Ramblings...

To prove that I don’t spend all my time gallivanting around Europe (just most of my time) here are some random pictures of what I got up to today. Emphasis on random, but hey – you’re my captive audience so I can write what I likes.

Firstly, I may or may not have let out a tiny yelp of excitement when I opened my letterbox and this haul was sitting there bashfully waiting for me.


Oh Amazon, I love you so so much. I would have your little Amazonian babies. All these? Second hand (supposedly - except for the Larsson hardcover)
How much? C’est combien? Quanto costa?
Around €1.00 each, plus €2.75 postage and handling!!!!
Awe-some. Oh yeah. Uh huh. And I've got two John Irving books still to come! Whoo-hoo!

I know what you are thinking “Jesus Christ! She’s writing about/taking photos of second hand books again” well to that I say – pffffthhhhhh. At least I’m not making you read poetry! Err, .... again. So be nice. Books are like crack to me.

I have also decided to fully embrace the beauty of our new mini oven and have been baking aujourd'hui. A Banana Cake with Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting and Baked Pasta with Homemade Tomato Sauce and Fresh Mozzarella Inspired by Jamie’s Italy. Both from the rather marvellous Orangette site.

Some of you may recall my last attempt at baking/dessert making with Rachael didn’t go so well. Our Banoffee Pie was a whole pile of banana custard shit. I blame the fact that we tried to substitute too many ingredients for their closest French counterpart, not the chefs. But not this time peeps. Oh no. I’ve come prepared. Using my trusty friend the internet, I’ve learnt today that icing sugar is sucre glace NOT sucre en poudre, which is caster sugar. Baking Powder is levure chimique and only available in sachets and baking soda is bicarbonate de sodium which is fairly logical however apparently only available from pharmacies but I'm sure I’ve seen some near the salt and pepper section.

So, fully armed I headed out to my supermarket, only to find imported Baking Powder and Bicarb Soda in the British Food section! Ha ha. Quel idiot!. But all good. Ready to rock and/or roll.

Both dishes were entirely delicious and the kitchen is now a disgusting, dishes-filled mess.

Tomato sauce in the pot

Easiest and most delicious tomato pasta sauce. Never from a jar again. Never!

The finished product - delicious tomato-y, basil-y, cheesey goodness.

Banana cake ready to be baked (i've just realised that tagging these photos is probably entirely redundant, you can probably tell this is a cake.... ah well)

Finished product with gooey coconutty icing.
And a trashed kitchen. Couscous? What are you even doing here??? Wha?...

I am clearly a domestic goddess/masterchef. However the liklihood of me having a lucrative career as a food stylist and photographer is in doubt after these efforts.

Also, went to the gym again. 2 days in a row. Oooooohh. We’ve joined M’s work’s social club-y thing’s Gym. Very complicated and very French but the upshot is (A) heavily subsidised therefore cheap and (B) it was very very quiet when we went after work yesterday – only saw 2 other people in the cardio room and 1 in the weights room. And today I was flying solo – it’s like my own private gym! Noice. And the facilities are really good. By the by, elliptical trainers = Hard f-ing work my friends! Shouldn’t have gone quite so gangbusters on that right off the bat. Ouch. And my arms are très très tired after doing really embarrassingly light weights. Oh, it's the deep burn! Oh, it's so deep! I can barely lift my right arm 'cause I did so many. I don't know if you heard me counting, I did over a thousand.