My Vegan Mondays

Let’s start with a few more chestnuts from Food Rules:

If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.
It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food.
The banquet is in the first bite (eat slowly).

Love it.

Morning
Coffee and soy milk
Kiwi (good Vitamin C for flu season, people!)
Apple

Afternoon
Veggie pad thai
Sesame bread sticks
Carrot sticks

Evening
Delicious fennel & carrot soup, made my yours truly (recipe from 101 Cookbooks)
Another one of these goddamn delicious French apples
Tawny port from Lisbon

12 days of Christmas: The Kasia Dietz Rive Droite tote

A mélange of local friends and talent, an obsession with all things French, and my own Christmas wishes, here’s my daily pick for anyone looking for a fabulous Christmas gift idea.

While I love Kasia’s reversible totes made from fabrics sourced from around the world, I especially love the local pride on display with her clever Paris collection.

Milo

I realize this borders dangerously close on Crazy Cat Lady behavior, but please indulge me…

















He's pretty cute, non?

Truer words were never spoken

"There is no key to happiness, the doors is always open."

Graffiti movement

I have very mixed feelings about street art. While I admire it and impressed by a good deal of it, I hate defacement of public buildings and property. But this video takes the cool factor to a whole new level.

What I loved about this week

• Sunday night shots with Alison
• My dear friend Melissa achieving a huge, exciting and overdue milestone—go, Mel!
• Walking to work
• Cuddles from Milo
• Receiving the photos my dad sent me in the mail. They’re shots of me when I was about 7 or 8. Some of them I remember very well – me, all buck-toothed, smiling through the fence at Faneuil Hall in Boston. Others, I have absolutely no recollection of; I don’t even recognize myself. It’s strange to look at pictures of yourself, and not recognize that it’s you.
• Happening upon the new Marie florist—arresting beauty
• A lovely lunch with Sarah, complete with magical snowfall, sardine sandwiches, and laughing at our own dorkiness
• I lived through the Paris snowstorm!
• Reading every night before bed
• Plotting out my Christmas shopping strategy
• Finishing my article
• Walking across the Pont des Arts, surrounded by plenty of cold air but no people
• Just feeling really happy

Et toi? What did you love about this week?

Weather check: briefly, a winter wonderland

It has snowed a little bit almost every day since November 26. Which is sort of nice, but mostly not (to this summer-loving girl). But even I have to admit that today’s snowfall was magical. Giant, wet flakes spiraling past the window at the Grand Palais.

The Arc de Triomphe, even more statuesque and noble. (Now that I think of it, how insane is it that this is what I see when I get out of the Metro??)

That certain festivity in the air, with everyone rushing about trying to stay warm and dry.

Oui, it was a winter wonderland. Until it turned to nasty urban slush. And I fell. And my commute took me an hour to get across town on the Metro. Otherwise, it was wonderful.

Trop jolie!

I was walking home the other night and was literally stopped in my tracks.

Marie, a new florist, just bloomed on rue du Louvre.





Pretty and cool at the same time.