croque-choux

Tripping around

Sunday was spent just kind of bumming around, which almost never seems to happen somehow what with homework and getting ready for Monday. Today we had brunch at Breakfast in America located here, which was fun and almost like being in a diner somewhere back home in the States :o) Yeah, well I guess I do sometimes still get homesick after all these years of living in France. There are lots of fun stores in the neighborhood carrying comic books, toys, and stuff from Kidrobot, so you know where my kids wanted to go afterwards... (mostly chez Album).

Make a wish

Normally, they say to make a wish here when you eat your first strawberry of the year, so that's what we did. Yum! I had to photograph these before they disappeared at the table because the colors were so striking. Not often that I find inspiration in the middle of making dinner :o)
Oh and, Vive l'EEC, 'cause these berries came from Spain- it's still a little chilly/early in France for such beautiful strawberries!

Back on track

I was all ready to post of a picture of my finished redwork project, when... boom! I got hit with a sneaky migraine again. I hate this. I just had one not long ago :o(
Anyway I'm back on track as it were. The worst is that I was supposed to be the strong one this week, and take care of my daughter who went into the hospital for a half day last Monday to get all 4 of her future-ex wisdom teeth removed! Since she spent the first 3 days sleeping like a sick kitten, I thought I'd make her a little Valentine's day heart with a kitty on it. At first I thought about doing a redwork Hello Kitty, then I saw this other little Sanrio cat and went straight to work. You can see a closer view of the embroidery here. I finished the heart on the 14th, and the next day I added a red seed bead picot edging all around. This excellent tutorial from About.com can show you how it's done. Takes awhile, but the results are oh so pretty. Well, I knew the headache was coming by this time but I stitched on anyway, knowing that the next day would be spent knocked out on pain medication without any crafts or fun...
ANYway, Ombeline loved the heart, and is now feeling somewhat better. She is craving pizza and hamburgers, but still can't bear to eat anything solid. Thank heavens the French have such an amazing array of yogurts and yummy dairy products! I stumbled on to this great new yogurt, signed by well known French chef Marc Veyrat no less. Raspberry Violette yogurt- what a great combination! (And I am a total freak for anything violet, as I mentioned once before.) Not cheap as far as yogurts go, but at least Ombeline ate something with real pleasure the days following the operation. The thing we both found nice about this product is the fact that the little glass jar it comes in is super cute and can be used again for candles or something else. Worth every centime!

Splurging a little

Could not resist putting this in the shopping cart after work. Neither were on my list, of course. The purple labels made me do it!! Those lavender labels, and the promise of having a yummy cookie later, and tasting this new sparkly violet drink. I love violet- flavored anything. Luckily they make violet bonbons, tea, and jam in France. It's like eating fairy food :o)
The Lorina lemonade website is great fun too. (Check both the English and the French versions, they're different!). For more violet stuff, check this out, and here's a recipe for violet granita but you'll need violet syrup for this. Make your own candied violets by following the instructions here. Violets are said to "comfort and strengthen the heart", and this little cocktail sounds like it might do just the trick... Oh, and yeah- it is just like me to get carried away by all this when Violets are out of season! But there's no reason you can't dream about having a Victorian violet Tea party next Spring... (yah- whatever, Sandra!)

Fun European Food

Even though I'm feeling post-migraine icky and don't want to think about food just now, there's no reason you can't. For lack of a craftier post, here is one about some of the interesting food items that can be found on my side of the pond :o)

Aloe Vera flavored yogurt from France, where they are really big on yogurt and other milk products. My little boy's favorite was this children's lunchmeat (vegetarians please pardon this!) from Germany. This is similar to the baloney you find back in the States, only with this incredible kiddie design manufactured into it. You may recognize the illustrations of Janosch here. And here are 2 things that I remembered to take pictures of from Denmark: little popsicles (my kids call them "freezy-things" for lack of a better word in French), and these yummy round Wasa cinnamon breakfast crackers.


I think I'll go have a Wasa right now. I still have a package left. Maybe it will settle my stomach...

Troll bonbons

My son gave me these: troll candy! The one on the right reminds me of this little troll. Gotta love those yummy colors :o)

An exotic weekend

Well, the weekend is almost over and turned out to be kind of busy. I've planned some time for sewing and crafting later on though!
Let's see... yesterday we went to this museum to see the Pharoah exhibit that people have been lining up for ever since it opened. The expo ends soon, so we decided to go and thankfully there were no long lines. I don't get it though... The expo was very nice, but not worth all the hype or waiting an hour in line. No picture taking allowed either, unless you ask for permission which explains why I'm not posting a photo or two. The only thing I did take a picture of was the inside of the huge shop across from the museum. I thought this piece of furniture was awesome, and the wall hanging next to it is actually a big appliqued quilt! From far away I thought it was woven or printed because it's so intricate.
On the way home we passed through my old neighborhood in the 13th quarter, also known as Chinatown here, to stock up on some goodies. My son is very fond of little banana cakes sold in many of the shops, but I think they're Vietnamese or Thai. Hey and look what I found near the almond cookies- these little green tea flavored marshamallows from Japan! I only hesitated for a nano-second ("2 and a half Euros...? oh well!"). They turned out to be yummy, but I'm totally intrigued by these instructions I found on the back of the package. Am I supposed to add water or something and put these in the microwave or what?? I wonder...
That was Saturday anyway, and half of Sunday was spent taking my son to see the latest Starwars movie. I hate waiting in lines, epecially movie lines, but it was worth it. Still this was nothing compared to the huge lines I remember seeing on Hollywood blvd. in the 70's when the 1st Starwars came out! That one is on TV tomorrow, so at least my son won't be confused now that he's seen all the prequels.