Voila! Homemade Crêpes

Do you love crêpes as much as I do? For brunch I made crêpes for the first time and went all out with two different types and they were dee-lish! Its actually quite simple...

In a large bowl, mix:

2 eggs + 2 tablespoons of butter (melted) + 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup water.

Then, add your dry ingredients while stirring in:

1 cup fine flour + 1 teaspoon salt.

Your mix should have the consistency of runny tomato soup (and not thicker!)

Then, scoop out a cup and pour it into a low heated pan. The first crêpe will turn out terrible, but don't be discouraged. Just try again!

In the Mean Time...

Read: L'Etranger, by Albert Camus (recommended by Christine);

Listen: Bjark Ingels, Architecture Tales (thank you TED Talks);

Watch: L'enfant (inspired by Mary);

Give: Random acts of kindness.

Daylight Saving Time

Live in France? Change your clock because we're one hour behind now. Today, October 25, 2009 is the official Fall Daylight Saving Time day in France! Its always nice to wake up on a Sunday morning and realize that you have one extra hour to use as you wish.

USA folks, get ready. You get to sleep in next Sunday!

Want to learn more about DTS? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time

Halloween Destinations!

Too old for trick-or-treating? Never! But perhaps you could use a change of scenery for your usual Halloween experience. October 31st happens to fall on a Saturday this year so rather than staying at home waiting for sugar-seeking children to ring your doorbell, head out of town and make it a weekend of spook! STAtravel offers a few frightening destinations...

Check out this scary Vampire Tour in New Orleans

Travel back to the Salem Witch trials in Boston, Mass.

Or Visit the crime scenes of Jack the Ripper in London

Posing Naked to Save French Organic Wines

A friend of mine sent me this article which I found pretty

amusing / interesting so I'm sharing it with you!

This past weekend 713 hardy French men and women stripped down to send a message about climate change. They posed nude in French vineyards to warn the world about the impact of global warming on the French wine industry.

In Burgundy, the heart of the French vineyards, on a sunny day (luckily), Spencer Tunick posed the happy participants in four different poses; one with women alone, one with men alone and two more in different vineyards. Organised with Greenpeace, it's all part of the campaign to urge political leaders to take action in the lead up to theU.N.'s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.

Tunick has been organising these mass nude art pieces for more than 15 years and all over the world. In 2007 he worked with Greenpeace to do one in -10 degree weather, with six hundred dedicated Swiss posing nude on a melting glacier (the Aletsch) in Switzerland. This was done to draw attention to global warming and the shrinking glaciers, which are predicted to disappear by 2080.

The recent French "sit-in" is meant to highlight the impact of climate change on French wine. The climate in the wine-growing regions is changing. Warmer temperatures mean that the harvest is taking place earlier. According to a recent Greenpeace report, "Wines end up having higher sugar levels and alcohol content while retaining less acids - which means they are unbalanced with an overripe flavour and heavier texture."

These changes put France's wine producing reputation at risk. Great wines get their taste and body from their terroir. This, combined with age-old skills produces amazing wine. Given current emission levels, an increase in temperatures of 4 to 6°C between now and 2100 is predicted. Such changes in the climate would leave the vineyards increasingly vulnerable.

In an open letter to President Obama, President Merkel and other heads of state, Greenpeace writes:

"We're not asking you to take your clothes off in Copenhagen - but we do expect you to be there - to sign a fair, ambitious and binding deal to save the future of our planet. A half-decent climate treaty simply won't do."

La Ville Rose

(Place du Capitole near the mayor's office during a staring contest)

Why is Toulouse known as La Ville Rose? Because of the pink color of the bricks on the building facades which is quite rare for architecture in Southern France. Toulouse is about 1.5 hours from Spain so it's not surprising to hear Spanish on either side of you when taking a coffee at a café or see salsa dancing across the river in the Prairie des Filtres. Aside from being a beautiful tourist stop between Aix and Bordeaux, Toulouse is also the hub of Airbus production and fabulous Southern cuisine! Phillip and I met there last weekend and got to enjoy a few strolls here and there in between rain spells.

(Cèpes - a type of mushroom from Bordeaux, at the market)

(Le Pont Neuf near Prairie des Filtres)

(Jacobins Church & Cloister)

Pic of the Day: Aix Street Performer

Well hello there! I love this fellow's daily choice of mono-color threads and living accessories. I've seen him on a few different occasions in Aix, usually on the Cours Mirabeau standing on a white box surrounded by picture taking passers-by like me. Once, I caught him using modern communication technologies which made for an interesting contrast.