annoyed annoyed annoyed

My flight to Amsterdam this afternoon was cancelled, for although airspace over Amsterdam has been reopened, it is still closed for commercial flights over Bordeaux. Absolutely fantastic. Apparently I'm allowed a free rebooking, in which case I would have changed it to a flight tomorrow, except I'm not allowed to modify my booking until tomorrow itself. Hopefully there is a flight out on Thursday that I can take.

For now I have drained my sorrows in the greatest croissant I have ever tasted, which sadly comes from a French bakery chain (the horror) called Paul. I really ought to go to try more quaint, artisanal bakeries, but for now, Paul's croissants take the title because they are buttery, flakey, and crunchy yet soft in the way you always dream a croissant would be. Delicious, especially, when dunked in a mug of hot chocolate.

a day in the sun

Ended a work-filled week by going to Arcachon yesterday, a small town on the southwest coast of France where many Bordelais (and other tourists too of course) go to take advantage of the gorgeous beaches.

The weather was beautiful and just warm enough, and there was no better feeling than just sitting on the beach watching the waves and eating a giant ice cream cone (and drinking Orangina, evidently).

dress - Zara

We arrived pretty early in the morning when the beach was still fairly empty, but by midday the place was crowded with people. Next time I come (and I definitely want to come back at least once before I leave), I'm definitely going to try to come on a weekday. The architecture there is absolutely stunning, and we got lost in the residential area of the town from wandering around just gawking at all the beautiful houses. I took so many pictures of them, but I could probably get sued or something for posting them up so I won't!

And now I'm back to reality and sitting here in my pigsty of a room with piles of clothing everywhere (half the time I'm not even sure whether something is clean or needs to be washed), and I meant to wake up early this morning to get laundry done but after having to wake up ridiculously early yesterday to catch the train (already a feat I didn't think I'd accomplish), waking up early on a Sunday was predictably unlikely.

Easter perks

top - Topshop, cardigan - Monsoon, jeans - New Look, Converse - Foot Locker

I went for a walk with V this evening as the weather was absolutely gorgeous and stopped by a supermarket to check out the Easter chocolate leftovers. We came rather late and the shelves were fairly empty by the time we got there as everything was already either 25% or 50% off, but we did manage to score two packets of Lindt eggs for the price of one and gorged on them on the walk back home. It kind of countered our intention to exercise in order to get healthy, but oh well, Easter only comes around once a year! (Boring outfit, I know, but it was supposed to be comfortable enough to walk a long distance in. And my Converse are actually silver, I wish they showed up better in the photo!)

I have a busy week ahead with a test everyday for the next three days plus a paper due in on Thursday, on top of other miscellaneous homework, so I don't think I'll be updating again until the weekend. Hope you all had a good Easter and have a fabulous week to come!

Happy Easter!

Alas, the weather report could not have been more wrong and apart from a little drizzling on Saturday morning, it's been fairly blue skies all weekend and we could have probably survived without postponing our trip to the coast. And although they only predicted a 10% chance of precipitation for next weekend, with my luck I bet it will rain (ah, the pessimist in me). We'll see, I guess!

So instead of running around on the beach and climbing sand dunes yesterday, my hallmate and I baked up a storm, which was just as fun I suppose.

These caramel-almond sticky buns were terrific, but...

... although they are less impressive-looking, these caramel-topped vanilla cupcakes really stole the show. I have never made vanilla cupcakes that have tasted so good as well as been so soft and moist - this recipe is definitely my new go-to for a vanilla cake.

For the sticky buns, we used the recipe here at Little Blue Hen (an excellent food blog, might I add), but I absolutely must include the caramel cupcake recipe here.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Caramel Icing
Cake recipe adapted from Sky High by Piece of Cake and modified further by me - the original cake recipe is slightly more complicated, butter-wise (although it would probably taste better with it), but I simplified this baby down for your (or mostly my) convenience

Make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled, cold even, before icing them. If they are the slightest bit warm, they will tear when you turn them over to dip them in the hot icing. If the icing begins to harden while you are working with it, just set it over a medium flame and stir it for 30 seconds or so until it loosens up again.

Makes about 18 iced cupcakes*

For the cupcakes:
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk, at room temperature (I just used normal milk and added a tablespoon of vinegar - let that sit for a few minutes first)
1 1/2 cups cake flour (or what I did, about 1 3/8 cups all-purpose flour + 1 tablespoon corn flour)
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil

For the caramel icing:
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into a few chunks
Generous 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Place an oven rack to the center position and preheat it to 350 degrees. Line 18 cups of 2 muffin tins with paper liners.

In a large measuring cup, whisk together, the eggs, egg yolk, vanilla, buttermilk and oil and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Pour in the wet ingredients and whisk it all together (well, I just used a spoon and mixed it together like a maniac) until everything comes together and the batter is light and fluffy.

Portion the batter into the muffin tins and bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly touched, 20-25 minutes. Let cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then transfer them to a a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cupcakes have cooled, make the icing. Put the dark brown sugar, butter and salt in a medium saucepan, and melt them together over medium heat, stirring often. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the milk and vanilla. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Dump in the confectioners' sugar all at once and beat with a wooden spoon until the icing is thickened and smooth. Quickly ice the cupcakes by holding each by the base and dipping the tops in the hot icing, rolling them slightly to coat evenly. Turn them quickly upright so the icing will even out while it's still warm and will set smoothly. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

*This is true. Do not try to be clever (or lazy, rather) and think that the batter looks fine in just twelve muffin cups, because they will overflow in strange ways, and you will be disheartened (only momentarily though because they will still taste fantastic).


I still have a few of the buns and cupcakes left and it's taking everything in me not to eat them all right now. We ate so much yesterday it was sickening (but in a good way, of course).

Check out my new blog header, and Happy Easter everyone!

parce qu'il y a toujours un peu de mensonge derrière les "je m'en fous"

Yesterday I received a large package with my recent purchases from Topshop. Getting packages in the mail is one of my favourite things in the world, even more so when it contains pretty underwear: wearing them will always make you feel good about yourself, no matter what dingy outfit you're wearing over them. In the past couple of months however I have literally spent hundreds of euros shopping online, this is definitely the last of it. Maybe. That's what I said a couple weeks ago until I discovered Topshop ships to Europe for only 5 quid.

I have a list of essential things I need to get around to doing before Monday, or Tuesday at the latest. Making lists are fun but I rarely stick to them, especially as it's so hard to get motivated to do mundane things like laundry, not to mention I am feeling really lazy at the moment. Tonight, however, is the final of the Coupe de la Ligue with Bordeaux v Marseille, an old rivalry that apparently goes back far. People are quite intense about football here and it's always fun to go out and watch the game in a bar or pub when Bordeaux plays - which I shall be doing, of course.

For now, though, I'm just going to sit back with a cup of Earl Grey and watch some old episodes of Veronica Mars. I'll get around to my list tomorrow.

I hope you all are having a lovely weekend!

an impromptu breakfast picnic in the park

The weather was so lovely this morning, V and I decided to skip class and have a mini picnic in the park. Luckily there is a nice little patisserie just a few steps away from the park so it was easy to stop by and buy some pastries for breakfast on the way.

It was so beautiful, I wish there were some paid profession where all you had to do was laze around in the grass and eat delicious French pastries all day long. It sure beats going to school.

For the first time in a long time I actually wore something other than my usual hoodie and jeans/standard black on black.

dress - no label, off eBay; boots - New Look; necklace - Spring

I wanted to wear purple tights and they probably would have gone better with the dress, but we were in a hurry and I didn't have the time to look for them.

It's getting gray and cloudy outside now and I bet it'll rain again this evening (it was pouring with rain last night); I'm just glad we took advantage of the sunshine when we did. I love rain but I hate the way it brings all the worms out, we passed so many of them strewn on the paths when we walked and I can't help being an absolute girl about them, they just gross me out.

ceci n'est pas une perte de temps

Today I took a "personal day" (not an unusual occurrence in my life, aha) and instead of going to classes went into the city by myself, something I actually haven't done in a long time. I went into Fnac (essentially the French version of HMV) to buy some Moleskines cahiers and ended up spending quite a long time there standing in the jazz section listening to whatever was featured over the headphones. It felt a bit pretentious -- well, my whole day was rather pretentious -- but I liked it.

As the weather was lovely -- first day going out without a coat on, it was ridiculously warm outside considering how cold it was just a week or so ago -- I walked to the park to have lunch then sat there watching people while reading Frank O'Hara's Lunch Poems (I'm generally rather cynical when it comes to poetry, but I love this so much) and scribbling/sketching in my notebook. I hated to have to leave.

This weekend V and I went to stay with a family we know that lives in (or rather on the outskirts of) a city called Pau, a few hours south of Bordeaux. They had been in the US recently and brought back chocolate chips, which you can't find here, and we baked decent chocolate chip cookies for the first time since we arrived in France.

And while on the train we passed through a town that is definitely on my list of places to visit:

About starting a blog, again: I need something to motivate me to do something with my life, and hopefully keeping this will force me to get out there and do things I can actually write about. Plus, I'm only here in France for exactly two more months: I need to make the most of it.