It’s been a nice week with many video catch ups with friends 🙂 I’m still enjoying watching old episodes of Poirot on youtube 🙂 Still doing lotsa yoga with Yoga with Adrienne (also on YouTube). It’s been a pretty good week! 🙂
I’ve also taken up abstract art! I just sketch whatever I feel like for however long I’d like in a notebook with a fineliner and it’s very calming and relaxing. The feel of the pen denting into the thick, quality paper to create just simple lines or twists is very satisfying. I’m really happy about this as I was never good at realistic art while my family was. So, I always equated “art” with realism and told myself I am not a good artist. Then, it hit me…! Art is for everyone. Art isn’t defined 1 way. And I can art for myself. 🙂 It was a really, really, deep satisfying moment to smash my own ideas, limits and boundaries. I try to draw everyday now 😀
Also, I am working with dried flowers as a pastime 🙂 I really love fresh flowers and I feel bad chucking it in the garbage when they aren’t looking happy anymore. So, I am now drying them after their best days. There are also many washed + dried sauce glass jars available, so I’m going to try to arrange them in the jar as art as well 🙂 I’m looking forward to teaching myself patience and colours and textures. First batch ready today!!
On Tuesday, it was Australia day. I had the day off but still woke up before 6am. I went to the market at about 7am and barely anything was there LOL I still got a few vegetables. It’s amazing how rude some people are. I heard that vendors are being a bit more flexible and more friendly as times are tough now but wow! Not everyone. This lady seemed insulted that I was there so early to buy goods from her stall. Well, she doesn’t have to worry – I’m never giving her my business again.
After that, I went to the Victor Hugo market to my fav bar for an orange juice 🙂 Also some meat and cheese too. I went to the Emilie fromagerie and it was ok.
After that, I went for a massive walk along the Garonne and also the Canal du Midi. It was so nice to just walk amongst the trees and water, even though I could hear the cars sometimes. I went in the morning too and there weren’t too many people. I walked for almost 20km for just over 6 hours. I almost fell asleep when I got in the door! I had plans to see friends as well and it was nice to chill with them and chat. On the way to seeing them, I passed by a shop called Moderne Market, which was alright, and this girl who was wearing THE original tearaways pants!! I haven’t seen that in forever haha Days are getting warmer now and a bit longer, which make it really lovely 🙂
With that said, people are getting impatient with the curfew and potential lockdown impending. There was a big party last night in my building and it was very loud 😦 I was invited to a gathering and was told to “just bring anyone” 😦 While I also have seen friends, I try to stick to the same people and keep my mask on. People aren’t really wearing masks and with these kinds of parties, it seems inevitable that lockdown is only days away.
After a fantastic first massage Banyan Thai Massage, I signed up for a second one and took the plunge to try the Hot Stone Massage. I’ve only tried it once before in Vancouver and it was so good!! 😀 It’s so nice to get a massage to warm up the body and then, the hot stones are extremely hot and their heat can penetrate and relax your muscles. This one was also very good! Still not as good as the one in Vancouver haha but still excellent 🙂 So glad I gave it a go! 😀
I have masala chai every morning on a work day and often on non-work days too. It’s a nice routine and ritual to get the day started and very warming. In my last blog post, I shared how I use mainly plant milk and I’ve tried these now:
- Oat milk: I started off using this as the lovely cafe at the end of my street, Allegory Cafe, make a superb chai latte with oat milk 🙂 Naturally, I am trying to replicate it….to no avail 😛 Anyhow, I’m still able to get a great texture and consistency going and I’ve tried the following brands:
- Lima: oddly, the website only shows the Oat milk with calcium but I tried the one without it. Anyway, it was too watery and thin, preventing the mix of spices and tea to infuse properly with this milk. Taste was nice and not too sweet.
- Monoprix, Bio: ok as well. not a too impressed as it was hard to pull off that same silky, light texture from the cafe.
- Carrefour, Bio: ok as well. Still struggled to get the spices + tea mix to bond well with the milk.
- Bjorg: pretty unimpressed with this as well. Just a tad too watery and tasteless. Yes, yes, I did get the no sugar added one but it was just sad 😦
- Isola: just bought this. Haven’t tried it yet.
- Spelt Milk: Tried a bit at my friend’s place and it had a very nice flow and silky texture. Nice, natural sweet taste too! So, I went to get some 🙂
- Carrefour, Bio: very nice! Great balance between that silky feel but not heavy. Perfect with the proportions in the recipe 🙂
- Monoprix: good too. Not as nice as the carrefour but good.
- Lima: nice! not as silky but good infusion. Didn’t even need to add honey 😀
TIPS:
- 100% full fat cow milk for the masala chai was like a meal and a half… So heavy and filling; Too much for me!!
- Biocoop was more pricey than Bio C’ Bon. I guess Biocoop is more focused on local produce and producers but many of the same items, like vege protein, was priced higher.
I also tried tried to make nasu dengaku this weekend 😀 It was super good! I just had to double the roasting time cuz the eggplants here are much thicker, unlike the Japanese eggplants. Of course, I used the Just One Cookbook recipe 😀 I can’t wait to try to make Ramen Eggs later this week!
Can you believe I have only JUST found out that that I haven’t been to #3 of the top 3 fromageries in Toulouse?! I’m kind of embarrassed haha I found out from my flatmate that the main 3 heavyweights are:
- Betty Fromagerie: Ok, I’m surprised they are #1 cuz they aren’t (at least I didn’t hear it!) as popular as Xavier. However, they have their own shop and located in Marché Carmes and Marché Victor Hugo so there you go. However, they also seem wayyy more pretentious and hoity toity. So, I wasn’t drawn to them. I did just finally cave and get some Comté and their 29 month comté was f-in amazing 😀 So hats off there to them… just wish they were more approachable!
- Xavier Fromagerie: fancy but friendly and chill overall though depending who you get, there is a guy who is super snobby about his cheese and he will bring down the cheese god’s wrath and judge, scorn and cheese shame you (not necessarily in that order; depends on the cheese god’s wrathy mood). All in good fun though and he’s harmless. 🙂 Prices are reasonable and it’s a nice open space with great selection. Definitely popular…the lines outside on Dec 24th were mindblowing!
- Sena Fromagerie: The friendliest and most chill by far! I only tried their 36 month Comté now and it was good but too intense. To me, there was more just the smoky flavour. I will need to let the cheese sit out for awhile to try again… I can’t wait 2 hours 😦 Anyhow, I remember asking them for a job before and they had told me maybe for Xmas season 😀 Very nice people 🙂
Other fromageries on my list… :d
- Le fromagerie du Bonheur
- Fromages et Créations
- Deux Chavanne (also in Marché Carmes)
- L’atelier du fromager
- Massembea
- Fromagerie Lavialle
- Sena Fromagerie (their own store, not the one in the market)
So many cheeses… so little time…so tiny my stomach…Challenge accepted :d
Ok, so I was going to attempt to start writing in French again to translate my blog posts and but this became way, way longer than I thought so maybe next time haha
Antics & Adventures 