Those of you who guessed I am going to Paris in September are correct! Good work, ma petite détectives, good work. ;)
During the 3rd week in September, I will be on an all girl’s trip with OSGMOM and my sister Kristi. We have been planning a trip together for over 5 years now and we couldn’t be more excited. [I would like to thank Eat Pray Love for giving my mom the travel bug again. She called me about this trip idea shortly after starting, and falling in love, with the book!] I took French Immersion in school (from grade 7-11), but I will have to brush up on my French skills before leaving.
I will be blogging while I am away and I am excited to take you on this journey with me. However it is quite possible I may turn into a coffee-drinking, croissant loving, bon-bon eating non-vegan. I can’t be sure. I will be talking more later on about how I plan on eating while there. ;)
Now onto less exciting, but equally delicious things…breakfast…
We have a situation here!!!
Today I used 1/8th tsp of Vanilla Bean Paste in the banana soft serve and it was delicious!
Swirlz.
Tip: If you can’t get your processor to make Banana soft serve, add a splash of almond milk to speed things along.
Check out the specs of vanilla bean! Mmmm.
I made it with layers of blueberries, Nature’s Path rice crisp, and cacao nibs.
And a raspberry on top for colour!
For the vegan overnight oats, I used my classic recipe.
It was pretty much out of control goodness, as per usual.
Today’s question: Have you ever been anywhere in Europe? Where did you stay and what did you think about it? If you haven’t been, where would you like to visit?
Well, I am off for another busy day of work. Today is Operation: Healthy Living Summit day. I will be making over 225 Glo Bars complete with custom name tags for the HLS and shipping them out tomorrow! I also need to work on Kristin’s Wedding Favours and Ambrosia + customer orders. Going to be a busy one! Wheeeeeee. Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Wow! this is great! i’ve just got back from Paris last week! it was an amazing week! well from what i’ve seen Paris isn’t a very vegan friendly city, but most cafes have in their menus salades composees, and there were vegeterian options, also you could order small entree (appetizer) and salad for example. And bread! it’s soooooo good. Eric Kayser’s boulangeries are great! you HAVE to try pain aux cereals! and if you’re going to eat diary while there, get Amorino gelato! it’s awesome! and also if you accidentelly will eat eggs and cheese try gallette (crepe made of buckwheat flour) from Breizh cafe or any other cafe! you’ll have amzing time with your family!
p.s. i just had to correct you, it’s actually mes petites detectives, sorry! :)
I’ll be in Paris this fall too!
I’ve been to a bunch of different places in Europe: Amsterdam, London, Dublin, Berlin, Munich, Bern, Rome, Venice, Nice, Barcelona, and Paris!
This fall, we’re doing the “Keep the Summer Going Tour”: French Riviera, Barcelona, Madrid, and ending with a few days in Paris.
Paris is so incredibly beautiful!
To stay healthy (and keep costs down), we made use of grocery stores for breakfast, snacks, and sometimes lunch or dinner. I fell in love with Monoprix (French grocery chain).
I have been to Europe twice (though more if you count travelling to the UK as a child and living there temporarily in my 20’s). My husband and I took advantage of an offer for young alums of his college and did an 8-day trip from Amsterdam to Brussels to Paris for $800 each – including airfare!!! It was my first Europe ‘Europe’ experience and I loved it. Paris surprised me the most. It had not been high on my list of places to visit, but it was amazing. 2 years ago we went to Oktoberfest in Munich, then took the train through Italy and Austria to Nice, had a couple of nights there, then went to Paris for another couple of days. Last year my husband returned to Oktoberfest with two guy friends who enjoy beer – I was more interested in photo-taking and people watching :) We were supposed to go to Bosnia this summer (we have a friend who spends 6 weeks there every summer – lucky!), but after going home in June it was just to much $$$$.
Other places I would love to visit are Greece, Bosnia, and Switzerland.
You will LOVE LOVE LOVE Paris – and (please don’t construe this as a judgement or anything – I truly think your way of eating is beneficial, not to mention delicious!) if you can please don’t deprive yourself of the wonderful food there for the sake of a week of being vegan :) The cheese and bread are amazing (for some reason I didn’t eat too many desserts – not sure why). Unless of course there are alternatives and being a bakers dream, I am sure there are.
You’ll be doing heaps of walking (and maybe some running? I did in Nice) and that should help balance things out :)
i would DIE if i got to go to Paris in september!!! what a fun trip…i’ve never been anywhere in Europe, although Paris and all of Italy are on the TOP of my list!
I lived in Europe for 9 years growing up – military brat! My fav places were Germany (like Bavaria and west Germany, not Berlin) + Italy (south, the Amafi coast, Napoli, etc.). I actually despise places like Rome, Paris, Amsterdam. They are all just tourist crap dirty cities. Take me to the South of France to the wine country. Take me to the villages of Yorkshire. Take me to the real Europe.
I love Paris. It’s hands-down the most beautiful city in the world. I went when I was in high school and I love it.
As for Europe, I’ve also been to Madrid, Barcelona, Nice, Rome, Venice, Florence, and Prague. I’m dying to go to Germany, Russia, Switzerland, and Belgium.
Last summer I went to Ireland, Scotland, and England and it was one of the best experiences of my life! I want to go overseas again the second money allows!
How fun! And romantic – ooh lala! I studied abroad in San Sebastian Spain (right over the border from South-western France), and I LOVED it! It’s an adorable old city right on the beach, rich with Basque pride. If you had a few days to kill I’d say it’s worth the overnight train ride!
Oh maaaaaaan you’re going to have a fabulous time! I would definitely abandon veganism for the shores of buttery crossaints in Paris – I’ve been to Paris once, when I was 12, and I’d love to go back! I’ve also spent some time in London, but that’s the extent of my Eurotour! I really want to go back – and I want to see EVERYTHING. That’s kind of my dream in life, though, to go everywhere. Spain, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, and on and on and on …. ahhhhhh I need to go!
Ahhhh, how exciting!!!!!! Or, tres excite, ha! I lived in France for six months in a tiny village about an hour north of Nice, and I still remember it as one of the most meaningful times in my life. I cherish my memories there!
Paris is one of my favorite places on Earth – the last time I went was with my mom and sister too! My sister studied there for a year and we joined her for her last couple of weeks. It’s an amazing city and I’m sure you’ll love it. I would also say include cheese and butter in your diet just for that one week – it’s a totally different experience with them in France and I think it’d be a horrible one to miss! I ate chocolate croissants every morning.
What a coincidence! My husband and I (both vegans) are going to Paris in 10 days. I love looking for vegetarian restaurants when I travel. Maybe you could start a vegetarian directory. Here is a link with a video clip of one of the vegetarian restaurants in Paris that we plan to visit.
http://www.geobeats.com/videoclips/france/paris/vegetarian-restaurant
I am looking forward to your blogs from Paris. I will let you know what we discover while we are there. By the way, I am one of the people who stocked up on Glo bars at the market on Saturday (actually my parents picked them up for me). I love your blog.
Rachelle
My husband and I went to Paris last October! We stayed in various Hilton hotels around the city, but one of our favorites was the Hilton Arc de Triomphe! It’s a great location for walking to various sites! We also enjoyed the Marriott Rive Gauche hotel, which allowed us to walk to our FAVORITE districts of the city– St. Germain and Marais! Make sure you visit both of those!!!!
We also made a day-trip to Disneyland Paris, which was SO fun! The rides are really different from the ones in the US– many of them are SCARIER!! (they go upside-down!)
So excited to hear more about your trip! (and I’m going to be totally jealous!) ;)
I would LOVE to go to Europe though I have never been! I will be hopefully be studying architecture in Rome next summer though.
Girls trip’s are the best – my friends and I try to do one each year. Good for your soul!
I’ve never been to Europe, but we are thinking of doing a 1 Year Anniversary trip there, possibly to Greece.
Paris! How fun! I would love to go there someday!
May I ask where you got the vanilla bean paste? Is it local, or something you ordered for the bakery? Love those specks of real vanilla! (And speaking of bakery, I can’t WAIT to try your bars at HLS!!)
Hi Angela,
I love Paris so much. I was there about 2 months ago and I am also a vegan and mostly raw. I actually did a fair bit of research and created a list of places to buy health foods while I was there. If you like, I can email it to you?
Most of the time I just had salads at restaurants but the list was still useful.
You must try the dark chocolate varieties in Paris. Ooh la la!
Love,
Casey
Hi Casey,
Thanks for your offer for the info! I think I am just going to wing this trip though. Should be interesting :)
Well y’know what with living in Europe and everything ;)
My favourite city is Rome. God I love Rome!
It is so hard to be vegan in Europe though (outside of the UK, it’s easy to be vegan in the UK). In both Paris and Rome I eat fish (mostly because I can’t eat dairy so my compromise is fish).
I do love me a croissant though. I pretend they are made with vegan spread and not buttery goodness….
Oh, I love Paris! And it looks like we will be there the same week!
15 years ago Mom and I took a self-guided bicycle trip through Burgundy and it was the best trip of my life. After a week of bike riding in the country, we spent a few days in Paris and I just fell in love with that place. My husband and I have been talking about going for years, but it’s been difficult to find time, set a date, etc. I decided to buy tickets to some sort of major event in Paris to provide inspiration to actually buy airfare, and it worked! We will be seeing U2 while we are there.
Have fun, can’t wait to see the photos and read the stories.
I am so excited about your trip! I would love to go on a trip with my mom and sisters — just the girls!
I stayed in Germany for a month during college for a brief study abroad program. We lived in a house in Potsdam (20 students and 1 teacher) and traveled to a few different cities. Berlin was such a neat city – it seemed so modern and futuristic in a way. Next summer J and I are planning a little trip to the Caribbean and I would love to go to Greece one day.