things making me happy right now.

The original plan was for me to go home last Saturday, but life happens and things change and now I'm still in France. It is, of course, a disappointment for me as I was really excited to get home, but I will get back to the people and places I love soon enough. Until then, I need to remain positive! And, I'm doing that by savoring the little things that are making me happy right now!  :)

1. a homemade candlelit lunch for one with tabouli salad, ratatouille, and peppery tortilla chips

2. creating a little home gym for myself now that my insanely overpriced gym membership has ended (the gym was also disturbingly dusty)

3. the wonderful and luxe gift my guy gave me for no reason at all (well, I'm reason enough, aren't I?!!) - Guerlain face creams made with this amazing orchid that lives for something like 160 years so it fights anti-aging (but I'm still not sure if he was hinting that I'm getting wrinkles!? lol)

4. my amazing perfume that makes me smell and feel feminine and chic

5. uummmm socialized medicine!!! upon my last visit to the pharmacy, the lady bagged my stockpile of meds and said, "bonne journée," and I stood there dumbfounded and said, "c'est totalement gratuit? incroyable!" Then, I neatly arranged my treasures in a mason jar.

6. my not so beautiful but delicious first attempt at vegan cinnamon apple muffins (the trick - more applesauce, less vegan butter for a moist, yet healthy treat!) sorry, I know the word moist creeps a lot of people out. oops there I go again with it.

 

7. (not pictured because I'm not into that whole taking pictures of myself thing) something making me super happy: I had to buy new jeans and belts because my hard work is paying off!! :)

One thing not making me happy : this craptastic weather. I swear the ratio of crappy days to beautiful days here is not in favor of the latter. Boo! But, hiding out inside and listening to Ingrid Michaelson's soothing songs on repeat is a nice dose of wonderful.

the domino effect. or something like it.

I'm in a good mood so this blog is in no way a rant; it is really just a compilation of some observations I have made recently.
Have you ever noticed that things happen in a sort of domino effect or in a sequence...?

People's actions have direct results on other people's actions whether they meant for them to or not.

For example:

When one person parks like a pig (read: asshole), it forces everyone else to park like a pig. You can never really decipher who the first pig was, but then, if all the other people clear out and you're the only car left, you're the one that looks like the pig. There is a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode about this and it cracks me up, because who wants to be the one that looks like the "pig parker" (as Larry David calls it) when it was just some other idiot that 1. doesn't know how to park or 2. is just a selfish, careless, oblivious "pig parker".

The next thing that happens in a domino effect is urinating on the toilet seat. For men, this isn't necessarily an issue because you don't need to get your junk in a close enough range to the bowl for this to be relevant, but for women, man this is just annoying. So one snot-nose (for lack of better words) comes up and squats and leaves her business all over the seat and then the next person thinks they can squat a little higher with no regard to aim and do the same. By the time the tenth person gets in there (odds are - C'est MOI!!), the original snot-nose's urine is dried up and you can't even clean it up if you want to and you have to squat so far away to avoid the puddle of urine from shooting back up at you. Hasn't anyone heard the good old sayings "Please be a sweetie and wipe the seatie" or "Please be neat and wipe the seat"? (If I may add one more bathroom domino effect issue that drives me crazy, it's when someone finishes the toilet paper roll and doesn't replace it. Then, the next person is stuck drip drying - or worse, if it's out the other end.)

The next thing is when people park their car somewhere and put their flashers on... I believe these lights are actually called your hazard lights. They are meant to be used to signal a warning for something.. uum hazardous. When did they become the lights you use when you 1. are too lazy to park somewhere farther away and walk 2. "are just going inside for a minute" "you'll be really quick" 3. don't want to pay for parking and/or 4. are waiting for someone..? Once one person does this, everyone else follows suit. The next thing you know there is a traffic jam of people sitting there with their flashers on and I'm always the idiot sitting in the back of this pile with my flashers on thinking there is an actual hazard up ahead, rather than the reality of the situation which is usually that people are just going in to buy cigarettes. People who need to buy cigarettes need to park closely because their lungs won't tolerate the walk from the parking space to the cash register... is that the excuse? I'm just curious when it started that the flashers became the symbol not for an actual emergency but for a pit stop. When one person throws on the flashers, everyone else is relieved they don't have to be the ringleader and that it is "ok" to park it right there, in the middle of the road. So, in essence, they are causing the hazard with their hazard lights.

The next thing is not necessarily a domino effect but causes a number of people to have to worry and check themselves which is sort of a domino effect. I was recently in a classroom with about twenty other people and someone was sporting some God awful stinky feet. I was feeling super insecure for the whole afternoon. I was kind of leaning forward and sticking my head between my knees and trying to get a whiff of my shoes. Then, I was examining each person around me and trying to determine who the culprit was. Maybe I'm just crazy but I don't think I could have been the only person trying to figure out if they were the cause of this stench. Not only does everyone have to be subjected to this unpleasantness, but you're left having a panic attack wondering if this could possibly be you. I couldn't concentrate on anything but thinking about if I showered, if I had previously worn the shoes without socks, or even if I'm that person in general - do my shoes normally smell? Am I the smelly kid!? (The end result is that my shoes and feet didn't stink at all, but it still gave me anxiety for a whole afternoon).

Now the above scenario refers to all unnecessary smells. Another solid example would be, of course, you guessed it... body odor. The great BO! Come on now...  you don't even have to shower. Take a Puerto Rican shower - ya know, put some soap on a wash cloth and scrub the pits. After, apply deodorant. Repeat as many times as needed. BO is just incredible and incredibly obnoxious. Sometimes it really does take my breath away. Not to say we don't have some ripe armpits aux Etats-Unis but French people specialize in this art form much the same as they do in making delicious bread. I guess you take the pros with the cons. But thinking about a stinky baker almost (just almost) makes me not want to eat the bread!

Dog poop on the street. This has quickly become one of the biggest annoyances for me here. The streets are land mines. Wikipedia informed me that the definition of a land mine is: an explosive device, concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near the device. So, yeah, I think doggie doo doo plops accurately into that definition. The domino effect here is that once one person doesn't pick up after their dog, every other person says, "Why should I if he didn't?" Thus, land mines. You literally need to walk looking down. New York streets are littered with garbage and French streets with actual shit. 

In an effort to keep my brain from exploding with more domino effect scenarios, I think that's all. This is my first blog in a month. Partially because I don't have much to say and also because I'm just living and sometimes it isn't fun to stop and smell the roses :)

The days are flying by, and it seems like just yesterday I was ringing in the New Year with my family in NJ and shortly after enjoying the Florida sun with my Mom. When did it get to be April!? Sometimes I can't keep up!

This winter has been wonderful, and I am adapting to life in Europe. We had an amazing ski trip with my family in Grindelwald, Switzerland. We spent two weekends with my guy's family in the Lorraine region of France. And, to top it all off, we found a beautiful, new apartment and my man kept his promise of getting me those double sinks! I am looking forward to my second Spring in France and all that the next few months have in store for me. Although, I should say, I am disappointed that I won't be going back to the United States as planned but I'll be back soon enough.
Do you have any other domino effect-ish things that you've noticed?

life.

Time has been flying by and there is so much to do before April. First thing on that list would obviously be finding an apartment. Next would be working a ton to save money up before I leave my job. Third would be the actual move - packing, unpacking (maybe.. I could always leave that part for someone else ;) haha kiddddding), arranging, rearranging... but I honestly don't know if I'll have time for any of the moving. It will be something fun for me to throw myself into when I get back. I hope that this is a space we are able to make ours for a few years. I want to paint and decorate and have our own things and feel at home somewhere.

My dream apartment has the following: old, hardwood floors, classic lines, bookshelves built into the walls, a fireplace, a double sink (heaven), exposed beams on the ceiling, a bathtub, a kitchen with a lot of counter space and the ability to set up stools so we can sit and have conversation in between the chopping and the cooking, a little beauty nook - makeup vanity (it is sooooo annoying to try to put on my makeup or dry my hair while my guy is trying to shave or brush his teeth), and windows... a lot of tall windows. Oh, a terrace would be nice. I also really like having a big living room. It makes it easier to entertain guests and I love to entertain guests.

We are having a hard time finding an apartment that is old and classic while still a bit modern (not an old kitchen). We have found either old apartments that look old or newer apartments that are trying too hard to be modern but in a very cheap-looking way. I am confident we will find "the one" soon.

In the midst of all that is going on here, I am also really looking forward to going home mid-April. I always love spending time with my family. Although I miss them all the time, there is something a bit more... romantic, sentimental, heart-grabbing, about only having so much time with them when I see them. I feel like it's a constant race again the clock. I want to soak up every minute with them. I don't want the alarm to sound telling me my time is up. I don't think we cherish the time we spend with people enough when we see them all the time.

There are a lot of people I am anxious to see. It isn't fun being here without girlfriends, and I think it's about time we drink some champagne and dance on tables! Who's in??!! ;)

Did I mention I will get to spend a few weeks in sunny Florida with my best friend in the world!? Walks, bike rides, shopping, watching the dolphins from the comfort of home (!!), sunset drinks at On the Edge, FRESH fish sandwiches, more shopping, apple strudel at the market, the BEACH, and so much more with my Mom. I always loved and was proud of her a TON before but she has lost 50 (!!!) pounds and looks like her high school superlative winning self (class cutie woo woo!!!). She is such a babe, and she radiates beauty on the inside and out. She has inspired me to get my butt in gear and get exercising. She really is just an amazing person.

So that's all for now. I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend. I made homemade chicken pot pie in mini casseroles for the first time last night and the judge gave it two thumbs up! When I asked him if it's something he'd like me to make again, he pointed to the plate he had licked clean! :) Winning!

What I'm listening to right now... I really love this song.

Thai Curry

I may have mentioned this before, but I will say it again. We love Thai food so much that almost every weekend we drive around 40 minutes to a nearby town that has a good Thai restaurant. I started to think that this was a silly thing to do. The trip is never a total waste as there is a movie theater with films in English, a Subway (to take home with us), and a lot of shops we like (Nespresso, Zara, H&M, Sephora, G Star, etc.).

I decided that I really needed to learn how to cook some Thai food. It would save us a lot of money and time. So, I searched the internet and found a recipe but it wasn't just right. I started to combine a bunch of recipes. I took clever ideas from each and tweaked them to make what I think is a delicious combination. I, of course, add a lot of veggies as I don't put chicken in the meal but it's definitely an option to add chicken or beef. We often top our meal with shrimp.

Here's my recipe.

Ingredients:

 -2 tablespoons olive oil

-1 medium onion, chopped (however you like it)

-1 medium red bell pepper, chopped - my new thing has been buying a jar of roasted red peppers - super quick and adds a nice kick if you buy a jar soaked in a spicy oil (if you try this, add it at the end as it's obviously already cooked)

-1 jalapeño chili, seeded and finely chopped (I leave some seeds - or all - to add a kick because we like it HOT HOT HOT)

-1 teaspoons dried red pepper flakes

-2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

-2 cups vegetable broth (I break apart 1 cube of bouillon into 2 cups of hot water)

-dash of ginger powder

-1/2 an eggplant, skinned and cubed

-1/2 a zuchinni (I use the peeler to make lines so it's prettier - see the pic)

-about 15 fresh or frozen long green beans

-1/4 cup bamboo shoots

-1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned (and preferably seeded but I leave the skin)

-2 teaspoons curry powder

-salt and pepper to taste 

-1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk

-2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (to garnish)

**I also found a pâté of red curry (basically a red curry paste) in the super market which I add at the end because it's good and spicy) - I never did this before and it really made such a difference

-some white white - as much as you like

Directions:

1. Add oil to hot pot

2. Add onion

3. When the onion is soft and translucent, add the peppers -chili pepper and if you're not using the jarred red pepper then add your bell pepper here, too and the red pepper flakes.

4. add the garlic, eggplant, and zuchinni and if you're using fresh green beans then them, too (I use frozen because I always love to have green beans)

5. Let the veggies soften a little on a lowish-mediumish temperature. You want them to soften but not burn or crisp. 

6. After the veggies have softened up, add the vegetable broth and all spices - ginger, curry, salt and pepper (I always adjust these to tase).

7. After everything is nicely cooked and flavored at a medium heat, add the tomatoes, bamboo shoots, and frozen green beans at this point (I always soak and thaw the green beans in cold water because I don't like the flavor the frozen-ness gives off).

8. Add the coconut milk. Let cook at a low heat for about 10 minutes. Don't put the coconut milk in until you're about 10 minutes away from preparation.

9. The last step would be adding a bit of salt and pepper to taste and if you buy the red curry paste, add that, too.

To Serve:

Add a scoop of rice to a plate or bowl and ladle the Thai curry mixture on top. Add the garnish. I put some cooked shrimp on top, too. You can cook any meat directly in this meal but I like to keep it vegan and have the option of adding shrimp at the end. 

I think this is a wonderful meal, if I do say so myself. Let me know if you try it! Of course, add or don't add things according to what you like. When my guy isn't here, I add chickpeas for my protein source. You can omit some of the veggies or maybe if you like add something like broccoli. It's really up to you how you want to tweak the recipe. If you do tweak it, let me know what changes you made!

Bon Appétit et bon weekend aussi !

invisible children. kony 2012.

Watch this. Be inspired. Be informed. Get off your feet. Do something. KONY 2012.