Bangkok is a city of the river that dissects it: the Chao Praya River, or River of Kings, is the main route for water traffic of all types imaginable, from ferries zipping commuters from bank to bank, to barges laden with cargo and the plentiful longtails a.k.a. water taxis. In many respects this river embodies the spirit of Bangkok, feeding it,…
The Digital Nativity Story
This is one of the funniest films I’ve seen in a while. Merry Christmas!
Boo to queues at Eurostar
In the pre-Christmas rush to reach loved ones, we’re not having a lot of success here in the UK. A bit of snow has sent everything into chaos – flights have been cancelled or delayed, roads closed, warnings to stay at home issued, and trains stranded mid-line. The snow has also caused Eurostar to restrict…
Eurostar? Euro-BAH-humbug!!
Monsieur and I are certainly having some pre-Christmas issues. First, we couldn’t make it to celebrate early Christmas with my parents because of the snow over the weekend. Conditions were too hazardous to drive. But wait, says Epic, let’s take the train! What train? All those going along our desired route were either cancelled or…
Pho Lights My Fire
If you’re Vietnamese and you don’t like Pho, there’s definitely something wrong with your genetic make up. Pronounced ‘FUH’, pho is Vietnam’s national dish and the thought of that single syllable makes my stomach grumble with longing. Pho’s concept is simple: make a fully-balanced meal fit into a single bowl. The main components are rice noodles, broth and…
Monet’s Giverny –
Think of some of the world’s record-breaking works of art at point of sale, and paintings from Claude Monet’s Water Lilies series will no doubt feature on the list. Ever since I first saw a Monet in the flesh in the eighties, during a touring exhibition that actually made it the extra xxxx miles to far-flung…
Facebook Queen
Everything’s gone Royal-mad in England, as ‘the Queen’ gets a Facebook page and Prince William prepares to marry. Epicurienne is just happy to have an extra public holiday to look forward to next year – the 29th April. I thought the Epicurienne readers might like to see how ‘the Queen’ is progressing with her use of…
Where Epic finds that Starbucks is about more than just coffee.
In recent years, I’ve found one of the most efficient conversation starters to be “what do you think of Starbucks?” The opinions fly about as fast as Roadrunner on his sixth triple espresso, and there’s often the feeling that it’s a bit uncool to admit to liking Starbucks, just like when it wasn’t cool to like…
McDonald’s, France: Venez comme vous etes!
At the end of the summer, Monsieur and I were in Cap Ferret when we spotted a poster for the new McDonald’s France ad campaign, called Venez comme vous êtes, or ‘Come as you are’. It showed a shrouded figure in a death mask, like those seen in SCREAM, sitting down to eat a Happy Meal (or…
Tasca da Se, Lisbon
Exploring Lisbon in the rain didn’t dampen our spirits, but unless we wanted to get well and truly squelchy, Monsieur and I were going to have to stop and dry off. So far that day, we’d smacked our lips after wonderfully oozy custard pastries with breakfast, had ventured onto one of the city’s bright yellow funiculars, explored the Castello,…
Funchal Market 2
Monsieur and I had enjoyed our time in the Funchal fish market, watching the workers carving, stripping and gutting fish of all sizes. We were now curious to see what Madeiran fruit and vegetables were like. This image may look familiar: My current header was taken from the above image. Look at the produce – the…
Funchal Fish Market (and Market OCD)
I admit it: I have an OCD. Wherever in the world I am, I MUST visit a market, or at worst, food hall. I even like foreign supermarkets. And UK supermarkets. I can wax lyrical about my fascination with the way supermarkets adapt their merchandise to the ethnic mix of the local community. But I digress. Here is yet…
Epicurienne 