Paris

I finally got to go for a trip in Paris as a vegan. During my year in Australia I was still following what was going on I. The capital to know how things were evolving in France on this point.
Some places opened while I was away and I was really happy to check them out at last.

First thing I really wanted to visit was Vegan Folie's. I thought it was a cafe but it is more of a vegan patisseries where you can buy sandwiches, cheesecakes, cupcakes, cookies and others drinks or sweets. Everything is 100% vegan which is always a great feeling for me (not having to ask about what I can have or not). I tried their chocolate cheesecake but also the blueberry one, their brownie and their cookie (yes I have just been there once but well...). There were 2 of us and all of this with 2 drinks cost us 19€ which I think is pretty cheap for home made vegan delights (and organic drinks). My favorite were the cookie and the brownie, just totally loved them!! The cheesecakes were really nice as well (just have a little preference for the cheesecake I used to have at Invita)

Second place I wanted to try was East Side Burgers, a new vegetarian fast food. Well after a year in Melbourne and some regular visits to (all mighty) Lord Of The Fries, I might say this was not something new. But well, after more than a month back in France, I was starting to miss vegan junk food. and I was not disappointed! Tasty burgers (I'm sad I couldn't try the hot dog, but I'll be back!) and vegan cheese option (which is pretty awesome for France!) and home made fries are always making me fall! Oh and also just totally LOVED the pear and chocolate tartelette and the cookie (might say I still have a preference for the cookie from Vegan Folie's, but you know I love every cookies anyway, no discrimination here). (Yes I tried all of this in a day... no judgements!)

if you just had one thing
to buy for the summer: THIS IS IT

I also had the opportunity to go to the shop Un Monde Vegan (a Vegan Wolrd in English...) that I had already mentioned earlier in here. I don't really like to do my grocery shopping on the internet so that was nice to have time to go "for real" to their shop (and yes the rest of the time I am really grateful that their website exists!). Good other point is that they also have the brand vegetarian shoes that you can try and everything! They have everything they have on the website, and I finally got to buy some vegan croissants and pain au chocolat (that I have yet to try!! I will let you know)





So that's it about Paris. I also did some pic nique by the seine, and I might in summer it's always pretty easy to just have a vegie salad and fruits so no problem about this! this little holidays in Paris showed me that things are starting to change in France (or at least in Paris) and that veganism is coming around here little by little. (again I am not preaching for everyone to become one, I just want my life to be a bit easier by having more choices and options in general!)
have a great day/night wherever you are!

Ps: better quality pictures next time... this was not really taken to be put on here but well

"In Dublin fair city..."

Fleet Street

"...where the girls are so pretty". I have this little song in my head, sung by my friend we visited in Dublin! I was really looking forward to discover Ireland, even if I knew it was "just" Dublin (not the country) and for only 2 days. It was worth it anyway!
I'm really late to tell you about it as I was there around the 18th of December but well never too late to talk about a new city I guess. That might be because I was born and grew up kinda by the sea that I always feel so good when I am near it. Dublin has that special "vibe" that only coastal places can have. As in every other big cities, there are different districts (neighbourhood? don't know how you would call this in English) that all have a different atmosphere. Must dos would (for me) definitely be:

 Grafton Street for the bands that are playing for free outside, whatever the weather apparently. 

O'Connell Street because it is beautiful.

Christchurch Cathedral, you have to pay to enter, which my friend and I didn't do but even seeing it from outside was impressive.

Trinity College, old stone and amazing architecture

Dublin's Castle

Fleet street for all the crazy looking pubs

and of course Temple Bar... And don't forget to go in a Irish Pub! We went to the O'Neills (on Suffolk Street) a classic and famous pub, where there is an Irish band playing every night.

one part of the Castle

Concerning the food, as in the UK, it was not as easy as I expected to find vegan things (I think Melbourne definitely made life too easy for me) but not impossible either! The traditional fish and chips let you just stick to the chips, better than nothing! I think it'd be hard to eat in a pub maybe. But as always Mexican restaurant would do it! and the second day we went to an absolutely amazing place, mixture of a café, tea room an cake shop. It's called "Queen of tarts". There is one on Cows lane and one on Dame Street, if you can go for the first one which is slightly bigger and with a nicer atmosphere I think. Well, I have to say first the big disappointment is they don't have any vegan cakes or sweets.However, even if my choice was limited for lunch, it was absolutely delicious! I had a mexican bean soup (one of the soup of the day was vegan, the other not, so you have to check) with a hummus and vegetable sandwich. The bread is home made and fresh and you can chose the one you prefer. Simple, but good and quality food that makes you want to go back. As a "desert" I had a slice of their home made brown bread with the raspberry jam; home made as well. I hope they'll start making more vegan options soon, but even if not, I'd be happy to go back if I go back to Dublin!

The Liffey by night

French version to come...

How to be Vegan in France?

Une fois n'est pas coutume, je commence en français parce que c'est plus logique pour cet article. Comment être vegan en France?

Oui grande question! Quand je préparais mon retour pour les fêtes de Noël je me disais que j'allais sans doute retourner au végétarisme pour ce mois à la maison, parce que plus simple (même si déjà un peu compliqué ici!). Puis une discussion avec le chef du café ou je travaillais à Melbourne m'a fait réfléchir. Il me disait que dans la vie il fallait "se battre" et que ça valait pour tout, alors je devais me battre pour continuer à être vegan chez moi. Quand je suis à la maison justement tout se passe bien puisque je cuisine pour moi même. Bon le seul souci c'est que trouver des "simili carnés' (les fausses viandes quoi) en grande distribution c'est impossible. Il faut avoir recours aux sites internet (je tiens d'ailleurs à exprimer mon euphorie à la découverte d'un monde vegan) ou tout bonnement faire sans.

Ensuite vient le problème épineux de manger dehors... Bien sûr quand on vit à Paris je pense que tout est possible. Sauf que moi j'habite dans la Flandres profonde, paumée entre Dunkerque, Calais et Saint-Omer (les "villes" ou en gros je me rends quand je ne veux pas me taper 45min de route pour Lille). Même Lille m'a un peu déçue. C'est la ville où j'ai commencé mes études, j'y ai donc vécu deux ans, quand je n'étais pas encore végétarienne. C'est un peu "ma" ville dans mon coeur, celle où j'aimerais peut être m'installer quand je me poserais (enfin) et je l'ai toujours trouvé géniale en tous points.Pour une fois je dois dire que ce n'était pas si génial. Les brasseries typiques du Nord déjà c'est sûr que c'est hors jeu... Ensuite je suis allée dans une petite sandwicherie bio (grains de Nature) pensant pouvoir m'arranger... Et raté! Sandwichs déjà préparés (tous avec au moins du fromage) et impossible d'en avoir un "sur demande". Les soupes, quant à elles, contenaient toutes de la crème... (je tiens à préciser que si je n'ai pas le choix je passe en végétarienne, je ne vais pas non plus arrêter de manger... mais la je tenais vraiment à chercher). Je commençais à me dire que j'allais finir avec le sub végétarien de chez Subway (sans fromage c'est vegan!) quand mon amie m'a proposée Sushi Shop! Dieu bénisse Sushi shop! Choix pas mal de sushi végétarien, dont quelques vegan, et franchement je me suis régalée, pour moins cher que la version poisson. Sinon vous pouvez aussi aller chez "So good" (une chaine également, qui se trouve elle aussi Faubourg de Béthune) où il y a des salades vegan (j'ai pris une salade de lentilles, pommes, carottes et oignons rouges, délicieuse!). Ils ont également un choix de soupes et de pâtes végétariennes mais je n'ai pas demandé si c'était vegan (oui j'avais déjà mangé quand même...). Ah et enfin petit bonus: les cafés Notting Hill, que les Lillois connaissent bien (Grand Place et 2 dans le vieux Lille) proposent du lait de soja! ouf! (Contrairement à Méo, où en plus d'être irrespectueux, le personnel était grossier). Malheureusement pour ce qui est des "sucreries" à part les salades de fruits... aucune offres nul part.

Enfin, pour l'instant j'ai essayé de manger sur Dunkerque une seule fois.
Et ce n'était pas une réussite, j'ai du "redevenir" végétarienne... Mais je compte bien revenir avec un nouvel article plein de solutions! Je n'arrête pas les recherches :)
Les conseils que je pourrais donner en règles générales: Les pizzerias (une pizza végétarienne de laquelle on enlève le fromage sera vegan!), les resto de cuisine du monde (Indien, Mexicain, Asiatique) vous donnerons toujours plus de choix ou de liberté pour changer quelque chose dans un plat pour le rendre vegan.
Et puis n'oublions pas, plus nous serons nombreux à en faire la demande, plus les resto s'adapterons et nous proposerons des choses.

How to be vegan in France? That sounds like a good question to ask... Not so easy to answer! well easy to answer... It's hard to be vegan in France, nation of cheese and meat, where being vegetarian is already hard and often means eating a lot of cheese. I thought I would go back to vegetarian when I'd be back here but I decided to try hard to stay vegan (after someone told me I should "fight" and convince me to do so). Well at home everything is great because I can cook for myself, and I'm happy to cook for my family and show them I can have fun and eat tasty food! Going out to eat is a bit harder.

I think in Paris everything would be easier but I live in the North of France, in a small village lost between Dunkirk and Calais. And even Lille (the biggest city in the North) got me disappointed. I went to a little organic café... and had to leave without anytinng (cheese everywhere, and cream in the soups). I didn't even try the typical brasseries from the North (maybe I should who knows...) because I knew they would not have anything for me. Thankfully, my friend had an idea: Sushi Shop (faubourg de Béthune)! They have a good range of vegetarian and vegan sushi and they tasted really good :) I was happy with my lunch (a salad as well as rice, and then a fruit salad) that was cheaper than the fish option. Of course if you can't find anything there is always a subway with its vegetarian patty sub (without the cheese) but I was trying to avoid it. I also discovered that "So good" (same street as Sushi shop) had really good vegan salad. I tried one with lentils, apples, carrots and red onions. They also have soups and pasta but I still need to check if any of those are vegan. Oh and the little thing that made my day: Notthing Hill café has Soy milk! youhouuu (yeah I have simple pleasures I know... haha). There are 3 of them one on the main square (Grand' Place) and 2 in the "vieux Lille" area. And the staff is always nice. Unfortunatelly for the sweet things there is only fruit salad.
Concerning Dunkerque... I went for dinner out there for lunch just once for the moment and I had to go back to vegetarian... But I'm not giving up, I'm sure I'll find something!!

Some pieces of advice I could give coming here: try the pizzeria (vegetarian pizza without the cheese becomes vegan) and world restaurant: Indian, Mexican and Asian. They are always easier to find at least vegetarian options and then try to ask to change a little thing to turn them into vegan dishes.

A week end in Leeds

I had time to stay in Manchester just for a day but I was able to stay in Leeds for 3 whole days. One of my friends lives there so I had the best guide ever! I must say I was really surprised by this city, surprised in a good way. It has everything I love about England and yet it also has a small city feeling (which I love if you don't know it already). Three days were more than enough to do some sightseeing, restaurants and tea room visiting and shopping of course. We went to one of the most amazing tea room I've ever seen: The Marvellous Tea Room. A tea room with all those yummy looking English cakes and sandwiches and of course beautiful teas! Unfortunately no cakes were vegan but you can still have some English Muffins with peanut butter or jam. Considering how much I loved the atmosphere (and the tea pots and cups!!) this was more than enough for me :) Plus there are some vintage shops on the other floors!

What I loved too was the Market where you can find lots of different things at a reasonable price, and also find something to have lunch. Nearby there is an organic shop called "Out of this world" which sells lots of good and cheap products and also sandwich or hot lunch to take away and lots of them are vegan. I was happy to discover this. We also went for lunch at Millies, same kind of shop but where you can seat and have lunch. Good deal for really good food! Vegan option there would be the salads (you can make your own from the buffet) and soups. I tried both and it was amazing. I ended paying 5£ for a soup (and bread) a salad and a dairy free chocolate bar.

Leeds Market

Contrairement à Manchester, j'ai eu le temps de rester un peu plus longtemps à Leeds et de découvrir un peu mieux la ville. Une de mes amis vit là-bas donc j'ai eu la meilleure des guides :) Trois jours étaient suffisants je pense, entre nos pauses dans des salons de thés, nos sessions cuisines et bien sûr le shopping! Il faut dire que j'ai vraiment été agréablement surprise par cette ville. Pour moi l'Angleterre se résume à Londres (ville à laquelle je voue un peu un culte) et finalement Leeds était vraiment un condensé de tout ce que j'aime dans ce pays. On a eu la chance d'aller boire un thé dans le plus incroyable des salons de thé que j'ai jamais vu: The Marvellous Tea Room. Il y avait là une atmosphère très anglaise avec tous ces gâteaux et sandwichs et puis bien sûr les couleurs et les tasses de thés dépareillées! Malheureusement aucun cake vegan mais il vous reste l'option des English Muffins qui peuvent vous être servis avec du beurre de cacahuètes ou de la confiture! Pour moi c'est amplement suffisant quand on s'assoit dans ce cadre atypique et qu'on goûte à leurs superbes thés. Et en plus, pour ne rien gâcher, il y a des fripperies à l'étage!

J'ai aussi adoré le marché de la ville où on peut trouver tout et rien, des légumes aux gadgets. On peut aussi y manger toutes sortes de spécialités. Pas loin de là, il y a une petite boutique bio qui s'appelle "Out of this World" où je me sentais un peu au paradis. Plein de produits géniaux et pas chers, mais aussi une partie épicerie (seulement à emporter) où vous pouvez trouver un grand choix de rolls, sandwichs, pies et autres... vegan! Nous avons aussi mangé dans une autre boutique du même genre mais où cette fois il est possible d'y rester pour le déjeuner: Millies. Vraiment pas cher et nourriture de qualité! Les options vegans sont en gros le buffet de salade (on se compose sa petite "barquette" soit même et c'est 1£ les 100 gr) et les soupes. Pour ma part j'ai testé une petite salade, une soupe (accompagné de leur pain) et une barre de chocolat vegan le tout pour 5£ donc j'étais aux anges :)

Manchester!

Town Hall

When I knew I was going back to France for Christmas I thought It would be nice to try and visit my friends spread throughout Europe for their study abroad year. That's why I went to Manchester. Well also because you can't fly directly from Brussels to Leeds, so why not visiting another city on the way! 

I was lucky enough to have one of my housemates giving me advice on what to do in Manchester if you're just there for one day. The Christmas Marlet in front of the Town Hall was very nice, it's a shame it was raining so much... We also went to a great Vegan place for lunch: Earth Café. It is in the Northern Quarter (Turner Street) and next to a Buddhist Center. It's a buffet and you can have 4 different things in your plate for 6 £ and that's more than enough! There's also some cakes and sweets, vegan again! It was nice to be out of the rain and in a warm place. Then we also went to Afflecks Palace, a mixture between vintage and alternative shops. There is also the Art gallery, which is free (but you're expected to give a donation), and quite nice :)

Next destination to come...

Earth Café

Earth Café

Quand j'ai su que j'allais rentrer en France pour Noël, je me suis dit que ça allait être l'occasion pour visiter mes amis éparpillés en Europe avec le programme Erasmus. Me voilà donc dans l'avion en direction de Manchester, aussi parce qu'il n'y a pas de ligne directe entre Bruxelles et Leeds.
J'ai de la chance qu'une de mes colocs de Melbourne soit de Manchester et ait pu me conseiller sur quoi faire en un seul jour dans cette ville. Le marché de Noël devant l'hotel de ville était franchement sympa. Dommage il pleuvait... Mais nous avons pu nous abriter dans un super petit café, 100% vegan! Il s'appelle Earth Café et se trouve sur Turner Street, dans le Norther Quarter. Il est affilié à un centre boudhiste. Là vous pouvez choisir jusqu'à 4 plats du buffet, et l'assiette vous revient à 6£. Une assiette est largement suffisante pour un déjeuner! Il y a aussi des desserts, là encore tous vegan. Bref, un endroit vraiment sympathique pour se protéger de la pluie et manger bien et pas cher.
Ensuite nous sommes aussi allées à Afflecks Palace (pas très loin du café, sur Church Street), un mélange de frippes et magasins d'habits neufs mais dans le style vintage ou "alternatifs" disons. C'était un peu la caverne d'Ali baba pour moi, ça vaut le détour!
Il y a aussi la gallerie d'art de la ville, gratuite (mais une donation est attendue) qui est sympa, malheureusement nous n'avions plus beaucoup de temps.
Prochaine destination à suivre... :)