Hedgehog craft from French blogger

Just take a look at this beautiful hedgehog that was made up from a used book... a rather simple craft project if you are throwing away old books.
Rachel, the blog's author, has put online a tutorial with lots of photos that will help make this hedgehog... if you need translation of any particular sentence, do not hesitate to ask me and I'll be glad to help.

Screenshot of the webpage

Poppy field

The sun is out, time for a walk...
This photo is from last summer... our poppy flowers are not out yet! Which reminds me of Claude Monet and his poppy field in Giverny...

Farata and vegetables...

It was Mauritian food this weekend. We were only three persons eating, so I made it simple. I cooked tuna rougaille, giraumon - pumpkin puree and Faratas.

Here's how I cook the Mauritian Rougaille which is very simple - I'm no big cook!

Ingredients: Tomatoes, onion, oil, ginger, garlic, salt, pepper, chili, coriander

1. Cut nice ripe tomatoes and shake the seeds out. Then crush them - I do it with a small mixer.
2. Heat oil in a saucepan, pour in finely slided onions, after 1 or 2 minutes add crushed ginger and garlic.
3. When the onions look translucent, add tomatoes and chili (fresh or dry). Cover and let it cook.
4. Maybe add a little water if it's too compact. When tomatoes look cooked, come 10 minutes later, add canned tuna. Cook some 5 more minutes.
5. Add salt and pepper.
6. Before serving add chiseled coriander.

We just fill our farata / roti with the tomato rougaille and giraumon pumkin puree and enjoy!

Pre-primary school carnival

This weekend I was surprised to see the pre primary school carnival passing just down my road. Here are a few photos taken from my apartment on the 6th floor.

Digital television in France

March 8, 2011... Digital TV is open in my region (Paris and Ile de France). This is a big positive change in terms of quality but it also means that all the homes with old TV sets will have to buy a modem. At our house we have a Orange France Telecom Livebox and receive television via the internet. The rates are around 30 euros where you can receive the internet + TV + VOIP for a selected number of countries.
The move from analog TV to digital TV in France has started in October 2009 and will end in November 2011, started in the north of France, moving down.

Tad Williams, The Dragonbone Chair etc.

My transcription business is keeping me very busy right now and I only have time to look after the family and relax with a film or a book. I'm currently enjoying Tad William's fantasy series "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" "L'Arcane des Epées". While the English version is a trilogy, the French has broken the books down to 8 volumes.
I'm now reading Volume 2 - Stone of Farewell and in my edition it's volume 3 - La maison des ancêtres - The ancestors house. Simon, once a young kitchen boy plus a magician's apprentice has traveled a long, long way and has found sword "Epine". Dark forces comprising Ineluki the Storm King and King Elias from Osten Ard have set out to dominate the world. Simon is on the side of Josua, King Elias' brother, and together with members of various peoples - the Qanucs, the Sithis, secret League of the Scroll have first to understand what's going on and try and get the world out of a terrible nightmare.

I'm really enjoying these books!

I have been shopping at our municipal library once more...

School party in London

Here's a few photos taken at a school end of year party in London - summer 2010.

Back to school and to work

Winter holidays are over and we're back to school and to work... it's still cold out here outside Paris but we sure have a beautiful sun and it's getting dark later now. So that's a positive point.
Back to school means that my younger daughter will be preparing her French Bac exam this year. The BAC itself is in the last year of lycée (high school) but a year before you take your French exam and then during the last year you do not have any French classes. Instead you have philosophy classes which is usually not much liked by our students here. Even though she has taken a BAC S - the scientific subjects, my daughter loves reading, it comes before television or the computer. I must confess that when we travel during summer we have a bag dedicated only to books and she will have the 8 books that she can borrow from the library plus around 5 books that I have to buy and a few old comic books that she will take with her and discard during the trip. Sometimes we will go to a flea market to get old books that she will be able to discard along the way - there's no throwing hers away! Anyway I'm quite happy that she's a good reader!

Photos from our town library, Bibliothèque Nelson Mandela in Vitry sur Seine

Kids section