, she's an excuse to go to Paris. The last time I made it to Paris, it was in October last year, and I needed Sonu Nigam's concert to coax me there. No offence to my friend, but Sonu Nigam is a reason. :)

Fortunately, my hubby goes there once a month on average, and it so happens that Paris' "Little Jaffna" is just behind the station where he boards the train back to Lille, so almost invariably, that would be his last stop, be it to catch a bite or to run an errand for me. Whenever my stock of Hindi films runs low, I'll give him a wish list. He then turns it over to the DVD-wala, who scurries off to look for my films. I'm seldom disappointed, but in general, I prefer browsing personally.

When he went there on Wednesday, I didn't even draft a list, as I had been behind on my films and my stash was still bountiful. Nonetheless, he came back with these, awwww.. : (click on photo to see titles)


He also brought back these macarons from Ladurée despite my protests, and my unabashed claims of "Why pay people when I can make these at home for nut-Hing!". :) Well, as a matter of fact, I had a macaron phase about 3 years ago and managed to make assorted macarons that my mother-in-law more than approved of (that means a lot to me, seeing what a good cook she is!), but a phase is a phase, and after I realised how easy they were to accomplish, I got bored. I guess I used to make them often not because I liked how they tasted, but merely for their reputation of being difficult to make, which is unjustified. :-P

The ones in black are liquorice-flavoured, and so far, the only ones I've tried. I don't know what the other flavours are as yet. I will of course make macarons one of these days for this blog, but I'll need to decide on a flavour! I don't normally like liquorice candy, but I find liquorice in desserts highly fascinating. I have made liquorice crèmes brûlées a couple of times in the past, but again, that was a phase, and grating liquorice bark can be a noisy affair!

The following photo is not in the right chronological order, but shows some of my other treats from Little Jaffna:

Not surprisingly, when it's my hubby who buys them, he gets fleeced of chutney or chilli!

I don't usually blog about stuff that I didn't make myself, so this post will be relatively short. However, I thought it necessary to showcase my entire Bollywood DVD collection and conduct a poll while I'm at it!


Again, if you click on the photo, you will see the titles very clearly. (Krrish, Dhoom 2, Umrao Jaan 1981 and Malamaal Weekly are not pictured, and "La Famille Indienne" is the French title for Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham). The stack on the left holds the DVDs I have yet to watch.

Poll: What are some of the worst movies you've watched so far? They don't necessarily have to be Desi films, so I'd like to know! For me, from this stack, the TOP 5 films I really shouldn't have bought are:

Taal
Biwi No.1
Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge
Shabd
Fiza

14 comments:

eastcoastlife said...

Wow! So many Hindi films!

I love to watch movies - mainly English and Mandarin ones. I sometimes watch Hindi films for the dances and songs. Makes me want to get up and dance though.

I hate blue films. Oh... are they not considered the worse movies....hehe...

My worse movies are after watching them, I don't know what it was all about - like HK director Leong Kar Wai's movies. Some made me look stupid spending money on them. I shan't list them as there are plenty!

Shilpa said...

Dear ECL, you interested in "inheriting" some of these?? :) If I have so many, it's because I am a hoarder!

What Hindi films have you watched recently? Yah, some of the dancing is really cool to watch! Not very adept at imitating, though! :)

Yes, I agree, blue films are lame, and it's not as if I've watched any in full! They're always so exaggerated, it becomes comical! :)

I don't know if Leong Kar Wai directed 2046 (watched it only because of that cutie Takuya Kimura), but I had no clue what it was about!

eastcoastlife said...

Shilpa, you've been tagged! Go to my latest post for details. hehehe...

TNL said...

whoa girl....love that stack of dvd's! I really want to see some of the new and upcoming ones like Nishabd, Hattrick, Love Marriage...

Worst movies I have seen recently are:
(this is gonna be long)

No entry - bakwas # 1
rudraksh: UGH
Kisna: all hype, no substance
Chocolate: what the hell?
Bewafa: kya kachra!
Dosti: cheap crap
neal&nikki: don't even ask
Krishna Cottage: ??????
Boom: hindi movie at its WORST
Bride & prejudice: %$#***

that's it for now!

Enjoy your movies! let me know how nishabd was.

trupti

Mishmash ! said...

Shilpa, dont think I watch only Hollywood movies when I list out the worst movie I ever saw .coz thats the first thing it came to my mind. Its GERRY, starring Matt Damon,its regular movie but we finished watching it in less than 30 mts ,yes fast forward, there re only two actors and two of them walk thru a dessert without talking anything, except using some (bad) words in between !!!!

Shn

WokandSpoon said...

"Little Jaffna"? Is this around the Gare du Nord station? If so, I've had some nice Indian meals in that area!.

Shilpa said...

ECL, thanks for tagging me, lemme go rack my brains to find suitable candidiates! :)

Hi Trupti! Haha! You had difficulty finding just 5, huh? Me, too! I could go on and on about films, but for those in your list that I've aleady watched, I totally agree! No Entry = No Brainer (pity Salman Khan had to get involved!). Kisna - well, I did enjoy the scenery, but the story is crap. Kaun Warrior Poet?? What war did he fight?

I think Chocolate was modelled after The Usual Suspects, but didn't bother to buy the DVD. Bride & Prejudice - if there's Ash, it can't be good. She bugs me! If you watch Nishabd before I do, tell me about it! :) I can't decide what my next film will be! Baabul? (Actually I can't stand John Abraham, but my hubby bought the DVD knowing I love Salman)

Shilpa said...

Hi Mishmash, you know, it's crazy but I'm so out of touch with Hollywood I don't even know the film you mentioned! I know Matt Damon, though. I'm no puritan, but me too, I have a low tolerance of films with too much bad language!

Hi Wokandspoon, yes, exactly, it's the area behind Gare du Nord! :) I hear it's called Little Jaffna because most of the inhabitants and shopkeepers are Sri Lankans. Yep, they have some pretty decent authentic stuff at reasonable prices! Do you know the restaurant called Dishny (corner of rue de Cail)? Of all the restos I've eaten at in Little Jaffna, that's my favourite!

Bong Mom said...

Wow that's a whole lot of DVDs. I am jealous seeing your recent catch, your hubby is so sweet to get all of those

My Movie Watching has taken a dip after my daughter turned 2 :( Its funny but for the first 2 yrs after she was born I used to watch movies like a serial, everyday 20/25 minutes, and it would take me a week to see a movie :)

But now I hardly get time, its too much effort to wait for her to go to sleep and then come down for a movie.

I did watch "Guru" though and today I saw "Eklavya"

Did you know about the site http://www.bwcinema.com. Here you can watch movies online (they always have the latest), the quality is pretty good and if you hook your laptop to your TV its almost like a DVD. You have to pay but its not much

Mehul Mike Patel said...

kool blog!

I hope u have seen the following movies....

The holiday

Pursuit of Happyness

Eklavya

MP
http://www.indychai.com/

Unknown said...

Hi Shilpa,

I came across your blog from eastcoastlife (who is really quite a people aggregator herself) and found it pretty interesting. I love spicy curries and Indian food in general (especially Bryani) but sometimes the calories are a little scary. He he.... So what are you doing in Paris?

Shilpa said...

Hi Sandeepa, don't be envious, now I don't have any more storage space for all these DVDs, and yet can't bear to part with them either! ;-)

It's funny but unlike you, I've been watching more films after my son turned 2! :) But same here, I sometimes watch my films in 30-minute segments.

Thanks for the link! Yep, I've heard of it, but I'm an old-fashioned gal, still prefer watching films on TV instead of on a computer! :)

Shilpa said...

Hi Mike, sorry, I only have Eklavya, but have so many other "favourites" vying for my attention, so not sure what I'll watch next! I saw your profile, but am confused. Are you still in S'pore?

Hi Walter (cool insider), thanks for coming by! Tell me about it, man! Curries are good to eat, but a chore to make! :) ECL is a character, isn't she? Haha, am glad I got to know her, and will be meeting her very soon!

I'm not in Paris, but an hour away, in Lille. Am married to a Frenchman and have been living here since 2001. I work as a French to English translator in an internet security firm (it's called Netasq).

Anonymous said...

Hello,nice post thanks for sharing?. I just joined and I am going to catch up by reading for a while. I hope I can join in soon.