Essaouira : fishing harbor & the medina

I first tried to put at-the-time-the-not-yet-hubby on a surf board a couple of years ago, during a trip in La Tranche sur Mer, with no very good results... 

We surfed again together in Australia last October and he happily & unexpectedly really liked it.

I couldn't miss the chance! So for Christmas I offered him a surfing trip to Morocco.

I hesitated among a couple of destinations & after some talking with a surfer friend, I chose the fortified city and UNESCO World Heritage Site of Essaouira, that is a good spot for beginners plus it's a place I've been wanting to visit for some time. 

On a cold March sunrise, the head full of images of blue boats & seagulls, we left grey & rainy Paris in search of sun & good waves.

We arrived early morning & still a little bit sleepy in sunny Essaouira & after a yummy breakfast

ready we were to explore the city

We crossed the beautiful main square

 to head to the fishing harbor

All those blue boats against the blue sky are just too beautiful, aren't they? Let me tell you, this place is wonderful to snap pictures :)

We climbed the tower you see in this last pic ^ to have a view of the harbor from above & to enjoy the view over the Medina of Essaouira.

My nice sweater is from Promod & it's on sale right now . 

We continued our morning walk with the Medina, wandering among the stalls of food, herbs, teas, local handicraft & other stuff...

I've been wanting to buy all the cute & colorful dishes & bowls, before remembering that we already have plenty at home from our previous trip to Marrakech...

We marveled at the blue painted doors while getting lost in the tiny streets...

I bought a couple of Moroccan lipsticks, a henna based lipstick that gives your lips a very natural pink color that lasts hours - even when you drink & eat! 
The lipstick reacts to the lips ph so the shade of pink changes from a person to another. Basically, it's magical! ;) 
Oh yes and the lipstick is green. Or blue. Or any other weird color.  

This is one of my  favorite beauty products, since when a friend of mine made me discover it, last year.
You can find it in Morocco & all North Africa, but also on Amazon ;)
Plus we shared a very good green tea with the seller!

Strolling the medina, we started to make our way back to the harbor

Where we previously saw a line of blue fish restaurants with outside tables in the sun. Just the perfect spot for lunch! :) 

They were all cooking seafood at more or less the same price, so we picked one in the middle & settled down to enjoy a good fish based meal!

That was even better than what we thought! 

Full & happy, we came back to our hotel to meet our surf instructor & dive into waves! 
More about our surfing adventures tomorrow!

The easiest way to cook eggplant

I'm writing this post sitting in a nice café in Biarritz facing the ocean :))
I should write every post in this condition ;)

We came here for a long weekend for surfing & to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary!!! (I can't believe how time flies).

We haven't surfed since Easter, when we went to Essaouira - post about surfing Morocco coming soon ;)

So it's been a super good week-end & Biarritz is a pretty cool place! (I'll write about that too).

Anyway, from the title of the post, you already know I'm not going to talk about wedding or surfing but about eggplant. It's the season ;p

I love eggplant, it's good and reminds me of hot, summer days spent in the sun in Positano.

But apart from the good memories, eggplant is a very healthy food : it's a good source of fiber & contains several minerals & vitamins (potassium, calcium, magnesium, vitamins C, K, B1, B6,...) as well as some essential phytonutrients which have antioxidant properties & improve blood circulation. Just remember that all the good stuff is concentrated in the eggplant's skin, so you shouldn't remove it.

All that for only 35 cal. for 100g.

However, in the south of Italy, we traditionally tend to cook eggplant in a quite heavy way, e.g. fried with lots of oil... Anyway, it's pretty clear that in that case eggplant is not that healthy ;)

Plus, it take forever to prepare it & I don't like to spend ages in the kitchen!

Here I have the easiest way to cook eggplant, still yummy and healthy.

It's just quite long to cook, but it takes 2 minutes to prepare and it's super simple. Just make it when you know you're gonna spend sometime at home ;)

Ingredients :

- 2 (or more) eggplants

- 2 spoons of olive oil

- Grated garlic

- Province herbs (or other mixed herbs depending on what's available where you live)

- 1/2 glass of water

Wash the eggplants and cut them in little cubes.

Put the cubes in an oven plate

Add the olive oil

the grated garlic & the mixed herbs

& half a cup of water, to avoid the eggplant to burn & not to put too much oil

Mix the eggplants in order to distribute the seasoning and put in the oven preheated at 180° for about one hour (I told you it was long for cooking, but honestly how long did it take to chop & season the eggplants?)

Now you can return to your occupation & forget about it.

Ok, it's better if you stir the eggplants a couple of times, but if you really forget about them for one hour, it's no problem.

When the eggplants are tender & a bit burned they're ready!

You can just eat them like that as a side dish or add them to your bowls & salads (I particularly like to mix eggplant with green vegetables in my rice bowls). 
& they're good even cold.

And you can keep it in the fridge for a couple of days.

So what do you think, isn't it super easy & yummy?

How do you like to cook eggplant?

One year ago...

One year ago today, I said yes to the love of my life.

I can't believe it's already been one year... it seems like yesterday... We're still over the moon :)

It was such a magical & wonderful day, full of love & joy, surrounded by all our friends & family in Positano.

I am so grateful for how lucky I am & for the beautiful & happy family & life we're building together ❤️

Weird casting calls

Film industry is a strange business, really. There are wonderful people in there, but also the weirdest one I ever met.

Some are serious some have strange ideas & crazy projects.

Just sitting at my desk, checking casting calls on the web, I come across the strangest requests.

Here some of the most weirdest casting calls I found lately ;)

• Actresses accepting to shoot naked. They will pretend to sleep & let someone move their arms, legs & heads in different positions, without waking up. 

• An actress accepting to be deformed by plastic surgery operations (fake boobs, etc...). Honestly???!!

• Extras who would accept to bathe in the Seine. Not in a clear, fresh mountains river... in the Seine! To be clear, the river running through Paris, a quite polluted place. Ah yes, and without being paid of course. Well, not that by being paid, I would accept to happily splash in the Seine.

• An actress to play a girl who accepts to sexually obey to a stranger. Of course, du to the movie's subject, there will be explicitly pornographic scenes.

• And, same kind than above, actresses willing to try some extreme situations shooting, e.g. naked scenes, sexual acts simulation...

Well, all that doesn't make one want to be an actress, does it?