It's fall... soon! C'est l'automne... bientôt!

Et oui, c'est bientôt l'automne, ma saison préférée. Inspirée par le changement de saison, j'ai adapté mon traditionnel cake au yaourt pour en faire un cake au potiron.

It's almost fall!. I was inspired by the change in season and I adapted my classic French yogurt cake and turned it into pumpkin bread.

Voici la recette:

1 tasse de purée de potiron
1/3 de tasse d'huile
3/4 de tasse de sucre
2 oeufs
1 c.à c. de vanille
1 pincée de sel
1 1/2 c.à c. de cannelle
1 c.à c. de gingembre en poudre
1 2/3 tasse de farine
1 sachet de poudre à lever

Mélanger les ingrédients liquide puis ajouter progressivement les ingrédients solides. bien mélanger, verser dans un moule puis cuire dans au four préchauffé à 180 degré pendant environ 40 minutes.

Here is the recipe!

1/3 c. oil
1 c. pumpkin purée
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt

Mix the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients in separate bowls. Progressively add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix well. Put in a mold. Bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes. 350 degrees.

Morning tea ritual

My favorite moment of the day. This morning's tea ritual involves genmaicha tea in one of my favorite bowls and a candle because it's a cloudy morning.

Mon moment préféré de la journée. Mon rituel thé du matin. Ce matin: thé genmaicha dans un de mes bols préféré et une bougie pour combattre la grisaille.

Do you have a morning tea ritual? Avez-vous un rituel thé le matin?

Organic potions!

First of all, I have no connection to Pharmaca, but I just want everyone to take advantage of this great deal! By the way, Pharmaca is an online store that focuses on natural health and wellness products.

So here is the good news for those of you who, like me, try to buy everything organic: Pharmaca is having 25% on everything with coupon code 'LABORDAY'and free shipping over $35 This includes my two favorite products in the entire world. A good time to stock up!

Organic Argan oil by Acure

I apply this oil on my face before bed, sometimes in alternance with this other amazing product, and in the morning, my skin is soft and looks beautiful and healthy.

And the olive & avocado deep conditioning masque by Earth Science. The best for dry hair. That's it.

I am not so picky about my shampoo, as long as it's a gentle, sulfate free and paraben free shampoo. I like this one and if I want to indulge, I will use the deva curl no poo shampoo.

What is your favorite product?

2 days in New York

Did you see '2 Days in Paris' with Julie Delpy and Chris Rock? Well, my 2 days in New York were not quite like Julie Delpy's as there weren't any in-laws were involved. We did have a whole lot of fun, though!

Mes 2 jours à New York ne ressemblaient en rien à ceux de Julie Delpy car nous n'avions pas reçu la visite des beaux-parents. Cela ne nous a pas empêché de bien nous amuser.

Our goal was to have fun, eat good food and make sure that we included enough child-friendly activities so that our daughters would have a good time too.

One of the places I was determined to visit was Beard Papa, for its divine cream puffs. After tasting them on our trip two years ago in San Francisco, I have been dreaming about them, and they did not disappoint!

Un des endroits sur ma liste: Beard Papa pour ses choux à la crème divins. Je les avais découverts à San Francisco lors d'un voyage, et depuis, j'en rêve. Je n'ai pas été déçue!

Puis, petit tour à ABC carpet, rayon enfants pour contempler les jolis mobiles en tissu et les installations poétiques. Nous avons ensuite savouré un dessert dans leur salon de thé.

Then, we went to ABC carpet to check out the pretty fabric mobile and the poetic installations on the children's floor. We then had a delicious dessert in the tea-room.

Une de mes autres adresses préférées pour les dessert: la pâtisserie française Ceci Cela dans Soho.

One of my other favorite place for dessert: French pastry shop Ceci Cela in Soho

Since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped at Purlsoho. I hadn't been there since they changed space. Their new shop is gorgeous and I loved looking at all the finished projects they have on display. So inspirational!

Comme nous étions dans le quartier, nous nous sommes arrêtés à Purlsoho. Je n'y étais pas retourné depuis leur déménagement. Leur nouvel espace est très beau.

Our daughters had a wonderful time creating Mondrian inspired art at the Children's Museum of the Arts.

Nos fills ont adoré le Children's Museum of the Arts où elles se sont amusés à reproduire des toiles de Mondrian.

What a great time it was! What are your favorite places to visit? Any suggestions for my next trip?

A week in New Orleans - Escapade estivale en Nouvelle-Orléans

New Orleans is a neighborhood city all the way. Most tourist can't wait to go to French Quarter and party on Bourbon Street but I enjoy the subdued charm of Garden District much better, with its beautiful old houses built in the 'Greek revival' style of architecture and colorful creole homes. In spite of the heat, we enjoyed walking around. Once in a while, we would find a little bit of shade under the lemon trees (we even spotted the house where the movie 'Benjamin Button was shot!). I thought the picture with my daughter and the blue house was funny because it looks like her outfit matches the house perfectly.

New Orleans est une ville qui se caractérise par l'ambiance de ses quartiers bien distincts. Si c'est le French Quarter et sa bruyante Bourbon street qui attire d'abord les touristes, je succombe plus volontiers aux charmes de Garden District, avec ses maisons de style 'Greek Revival' et parfois peintes avec des couleurs vives à la façon créole. Malgré la chaleur nous nous sommes promenés, trouvant un peu de répit à l'ombre des citronniers. Cette photo m'a amusée car on dirait que les vêtements de ma fille sont parfaitement assorties à cette maison.

Vision d'été / An image of summer

The best part of this trip was for my daughters to see their grandparents and speak French.

Café au lait au café du Monde. Un rituel français qui me manque tant. Je vous invite à regarder mon tableau pinterest 'petit-déjeuner' qui atteste bien de ma passion pour les boissons chaudes et cafféinés.

Café au lait at Café du Monde. This is a French ritual I miss so much. If you look at my 'breakfast' board on pinterest you'll understand my obsession for hot, caffeinated beverages

I had homemade pralines before and after dinner. Oops! Pralines maison avant et après les repas.

J'ai fait un petit tour dans une boutique de fringues vintage 'The Revival Outpost' et mes filles se sont amusées à me chercher une robe (is this your style, mama?).

I stopped at 'The Revival Outpost' and my daughters had fun looking for a dress for me.

Sweet sick day with cookies and hugs

Today I stayed at home to care for my sick little girl. At least, it's a productive day in the sweets making and cuddling department.

I came up with these cookies while I was trying to find ways to use this big bag of almond flour I bought. I found a promising recipe on Anja's food for thought blog but my constantly multi-tasking self misread part of the recipes and I ended up with inadvertently delicious cookies. Here is my modified recipe for this almond sandwich cookies with a cherry filling:



Wet ingredients:
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 orange or lemon zest (optional)

Dry ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup cherry jam or any other kind. This recipe would also work well with nutella or lemon curd.

loosely inspired from:
http://www.anjasfood4thought.com/2011/05/vanilla-oatmeal-almond-cookies.html



Mix wet ingredients together. Add dry ingredients gradually. Spoon about 2 Tbs dough onto parchment paper.

Bake at 375F for 10 minutes.

When cooled down, place about 1-2 teaspoons of jam at the center of a cookie and assemble the sandwiches. Makes about 12 sandwiches.



These cookies are good by themselves too. The texture is cakey, a bit like a muffin or a cupcake. They would be perfect to make whoopie pies.

Do you have a favorite sandwich cookie?

head in the clouds

{cloud cookie cutter}

{stuffed cloud}

{pretty cloud mobiles}