How the French do lunch

One of the things I love about France is that meals are an experience. No one is in a hurry.

Today David and I asked Maite to babysit for a few hours so that we could finally go to the big supermarché to stock up on basic supplies for the house (toilet paper, soy milk, cider, wine — things too bulky and heavy to carry on our mile+ walk to the smaller shops).

The supermarket itself deserves its own blog post; literally half the enormous store is refrigerated for the many, many kinds of cheese, yogurt, creme fraiches, etc. on offer.

Afterwards, we had time for a lunch date, so we headed to Rue L'Eau Robec where I spotted a cute little place called Jam. Like many places here, they had a very limited selection, but offered a prix-fixe menu, where you get the daily specials at a very reasonable price.




Over the next 90 minutes or so we had the great pleasure of enjoying an amazing bottle of cider (the producer has revived an ancient variety of apple), followed by one lovely dish after another. The proprietress was very interested in talking with us, and even brought out a photo book about an area of Normandy we weren't familiar with.





This actually brings up another point, which is just how lovely everyone has been to us. From the vendors at the marché (farmer's market) who all handed Anna pieces of fruit to try (one even gave her a little ring she was admiring), to the shop owners who let us come in to look at something that caught Anna's eye (but invariably has nothing to do with what they actually sell in that store). Everyone has been really interested in learning about who we are and how it is that we're here. And since no one has been speaking English, they've been incredibly patient with my French!

Of course, the down side of all this is that I think it officially takes 1 1/2 weeks of eating in France to gain back all of the weight one loses after eating mostly raw/vegan for several months. But when in France…

Return to Rouen

The city center.


Our front door.


A typical street in Rouen.

Our return to Rouen, after 3 1/2 years away, has been amazingly smooth. Having been here for 6 weeks the last time, David and I are quite familiar both with the house and with the lay of the land. The most noticeable difference this time is the light. When we were here before it was from Thanksgiving through New Year's, and it was perpetually dark (much like Portland). This time both David and I were shocked by how much light floods the house, because we never experienced it that way before. It was a very welcome surprise.


David and Jean Paul, looking over their/our plot in the community garden.

Another difference between our previous visit and now is that already our dance card is getting full with things to do and people to do them with. Tomorrow I am going to the Alliance Française to take the placement exam and then having coffee with a fellow francophile, Austrailian blogger Kathy of Femmes Francophiles. We've been following each other's blogs for a couple months and she happens to be in Rouen for a couple days! Love that. And earlier tonight our former babysitter, Maite, knocked on our door. She's back from université for a few weeks and wanted to make herself available to us. There's also Rebecca, an American who's father I met in a French class in Portland. She, her husband, and daughter live in Rouen and are coming for dinner Sunday. It's amazing how small the world seems to be getting!

Yesterday we spent much of the day wandering: gathering our fruit, veggies and cheese from the local markets, having crepes and cider for lunch, and taking photos. I found myself drawn again to textures, colors, and doorways. I love taking photos where one is looking through portals — I guess the layering appeals to me. I want to make some time to explore that with paint this summer as well.


Cider at lunch.












Just another neighborhood church.


Love the textures of the stone and the reflected blue sky in the window here.

Of course, all is not sunshine and cider. These journeys always have a learning curve and we've started ours. In our first 24 hours here we managed to fry both electrical gadgets we deemed important enough to bring with us: my immersion blender and the baby monitor. All electrical currents are not created alike and we simply didn't pay enough attention. Also, for those of you who remember our previous adventures in bathing, we may once again be sneaking over to the neighbor's house for a quick bath. At the moment we have no hot water whatsoever, though we have hopes of getting that resolved tomorrow. One never knows since it involves me speaking on the phone with a plumber who speaks no english. But somehow none of it seems to bother me when we're here. Perhaps that's why I keep wanting to come back. Something about being here mellows me. Maybe it's that I have nothing else to worry about here except how much cheese 3 people can reasonably eat in 7 weeks!

What happens when you leave David alone to buy the cheese!


Home cooking.

À Paris

View of Paris from the Centre Pompidou.


Mmm hmm. It's like that.

We are here! After months of anticipation, and a fairly uneventful trip over, we have arrived in France!

Already, this time feels so different from our previous adventure three years ago. Everything has been so much easier. Our friends Curtis and Leila hosted us for our first two nights, which meant spoiling us rotten with everything from driving us to and from the airport/train station to wining and dining us night and day.


This is what they served before the meal!


The lovely Leila with her beloved pipe.


Une petite tarte.


Lily-Rose.



Nothing but blue sky.



Round Two. This time with champagne.









(Yes, I've already eaten more bread and cheese than in the previous 6 months combined. No joke. I am dying for a green smoothie! And yes, I packed my immersion blender! It's no Vitamix, but it's better than nothing!)

Because we arrived in the morning, we got the benefit of two full days and nights in Paris. Curtis and Leila live in a great area, just a quick trip by subway into the heart of Paris. By chance, on our second day, I was able to catch the final day of a Matisse show at the Centre Pompidou, one of my favorite museums in the world.







Leila's gorgeous Desigual coat.


Curtis and Artur.


La petite.


Chillin at the playground.




Waiting patiently.





The budding photographer. Watch for her blog. No joke.


Le Centre Pompidou.


Although Leila is French (Curtis is American) we spoke mostly English during our visit with them, so my French didn't get much of a workout. All that changed yesterday, though, once we arrived in Rouen.

We were met at the train station by Jean Paul, who doesn't speak a work of English. We spent the afternoon with him, visiting the Alliance Française (where I'll be able to take classes!) and checking out their vegetable plot in the community garden. Later, joined by Janine, we were once again treated to a welcome gathering. This time, however, we knew many of the faces from our previous visit. We also got to meet Julianna, the 16-year-old who will be our babysitter while we're in Rouen.

So, today is our first real day here in Rouen. I awoke at 4:45am and waited until I heard Janine and Jean Paul stirring around 6:45. I joined them for coffee and a last visit and about thirty minutes ago they left to catch their flight to Portland. David and Anna are still upstairs asleep. I am dying to get out and revisit this beautiful town.

Words to Live By

“Jump off the cliff and build your wings on the way down.”
— Ray Bradbury

The verdict

I've officially completed my 15 days of raw/vegan eating and I wanted to give you a final summary of my experience.

Just to recap, here are all the ways in which I cheated:

• I continued to have my morning cup of coffee with soymilk

• I had 2 meals (out of 45) that were not raw and/or vegan

• I had wine on a couple occasions

• I did not stick strictly to the Phase 1-3 system. Instead I used the recipes as a guide and mixed and matched ingredients (but it was always raw/vegan).

That said, I loved eating this way. I did get bored a bit, but I felt so damn good that I didn't care. My energy levels were through the roof. I slept better than I've slept in years. And I honestly didn't really miss anything that I wasn't eating/drinking.

As for external results, I've lost 2-3 lbs. My waistline is definitely smaller and I feel lighter. I fit into my clothes better and feel great about the way I look.

My plan going forward is to continue eating this way as much as possible/practical. In France I'll definitely be eating a lot differently, but that doesn't mean I can't take what I've learned here and work it in. For example, incorporating a higher balance of raw in my daily diet regardless.

I highly recommend that most anyone try this diet for 2 weeks. Whether or not you have weight to lose, the increase in energy and better sleep is so worth it. I will say that having a good blender helped a lot, but it's definitely not necessary.

The Raw/Vegan Way

Now that I have my replacement blender, it seems a good time to actually talk a bit about how I feel a week into a raw/vegan diet.

First of all, to a mild extent, I cheat. I have not given up my morning cup of coffee. Also, since I had blender issues, I didn't only do smoothies for the first 3 days as prescribed (Phase 1). Instead I did a mix of mostly blended shakes and soups (using my handheld wand), along with a daily salad (Phase 2).  Finally, I have to admit I'm not a strict recipe follower. Life is too busy to make a million different things each day. Instead, I found a couple recipes I like and I repeat them.

All that said, I have eaten almost exclusively raw and vegan for the past 7 days. I eat whenever I'm hungry, which varies. Somedays I'm ravenous and some days I'm frustrated because I really want to eat something, but I have to admit that I'm just not hungry. I am getting a bit bored, but I'm about to start Phase 3 of the diet, where you expand into raw patés, wraps, etc.

Ok, but how do I feel? Have I lost weight? Honestly, I feel fantastic. My energy levels are through the roof. I'm awake and productive all day pretty much until bedtime. I feel like my thinking is clearer. As for weight, I really don't have a lot to lose. I'm more interested in fitting into my snug pants, and that has already happened within the first week. I've lost enough around my midsection (where I gain) to make my clothes fit better, which is my goal. I suspect that by the end of the second week I'll be fitting into most everything that had gotten tight over the winter.

So now what? Am I going to be a raw vegan from now on?

Um, no. I'm probably going to gain every ounce of it back eating bread, cheese and wine/cider in France this summer. However, I cannot deny how good my body and mind feel eating this way. I can definitely see boosting my raw levels daily and doing a raw/vegan cleanse regularly. I may be an energy junkie, but I'm also a hedonist!

Eat this

This was originally going to be a post about how I'm starting Ani Phyo's 15-day raw, vegan cleanse. You know, the kind where I tell you what I'm doing so that a) I have “accountability” and b) you might choose to join me. What fun we could have, being hungry together (I joke. One is not supposed to be hungry, though I do find myself missing chewing a bit).

Anyway, today is my official Day One, but that's not what I'm writing about. What I'm writing about is Customer Service. Perhaps Apple has spoiled us all, but it seems to me like there are companies who get it, and those who don't. Unfortunately Vitamix, the company who makes my 30-day-old, very overpriced blender, does not.

I've gone through a lot of inexpensive blenders. I make smoothies almost daily and after a year or two the cheaper blender's motors just burn out. This time, after much nail biting, I decided to pony up for a blender that was reputed to hold up. Honestly, I debated between Vitamix and Blendtec, but the fact that the Vitamix was less loud (they're both loud) was what sold me.

So, after a month of successful smoothie making, I was ready to embark on a dietary journey. Fifteen days of raw, vegan food, largely blended (solely for the first 3 days). I read the recipes, I shopped for my produce. I timed it for when David would be traveling, as it's easier to do this sort of thing when I don't have to watch someone else get to chew their food.

And then, out of nowhere, my brand new Vitamix died.

Did I freak out? Perhaps, but only briefly. Then I called Vitamix. And I called again. And I called a third time, which was when I got to speak to someone who had the ability to help me. What I wanted was for her to say she'd ship out a replacement tomorrow. That she felt my pain. Instead she said I'd have to send the broken one to them (they'd pay for Ground shipping, but I'd have to pay myself for Express). She'd send a return label which had to be printed on a color printer, or it'd be considered a fake. She did say they'd expedite the repair and would express it back to me. If all went well, I'd have my old one back in a week. But I didn't want my old one back. An expensive blender with a 5-year warranty shouldn't die one month out, and I wanted her to acknowledge that.

I made it clear that I was not happy with this solution, but she was adamant that that was the best that could be done.

Still with me? Almost there.

Then I called Amazon (through whom I bought the blender). I spoke to a happy-sounding woman named Stephanie, who listened to my whole sob story and then said “Can I just make you really happy?” Um, yes please?  Then she told me she was overnighting me a new blender. And she said the return label for the old one could be printed in black & white. I offered to marry her.

So yes, I am doing the 15-day Fat Blast (unfortunate name). I wish I wasn't having to depend on a Vitamix (go for the Blendtec) but I couldn't be happier with Amazon's service. Nice to know there are still some companies who get it.