across the pond

wish list

2011-12-06T05:27:00.000+01:00

we have been asked many many times by family & friends what we want this holiday season. considering this is our first christmas in the states (for remy: ever. for me: in about five years. for us together: ever) i figured we'd comply with a huge long list of everything we could ever possibly want.

so here's the list. send it to santa, pick & choose as you please or use as inspiration if you want &amp. i'm sure you can save this list & use it later for birthdays & probably next year as well! or when you end up winning the lottery.

in no particular order.

remy: (this is verbatim, by the way [well, translated])
-that tippen stops being jealous of napoleon
-electric razor
-weather station
-nice/stylish pants or shirts
-mac book pro (duh!)
-a car
-treats for the cats
-a new bike
-some type of basket thingy on a bike to carry groceries
-winter socks
-bike lights
-comic books (new or used)
-board games (especially those that will help him learn english, like scrabble or apples to apples or taboo, etc)
-a plane ticket to france
-a nail clipper
-a fancy cool swiss or swiss-looking watch

chelsea:
-anything homemade/crafted/cooked with love!!!
-a new bike helmet
-a really nice set of knives
-nice & stylish vegan boots or really any shoes
-warm & stylish vegan coat
-warm gloves
-puzzles!
-books (preferably used! really anything, i've read everything we own & am getting bored with the library; especially anything related to cooking or vegetarianism or outdoors or local/organic and any/all cookbooks)
-any fun tights in any color/color combo
-warm socks
-anything yoga (yoga mat, yoga clothes, yoga classes/membership, yoga retreat in tahiti...;)
-a sweet mid-range sewing machine
-anything to do with cats, or babies, or both
-cool looking stamps or stationary
-a big comfy sweater
-any herbal teas or pretty much anything from rainbow natural remedies
-a baby

feuilles

2011-11-08T04:29:00.000+01:00

the beauty of fall is inspiring.

a little wax paper project with the hubby.

whales.

trees.

lips.

sweet potato almond/walnut maple cinnamon buns

2011-10-15T22:56:00.000+02:00

It's Saturday morning. I wanted to make something delicious for my hubby. And I had just the recipe in mind.

Ooey gooey cinnamon buns.

Well now. Need I say much more?

This recipe was in this month's Vegetarian Times, and can be found here. I knew the second I saw it the other day that I would be trying it soon. I didn't have pecans, so I used almonds and walnuts instead. And I woke up to discover Remy had used all but a smidgen of the vegan cream cheese when he got home last night, so I improvised on the glaze. It's mostly maple syrup & powdered sugar, with a splash of almond extract, but it gets the job done.

The recipe makes 12 and I was hoping to bring some to French brunch tomorrow with my mom, but I have a feeling they might not make it through the night. :)

Happy baking!!!

vegan cupcakes take over seattle!!!

2011-10-02T08:57:00.007+02:00

I wasn't joking around when I told Paige, the best physical therapist in the world (mom, you are the best physical therapist in my heart, of course) that I make a mean cupcake. And sometimes culinary love is just the perfect way to show how much you appreciate someone! I wanted to thank her (and my amazing chiropractor, Chris; and my doctor, Dr. Hoffman; and all the staff at US Healthworks) for all she's (they've) done to help me heal. So I whipped up a few batches of the best edible thank you gift known to man - the cupcake.

The recipes were inspired/taken/modified from Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero's amazing book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

They are absolutely divine.

Tiramisu Cupcake

Featuring golden vanilla cupcakes; kahlua/espresso filling; vegan cream cheese frosting; and cocoa powder, cinnamon and coffee beans on top!

I heard many a soul sigh that this was the best thing they had ever put in their mouth, although that might have something to do with the large amounts of mocha kahlua I used to make it yummy. (I warned the girls not to eat & drive - Paige said she blew a 0.036 right after eating it!)

Chocolate Raspberry Tort Cupcake

Featuring basic chocolate cupcakes; Crofter's organic raspberry preserves as filling; chocolate mousse (which is HEAVEN by itself) and fresh raspberries from Willie Green's on top.

I made up the name on this one and I've never actually had chocolate raspberry tort, but if it's anything like this cupcake, sign me up. This was a compilation of ideas from the book thrown together because asked what his favorite kind of cake was, Chris didn't hesitate for a second to reply raspberry-filled chocolate.

(I would also like to note I was told this was the "best f***ing cupcake ever eaten".)

Chai Tea Latte Cupcake

Indian Summer into Fall are my favorite culinary seasons, and who doesn't love a delicious soy chai tea latte? This moist and spicy cake features black & chai teas, soy yogurt to add depth and plenty of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, black pepper, nutmeg & cocoa to warm you all winter long. Dusted with powdered sugar & stenciled spices.

These creations were made with lots of love and appreciation for my healers! I am feeling so much better thanks to them and could not express my gratitude better than these treats! Just imagine what they'll get when I'm 100% healed! :)

Happy baking!

what the hell does a vegan eat anyways?

2011-09-30T04:04:00.001+02:00

Sorry for the long hiatus. Life has been kicking my ass as of late. I am currently healing from a crazy work-related back injury (more to come in future posts) and thought staying away from the internet prudent while on crazy medications. Drunk dialing is one thing, vicodin/muscle-relaxant-induced blog posts are quite another!

Anyway, I have been inspired by a whole shlew of blogs I follow, including but not limited to what the hell does a vegan eat anyway? and Vegan Score and crab & bee and have been documenting certain delicious meals that show just how amazing a vegan diet can be! I thought I'd share some of my latest and greatest creations so that you, too can eat delicious vegan meals!

Vegan Sloppy Joes!!!

(featuring vegetarian sloppy joe mix from

Fantastic Foods, fresh onions & Rudy's whole wheat buns)
Mix the mix with tomato paste & oil.
Toast your buns.
Add whatever condiments/extras you like!

No-Cream Creamed Corn!!!

Easiest and most delicious creamed corn recipe ever:

8 cups corn kernels (fresh is best, of course)

3 tbs olive oil

2 medium leeks, thinly sliced

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped (dried is ok, too)

1. Puree 3 cups of the corn with 2 cups water until smooth.

Strain mixture through sieve and discard solids (I've kept them, tooand it's equally delicious).

2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat, add leeks & salt and sautee1 minute. Add remaining 5 cups corn and saute 2 more minutes.

3. Add corn puree to corn-leek mixture and bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat to low & simmer 15 minutes, stirring often.

5. Remove from heat & stir in dill. Season with salt & pepper & enjoy!

I haven't EVER had left overs with this recipe, no matter how much I make!

Green Onion Pancakes!!!

2 cups flour

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp peanut/canola oil

1 cup boiling water

1 tsp sesame oil

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions (we use fresh green onions from the garden whenever we feel like it)

peanut oil for frying

Basically make a dough with the first four ingredients and knead 10 minutes.

Let sit 30 minutes, covered in a warm spot.

Roll it out into a big rectangle, brush on sesame oil & sprinkle with onions.

Roll up into a roll and slice off 8 slices. Flatten them & roll them out (see above).

Cook on medium high heat in oily skillet 2-3 minutes each side until golden brown.

Absolutely divine with soy sauce!!!

Veggie Bouillon!!!

I have been saving scraps from our CSA box, stored conveniently in used cups from work in the freezer and FINALLY got around to making a DELICIOUS veggie base for soups this winter!

Our fridge is filled with venti starbucks cups of veggie parts.

Which may include bits of zuccini, garlic, onions, beets, carrot tops, celery, leeks, cauliflower &

broccoli stalks, corn cobs, beet & turnip tops, ends of beans, etc etc.

It all cooked into a delicious soup base.

And now my freezer is filled with handy veggie bouillon cubes.
I highly recommend this easy food project to everyone!
Crab & bee talk more about it here.

CSA Box Scramble!

My favorite breakfast of late has been a tofu scramble

incorporating whatever's in our CSA box from Willie Green's Organic Farm out in Monroe.

Last week was tofu with rainbow chard, carrots, beets, onions, garlic and tomatoes.

PLEASE steal my ideas and share your own with me!!! Recipe sharing is the best EVER & right now is the season! Coming soon: Best vegan cupcake adventures yet!

Happy eating!!!

octopus! merchandise!!!

2011-08-15T19:58:00.005+02:00

The octopus! fundraiser merchandise is finally here! We have an assortment of tees, sweatshirts and totes for sale with our octopus! logo, in various sizes and colors. Please contact us with all inquiries or orders (with your name, size, color and design preference) at octopusforms@gmail.com.

WE WILL BE AT THE SKAGIT COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 AND SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, ALL DAY. COME STOP BY OUR TENT AND CHECK OUT OUR T-SHIRTS!!!

Remy designed and executed all the images. We all silk screened every piece by hand.

Here is the main image for our team:

an octopus riding a bicycle.

Here is the second image Remy designed:

an octopus taking over the Space Needle

with Mt. Rainier in the background.

Me getting my silk screen on.

So far we have only completed silk screening of the first image, but we are working on the second one. Requests/orders may be made for either image, and we'll try our best. We unfortunately can't make any guarantees.

LADIES

For the first image we have two ink colors so far for women's tees. Black ink on yellow tees or blue sweatshirts, and white ink on green or orange or purple tees.

Black ink selection.

White with black ink, bike image.

(We currently only have XS in this combo.)

Yellow with black ink.

(We currently only have mediums in this combo.)

White ink selection.

Purple with white ink.

(Sorry we are currently sold out of this combo.)

[Some images ride across the torso.]

Orange with white ink.

(We currently only have L in this combo.)

[Some images ride off the tee.]

Green with white ink.

(We currently have M and L in this combo.)

[Some images are more or less centered.]

GENTS

We also have men's tees printed with the octopus on a bike image. We have white or grey tees with black ink, and red, navy, blue or dark green tees with white ink. All the men's tees (except the dark green) have a pocket and two buttons (best seen in the picture of the white tee).

Red with white ink, bike image.

(We currently only have M in this combo.)

Blue with white ink, bike image.

(Sorry we are currently sold out of this combo.)

Navy with white ink, bike image.

(Sorry we are currently sold out of this combo.)

White with black ink, bike image.

(We currently have S & L in this combo.)

Grey with black ink, bike image.

(We currently only have XL in this combo.)

Dark green with white ink, bike image.

(We currently only have L in this combo.)

Red with white ink, space needle image.
(We currently have M & S in this combo.)

Bright blue with white ink, space needle image.
(We currently have L in this combo.)

Grey with black ink, space needle image.
(We currently have S in this combo.)

Navy blue with white ink, space needle image.
(We currently have XL in this combo.)

SWEATSHIRTS

We currently have three types of sweatshirts, but more are coming. Blue or grey zip hoodies and grey short-sleeved sweatshirts.

Grey short-sleeved sweatshirt with white ink.

(We currently have L & XL in this combo.)

Grey zip hoodie with white on black ink on front.

(We currently only have medium in this combo.)

Keep checking back for updates with new combos, with pictures of our options with the second image and for dates we will be out selling our merchandise at specific Seattle locations!!

This coming weekend is the ride!!! We will be at the Skagit County Fairgrounds in Mount Vernon for the whole weekend!!! Come visit!!!

Again, we are asking a minimum donation of $30 for tee-shirts and $50 for sweatshirts, but feel free to donate more if you feel so inclined!

Thank you so much for your support and for helping bring movement back to those who have lost it from MS!!! Together we can make a difference!!

Our team page: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/octopus

monkey see monkey do

2011-07-03T20:44:00.001+02:00

So I finally did it. I finished the monkey.

While it did involve quite a bit of rushed final touches, I think it turned out pretty damn cute in general.

all the finished pieces.

Sewing the whole thing together proved to be the hardest part. I realized I have no idea whatsoever how to sew knit stuff together, so I pretty much winged it. I certainly hope it doesn't all come apart, but it ended up looking ok.

To sum up the parts, the yarn is organic untreated cotton I dyed myself with coffee grounds and chai tea. The stuffing is bamboo and dried organic lavender. The face is felt, buttons and embroidery thread. The hands, feet & ears are cotton. The monkey's blanket is a square of felt & is attached to his hand with a button.

The pattern I used was of a teddy bear from the book Knitted Toy Tales, minus the snout part and plus a tail I made up.

the blanket idea is thanks to remy.
it is removable, attached with a button.

side view.

tail detail.

i love his goofy smile.

The monkey was designed/made with lots of love for our amazing "nephew", Solomon, who turned two this past week. It took me about two months from start to finish to complete this project and was totally worth it. Special shout out to Remy for finishing details in the car on the way up to the birthday party in Bellingham, for coming up with the blanket idea and for generally supporting me through my fits of frustration while trying to sew the damn thing together.

Remy also came up with his own creative idea for a present. Solomon's two favorite things right now are monkeys and baseball, so Remy designed, drew and printed a tee-shirt for him. It turned out pretty damn adorable, too.

tee details.

both our presents for solomon.

Sol and his parents, Mariah & Sam are some of the most beautiful people we know, so we wanted our presents to reflect their beauty (inside & out!) and our love for them! We are so excited to get to be closer and actually see Solomon grow up before our eyes.

My next project is to use the same general pattern along with the organic cotton yarn I dyed bright yellow (see this post) to create a knit lion for my dear friend, Elise who is preggers with her first back in France!! She is due in October, so my goal is to be done with enough time to have it sent to her before her little baby girl pops out!

So much adorable in this post & I'll leave you with this last image so you will all understand how freaking cute Solomon is!!

dye wrap up

2011-06-08T03:40:00.001+02:00

So time just keeps flying right by. I'm currently working 40 hours at Starbucks and volunteering at various middle and high schools to get my classroom observation time in (for grad school applications) before summer starts. I could (and might) write for days about my experiences there, but for now I wanted to show y'all the finished yarn!!

Here's the yellow. It turned out perfect for a lion!

And here's the brown. A bit softer than when it was still wet,

but perfect for a monkey!

Here's what I have so far... half of the head! Not much, I admit.

And here's the pattern I'm using (but tweaked a little;

I'll omit the nose, sew on a monkey face and add a long tail.)

[The pattern comes from Knitted Toy Tales: Irresistible characters for all ages by Laura Long.]

I'm slowly but surely working on getting pieces done. My goal is to have the head done by tonight. I will certainly show you all of the pieces once I'm done knitting & as I sew him up!!

prepared to dye

2011-05-20T04:10:00.002+02:00

DYEING IS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!

I started the process with Lion Brand Yarn Organic Cotton, which I chose for many many reasons I explained pretty thoroughly in my last post.

I chose just a standard non-dyed non-bleached classic cotton color.

Then I started my concoctions. According to the awesome book on botanical dyes and home dyeing I've been reading, there are basically two parts to dyeing. First, there is making a vibrantly colorful dye bath. And second, equally important as the first, is making that color stick to your fabric of choice. Sometimes a color will seem to jump right on to your cloth or yarn or thread; sometimes it looks beautiful as a dye but the color stays in the liquid. Luckily, as the book explains, you can add a catalyst to the mix, also known as a mordant (from the latin root "to bite") which helps bind the color to the fibers of the fabric.

There are infinite mordants out there, and it's not really an exact science, so adding random stuff to your mix might make your color stick better. A rusty nail will bring out greens & help them bind. Soy milk or egg whites might do the trick with other colors. Salt and lemon juice, even urine, these can all be useful mordants depending on the ingredients in your color stew and the type of fabric you want to dye.

I knew that tea serves double duty. It's a known mordant and it stains brown, which was one of the colors I wanted. So I used that as the mordant for my first mixture. My brown concoction included chai tea, spent coffee grounds and used recycled paper coffee filters. I added hot water & let it all brew.

I put the cotton yarn in & mixed it in to make sure it was covered evenly.

Then it was time to let time & gravity do most of the work.

For the second mix, I decided to use lemon juice as a mordant. My yellow concoction included lemon juice, rhubarb leaves & stems, marigold flowers, yellow onion skins and turmeric.

Amazingly, as I added hot water, the red color from the rhubarb bled out into yellow liquid,

leaving white chunks of rhubarb in its place.

I added the yarn to my beautiful homebrew...

And set them out in the sun on the back porch to let solar power do the work.

India says that depending on fabric and dye, you may want to leave your concoction brewing for anywhere from several days up to multiple years. (Apparently in old England they used to throw wool sweaters in peat bogs for years on end to soften them & give them color.) The important thing is to get the fabric the color you want, and then that's it. You take it out.

I know I am generally impatient, but I only left the yarn in there a few hours and it had already turned beautiful shades of brown and yellow, so I decided to take it out before it got too saturated or bright.

The brown turned out the perfect shade for a monkey!

And the yellow was way more vibrant than I was expecting!!

Next they need to dry. You are not supposed to ring them out to prevent damage, but can spin them around to get out extra moisture and then hang them to dry in the shade.

I decided to hang them on trees in a shady spot of our side yard.

Look how beautiful they are!!

I am so proud of myself for accomplishing this endeavor and even more proud of how well it turned out! I can't wait to see what it looks like dry and to start knitting!!!

knicks & knacks

2011-05-20T01:33:00.001+02:00

I have always been obsessed with arts & crafts, stuff I can create with my hands, but lately it is getting ridiculous. I recently checked out a few (bajillion) books from the West Seattle library about screen printing, knit toys and home dyeing using sustainable methods.

The amazing book describing the latter is by an amazing woman named India Flint and her book is called Eco Colour: botanical dyes for beautiful textiles. I do not want to give this book back, no joke. It describes easy methods for using common weeds, compost, fallen leaves and branches to create incredibly vibrant colors and stunning designs. Since picking the book up at the library last Monday, almost every thing I see (grass, dandelions, ivy, dirt, old rusty pieces of metal, tulips) I want to slip into my giant bag and take home with me to experiment with. I find myself imagining various concoctions and wondering what the resulting colors would be. I have secretly been trying to find an old t-shirt of Remy's to experiment with, but unfortunately we got rid of all of our old clothes before moving back from France.

And then I got the perfect excuse: our good friends' Sam & Mariah up in Bellingham have the most adorable almost-two-year-old on the planet, and his birthday is coming up. I know it is an ambitious project, but I have decided to try to knit him two stuffed animals from hand-dyed yarn; a monkey (because that is his favorite animal right now) and a lion (because it is my favorite animal right now). I have a pattern for a bear family, and I figure that a monkey is just a bear with a tail and a lion is just a bear with a mane. We'll see if I'm right.

The first step, however, is choosing yarn and colors. The ladies at Seattle Yarn up on California in West Seattle were very helpful in showing me the organic options available today, and the yarn I ended up choosing is Lion Brand Yarn Organic Cotton. I chose this for its softness; because when choosing cotton, especially for anything children will touch, organic is the only way to go (conventionally-grown cotton takes up about 2% of crops world-wide, but uses 25% of the pesticides and insecticides used annually in the world and 5 of the top 9 pesticides used on cotton in the US are known carcinogens.); because there were no colors added - there were a few colors possible, from white to off-white to tan, all just from varieties in the natural color of cotton; and last but certainly not least, because it wasn't made in China (it's grown in Peru).

The colors I decided to try to concoct in my kitchen are a nice deep brown for the monkey and a nice golden yellow for the lion. I am in the middle of brewing / concocting right now and am so excited to show you the results!! Check back soon for an update!!!

on chickens and oatmeal cookies and freedom.

2011-05-08T05:31:00.003+02:00

So this guy comes in to work the other day. He had a backpack and a whole bunch of junk in his hands he throws down on the counter, including a giant clipboard. Some part of me thinks to myself "Oh great, another guy with a petition. Don't talk to him too much or he'll try to get you to sign something."

He just wants some food. A slice of pumpkin bread and an oatmeal cookie. It's when I'm ringing him up that I get a good look at his petition sheet. It's one of those intense animal rights activist forms, with pictures of chickens cramped in cages and such. I like leading by example, personally. I'm not the biggest fan of violent tactics (and I personally think bloody pictures or videos of pigs being slammed into the ground or shot in the head with spikes or whatever is pretty violent... for a peaceful message - i.e. be kind to animals - it's an odd way of making your point in my mind), but I figure, hey. We're on the same side here. Usually animal rights activists love to hear about you being vegan.

So I casually mention, "Well hey, the only vegan food item we've got here is the molasses cookie, but it's damn good. Want me to switch out your outmeal for the molasses?"

He makes some comment about how molasses is gross and says he'll just go with what he ordered. On a for here plate so as to not create waste, of course. BUT he wants a copy of his receipt. No saving trees there. (I watched him later throw these away.)

As I'm swiping his debit card I look down and see the pictures of the chickens and I jokingly say, "I still can't believe you didn't go with the vegan cookie, man. I mean you're here for animal rights, with pictures of chickens, and you go ordering Starbucks oatmeal cookies and their corporate eggs?"

He looks up at me, straight in the eyes, totally 100% serious and he says, "There are eggs in this?"

(beat)
(another beat)
(not sure how to respond)

Part of me is thinking "He's got to be joking." But he's not. Has he never made a cookie before? Has he never seen anyone make a cookie before? Is he really trying to get people to sign something against hurting chickens and he doesn't know that caged chicken eggs are in cookies? Especially big chain processed foods cookies?

He seems really upset about this. He all of a sudden wants to change his order. Switch out the oatmeal cookie for another slice of pumpkin bread. My mouth drops. My coworker slides up next to me and states in the perfect tone, "Ummm those have eggs in them, too, you know?" (Thank god for Nick sometimes, seriously.) He is outraged. Eggs in bread?!!! "Is this a common thing?" he wants to know. Well, usually not in standard bread (although there's almost always milk products), but sometimes, yes. But this is a pumpkin loaf. It's basically cake, but with a sly name that gets you to think it's healthier than it is. Almost all of the food items sold at Starbucks have either eggs or milk products in them. "Oh, well it's not the milk industry I'm up against. I trust those guys. It's the egg industry that's truly evil."

No words. I guess in the animal rights world some animals are worth sparing pain more than others. Whatever. Animal rights is not why I'm vegan. Let's not go there.

I apologize for our products having eggs in them. Ask him if he wants a refund. He looks around at the other customers, then back at me. No. He just wants another slice of pumpkin loaf. "I mean, it's bread. It's got to have less eggs than the cookie." He covers up his petition with his jacket and walks over to the corner table, scarfs it down and leaves in a hurry.

This might sound weird, a vegan dogging on an animal rights activist. But it's not about the cause. It's about integrity. If you want to get passionate about something, especially something radical, DO IT! Educate yourselves and then yeah, spread the word! Educate others! But don't go out and force intense ideas on other people, trying to change their minds and behavior about something as big as what we put into our bodies on a daily basis when you don't even understand the basic fundamentals. It is hypocritical and it is dangerous. Don't sell shit you don't know how to work yourself, you know what I mean? That's why we all secretly hate the slick salesmen. Because they pitch us shit we know they'd never use personally. It's sad that activism has come to that, too.

And it's sad that our solution is not to change our actions or even - gasp! - the system, but instead to make ourselves feel better. We learn "eggs are bad" and we agree. We want to do something about this terrible outrage. But then instead of opting to not eat eggs anymore, we choose the product with "less eggs" or "cage-free eggs" (which means absolutely nothing... it is a piss-poor excuse of a step in any direction and the fact that people buy into it is so laughable it makes me want to cry inside a little bit) not because it actually makes a difference (it doesn't) but because it makes our conscience feel better about it. We can say "this egg came from a free chicken" and we picture in our minds a happy chicken scratching away for worms in the sunshine somewhere next to a picturesque red barn or maybe a water-soaked wheelbarrow even though 90% of us have never seen a real live chicken in our entire life.

We have become so far removed from our food and what's in it and where it comes from that feeding ourselves has become totally and completely controlled by media and advertising. It's crazy!! So break free, my friends! Educate yourselves! Take a second to read one of those ridiculously long novel-like labels on your favorite foods and be amazed! Be appalled! Be moved! And please, above all else, don't be a hypocrite!

tap into it!

2011-05-02T20:03:00.008+02:00

I know I have already tried to make all y'all watch this, but I really do strongly believe this is the best commercial ever made. Ever. And it's for a good cause. So watch it again, y'all!

Tap Into Vancouver Craft Beer Week!!!

CABD

2011-05-01T08:53:00.002+02:00

So while I feel that bus drivers in general tend to fall under the "quite a character" category (who knows, maybe it's one of the qualifications or in the job description), there is a certain driver on the 125 route from downtown Seattle to Burien and vice versa that is for serious crazier than a shithouse rat. (Ten points to whoever gets that reference, by the way.)

Tonight on my bus ride home from downtown was my second encounter and it was equally terrifying/entertaining as the first, so I thought I'd get a running list going on of some of the crazy ass shit that comes out of his mouth. He may have one of the coolest 'staches around (which makes him look strikingly like a walrus), but my oh my is he batty. I don't usually like swearing on this blog, but holy mother this guy is effing insane.

Run-in #1:

(A Saturday night, 9pm-ish, on my way up to the Shanty Tavern on Lake City Way to see my friend Sam play his last gig with his group before they break up. By myself. Just finished talking to my sister about going out alone in sketchy areas as a single female.)

[Bus pulls up. I get on & flash my Orca card.]
Me: Hi there.
Crazy Ass Bus Driver (CABD): Do you know where the 120 is? (Another route that runs by my house to/from downtown.)
Me: Umm, nope.
CABD: Me neither, but everyone keeps asking me, like I'm supposed to know every goddamn bus route on the road tonight.
Me: [I look around at "everyone", which seems to be two timid Latino girls.] Hmm.
CABD: Probably just got held up somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if the same shit that happened last night happened again tonight. You know?
[Beat. I ponder this. He keeps turning his head to look at me, to see if I'm interested. I bite.]
Me: So... what happened last night?
CABD: Oh, two stabbings up on Delridge, right near the community college.
(This is like half a mile from my house, even less from the stop where he just picked me up. I suddenly remember I forgot to lock the back door & realize I am screwed if I want to come home early; Remy doesn't get off work until 11pm, & I certainly don't want to go back home & walk around Delridge by myself.)
Me: Hmm.
[Long beat.]
CABD: [turns his head toward me again] You smell amazing. What fragrance is that?
Me: Ummm, hunh?!
CABD: What perfume are you wearing?
Me: [realizing he's totally serious] Well actually, it's slightly embarassing & you won't believe it, but it's Paris Hilton.
CABD: Well hot damn! Now there's somebody I'd like to see run for president, you know? She'd sure give that Sarah Palin a run for her money!
Me: Umm ok! Have a good night! [runs off bus terrified]

Run-in #2:
(Saturday night, 10:30-ish. I'm on my way home from work, heading back towards White Center from downtown. The bus is late. The 120 is right behind the 125. As I get on, CABD is in the middle of a heated conversation with a random passenger it appears sat in the "hot seat" by accident and is now nodding & smiling at the verbal diarrhea projectile vomiting from CABD's mouth. Here are some verbatim quotes that I had seared into my brain. I have no context & have no idea what they were talking about prior to my entrance on said bus, but somehow this guy seems to start conversations in the middle, if you get what I mean. It seems there rarely is context.)

CABD: Well, I think we need more human sacrifice, you know? There are like three different ways to kill a guy, then throw 'im in a bog up in Canada somewhere. Dig 'im up eight months later and we're all saved, you know what I mean?
Random Guy: Mmm-hmm.
....
(Bus stops at the last downtown stop. No one gets on. The 120 is right behind us & everyone flocks to hop on.)
CABD: Everyone always wants the damn 120!! What's so special about the 120, hunh?
...
CABD: That earthquake's coming and it's gonna be about a 9 and all these buildings here in downtown, they're only ready for an 8... All the Native Americans are still talking about the last one, and it was like 400 years ago... It's gonna be really messy, man... When it starts shaking there's this process called liquefaction that happens and basically everything solid turns liquid. All this land's gonna turn to quicksand & we're gonna be in deep shit... When you hear them tellin' you to have enough water & food for three days, that's what they're talking about man, but they don't want the public to get all worked up about it. (At this point, the random guy gets off the bus, and CABD keeps talking as if he is still there.) Three days? When this shit happens, three days ain't gonna cover it. [laughs, shaking his head] Three days?
...
(We pass a billboard for some new Jalepeno chicken sandwich thing at McDonalds. There is NO one at the front of the bus.)
CABD: Mmmm!!! SPI-SAY!!!!

houses, promotions & life - oh my!

2011-04-26T22:45:00.005+02:00

Well time just flies by, doesn't it?

I can hardly believe it, but somehow in the craze of moving to our own place, getting jobs and starting our new life as young adults in Seattle (& all that jazz!), free time just went out the window. Not only did I somehow miss the one-year countdown mark (I currently only have 340 days left!!! How is that possible???) but this is the first time EVER I have been behind in the percentage race (where I have more time complete than tasks - eek!!!)!!!

So for those of you who follow, here's the Cliff's Note version of life with the Coutarels these days:

A VERY long time ago (we were still crashing with Mama Smith in Bellevue at the time) we were invited over to the Nesteroff's and made some HOMEBREW!!! They were amazingly nice, gave us a sweet Homebrew book and explained it all. It's super fascinating & I've been meaning to do a full-on post just on the process, but since I'm sure I won't get around to it for a while, here are a few pics to summarize.

cooking the grains.

getting my stir on.

malt for daaaays.

straining the grains.

the nesterbrocks!

agitating the brew.

adding the magic.

getting yeasty.

ready to stew away!!!

a taste test & our new book!!!

Of course we still haven't made it over to taste the final product yet... :( We're working on it. But a big thanks to Mike & Kimm for having us & teaching us!!! It was a blast & we'd LOVE to brew again!

But... WE MOVED!!! (Finally!) We now have our own place over in West Seattle on Pigeon Point. We love it, and so does Tippen, who even has his own little room.

us looking glamorous on our first eve home!

(thanks for dinner, dad!)

Remy got his physical greencard super fast & we both have jobs. Remy's at the Seward Park PCC & I'm hustling it back at Starbucks in Bellevue again. AND (cat's out of the bag so I can go public now) I just got promoted! Shift supervisor, woo hoo! I'm working on grad school applications to go back & get my Masters in Teaching French & Remy's working on his English & his graphic design portfolio.

Somewhere in there I turned twenty-six (!!! I'm more than half-way to fifty - WHAT??!),

thanks, mom, for the delicious vegan cake!!

and thank you friends (& too much beer) for helping us celebrate!
/ happy 26 to midnight birthday twin + bff rae!!
(horrid pic, yes, but the only one of us two from our special night!)

mastered vegan cupcakes,

chocolate coconut & chocolate sprinkles

vegan muffins,

lemon poppyseed

and vegan scones,

chocolate chip

inherited a new old bicycle,

may i introduce y'all to peter rabbit, my new used bike!

(a big shout out to previous owner jill - SO generous & don't worry he'll be put to good use!)

(this would be us at the tulip ride in skagit valley, by the by)

and discovered Mighty O Donuts, which just might be my new downfall. Not only are they ridiculously delicious, they are organic AND vegan!!!!! If you're ever in the Greenlake/Tangletown area (just east of the zoo) be sure to check them out.

apple fritter & grasshopper donut = heaven

Not long enough post for you? Haven't had your daily dose of cute? Well Tippen made a new friend, Solomon,

best buds (until sol wanted to play baseball with tippen - then it got a little complicated)

and Remy made a new friend at Mt.Si.

i guess the birdies like my vegan scones, too!

Well there you have it. I promise to try to update more frequently and less schizo-y. Until then, That's all folks!

the future

2011-03-08T19:54:00.000+01:00

At every moment of every day I am wanting to have children on some level. Some days I am more hormonal and weepy and struck with baby fever than others. Yesterday morning was one of those moments.

We were just waking up. I mentioned how much I wished our cat, Tippen, would come snuggle with us in bed. He's still too much of a kitten and isn't interested in cuddling much yet. It'll be a few more years before he calms down enough to sleep on our bed.

Remy laughed and we pictured Tippen with his head popping out from under the down comforter right between us. Then he turned and looked me in the eyes and said, completely seriously and with no idea how much it meant,

"Ça sera comme ça avec notre petit bébé bientôt. Il dormira entre nous avec sa petite tête qui sort de la couette."

And I started to cry.

growing pains

2011-02-14T22:34:00.001+01:00

Birthdays come & go. We get older every day, true, but once a year we really feel it. When we're little this is exciting. We want to grow up so that we can finally understand all those "you'll understand when you're older" comments. Then we get older & most of the time we wish we didn't have to know.

This year was the first year I really got stressed or had negative feelings about growing older. When it comes down to it, I had just always seen myself at 26 with life a little more, well... settled. I saw myself with kids, I saw myself with direction and I certainly did not see myself crashing in my old bedroom at my mom's house, homeless and unemployed. I felt like a disappointment to myself for not having those dream-future-me things in my real life.

Then I took stock of what I do have. What I have accomplished. And more importantly, all the amazing things I am doing and want to do with my life! I may be crazy and spontaneous and have trouble looking past today sometimes, but I am proud of taking risks and experiencing new things. I never want to stop learning or loving or living!

My charming husband took me out to a delicious birthday dinner at a posh vegetarian/vegan restaurant on Madison for my birthday, and I found this quote in the bathroom. It seemed so perfect I just wanted to share it with you. It is exactly what I never ever want to feel.

If I had my life to live over by Nadine Stair

I'd dare to make more mistakes next time. I'd relax, I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I'd have fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I'm one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had it to do over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I've been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.

I never wear a raincoat. I eat entirely too much ice cream. I am barefoot more than most would find appropriate. And this twenty-six-year-old girl wouldn't have it any other way. :)

cleanse

2011-01-21T19:52:00.003+01:00

It has been seven days since I have eaten any solid food. SEVEN. DAYS.

I am cleansing my body and it feels holy.

I have wanted to do a deep detox/fast for a very very long time. When I was in college I did a water-only fast. I wanted to make it to ten days, but I only made it to seven. I probably could have made it to ten days, but one of the things you don't realize until you stop eating is how much of our lives revolve around food. Meals are a time to eat, yes, but more importantly they are a time to socialize. It is where we tell stories, where we share pieces of ourselves, where we open up and where we let others in.

Most of the day we spend working away to make money, and then at the end of the day (or at the beginning of the day, or in the middle of the day, or in the afternoon on our breaks) what do we spend that money on? Rent and clothes a bit, for sure, but we spend most of it on... you guessed it, food.

Before we created this monetary system for ourselves, people worked in the fields. To cultivate what? Food. Either for themselves, or for their kings and queens and fellow serfs, or for their community. All their energy, all of their work was spent in efforts to cultivate food. Castles were surrounded by acres and acres of furtile fields, without which they would not have survived as royalty very long.

And before agriculture, what do you think hunter/gatherers spent the majority of their time doing? Changing the facebook status on their cave walls? I doubt it. Well, they spent it hunting and gathering food.

While we are much much more removed from our food than those generations before us (how many children these days know when foods are in season? Hell, how many of you know when a tomato is in season or what a potato plant looks like?), most of our social lives still revolve around food and food traditions. Pick any holiday. Is there any way to celebrate without sharing food or drink? Think about any time you get together with friends or family. How often is it not based around going out to eat, or making food together or getting coffee or tea or dessert? Almost never. We don't know how to be happy without food.

Now I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Food is a very vital component of our existence. There is a reason our lives are centered around it. It gives us life. It is our life force. Without it we would not survive.

Which is why taking this time apart, taking this time to focus on healing my body and opening my mind has made me realize how truly sacred food is. And made me see how sacrilegious our modern eating habits are. We scarf down a bite of processed food real quick on our ten minute lunch break, we down a liter of soda in a day for an energy kick and we absolutely abuse alcohol. Good wine takes years to get from the vine to the bottle and yet we don't even take the time to savour it anymore. And we don't even know where our food comes from anymore!!!

Fast food might be the most hypocritical idea we have ever come up with. Food is not fast and should not be fast. It is not fast to grow, it is not fast to harvest, it is certainly not fast to digest and it should not be prepared or consumed with too much haste. And we wonder why our children are obese and our family and friends are sick and weak? Maybe instead of focusing on "the magic cure" we should focus on prevention and pay more attention to what we are putting in our bodies in the first place.

I have three days to go, and when I start reintroducing solid foods into my diet I am going to cherish every moment of the process. I will do my best to buy produce directly from the farmers so I know who's been caring for my food. I will do my best to only eat organic and preferably locally grown food so that I know I am not poisoning my body, my family and friends and our planet. I will do my best to take the time to plan, prepare and savour every life-giving bite of my meals. And I will not forget that what I put into my body makes me. We truly are what we eat. And what we eat eats, too.

a new life

2011-01-07T10:50:00.001+01:00

I've always felt that New Year celebrations are a bit overexaggerated and I've never quite understood all the hype. People and their resolutions they never keep, their promises to themselves and to others that they will somehow magically change into something better when the clock strikes twelve (or rather when they wake up hung-over the next morning). Most people know they won't make it to February, meaning we all start each new year lying to ourselves. How sad.

I've heard for twenty-five years that where you are at midnight is symbolic of where you'll be for the rest of the year, and trust me, in the race to be somewhere amazing I always seem to find myself somewhere no one would ever want to be (peeing in Safeway parking lots, cleaning up my husband's best friend's face after I accidentally smashed it open on a plate full of glass, projectile vomiting red wine on my own bathroom floor; you get the idea). And the first day of each new year always seems to be spent grumpy, more because I feel let down than because of the splitting headache and constant nausea or the fact that I am cleaning up my own vomit.

I just never got it. In January it's dark and it's the beginning of winter and it's cold and rainy and I still want to stay in my pajamas most days and eat copious amounts of dark chocolate and play board games and read books. I'm not ready for a new beginning because I'm still in hibernation mode and there's still six months of school or work or whatever until the weather gets nice and I start itching for new horizons. I want a fresh start come spring.

Which is why this last day of December as I was drifting off to sleep well before midnight, perfectly sober and perfectly exhausted from the final day of moving out of our apartment in Chamalières, I was completely caught off guard by my overwhelming sense of renewal and bliss. It was simple; I was curled up against my husband, toasty warm under a giant comforter, sleepy from the delicious meal we had just eaten, physically worn out from a day of moving and cleaning and stressing, and perfectly content listening to my partner's even (if not rather loud) breathing and the purring of our cat curled up at our feet. We were technically homeless (crashing at his parents' house), very poor (neither of us had gotten our last pay check yet) and absolutely unsure of our future (no definitive plans for housing, occupations or way of life for 2011). It was perfect.

And for once I got it. I understood the New Year. It is a fresh start. It is symbolic. It represents what you will be doing for the next year just as much as, as an ancient Tibetan teaching suggests, "If you want to know your future, look at what you are doing at this very moment."

At this very moment I am immigrating to the United States with my French husband. At this very moment I am learning as much as I can about instructing a language so that I can become the best French teacher I can be. At this very moment I am detoxifyng my body and nurturing myself with as much local, fresh and organic food as possible. At this very moment I am preparing myself and my family to bring children into this beautiful world. At this very moment I am learning, I am growing, I am loving and I am loved, and I could not ask for a better way to jump into a new life.

happy holidays from france!!!

2010-12-20T10:35:00.001+01:00

all i want for christmas is... 100% organic cotton undies & socks

2010-12-15T16:50:00.003+01:00

Holy moly underwear and socks are expensive!!!!

Rémy had an appointment at the dermatologist the other day to get some moles checked out before we leave France and full medical coverage (don't worry, they're all normal - it was just to take advantage of our awesome insurance before we don't have it anymore) and he discovered that he has a severe and highly contagious bout of Athlete's foot. His feet had been itchy (mostly at night) but this had been going on for a while and we hadn't really thought much of it.

Well, it turns out it's super contagious and super annoying to get rid of. Since it's a fungus it can lie dormant in old socks for weeks on end and then sprout up suddenly one humid night when there's a full moon. Gross? Yes. Annoying? It is decidedly so. Rémy has to wash his feet with a special antiseptic gel and put on special medicated lotion and powder and we can't be sure it's 100% gone for 15 days.

Then there's the whole sock business. If Rémy wants to keep his socks (and since we share socks it becomes if WE want to keep OUR socks, any of them...) we have to wash them daily (all of them, not just the ones we wear) and powder them daily with some special powder and keep them in sealed plastic bags when we are not wearing them. And we have to do this every day FOR THIRTY DAYS. Now I don't know about you, but that seems like a helluva lot of work just to have clean socks. Since all we own is a shit-ton of really old socks (some dating back probably to the 80's) and we will be leaving our apartment in 16 days and the country in 27, we made the executive decision to throw away all of our socks and buy new ones. (We did briefly consider donating them, but then realized that would be rather sadistic.)

It gets worse.

The genus of fungus that causes Athlete's foot, Trichophyton, also causes another annoying and painfully itchy condition sometimes known as "dhobi itch", more commonly known by the lovely name "jock itch". It is exactly what you think it is. How does fungus from the feet get to the groin? Well, just think about how you dry yourself off with a towel. And then think about using the same towel for a few days, and sharing it with someone who secretly has Athlete's foot.

Yes, you guessed it, I am the unlucky one. I have jock itch.

Don't worry, I'll spare you the details on how I have to cure my little problem. But what it comes down to is that we also have to throw out all of our underwear and replace them with new, total clean & fungus-free 100% cotton underwear.

So today I throw all of our old socks & undies in a giant sack and go out in search of new 100% cotton socks & undies, preferably organic since cotton uses an absurdly high percentage of the world's pesticides/insecticides. (Cotton covers 2.5% of the world's cultivated lands but uses 16% of the world's insecticides - that's more than ANY other crop!!!)

First of all, the green movement is still in the very very early stages here in France so it took me forever to find what I wanted, and when I did it was exorbitantly expensive. I almost had a stroke when the lady told me my total and I had to ask her again to make sure I wasn't hallucinating: 120€ worth of plain cotton socks & undies. And I only bought 21 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of slippers, 7 pairs of undies and 3 pairs of tights/leggings. I guess it comes out to only 3€64 per item, but it still seems freaking ridiculous.

In light of this crisis I have come up with some rather renegade New Years Resolutions that I have taken a vow to follow with the utmost seriousness:
- I will take much better care of my socks and my undies from here on out.
- I will wash them in a timely manner.
- I will make sure that each sock is with his mate at all times.
- I will not leave them balled up covered in dust bunnies under the bed or dresser.
- I will cherish each moment my toesies are warm and snug, and
- I promise to try not to wear tights too often to give my jock area some breathing room.

On that lovely note, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & to all a Good Night!!

countdown

2010-11-28T21:50:00.008+01:00

We only have this much time left until we arrive in Seattle!!!

shampoo shampoo

2010-11-27T20:56:00.001+01:00

I got shampoo in my eyes in the shower this morning which was less uncomfortable than I would have thought, and while washing out my eye I unexpectedly burst out laughing at a childhood memory that came flooding back.

I remember one day back when my sister Rose was just a baby and we used to take baths together my mom bought Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo. For whatever reason she informed me that it was "tear free". She of course just wanted to get my hair clean; I, on the other hand, thought it was miracle shampoo. So much so that I didn't even squirm when it came time to rinse my hair.

I remember later that day falling down. Maybe I scraped my knee or my elbow or stubbed my toe; maybe I drew blood or maybe I didn't. That part's irrelevant. What I remember most is crying. And crying and crying and crying. Not because it actually hurt so bad. But because I was terribly shocked & startled & incredibly deceived that after using the tear-free shampoo, I actually could.

le bon coin

2010-11-26T21:53:00.040+01:00

Pour faciliter les choses, voilà ce qu'on vend sur Le Bon Coin. On préfère vendre aux amis/connaissances, donc n'hésitez-pas à nous dire ce que vous voulez.

Merci de nous contacter à lescoutarel@gmail.com s'il y a quelque choses qui vous intéresse.

~~Enceintes KENWOOD.~~

~~Radiocassette PHILIPS.~~

~~Imprimante Hewlett Packard Laser Jet 4.~~

~~Puzzles variés.~~

~~Bougeoir en pierre.~~

~~2 tabourets de bar.~~

~~Chevalet en bois.~~

~~Homme en bois.~~

~~Main en bois.~~

~~Matelas.~~

~~Service de table Art Déco.~~

~~Théière en fonte bleue.~~

~~Machine à pain FUNIX.~~

~~Six assiettes, bordure rouge.~~

~~Deux pichets d'eau.~~

~~Grand plat en terre cuite.~~

~~Deux plats en verre.~~

~~Brumisateur d'huile.~~

~~Boules de Noel.~~

~~Déco de Noel à suspendre.~~

~~Trois plats en céramique~~.

~~Protections de rollers.~~

~~Didgeridoo Bamboo.~~

~~Tenture Arbre de Vie.~~

~~Monocycle QU-AX Luxus.~~

~~Rollers UKAN M70.~~

~~Cadres photos.~~

~~Mixeur Moulinex.~~

~~Machine à gaufre.~~

~~Livre Terre d'Insectes.~~

~~BDs variées.~~

~~Twilight Saga en anglais (4 tomes).~~

~~Livres de jeux/enigmes.~~

~~Livres variés - anglais.~~

~~Livres variés - anglais.~~

~~Mangas variés.~~

~~Livre Les Plans au Cinéma.~~

~~Livre En Siberie.~~

~~Livres variés (français).~~

~~Livres variés (voyage).~~

~~Livres Bernard WERBER (cycle des dieux).~~

~~Le code de la route.~~

G~~uides officiels FINAL FANTASY IX &; X.~~

~~Arrested Development (en français) saison 1.~~

~~Livres variés - informatique.~~

~~Dictionnaires variés.~~

~~Livres variés - Yoga/Zen.~~

~~Massue jonglage - set de 3.~~

~~Flotteur piscine.~~

~~Jeu d'échecs en bois.~~

~~Petite boîte en bois.~~

~~Jeux variés.~~

~~Hochet pingouin.~~

~~Trépied DYNEX: 10 euros.~~

~~Étagères en bois: 5 euros pour les deux.~~

~~Frigo FAR F 2240 A.~~

~~Ordinateur SONY.~~

~~Machine à laver.~~

~~Canapé futon: 15 euros.~~

~~Mancala en bois.~~

~~Carte du monde: 5 euros.~~

~~Séchoir.~~

~~Cadres photo variés.~~

~~Four Moulinex Activys.~~

~~Étagère noire.~~

~~Fer à repasser.~~

~~Accessoires pour perceuse.~~

~~Étagère bois pliable.~~

~~Carnet de dessin.~~

~~Rouleau à pâtisserie.~~

~~Grand parapluie multicolore.~~

~~Table basse en verre.~~

~~Deux albums photo.~~

~~Sommier.~~

~~Bureau en bois.~~

~~Bouilloire électrique.~~

~~Meuble salle de bain Allibert.~~

~~Germoir.~~

~~Tapis de sol bambou.~~

~~Table.~~

~~Quatre chaises.~~

Sèche cheveux CALOR: 15 euros.

Réchaud de camping MSR: 5 euros.

Caméscope SONY HC9: 680 euros.

Télescope MIZAR 150/750 + 4 oculaires: 300 euros.

osteopathe

2010-11-25T10:41:00.002+01:00

I had my first experience ever with a chiropractor yesterday, and let's just say it was nothing I have ever experienced before.

I've been having this crazy hip/butt pain for about three weeks that just keeps getting worse. Everyone here in France has been telling me, "Go see a chiropractor! It will change your life!" I had many excuses not to. A) I hate cracking joints, or knuckles or backs. I hate it, with a passion, and my idea of a chiropractor was sort of like a kid's view of a dentist -a scary man that uses crazy tools to crack your bones. B) I was pretty sure it was muscular and thought that issue should be addressed before moving on to bones (although I do recognize they are all connected, that was just my excuse...) C) Chiropractors are not covered by most insurance here, so I used money as an excuse (although it turns out our insurance is really awesome and it is covered, so that quickly turned into a moot point). D) The idea of some old creeper massaging my butt was a bit of a turnoff, which I was able to use to convince Rémy not to call a few times. E) Most waiting lists were over a month long.

But the pain got more and more unbearable and when it became debilitating that's where I drew the line. Fine, Rémy, call your stupid chiropractor.

So I was quite surprised when I walked in to my appointment yesterday and was greeted by a young woman who could not be much older than me. She was smiley and friendly and we chatted for a bit before she told me to strip down & lie on a massage table. I tried to relax as I prepared for pain & cracking, but no pain & cracking were to be had. Instead... well, it was weird.

I have always been a fan of anatomy. It find it sincerely and thoroughly fascinating and is one of my weird random passions. I have quite a few anatomy books lying around and I love knowing how my body moves, during yoga for example. But this, this was movement I could not understand. She would lightly press certain spots all over my body, poking and prodding and caressing and what felt like snapping her fingers over my skin. Then sometimes she would pull my arm or leg a bit, sometimes she would poke at my butt cheek. Sometimes it felt like she sort of was giving a massage, but more like someone who has never given a massage before and doesn't particularly like physical contact, so it doesn't feel very good & doesn't last very long. And it threw me off. I was not sure how to relax because I had no idea what was going on. I could not possibly fathom how by touching my forehead she could tell if my spine was aligned or not. It felt like a very serious eight or nine-year-old girl was trying to play doctor on my back.

After forty-five minutes of this intense touching, she told me to stand up and then bend over and touch my toes. I still had searing pain in my hip when I reached my toes, but ohmygod I touched my toes!!! It had been weeks since I had been able to bend over at all!!! She told me I had tension in my right lower back and left shoulder and that it created a triangle of pressure and tension that caused my hip to go out of whack. So she realigned my spine and my pelvis and told me to take it easy for a few days while my spine figured itself out. My hip is inflamed, but once the inflammation goes down, there should be no reason it doesn't heal itself, she explained.

I went home feeling drugged, like after a full body massage, and promptly laid down in Savasana to help let my body process what had just happened. I tried to take it easy, and it's true: there was less pain. I tried to sleep on my back the whole night, and we moved our mattress to the floor so it would be a bit more solid, and amazingly woke up this morning almost pain free!!!

There's still a little hint of pain, and I can tell if I overwork it it will just cramp up again and start hurting like crazy. So I'm taking it slow. Again. Another two to three days of rest. Of me being a blob. And then (hopefully) I will be able to do physical activity again!! I cannot wait to work up a good sweat!!

immigration - an honest look at the immigration process for one franco-american couple

2010-11-23T14:31:00.002+01:00

Immigration.

It's complicated. It takes a LOT of time. It costs a LOT of money. And more than anything else, it uses a LOT of paper!!

Me immigrating to France took a lot of time and frustration considering we were never 100% in the know as to what was going on, what was being demanded of me, what the process would be like. This was in large part because the process was constantly changing. Since I have been in France the laws regarding immigration have been changed many times. Which is complicated in itself, but even more so when you have started the immigration process before said laws, and thus must continue your own request following the old protocols.

That being said, our decision to move to the United States to found a family &a start our adult lives (careers and houses and all that) took a while for me to accept because, well, let's face it, mostly because I didn't want to have to deal with the stress of all that paperwork and red tape yet again.

Coming to France it was technically me responsible for all of the paperwork. I was petitioning my right to stay on French territory as the spouse of a French citizen. Of course Rémy helped loads during the whole process, but essentially all the pressure was on me. Us going back to the States meant that I, yet again, was responsible for all of the paperwork. I was petitioning my right as a U.S. citizen to bring my spouse with me to live in my country of origin. Oh joy. Luckily for everyone in the process I have a bit of an OCD syndrome concerning paperwork, lists and important legal documents.

So this time, in order to spare us the stress (emotionally, financially and time-wise) with the whole moving-to-France immigration process, Rémy & I decided to take a different approach. This time we decided to listen to the sage advice of our dear friend, Ashley, in regards to the planning process for her wedding:

"It's supposed to be one of the best, most influential moments of your life," she told me one day. "It's supposed to be fun. As soon as you stop enjoying the process and it starts getting stressful, that's when it's time to stop. Put the to-do lists away for another day and just remember to breathe. Take it a day at a time."

Very wise advice, indeed. And while deeming applying for a spousal green card "fun" might be a stretch for most, we tried to keep in mind at all times the fun & excitement moving to the States represented for us. We tried to keep the bigger picture in mind.

While it was neither the shortest nor the most facile process of my life, I will give the U.S. credit for this: the process for applying for permanent resident status in the States is extremely straightforward. Everything is laid out for you in letters and lists. The U.S. Department of State and U.S. Embassy in Paris websites concerning petitioning for immediate relative immigration are incredibly thorough and well laid-out. They leave no room for guessing or last-minute changes, as was often the case on the French side. They are honest with you, straight-forward and to the point. I have to say compared to dealing with the préfecture or the mairie here in Clermont it was a breath of fresh air.

The process for us was a bit different than the process for most people, as there is a specific department set up in the Embassy in Paris that receives married couples just like us who consist of 1 (one) American citizen and 1 (one) French citizen, who wish to move to the United States. The process is thus both shorter and longer. Shorter because a few of the steps most people take are combined into one; it can be longer because many documents need to be obtained in the US and then sent to France and because not everyone is blessed with a lawyer for a father (and can therefore make it through stacks of documents that are neither exciting nor explicit - most documents resemble the directions for filling out tax returns; mind-bogglingly confusing at best).

We started getting the paperwork together early 2010 and planned on heading up to the embassy to petition in April, although we ended up not making it until the first week of July. This was in part because the only time the embassy is open to receiving these documents is between 9:00 and 10:00am on Friday mornings. Meaning both Rémy & I had to have two full days off of work (including a Friday, which is hard to ask for). I was petitioning for immediate relative immigration classification as an American citizen who has been continuously, legally resident in France for at least the six months prior to petitioning. Whew, it's quite a mouthful, I know. For this first part of the process I was required to submit the following documents:

- U.S. citizen (me) and family member beneficiary (Rémy) passports
- U.S. citizen petitioner's (my) titre de séjour (my own green card equivalent here in France) as proof of six months of continuous, legal residence in France
- Two passport-sized photos of the U.S. citizen petitioner (me) and the beneficiary (Rémy)
-Proof of relationship: marriage certificate or copie l'integrale de l'acte de mariage
-Completed forms I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative) and G-325A (Biographic Information) for the beneficiary (Rémy)
- Completed form G-325A for the U.S. Citizen petitioner (me)
-Completed form DS-230 (Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration) for the beneficiary (Rémy)
- Petitioning fee in U.S. dollars, cash only, $355 (*NOTE* The fee has since gone up to $420, but can now be paid in either dollars or euros, in cash or by credit card.)

We went to Paris, we showed up at the embassy at 8:30, we were in the waiting room with a numbered ticket by 9:00, and we were quite possibly the only couple petitioning this particular case that morning, or at least most certainly the first called, and we didn't get called to a window until 9:50am!!! Considering they stop taking petitions at 10:00am sharp, we were quite nervous for those fifty minutes sitting in the waiting room.

When we were called we turned in all of our documents to a very kind French woman who was impressed by our organization (apparently many people show up at the embassy without even having printed off the proper forms and who wish to move to the States the following week; this boggles my mind quite literally, and makes me understand the frustrations of these poor desk clerks, dealing with paperwork and rushed, impolite people all day) and then had a quick interview with another woman, this time American, who asked us questions in English about why we wanted to move to the States. It went well and we returned to Clermont eager to receive letters from the Embassy as to whether we could continue in our request.

The letters came, and with them list after list of paperwork we would need to hand in at our next interview. We were required to prepare all documents, and once we had them ALL at hand to sign and send a form to the Embassy stating that we were ready for our medical exam and final interview. The documents required this time were:

- The appointment letter we received.
- Completed form DS-230, part II (Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration)
- Passport of beneficiary (Rémy), valid for six months beyond our intended date of entry to the USA
- Visa fees ranging from $379 - $819 per person, payable in US dollars, euros or by credit card (it turned out the fees for us were $404)
- 2 color photos, measuring two square inches, with the head between 1in - 1 3/8in and the eye level between 1 1/8in - 1 3/8in from the bottom of the photo
- Birth certificate for the beneficiary, less than three months old.
- Police certificate for each applicant aged 16 years and over, including France and any other country where applicant has lived for more than 12 months after the age of 16; less than three months old.
- Court and prison records, if applicable.
- Military records, if applicable.
- Marriage certificate; less than three months old.
- UNOPENED medical exam results.
- A "Chronopost" envelope, 2kg with completed return delivery address.
- Evidence of financial support:
- Completed form I-864 (Affidavit of Support) and supporting documents including but not limited to: copies of tax returns or W-2s for the past three years, a notarized letter of employment, proof of assets
(Since I have not had income in the US for the past three years since I have been living in France I had to have a co-sponsor also fill out these forms, along with a copy of their passport to prove they are indeed a U.S. citizen. We were very very lucky that my dad offered to fill this role for us and are very grateful to both his and my step-mom Jill's help in the whole process.)
- Original documents that establish a relationship between the petitioner and the beneficiary for presentation to the consular officer; this includes, but is not limited to plane tickets, photos and correspondence in the form of letters or emails.

We spent a few months collecting all the documents we needed and then sent in the form saying we were ready.

We received our official letter for our final interview and blocked out November 16-19 on our schedules for paperwork. Rémy's parents were generous enough to let us use their car to drive up to Paris, and we couch surfed with some old friends who live near Gare de l'Est while we were there.

Wednesday was Rémy's official medical exam. It was a whole day ordeal. We first showed up at the office of one of the three doctors in all of France who can do these exams, all of whom are in Paris, of course. We turned in some paperwork (proof of vaccinations, medical history, etc) and they gave us some more paperwork. Then it was off to get his blood drawn at one lab (to make sure he doesn't have AIDS); then to get his lungs x-rayed at another lab (to make sure he doesn't have tuberculosis); then to the pharmacy to buy the vaccinations he would have to get to be able to come to the States; and then back to the doctor's office for his full-on medical exam + vaccinations. It went pretty well, as well as hanging out at the doctor's and getting poked & prodded & shots and all that can be. He wrote out his report of Rémy's health and gave it to us in a sealed envelope to present at the embassy during our interview. We paid the 170 euro fee for the visit and left.

Thursday was the big day. We showed up at the embassy almost an hour early. We went through the extensive security measures, worse than airport security. They even made me try my chapstick to make sure there weren't any Alias-like tricks up my sleeve. We took our numbered ticket & sat waiting. Our appointment was at 1:00pm and we got called up around 1:15. A nice French lady explained to us how to pay our fee and told us to sit back down & wait some more once that was over.

We paid (the man inspected every dollar bill to make sure it was real - understandable since they were dollars we took out of our French bank and had thus never actually been in circulation) and then sat back down to wait patiently.

The same lady called us up again to turn in all of our documents. Surprisingly, some of the ones I thought would be the most important (like my dad's W2s) she glanced at quickly and then handed back to me. She made some comments about how it must be nice having a lawyer for a dad at times like these and we politely laughed. She took Rémy's fingerprints and then asked if she had forgotten anything.

I hadn't been too sure what we were supposed to bring to "establish a relationship", and we had printed off about a hundred or so pictures of us throughout our years together, as well as a few lovey-dovey emails and other small tokens of our love for each other. The star I bought for him a few years ago for his birthday, the hearts I left all over the house with things I love about him marked on each one when I had to go back to the States the first time my visa was up, love poems. I asked her if she wanted any of that proof and she looked at me and laughed. "Honey," she said. "If we had had any doubt about your relationship, we wouldn't have asked you to a second interview!"

A mix of relief and embarrassment (how could I have been so crass? did I really think they would be checking up on our "love", stalking us on Facebook or searching for potential blogs? how truman-show of me) flowed through me and we were asked to sit down again and wait to be called for the interview portion.

The same lady who had interviewed us on the first visit back in July called us up to another window. She took Rémy's fingerprints yet again, and then slid the last page of form DS-230 through the window and told Rémy that by signing the form, he swore that everything in the form was true. Rémy, adorable Rémy, misunderstood and thought that he was supposed to swear out loud that the form was true while signing it. It was quite cute.

She asked him if he had a job in the States yet, he said no. She asked me if I had a job in the States yet, I said maybe. And that was it! "Alright, well you should receive your envelope with your visa in it within 7-10 days," she said. That's it?!?? We both stared at each other, incredulous. We had spent the past few weeks preparing for all the possible questions they might ask him. And that was it. She asked us if we had any questions for her.

"How do we know if I've been approved?" Rémy asked.

She rummaged through all the papers on her desk. "Everything in your file looks fine to me," she said. She looked over her glasses at us. "Unless, of course, there's something I should know about that you haven't told me..." We shook our heads. "Well, then I guess you know when you get the envelope," she said. "Have a nice day."

We left Thursday evening to drive back to Clermont and were beyond relieved that the initial stress was over. Now it was just a waiting game until our papers arrived.

To our surprise, the doorbell rang early Monday morning. Who could possibly be sending us a package? A surprise Thanksgiving gift from family back home? Christmas presents even though we told everyone not to send us anything this year since we're basically selling everything we own?

Nope. It was our paperwork. Those embassy workers don't waste any time! Yes indeedy, not even two full business days after our interview in Paris, and we had Rémy's visa physically in our hands!!!!

The next and final step is entering the country. Even after everything we've done, they still have the right to refuse us entry into the States at the border if they find some reason to. We have a sealed envelope from the embassy that is to be opened exclusively by an immigration officer upon entry into the country. If he or she decides we can enter, Rémy's visa and entry stamp officially serve as his "green card" for the first year we are there. He won't receive his plastic card until sometime within that first year.

So there it is. All our long, complicated and sometimes drawn-out immigration process. It might not have been what anyone else would term "fun", but we are SO excited to start our new life in the States and cannot wait to see everyone in Washington State in January!!!!

november in paris

2010-11-19T19:29:00.000+01:00

~~april in~~ paris

a room with a view.

métro, boulot, dodo.

trocadéro.

16ème.

liberté.

pretending to answer sophie calle.

the phone is broken. :(

in case she cares.

for erin.

that's right, 97 km from paris is a town called courtenay.

which even at 2am i was really excited about.

couch surfing

2010-11-19T19:12:00.003+01:00

So Rémy & I have had quite a few surfers crash on our couch during our time together here in Clermont, from friends to acquaintances to complete strangers and it has always gone well. We both love receiving guests, meeting new people and taking people on local adventures. It's a great experience for both parties; both the couch surfers and those who own the couch get something positive out of it.

Some might like the fact that it's cheap, and it's true, it's cheaper than getting a hotel room. But for me, that has nothing to do with it. For me, getting a hotel room and eating in a restaurant around the corner and breakfast at the buffet in the lobby is not travel. Watching TV in your hotel room in Paris or checking your Facebook at an internet café in Prague is not stepping out of the box; of course these things aren't forbidden while on the road, but if that's all you do, you might as well save yourself the cost of a flight, order in Thai food and buy yourself a postcard of Bangkok instead. To me, travel is experiencing the culture, experiencing the day to day life of a city, walking the backstreets and eating in restaurants and drinking in pubs you might not know about if not by word of mouth from locals.

So these are the reasons we wanted to stay with C & E in Paris, who we had already hosted in Clermont earlier this year. Opening up a neighborhood I hadn't explored as much as others, the convenience of having a flat near a metro stop in the middle of all our ridiculously complicated immigration rendez-vous, and an opportunity to enjoy autumn in Paris for a few days one last time.

**** POST EDITED **** (Because I hadn't slept in four days and it was just whining.)

madame coutarel

2010-11-11T12:23:00.000+01:00

In the beginning it was just a solution to having children in the States. What possible occupation could make me not regret leaving France before having my babies? France! The country where they essentially pay you to procreate! Up to two years maternity leave, five weeks paid vacation every year, free education; these are just a few of the many benefits to being a maman in France. So with our decision to move to the U.S. to found a family, what job could I have that would give me some of these benefits?

Teacher.

Although it obviously wouldn't be paid, with a little planning, popping a kid out at the end of the school year gives me a few months "maternity leave". Though the day starts earlier, it also ends earlier; I'd be able to make dinner and possibly be there afternoons. I'd be home on weekends. I'd have the same vacations as they do. I'd have summers off to go travel and explore with them. I hate teaching English, but French would be teaching something I don't loathe, so it's a compromise, I told myself. You can do this, I thought. Do it for your children.

Then I started looking at prospective schools and the excitement grew a little. I found a university that actually has a masters program in teaching French in secondary school, even though it's in Arizona, and for the first time in my life considered moving south. Arid & hot with no canopy of green is not generally my cup of tea. What did this desire mean? Nothing, I told myself. Just an exaggeration.

Then came the perusing of the flea markets. Old posters, children's books and encyclopedias in French, old black & white pictures of Paris. The pile grew. Not to decorate my home here in France, oh no. And not as decor for a future house in the States, either. I realized with a gasp! that all this collecting is for my future classroom.

Suddenly ideas and images come flooding in. I start making a list of things to buy before leaving the country. A magnetic map of the regions of France; a cloth calendar with seasons and weather and months and days of the week; a pop-up version of Le Petit Prince. I catch myself doing calculations - would it be cheaper to order thirty copies of Les Mis now and ship it with me, or to order them from the FNAC later from the States? I ask my French friends about their favorite French movies & books & muscial groups & tv shows, not because I want to know what they like but because I want ideas for potential classroom material.

Then come the questions. Is Le Père Noel est une Ordure appropriate cinema for high school students? If I expose them to popular French artists, do I need to censor the bad words? How does one put together a classroom trip to Europe? Will my students think I'm French?

Then the fantasies. My classroom walls are covered with old posters of regions of France. There are postcards with witty word games on the podium. On my desk there's a picture of Rémy & me in front of the Eiffel Tower. My calendar is pictures I've taken in Auvergne. There are plants everywhere, labeled in French (fougère, buis, pensée, oeillet). It's the end of the school year and my students are having a fête; they've made French specialties (crêpes & cheese & croissants, most likely) and are watching Amélie (subtitled in French, of course). The bell rings and my kids smile & laugh as they walk out of the classroom. "Bonnes vacances, Madame Coutarel!" they tell me as they leave. I smile as the door closes behind them, walk over to the chalkboard and start erasing another year's memories.

ah, yes, the post office.

2010-11-10T19:33:00.000+01:00

Whoever says snailmail is dead has obviously not walked into any post office anywhere in the entire world very lately. What is it about those places? Seriously. I have been to post offices on four continents now, and never EVER have I walked into one where the overly ridiculously long line hasn't made me want to turn around and walk right out.

"Why is this?" you may ask yourself. "What is it about these places that just scream administrative hell?" Well, folks, there seem to be some underlying trends that apply to all mail facilities.

First of all, no matter how big the post office you are visiting may be, there are only ever two windows open, maximum. Even (and/or especially, depending on how you look at it) during the big holiday seasons. If you see a third employee approaching a closed window, do not get too excited, because either a) they have just forgotten something at their desk, or b) if they DO miraculously open, one of the first two windows will promptly close. This is not to say that post office workers do not deserve breaks or sometimes need to do other stuff that is not at a window, but rather brings up the question, "Why build so many windows in the first place?"

Secondly, the person in line in front of you will always, ALWAYS have some ridiculous business to take care of that is so complicated and takes so many forms and steps that you wonder if maybe stamps have become incredibly hard to come by these days. These transactions will take an eternity and will most likely require the post office worker to leave his/her desk for at least five minutes at a time, while either a) searching for a package somewhere, b) making photocopies of some obsolete form no one cares about, or c) going to ask another employee a question no one in the entire building knows the answer to.

When a window FINALLY opens up, and you approach it, you will most likely hesitate, because the employee behind the desk will be finishing up some paperwork, stamping said paperwork in five different colors and fonts and then filing said paperwork. You will do the "I'm still in line!" dance, rocking back and forth on your the balls of your feet, glancing obsessively between the person who has just moved up to take your place at the head of the line and the open-and-yet-oh-so-closed window you really want to walk up to.

Two possible choices follow:
1) You decide to go for it and walk right up to the counter, even if the post office worker glances up at you with a cryptic glare which means either "go ahead, but this is gonna take a while" or "go to hell", at which point the window next to you will promptly open and the new head of the line will scurry over and start their own transaction before you even have time to blink.
2) You turn around and flash an apologetic look at the new head of the line, then look directly at your feet as you shuffle awkwardly backwards trying to reclaim your lost spot (as the rest of the line grumbles and stumbles unwillingly giving you a little wiggle room), at which point the quasi-open window's staff member will promptly put up their "please see next window" sign and make themselves suddenly absent.

These are post office facts of life, ladies and gentlemen, as unfortunate as that may be. Country, culture, and language may change, but there will always and forever be a line at the post office.

And that, my friends, is why you probably haven't gotten a letter from me in quite some time.

this is why i love my husband

2010-10-05T15:13:00.000+02:00

I have always had some slightly disturbing OCD habits involving clocks. When I was younger my sisters and I invented a "game" (although for me it turned into more of an obsession) where we had to freeze in the exact position we were in any time we saw the time turn to a palendrome. So at 10:01 and then 11:11 and then 12:21 we'd be stuck in random positions throughout the house. My mom would walk into the kitchen, roll her eyes and navigate around our tiny bodies, frozen while pouring milk or drinking tea or opening the fridge.

Now I might pause for a few seconds, but it mostly just makes me smile or do a little dance of joy. And it is not just reserved for palendromes anymore. My bizarre fetish has extended to other little number games, too. My favorite of which is on the rare occasion when I catch a digital clock at 12:34.

So when I caught the clock doing just that the other day and did a little dance of triumph/joy, how surprisingly lovely that Rémy did not laugh hysterically at my weirdness but only smiled and added, "You can do better than that, you know..." I looked at him, puzzled. How? 12:34 is the only time that uses all four digits and is in order. I waited impatiently for his answer. He looked at me, possibly stunned that I couldn't figure it out on my own. "Wait until it shows 12:34 and 56 seconds," he replied.

My jaw dropped. Why had I never thought of that? I waited with increasing anticipation until the clock read 12:34:56 and just about keeled over with excitement. And my perfect husband just smiled and shook his head.

serendipity

2010-07-25T19:58:00.006+02:00

So as I've said, I love Tuesdays because of the market. There are a few stands I love in particular from the region, including one that I discovered not too long ago, maybe a month or two ago, mostly because it's hidden behind some stands I'm not a huge fan of & rarely go home that way so I had somehow missed out.

Well, I try to buy a few things from each stand every time, help support the farmers I really like. One day the woman at this tiny stand says, "Oh! THAT's where you're from! You work at Botanic!" I was a bit surprised. Yes, I work there, but with the bajillion people I see every day, there is no way I remember every face, or if I do that I can place them.

So whadya know, she came into my store and recognized me and then placed my face the next time I came to her stand. So we got to chatting. She's a very passionate woman, very intriguing, and we came to talk about my life in France, that I'm from the States blah blah. She mentions that she has a daughter who would be interested in some private lessons in English, nothing fancy, just to help bring back the English she learned back in high school for her college courses. Now normally I say no immediately. I'm over teaching English, it's not my thing. I feel awkward about it. But for some reason that day I was in a particularly good mood and I said yes. And ever since, every Tuesday morning I go to the market & buy my local produce from the other vendors and then Marilyse comes over and we sit in the garden and read the Magic Schoolbus or Ramona Forever. We agreed on trade, which we both prefer, so for an hour or two of my time I get fresh local veggies. It's a pretty sweet deal, really.

And then last week she invited Rémy & me to her house in Tallende for lunch with her family and then an afternoon roaming their vast fields of fruits and veggies. That day was today and let's just say the day was as fabulous as it the whole affair has been serendipitous. Their house is french-ADORABLE in every possible sense. Lunch was fabulous of course, with fresh-picked produce made with lots of love. And LOTS of conversation. I learned an incredible amount about organic agriculture and agriculture in France in general.

Then it was off to the fields. I was left speechless. They work so hard and are so invested in organic as a lifestyle that it is hard to translate their passion onto paper with just these simple words. To them it is only logical to produce our food using methods that do not pollute our bodies and our earth, and the stories they tell of other agriculturists who grow "organic" produce just for the trend or because they can charge more with an organic label are quite frankly scary.

Favorite quote of the day, M. Martin talking about whether or not it's a profitable profession: "If all we end up with after a year of hard work is ten francs (of profit), hey, it's still ten francs! That means we're not in the hole, so it's a good year. In this world, or in any, you just have to stay positive."

The best part: I know exactly what they're growing so I can get excited as the season progresses. I cannot WAIT for their tomatoes, peppers, green beans, potatoes. Every Tuesday I will wake up giddy for more! It was an amazing experience and it makes me want to get to know more local farmers and see how their gardens grow. With silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row?

We'll just see. :)

keep it raw,
chelsea

...and here is the rest of it.

bob's juice bar & kitchen

2010-07-06T11:34:00.003+02:00

Since happening randomly upon the bagel book & making delicious bagels all the time I have had this insane desire to go to Paris (which is very not chelsea due to my love-hate relationship with that ugly beautiful city). Why, you may ask? Why to check out the author's restaurants!

Considering Rémy & I both had to go to Paris for immigration paperwork, we used it as an opportunity to check out the veggie scene in the City of Love. We were happily blown away, which unfortunately now means we have the urge to go to Paris all the time.

Upon arriving at the first glimmerings of dawn on a smoggy Thursday morning, we headed downtown to check out the original shop, Bob's Juice Bar. We got there just as it was opening at 7:30am and the place was deserted save for us. First impressions: Generally groovy. Simple. One main table à la Old Town Café in Bellingham, meaning there's a possibility for chatting it up with other customers. A cactus & a guitar in the window. Shelves of books in both English & French & some pretty damn good ones, too. And a shelf full of paper bags of fresh local produce, which as I understood it could be purchased weekly as an easy way to eat local & in season, like we can at our farmer's market back home.

The guy behind the counter, a fellow Anglophone, was nice but not super chatty. Normal as he was busy opening shop. We ordered two smoothies & lemon poppyseed muffins which came directly out of the oven, moist & warm & oozing with deliciousness. Granted it has been a few years since I've eaten a muffin of any kind, at least since I've been living in France, but those muffins were literally heaven in my mouth. If I could order delivery to Clermont, I would do it every morning.

In the early afternoon we headed to Kitchen, the newest addition to "Bob"'s veggie/Paris scene, which does more lunch food/mealy type stuff than Bob's, which seems to be more breakfast-oriented. (Of course I was at Bob's in the early morning & Kitchen afternoon, so maybe these assumptions are false, I don't know.) First impressions: Packed, which means the food must be fab. Bigger than Bob's, with two long family-style tables. An electric guitar & a piano which rocks. Three or four employees, the type of people who smile at you and you just want to KNOW them, you know? Interesting people, intriguing, and I could say the same about the customers, too. AND, the cherry on top, "BOB" himself (Marc Grossman) greets us! We walk in carrying a Nalgene & he asks us who makes them, etc., interested because their water bottles are known to not leach chemicals into whatever liquid they're holding. We chat about his bagel book, about the states, about food in general. The guy chats up a storm & in the best way. He seems genuinely interested in what you have to say & he just has a presence about him that makes you smile. Chatting with one of the staff members we mentioned that we had been to Juice Bar that morning & she left us this nugget of wisdom: "Yeah, both are awesome but they have totally different vibes. People generally tend to stick with one or the other." It seems totally true. Juice Bar seems much more mellow, Kitchen very chatty & upbeat.

We got there late afternoon, not too long before closing maybe around 14:15 or 14:30 so we weren't trying to be choosy and opted for the "whatever you have left" menu, which turned out to be veggie guac burgers served on a bed of spinach with potato salad & coleslaw on the side. De-lish. Unfortunately Rémy was still healing from his bout of strep throat last week & was not feeling too hot, meaning I lucked out & basically got to eat twice.

We ended up going back the next day for lunch to try out more. Rémy had a pesto veggie burger & I had the gaspacho soup with a raw salad. Smoothies both days, both different, both fabulous. Plus on day two we met an awesome vegan couple from Indiana grâce à la table commune and spent a good hour or two swapping stories & working on Rémy's English! Both days the staff were fabulous, the kind that makes you want to stick around after closing & see what their lives outside of work are like; both days the food rocked, the kind that makes you want to eat there for lunch every day of your life, granted you lived in Paris & make a good chunk of change.

All in all, Coutarel & Coutarel give both resto's two very enthusiastic thumbs up. Thanks Marc for starting something epic & the staff for being awesome & we hope to see you again soon!

ketchup

2010-07-06T11:12:00.003+02:00

I love Tuesdays.

Simple as that. I always have Tuesdays off, there is the local farmer's market and I love chatting with all the local vendors. Plus today it is sunny but not too overbearingly hot AND I got three letters from very-loved friends on the other side of our beautiful globe! It would be impossible to not be in a good mood.

Sooooo much has happened in the last few weeks it's ridiculous. Sicknesses, papers in Paris, job offers. I have a lot to talk about, so I'm going to post it out and try to catch up.

Overall sentiments: it's summer & life is good!

tuesday market

2010-06-15T10:44:00.003+02:00

I am constantly amazed at how un-expensive it is to buy locally & organically grown produce. Tuesday morning is my market day. It's the day I always have off, and the day I love the most at the market because all four of my favorite local growers are there. I love it because I know all of the growers personally and know exactly where my food is coming from. The farthest away is a mere 30km from my front door!!! That's only 20 miles away!!! It is fresh, tastes amazing and is super cheap.

Voilà my steals for today, at a grand total of 14.17 euros:

3 liters of 100% apple juice, lettuce, radishes, garlic,

white turnips, cauliflower and 1 kg of fresh cherries

the cherries are delicious!!!

this is our fav apple juice ever.

we buy at least three liters a week,

one liter of which goes to make homemade popsicles!

I can't wait to make lunch & savour ever last bite, but even more than that I can't wait until next Tuesday when I get to do it all over again!!

stereotypes

2010-06-10T20:02:00.010+02:00

It's a lose-lose situation in the stereotype world.

Rémy & I just subscribed to VegeMag, a French vegetarian magazine that costs way more than it should, but welcome to the world of vegetarianism in France, I guess. If you buy into being veggie as "la mode" it will cost you an arm & a leg here (as will buying organic just because it's trendy). But that is a whole other story.

I open it up and one of the main stories is how AMERICA is evil and we are the hugest consumers of animal products and how poorly we treat our animals etc etc. And two pages later there is a huge spread about how New York is a "vegan friendly" city, as opposed to big European cities like Paris.

Make up your mind, stereotypers!!!

Welcome to my world here. I am constantly judged by everyone I come across. Firstly because I was born on U.S. soil, which automatically means I consume 100 kilos (about 220 pounds) of meat a year, drive an SUV, take a bajillion vacations in my personal jet every year, am an avid consumer and if everyone lived like me we would need 5 planet earths.

So then I say, hold the phone, I'm vegan, I buy only local produce (I try to buy exclusively from my region but I refuse to buy outside of France), in season and organically grown/with respect for the environment, I don't own a car and go everywhere on my bicycle or on foot, I have a garden and recycle or compost almost all of my waste, I try to avoid buying anything with packaging and buy exclusively second-hand clothes. And then people think I'm a freak and I get judged for being this weird vegan-creature.

I am sick of telling people I do not eat 100 kilos of McDonald's every year and then one sentence later having to explain to them "what I can eat" as a vegan because apparently in France no animal products means starvation. I am sick of telling people I do not drive a 4x4 and then one sentence later explaining that it IS indeed possible to ride your bike everywhere, even when it rains or it's uphill.

Then again, I would definitely rather be judged for being vegan/eco-friendly (considering these are life choices I have personally made) than for my nationality.

So let's give y'all the breakdown of exactly my carbon footprint for the past six months:

Based on how I was living for this time period, if everyone lived like me, we’d need 1.4 earths.

My ecological footprint breaks down as:
Services: 27%
Mobility: 2%
Food: 26%
Shelter: 18%
Goods: 27%

To support my lifestyle it takes 2.9 global hectares of the earth’s productive area (7.2 tons of CO2).

Annually I consume 1.72 metric tons of CO2. (The average footprint for people in France is 6.20 metric tons ; The average for the industrial nations is about 11 metric tons ; The average worldwide carbon footprint is about 4 metric tons ; The worldwide target to combat climate change is 2 metric tons.)

Boo-ya. Still have 0.4 of an earth to reduce and I'm not really sure how I can get it down much further but I sure as hell will try.

Go ahead, try it yourself!!!

Carbon Footprint Calculator

If we all lived like you, how many earths would we need?

recycled words

2010-06-09T10:44:00.002+02:00

you taste like the rain.

the kind that pours down

in sheets

all around you

& leaves you wrinkled

like my grandmother/s hands.

the world

without you by my side

is a mere sandbox

in by backyard.

i can touch it

i can play

but it/s all pretend

without you there

to close the gaps

between my fingers

& keep the sand

from slipping out.

ex oh ex oh

but do you think you'll ever truly know?

my thoughts bounce off your body

& your voice electric

like the neon green of my 5th grade lunch box.

an explosion of colour & sound

like rain in clay pots

under my awning.

you stir things

that i no longer knew i had.

if i touch you

at night

it is only to make sure

you're still real.

please please please

2010-04-12T20:11:00.002+02:00

come on gramps. please hang in there...

decisions decisions.

2010-03-27T10:46:00.004+01:00

we've been doing a lot of thinking around here lately. about our lives. about the future. typical questions for those of us in our mid-twenties. trying to figure out where we want life to take us, or rather where we want to take our lives. and it feels like the pieces are coming together. they all fit, the pieces. and i dare say i quite like the picture they make.

the past few years have been spent planning and re-planning a voyage around the world on bicycle. it has been put on hold time and time again. money issues, diplomatic issues, visas, marriages, etc etc etc. we've had second thoughts, then third thoughts, we've changed our itinerary and our agenda more times that i care to think about. now i'm a strong believer in will power. i think if you really want something, generally you can acheive it. not necessarily without a fight, of course, but i truly believe anything is possible. so why can't we just get our shit together, hop on the saddle & ride off into the sunset? i think we've found the answer.

the will just wasn't there.

don't get me wrong. this trip will happen. a long voyage, to many countries, on bicycle. it just won't be happening now, or any time in the near future. in the future, yes, but long-term.

i turned twenty-five this year. that's a quarter of a century. when i was younger, i always saw myself at twenty-five with one kid popped out and another bun in the oven. i never saw what i was doing, but the kids were very clearly there. and when confronted with the big question, the What do you want to DO with your life, who do you want to BE? the same answer has come up for a decade. Mommy. that's who i want to be. i want my babies and i want them now. i'm a modern woman, a strong feminist, who wants to be a stay-at-home mom. riddle me that.

a few years ago i would have gladly popped one out without thinking too much about the consequences. i wanted babies for me, not for them. i'm older now. i know that a baby turns into a kid turns into a teenager turns into an adult. i want to create a stable and loving environment for my children, opportunities to learn, to grow, to explore, to discover the beauties of this world. i want to be there when they get home from school and i want to be able to take them on vacations. hiking in the rockies, camping at national parks, swimming in the ocean. i don't want to be living in france and especially not in auvergne. visits to papi and mami, sure. but not for good.

the decisions started falling into place almost on their own.

we are starting paperwork to immigrate to the united states. i've spent the last five years trying to discover a place to call home, and in my travels across the globe i think i've found that the northwest has always been that place. washington state has always had my heart, from the very beginning. maybe it would have been easier if i had never left, but oh all the wonderful things i've seen since i've been gone. and now coming back it will feel just that much sweeter.

baby, i'm coming home.

we're going to settle down, i'm going to get my master's in teaching and become a high school french teacher like i've always known i would, and rémy's going to work on his english and try to get a job in a national or state park somewhere. doing something outdoors, for the environment. we are going to have a house, with a garden. tippen will have a nice big yard and maybe even some chickens to harrass. we'll make wine from our own vines and we'll make the cutest babies ever. and we'll live happily ever after until our kids are grown up enough to fly the coop and then we'll go on and explore this world through different eyes.

it's easier to sell your business and leave everything behind when you have something to begin with. we're too young right now. we have nothing to sell. nothing to leave behind. we're still moving forward.

and i am so damn excited.

an experiment in housewivery: episode two

2010-03-09T22:25:00.004+01:00

today started incredibly.

i woke from some rather sensual dreams (apparently i really really miss my hubby already) with a giant smile on my face that i just couldn't wipe off for most of the day. i felt fabulous. i felt confident. i felt strong and beautiful and capable of anything.

the very very first thing i did after waking up was to call one of the places i really would like to work to see if they had looked over my resume and if they were interested. surprisingly i was not nervous at all, my french came out like a dream and i found out the reason i haven't been called back yet is because the guy in charge of hiring hasn't been in but gets in tomorrow. splendid.

i ate breakfast in the sunshine through my kitchen window surrounded by the bajillion sprouting plants covering all surfaces of the room and was completely happy. i walked through the market then downtown to the library to return some books and decided that i've waited long enough. today was THE day to chop all my hair off.

and i did!!! this afternoon. and i was not afraid to tell them exactly what i wanted, even when i wasn't sure of the words, and i explained about locks of love and no one had ever heard of it before and there is no equivalent in france and they all seemed really impressed by it. i think it made the lady cutting my hair want to give me a really good haircut, too. she kept telling me "you're so courageous for doing this and for such a good cause!" hahah courageous to chop my hair off. i tried to explain i've wanted this for a while but i don't think they truly understood.

well she did a fantastic job and my shorter-than-shoulder-length hair is gorgeous!!! it suits me great. she even said she prefers me with short hair, which i take as a compliment because i damn well liked my long hair. the catch is rémy has ONLY ever known me with long hair. as is true with most of my friends, too. i mean, it's been, what... since my freshman year of college, so SIX years since i've had my hair short!! crazy. it feels fresh, it feels spring it feels right.

then there was trying to figure out if i can enter the masters program for teaching here in france. it seems ridiculously complicated but i'm confident i'll find a way.

and then i called grandpa and that's when my smile dropped. apparently he was really sick last night and didn't want to talk and that's not a good sign because he's going into surgery TOMORROW MORNING and if he's not feeling good and confident that can have a huge impact on the success of the operation. i'm really worried about him and wish i could be home and want to know what exactly happened last night and have been waiting for a call from my mother for about four hours now so i'm trying not to rip my hair out due to anxiety. not the best note to end the night on.

i just have to remember how amazing 95% of the day was and then worry about tomorrow tomorrow. it's going to be a hard and stressful one with the surgery and job stuff and no rémy to keep me calm, but i've invited my guys over to watch some arrested development and paint all afternoon so that should keep me distracted for the most part.

time for destress herbal tea, meditation and bed! i hope i sleep as well as i did last night!

...and here is the rest of it.

an experiment in housewivery: episode one

2010-03-08T20:48:00.009+01:00

i walked my husband to the train station at approximately 04:30 this morning to send him off to paris for a week-long seminar for his work. now we were married in june, which i believe means we're still relative newlyweds, and this will be the longest time we've been apart since tying the knot. since i am currently unemployed and generally spend the time i am not trying to find a satisfying job that helps change the world by tending to my lovely hubby (i.e. cooking, cleaning, nagging & the like) it will be interesting to see how my sentiments of being separated from him for a whole work week play out as the week progresses. as the love of my life himself always says, why not?

day one:

watching the train pull away i teared up a little bit, but probably not enough that he saw from his window seat. (then again he is ridiculously nearsighted, almost to the point of being blind, so maybe he didn't even know he was looking at me anyway. no no, i joke. i'm pretty sure he had his glasses on.)

what is it with us women that makes us have horrifying visions all the time? seriously. i mean we wake up in the morning cuddling a gorgeous and sensitive man who whispers romantic sweet nothings in our ear with the winter sunlight shining through our dewey window and our first thought is "oh my god what if he gets into an accident today on his way to work and this is the last time i ever get to feel his tender embrace?!!" ahhh estrogen.

well these are the types of thoughts that were rushing into my head. the "it's pretty icy this morning, i hope his train doesn't derail" or "i hope there isn't an 8.8 earthquake in paris while he's up there" or "if any skinny french bitch tries to steal my man i'll hunt her down & jack bauer her ass" sort of thoughts. but mostly i thought about what a horrendous week this is already looking to be, really quite stressful, and how much harder it's going to be without him here to make everything seem so much better.

so i rode my bike home in the -3° weather, climbed back into bed just before the sky started to turn light, and when even tippen wouldn't agree to cuddle with me (not that he ever wants to cuddle when i do) i couldn't help but get in a good cry. at least now it's out of my way.

the rest of the day was spent studying medicinal plants, waiting for callbacks from jobs (which never happened), browsing random job search engines, thinking about starting training for a marathon, talking to a woman about the possibility of getting certified as a public school teacher in france (which was of absolutely no help whatsoever), grocery shopping, deciding and then subsequently deciding not to be a midwife and watching clips from last week's the daily show. not the most productive day of my life, but not the least productive either.

and now it's almost bedtime for someone who got up at 4am and i'm wondering what it's going to be like to sleep alone. i usually complain about rémy snoring, taking up all the space in the bed and/or almost pushing me off, stealing all the blanket and generating enough heat to power a small country. i'm thinking i'll be missing all that tonight, though. i'm feeling almost pms-y. like i could burst into tears for no reason and that i wouldn't change out of my pajamas for almost anything in the world. anything except having rémy back next to me, of course.

i'm hoping to get at least some sleep tonight, so it's time for herbal tea, dark chocolate and project runway. let's see if i can make it through day two without any tears!

hidden treasure

2010-03-06T12:21:00.003+01:00

the past few weeks have been spent preparing the garden for the coming planting season. all surfaces of the kitchen are currently covered with various young shoots; four varieties of tomatoes, yellow onions, leeks, broccoli, catnip, lavendar, oregano, thyme. and this week means the addition of many more. plus our usual household plants and sprouts means tippen has had many many opportunities to be a naughty little kitten. he's pretty cute so we usually forgive him.

then there's the preparation of the soil in the yard. we've decided to expand our garden this year. it's going to be about two to three times the size of what it was last year. this is partly because of our desire to know exactly where our food comes from. what better way to eat local and organic than from your own back yard? and also partly because we love gardening! but expanding also means eight to twenty-seven times more work!!!

for now we are laying new beds and turning the soil, adding our compost and making sure the beds are well aerated/moist. and part of digging up new beds is unearthing unknown territory. patches of grass that have been that way for years, decades even. and what i dig up has sometimes made me question the people who lived here before, has occasionally made me frown and has certainly made me smile.

when we dug our first bed last spring we were very surprised to find a very high quantity of

a) glass, and

b) red roof tiles.

now when i say high quantity, i mean high quantity. since digging the new beds i have become literally astounded at the amount of junk we have found in our dirt. we have found enough red ceramic shingles to roof at least one house, probably two. these are almost never fully intact, but they are large enough chunks to wonder how the heck they ever got into the dirt? was the back yard just littered with roof tiles and plates of glass and someone decided "hey, let's throw a ton of dirt on top and problem solved!"?

the glass is a mystery to me, too, because it's not just window glass or beer bottle glass. it is glass of EVERY imaginable color!! clear, of course, but also browns, greens, blues, hues of red, even something somewhere between an orange and a yellow. where did this glass come from? at the beginning i tried to pick out every piece of glass i ever saw glimmer in the winter sun, but this soon became exhausting! now i grab the medium to big sized pieces and any little pieces near my trowel, but don't go out of my way to search & rescue a tiny glimmer in the middle of the plot. it could be like finding the jackpot of all jackpots of beach glass, except dirt doesn't erode as quickly or efficiently as sand. these babies are sharp, trust me. you would not want your children digging in our dirt. even i won't dig in without gloves on anymore, which is too bad because feeling the dirt under your nails is one of the best parts of gardening in my opinion.

so why we find the things we find in the garden remains a mystery to me. but i'll keep digging and maybe someday i'll find an answer. hopefully i won't. it gives me somewhere for my mind to wander during all those hours of zen in the garden.

so here it is. a comprehensive list of every little treasure i have dug up in the garden so far:

- at least a small shopping cart full of red ceramic shingles

- glass (clear, green, brown, blue, red, orange/yellow)

- a rusty sardine tin from the 1920's

- two marbles (one standard size, one a mini and slightly chipped; both of the toothpaste variety, one white & brown, one white & orange/yellow)

- a whole series of what appears to be mini marble-sized balls of red metal, possibly copper or just super rusty. i have found at least twenty of these and have not yet figured out what they could be for. maybe something for the nutrient-content of the soil? i don't know.

- blocks of what appears to be home-made concrete, complete with cement, roof tiles, glass, old magazines/cardboard/paper, large rocks, pieces of scrap metal & nails. super safe, no?

- seven clothespins, some made of colored plastic (easter pink, yellow and blue), some made of wood

- a very rusty rather large nail

- plenty of cigarette butts

- occasional tippen poop

- a bit of trash

may the treasure hunt continue!!!

dear onionhead

2010-03-02T16:37:00.007+01:00

please hang in there. i know you are a stubborn bastard and i know that it won't be too hard. not for you. so please, make it through this surgery and hang the hell on.

i need you there on my wedding day.

love,

celery

one third

2010-03-02T16:35:00.002+01:00

i have officially completed one third of my list. to the t. as of today i have accomplished 33.333% of the stuff i set out to do 240 days ago.

righteous.

sculpture

2010-02-20T10:57:00.004+01:00

i find sculptures fascinating. not so much because of the end product, but because of the process. how someone can look at a hunk of rock and see venus de milo somewhere under all those layers, i find it absolutely incredible. how they slowly, patiently chip away at the unnecessary pieces. and what a violent image it is, too, no? hammering away, chunks of rock and sand and dust strewn about at the feet of the sculptor. and the artist's tools, are they not also found in the hands of vandals? used to demolish houses? used to crack through ice or smash in walls? slice, prick, perforate, penetrate, puncture, stab. these are not pretty verbs, but all of them apply to hammers and chisels and saws and drills. mallets, axes, and water erosion machinery.

it's a violent, violent process it seems.

and yet the end product is stunning, simply spectacular. how do they do it?

and how many of us look at something as magnificent as the west wind (above, by thomas r. gould) and see the hunk of plain marble that it used to be? or admiring a totem pole see the log it was carved from? or better yet, that single tree chosen somewhere deep within a whole forest?

i fear not many of us do.

for a long long time i felt my own life was being chipped away at. pieces of me broken off, parts i can never get back. and just thinking about it hurt. lately i've been seeing it from a different angle. i can't help looking at the rough, course, distorted image of who i am now and imagining the beautiful sculpture that is being revealed. i only hope i'll be finished before my time on this lovely earth is up.

i'll leave you with part of the opening monologue from shadowlands by william nicholson:

"we're like blocks of stone, out of which the sculptor carves the forms of men. the blows of his chisel, which hurt us so much, are what make us perfect. the suffering in the world is not the failure of god's love for us; it is that love in action. for believe me, this world that seems to us so substantial is no more than the shadowlands. real life has not begun yet."

quarter century club

2010-02-16T14:44:00.007+01:00

well, life sure has creeped up on me. i had forgotten how fast time flies when you actually have things on your schedule. and being employed has made me see how horrible i've gotten at time management.

and now all of a sudden my birthday has come and gone and i've realized how OLD i feel. or maybe old isn't the right word. i am well aware that twenty-five is not fifty or even thirty, but it's right around the corner! i am officially approaching thirty freaking years old and i have no idea what i am doing with my life!!! it's a scary concept.

but despite my backward/hippie/gypsy (as my grandpa would say) ways (as in the fact that i have little money, even less career, and no signs of either one coming to me anytime soon), looking back on the past few years i can see how much i have accomplished.

let's make a list, shall we?

- ran a marathon at 19

- graduated cum laude in four years with two bachelor degrees at 22

- lived/worked in taiwan

- moved to france (to work) at 22

- rode my bike to spain from central france at 23

- traveled around the entire US at 23/24 (visiting 32 states)

- married a frenchman at 24

- suceeded in the horrifying process that is immigration

- learned to grow my own food/maintain a garden

- learned to cook amazing stuff (homemade breads, homemade soy milk/tofu, homemade wines)

- sucessfully found a job in a foreign country

- started saving for future bike travel around the world

of course there are plenty of things i'd love to accomplish before i hit the three decade mark, but then again five years is quite a chunk of time when you really think about it. until then i guess i'll just keep following my heart and keep my mind open to life's little surprises and we'll see where in this beautiful world i end up!

happy holidays!!!

2009-12-14T12:03:00.000+01:00

our first christmas as a married couple, tippen's first snow, our first christmas tree!!! 'tis the season!!!

clermont at night is all lit up this time of year.

there is a HUGE ferris wheel that comes to town every december,
and of course the giant christmas tree.

this is the church about a block from our house in chamalières.
also lit up.

where's tippen???

in his favorite spot this season.

(& mom/dad's least fav spot...)

we even painted the windows with snow!

& i made a wreath out of random branches i found

on top of someone's garbage can.

our first christmas tree!!!!

(with actual presents!!!)

happy holidays from across the pond!!!

soy milk!!!

2009-12-13T13:48:00.007+01:00

I have been wanting to make homemade soy milk for years now, but it always seemed like it should be really complicated and hard to do. Well, my friends, it's not.

There are basically two ways to make soy milk:

1) Blend, strain, cook.
2) Cook, blend, strain.

The first is the traditional Japanese method, so I decided to try it.
***WARNING***: this method makes a VERY strong tasting milk. If you don't like the taste of soy, I'd recommend trying the second way instead for a milder taste.

What you need:
_Dried soybeans (the yellow, not the green, and I prefer organic)
_Water (you basically use twice as much water as you do beans, but you can always add more if needed)
_Sweetener (optional, but most people will want to add either honey, vanilla or almond extract, maple syrup, or any combination of above to sweeten the milk a bit)
_Cheesecloth (there's no debate here; you absolutely need it)
_A big pot

Steps:
1: Fill up a big pot with room temp water and add the beans (I used 500g and got about 3L of milk, but you can use more or less depending on your needs). Let them soak over night. The beans will double in size by morning. Rinse the beans with fresh water in a colander. Pick out the discolored/gross-looking ones and any dirt you can.

the beans, the next morning. notice the discolored ones. pick those out.

2: Try to remove as many skins as you can by rubbing the beans between your fingers, but don't sweat it if it takes too long (similar to removing skins off garbanzo beans).

3: Blend the soybeans in batches in a blender with twice as much water as beans. The finer you grind, the more soymilk you can extract, and don't be afraid to add more water.

it should look kindof like a milkshake when you're done blending.

4: Pour the slush through cheesecloth, letting the liquid drip into a large pot. Twist the cheesecloth to extract the milk and let it drip for a few minutes. Put the bean curd, "okara" on a plate to the side.

5: Reblend the okara once or twice more, adding water, to extract all the soymilk you can. Strain it with the cheesecloth as you did before. If you want, put the "okara" in the freezer to use later (there are many many yummy recipes using this, but you must cook it before eating).

the bean curd is also known as okara. it can be used to make meatless patties, meatless meatballs, can be added to soups and stews and is very high is protein & iron. it must be cooked before eating, though.

6: Scoop off the white foam on the surface of the milk. Bring the milk to a boil. Add your sweetener (I added three large tablespoons of honey & a tablespoon of vanilla) & stir. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes, occasionally adding water lost by boiling. As with cow's milk, skin will form on the top layer of the milk. Either constantly stir the milk to avoid the skins or just remove them as they form.

scoop off this white foam, either with your hand or a spoon. otherwise the milk will be bitter.

i used honey & vanilla, but maple syrup is a very good sweetener, too.

make sure it's partially covered when you simmer. this helps keep the temperature up without losing too much water. if it gets too thick or too bitter, add more water as you go along.

some people like to dry the skins on chopsticks and use them in other food. they are useful in making fake meats, and are tasty when added to pretty much anything. i didn't have time, so i just threw them away.

7: Filter, bottle and let it cool in the fridge.

filter just to make sure you didn't let any grains slip by.

tadah!!

8: Enjoy!!!

rémy really enjoys it warm; we use it to make hot cocoa and/or just warmed milk with honey.

like i said, this method results in a very bold flavor, which (if you're not used to soy milk) may take some getting used to. the taste is more mild warm than it is cooled. you can always cut the milk with water, too, to make it thinner later. i plan on trying the other method soon, too, and will most certainly let you know how it turns out!!

bagels!!!!

2009-11-13T11:06:00.001+01:00

so while browsing the book section at our local grocery store, rémy came across this lovely book. i flipped through it and fell in love. marc grossman, the author, is an american living in paris and the creator of bob's juice bar and kitchen (both restaurants in paris). apparently when he first came to france he missed bagels as much as i do & decided to do something about it. years of trial & error led to this fabulous book.

i highly recommend this book to anyone, although it is written in french. i'm not sure if there is an english version available, but with recipes it's pretty straight forward anyway.

i will not be sharing the amounts required, you've gotta buy the book for that. but i will show you the steps on my very own first bagel-making journey!

the ingredients:
the bagels: flour, wheat gluten, yeast, salt, tepid water, malt syrup or molasses, olive oil
for the baking sheet: corn flour, butter
for poaching: water, potato starch, malt syrup or molasses or brown sugar, salt
as garnish: poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic, onions, salt, whatever you want!

directions:
mix up the dry ingredients.
(flour, salt, yeast, wheat gluten)

mix up the wet ingredients.
(water, molasses, olive oil)

mix the wet into the dry.

knead, twist, pull, punch for a good ten minutes.

form ten even round little balls.

roll each one into a nice thick worm.

wrap it around your fist and gently pinch the edges together.
(if the dough is too dry, you might need to add a bit of water to make the ends stick.)

your rings should look something like this.

place them on a well-oiled sheet, cover them with a clean dish towel & let them rise for an hour or two, until they're about 80% of their final size.

add all the poaching ingredients to a big pot & bring the liquid to a boil.
plop a few of the uncooked, risen bagels in there. after a few seconds they'll float to the surface.

let them poach for one minute, then flip them over for 30 more seconds on the other side.

butter & corn flour a sheet of wax paper (which you'll use to cover the baking sheet).

garnish the still-wet-from-poaching bagels with whatever you fancy.

here we have (from l to r) natural, poppy seed, sesame seed.

and onion (top) & garlic (bottom).

preheat the oven, pop those babies in there & let them cook for 20 - 25 minutes,
until they're nice & golden brown.

ta-dah!!! my first attempt at bagels was a major success!!!

delish!

homemade plain bagels with homemade chive/coriander cream cheese.

rémy thinks they're mmm mmm good!

then we made delicious tuna melts.

after two giant bagel tuna melts, mateo was pretty satisfied.
(& might i add that mateo had never tasted a bagel before mine...)

too many bagels!

the next morning, a deliciously toasted homemade bagel with delicious homemade chive/red pepper cream cheese.

honestly, they take a bit of time (with the kneading & rising & poaching & baking & all), but they were SOOO much easier than i had expected and turned out absolutely fabulous. i fell in love with baking bread a few months ago, and i do believe i have just fallen even more in love with making bagels. it is so definitely worth it & i highly recommend giving it a try!

happy baking!

jusq'au bout du monde

2009-10-16T13:58:00.000+02:00

We went to see a young couple speak in Beaumont last night about adventure cycling. Claudine Arnaud, 33, and Olivier Borot, 30, are in the middle of a three-year trip around the world on bicycle. They have completed the first of five very distinct legs of their journey, following parts of the Silk Road for seven months in 2009.

We chatted a bit with them after the talk. They rolled out their bikes with their gear for everyone to see. Rémy & I have the exact same bikes as them. The exact same bike racks on the back. The exact same mud guards. The same odometer. It was crazy. It felt like looking at exactly what I want to be doing at exactly this moment. It has started again, that flame, that slow burn that drives me to travel.

Of course their trip was different from the route we want to travel, and their budget much different from ours. They traveled by plane and train several times, as they will continue to do throughout their adventure. They stated that they often stayed in hotels, which we will most likely avoid. And this leg was much shorter than what we plan on doing throughout Eastern Europe and Asia. But the principle is very much the same. Leave on bicycle. Travel the world. Tell others about it.

Of course I spent most of this morning reading other bicycle adventure favorites, specifically Peter Gostelow's journeys. In 2005 he decided to return home to the UK from Japan, where he had spent a few years teaching English. His three-year 30,000-mile journey across 30 countries, is documented as A Long Ride Home, which he updated from the road. It is witty and engaging, incredibly clever, and his photos are simply stunning. Plus it covers quite a chunk of the countries we are planning on visiting on our own journey. He travels closer to our style; low-budget, lots of wild camping & pasta-eating with limited to no shower time.

He is currently back in the saddle, this time heading south across Africa. He is still in Europe for the moment though his days there are limited, as he should be reaching the Strait of Giblraltar any day now. This time his journey is not solely for the thrill of the ride; he is hoping to raise awareness (and funds) about malaria in Africa. One in five child deaths in Africa is directly caused by malaria. He is helping fund and distribute mosquito nets throughout his trip.

Which leads me to our trip. Almost two years in the making now, and set to take place in yet another three, we still have much work to do. Rémy & I have been trying to decide on a cause for our own journey. Originally it was to help organize, network and fund The Global Education Organization, a non-profit we were supposed to help set up with some friends. Unfortunately that seems to have come to a dead end, and we are back at ground zero. For the moment, all we really know is that Rémy wants to make a documentary about human relations, I want to photograph and write a book about our travels, and we need more money. We would love to add a cause, sponsors, newsletters and a valid webpage (ours is quite sad at the moment). It's still in phase one and I am itching to move on to the phase where we've already decided all the ground rules and really get to dig in. Hopefull we'll get there soon.

In the meantime, I suppose I'll just keep dreaming, researching, planning & reading other adventurers' tales. May their time in the saddle be worth their while! Happy riding!

(Other favorite's are anything by Willie Weir or Joe Kurmaskie, as well as The SolarCycle Diaries and Revolution Cycle, though there are many out there worthy of a glance or two.)

nous

2009-10-02T18:42:00.000+02:00

we held hands
& the light was bright
too harsh
on my closed eyes.
and you kissed me
brushed my cheek
told me my scars were barely visible
& i knew you were lying.

i simply
cannot believe
that i have you.
that you will have me.
i keep waiting for the sun to fade this feeling
to wash you out
for the colours to change
wither & drop with the autumn leaves
but you are vivid
vibrant
and oh so alive.

if i touch you
at night
it is only to make sure
you're still real.

domesticated.

2009-08-31T11:00:00.000+02:00

I have been quite the productive little homemaker of late, and I'd thought I'd share my latest cooking discoveries.

First I made a delicious blackberry pie with fruit from the farmer's market.

suffice to say, it went VERY fast...

Next Rémy & I invested in a bread maker and have made some delicious homemade bread. This here is multigrain.

I have also ventured into the realm of wine-making. Well, I've made an attempt at least. I won't know for 8 months to a year how it turned out, but I'm excited to see science at work!!! It's the coolest experiment I've done in a long time, and I'm learning a lot about how things work. Such as the fact that alcohol is just what's left over when yeast reacts with sugar. In the process it lets off a LOT of oxygen, hence the balloons (to keep the carafes from exploding).

these are my babies in a dark, cool cupboard on day two.
i wish i had taken a picture on day one because the color has changed completely.
i used fresh strawberries & white grapes, so the first day it was very pink.

up close you can imagine the strawberries, but the color has changed quite a bit.
yes, it's quite freaky looking for now, but it will eventually clear in a few weeks.

And last, but certainly not least, Rémy & I made homemade pasta yesterday!! It's really simple, actually. Just 1 egg for every 100g of flour. We rolled it out & cut out circles to make ravioli which we filled with mushrooms, eggplant, garlic & onions sautéed in Spanish olive oil. It was time-consuming, but I have NEVER in my life tasted ravioli so damn good.

all 52 of 'em.

as you can imagine, it took quite some time
to do this all by hand.

but boy was it worth it!

struck.

2009-08-08T11:38:00.000+02:00

So I'm commentating a soccer match in Clermont last night. Arles/Avignon made the trip to our city to take on our team, and as I'm pedaling the half hour to the stadium I look to the skies to see if the weather report will hold true. Apparently there will be more ridiculously stormy weather - ceaseless torrents of rain with thunder & lightening that frightens even me, and I like thunder.

But at the moment the skies seem to be clearing. Not even the tiniest puff of wind and you can almost see blue peeking out in certain spots between the thinning clouds. Perhaps the ginormous umbrella Rémy and I just bought was unnecessary. Oh well, I think. Better safe than sorry.

As the match starts there are even small pools of sunlight dancing near the goalposts. I'm sitting behind the goalie for Arles, up in the top row of bleachers out in the open, at the mercy of the elements, and it looks like perfect weather for a game both for players and spectators. Especially on a beautiful grass field like we have in Clermont.

Fastforward to the second half. The ref barely blows the whistle to restart the match and I look to my right and see giant black clouds rolling in. And they're rolling in quick. I can suddenly feel a strong wind coming from behind me and can see the streaks of rain hazing the horizon off in the distance. I open my umbrella and try to concentrate on the game. As a commentator I am not allowed to lose sight of the field while the game is in play for even a second or I risk being penalized. Luckily my giant rainbow umbrella could probably fit a large Mormon family under it, so I was not worried at all about staying dry. Spectators started to file out of the area seeking cover, but I stayed put. I was determined.

Then the lightening started.

At first it was in the distance, but with rain that pounded even harder, the lightening began to strike closer and closer. I assessed the situation. Here I was, alone, at the top of metal bleachers with a giant umbrella in the middle of a thunderstorm. I felt about as smart as Benjamin Franklin with his kite & key. Was there anything else as tall as me? Yes. The giant lights for the stadium at each corner of the field, two of which were at either end of the bleachers I was sitting on. Good. At least it won't strike my umbrella, I thought.

As if mocking my assessment, a huge bolt of lightening suddenly struck from the sky, with earsplitting thunder shaking the entire stadium at the exact same moment. I could feel the electricity running through the metal rod of the umbrella, and didn't have to look to know that the lightening had struck the very light I had just been examining, a mere fifteen feet to my left. I shuddered and mumbled something incomprehensible to my contact on the phone. I. was. terrified.

I obviously was not killed; I was certainly not injured, but I was definitely marked. A few bucks is definitely not worth getting struck by lightening, and next time I don't think you'll find me counting so readily on luck.

puzzled.

2009-08-05T15:12:00.000+02:00

One of my goals is to complete one puzzle every month. I'm sure some will be cheezy and others artistic or classy. Some might even end up on our walls. Here is documentation.

Puzzle #4: Rémy Clown (216 pieces)

A smaller one, but one of my favorites ever. Rémy's mom gave this to me when she heard I liked puzzles. It's a photo of him when he was a kid, dressed up as a clown for carnival. Pretty adorable.

Puzzle #3: Ant Parade (1080 pieces)

Some friends saw us doing our ant puzzle and wanted to join the fun so they bought one of their own. I borrowed it and put my spare time to work. Unfortunately two pieces were still at their apartment, but I did the best I could...

completed puzzle.

detail.

Puzzle #2: Paradise (1000 pieces)

I spent over three weeks on this sucker and could not finish it. It was a crappy $3 impulse buy at a cheapy CostCutter-like store here near my apartment. Every single piece fit into every single piece. Which was okay when there were patterns to recognize; the dock, boats, the borders, clouds, the skyline, even certain waves. But once it got to the same color water, I spent hours and hours and days and days just to fit a few pieces in. And then I could never tell if what I had done was right because multiple pieces seemed to fit in the same spot every time!! Eventually Tippen ate or destroyed or hid one of the border pieces & I decided enough was enough. This is what I got done.

the piece tippen ate is in the upper right border.
the rest was just too damn hard.

i'm not sure if this show just how similar the pieces were, but it was ridick.

Puzzle #1 : Seasons of Ants (1080 pieces)

the box.

the finished product.

detail.

tumors, hernias and cysts...

2009-07-28T12:52:00.001+02:00

So I'm spending a lovely Saturday morning in bed, reading one of the books from the Twilight series, when I feel this weird pressure in my abdomen. I had felt this before, but only when there was serious pressure on my back, as in the last time Rémy gave me a massage and I thought my liver was going to explode against my ribs when he pushed down mid-back on my right side. It was weird that I could now feel this pressure by myself and it concerned me.

I sat up and examined my abdomen. Not sure if i was seeing things, I felt along the line of my ribcage, and sure enough there was a HUGE lump. Hard but tender; it didn't exactly hurt to the touch, but it felt incredibly weird, out of place, not a normal part of my body. I freaked out for about ten minutes or so, then realized that would do me no good & I'd talk to Rémy about it when he got home from work.

Unfortunately I didn't get the chance I wanted; as soon as he got home we headed straight out the door to a friend's place for dinner. I hadn't had the opportunity to really show Rémy, and sort of worried all night. As soon as we left, still in the stairwell of their apartment complex, I showed Rémy. He examined me when we got home and decided it was definitely not right. It was now sort of starting to hurt. Not hurt, just ache, and I was aware of its presence more than before. I called my mother & we discussed options. We decided it was probably either a cyst, a hernia or a (hopefully and probably benign) tumor.

I spent most of Sunday freaking out. Rémy's cousin and her girlfriend were over for dinner with a few others and she told me she had had a few cysts and she was almost positive it was the same thing. My imagination started running wild & Rémy made me go to bed early.

Rémy called his doctor Monday morning and somehow got a same day appointment for that evening. We took it easy all day, me freaking out occasionally, Rémy sometimes looking concerned, both of us nervous. We got to the doctor's office and had to wait almost an hour before finally we entered his tiny little office. I hopped up onto the examination table & he asked me where it hurts. I explained about the lump and the pressure and the ache. He pressed down and it definitely hurt. I was ready for the worst.

"Right here?" he asked.

"Yes yes! That hurts a lot, that's exactly it!" I wince in pain, trying not to writhe to much under the pressure.

"That's just your rib."

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Just my rib? How was that possible? It was HUGELY jutting out of my abdomen and there was definitely not a lump like that on my left side. How could that just be my rib? The doctor explained that your last few ribs are floating. Yes, I know this, I studied anatomy. But floating enough that they move that much? Apparently so. He also said that the 11th and 12th ribs are often tender, which would explain the ache, especially after so many people had been poking and prodding me, trying to figure out what was wrong.

So... no hospital, to surgery, no pain killers or taking it easy. Don't worry folks; it's just my rib!

for celia

2009-07-17T20:48:00.001+02:00

Kuroshio Sea - 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world - shot on 5dmk2 from Jon Rawlinson on Vimeo.

reading rainbow

2009-07-13T15:12:00.007+02:00

For one year I have tasked myself to read one book every week. At least half will be in french and at least one quarter will be non-fiction. Here are my reviews, simplified with a rating out of five stars. But as Lamar always said at the end of his own book reviews, don't take my word for it! (12,656 pages read so far = ~ 396 pages per book)

Week #32: Stupeur et Tremblements by Amélie Nothomb ***

(189 pages; French; non-fiction; 1999; read in one day)

Amélie has always been fascinated by Japan, the country where she was born and torn away from to return to Belgium where her family was from. So as a young adult she decides to go back and get a job in Tokyo and live the Japanese dream. She is thrown into the incredibly formal world of "the Orient" and forced to endure the submissive roles she is assigned inside a Tokyo megacompany. Funny and honest, it's a great account of the changing roles of women in Japanese society in the modern world, and the clash of the east and west trying to meet somewhere in the middle.

Week #31: Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson ****

(416 pages; English; non-fiction; 1998; read in two days)

I still remember the first Bryson book I ever read. I was in college, it was about Australia, and it was the first time I ever laughed out loud while reading a book. Since then I have read almost all of his books and have never once been unsatisfied. I don't know what it is about his style of writing but there are literally moments where I can no longer see the words on the page because I am laughing so hard there are tears streaming down my face. This book was no exception.

I found it in a local book store here in Clermont where I was happily surprised to find a huge section of books in their original language, and a few Bryson books as well. This one is a compilation of a column he wrote about his impressions of America after moving back to his home country after twenty years abroad in England. It seemed fitting; I was interested to see how his veiws compared to my own evalutations of my home country from abroad and my impressions when I went back home last year. It was fabulous. At one point I laughed so hard that I woke Rémy up (believe me, not an easy feat) and he thought something terrible had happened because I was crying and shaking all over the place. No, no. Just a dose of Bryson before bed to keep the bedbugs away. I recommend it to anyone who has ever traveled anywhere. (And I recommend every other book he's ever written, too.)

Week #30: Harry Potter et le Prince de Sang-Mêlé by J.K. Rowling ***/*

(747 pages; French; fiction; 2005; read in five days)

This end of this chapter of the Harry Potter epic had already been ruined for me by a friend before I even picked it up. The movie of the book came out this past summer and a friend of mine when to see it with her boyfriend. When I asked "Oh, which one is it?" I was expecting to hear "The sixth," but instead was horrified to hear: "Oh you know, the one where _____." If exclamation points could come shooting out of my ears and hover above my head anime-style, they would have. So suffice it to say, I was a bit deceived. I was not deceived, however, to discover how this shocking event happened as the story was slowly unraveled. I read this one a bit faster than I maybe should have (we rented the movie while I still had about two-hundred pages left, so I was under a bit of pressure to finish it quick) but I enjoyed it nonetheless. When it comes to the Potter books, that's almost the best way to get through them: quickly. I find it very very hard to put them down, and hardly ever realize that I've gone on to the next chapter. No complaining here; I already picked up the seventh and final tome and can't wait to get started!

Week #29: Un Jardin Dans les Appalaches by Barbara Kingsolver ****/*

(499 pages; French; non-fiction; 2007; read in three weeks)

One of my favorite authors takes on quite a challenge with her family: spend a year eating only locally, meaning either what they themselves produce or what they can find in their region produced within an hour's drive from home. Hilarious, moving, eye-opening, informative, this book has it all. The main story follows Barbara's account of their lives as they try to feed themselves, but interposed are snippets written by her husband about related issues; how to find local farmer's markets, how to find out if your food is organic, how certain movements work or certain foods are produced. And at the end of each section is a chapter written by her oldest daughter, followed by seasonal recipes and menu suggestions. I found this book in French at the library, and after finishing it I ordered it in English from a local bookstore. I have already tried a few recipes and browsed a few recommended websites and I am absolutely certain I will reference this book for years and years to come. I recommend it to anyone who has ever wondered where there food has come from or tried to tend to a garden of their own. It is simply fabulous.

Week #28: Le Lait, Une Sacrée Vacherie? by Dr. Nicolas Le Berre ****

(125 pages; French; non-fiction; 1990; read in five days)

This book has caused great changes in my life. I have gone through phases of being vegetarian/vegan, and to some degree I understood why milk is gross, but never at this level. I happened to stumble upon this book at work and couldn't put it down. I was shocked at what a dairy-free diet can do to cure health issues and have eagerly started my own trial. What pushed me this time was that it was written by a FRENCH doctor; I have read research from the States about milk over and over, but you can find anything in the US to support any diet if you dig deep enough. The fact that this came from the land of cheese made me look and think twice about it. I highly recommend this book to any Francophone who has trouble digesting milk or who has ever thought about eliminating dairy from their diet.

Week #27: La Route by Cormac McCarthy **

(252 pages; French; fiction; 2006; read in one week)

Not my favorite book ever, but that doesn't mean it wasn't good. I'm not a big fan of scary movies, or fear-enducing forms of entertainment in general. That being said, this book is filled to the brim with a very real fear: what would the world become after some sort of huge disaster? The answer this author provides is more than a touch negative, and it took me longer to read than it should have mostly because reading it put me in such a bad mood that I didn't really want to touch it very often. It was very well-written and the plot is intriguing, just not my type of fiction.

Week #26: The Circle by Laura Day **/*

(142 pages; English; non-fiction; 2001; read in two days)

I have no idea how this ended up on my bookshelf. Probably left by one of the many wandering travelers that pass by & stay with us, but somehow it did. It basically talks about the power of belief in yourself. It doesn't say anything you don't already know, but a lot of us stopped listening a long time ago. At times I felt inspired, at times I almost burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, and I can't decide if it was a waste of time or a blessing. That being said, if you are facing a problem, I'd recommend it; otherwise, not so much.

Week #25: Harry Potter et l'Ordre du Phénix by J. K. Rowling ***

(1031 pages; French; fiction; 2003; read in five days)

While I am always on the edge of my seat during the entirety of any Harry Potter book, I will say I could have chosen a better book to read while trying to catch up (I'm two weeks behind schedule) than a 1000+ page book. Still, I definitely enjoyed Rowling's newest creativity. The story gets darker, the characters get more complicated and hence more believable, and as my level of French gets better & better I find I'm losing my ability to speak proper English as each day passes. Peu n'importe. I cannot wait to dive into the sixth book of the series!

Week #24: Le Marin de Gibraltar by Marguerite Duras **/*

(430 pages; French: fiction; 1952; read in three weeks)

I technically read this book in college and even did a report on it for one of my French classes, but I really probably only read about 50-100 pages of it. I LOVE Duras, it was just an incredibly heavy quarter with a History thesis & a post-concussive syndrome. It's about a guy who meets this woman who has spent the past few years traveling around the world on her yacht trying to find a lost lover. He comes on board to occupy her in the meantime, but all the while they are searching searching for the lost sailer from Gibraltar she had fallen in love with so many years ago. This is obviously a bit complicated; whenever they get a lead and head off to some other part of the world to search for him, it sort of puts a damper on their relationship. This goes on for some four-hundred odd pages.

I love Duras & the way she writes, the way she describes, the way she rambles, but I will say I was pretty disappointed about the end. I mean it has been a few years I've been waiting to find out what happens, but it was a pretty big letdown. Hence the low rating. Other than that, typical Duras, typical whiny spoiled characters, typical love triangle, & I (as I typically do) liked it.

Week #23: Harry Potter et la Coupe de Feu by J. K. Rowling ***

(764 pages; French; fiction; 2000; read in five days)

The fourth book of the series and it finally gets serious. I love these books, and this one was no exception. Everyone knows the plot; if not, go out & read it for yourself!!!

Week #22: Carnets de mémoires: Enfances cachées 1939-3945 by Michèle Rotman ***

(283 pages; French; non-fiction; 2005; read in two days)

This moving collection is made up entirely of the stories of the "hidden children" of France during the Second World War. It shows the strength of children to adapt, even under the most horrible of circumstances, the resiliency of family, and the power of love. All across France people opened their doors to children in hiding, and these accounts show the little ways that their hosts, neighbors, school teachers and fellow citizens helped resist against the Axis powers.

Week #21: The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith **/*

(233 pages; English; non-fiction; 1998; read in one day)

A quick read, it was entertaining and cute, but not much more than that. Written very simply, it follows the life of Mma Ramotswe, a woman in Botswana who decides to use the money from her father's cattle to open up the only private investigation office in the country run by a woman. Her clients introduce the reader to modern life in Botswana, both in the capital and the bush.

Week #20: Les Thanatonautes by Bernard Werber ***
(503 pages; French; science-fiction; 1994; read in five days)

In a futuristic Paris, the French President has a NDE (near death experience) after an assasination attempt and becomes fascinated with life after death. He funds research on the "continent of death" and a few doctors/researches become the first explorers of this new terra incognita. Through a combination of induced comas, psychotropic drugs and/or meditation, the possibilities of exploring what has remained shrouded in doubt and fear for thousands of years of human culture: what happens when we die?

The ideas are incredibly creative, it's incredibly moving at times, but I felt the ending was rather "whan whan" (not sure how to make that failure/muted trumpet sound work in words...). This is much how I felt with the last Werber book I read. He certainly knows how to start a book, and is definitely in control for a good two thirds of the text, but I'm not sure he really knows how to finish his stories. If the book had ended after the second section, it definitely would have gotten another star.

That being said, he definitely gets props for originality and ambition. Trying to fit all main and many minor religions and their theories on death into a modern and highly interesting piece of fiction is a quite a challenge. He passed with flying colors.

Week #19: Harry Potter et le Prisonnier d'Azkaban by J. K. Rowling ***/*
(444 pages; French; fiction; 1999; read in four days)

This is the fastest I think I've ever read a book in French. I didn't pause to look up words and I didn't even underline words I didn't understand. The third book of the Harry Potter series, I highly enjoyed the adventure and the creativity. It makes me want to a) read all the other books in the series and b) have a giant Harry Potter movie marathon. I plan on doing both sometime in the future.

Week #18: Talk to the Snail: Ten Commandments for Understanding the French by Stephen Clarke ***/*
(258 pages; English; non-fiction; 2006; read in one day)

I've been studying France & their culture for about thirteen years now, I majored in French in college, I live in France, and I'm married to a Frenchman and I could not have written a better guide book myself. Extremely accurate and side-splitting at times, this is a great quick read, and a necessity for anyone who dares to be anything but a tourist in France. I highly recommend this to any expat living in the country, or anyone considering leaping the pond.

Week #17: City of Thieves by David Benioff *****
(310 pages; English; fiction; 2008; read in two days)

This book was incredible. I could not put it down, and still, a few books later, cannot stop thinking about it. The story follows the author's grandfather's life in the middle of the seige of Leningrad during the Second World War. After being arrested for stealing from an enemy officer, in lieu of being killed outright (as was the norm at the time; there was not enough food for the average citizen, let alone prisoners) he was given a rather odd mission. A high-ranking officer's daughter was getting married and refused anything but a normal wedding with a real wedding cake. This at a time when people ate sawdust, dirt and the glue off book bindings to try to stay alive. So the young hero is tasked with a mission to find a dozen eggs in just a week, or else be killed.

A story that makes you laugh, that makes you cry and that makes you wonder how such a world could ever exist, this is one of the best books I have read in a very long time. Maybe ever.

Week #16: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame ***/*
(220 pages; English; fiction; 1908; read in two days)

I had heard of this book or seen in on my mother's bookshelf for years and years, but I had absolutely no idea of the plot line or characters, didn't know what to expect, and was delightfully surprised. The stories, centering around the life of Mole, Water Rat, Toad and Badger, were originally thought up as bedtime stories for the author's only son, Alistair, who died tragically while at university. Though they were originally intended for children, I found much pleasure in reading of these animals' adventures. Grahame is incredibly descriptive, and many times his words take my breath away. A quick read, but a fun one.

Week #15: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho ****
(161 pages; English; fiction; 1988; read in three hours)

The first time I ever read this book a few years ago it was a gift from a friend and I hated it. I think it was a combination of seeing the words God and Allah in print so many times and the fact that I don't know how to turn myself into the wind. I felt like there was too much of a religious message, trying to convince me that if only I would become Catholic or at least devote my life to Jesus, then I would be able to float weightless around the world at my whim. Upon reading it a second time, I realize it's because I was bitter that my own dreams weren't being realized. Like Santiago, I, too, had always harbored dreams of traveling the world. And the first time I read the book I was holed up in Vichy, stuck in a life I wasn't sure how to get out of.

I truly enjoyed the way the book helped me learn what I already knew in my own heart, and rekindled the dreams I still carry with me of seeing far away places and meeting every day with an open mind. I highly recommend this book, especially to dreamers...

Week #14: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez ****
(422 pages; English; non-fiction; 1967; read in three weeks)

I am tempted to give this book five stars because at the end I truly appreciated what every sentence was trying to say, but I am holding off for two reasons. Firstly, it took me a while to get into it, perhaps because I knew it was fairly long and I was already behind on reading and I wasn't looking forward to losing any time. Secondly, because I believe that something is always lost in translation. I wish my mastery of Spanish was enough for me to read Cien Anos de Soledad, and hopefully some day it will be. For now, Marquez's colorful world will just have to remain seen as if through stain glass. I can see the images on the other side and sometimes the added color of not understanding makes it seem more beautiful, but sometimes the colors muddy and the meaning is lost. I'd still put this on my list of top ten, maybe even five books of all time, but, as with Nabokov, I feel I should return to this piece of work later in life when I have more perspective to better understand. Definitely a good read.

Week #13: 40 Days to Personal Revolution by Baron Baptiste ****
(250 pages; English; non-fiction; 2004; read in 42 days)

This book was part of one of my larger goals, which was to complete the entire forty days of revolution. It took me four tries to be able to make it through the whole forty days without cheating or giving up, but the fourth try was definitely worth it.

This approach takes on health holistically, which is my personal preference. The idea stems from traditional Chinese medicine in that all aspects of life are related to the body. What we eat, what we think, who we surround ourselves with, what our job is, etc etc. Disease is manifested in the body due to many causes, but not just specific bacterias. They form due to malnutrition, lack of sleep, excess stress, lack of movement, among other things. Seen in this way it becomes clear that prevention is truly the best method to maintaining optimum health.

This at-home-program is not just a quick fix, but a way to help push the reset button and reprioritize your life. The yoga is strenuous, but not the only part. Meditation, a conscious diet and some real soul-searching are just as integral to getting the end results. It was hard, very very hard for me to finally get through this. But I am so so so thankful that I did!

Week #12: Le Père de Nos Pères by Bernard Werber ***
(394 pages; French; science fiction; 1998; read in four weeks)

This book feels like something I probably would have really liked as extra-curricular reading while I was in high school. It feels "Ishmael"-ish, ideas David Quinn has probably jotted down on a napkin somewhere, and yet somehow written in simpler terms. This helped me get through the book, as reading about evolution and the possibilities of the origins of man in a foreign language can be challenging at times. But I feel like the simple way the book presented itself almost detracted from my overall impression. Maybe I'm just too old to read paleontological sci-fi anymore. Or maybe I just got overwhelmed reading a giant book in French. Either way, it was nonetheless quite well-written, thought-provoking and had some pretty good twists towards the end. And hey, what more can one ask from a decent book?

Week #11: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll ***
(136 pages; English; non-fiction; 1865; read in two days)

An easy classic, this was chosen as a quick & easy read, but one that I was surprised to find I had never actually read before. I believe we had a copy of this somewhere in my house as a child, but all I seem to remember are the illustrations and did not recognize a single line. Of course classics are usually classics for a reason, and this one is no different. Although reading it in print really makes me want to see the Disney version again for some reason, preferably while testing my theory that Mr. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Mr. Carroll's real name) was riding on some serious uppers while writing the majority of this story. I feel like there are probably a whole schlew of hidden meanings throughout every single page of this book, but I chose to read right on past them and enjoy it as a child would. Final verdict? This kid is definitely satisfied.

Week #10: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson ****
(155 pages; English; non-fiction; 1962; read in four days)

I remember when I was first introduced to the writings of Ms. Carson; it was thanks to the energetic and enthusiastic Ms. Lutz, my Environmental Science teacher as a senior in High School. I'm not sure exactly what the unit or the assignment was, but I remember being deeply influenced. Her writing was both informative and engaging; it literally moved me. My reaction this time around was exactly the same.

Eloquently written, there are moments where it's easy to forget you are reading the research of a scientist and not a simple novel about the beautiful and delicate globe we are lucky to inhabit. Once again I find myself coming away inspired, eager to change the world for the better and save ourselves from our self-destructive habits. This woman single-handedly inspired so much radical change in our use of deadly chemicals and our general approach to "nature" and biology, and is often seen as the founder of the modern environmental movement. She is one of my personal heroes, and it was a pleasure to read this monumental piece of work once again.

Week #9: Bamboo by William Boyd *
(627 pages; English; non-fiction; 2005; read in 18 days)

Having no idea who William Boyd was made no difference to me when I first picked up this book from the public library; I scanned the mini-bi op on the front page and the fact that he was born in what is now Ghana and spent most of his adolescent life in West Africa intrigued me. I was excited by the prospect of non-fiction, of short stories about the continent I fell in love with in college. And yet within the first fifty pages I felt like I had missed something important, not just in the literary world, but in film and art, too. The way he talked about himself made me feel rather silly to have never heard of him.

Now having finally finished the book (a rather tedious affair, I must say), I looked him up on the internet to see what the general consensus might be. I found a random interview on Youtube and what I had feared was solidified as true. He speaks of his life, and at one point talks about the thesis he was working on when he first came to Oxford just after his marriage. The title is absurdly loquacious and verbose, much like the book I just read. He scoffs at the image of his young naive self, and describes the title (and presumably the work) himself: "Dry as dust." I could not find a more perfect description myself. It has been a rather dry few weeks of reading, there is no doubt in that.

The fault does not lie, however, in his writing skills. The few short tales of his life in Africa that actually make it into the work are riveting, well-written and quite fascinating. The fault lies in that this book is not, in fact, a compilation of short stories. There are a few nuggets to be found, and sometimes moments of pure genius, but these moments are far and few between and on the whole, not worth the effort. For the most part this is a compilation of his critiques - literary, cinema, art - and for someone who has not read every book or seen every film or art exhibition by so-and-so it makes quite a dull read. He is an avid name-dropper, and the entire work seems mostly like a one-sided conversation one might have at one of his fancy art shows or the first showing of a dull movie. He repeats the same themes over and over and over, often taking entire paragraphs and reusing them in other articles, critiques or short stories. The redundancy gets tired after a while, and by the end is almost laughable. He desperately wants to succeed in the literary world, like so many of the authors he has made obsessions, and this publication is an obvious cry for posterity. A horrible horrible thing, it took me weeks to get through, and I would never ever recommend it to anyone I know (at least no one I like). Had this book been divided into two, one for short stories and anecdotes, one for his criticism, I would certainly have loved to read the former; unfortunately the heavy weight of the latter just drags this baby down.

Week #8: The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch **
(246 pages; English; fiction; 2005; read in two days)

I have to say I was disappointed, not so much in the book as in myself. A dear friend sent me this book from back home and I had wanted to save it for later, a little English treat amongst the many books in French I foresee in my future, but I had been so drawn to it for the past couple of weeks. I kept taking it off the shelf, opening it, and then forcing myself to put it back. And then yesterday I caved.

Let me clarify. The writing itself is good, the main character adorable and the story captivating enough for a quick read. Yet I couldn't help but find myself resenting little Miles O'Malley and his miles of beachfront, and that is hardly his fault. The book takes place close to home, you see. Too close. I scavenged the waters of Puget Sound myself as a child, and still as a young adult there is almost nothing as captivating to me than combing the pools at low tide. Venturing out on the mudflats at neap tide is one of the most enjoyable ways to spend a few hours of your day, and was one of my favorite adventures with the friend who sent me the book. Which meant instead of really getting into the plot, I spent most of my time being jealous of the main character, who spends much of his time knee-deep in the same waters. But at the moment I am stuck literally smack-dab in the middle of central France, with no tides at all for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers in any direction.

It made me miss home.

Other than that, it was a pretty good read. I'm sure if I had read it in Bellingham it would have gotten about three stars. It may be a little pretentious to be the point of view of a thirteen-year-old, but it works. Rachel Carson is my hero, so I definitely liked his way of thinking. It's just that it inspires me to go out & get my own feet wet, and from where I'm standing that's pretty impossible to do. It would take the highest tide ever for that to come true.

Week #7: Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets by J.K. Rowling ***
(356 pages; French; fiction; 1998; read in two weeks)

I had also read this book already in English, and as usual Rowling delivers. It's still a bit tedious to not understand all the words, but that's how you learn. I was happy to find I had forgotten most of the plot, including who was the villain in the end, which made it just as exciting a second time. It took me longer than it should have. I spent many days at a time avoiding it, knowing reading further meant many more hours with my nose stuck in a dictionary, but I loved it and plan on reading the rest of the series in French as well.

Week #6: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer ***
(754 pages; English; fiction; 2008; read in one day)

I'm satisfied. I thought the last book was fabulous. It was quite long, but I liked the way she split it up into separate books and added a different perspective in the middle. It would have been cool to be able to see different perspectives throughout the other books as well. What I had wanted to happen since book one finally happened, and I absolutely loved the detailed descriptions of the new lives involved.

I really enjoyed the end, but I'm torn. I love it because I was longing for a happy ending, but I'm not quite sure there was enough sacrifice for everything to turn out the way they did. We know there will be no more books after this, but it's hard to understand why. There are still a few loose ends left dangling at the end, possible future threats and the like, and there is no real reason to see why this ending is different from the others. Why we wouldn't expect more to come after. I want more, and it's slightly irritating. I feel like these books are laced with something and I am thoroughly addicted. At any rate, I'm satisfied. For now at least. I'm sure I'll be reading them again in the future...

Week #5: Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer ***
(628 pages; English; fiction; 2007; read in one day)

Yes. Yes yes yes. It's about all I can manage right now. Yes. I'm torn between loving and hating parts of this story but it's so real; it's real conflict and it's real human emotion and it's not always pretty and tied up in a bow. It's about the complications, the intricasies, and ultimately about choice. And I love it.

Week #4: New Moon by Stephenie Meyer ***
(595 pages; English; fiction; 2006; read in one day)

It's becoming an obsession.

I'm not sure what it is about these books. Of course the character development is painfully well-done. There is a nice use of vocabulary, and yet the dialogue is conversational and believable. The whole "forbidden love" story is captivating, for sure. And there's a part of me that thinks I may be hooked because it feels so close to home, as well. I know these places she describes; not only have I been there, but the Olympic Rain Forest (and the Peninsula in general) is one of my favorite places in the entire world. Not an exaggeration. That being said, when she describes the rez, or the foilage, or the Pacific Ocean, it makes me long for the home I've left behind. Here I am, oceans between me and the Pacific, and these books bring me back. I get lost in the pages, in the setting, in the characters, in the plot. I am hooked.

I hated this book for about 300 pages because one of my favorite characters was no longer a main player, but that just makes me love it even more. That's when you know an actor is really good - when you absolutely loathe his character. Believe me when I say I loathed this character for leaving, and that only makes me love him more. The hard choices, the decision of whether or not to stay with the one you love and consequentially leave the life and loved ones you have always known are familiar themes to me. So is the heartbreaking distance with your true love so far away. I know. I've lived it. And it makes this story that much more real for me.

That being said, what I wanted to happen in the first book still hasn't happened by the end of book two. I already have been to the library for books three and four, but if the author keeps this as good as it's been, I'm guessing if it happens at all, it won't be until the end of the very last one. And if I keep this maniacal ready frenzie up, you'll know my verdict before the weekend is through...

Week #3: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer ***
(434 pages; English; fiction; 2005; read in one day)

Alright, I admit it. I'm ashamedly hooked.

I wanted to read something in English this week, considering I didn't get to the library until yesterday and want to give myself a full week if I plan on reading anything in French relatively seriously. It takes me a while to look up words and the like, so I browsed the foreign language section and was about to leave rather disappointedly empty-handed when I came across the "just-in" section. Sure enough I saw all four of the Twilight series sitting on the shelf. I scoffed, thinking about how magic & vamires is so "in" right now, and picked it up to see how good of a job they had done on the translation. I was startled to see it was in English!

I contemplated my choices. I could leave empty-handed. I could go back & pick up Longman's History of the United States, or I could just take this, satisfy my needs this week, and spend more time looking into my choice for next week. I decided to go ahead and take the second book in the series, just for the hell of it, though I doubted I would get anywhere near it.

Let me go on a tangent for a bit here. I love vampire mythology. Maybe embarrassingly too much. I've definitely toned it down, I almost had to, but there was one point in time I was pretty obsessed, and rather convinced I was a vampire of some kind myself. This sounds silly, I know, but I was young & easily impressed and the folklore is all so romantic, if you can believe that. That being said, when I heard about this series sometime a year or two ago, I laughed. Vampire lore being mainstream?? It seemed the very definition of irony to me. The stories are so convincing because they are outcasts, shadows, and for good reason uninteresting to most of society. I saw mainstream society's sudden interest as a turnoff and refused to read the books.

Fastforward to yesterday. I went to the library in the early afternoon, picked up the books, and came home to read for a few hours before I had to leave in the early evening. And here I am, 434 pages and less than 24 hours later, ready to move on to the second novel in the series. It took a chapter or two, but I got sucked in. It's not the best book I've ever read, but the plot moves so smoothly and the characters are so seductive; their electriciy is catching and it's so hard to stop yourself - the end of each chapter left me always wanting more. Of course the ending is not how I wanted things to turn out, and now I'm turning to the second book to hope that I get my way. My ratings may change as the other books pan out; based on my elation or disappointment I may have to reasses. But for now this one remains strong with three stars. I was thoroughly satisfied, but it still left me hungry for more.

Week #2: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ***
(340 pages; English; fiction; 2003; read in four days)

I remember watching a recent episode of Weeds where Shane, the main character's son, talks about having to read this book for one of his English classes in middle school. I have that on my bookshelf! I thought to myself. I tend to acquire books here. People pass through, visit while traveling and drop off extra weight. That's how I ended up with this one. I had heard good things but hadn't ever gotten around to reading it. If it's becoming a classic, being read it schools and all, it should definitely be added to my list. Well... I should have paid more attention to what the character says about the book. "Have you even read the book?" he asks his teacher. "It's really depressing." That's a pretty good summary right there.

The book is incredibly well-written, I'll give you that. Very descriptive. For someone who has never seen Afghanistan personally, I saw pre-war Kabul vividly in almost every passage. The characters are fascinating and not at all static. You simultaneously love and hate the main character, Amir, from the beginning. But it is SO sad. You read and you read and you read and you want to stop because at times it is so depressing, but you are just waiting for that moment when the clouds will lift, the war will go away and all the characters will hop in for a good session of counseling and all leave smiling & hugging each other. I'm still not entirely sure if the ending left me satisfied or unsettled or still looking for closure, but I guess that's the point. Life is messy and complicated and at times disturbingly ugly. Of course there are roses & sunshine & kite flying to take your mind off of it, but does that make the ugly go away or just mask it? I guess it's up to make that decision for ourselves each day.

All in all, I absolutely love it and I absolutely hate it. I love it because it's not a true story and I hate it because it easily could be. Not sure if I'm up for seeing the movie, but we'll see. One thing is sure: this story will haunt me for years to come.

Week #1: Harry Potter à l'école des Sorciers by J.K. Rowling ***
(312 pages; French; fiction; 1997; read in seven days)

I had already read the first of the Harry Potter series in English, which made this a good choice for me to slide my way into reading fiction in French. As youthfully entertaining as Rowling's books are, she still manages to find many many interesting & varied ways to describe similar situations. This extensive vocabulary (not necessarily advanced, by any means, but large nonetheless) was one of the reasons I was drawn to reading past the first few pages. A bit tedious sometimes as I had to stop a few times every page to look up a word, but in the end very profitable; my French vocabulary has now grown by at least a few hundred words. Beetles, doorhinges, oars & hems are not words that you are prone to learn in foreign language courses. I enjoyed the story, of course, but I enjoyed learning new words just as much.

tea time

2009-07-10T10:36:00.000+02:00

some of you may know, others may not; i'm a tea FIEND! herbal or not, i love tea, and one of my goals is to try a new kind of tea every month. here is what i've been tasting!

Tea #4:

Tension Tamer
by Celestial Seasonings

I believe I already gave my shpeel on Celestial Seasonings. Suffice it to say, they rock.

ingredients: eleuthero, peppermint, cinnamon, ginger, chamomile, west indian lemongrass, licorice, catnip, tilia flowers, natural lemon flavor with other natural flavors, hops, vitamins b6 & b12
color: light yellow & orange
smell: citrus, floral
taste: light yet full, floral, orange, sweet

This tea is one of my favorites on its own. Adding sugar or milk just seems to detract from the delicious natural flavors. There's a delicious aftertaste to this, it almost seems to warm your mouth & throat the way hard liquor does. It has a nice calming effect, very soothing. This is a great tea for night-time, no caffeine and relaxing herbs.

Tea #3:

Sleepytime

by Celestial Seasonings

Celestial Seasonings has long been one of my favorite tea-producers. Why? Once again, the answers can be found right on the box!
1) We've blended healthy teas with environmental consciousness since 1969. By purchasing this product, you're sharing our dedication to the planet, our employees and everyone who enjoys our teas.
2) We print our boxes on 100% recycled paperboard with 35% post-consumer content.
3) We're passionate about the people and places that produce our ingredients. We support fair wages and sustainable harvests in more than 35 countries.
And my personal fav: 4) Ever wonder why no string & tag? Our unique pillow is the result of our commitment to doing what's best for the environment. Because these natural fibers tea bags don't need strings, tags, staples or individual wrappers, we're able to save more than 3.5 million pounds of waste from entering landfills every year!

They also have yummy quotes on each box & even yummier teas. Every single one of Celestial Seasonings teas I have ever tried is absolutely amazing straight up. Adding sugar or cream just sullies it. Pure & simple. I love it.

ingredients: chamomile, spearmint, west indian lemongrass, tilia flowers, blackberry leaves, orange blossoms, hawthorn, rosebuds
color:
smell:
taste:

Tea #2:

Chai Rooibos
by Yogi

Why do I love Yogi so much? The reasons are printed right on the box:
1) Tasting great is essential, but isn't enough. If what we make doesn't taste great and leave you feeling great, we won't make it.
2) We think before we blend. How will our recipes work with body and mind?
3) Health is found in nature. We work with what nature already offers rather than trying to concoct it. We don't have laboratories. We have kitchens.
4) Creative combinations can optimize what nature has to offer. Ever added peppermint to ginger? They work together to produce a remarkably fresh and innovative taste...and a remarkable level of energy.
5) Whenever possible, we work with wholes, not parts. For instance, we don't add vitamin C. we add rose hips, which are naturally rich in vitamin C.

Plus their products are recyclable, non-irradiated and the tea bags are oxygen-bleached. And they are based in the fabulous city where I was born. And of course the tags each have some wise saying on it. It's like opening a fortune cookie full of delicious tea every morning. I love it.

ingredients: rooibos leaf, cardamom seed, cinnamon bark, ginger root, clove bud, stevia leaf
color:color: amber, cinammon, burnt sienna
smell: spicy, warm, floral
taste: spicy, cinammon, full, earthy

This tea is great on it's own or with sugar/cream. My favorite is a tiny bit of either course raw sugar or honey and vanilla soymilk. It tastes almost like a chai tea misto. Yummy!

Tea #1:

Bourbon Vanilla Tea

by Clipper Specialteas

Clipper is a tea company based out of the UK that is ethically conscious and active in the Fairtrade movement. I randomly stumbled upon their tea in a supermarket near my apartment and am quite impressed. This specific tea comes from the Assam State in India, near Kaziranga National Park; this park protects the Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros, hence the picture on the box of tea. It was in Assam that the first native Indian tea plants were found in the 19th century, ending China's monopoly on tea production.

Not only is the tea tasty, but this company seems very determined to make ethically sound choices in every aspect of the tea production process. From making an effort to avoid child labor in the tea-picking process to using non-chlorine bleached, 100% biodegradable/recyclable paper and card materials from managed, sustained forests, they are doing a great job.

color: dark, amber, carmel/brown
smell: sweet, floral, woody
taste: light, woody, earthy, slightly bitter

I like this tea best with soymilk and sometimes a little sugar, which makes it look a lot like a cup of coffee. Adding milk really brings out the vanilla flavor and takes away a bit of the bitterness, but it is good on its own as well.

kuriosity killed the...

2009-07-08T15:40:00.000+02:00

...KITTY!!

a friend of ours has a cat, and a few months ago she had kittens and they were generous enough to offer us one of them!!! we originally thought it was a girl and named her tiger lily, but after taking her to the vet yesterday to get her vaccinated, we found out that "she" is really a "he"!!

we're still deciding on a new boy name. it's either "risby/ribsy" (yes, based on the way rémy pronounces the beverly cleary character of the same name) or "indiana". we should know by the end of the week.

in the meantime our tiny little boy (he's still under one pound!!!) has been keeping us busy being cute & running around like a crazy ball of energy that never stops moving. i thought i'd share some photos to tide you guys over until you come visit him yourselves!

just taking a nap with the guitar.

his whiskers are a bit scriggaly scrag.

tiny kitty paws.

and a tiny kitty nose.

just waking up from a nap with his girlfriend & teddy.

yawn!

playing with his mouse & string.

getting ready to attack...

indiana in action!!!

geography

2009-07-08T13:24:00.000+02:00

now i know geography is a struggle for some; it used to be for me, too. back in high school, before i had really started to travel, it was incredibly hard for me to place foreign-sounding places on a map, especially cities i couldn't even pronounce. after spending four years studying african history, i've learned how to get past the initial confusion of unfamiliar words, and am currently working on remembering not only how they're pronounced, but where they are placed on a map.

how good are you??

AFRICA:

can you name all 59 countries in africa? and/or their capital cities (marked with a red dot)?

NORTH AMERICA:

how about north america? there are only four countries/capitals this time.

SOUTH AMERICA:
there are fifteen to be found in south america.

CENTRAL AMERICA & THE CARRIBEAN:
central america & the carribean is a bit more difficult with all of its island nations. there are 38 total to find, although some of them don't have capital cities.

ASIA:
this map of asia, including northern, western, central & eastern asia, has 43 countries/capitals to find.

MIDDLE EAST:
can you name the 30 countries that make up the middle east?

AFRICA:
1 Malawi (Lilongwe)
2 Chad (N'Djamena)
3 Angola (Luanda)
4 Equitorial Guinea (Malabo)
5 Madeira Islands [PORT] (Funchal)
6 South Africa (Legislative: Cape Town, Judicial: Bloemfontein, Executive: Pretoria)
7 Mauritania (Nouakchott)
8 [Republic of the] Congo (Brazzaville)
9 Mauritius (Port Louis)
10 Egypt (Cairo)
11 Algeria (Algiers)
12 Botswana (Gaborone)
13 Côte D'Ivoire [Ivory Coast] (Current: Yamoussoukro, De Facto: Abidjan)
14 Saint Helena [UK] (Jamestown)
15 Uganda (Kampala)
16 Comoros Islands (Moroni)
17 Mayotte [FR] (Mamoudzou)
18 Morocco (Rabat)
19 Guinea (Conakry)
20 Rwanda (Kigali)
21 Madagascar (Antananarivo)
22 Sierra Leone (Freetown)
23 Ethiopia (Addis Ababa)
24 Niger (Niamey)
25 Zambia (Lusaka)
26 Kenya (Nairobi)
27 Cape Verde (Praia)
28 Ghana (Accra)
29 Eritrea (Asmara)
30 Liberia (Monrovia)
31 Burundi (Bujumbura)
32 Canary Islands [SP] (On the island of Gran Canaria: Las Palmas, on the island of Tenerife: Santa Cruz)
33 Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou)
34 Gabon (Libreville)
35 Somalia (Mogadishu)
36 Réunion [FR] (Saint-Denis)
37 Benin (Porto-Novo)
38 Tanzania (Dodoma)
39 Lesotho (Maseru)
40 Mali (Bamako)
41 Togo (Lomé)
42 Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa)
43 Seychelles Islands (Victoria)
44 Guinea Bissau (Bissau)
45 Sudan (Khartoum)
46 Mozambique (Maputo)
47 Tunisia (Tunis)
48 Western Sahara (El Aaiún)
49 Cameroon (Yaoundé)
50 Namibia (Windhoek)
51 Sénégal (Dakar)
52 Central African Republic (Bangui)
53 São Tomé & Príncipe (São Tomé)
54 Libya (Tripoli)
55 Djibouti (Djibouti)
56 Swaziland (Mbabane)
57 The Gambia (Banjul)
58 Zimbabwe (Harare)
59 Nigeria (Abuja)

NORTH AMERICA:
1 Greenland (Nuuk)
2 Mexico (Mexico City)
3 Canada (Ottowa)
4 The United States of America (Washington D.C.)

SOUTH AMERICA:
1 Argentina (Buenos Aires)
2 Colombia (Bogota)
3 Peru (Lima)
4 Suriname (Paramaribo)
5 Brazil (Brasilia)
6 Uruguay (Montevideo)
7 Bolivia (La Paz; Sucre)
8 Falkland Islands (Port Stanley)
9 Paraguay (Asuncion)
10 Venezuela (Caracas)
11 Guyana (Georgetown)
12 South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands (Grytviken)
13 Ecuador (Quito)
14 French Guiana (Cayenne)
15 Chile (Santiago)

CENTRAL AMERICA & THE CARRIBEAN:
1 Honduras (Tegucigalpa)
2 Puerto Rico (San Juan)
3 Saint Kitts & Nevis (Basseterre)
4 Guatemala (Guatemala City)
5 Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo)
6 Saint Martin
7 Monserrat (Plymouth: de jure; Brades: de facto)
8 Barbados (Bridgetown)
9 Nicaragua (Managua)
10 Cuba (Havana)
11 Aruba (Oranjestad)
12 Saint Lucia (Castries)
13 Costa Rica (San José)
14 Bahamas (Nassau)
15 British Virgin Islands (Road Town)
16 Tobago (Scarborough)
17 Barbuda (Codrington)
18 La Tortuga
19 US Virgin Islands (Charlotte Amalie)
20 Haiti (Port-au-Prince)
21 Belize (Belmopan)
22 Guadeloupe (Basse-terre)
23 Anguilla (The Valley)
24 Margarita (La Asuncion)
25 El Salvador (San Salvador)
26 Jamaica (Kingston)
27 Bermuda (Hamilton)
28 Martinique (Fort-de-France)
29 Cayman Islands (George Town)
30 Antigua (Saint John's)
31 Bonaire (Kralendijk)
32 Trinidad (Port of Spain)
33 Dominica (Roseau)
34 Saint Vincent & The Grenadines (Kingstown)
35 Curaçao (Willemstad)
36 Grenada (Saint George's)
37 Mexico (Mexico City)
38 Panama (Panama City)

ASIA:
1 Bangladesh (Dhaka)
2 Laos (Vientiane)
3 Azerbaijan (Baku)
4 North Korea (Pyongyang)
5 Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek)
6 Armenia (Yerevan)
7 Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)
8 Japan (Tokyo)
9 Sri Lanka (Colombo; Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte)
10 United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi)
11 Iran (Tehran)
12 India (New Delhi)
13 Mongolia (Ulan Bator)
14 Vietnam (Hanoi)
15 Uzbekistan (Tashkent)
16 Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)
17 Kazakhstan (Astana)
18 Nepal (Kathmandu)
19 Iraq (Baghdad)
20 Burma/Myanmar (Rangoon; Naypyidan)
21 Russia (Moscow)
22 South Korea (Seoul)
23 Bhutan (Thimpu)
24 Turkmenistan (Ashgabat)
25 Tajikistan (Dushanbe)
26 Thailand (Bangkok)
27 Yemen (Sanaa)
28 Pakistan (Islamabad)
29 Bahrain (Manama)
30 Cambodia (Phnom Penh)
31 East Timor (Dili)
32 Oman(Muscat)
33 Brunei (Bandar Seri Begawan)
34 Philippines (Manila)
35 Georgia (Tbilisi)
36 Afghanistan (Kabul)
37 Taiwan (Taipei)
38 Indonesia (Jakarta)
39 Qatar (Doha)
40 Kuwait (Kuwait City)
41 Maldives (Malé)
42 Singapore (Singapore)
43 China (Beijing)

MIDDLE EAST:
1 United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi)
2 Georgia (Tbilisi)
3 Lebanon (Beirut)
4 Iran (Tehran)
5 Jordan (Amman)
6 Azerbaijan (Baku)
7 Tajikistan (Dushanbe)
8 West Bank (Ramallah)
9 Gaza Strip (Gaza)
10 Uzbekistan (Tashkent)
11 Israel (Jerusalem)
12 Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)
13 Turkey (Ankara)
14 Turkmenistan (Ashgabat)
15 Qatar (Doha)
16 Pakistan (Islamabad)
17 Armenia (Yerevan)
18 Syria (Damascus)
19 Kazakhstan (Astana)
20 Afghanistan (Kabul)
21 Iraq (Baghdad)
22 Oman (Muscat)
23 China (Beijing)
24 Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek)
25 Russia (Moscow)
26 Bahrain (Manama)
27 Yemen (Sanaa)
28 India (New Delhi)
29 Cyprus (Nicosia)
30 Kuwait (Kuwait City)

vocabulary

2009-07-08T11:42:00.000+02:00

one of my alternate tasks was to expand my vocabulary.
for other languages, most of this will probably come from reading books.

the definitions in french have been looked up by hand in a real dictionary (omg!), le dictionnaire universel. in learning languages i have always found that learning the definition of the word in the same language is best, but i have provided english, too, for those of you who don't speak french & might want to learn! the english translations are thanks to www.wordreference.com, which is my favorite translation site for many reasons.

if anyone else out there wants to join in, feel free!

french:

à l'écart (loc) dans un lieu écarté, isolé [apart, at a distance, isolated]

au saut du lit (loc) au sortir du lit [get out of bed]

abasourdi (adj) qui rend sourd; frappé de stupeur [bewildered, dumbfounded, stunned, dazed, astounded, flabbergasted]

s'abattre (v pr) tomber brutalement [break over, beat down on, storm]

abonder (v) être ou exister en très grande quantité [abound, be plentiful]

aborder (v) arriver à un endroit, commencer à parler de quelque chose [tackle, approach, address]

ADN (acide désoxyribonucléique) (nm) l'information génétique [DNA]

accoutrement (nm) habillement étrange ou grotesque [getup (clothes)]

s'affaisser (v pr) plier, baisser de niveau sous l'effet d'un poids, d'une pression [subside, sag, collapse]

agacé(e) (adj) ennervé, irrité, impatienté [annoyed, irritated]

ahuri(e) (adj) frappé de stupeur, hébété [dazed, stunned, stupified, flabbergasted]

anneau (nm) ce qui a une forme circulaire [ring, link]

apprêter (v) préparer [get ready, dress]

assourdissant(e) (adj) qui cause une surdité passagère à quelqu'un [deafening]

atténué(e) (adj) moins fort [diminished, faded, lessened, decreased]

s'avérer (v pr) se révéler, apparaître [prove true, come true, turn out]

averse (nf) pluie soudaine et abondante [shower, downpour]

avide (adj) qui désire ardemment se procurer quelque chose; cupide [greedy, avid for, eager for]

badin(e) (adj) enjoué, plaisant [bantering, playful, light-hearted]

balbutier (v) articuler les mots avec difficulté ou hesitation; bredouiller [mumble, stammer, babble]

baliverne (nf) propos frivole, sornette [nonsense, balderdash]

béquille (nf) support passant sous l'aisselle et muni d'une poignée pour aider un infirme à marcher [crutch, kickstand]

besace (nf) sac à deux poches, avec une ouverture au milieu [pouch]

betterave (nf) plante cultivée pour sa racine charnue, de forte taille [beet]

bond (nm) saut brusque [leap, bound]

bondé(e) (adj) rempli de gens [packed, crowded]

borborygme (nm) gargouillement intestinal; paroles incompréhensibles [rumbling, gurgling]

bougre de (loc) espèce de [piece of]

brailler (v) parler, crier, chanter trop fort [yell, bawl]

brebis (nf) mouton femelle [ewe]

bredouiller (v) parler de maière précipitée et confuse [mumble, bumble, mutter]

brisé(e) (adj) cassé, rompu [broken, shattered]

broyer (v) réduire en poudre ou en pâte, écraser [grind, crush]

bruissement (nm) bruit confus et continu [rustle, whirring]

cadran (nm) surface graduée sur laquelle se déplace l'aguille d'un appareil de mesure [face (clock), dial]

calembredaine (nf) propos denué de bon sens [??]

cancan (nm) bavardage malveillant [gossip]

canotier (nm) chapeau de paille à bords et à fond plats [boater hat]

carrelage (nm) surface pavée avec des vitres [tiled floor]

casse-croûte (nm) repas léger que prennent les ouvriers au cours de leur travail [quick lunch]

cellule (nf) le plus petit élément organisé de tout être vivant [cell, unit]

la cellule souche (nf) la cellule aui peut donner naissance à plusieurs populations cellulaires [stem cell, progenitor cell]

cintre (nm) support pour les vêtements [clothes hanger]

cloué(e) (adj) fixe [nailed down, pinned down, attached]

cogner (v) frapper fort à coups répétés [knock, bang on, pound]

couche (nf) substance étalée; épaisseur de terreau; strate homogène de terrains sédementaire; protection absorbante pour nourrissons; classe, catégorie sociale [layer, coat; diaper; class, sector]

courroucé(e) (adj) en colère [irate]

crasse (nf) saleté qui s'amasse [grime, filth, dirt]

crasseux/se (adj) couvert de crasse [filthy, grimy, dingy]

crépiter (v) produire une suite de bruits secs [crackle, sizzle, spatter]

crin (nm) poils longs et rêches [hair, bristle]

crinière (nf) crins du cou de quelques animaux (lion); chevelure abondante [mane, head of hair]

crispé(e) (a) contracté [clenched, tensed up, contorted]

cuivre (nm) metal usuel de couleur rouge [copper, brass]

se dandiner (v pr) balancer son corps d'un mouvement réulier et rhythmé [waddle]

déballer (v) retirer de son emballage; (argot: parler ex. "déballe!" = "dit-moi") [unpack, unwrap]

décacheter (v) ouvrir ce qui est cacheté [unseal, tear open]

dédaigneux/se (adj) qui montre du méprie, orgueil [disdainful, scornful]

défoncé(e) (adj) brisé, crevé en enfonçant [broken down, smashed]

dégarnir (v) retirer ce qui garnit [thin out, take the trimmings off, become sparse, be cleared out]

dénicher (v) trouver, découvrir; ôter du nid [dig out, track down, unearth]

dossard (nm) morceau de tissu que portent les participants d'une compétition sportive par-dessus leur tenue, sur lequel est inscrit dans le dos, et souvent sur la poitrine, leur numéro d'ordre ou d'identification [number worn by an athlete]

ébouriffer (v) rebrousser en désordre les cheveux [toussle, ruffle (hair)]

échevelé(e) (adj) dont la chevelure est en désordre [tousled, disheveled]

s'éclaircir (v pr) rendre plus clair [clear, fade, get lighter, become clearer]

s'écrouler (v pr) tomber en s'affaissant, de toute sa masse et avec fracas [collapse, crumble, devastate, demolish]

écume (nf) mousse blanchâtre se formant à la surface d'une liquide [foam, froth]

édenté(e) (adj) qui a perdu ses dents [toothless]

effaré(e) (adj) stupéfié [aghast, alarmed]

efflanqué(e) (adj) maigre et sec [emaciated]

effraction (nf) bris/fracture de clotûre ou serrure [breaking and entering]

effondré(e) (adj) écroulé, soudain anéanti [brought down, collapsed]

s'éffondrer (v pr) s'ecrouler, être soudain anéanti [collapse, crumble, fall]

égaré(e) (adj) détourné du bon chemin; perdu momentanément [astray, mislaid, misplaced]

s'égosiller (v pr) crier longtemps très fort [shout oneself hoarse, yell]

embroché(e) (adj) transpercé avec une arme pointue [skewered]

embruns (nmpl) bruine formée par les vagues qui se brisent [ocean spray]

empêcher (v) entraver (gêner) quelqu'un dans son action, ses projets; mettre un obstacle à quelque chose [prevent, stop, inhibit]

engloutir (v) faire disparaître, absorber [engulf, swallow up, devour, gobble up, wolf down, squander]

enjamber (v) franchir (passer un obstacle) en faisant un pas par dessus [to step over (an obstacle)]

esquimau (nm) glace fichée sur un batonnet comme une sucette [ice cream bar]

étendre (v) allonger; déployer en surface [stretch, spread out, extend]

étouffé(e) (adj) gêné, eteint, arrêté (la respiration par asphyxie) [muffled, choked, suppressed, stifled, smothered]

être dans de beaux draps (exp) être dans une situation embarrassante [be in deep water, be in a sticky situation, be in a pickle]

étreinte (nf) action de presser quelqu'un dans ses bras [embrace, grip, squeeze]

étrenner (v) faire usage le premier ou pour la première fois [use/try/wear for the first time]

éventrer (v) blesser en ouvrant le ventre; déchirer, défoncer [disembowel, gore, rip open]

faire volte-face (v) action de se retourner pour faire face [turn around, about face, flip flop]

faribole (nf) propos frivole [nonsense]

se faufiler (v pr) se glisser adroitement [slip out, creep out]

fêler (v) couper, crevasser, craqueler un objet cassant sans que les morceaux se disjoignent [crack]

fichu (adj) mauvais, détestable, désagréable [rotten, dreadful, damned, lousy]

figer (v) rendre solide un liquide gras par le froid [freeze, congeal]

flambant (a) qui brûle d'un feu vif [blazing, burning]
flambant neuf (loc) [brand new, spanking new]

flancher (v) céder, faiblir [lose one's nerves, crack, chicken out, give out]

foire (nf) grand marché public qui se tient à dates regulières [fair, exhibition, market]

foisonnement (nm) fait de abonder ou pulluler [abondance, multitude, proliferation, expansion]

foraine (adj) relatif aux foires [fairground]

fouet (nm) corde ou lanières de cuir attachés au bout d'un manche pour frapper [whip, scourge]

fouetter (v) donner des coups de fouet; congéler, frapper [whip, flog, thrash, beat]

fouiller (v) explorer soigneusement pour trouver quelque chose [search, frisk, scour]

frac (nm) habit de cérémonie [tailcoat]

fracas (nm) bruit très violent [crash, roar, din]

fredonner (v) chanter à mi-voix sans ouvrir la bouche [hum]

frémir (v) trembler d'émotion [quiver, tremble, shudder]

frénésie (nf) exhaltation violente [frenzy]

frétiller (v) s'agiter de petits mouvements vifs [wriggle, wag]

friandise (nf) sucrerie ou pâtisserie délicate [candy, sweets, delicacy]

froissé(e) (adj) choqué, par manque de délicatesse [rumpled, wrinkled, crumpled]

fuite (nf) l'action de s'éloigner rapidement pour échapper à un danger [flight, escape, evasion]

gâcher (v) abimer, gâter (endommager, corrompre, pourrir, alterer, troubler) [waste, spoil]

geignard (adj) qui se plait sans cesse [whiny]

glapir (v) émmetre des jappements aïgus et répétés (renard, jeunes chiens); crier, chanter d'une voix aigre [yap, bark, shriek, snap out]

se glisser (v pr) se déplacer d'un mouvement [wedge in, slide in]

glousser (v) crier (poule); rire en mettant des petits cris [cluck; chuckle, chortle]

gond (nm) pièce métallique autour de laquelle tourne une porte ou fenêtre [hinge]

gorgée (nf) quantité de liquide avalée en une seule fois [sip, gulp]

gresiller (v) crépiter légèrement [sizzle, crackle]

griffonner (v) écrire peu lisiblement [scrawl, scribble, scratch]

grinçant(e) (adj) qui produit par frottement un bruit strident et désagréable [scathing, caustic, nasty]

grincheux/se (adj) grognon, ronchon [cranky, grumpy, grouchy]

grognement (nm) grondement de protestation [grunt, growel]

grommeler (v) murmurer entre ses dents [grumble, mutter]

grondement (nm) bruit sourd et prolongé [roar, angry murmur, rumble]

guenille (nf) vêtement déchiré [rag]

en guise de (loc) au lieu de [by way of, instead of]

hâter (v) accélérer, rendre plus rapide; (v pr) se dépêcher de [hasten, hurry, rush]

heurter (v) rencontrer rudement [collide with, clash, bump into]

hirsute (adj) ébouriffé, échevelé [dishevelled, unkempt, shaggy, unshaven]

hocher (v) remuer (bouger) la tête [nod or shake one's head]

houlette (nf) bâton de berger [shepard's crook]

inlassablement (av) sans se lasser [tirelessly, endlessly]

jaillir (v) sortir impetueusement; se manifester soudain [gush out, flow, shoot up, squirt, spurt, shine forth (light)]

jugeote (nf) bon sens [common sense]

juteux/se (adj) qui rend beaucoup de jus [juicy]

se lasser (v pr) fatiguer, ennuyer [grow tired, grow bored of]

limace (nf) mollusque gastropode terrestre sans coquille; personne lente, molle [slug]

lueur (nf) lumière faible ou passagèrée [gleam, glow, glimmer]

luisant(e) (adj) qui émet ou reflet le lumière [shining, glistening, gleaming]

mâchon (nm) restaurant simple; casse-croûte [snack]

malmené(e) (adj) traité avec rudesse en paroles ou en actes [mistreated, manhandled]

manège (nm) attraction foraine dans laquelle les animaux figurés ou des vehicules divers tournent autour d'un axe centrale [merry-go-round]

se mirer (v pr) se refléter, voir son image reflétée [see oneself]

monceau (nm) tas/amas important [pile]

mordoré(e) (adj) d'un brun chaud, a reflets dorés [golden brown, bronze]

morne (adj) empreint d'une sombre tristesse [gloomy, glum, dreary, doleful, dismal, lackluster, bleak]

morula (nf) premier stade de développement de l'embryon, résultat de la segmentation de l'oeuf [??]

narquois(e) (adj) goguenard, moqueur [mocking, contemptuous]

navré(e) (adj) désole [terribly sorry, heartbroken]

nouer (v) faire un noeud [tie, tie up, knot]

noueux (adj) qui a des noeuds ou des nodosités [knobby, knobbly, gnarled, gnarly, nubby]

noyau (nm) partie centrale, dure, de certains fruits; partie centrale, plus dense que quelque chose; (bio) partie centrale d'une cellule [pit; core; nucleus]

olibrius (nm) personnage ridicule [customer (derogatory)]

or (conj) sert à introduire les phrases d'un récit, d'un discours [and yet]

d'ores et déjà (loc) dés maintenant [already]

paroi (nf) surface interne ou latérale de quelque chose; cloison séparant deux pièces; versant montagneux abrupt [wall; inner surface; rock face]

pelage (nm) poils d'un mammifère [coat, fur]

pelote (nf) boule formée de fils [ball (of thread/yarn/wool)]

pénombre (nf) lumière faible et douce [half-light, shadowy or feeble light]

percuter (v) frapper, heurter violemment [hit, crash into, collide]

pétard (nm) série de brèves détonations [firecracker]

pianoter (v) tapoter avec les doigts sur un objet [drum (with fingers)]

pleurnicher (v) pleurer sans raison précise [whimper, whine, fret, fuss, snivel]

potin (nm) commérage, cancan [gossip]

propret (adj) coquet, simple et propre [neat]

pulluler (v) être en abondance [proliferate]

queue-de-pie (nm) habit de cérémonie à longues barques [tailcoat]

quiconque (pr rel) qui que ce soit, toute personne qui [whoever, anyone who]
quiconque (pr indéf) n'importe qui [anyone, anybody]

rafistoler (v) reparer sans grand soin [patch up, fix]

raide (adj) tendu, rigide, qui ne plie pas, sans souplesse [stiff, rigid]

ramper (v) progresser par ondulation du corps (animaux dépourvus de membres) [crawl, creep]

rapace (nm) oiseaux carnivore [raptor, bird of prey]

rapetisser (v) rendre plus petit [shrink, shrivel, diminish]

râpeux/se (adj) rugueux [rough]

rauque (adj) rude, âpre (voix) [husky, hoarse, raucously]

se raviser (v pr) changer d'avis [think better of, change one's mind]

se recroqueviller (v pr) se replier en séchant, se retracter [cower]

se redresser (v pr) remettre dans une position verticale [sit up]

renifler (v) respirer par le nez avec bruit [sniff]

répliquer (v) répondre vivement [retaliate, respond]

résigné(e) (adj) qui a renoncé à lutter [resigned]

rétrécir (v) devenir plus étroit [narrow, shrink]

retrousser (v) ramener vers le haut [hike up (skirt), roll up (sleeves)]

réverbère (nm) appareil d'éclairage de la voie publique [street lamp]

ricaner (v) rire à demi, avec une intention moqueuse [snigger, giggle]

rongé(e) (adj) détruite par une action lente, progressive [eroded, gnawed at]

ruche (nf) habitation des abeilles [beehive]

ruisselant(e) (adj) qui coule en filets d'eau [dripping, streaming]

sacristie (nf) salle, attenante à une église, où on range les objets du culte [sacristy, vestry]

scarabée (nm) coléoptère (genre d'insect) aux élytres (ailes rigides) coloriés [beetle]

scintiller (v) briller d'un éclat irrégulier et tremblotant; briller en jetant des éclats de lumière [sparkle, twinkle, glisten]

scruter (v) examiner très attentivement [scan, scrutinize, examine]

semer (v fam) se débarrasser de quelqu'un en lui faissant compagnie [shake off someone]

serrure (nf) dispositif qui permet de bloquer en position fermée au moyen d'une clé [keyhole, lock]

songer (v) penser, envisager, projeter [think of something, muse]

sornette (nf) propos frivole, bagatille, bêtise [trifle, foolish thing]

sot/te (adj) sans intelligence ni jugement [silly, inane]

sottise (nf) parole ou action sotte [silly remark, rubbish, silliness, foolishness]

souche (nf) partie d'une arbre (bas du tronc et racines) qui reste en terre après l'abattage; personne dont descend une famille; origine, source de quelque chose [stump]

subir (v) supporter ce qui est imposé [be subjected to, put up with suffer, undergo]

suraïgu(e) (adj) très vif, intense, d'une fréquence élévée [very high-pitched, acute, piercing]

en sursaut (loc) avec une soudaineté brutale [with a start]

sur ses talons (loc) très près [on one's heels]

tâche (nf) ouvrage qui doit être exécuté dans un temps donné [task, job]

tambouriner (v) frapper sur quelque chose à coups répétés [hammer on, drum on]

tapage (nm) bruit accompagné de désordre [din, racket, furor, hype, uproar]

se tasser (v pr) s'affaisser sur soi-même, se serrer les uns contre les autres [shrink, squash up]

têtard (nm) larve des batraciens (amphibiens) [tadpole]

tignasse (nf) chevelure touffue, mal peignée [shock of hair, mop of hair]

tire-d'aile (adv) très rapidement [hurriedly, in a flurry of wings]

traînant(e) (adj) qui tire derrière soi en faisant glisser [shuffling, dragging, loitering]

trébucher (v) faire un faux pas, perdre l'équilibre [stumble, trip]

tremper (v) mouiller completement [soak, dip, dunk]

troupeau (nm) troupe d'animaux domestique de même espèce, élevés ensemble [herd, flock]

trousseau de clés (nm) clés réunies par un anneau [ring of keys, bunch]

urne (nf) vase qui contient les cendres d'un mort [urn]

vacarme (nm) tapage tumulte [din, racket, hullabaloo]

vasistas (nm) petite ouverture dans une porte ou fenêtre munie d'un vantail [fanlight]

verrouillé(e) (adj) bloqué, barré [latched, bolted]

volant (nm) organe circulaire qui permet de diriger une voiture [steering wheel]

en vouloir quelqu'un (v) avoir de la rancune (ressentiment profond) contre lui [bear a grudge, hold something against someone]