Soirée restaurant.

The French like to eat well. I've probably never spent so much time (and money) eating out as I've done while living here in France. Fortunately, most of the time it's time and money rather agreeably spent though: the French cuisine isn't famous for nothing.

Yesterday we met up with a few friends we hadn't seen for a while and headed for a restaurant we hadn't tried before: Le Chef et sa femme. As implied by its name, the cosy restaurant in the centre of Caen is held by a couple, Eric and Anne Darcy, who wanted a place small enough for just the two of them to handle. Eric takes care of the kitchen and Anne serves the customers.

When we arrived last evening, the place was packed, but the service was still friendly and fast. The menus are a mix of traditional and modern, so we took a while to choose, but in the end we were all quite happy with our choices. A good address to keep in mind for future needs.

Goat cheese, shrimps, smoked salmon...

Red mullet, cucumber and garlic...

And a chocolate - pear crumble and gingerbread ice-cream!

Today though I think I'm going to go for a run...!

What would you do with an extra hour?

Tic tac. Time is of the essence. Time is relative. Time is flying and time is running out, but there is a time for everything. Time is on our side, so we just need to bide our time. And so on, time and time again.

In short, time is something we cannot control, no matter how hard we try. And often we end up hoping we could just add one more hour to our day. An hour more to study, to sleep, to work, to exercise, to learn new skills...

Well, isn't this our lucky day! We do have one more hour, thanks to the daylight saving system. One hour more to be more efficient, more creative, more productive, more everything.

Or then you could just spend it with your loved ones and do something entirely useless and silly, like play a game of tic-tac-toe.

Saturday night music

   

For a small French town in the province, Caen has a surprisingly lively cultural scene, especially when it comes to music. There's the corner bistro that organizes free jazz concerts on Friday evenings, the famous Nördik Impakt festival for those who prefer it a bit more electric and the grand three-day international rock festival of Beauregard, not to mention the wide range of choirs (classical, gospel, etc.) that operate in the area. Yes, there's even a Catholic boys' choir!

I suppose it's then only natural that most of my French friends are somehow involved in music. Tonight though I want to make a particular tribute to two groups of friends who've put their passion (and a lot of time and energy) into making beautiful music and who've just released their first EPs a few days ago! Way to go Daisy and way to go Portier Dean!

 

Squeaky cheese and Northern lights.

 

Finnish squeaky cheese, leipäjuusto, teamed up with some home-made arctic cloudberry jam, prepared by a dear friend's mother. Hundred percent Lappish berry power combined with age-old Northern traditions. Nothing better for a bit of homesickness! Thank you, Minna!

This week the university's been enjoying the fall break and I've been holidaying and working on my thesis at home (admittedly holidaying more than working, but that's what holidays are for, right...?). 

Back home the winter is approaching fast. My father sent me some beautiful pictures of the frosty paysages and even some photos of the Northern lights which seem to be pretty active at the moment. It made me wish I could have been there too. Although I grew up in Lapland, the Northern lights are something I've never tired of watching: it's simply magic. 

The literal translation of the Finnish word, revontuli, means the 'fire of the fox' (les feux du renard in French) and it makes reference to a Saami and Northern folklore about a fiery fox that is running fast and whose tail sends sparks to the sky when it touches the snow, thus creating the magnificient flames high above...

Alas, my holiday week is almost over, but hopefully there will be more auroles boréales during the Christmas holidays. In the meantime - there's always YouTube!

A Bed in the Leaves

The autumn colours are here. The red and the yellow and the brown, glimmering in the glorious sunshine. The sunshine that warms the October weather so that for one day or two you can still pretend that it's summer and go out in a flower dress and sandals and have a picnic on a blanket in a park.

Yes, I may have a cold in a few days. But it'll be worth it. The last weekend of the summer.

My yard is full of leaves today
Brown and yellow and gold
I think I'll rake them in a pile
Higher than my head

Then I'll pretend it is my bed
I'll jump in very quick
And pile their leaves up over me
For covers soft and thick

I'll just lie there so nice and warm
And look up in the sky
And watch more leaves float down for me
To rake up bye and bye

- Marian Kennedy

Come on and dance!

For various reasons, I haven't been able to dance as much as I would have liked to in the last few years. There have been some health problems and other major life changes that have forced me to slow down the pace and even stop dancing for a while. 

And all the other problems aside, when you're an adult, finding the right dance school and suitable classes that fit your a) timetables, b) skills and objectives, and c) the size of your wallet - well, let's just say that it can be complicated. And so, for a while now, my pointe shoes have been mostly gathering dust. It hasn't been only a bad thing - in the meantime I've been able to concentrate on my other dear activities, such as singing. Nonetheless, I was super excited to discover on Friday that there is a new ballet school in town!

I immediately phoned the owner, an elderly lady who told me that the school is situated in the centre (great!), they have evening classes on intermediate and advanced level (even better!) and they do pointe work in all of their classes (perfect!). As it turns out, one of these classes takes place tomorrow evening and the owner warmly welcomed me to come and try it. 

No need to tell me twice! :) So here's what I'll be doing tonight with my new pointe shoes that have been patiently waiting for their turn(s)!

Boréales

Banana pancakes and a cup of green tea - le petit déj à la Laponne.

 

Many people have been amazed to find out that you can actually study Nordic languages in Normandy. I don't blame them. It does sound like a rather brave idea in today's world to start studying a relatively small and rare (and as such, for some people at least, a rather useless language). The Finns in particular are oftentimes more than surprised to hear that anyone would want to learn such a tiny and infamously difficult (!) language.

Fortunately for me, quite a few do. And as I tell all my students, there are no difficult languages, just different ones...

Why Normandy then? The answer lies in the history, of course. The region of Normandy has since medieval times been strongly connected to the Northern parts of Europe (more or less willingly - the "men of the North" weren't always as welcome in France as they are today!). However, the Northern traditions continue to thrive in Normandy. This year the famous French festival on Northern oddities, les Boréales, celebrates its 23rd anniversary. Every year the festival focuses on a different country and its culture, with a multitude of concerts, films, plays, literary meetings and all kind of activities ranging from Nordic pole walking to knitting clubs. This year the spotlight shines on Norway and Lithuania, but there will also be quite a few Finnish artists and groups performing at the festival. Here's one of them I'm particularly looking forward to seeing to - hopefully there are still some tickets left!

Beetroot soup.

It's been raining since the morning, the temperature has dropped by 10 degrees and the sky is as grey as it can be. The autumn is finally here. In another words, it's time for soup.

I'm definitely no master chef and most likely will never be - there are so many other things that interest me more than chopping and cutting and cooking and boiling stuff in the kitchen -, but every now and then I get inspired and try something new. Especially if it's delicious and easy and takes only a few minutes to prepare. Like a beetroot soup.

All one needs is:

a bit of oil for cooking

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

4-5 small beetroots, cooked

2-3 medium potatoes, cooked

water

spices (thyme, black pepper, salt)

crême fraîche, sour cream or goat cheese to serve

Cook the onion and the garlic until slightly brown. Cook the potatoes and beetroots and let them cool. Add some water and mix all the ingredients into a smooth purée in a blender. Heat the soup up and serve with a touch of crême fraîche, sour cream or a chunk of goat cheese (for the goat cheese lovers like myself).

Et voilà, you're good to go for another autumn day!

Bretagne.

Piriac-sur-Mer.

One of my absolutely favourite parts of France. Brittany, la Bretagne or Breizh, as they say in Breton. It is a perfect place for a weekend getaway. Surrounded by the sea, beaches of soft sand everywhere you go, picturesque small fishing villages cluttered along the rocky coastline, lots of local yummy products to feast on...

Crêpes. Do I need to say more?

The famous salt of Guérande.

The sea, the sea, the sea. Everywhere.

Batz-sur-Mer.

For some reason, I always feel like being in an Mrs. Marple or Hercules Poirot film whenever we go to Brittany. I suppose it has that kind of old charm to it. Fortunately, so far without the murders though.