On advance toujours

I didn’t plan on neglecting this blog for so long.

Tomorrow, Toronto.

After working for an entire year in Hong Kong, going back to the place where we fell in love and discovering Rome, tomorrow, finally- we’ll be going home. 

Out of the rain

We got the best welcome back to Paris today.

Sunshine.

Of our 96 hours in Rome, it rained about 93 hours. We arrived when it started to rain. It rained while we enthusiastically ventured out to all the famous landmarks and it rained while we slept. It rained while we drank our cappuccinos and ate our cornetti and it definitely rained while we were pizzaria hopping.

It stopped raining while we lined up for the security check to go into St. Peter’s Basilica but surely enough, when we exited the magnificent church, it rained once again.

The rain didn’t manage to dampen our spirits but it definitely dampened our ill-prepared feet.
It rained so much that the river rose about 14 meters above normal and made the evening news. We were thankful to see Rome and spend it with our friend, but damn, there was just so much rain!

We’re happy to be back in Paris, with sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. At least not today.

 

 

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South of Paris – Yssingeaux market

Two years ago, my dearest friend Aurelie took us to the market in Yssingeaux. It’s a tiny commune in the Haute Loire region of France, though compared to St. Bonnet le Froid, it’s the size of Texas.

There is just something so special about the Yssingeaux market. 

Yes

Bruce and I started our relationship a bit backwards.

We lived together from the start. We weren’t even good friends to begin with.

Actually, I barely liked him even before we met.

Yam’Tcha- an intimate dinner with an old Chef

Before we were us, I sent Bruce an email that he never lets me forget.

Back in September of 2011, while working at Marcon, I loved spending weekends in Paris. Especially since Lisa moved there and had a little apartment in the 9th arrondissement. We’d fit as many patisseries and boulangeries as we could in 48 hours. Sometimes, we would invite Bruce. 

Working in the industry, we all usually had Mondays and Tuesdays off. Bruce was working in Paris at the time, at a little restaurant called Yam’Tcha.

Happiness is a bike, friends & French pastry

I rarely biked when we lived in Paris. In fact, I had only biked once. It was an easy ride alongside the canal, late at night when the streets were practically deserted anyway. Without consciously realizing it, my fear of …

From bo lo bao to baguettes

We thought we lost one of our luggages. We waited nervously, and an extra half hour later it sputtered onto the conveyor belt with luggages from the next flight.

There was an electrical problem with the RER, so we had to take the bus into Paris. We waited 15 minutes to get our tickets refunded and 40 minutes for the bus. It rained. Once we got on the metro, it took all of our energy to move our luggages up and down stairs when there were no escalators. Even so, nothing could dampen our spirits today.

Paris, à demain!

Last night Bruce’s family treated us to an elaborate seafood meal to commemorate our departure.

Different kinds of steamed fish, mantis shrimp, regular shrimp, crab, abalone..it was truly a feast, and we were grateful to have shared that meal with them.

Bruce’s family have been so good to us the entire year- we can’t even begin to express our gratitude.

On the same note, we feel so lucky to have spent our last week in Hong Kong with our best friends Ben & Lisa.

We had a lot of fun taking them to our favourite hole-in-the-walls and showing them our HK. We had given them the “Best of” food tour, making sure we ate all our favourite dishes one last time.

It’s been a hectic few days as we’ve tried to organize the apartment, 8 suitcases between the 4 of us.

They’re packing for their next adventure in Japan and us, we’ll finally be going back to Paris tomorrow.

Having some extra time this past week has allowed me to really reflect on our year in HK.

It had been a tough year, no doubt. Workload aside, it was a huge culture shock for the both of us. Even a year later, I don’t feel as if I had fully adjusted to the fast-paced, intense, consumer-driven culture. But I look back and realize that we’ve had a year of invaluable lessons. Lessons in the kitchen and lessons about the kind of people we want to be.

We leave Hong Kong with absolutely no regrets, though there’s a good possibility we won’t be back for a long time. And that’s okay.

Tomorrow, we part ways with our best friends and the city that gave us a whole year’s worth of new experiences.

Tomorrow, Paris!

2013- The year of Hong Kong

Someone had said, the only time you should look back, is to see how far you’ve come.

Compared to 2011 and 2012, I’ve only done one major thing in 2013: I moved to Hong Kong.

I accepted a job at Joel Robuchon almost immediately, and there are few moments when I’ve really had time to look back.

2013 for Bruce and I had been about the both of us putting our heads down and just working.

The charming HK that’s portrayed in movies and photos… the exciting HK that everyone comes to know as travelers…we felt like we got to know it a little bit differently.

We found ourselves getting weary from our demanding work schedules and craving the glorious two days off when we worked in France. And the language? Incredibly stressful and alienating for me most of the time.

But in between the grind were moments that made the year absolutely unforgettable.

Little, magical moments were the ones we shared with visiting friends.

One of my oldest, and bestest friend, Tashane, was the first to visit. CNY with her in HK was surreal

Hanging out with Lily, another friend whom I’ve known forever

Eating froyo with Aimee, the sweetest girl whom I met at George Brown

reunited with Debbie, also an old friend whom I was more than happy to have back in my life

Drinking HK milk tea with my best friend Kerri, who visited HK for the first time

Catching up with Wendy & Steven, some of the most talented and coolest people we’ve been lucky enough to meet

Having an HK meal with our friends from France!

Ending 2013 and starting 2014 with the best people in the world- Ben & Lisa

It was humbling to meet Chef Robuchon in the flesh during his visits to the restaurant.

Chef Robuchon & I

We took a much needed break from HK and spent a few weeks in Vietnam, where I introduced my family to Bruce for the first time.

one of the many, many delicious meals we shared with my family in Vietnam

And the place that I truly called home in Hong Kong- the Robuchon kitchen.

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon HK

Salon de The de Joel Robuchon

I’m proud to have been a part of such a dedicated, talented and crazy team.

Robuchon HK patisserie crew

This year has not only been about working, it’s been about learning. And putting that learning into practice, everyday. Working under Chef Tadashi has not only given me the skills, but the confidence to create with what I’ve learned.

That’s why we came to HK.

I learned a lot about myself this year, in a way that I couldn’t have if I had stayed put in Toronto. But mostly, this year has been about confirmation.

There is absolutely no doubt that we are doing exactly what we want to be doing, forever.

More importantly, I know I want to be doing it with him.

I fell in love with Bruce in Paris. But in unromantic, anonymous and annoyingly populated Hong Kong, away from the glow of Par-ree, it was when I realized that we are truly meant to be together.

We have an incredible first two months of 2014 planned.

A trip back to France to see our friends and a sidetrip to The Eternal City.

But after, it’s home, and down to business. For real.

Hong Kong was meant as our last year of living and learning abroad. It’s time for us to start making our dreams come true.

It’s going to be another challenging year, with even longer hours, we’re sure.

But as they also say- just make it happen.

We will!