Food, Toulouse and Happy New Year 2013

Time flies like a rocket and the pace of life is fast and become faster all the time. 

Digital  appliances, computer , mobile phone have become  smaller and compact but 

yet I have become bigger in size. I am still in the mood of talking  about food . It makes me craving for a nice cup of coffee.  In  the US I went to Dunkin' Donuts everytime just  to get a delicious cup of coffee for a cheap prize. I had my coffee in Paris all the time without creamer and it tasted just delicious. I do not know if that is how the French people prefer their coffee but that how my friend made coffee all the time, black coffee.No milk or creamer. But one thing for sure, no life without coffee for the French, They are coffee people and the UK are tea people and they drink tea all the time. I have never had a cup coffee during my 2 years in UK . I ordered tea or soft drink all the time at restaurant and took tea daily. I do not know why but I was a tea person at that time. 

For today post, I want to share some photos I took during my trip to Toulouse, France. It 

is just perfect to continue writing   about food.  Pastries are very popular in France. You 

can find many pastries shops in Paris and all  around France. There are many 

varieties of pastries and each has its own unique taste. I like those that taste buttery 

and melt in  the mouth. If you are  looking for sweet treats , Paris is the right 

place. Other than pastries and patisseries, chocolate is another popular sweet treat in France . I bought a box of chocolate at supermarket in Toulouse and the taste was ecstasy and has very rich chocolate flavour. I have never tasted any  chocolate like that in my life. Each piece has different shape and taste. 

As we know, France is the most ethnically diverse country in Europe. Paris has a 

colourful mix of cuisines like New York city brought by immigrants from European 

countries and   France's former colonies   from   North and West African countries such 

as  Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan and Egypt.  If you a person who like to try out food 

from different cultures, Paris is the right place.  You   can find many North African 

restaurants in Paris offering cuisines   like  couscous and Mediterranean food  and   also  

Vietnamese   restaurants  for their   tasty and healthy Vietnamese  soup  dishes . 

Today, I  share photos of Toulouse.  I visited Toulouse in 2004. I took SNF train from 

Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport to Toulouse. SNF is a national railway in France with its 

high speed trains proving services  in France and  to other European countries like Spain 

and Italy.  It took around 6 hours to reach Toulouse. Toulouse is the 4th largest city in 

France after Paris, Marseille and Lyon  and located at southwestern France. The city 

bordering Spain just 100km away. Come to think of it t, I should have hopped a train and 

visit Spain. Toulouse also know as " La Ville Rose" or Pink city for  its redbrick buildings. 

There  are many universities   and  large populations of students here.

I hope it is not to late to wish everybody Happy New Year 2013. Life is short. 

p/s  My friend always says 'I do not want to live in ghettos' . Many poor immigrants in
France  live in ghettos.

City of Toulouse

Science Museum. Tolouse

Beautiful park in Toulouse with Japaneses landscape
architecture

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Food, kebab and New York

I hardly mention  about food in my travel  blog,  but today is  exception. Being a student at that time,  I could not afford to spend money eating at restaurant   I have to say I had  mostly  kebab and fillet burger  from Mc Donald and sometimes the famous instant food noodles,  maggie mee on my menu when I was  travelling. Basically you can find these food in any city in the world and they are cheap.

Nevertheless I do have some interesting story to tell about my encounter with food. In New York, I ate mostly kebab from lunch to dinner which I bought  from  food stall stands  in  the streets  of New  York.  One of famous sight of New York apart from yellow cabs. You can find food stall stands at every corner of  New York streets selling hot dogs, kebab, burgers,  falafels, gyros, drinks etc. In New York,  food from the east contributed by the immigrants  have been integrated to the menu of the city. This is one of the wonderful things about  New York.

I went to a restaurant and had a pizza and espresso in Rome . I have to say Italians   do make the best  pizza.  In New York, I had tom yam at a  Thai Restaurant and the chef is from Malaysia. I still remember the creamy coconut taste of  tom yam  in my mouth  that is  different from the tom yam that I usually have in Malaysia. I often eat  at  Thai restaurants in Malaysia as Thai food  is one of my favourites . I  have to say and this is just  my personal opinion, Thai food is the best food in the world and no wonder you can easily find Thai food from all corners of the world.

I became hooked to coffee after  my trip to Paris and US and I  still am until now. I tried to buy  Folgers coffee  in sachets online, but the shipping  delivery  cost is twice  the price of  the coffee itself. Now I satisfy myself with grind coffee from Starbucks and make myself a cup of coffee everyday. My day will not be complete without coffee. There is nothing better than having a teh tarik in the morning and a coffee in the afternoon and it is  my  routine . There was research finding  that said drinking 1-2 cups a days keep your heart healthy, so I have good excuse to drink my coffee everyday. With the mix of right coffee creamer makes such a good taste of coffee.It is hard to find good coffee creamer in Malaysia, I am talking about the liquid coffee creamer such as ' half and half ' not the powdered coffee  creamer   because the coffee does not taste good with powdered creamer. I also do not like flavored coffee creamer like cinnamon taste, blubbery etc. I like real taste of coffee.  I had a chance to taste Mexican food during my visit to USA like tortilla  with  hot sauce and chille.

p/s Just want to share with you  interesting .story about Scientology.
How did Scientology get started?  L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction writer. Hubbard. an atheist, was mocking on religion and said  "I could come up with a fake religion, and people would flock to it!" Couple years later, he came up with the  religion.

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