just a little skite*

A new toy to play with.
It's a tiny pocket handkerchief of a camera from the '60s.

* kiwi speak

do le RinQuinQuin

A few weeks ago we spent the weekend in the Luberon as I had a magazine article to take pictures for. One day we lunched in this superbly old school restaurant in Bonnieux. It was one of the best restuarant meals I've had for ages; especially as for research & photographic purposes, we had to sample some of the apéritifs de Provence.
It was the RinQuinQuin that totally had me. It rolls off the tongue like a cross between a Moulin Rouge show girl and a Noël Coward play. There's usually à la pêche added to the name but I prefer to call it simply le RinQuinQuin.

Hôtel Restaurant Panoramique César
Place de la Liberté,
84480, Bonnieux

out of focus

Some blurry mistakes from Japan.
Feeling slightly hazy myself these days.

People watching in Gion district, Kyoto

食べる

soba noddles

unagi (smoked eel)

japanese tea

dumplings

green tea ice-cream

& cucumbers on a stick!

boom!

We biked out to a park just outside of Montpellier to watch the 14th juillet feu d'artifice.
It started late. I suspect, late enough, for one's meal out to have been suitably digested.
Life centres around food here after all.

Osaka aquarium

day tripper

It's thanks to Marion that I saw this superb exhibition on Tuesday and what a brilliant excuse to take the train to Marseille for the day. I wandered around Le Panier, had lunch at la Caravelle & then saw the exhibiton with Marion later on in the afternoon.
It was brilliant to meet her finally. She's a great gal; as I knew she would be. Funny and sweet and of course très chic!
If you haven't found her exquisite blog yet, then I suggest you do so tout de suite!

Thank you for all your comments on my Japanese posts. Bear with me, as I 've got a few more up my sleeve yet.

thé vert partout

Being in Japan, Nakamura Toukiti is a green tea ice-cream parlour at Kyoto's train station. My parfait was made up of green tea jelly & ice-cream, red bean paste, rice bubbles, cream and a few things i couldn't recognise. It took my taste buds a little while to get used to the toned down sweetness but in the end, as with most things in Japan, i was won over by it's sheer gorgeousness.

on tatami

Not so long ago, I'm ashamed to admit, I hadn't heard of the word tatami.
But after a night sleeping on tatami mats in Japan, I was completely sold on the concept. In fact i really, really like the whole concept of tatami mats. I like the fact that each region in Japan has particluar sized tatami and the way traditionally a room was built according to a specific number of tatami mats.
I especailly like how each morning you neatly fold up your bedding and store it in a cupboard, to be brought out again in the evening. Voila, you have an instant living room; a rearranged space, tidy and serene.

I've always liked the idea of using the same space in different ways and also changing room layouts. As a child I used to be constantly rearranging my bedroom furniture. In fact I also really quite like the feeling of being in a new apartment before all the boxes have been unpacked and all the living spaces have been defined. I'm not so keen on change in general but I do quite like room changes.