you drive me crazy

And :) my second post on GoBackpacking.com is up! Check out my book review and chau for now.

fresh & clean

Just had one of the best showers ever. Only preceded by the best yoga class today. It was hot, it was invigorating, and it was just what I needed. This past weekend and week has been both horrible and wonderful. Now, I honestly feel renewed in every way, and it's not just because I'm kicking off another 340 posts ;). But, before we completely move forward, I'd like to look at the breakfast, lunch, and dinner from my yesterdays.

Breakfast in Cuenca, Ecuador, unique from the instant coffee and bread morning meal of mi familia.

Lunch, the main meal, consisted of the fresh juice, the occasional soup, a main plate, and salad.

Dinner was virtually non-existent, unless there was a family get-together. This could mean a full plate or just coffee and dessert.

Breakfast in Santiago, Chile was green tea/coffee and stove-top avena with walnuts, banana and flax.

Lunch was a frittata with salad on the side or a gorgeous salad in and of itself.

Dinner was a hearty meal of legume-based soup and various ensaladas, as per usual. When it got warmer, however, my host-mom and I also had our fair share of salmon.

Breakfast in Strasbourg, France often was made up of coffee/tea, yogurt with mix-ins and French bread spread with some type of seasonal jam.

Lunches were simple since I usually ate them between classes with ingredients from the market.

Dinner, on the other hand, was anything but, and included multiple plats which my host-mom always so beautifully presented on my place mat.

YUM, that was fun! Any questions? Haha. From now on we're going to look towards the future and the foreign adventures that lie in that unknown sphere of time, although I can't promise I won't bring up international memories from time to time :) Have a great night and I'll see you tomorrow!

my humble abode

Bonjour! It's about time I revealed more of my bedroom ;) come in and take a peek:

P.S. I made a lot of references to Marie, Strasbourg, and France, so next time you come visit I'll be sure to talk about show you more things from Ecuador & Chile :) it's all about balance, baby.

looking back

I was greeted at work this morning with an e-mail from my boss. "Hey Danielle! Just wanted to pass along that everyone keeps telling me what a great writer you are!  Apparently your... [private, sorry,] have been fantastic! Keep it up - so glad to have you on board!" is it possible to have started my day off any better? I think not! I am loving the feedback from my internships, I really feel like I'm improving and getting some great experience. But before I get too ahead of myself let's start from the beginning, breakfast. I fully intended on having a green smoothie and then I found out that we didn't have any bananas left. Change of plans!I ate an apple while making my to-go breakfast and packed lunch. Breakfast: farmer's market strawberries, purple grapes, and ground flax. Lunch: spinach and arugula salad with yellow pepper, broccoli, spring onion, avocado, and cucumber topped with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Both were absolutely delicious. The small container is hummus, which I dipped two carrots in for a snack... it was around this time that my cloud 9 Tuesday took somewhat of a downturn. It's not my place to share any details but it made me very nervous and upset. And although everything seems to be working out okay at this point, I haven't quite left that place.

So, since I'm not really in the mood to "talk" much tonight, I thought I'd share some recent photos that my Chilean host-mom just posted on Facebook (yes she has one, she's that cool.)

They were taken with la familia the night before I left Santiago, right after I finished my fantastic dinner of fresh salmon and a beautiful array of salads.

Going back to the U.S. at that point felt surreal and I was almost numb to the fact. I couldn't say that I exactly felt sad, silly perhaps, but not too sad at all :).

Now I figured it'd be nice to also feature a few photos to from Strasbourg. Here's my French host mom at the "fashion for disabled" charity event sporting her artistic neck brace.Fast forward another two months to another event we attended ensemble, this one in honor of the new Mini-Cooper. She has all the connections :).

Last but certainly not least is my host-sisters 21st birthday party. She'll be headed to Sydney, Australia in the fall to spend a year abroad... just, like, me.

un dîner presque parfait

This is my all-time favorite French television show (slash, the only one I've ever really seen, but even still) . I watch it daily at my host-mom's side. Each weekly episode takes place in a different French city, five ordinary people are chosen, and they host the others at their homes for a gourmet soirée. At the end of the episode, the host is graded by their invitees and the one with the highest cumulative grade wins. It's really quite exciting ;) and they come up with the most creative themes. Anywho, my host-mom and I put our own hosting skills to work Monday night when we had my extended host-family over for a final goodbye. My host-brother moved to New Caledonia with his girlfriend as of today.

We served an array of bites--beginning with a Tarte aux Légumes, which I loved. Others included sardines on toast, egg salad, a lentil puréed soup, a salad of  noix, pommes, et pommes de terre, couscous, and grilled meats and sausages. I chose vegetarian.

We sat here on the beautiful terrace enjoying the sweet air of a spring night in Strasbourg. The chairs were filled with lovely French people following the taking of this photograph, I assure you. I just got too embarrassed to take a picture in front of the new faces.

In attempt to make up for it, I'd like to introduce my host-mom, Micheline, in the new Mini Cooper. Did I ever mention that I accompanied her to the premier event? It was quite the classy affaire, haha. I certainly felt important being there.

Anyway, back to the present! Following the barbecueWe had the French cheese course with French bread following the barbecued meat. And finally, it was time for dessert! The best part of all family affairs ;). There was a Fruit Cake fait à la maison by my host-grandmother, un gâteau au chocolat et noix de coco prepared by yours truly, and an assortment of chocolate and bite-sized cookies. La fête was a great success and it was so nice to have quality family time.

Now here I am looking awkward as can be :) as I show you all my new haircut. Gosh did I need it! What do you think? In other news, I'm leaving Strasbourg a week from tomorrow. Can you believe it?! That would explain why I've been so gosh darn busy these past few days, not to mention that I'm in the midst of writing papers and studying for finals. Ah the life of a student! See you tomorrow with a review of my transformed view of eating, exercising, and simply living thanks to a year of traveling! Hope you're having a very happy Earth Day :).

“Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyles.” — Pope John Paul II

le soirée de famille

Otherwise known as Family Night :). This fun-filled evening took place this past Tuesday which would explain the chocolate chip & banana cookies from earlier this week. Can you believe that I have not one picture of those beauties? They really did turn out well for the "figure it out as I go along" kind of baking that I did and were a hit at the party but I just could not photograph them. It always came out blurry!

What I did manage to do successfully was lead the decorating team in transforming a local church's recreation room into our printemps et Pâques themed party area.

We even managed to finish a little early! Here we are as we wait our guests arrival :). This night was basically run by us in honor of our host families hospitality and constant help.

We had a full-stocked bar, ha, with Coke, various juices, and water, both in avec gaz et sans gaz varieties.

A 3-D photo-exhibition courtesy of my very creative friend, Gloria.

And an array of homemade appetizers!

I don't care what any country says, I will forever love the "odd" combination of pb and jelly.

There was a ton of salads! Some with a base of couscous,

and others definitely more heavy on the vegetables.

But all were absolutely delicious.

Even this simple carrot one.

But especially this Spinach & Strawberry salad, a personal favorite of mine.

Or the pasta salad that my host-sister deemed as the best she'd ever had.

I had about two plates piled high and enjoyed everything so much that I missed out on the main course, ham and a vegetarian lasagna. It worked out fine though since I then had more than enough room for the next few courses.

That of cheese and...

dessert! Oh there were so many yummy things to choose from! I didn't realize that so many of us were such talented bakers. This is my friend's Zucchini bread.

Then there was an Alsatian Tarte aux Pommes that another friend made with her host-mom.

Dense, rich, and chocolicious brownies, of course,

and incredibly delicious simple peanut butter cookies!

A few people did cop-out and buy their dessert from the closest patisserie.

Supposedly these were also very though.

And if not we had a childhood favorite of Rice Krispies treats to fall back on.

But before we could even pass by the dessert table we suffered through a performance... oh. my. gosh. I am so kidding! The music students in my program are unbelievably talented and played a couple of beautiful pieces for our listening enjoyment. I will forever be in awe of them.

And between their playing and the scrumptious desserts, it was all worth the wait. It was such a successful evening. We were able to spend time with our host-families and the host-families of our closest friends in the company of great food. And now, on a ridiculously sentimental note, I'll admit that I did begin to tear up at one part of the night. I just cannot believe that I only have one month remaining in my year-long study abroad experience! It literally blows. my. mind. and I don't know what to do about it. Ugh. In the mean time though I have a great weekend planned, a trip to Nancy, Verdun, and Reims, complete with champagne-tasting. No matter how many days are left, I'm going to live up every last drop of this dream before it becomes a mere memory :).