Nullsphere

I went to Junkudo at lunchtime and bought a box of Clamp in 3D-land. Inside… Syaoran-kun ^-^

So if I am lonely, I have my own pocket sized hero now.

While in Strasbourg, I spotted this strange little terminal in a store near my hotel. It’s one of the few testing units for a “new” way of paying: with one’s cellphone.

In Japan, such things are quite common. Operators such as DoCoMo have been offering this service for some years.
In Europe, e-payments took a while to take root. Experiments such as Moneo in France have been failures, on accounts of wariness from the consummer basis and difficulty of use.
Moneo was supposed to revolutionise the way people pay for small sums and eliminate a long queue at, say, the baker’s, when in effect, it only made things worse and cost more on the long run.
Besides, nothing seems to beat a fistful of coins in good ole Europe.

However, with an ever-increasing percentage of the population equipped with mobile phones, paying by phone seems to be the way to go. Payments can be made by people equipped with compatible mobile phones, which are being rolled out slowly by the constructors. The system is being currently tested in a few shops in Strasbourg in a partnership between Credit Mutuel bank, CIC, phone constructors SAGEM and the mobile operator SFR.

While you’re at it, check out the store where I found this, which has some pretty fun household items.

Seen at:
Déco & Co
7 rue des Bouchers
67000 Strasbourg
deco-and-co@aliceadsl.fr

At first, this tiny little shop tucked away in a pedestrian street of Strasbourg doesn’t seem anything out of the ordinary. What a mistake to make. Step inside and you are greeted by the smile of owner Mo Cuiwei amongst a grandiose collection of teapots.

Looking in her late twenties, she is actually a mother of three and a Chinese tea master of some renown. Her teas, I would later discover, are served in Strasbourg’s answer to Ladurée, tea room Christian.
Invited to sit down and discover some Pu’er tea -whose price in most places has trippled since the recent floods in the region-, I did not yet know that my vision of tea would be changed forever.

Travelling in Asia earlier this year, I had become aware that tea was quite different, graded much like wine or other fine products.

Taking a sip of her teas banishes away all notion that tea is just hot water with a pile of leaves dumped in.
All other teas pale in comparison, particularly the so-called Chinese white teas served elsewhere.
The tight little buds blossom in the water and give out a jasmine fragrance which increases with each bath, instead of diminishing. The pale, almost transparent liquid is delicately sweet, requiring no additional sugar.

Teas can also be cut with other grades or types of tea, modifying this. For example, pu’er is often mixed with oxyidised “red” tea, which makes the taste earthy on the first bath but acrid later on.

Another surprise is the teapots, which are all different. Much like wands in the Harry Potter universe, a teapot chooses its owner. One might want a teapot for its cosmetic value but these ones will speak differently to different people.
My selection included a lion-topped one which came in my possession when Mrs Mo said “You’re lion, aren’t you?”

Ladden with three teapots, a new set of cups for chinese tea and a three-legged toad, I leave a couple of hours later with my head swimming in information and the fragant scent in my nostrils.

Definitely my cup of tea.

Esprit du thé
7 rue d’Austerlitz
67000 Strasbourg
Phone: +3388241292

As you may or may not know, dear reader, this one has an obsession with the Gap, which started a good ten years ago, when one was only a lowly student in high school. At the time, it was the only affordable source of decent -read, non-jeans- clothes that could be found nearby, not to mention the only ones that catered to sizes bigger than 8. This obsession was greatly helped by one’s mother, who, finding that the clothes were affordable and good quality also shopped there.
Perusing the sales rack at the Gap became a habit, with the odd luxury of a full priced item.

Then the Salary came.

For a long while, this humble sinner did not worship at the altar of her god, under the pretense that more expensive (”better”) clothes could be had. Then I unearthed some pretty things that I’d had for a long time in my closet and despite not fitting them -at the moment-, found that they were quite neat.

Recently, I’d been on a kick to find clothes that could appease my peculiar sense of fashion. None of my other brands yielded anything in the way of tops that could remotely satisfy me.

Last night, I went again to the temple of worship (not the caffeine altar, the other one). Lo and behold! I came away with a treasure trove of cute clothes. Ever since the (RED) initiative, my interest in the GAP has been renewed. Not quite as affordable as before -except when on sale- they are good quality, a nice cut and above all, durable. Even the Gap body line, which I was initially reluctant to try has given me considerable satisfaction.

After our vaccines this morning at the Centre de vaccinations Air France, Tite Maou and I went for lunch at Bellota-Bellota together. It was nice, they changed their menu again and we got two different kinds. With it, we got some purée, ruccola salad along with bread and crushed tomato.

To round out the meal, half a Torta d’Extremadura helped me fill up completly.

As usual, it was pretty delicious but I completly forgot to take pictures of the food itself. That’s always an excuse to return.

Instead of going straight home, I walked back with her to the RER at Invalides and then on to FSH. The weather is beautiful and the sky is so blue. Unfortunatly, you can’t see that closer to the ground, it is all grey from pollution.

Did anyone know that the song “April in Paris” was supposed to be “May in Paris” for the good weather and all that but due to the need for a two-syllable stanza?
Generations of Americans came to visit Paris in April due to that and found out that it was cold and rainy. Hah.

It was packed with people but the sales people were SO nice to me. I had some orange juice because I wasn’t feeling too great (my arms are numb to the wrist now) and got a good look at the bags.

On the way home, Dad made a stop at the Louboutin store so I could get those beautiful ones. Almost H orange!!

Also another stop at B-B because I had forgotten my Carnet de Santé there at lunchtime. I’m home now and chilling in the sofa.