For my fellow developers that haven't heard yet, Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 has just been released from Microsoft. You can download it here. A service pack from Microsoft is a big deal. And along with the improved performance comes the critical bug fixes that exist in every product. But just a warning, this is a hefty service pack (431MB for me) and the installation is long as well. I would advise against doing the install first thing in the morning.
In France and Paris to be exact. As far as I can tell, if you are looking for good Chinese food prepared to be disappointed. For some unfortunate reason there is never a good one nearby, and the one that is has a very different meaning of what it is. If you've lived in Paris you know what I'm talking about. le Traiteur Asiatique is the French version of Asian fast food and its as disappointing as it sounds. But certainly better than the American equivalent. For your money you are served something that mildly resembles Chinese, but with a French twist on it. And it's seriously overpriced. A typical scenario goes something like this. You walk while the shop owner sits in his little corner to watch TV. Eventually someone (usually a son or daughter) comes by and asks you what you want. You select a few items without paying attention to the price in 100s of grams. The low value stuff (rice, noodles, veg) they never give you enough of and the high dollar stuff they really try to load up your plate with. At the end they pop open th microwave (funny I never noticed that before?) and this is, for an American atleast, when your jaw drops. All those mildly edible things you picked out have to be warmed up...because they aren't fresh. Resigned, you walk away with your meal and eat silently, complete in the knowledge that someone pulled a fast one on you.
I have a very cool relationship with microwave food. It's one thing to pop popcorn and the occassional Hotpocket. But we all know microwave food is never as good as the packaging it came in describes it. It kills me more to know that all these asiatiques serve the same damn thing everywhere.
But there was light at the end of the tunnel. I found a very good chinese restaurant near Galleries Lafayette that knows what they are doing. It's a good sign when you see other chinese eating at a chinese restaurant. Mrs. Chin and I went in and tried the cuisine and she keeps going back for more. Everytime. I like it where I can order a family-size helping of lo mein and actually have enough to feed a family. And the petite marmite is huge and grande marmite is gigantic. And it is full of meat and tofu. I like eating there because I'm not hungry an hour later and we are still within budget. This is how chinese food should be served; not a little plate with waifish veg, but a huge steaming, overflowing pile of noodles and veg. To be shared amongst family and friends.
Our waiter for the last few trips there looks like Jet-Li. I'm not kidding.
Pavillon des Bambous
16, rue de Lafayette
75009 Paris