Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's 2014 already...I hope you had a lovely time celebrating wherever you were. Thank you for following the blog so far if you've been dropping in regularly to see what I've been up to - or if you're just reading for the first time then I hope that you join me for my adventures this coming year :) I did write that I'd share some of my Christmas presents, so here's my delivery as promised!

Bonne année ! Je ne peux pas croire que c'est 2014 déjà...j'espère que vous avez passé une très bonne vacance en fêtant chez soi. Merci pour avoir suivi mon blog jusqu'à maintenant, ou si c'est la première fois j'espère que vous me joignez pour mes aventures cette année. J'ai écrit que je vais partager ce que j'ai reçu comme cadeaux de Noël, donc, voilà - je tiens ma promesse !

Here's the haul!

I was so lucky to get some cute mittens from my sister which are clever enough to contain special fibres so you can use your iPhone, and some notecards from my Grandma. From a friend, I got a tickets to see 'The Woman in Black'. With another friend, we managed to snap up £5.00 tickets to see 'Matilda the Musical' - Christmas really is the most magical time to head to London's West End and see a show! From my parents I got a shirt from Zara, and a drawing of where I live in Paris!

I also got a macaron making kit, a knitted jumper from my friend and I bought myself 'Brideshead Revisited' by Evelyn Waugh with some Christmas money. 

I hope you got some lovely gifts too!

À Bientôt !

x

Happy Christmas!

It's Christmas time in London & my family went full out on the festivities, with  my Mum's marzipan covered Christmas cake filling the room with the scent of boozy brandy soaked berries, the crackle of the open fire as the cheerful background accompaniment to 'Carols at King's' on the telly and our home grown Christmas tree Tom Cruise (because he's 'small but perfectly formed') twinkling merrily in the corner.

C'est Noël à Londres et ma famille ont fait le maximum d'effort pour fêter, avec un gâteau traditionnel anglais, couvert de pâte d'amandes cuisiné par ma mère qui a rempli la cuisine avec l'odeur de fruits rouges marinés dans le brandy. Le crépitement des flammes dans la cheminée était quasiment comme un accompagnement aux chants de Noël au télé dans l'émission 'Carols at Kings', avec notre sapin de Noël cultivé nous-mêmes qui scintille dans le coin... 

Here are some photos to keep the Christmas spirit alive even though we're moving headlong into the new year. 

Voici quelques photos pour revigorer l'esprit de Noël, bien que le temps s'écoule vite et bientôt il sera le réveillon !

Decorating the Christmas tree!

 

 

As good as the reputation for fine dining is in France, I don't think anything beats a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings: we had a three bird roast of chicken, turkey and duck with apricot stuffing, with roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli, stuffing, parsnips, Yorkshire puddings, white sauce, gravy and red cabbage. Mmm mmm!

Bien que la France est très bien connue pour sa grande cuisine, je ne pense pas qu'il existe un repas plus délicieux  que le repas de Noël anglais avec toute sa garniture: mon père a cuisiné le poulet, le dinde et le canard avec de la farce abricot, les pommes de terres rôtis, les carottes, le brocoli, la farce, les panais, les 'yorkshire puddings', la sauce blanche, la sauce brune et le chou rouge. Miam miam !

 

 

After Christmas dinner: I'm wearing a jumper which was knitted by my friend. We're wearing silly hats from Christmas crackers, which I know are a bit particular to the UK.

Après le repas de Noël: Je porte un pull qui a été tricoté par un ami. Nous portons des couronnes en papier des 'crackers', qui je sais sont un peu particulier à l'Angleterre. Ils sont des petites papillotes cartonnées arborant des couleurs et motifs de noël. Présent dans les assiettes de chaque convive, ils contiennent un petit chapeau en papier de noël, une blague ou une devinette ainsi petit cadeau. Une fois à table, chaque convive provoque l'explosion des pétards en le tirant vers soi, libérant ainsi son contenu.

I'll let you unwrap the Christmas presents with the family tomorrow!

Je vous parlerai des cadeaux de Noël demain :)

À Bientôt !

x

Sebastião Salgado

On Wednesday evening, we headed to 'La Maison de la Photographie' for Sebastiao Salgado's 'Genesis' exhibition. For me, it was the second time I'd been able to delve into Salgado's magical monochrome world via his awesome depictions of nature from the four corners of our planet.

If you don't have wonderlust before this exhibition, I guarantee that after it you'll presume yourself an old-world explorer, ready to embark on his next mission to discover and learn from people groups who have existed, survived, thrived and blossomed in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. Breath-taking, too, are his animal photographs and landscapes, my favourites being the deep-south rolling prairies where you can just imagine the silhouette of a cowboy tipping his 10 gallon hat, clicking his spurs and trotting off into the sunset. 

At first the lack of colour bothered me, but I quickly learned to appreciate Salgado's brave employment of his artistic licence. It throws the faces, textures and shadows into  sharp contrast, inviting you to focus more on the content, and brings all the photographs onto an equal plane, reminding us that each nation is as rich and varied as another, whether it be depicted by a sandstorm in Utah, elephants drinking from an oasis in Africa or members of the Sami people herding reindeer.

The exhibition is on until January 2014 and I would SO recommend it. If you go between 17:00 and 20:00 on Wednesdays all exhibitions appear to be entirely free! 

After a happy two hours or so in the exhibition, we walked the short way to my favourite crepe house - Crepe Suzette in Le Marais. I got the crepe of the day which was an amazing melty goat's cheese filling, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with nuts, and my sister got an equally delicious and slightly cheaper ham, egg and cheese crepe. Gorgeous! 

     

Sadly this was my sister's last night in Paris, so it was up bright & early to take her back to the Gare du Nord, before enjoying my last few Christmassy evenings before coming back to London to see my family :)

À Bientôt ! 

x

Those Christmas Lights

It's the 4th December and it's starting to get really Christmassy in Paris with lights going up everywhere. Just a short post today but here are some festive photos I took :)

Il est le 4 décembre, et il y a un vrai esprit de Noël ici à Paris avec tous les guirlandes électriques qui sont partout maintenant. Je n'ai pas grand chose à dire mais voici quelques photos festives que j'ai pris :)

Christmas trees outside St. Sulpice.

Les sapins de Noël à St. Sulpice.

I reckon one of these could fit inside my tiny room..!

Je pense qu'il y a assez d'espace pour un sapin de noël dans ma toute petite chambre de bonne..!

Nearly everybody did such a good job of getting festive for the Christmas period, except Sinequarone who seem to have been a bit eager with their seasons greetings....

Presque tout le monde s'en est bien sortie avec leurs décos pour Noël, sauf Sinequarone qui semble d'être trop impatient avec leur bonnes fêtes de fin d'année !

Because it's now December, you're officially allowed to listen to Christmas music, so I'll leave you with one of my favourites:

Et parce que c'est actuellement Décembre, on est permis officiellement d'écouter de la musique de Noël, alors voilà une de mes chansons préférées. 

À Bientôt !
x

Le Loir dans la Théière

Today I got a break from my end of term work-load & caught up with a friend in my favourite area, Le Marais. Just a short walk from St. Paul's metro is 'Le Loir dans Le Theiere', a cute coffee shop/cake paradise. From the outside, it promises to be a pretty cool joint, owing to the tell-tale clue of a queue snaking its way out onto the cobbled pavement. I mentioned Le Loire dans le Theiere in this post so I'm glad I got a chance to go back & try out something sweet :)

From the chilly outside we peeped in & saw a promising cosy tearoom, with squashy leather armchairs, happy chatter and walls covered with artsy posters. Instead of choosing cake from the menu, we got to ogle over a counter cluttered with massive cakes, cakes & pies, from which the waiters cut fresh, gigantic slices.

Mine was an amazing layered cake with biscuit, dark chocolate & white chocolate - it was absolutely huge. My friend got a banana-ry, chocolatey cheesecake, & I can confirm that both were delicious. Other sweet things on offer included orange cake, a baked alaska-y meringue dream, a coffee & walnut cake & lots of chocolate creations.

(Sorry for the quality -taken on my friend's Blackberry!)

The cakes were quite expensive at €7.00, but when it's big enough to make you miss meals I guess it's ok for an occasional treat! I decided to walk the last part of the way home, & I never regret it when my local area looks like this! Photos from the Grand Palais & Petit Palais near Champs-Elysees Clemenceau. 

À Bientôt !

x

It's beginning to feel too much like Christmas!

Yesterday, my best decision of the day was to walk home from university instead of taking the metro during rush hour. It's pretty much a straight line from Malesherbes to home, flanked by shop windows one after the other, winking at me with Christmas lights newly strung up and inviting festive displays. It made for a nicer journey home, but does anyone else think it's still too soon to be getting into the Christmas spirit?

Christmas market on the Champs-Elysees

Walk home from Malesherbes

Paris Wheel outside the Tuileries Gardens.

Be prepared to fork out - I checked for you guys & it's €10.00 a ticket.

I'll definitely be headed to the market soon, so I'll let you know if it's worth a visit. 

Sorry for the photo quality recently - they're just taken on my iPhone but I will try & take my camera out more often!

À Bientôt !

x