Monday, 3 September 2018

A new whirl 2018.08 edition

Greetings! I just returned from my fabulous trip to France and am catching up with life at home. Today's brief post is about two new experiences that I had in August: Visiting the village of Auvers-Sur-Oise in France, and eating the Cambodian beef lok lak dish.
Auvers-Sur-Oise:

The lovely village of Auvers-Sur-Oise is located about 30 km from Paris. This village is where the famous painter Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) spent his last seventy days while boarding at the Auberge Ravoux. He painted seventy eight pictures here. The village is 7 km (about 4.5 miles) long, and is a real open air museum, with immortalized sites of the main pre-impressionists, impressionists, and post impressionists painters spread out through the whole village. I'm enclosing one photo below. A separate post to come with more details.


Cambodian beef lok lak:

This is a popular Cambodian dish served with cubed beef, rice, with or without egg, sliced tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and lime. We stopped for a late meal at an Asian restaurant on our way back from Auvers-Sur-Oise to Paris. My aunt's husband had lived in Cambodia and suggested that I tried this dish. The cubed beef was well marinated and sauteed. It was a very tasty meal that I'd certainly have again if I had the opportunity.

I've documented my previous adventures in March, April, May, June, and July below. What new thing did you try in August? I'd love to hear your comments.

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34 comments:

  1. Beef lok lak looks good! I'd try it.

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    1. Thanks, Vanessa, for your comment. The beef lok lak was tender and tasty.

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  2. Hi, Natalie - Welcome home! It's wonderful to hear from you. It's so cool that you were able to visit the town where Van Gogh lived. I must confess that I'm a tad jealous!
    I agree that Beef Lok Lak is delicious.

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    1. Thank you, Donna. It's wonderful to hear from you, too. Auvers-Sur-Oise is a lovely village to visit, and to end the day with the beef lok lak is simply decadent.

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  3. Beef lok lak looks yummy... but I think I'd pass on the egg if that's OK. I'm glad that you had a great trip and hoping to hear more about it!

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    1. Beef lok lak costs even less without the egg which is optional :) Thanks, Janis, for stopping by. I plan to write about my stay in Paris so stay tuned.

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  4. Hi Natalie, I love your posts and this one doesn't disappoint either. Your travelling is so energising and I love reading where you have recently visited. Thank you for sharing at #MLSTL.
    P.S. I may have linked up my SaD post in error as this might be the Comfort Zone one??? If so, just delete. Have a fabulous week and look forward to reading about your September adventures.

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    1. Thank you, Sue, for hosting MLSTL. I had a truly fabulous time in France. I'll see you at the SaD link up on Sept. 6.

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  5. Looking forward to hearing more about France. I must also remember to link up SAD. What did I do in August? I set myself 101 things in 1001 days - some small, some large. I've already ticked off a few.

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    1. Wow, good for you, Jo, to set yourself 101 things in 1001 days and already ticked off a few. Hope to see you at the SaD link up.

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  6. The food looks delicious! And I look forward to the full post about Auvers-sur-Oise...sounds like heaven.

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    1. Thank you, Leah, for your visit and comment. Auvers-sur-Oise is a lovely artists' village. It's close to Paris but maybe less well known than Giverny (Claude Monet's garden). I'm glad I discovered it.

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  7. What a dish to eat. Thanks for sharing it with us. #MLSTL

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    1. The beek lok lak was tasty. Thanks, Patrick, for stopping by.

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  8. Hi Natalie - I'm looking forward to reading more of your adventures in France - and I thought it was such a strange mixture to go from French art to Cambodian food all in one post! #MLSTL :)

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    1. Thank you, Leanne, for stopping by. I hope you're fully recovered from the flu. It's funny that you thought it was a strange mixture. I haven't thought of that. I just wrote both experiences in one post as they occurred on the same day and both were new to me.

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  9. Great to read your post Natalie!! I loved that little town when we visited it, all the lovely art works everywhere and descriptions. Did you visit the graves of Vincent and his brother? The church was used in an episode of Dr Who and I was thrilled when I visited it. Sharing for #mlstl

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    1. Thanks, Debbie, for stopping by. I'm glad you visited Auvers-Sur-Oise, too. Yes, I visited the church, and the graves of Vincent Van Gogh and Theo, his brother.

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  10. Goodness me, you are gone and back! You will love next week's optional prompt...

    Thanks for linking up this week for #lifethisweek Next week's optional prompt is Travel Tips. Denyse

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    1. Thank you, Denyse, for hosting #lifethisweek. I'm still catching up with blogging and commenting. I'll think about what travel tips I can share next week.

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  11. Welcome back. I'm glad you enjoyed France. Of course, who wouldn't?

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    1. Thank you, Christie. It was a fabulous trip. I'm still thinking about it.

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  12. How interesting to visit the village where Vincent Van Gogh spent his last days! I'm looking forward to seeing your France posts. I wonder if you visited some of the same places that Jo Tracey went on her recent France trip. That Cambodian dish looks very delicious by the way!! #TeamLovinLife

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    1. Thanks, Min, for stopping by. I was mainly in Paris and took a day trip to Auvers-sur-Oise. It looks like Jo visited other French cities and towns. I'll do my round of reading other blogs soon.

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  13. That Cambodian rice dish looks just my thing! The fried egg! Love egg and rice.

    SSG xxx

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    1. It was pretty good. I'd have it again. Thanks, SSG, for stopping by.

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  14. I love trying other cuisines. It looks so delicious, but I'd go chicken as I don't eat beef :)

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    1. It'd be fun to create a Chicken lok lak version at home. Thanks, Alicia, for stopping by.

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  15. I was fortunate enough to visit Auvers-Sur-Oise in 2011. Unfortunately we didn't spend much time there and I only had the opportunity to see a few of the "open air museum" paintings. My favorite was the church. I look forward to reading your future post of this fantastic place.

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    1. Hi Molly - It was a neat experience to see the actual landmarks and scenery that Van Gogh painted. I quite enjoyed Auvers-Sur-Oise.

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  16. I lived in Cambodia for about 8mths in 1997 and loved some of the food. A lot of the food I had was a mix of Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese - but there were also strong French influences - which is why I guess how you stumbled over this!

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    1. Hi Deb - I wonder if you were able to visit some of the main sights like Angkor Wat when you lived in Cambodia. I'm glad my uncle was there to recommend the Cambodian beef lok lak and that I tried it. Thank you for stopping by.

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  17. Will be looking forward to your post with more details about the Van Gogh museum. The painting you featured in your photo is not familiar to me; so used to seeing still lives and landscapes from Van Gogh, it is a treat to see a portrait.
    The Cambodian meal looks delicious. And healthy. Is that a fried egg on top? So many countries and cultures add eggs to their meals, no matter the time of day. Many of the traditional Mexican recipes are topped by a fried egg, too. Yet we Westerners have grown up thinking of eggs as bad for us.

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    1. During his stay in Auvers-Sur-Oise, Van Gogh painted a dozen portraits, two of them are of Adeline, the 13 year-old daughter of the innkeeper Ravoux.

      Yes, that was fried egg on top. The egg is optional for the beef lok lak but I included it anyway.

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