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!
Having studied abroad & worked in Spain, I’ve obviously been there. Within Spain, I’ve been to Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Santiago de Compostela, and Salamanca. I’ve also been to Paris and Lisbon. I loved them all. I have a special place in my heart for Spain, though.
When I was 16 I went with the Oregon Ambassadors of Music (I was in the choir) and we traveled seven countries in Europe in 16 days. It was crazy fast, I have fuzzy memories of some of it, but I would LOVE to go back someday. Especially to Champery, Switzerland because it was the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my whole life.
I stayed in Barcelona, Spain for a week and fell in love!! The Mediterranean Cuisine is to die for!!! I remember having couscous, sauteed eggplant, roasted red peppers, squash, etc at a small cafe on Las Rambles. Delish! The atmosphere and the sangria were excellent ;) I also traveled the southern border of France and really enjoyed it. Grab a baguette en route!!!
Paris is beautiful. A great way to save money and be in the heart of the city is to rent an apartment for a week. I did this with a bunch of girlfriends, and had the time of our lives.
Ok, so this post made me de-lurk ;) I just moved back to Toronto after studying in Scotland and I did a fair bit of traveling while there, including France twice! You have to spend some time around in the Montmartre area (watch the movie Amelie to get you in the mood for that)! It is great and I had the best falafel there ever! Within Paris there is a free tour with the New Europe company and the guides operate on a tips only basis. It is a really great experience and gives you a nice run-down of the city’s history and architecture and weird quirks (http://www.newparistours.com/).
If you get a chance to head outside of Paris, I would completely recommend Aix-en-Provence. It is a beautiful small town and the local market has the freshest veggies, and the loveliest vendors. I hope this helps with your travel plans!
Katie
Also, I’m a vegetarian and really enjoyed the food there. You may find yourself consuming a lot of cheese, though. Not that that’s a bad thing while in France ;)
My husband and I spent 3 weeks in Europe 10 years ago. It was great! We backpacked. I highly recommend a Eurorail pass if you are planning on seeing other parts of Europe. We used this and travelled quite a bit–started out in Paris, then to Italy, Germany, Holland, Switzerland. It was a great holiday. Paris itself has so much you can do. We spend a good portion of our time in Italy and Germany as well. I know you will have a fantastic trip. My suggestion for eating if you want to cut costs–we stayed in a hotel that offered a breakfast. Then for lunch we grabbed food from the market/grocery store and ate in parks or sitting in areas where we could people watch (always entertaining) and then ate dinner out. Saved us a lot of money instead of eating out all the time. You will have such a great time. I am happy for you.
How exciting! That’s so fun that you’re going with your mom and sister. You’re going to have a blast!
I’ve never been to Europe, but I’m dying to go. I’d love to visit Italy and Greece to see all the ruins I learned about in school and also to eat all their delicious food! ;)
I went to visit Medjugorje with my parents years ago. It was very cool – so beautiful, the people were friendly and all of the little differences made for an interesting experience.
Oh, and the beer was great. :)
LOVE Paris!!! When I went I didn’t think I would like it so much because it tends to get a bad rep (or claims it is over-rated) here in the US. But it was amazing. I can’t wait to experience it again through your blog. And I’m interested to hear how you approach eating there as well.
I felt the same way – we hadn’t had pleasant interactions with people in Montreal regarding the language and I really thought it would be that way in Paris. It was the exact opposite! Which I guess is a kick in the bum to remind me that assuming doesn’t get you very far :)
Oh, how I hope you ‘splurge’ and enjoy a latte & croissant in France :)
I can’t wait for my HLS Glo Bar. Saving the wrapper for sure!! Thank you, love!!
I live in europe, Florence Italy to be specific. I hope that you will really enjoy Paris, when I am there I eat croissants all day. The croissant is the only food the italians have not yet mastered. for those of you who would like to visit europe I strongly encourage it. If you live in a large city you can swap appartments with someone in europe for your own flat. I do this when ever I travel and I have never had a problem. The best way is on craigs list.com, there is a section for swapping appartments there. for instance I will be looking for one in vancouver next year for my flat in florence and perhaps on in toronto for october. This saves huge money on hotels and you really get to experience the life style. Have good time. Im off to make the chick peas u posted before.
I loveee Europe! I have been to Italy about 5 years ago, and I have to say it was the best trip of my life. Unfortunately I lost my camera in Florence on my last day of the trip so I have no pics to show off :(.
I am dying to visit the rest of Europe, especially France. You will LOVE it!
I also want to go to Spain and Greece. My friends and I are actually planning a mediterranian trip right now, hopefully in the next couple of year. It would be amazing. Take lots of pics!
I spent 10 glorious days in Paris with my best friend to celebrate my 30th birthday. We had a wonderful time. If you haven’t made arrangements for accommodation yet, I would highly recommend looking into renting an apartment instead of staying at a hotel. It can actually be more economical and MUCH more spacious, especially with three people. And the cherry on top is a kitchen where you can prepare healthy meals from the lovely produce at the markets instead of having to eat out three times a day!
I went to Western Europe with my sister for a month after my first year of University. We lived out of backpacks, travelled by bus, and stayed in tents. It was wonderful! But we didn’t see as much of France as we would have liked so….we’re going back! My sister and I are planning (fingers crossed) to backpack around Turkey for May and June next year, and then cycle tour through France for July and August. We’ll both have graduated, and since we both did internships, we were able to save quite a bit of money. We’ve been wanting to go to Turkey for years, and my parents went cycle touring for a year (!) on their honeymoon, so that has also been a dream of ours (travelling AND getting super-fit in one!)
Wow, Paris, that’s so exciting!! I can’t wait to hear all about your trip. I’ve never been to anywhere in Europe. Maybe one day.
Am I crazy for wanting to get a food processor just so I can make banana soft serve? :)
No, you’re not crazy! I’m buying one this weeked JUST for banana soft serve. I can make it in my blender, but it’s painful to be so patient and squish down, blend, squish down, blend until it’s done.
The vanilla bean paste sounds wonderful! I’ll have to find some….
As for Europe – I’ve been to Germany (Frankfurt & Lahr) and Turkey. Loved Turkey, but didn’t get to see much of Germany. Went nearly 20 years ago and would love to go again…
I’ve been fortunate to have traveled fairly extensively in Europe. I lived in Toulouse, France for a year (I majored in French) and Paris is my favorite city in the world (besides my beloved home city, Los Angeles). There are vegan restaurants and vegan options in omni restaurants in Paris, so never fear!
*sqeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeal* France, how exciting!!!
I have been craving vanilla bean! Where did you buy the vanilla bean paste? I’ve never seen it in my grocery store before.
I went to Paris last October. We rented a teeny tiny apartment in Montmartre. It was an amazing trip…so much to do and see. And the bakeries…a daily…sometimes twice daily visit. Luckily offset by all the walking and the 167 stairs at our metro stop!!!!! Enjoy..you will love it.
I’m all over that vanilla bean paste.
We spent Christmas in Paris one year. We were with lots of family & I was almost 2 months pregnant with my first son…..we told everyone the good news on Christmas morning :) So, Paris has a special place in my heart. You will love all the photo opportunities!!!!
We went on to Germany after Paris and I fell in love all over again….have to say even more than France. It is sooooo clean! LOL
Enjoy!