Yesterday was Paris Vegan day. I don't know where to start writing about it - it was such a cool day with cooking demos, conferences, a vegan brunch, loads of other vegan food and products around to taste and buy and stands from just about every vegan and/or animal rights group out there. It felt to me like finding an oasis in a desert. And so many people turned up. By the time I left they were on a one-out-one-in policy. The highlight for me (and probably many others) was being able to meet vegan authors and bloggers whose food I cook regularly and whose words have made me laugh, informed me and inspired me over the years. And, crazy stuff, they were all such lovely people!
I met and spoke with Isa Chandra Moskowitz (author of Vegan With a Vengence my first vegan cookbook) and Terry Hope Romero (who wrote my favourite vegan cookbook Veganomicon with Isa). They did a cookery demonstration of buckwheat blinis and creamy mushroom filling together and, true to form, were hilarious! Terry did a demonstration on her own too - OMG yummy empanadas (note to self: must get Viva Vegan!).
I met Dynise Balcavage, author of the Urban Vegan blog and the book of the same name. Wow Dynise was such a nice person. So friendly and funny. I ended up taking photos with her camera of her demonstration so that she had pictures to blog. I hope I didn't mess them up! She made a vegan Philly cheese steak sandwich and a to-die-for chocolate mousse with Cointreau - I actually tried a little of this and it was amazingly rich, smooth and tasty (photo above). Oh and Dynise speaks good French - she did her whole demo in French I was so impressed.
I also met Melisser Elliot of The Urban Housewife who has just published her first book - The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life. She did a talk about vegan travelling and was well funny. I think her "if in doubt falafel" motto will stay with me forever! She too was funny and nice and was sporting some mean tattoos. I bought her book and have started reading it - it's a good read, funny and informative, don't hesitate to get it if you are considering going vegan (and probably if you already are too - I am and I'm loving it).
I met loads of other people too whose names I didn't get but who were all there to spread the message and to talk vegan.
It actually feels weird writing this post because... well I am not one to name-drop and here I am name-dropping. But I repeat everyone I met was so friendly, natural and funny I didn't feel like I was talking to vegan superstars at all. They are all doing such good work getting the vegan message out there and (take my word for it) making going vegan easy, delicious and fun. I come away from Paris Vegan Day very happy. I feel committed to living this lifestyle and supporting those who put the word out. I feel grateful to Deborah Pivain of The Gentle Gourmet (a vegan B&B in Paris) for organising such a great day.
I am going to end this post, which is short on photos because, well, I didn't get any good ones for me (hope I got some good ones for Dynise) with a link to the film Earthlings which you can watch online. It's an amazing documentary, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, all about how we humans treat animals. Inform yourselves!
On Friday I took the kids to Paris and we met up with my dear friend and her bambinos at the Jardin des Plantes to go round the Grande Galérie de l'Evolution (the er big evolution gallery). Last year we took the kids to see the Gallery of Compared Anatomy at the other end of the Jardin des Plantes. I used to walk through these gardens when I was a student in Paris (for one year '94 to '95) to get to classes and so I always get a nice nostagic feeling when I go there. Never suspected I would one day be there with two children in tow. Anyhow, the place was fantastic! It is basically a very large hall filled with stuffed animals. To be honest I haven't spent much time examining my thoughts about stuffed animals from an ethical stance, I just think that they happen to be there now and they do provide children (and adults) with a great opportunity to get up close to animals and get a real sense of their respective sizes and morphology. All of us got something out of the visit and it was great to see how each child reacted differently to the place. Little boy was filled with excitement and just charged around the enormous room (with me hot on his tail) wanting to visit the elephants, the polar bears the hippos... he loved it! My daughter enjoyed looking at things more in detail and then explaining her understanding of them to her slightly younger friend. And me? Well who knew Moose were so very big?
Vendredi moi et les enfants ont eu le grand plaisir de se rendre au Jardin des Plantes et plus précisément à la Grande Galérie d'Evolution. Hmm. Quelle phrase. Nous avons tous aimé regarder toutes ces bêtes dans leur mise en scène processionelle. Mon petit garçon courait dans tous les senses (il n'en pouvait plus) et avait très vite mémorisé les locations de ses animaux préférés. Il a aimé autant qu'il avait aimé la Galérie d'Anatomie Comparée l'année dernière. Ma fille regardait plus en détail - une maquette, un vidéo et se régalait à expliquer son intérprétation de ce qu'elle voyait à sa copine. Et moi? Je me suis trouvée stupéfaite devant un élan gigantesque.
My friend in Cambridge makes the most fantastic felt - animal head felt. Believe me she has serious talent for this (I can put you in touch if you think you need one to decorate your home). Here are just a few, rather poor sorry, photos of her work that I think capture nevertheless the amazingness of what she does. Check out this cheetah!
Ma copine de Cambridge fait des têtes d'animaux en feutre. Ce qu'elle fait est vraiment vraiment génial. Qu'est-ce qu'elle a du talent! Dites-le moi si vous avez envie d'une tête pour décorer votre chambre et je vous mettrai en contact! Je n'ai pas pensé prendre de meilleures photos mais je pense que le charme et la qualité de son travail passe quand même dans celles que j'ai: regardez-moi ce guépard!!! Il est top!
And these zebras are spot on. Oops stripe on. You'll have to take my word for it because I failed to take a picture that does them justice.
Et ces zèbres sont magnifiques.
Every head she does manages to convey personnality and emotion. So during my visit, my generous, crafty pal let me try my hand at felting while she got on making the tiger below.
Pendant ma viste elle m'a laissée essayer de faire du feutre moi-même. En même temps elle faisait le tigre ci-dessus. 
I chose to do a starfish (you know cos lil boy likes starfish) and this is it. I didn't manage to convey much emotion really did I? But you know what? I love it! I loved making it, I loved working along side my friend (with a crazy kids' gymnastics competition going on in the same room!!) I loved the experience of felting and intend to do some more at some point!
J'ai choisi de faire une étoile de mer (comme petit gars les aime bien...) et le voici. Je suis très fière de ce premier essai et j'ai adoré le faire: travailler aux côtes de ma copine avec nos enfants dans la même pièce. Aah. Le bonheur.
I also tried my hand at needle felting and created this little guy's head. I like his quiff and his nose. I found needle felting to be a bit tricky but I would like to have another go.
J'ai essayé aussi un peu de feutrage à l'aiguille. Résulat spontané: une tête de petit bonhomme à la banane. Moins facile à faire mais j'aimererais recommencer mes essais un jour.
In homage to my friend, I almost bought this book yesterday whilst in Paris. I was just about to take it to the till of Junku, a fantastic Japanese bookshop, when er little boy had a wee on the floor right there by the craft books. So I got the hell out of there empty handed. I did of course let a salesperson know about the yellow puddle in the middle of the aisle (?is that spelt right?) on my way out. And... dare I confess, I didn't have a spare set of clothes with me for my newly toilet-trained son (booo) and I had just washed fabric to make him two new pairs of trousers so was loath to buy him a pair. Solution? I bought him a lovely pair of pyjamas and he went home in those!!! J'étais à Paris hier et j'ai failli acheter ce livre en pensant à ma copine. Mais au moment où j'allais passer à la caisse, mon petit à fait pipi par terre. Oops. On s'est tiré de là vite fait (en indiquant la flaque jaune du rayon loisirs créatifs au vendeur - quand même ! - ce dernier, un japonais très sobre, était un peu "flummoxed" - rare de voir ce mot en action, donc ravie). Et moi, maman indigne, n'avais pas de quoi changer les vêtements de mon fils, tout juste sorti de couches en plus! Et comme je venais juste de laver du tissu pour lui faire deux pantalons pas question que je lui en achète. Argh. Que faire? Ben. Je lui ai acheté un super pyjama et il est rentré comme ça. Habillé pour la nuit quoi. Hi hi hi.
So here I am again, as promised, in a quick posting. This week has been school holidays and, to start off in style, on Monday we went to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and to the "Gallery of Compared Anatomy and Palaeontology". A real mouthful and a real eyeful too. A great hall full of skeletons and brains in jars and dissected siamese-lambs and other such anatomical wonders. The kids loved it! And they were so busy noticing and trying to recognise different skeletons that they didn't notice the stuff in jars! Whew! So... how can a not-yet-but-soon-two year old see a skeleton of a water-buffalo and say "cow" and then see the next skeleton along of a camel and say "horse"? I don't know how he understood what he was looking at but he did and it blew my mind. Of course the part he loved the most was the dinosaur room. I live with a dinosaur right now! And D was so excited about seeing real whale skeletons and learning about how they filtered out tiny things to eat in their enormous mouths. My thoughts are more along the lines of how hippos' skeletons don't look like hippos, and how a tortoise's skeleton is fused to its shell, an integral part of it - I always thought of it as being separate, and how nice a shape a whale jawbone is and how strangely Christ-like a certain gibbon looked and and and. I know we'll be back for more!
Oh and just because... below are two hedgehog skeletons.
I like to think of this next one as a flamingo skeleton. But I must confess I didn't read it's label.
Lundi, nous sommes allés à la Galérie d'Anatomie Comparée et de Paléontologie au Jardin des Plantes. Quelle merveille. Et Penser que je ne savais même pas que cela existait! Tant de squelettes et de choses bizarres et dérangeantes en bocal! Les enfants ont adoré et même mon petit garçon de presque deux ans a compris qu'il s'agissait d'animaux et il a su en reconnaître quelques uns. C'était l'occasion pour nous tous d'apprendre et de découvrir de nouvelles choses. On y retournera, c'est sûr!
En haut la grande salle d'anatomie comparée, au milieu deux hérissons, en bas, je pense, un flamant rose.
We've been back for a week and a day. We had a great holiday but I will blog about it later since I haven't yet collected my thoughts or organised my photos.
I will mention figs though! I love fresh figs and in Montenegro we are lucky enough to have five fig trees in the garden, all of which provide generously.
It is a standing joke (one of those jokes that turns out to be true time and time again) that if I can't be found you have to look for me in or under the fig trees. My only complaint is that I can no longer buy fresh figs in France because they are dry and pale in comparison. My last action this year before jumping into the car that was taking us to the port on the first stage of our journey home was to pick and eat a fig.We now jump forward to this Wednesday... when I and the kids spent the day in Paris. I wanted to have a lunch of Falafel in the Marais and to get there from the bus, we walked down Rue du Figuier. Little did I imagine that there would actually be a fig tree on Fig Tree Street (duh) and that said fig tree would have acessible and ripe figs waiting for someone like me to come along.
And along I came!
My daughter was just as delighted as I since she is already very good at empathising and not only knows my penchant for this fruit but actively reinforces it by being an excellent fig-spotter, a fearless fig procurer - braving heights, thorns, wasps, you name it - but most importantly by not actually liking figs herself!!
Anyway... I'll cut to the chase, I picked a fig, in Paris, it was ripe and beautiful and quite tasty.
I know I probably shouldn't have eaten this Parisian fig, polluted as it surely was, but.
I may or may not have had a slight fig-induced tummy ache shortly afterwards.
And don't you think that the following image (from a door in the Marais, next photo on the memory card) perfectly represents a mythical, fig-induced-tummy-ache sufferer? Doesn't the hair look like the inside of a fig? Wonderful! And I only just noticed now.
Right I must stop this pointless story now. I have lunch and a French translation to prepare (in that order). I will just say that I intend to blog regularly again and that I am hoping to get some creative somethings done soon because it's been a while and I miss it!!
Hope you are all well.
Oh là!!! Si vous étiez en attente du français je vous demande pardon! Evidemment la vie a pris le dessus. Je pense que vous aurez compris l'essentiel du message de toute façon et pour vérifer voilà un petit résumé:
1) J'adore les figues fraiches (et j'en mange à go-go au Montenegro où nous avons cinq figuiers),
2) J'ai trouvé un figuier à Paris dans la Rue... du Figuier. Et oui, j'en étais surprise en plus!
3) Il y avait de belles figues fraiches auxquelles je n'ai pas su résister!
4) OK il est peut être déconseillé de manger des figues Parisiennes, aussi polluées soient-elles, mais je ne regrette rien.
5) En bonus... une porte dans Marais qui dépicte vraiment très exactement la sensation d'avoir mangé une figue polluée. (Regardez-moi comment les cheveux resemblent aux intestins de figue - génial non?).
Notre train était arrêté aujourd'hui à La Défense et on a profité, moi et D, pour faire un petit tour ...
J'adore cet endroit.
Some youths were hurling stones at the tracks tonight as D and I were trying to get home (from the theatre no less) so our train was stopped indefinitely and we made the most of it by going for a walk around La Défense. I love this place. I love its space.
I apologise in advance for the poor quality of the photos in this post. I lost my photo-mojo in the woods. 
Hum... it is a bit late to talk about it but last week I left the kids with my MIL and slinked (slunk, slank?) off to a needlecraft fair (Le Salon de l'Aiguille en Fête) at Parc de la Villette. The fair was mainly devoted to embroidery and patchwork. Although I was surrounded by people interested in fibre crafts like me, I really couldn't say that I felt surrounded by "like-minded" people. I realised to what extent my tastes differ from mainstream taste. But hey! I did meet some great people selling some great stuff. I bought a whole bunch of fat quarters (mainly Kaffe Fasset) to add to my stash and I also picked up some amazing hand-dyed fabric in greys, purples and red. This last batch is the starting point of a quilt I would like to make for my bed and it feels strange and scary to actually plan something from nothing rather than to throw fabrics together spontaneously. We'll see what happens.
Japan was the guest of honour at the fair. There were exhibitions of kimonos and shibori techniques - loads of interesting stuff to look at. I was really really pleased to pick up some of that fairytale fabric I see so much of on the web. And speaking of webs... I found half a yard of purple Echino spiderweb fabric for 5euros (top left of the photo below). 
I have had my eyes on that print in that colour way for so long but couldn't bring myself to order from the US (was stung so badly by a customs bill last time...) so I am sure fate sent me a consolation half yard - it was a cash only stand and guess what - I had no cash. Probably a good thing because I know I wouldn't have been able to resist! I also got a couple of Japanese clothes-making books. Yay. I am planning a sweet dress for D - more on that another day.
Yesterday we went to the park with a friend and her kids. S had his first ride on a roundabout and was totally blazé about the whole thing, he was in a car and propped his little elbow up quite naturally, like a little boy racer - so funny. D didn't want to go on it and she spent the time scouring the park for these things (see photo) for me. I was very touched and saw right into D's true self. She would much rather pick flowers or hunt around for rocks or things than go on a buzzing, flashing merry-go-round.
Things are busy busy round here and I have loads of projects on the go. I have been making bags, am having a break right now from cutting out for a purple, yellow and green patchwork blanket and am planning to sew a jean skirt tomorrow as well as start the Japanese dress for D. Pictures will follow I promise when I have found my mojo. (I'm English so don't know what a mojo is but I know what I think it is).
Bonsoir les amis! Les superbes photos ci-dessus sont oh et zut, je recommence... je ne sais pas ce qui m'arrive mais je ne suis pas capable de prendre une belle photo en ce moment. Et ce n'est pas faute d'essayer. Donc désolée mais les trois premiers images ci-dessus ne rendent pas du tout l'excellence du salon de l'Aiguille en Fête que j'ai visité la semaine dernière. Le Japon était l'invité d'honneur et j'en étais ravie. Sont rentrés avec moi des bouts de kimono, un bout de tissu ECHINO (cliquez ici si vous ne connaissez pas - j'adoooore), des tissus de conte en fées (Peter Pan pour S et Blanche Neige pour D) et deux livres japonais sur les vêtements d'enfants. J'ai aussi acheté tout un tas de tissus pour mes coussins. Je voulais y aller pour acheter car je suis en général déçue par le choix de tissus disponibles en France mais il y avait de belles choses à voir aussi. Bilan: satisfaction totale!! Et un après-midi toute seule - ouf! (même au milieu d'une foule, être toute seule est un grand luxe pour moi).
Nous sommes allés au parc avec ma copine (salut copine!!) et ses enfants hier. S a fait son premier manège (désinvolte, petite coude appuyée sur le bord de la voiture comme un pro - qu'est-ce que nous avons ri). D préférait ne pas faire de manège et elle s'est occupée à ramasser des choses (ces choses dans la 4ème photo) pour moi. Je l'adore comme ça, dans ces moments "vrais". C'est une petite fille qui aime être seule - mais dans sa tête, surtout pas physiquement - comme moi, et qui aime cueillir les fleurs, ramasser des cailloux. Je la trouve très poétique (dans ces moments-là en tout cas).
Bon. Dodo. Ciao!
OK this is not the world's best photo but it does give you a bit of idea of what Marie-Antoinette's farm is like. We met up with friends there on Sunday since the weather was so good. If I have understood correctly, Marie-Antoinette wanted a place she could call her own (since actually France in its entirety belonged to her husband the king) and so she got her husband's permission to build a little farm in the grounds of the Château de Versailles and then she hung out there with her girlfriends, milking cows and feeding lambs and listening to doves coo while the rest of France starved to death in miserable poverty. Hum did that come out a little irreverently? The Château de Versailles (and its gardens) is a wonderful place to visit and since we live a short bus ride away we often go there for walks. There seems to be a special climate there - every time I go the weather is the same as outside my front door but more intense (intensely hot, intensely cold, intensely wet... today it was intensely inappropriate weather for February - warm, sunny, blue sky). The light is absolutely beautiful too. Versailles is a crazy place believe it or not and I'll have to explain that later because for now I don't have the time.
These are some delicious vegan fairy cakes (actually the Faustess ones from Vegan With a Vengence without all the fussy icing bits) that I made on Saturday to take round to D's friend's house for tea - she was invited over to play. D of course helped decorate them but I don't have any photos unfortunately (D wanted three sorts of icing which probably turned out even more complicated that the original recipe's two sorts). I don't really know the Mum of D's friend that well and so didn't even bother explaining that they were "special" fairycakes (i.e. vegan) because I didn't want her to think I was a total crackpot (usual opinion of almost everybody with regard to avoidance of animal products) and to forbid her daughter from coming round to ours to play again!
Bon je vais faire vite, puisque je suis sûre que si vous lisez ce message en français vous êtes plus au courant que moi de l'histoire de l'Hameau de la Reine à Versailles où nous sommes allés nous promener entre copains dimanche. J'adore cet endroit! Elle a vraiment réussi son coup je trouve (je parle de Marie-Antoinette bien sûr) et on arrive rapidement à oublier que nous sommes à Versailles et non dans une idylle champêtre flottante loin de tout (je ne sais pas si cela se dit mais j'aime bien). Loin de tout sauf les gentils Versaillais qui se ruent ici pour jouer ensemble, en short gris et duffel gris et pull en cashmere gris. Hmmm. Je vais laisser cette remarque parce que mon fils est Versaillais donc il serait impossible pour moi de aller plus loin que la gentille moquerie.
Et une photo de mes petits gâteaux (fairy cakes) végétaliens que j'ai faits avec D samedi pour ramener chez la copine chez qui elle était invitée pour jouer. D a voulu les décorer bien sûr et il a fallu faire trois sortes de glaçage au cas où sa copine n'aimait pas telle couleur, ou le goût du citron, ou la texture... C'est dommage que je n'ai pas de photos - ils étaient jolis comme tout. (B si tu lis ce message, moi je les trouvais jolis, d'accord?).
Just random thoughts today...I feel so lucky on the one hand to have a peaceful lifestyle centered around my home and the small town where we live and on the other hand to have Paris a twelve minute train ride away. B and I went out last night. And it was so great to reconnect with the world and to be a part of the city again. It refreshed me to hear the music, to see the people and their clothes, to talk and to hear conversations, to take the metro, to not have two children to watch over. It also reminded me of how nice it is not to have that in my life every day. I am a better person and more me without all that rush and stress.We ate in a Japanese restaurant. I used to love raw fish so much. I still would if I ate it. But marinated radish maki and vegetable tempura did the bizz and even B has sworn to take that next time. Why eat the fish (fish feel pain, fishing fish devastates the marine environment...) when the non-animal alternative is sooooo good? That is a question that clinches it for me. Like my pancakes. I use the recipe from Vegan With a Vengence and you know these pancakes are delicious; you cannot tell that they are some wierd, eggless, milkless, vegan version. They are just yummy, syrupy, pancakes that hit the spot on those lazy weekend mornings. My "I hate tofu" daughter loves them, my "vegan-schmegan" brother loves them. Anyway... why make pancakes using eggs when the eggless version is soooo good? A battery-kept chicken suffers in life and needs about 30 hours (from memory) to lay an egg. Does a plate of pancakes justify 30, 60 hours of suffering? Fewer eggs used, fewer chickens kept, less suffering and eventually, maybe, better conditions for those chickens left in captivity. One single egg for me is a precious commodity that should not be wasted - eggs in pancakes = BIG WASTE and NON-RESPECT OF LIFE. (PS Ingredients for vegan pancakes: flour, soy milk, baking powder, maple syrup, salt, oil. I think that's it - not so wierd huh).
Hey I went on a rant. Sorry!!
I have been cutting out the pattern for a pair of trousers from Burdastyle this moring so hopefully will be able to post about those soon.
J'adore Paris et j'adore ne plus y habiter: Quand j'y retourne, quelques fois par mois, j'adore l'impression que j'ai de me mettre à jour, de me renouveler, de me tenir au courant de ce qui se passe dans la ville. Paris pour moi est pleine d'inspiration mais ma première expiration est toujours... aaaaaahh que j'aime ma petite vie tranquille!!!
Cette fois-ci nous avons dîné dans un restau japaonais. J'ai mangé des maki au radis mariné et du tempura aux légumes. Miam miam. Même B a juré de prendre ça la prochaine fois tellement c'était bon. Avant, j'adorais manger le poisson cru. J'adorerais toujours si je n'avais pas décidé de ne plus manger les produits animaliers. Mais l'industrie de la pêche (?) a des conséquences dévastatrices sur l'environnement (et sur les pauvres poissons mêmes) et donc pourquoi manger le poisson quand l'alternatif est si bon? Pour moi la décision était simple. Et il y a certains moments où je crois que pour tout le monde la décision d'éviter les produits animaliers devrait être aussi simple. Un exemple: les pancakes américains. La recette que j'utilise, sans oeufs et sans lait de vache, donne des résultats hyper-bons. On ne saurait distinguer ces pancakes de la version "normale". Une poule en captivité souffre terriblement et il lui faut 30 heures je crois pour pendre un oeuf. 30 heures de souffrance donc. Cette souffrance est-elle justifiée pour une assiette de pancakes dans la mesure où un alternatif sans oeufs mais tout aussi bon existe? Pour moi la réponse est évident: non. Pour moi utiliser les oeufs pour faire des pancakes est un gaspillage total. Je me situe dans une extrême, je ne mange aucun produit animalier. Mais ce n'est pas extrème d'éviter d'utiliser les oeufs dans les pancakes. Si on cherche bien on trouve des centaines d'autres exemples où en remplacant un produit animalier (oeuf, lait, beurre...) par un produit végétal (lait de soja, huile d'olive...) on obtient un résultat plus que comparable au niveau goût, toujours meilleur pour la santé et toujours meilleur pour l'environnement et les animaux. (Je ne pense pas, bien sûr, qu'il est possible de remplacer de la même manière le fromage, un steak, un oeuf sur le plat).
Bon j'ai terminé. Je ne recommencerai pas souvent non parce que ce n'est pas important pour moi mais parce que j'ai envie d'être lue quand même! Je suis en train de coudre un pantalon donc je posterai les résultats bientôt.
Yesterday was Paris Vegan day. I don't know where to start writing about it - it was such a cool day with cooking demos, conferences, a vegan brunch, loads of other vegan food and products around to taste and buy and stands from just about every vegan and/or animal rights group out there. It felt to me like finding an oasis in a desert. And so many people turned up. By the time I left they were on a one-out-one-in policy. The highlight for me (and probably many others) was being able to meet vegan authors and bloggers whose food I cook regularly and whose words have made me laugh, informed me and inspired me over the years. And, crazy stuff, they were all such lovely people!
