Grenoble & the family

This week seems just endless... And it's only Wednesday! Helpppp!! ;))

It's funny how when you don't do anything special in the week-end the week after seems super long whereas just 2 days outside of Paris can feel like a one week holiday and are enough to completely disconnect from everyday life...

The other week-end we went really quick (but really quick: we left on Saturday morning

and went back on Sunday evening) to Grenoble for Mick's dad's birthday and Monday morning while going to the office I was really disconnected like if I was away for several days :)

That is absolutely not what is happening this week lol!

Anyway, it was a nice weekend. On Saturday we went shopping (found 2 really nice tops I'll show you in the next post) and in the evening we went to the Luna park :))

This is us on the roller coaster !

And on Sunday there was this big surprise birthday lunch for Mick's dad.

I had the chance to meet all the rest of the family I didn't meet yet. It was really nice. :)

I don't have many pics from the week-end to show you, but last month we went to Grenoble with my dad as well, as he was never been there plus Mick's grandparents are Italian so we wanted them to meet my dad. 

So here some photos from last weekend to show you a little bit around and take a quick mid-week break ;p

The cableway that goes up to la Bastille (the ancient fortification) and the view of the city from up there.

Apparently this is the longer straight line street in Europe!

We also visited the place where the monks produce the Chartreuse, a very strong liquor made with plants (the exact recipe is a well kept secret). It was an interesting and fun visit, but pictures were forbidden, and at the end they offer you a glass of Chartreuse of course. ;)

Family time - That was the reason we organised a week-end in Grenoble with my dad in the first place ;)

And we took some nice walk in the countryside - countryside around Grenoble is really nice and really close to the city centre - and well, we needed at least those walks after all the family meals we had!! ;))

Broccoli & chickpeas

Here's a healthy and yummy recipe based on broccoli.

Yeah, I hear you saying that broccoli isn't exactly the first thing you'd think about when thinking about a yummy food... This is because you don't cook it my way! Just give this recipe a try and you'll see ;)

What you need for 4 persons :

- 2 or 3 broccoli

- 400 g of chickpeas 

- 2 handfuls of yellow raisin 

- olive oil

- pepper

Cut the broccoli in pieces. 

Remember that you can eat also the stem. Just cut off the outer part of it and keep only the center (see the difference between the following two pictures). It's really tasty, I prefer it at the broccoli florets..

Put the broccoli in a casserole with water and let cook for about 20 minutes, until they're tender (just tender not completely undone).

Put the cooked broccoli in an oven plate.

Add the chickpeas.

Add the raisins.

Add oil and pepper and mix everything so that the oil is well distributed.

Put in the oven for about 30 minutes.  

When the broccoli and the raisin start to grill, it's time to stop the cooking.

Now you just have to enjoy your meal! :)

You can eat it as a main plate (it's a complete meal, the chickpeas gives you proteins) or as a side dish to accompany meat or fish.

Bon appétit! 

6 things that made me happy last week

- To be call back for a very important project and to meet with a very talented director! I won't say his name for good luck, I'm just saying he's an Oscar winner!!!

- To have dinner at home with some friends - honestly I like to prepare a nice dinner at home rather than always go to the restaurant, don't you?

- To finish and to send our wedding invitations. We had some diy to do and it took us the whole week-end, but on Sunday evening we very really happy with the result and it was really nice to actually hand-made something together with my future hubby! ;)

- To have time during my audition day in Rome, to see my sister and nephews.

- To have my boyfriend picking me up at the airport!

- To go the doctor to check on my knees that cause me huge pain and knowing that it's nothing serious, no operation is needed (on the other side there's nothing much that I can do for the pain, but at least I can keep on dancing!)

8 things that made me happy this week

- To find a good (and not overmuch expensive) photographer for our wedding :)

- To spend the whole Sunday at the Church for our premarital course with other couples and discover that it was really, really, really interesting and all the people were super nice! Plus our Church has a beautiful garden and the day was super sunny so we could did part of the course outside :)

- My boyfriend who's now impatient to spend the second (and last) Sunday at the Church for the premarital course!

- To have lunch outside in the sun with my girlfriends without wearing a coat!

- The sun who begins being warm...

- To take a good dance class, like I was used to take before, and not feeling pain in my knees!!

- A romantic dinner with my love on Friday night, just the 2 of us... He's working a lot lately so I have the impression of not seeing him for days sometime even though we live together...

- To meet with some girls from the premarital course for some coffee and brides to be small talk ;) 

Potatoes cheesecake

Here's a quick, easy and, most important, super yummy recipe for all cheese lovers! And for all of you who want to your beloved one - my boyfriend was over then happy with this cake the other night... So if you wanna win a man's heart through is stomach, here's a good option (and you will be able to make it even if you're not that terrific cook, but shhh it's a secret! ;p ).

What you need :

- 7/8 potatoes

- 1 egg

- 250 g ricotta cheese

- 125 g mozzarella

- 2 slices of ham

- grated parmesan

- pepper (if you like it)

Wash the potatoes and put them in a pot with cold water and let them cook for about 30/40 minutes (the exact time depends from the potatoes' size), until they're tender. 

Don't put salt in the water as it makes the potatoes broken.

Once the potatoes are cooked, take them off of water and let them cool up.

Peel the potatoes and mash them with a fork.

Take a baking dish, cover it with baking paper and put the mashed potatoes in it.

With a spoon, spread evenly the potatoes in the dish, leaving the borders higher than the center.

In a plate, mix the ricotta cheese with the egg.

You can add pepper too, if you like it.

Add the mozzarella and the ham, to the mixture, after having chopped them in small pieces.

Put the cheese mix over the potatoes base.

Cover with parmesan.

Put in the oven at 200° for about 40 minutes. 

When the cake is grilled on top you can take it out.

Doesn't it look good?!

Now all you have to do is just cut a slice of you perfect cheesecake and savor it!

For a complete meal, you can pair the cake with some fresh salad.

Bon appétit! :)

Les oiseaux se cachent pour mourir

We've got a very sweet old lady as a neighbor. From time to time, I have a little afternoon chat with her, she's a very interesting lady, she tells me about life during war time or about her many travels, she's been like everywhere in the world!

And one of these afternoons, she lent me a book as she thought I would have liked it. And she was right! ;)

The book is "The thorn birds" from the Australian writer Colleen McCullough. I read it in French, the title is "Les oiseaux se cachent pour mourir".

It's exactly the kind of book that I like: the destiny of a family over several generations, with love, drama and action. 

It's the story of an Australian family and an Irish priest. And I won't say more. Guys, you really have to read it! I never heard of this book before, but apparently it's well known, they also made a tv show from it... So maybe you already read it...

It's a very beautiful story and as it continues over several years you have the time to really get attached to the characters, to choose who you prefer and who you can't stand and you can't wait to take back the reading where you left it to meet with them again and to know what's happening in their lives. It's like when you watch a tv serie.

Plus, the story take place in Australia and as I'm right now planning our honeymoon in this country I was really feeling there with them. 

And now that I finished it I'm kinda sad... I miss Meggie (my favorite character) and I would like to spend time with her again...

Let me know what do you think about it if you're gonna read it or if you already have! ;)

10 things that made me happy this week

- To show the monologue I prepared for an audition to my boyfriend and heard him say that I wowed him :)

- To have an audition for a very, very, very important project!

- My hair who finally seem to grow!

- My sister who came to Paris on Thursday to come with us to buy our wedding rings (the wedding rings are her gift to us).

- To find the perfect wedding rings <3

- To take my sister out for lunch to thank her and share a huge seafood plate with her and Mick.

- To see that my sister is truly happy about our engagement.

- To find a solution to print our wedding announcement cards. Honestly it can seem easy but it's not! We bought some handmade Italian paper but no one in Paris knows how to print on it. Except for a guy whose price was 400 €!!!! We eventually gave the paper to a friend who was going to Italy and she's gonna have the wedding announcements print in her town and then she's gonna take them back to Paris..

- To have such a good friend!

- To spend the weekend in Grenoble with all the family.

8 things that made me happy this week

- To have several auditions. Honestly no one was for a very interesting project, but at least I felt in the saddle! :) I was starting to feel a bit rusty.

- To find a solution to party until early morning on our wedding day if we won't have the permission to put the music until late in the place we planned at the beginning. I was so afraid that like at midnight we would have been obliged to switch the music off... I mean it's gonna be our big day and it's once in a life... We wanna celebrate it!!! And now we have a solution.

- One of my best friend who came back to Paris this week and to spend a lot of time with her :)

- Nice night out with the girls on Wednesday night!

- To find nice disposable dishes and glasses for our wedding brunch.

- To see the comic show of a friend with lots of other friends!

- Not to be too tired in the mornings event though I went out a lot last week ;)

- A cozy Sunday a home with my love, it's nice to take some time just for the 2 of us <3

9 things that made me happy this week

- To have an awful dizziness on Wednesday and being super afraid o have Labyrinthitis again. When I understood I was not getting Labyrinthitis, I was just too happy even though I was still feeling terrible!

- To go to the jewelry to take the watch I ordered as an engagement gift for my fiance and to see that it was even more beautiful than I remembered and that they did a perfect engraving even though the space for it was really limited!

- To give the watch to my love on Valentine's day and see that he really likes it (it was a surprise and I chose it by myself...).

- To spend a romantic and cozy night at home with my love for Valentine's day <3 

- To receive a personalized iPhone case with the picture we took just after my love proposed to me. It's such a sweet gift and anytime I look at it I feel terribly happy.

- To have a very nice brunch on Sunday with lots of friends on Sunday.

- To have a Lebanese dinner withe my girlfriends, chatting, gossiping and laughing :)

- To know that my sister has booked the plane's ticket and she's coming to visit in 2 weeks!

- To be called to audition for a comic theatre play. In this difficult time, even  just a call for an audition makes me happy!

Fennel gratin

Happy Valentine’s day!! <3 <3

Here's a very simple, quick and super yummy recipe.

Really yummy as I usually don’t eat fennel, but this recipe… I just love it!

And very simple, you can also make it for tonight if you want to prepare a homemade romantic dinner, but you were out of ideas!

What you need for 3/4 persons:

- 2 fennel

- Olive oil

- Pepper

- 2 slices of ham

- 3/4 ¾ glass of milk

- Raped Parmesan

First of all, turn on the oven to 180° (I told you it's a very quick recipe! ;p).

Wash the fennel, cut it into small cubes and put them in an oven dish.

Season the fennel with olive oil and pepper.

I don't use salt, but if you're used to it, you may add some salt too.

But just for the record, the salt contained in food covers the recommended daily dose, the salt we add to our food is not necessary for us. People add salt just because they're used to it, because they're used to the taste of it, but not because they need it.

Try to stop this habit, at the beginning you may find your food unsalted, but after a while you're going to get used to it, to rediscover the true flavor of food and you'll eat in a healthier way.

You can also use other things to flavor your food: herbs, grains, homemade sauces…

Add half a glass of water too, to avoid the fennel to burn during the cooking.

Cut the ham into little pieces and throw it over the fennel.

Pour the milk over the fennel and the ham.

Add the raped parmesan over everything and put it in the oven for about 40 minutes. 

When the top is grilled you can stop the cooking.

You can serve the fennel as a main dish, with some salad for instance or as a side dish to go with some fish or meat.

And you can keep it for a couple of day in the fridge and bring it with you also to work, school, university… It's also very good warm up the day after! ;)