I’m on a mission…

I have to admit, I had all kinds of false hopes about pregnancy and recovery. And also all kinds of expectations for myself.

You see, I foolishly believed I was going to get right back into my old life after giving birth (yeah, I know…). I thought I would work on my research project while the baby naps, take long walks with her, work out at night after she goes to sleep and look like my old skinny self by the time Maeva was 3 month old. Well not suprisingly, none of that happened (eye roll to my old foolish self…). I did work on my research once during my 3 month maternity leave. The only day my girl really took a nap at home (and not in her stroller or the car). It was 98°F outside, almost as much inside since apartments in France are not equipped with AC and babygirl was knocked out. And that very day, I had a glorious day of work… and a long hot shower! Other than that, nope, nothing, not one single minute of work but sooo much guilt. As I said, I was foolish to expect that I would be able to carry on with my work with a baby that couldn’t sleep away from the boob, raging hormones and a foggy brain from sleep deprivation.

The work out never happened either. I was not cleared to work out for 6 months after my girl was born. SIX.MONTHS. and that I never ever thought could happen to anyone, let alone me! But to tell you the truth, even if I had been cleared to work out, I just don’t think that exercise would have happened anyway. I was just SO.FREAKING.TIRED. And even 10 cups of coffee would not have been enough to drag myself to the gym. Baby M was a poor sleeper for the first 7 months of her life.  She’d be up  3-5 times a night and I was working full time. You can imagine the mess that I was. Then after a few nights of sleep training, paying closer attention to her cues and lots of prayers, she slept 12 hours straight!  It happened on Christmas’eve and I couldn’t believe it. It felt amazing. Now, she regularly sleeps through the night. Occasionally, she’d wake up around 5am to eat but that’s pretty much it. I’ve been feeling really refreshed lately and therefore able to pay closer attention to my “needs”.

The one thing that has been getting on me lately is this sweet layer of loving baby fat. I’m probaby vain, but this has been bothering me for quite some time.  This body just doesn’t feel mine. Before I got pregnant, I would eat healthy foods and workout regularly to maintain a healthy weight.  I kept eating relatively healthy during my pregnancy, gained the recommanded amount of weight for my frame. I breastfed my baby for 7 months. And I naively thought that would be enough to get me back to my pre-pregnancy weight. But again, it didn’t. And I slowly came to the realization that I would have to earn it, with sweat and discipline.

After this reality check, I bought a Gym membership and started thinking about the best way to fit exercise into my life. I’m pretty busy, but really who isn’t?  I had to make it work. I started exercising at lunch, but that didn’t really work for me. I found myself not having a good workout because I would think about the work ahead of me . I really don’t like having my workday interrupted. Working out in the evening really wasn’t an option. I come back from work around 7:30, baby goes down at 8:30 and I need time with the Husband. I was left with morning workouts. They would require me waking up at 6:30 to workout and get ready before taking baby M to daycare and going to work around 9. I was afraid to feel too tired by waking up earlier, but after a couple days, I was hooked. I actually had more energy throughout the day, and felt over all happier.

So now I’m on a mission. To get back to my old self. To have more energy. To be the healthiest mama for my girl. To be fit for baby #2 (whenever we decide to start trying again). The reasons are endless. But what it comes down to is happiness. Taking care of yourself, exercising, eating wholesome healthy foods makes you a happier person. I’m not just doing this for my body but for my soul…

Reflections on 2011…

Hi yall!

Wow I just can’t believe 2012 is here already!

2011 was a year like I had never known before. It changed me, my priorities, my goals…

In 2011, I have known my highest highs. It may sound cheesy but I loved being pregnant, and feeling the miracle of life inside of me. Childbirth was an amazing experience and even though I had a really rough recovery, I’m ready to do it again anytime! And finally, the overwhelming love for this little girl who had grown inside of me totally knocked me off my feet. For all that I’ll forever be thankful.

The day before the induction, walked 5 hours with my mom, still no contractions...

Just one day old...

In 2011, our families were finally on the same side of the ocean (the first time since our wedding). Travis’ parents, sister Kristin and brother-in-law Jeremy all came to France for a month.  And to make it all even better, everybody was around for my 30th birthday! My sister hosted a little dinner party with the best food display (ohh I love when my sister throws me a party, she’s the best!). As I was looking around at all the happy faces around me, I felt so blessed.

2011 brought many blessings not only to me but to friends and coworkers as well. A few of them welcomed there first or second child: Adam, Ethel, Cleo, Esther, Alban, Sarah, Adele (in order of appearance).

In 2011, my sister married a wonderful man who is like a brother to me.

2011 was again a year of travels. Maeva was 6 weeks old when she was issued a passport. And she’s already traveled to the Cinque Terre (Italy), Alsace (France), Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Texas! Traveling with a little one really worked fine for us. I think the youngest she was, the easiest. Only our trip to Texas was rough due to the time difference. Our baby girl was not a great sleeper to start with but the jetlag was grueling. Needless to say, we held, rocked, nursed her many many nights. It was however the price to pay to have her first Thanksgiving with our family and we all had such a wonderful time!

Here are a few pics of Alsace and Les Vosges. We went on a crazy walk one day and it started pouring! We were soaked before we could make it back home. Luckily Baby girl slept the whole time! We also enjoyed wine tasting at the Adam Winery and stork watching in Kaysersberg.

Our next stop was the Cinque Terre. We stayed at Monterosso Al Mare (the biggest of the 5 towns) which was great for the beach. But my favorite still is Riomaggiore…

And finally Amsterdam! I was there for a medical conference but the Husband and Pumpkin came with me . We enjoyed one awesome afternoon on the town together. Ate at Gartine (I had a potobello sandwinch on brioche bread with parmiggiano cream followed by a cinnamon cheesecake with expresso glaze…. ohh I want to eat there again…), then we walked along the canal and finally enjoyed a thai dinner.

Amsterdam is such a lovely town:

 

I don’t know what 2012 has in store for us but I am impatient to find out!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

“I can’t get my arms down!”

It’s getting pretty cold overhere. Not freezing yet (and I am so not looking forward to it!). But still cold… And baby girl needed something to keep her warm and cosy while outside. I fell in love with this snowsuit but while it is not really heavy, it restricts her movements a lot.

 

The husband and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when we put it on her the first time! It took her about 10 minutes and a lot of momentum to roll over. It was really funny to watch!

 

 

Time to go! Good night everyone!

Long time, no see….

Wow…. I just can’t believe I haven’t blogged since 2010! I just wish I could start this blog post as though all this time hadn’t gone by, pretending we were in the middle of a conversation… But my life has changed so much in these few months, so much I can’t even wrap my mind around it…

And here is what rocked my world:

She is now 7 months old and the most smiley baby I have ever seen. Her Papa calls her Froggie and she loves to play and explore. The first 6 months were not easy, I won’t lie. The sleep deprivation was brutal, especially after I had to go back to work. But she started sleeping through the night a couple weeks ago and we couldn’t be happier.

In 2012, I look forward to playing with her and seeing life through her eyes, watching her grow and learn. I also would love to find a better balance between baby, marriage and work. I’ll need to take better care of myself, be healthier to have more energy and be the happiest parent I can be for my little girl. I hope that blogging again will help me take the time to reflect on the joys of my life and to make sensible decisions for our future.

So I guess I am back, hopefully for good….

Italy, mi amore….

Hi yall…

I’m not sure where this blog is going. For some reason, writing about my daily life, food or work doesn’t seem appealing at the moment and I often find myself procrastinating on updating my blog.

All I can think about is: TRAVEL! Us French people enjoy about 11 national holidays and 5 weeks paid vacation a year! Also, most workers, like my husband, also have “RTT days”, which are extra days off to compensate for his working 40 hours a week instead of the legal 35 hours. ah ah ha! Well you understand now that work and money aren’t a priority in this country. Maybe it is also because things like healthcare and education are virtually free. But we are very passionate about our vacations. Try to cut our time off and you will see the French workers down on the street, pounding the pavement with banners and yelling anti-government slogans…. Ah France….

Well being a doctor, the 35 hour work week is a mere utopia and I sure don’t get nearly as many days off as my husband. But every now and then I get to enjoy a 3 day week end and I better make the best of it! And if you ask me where I want to go for a short vacation, my first answer will always be “ITALY!”. I am so in love with this country. But more than going to the major big cities like Rome, Florence or Milan, we like to explore the more remote towns. Since our wedding, almost 4 years ago, we have gone to Italy about once a year. We particularly liked Venice and the Cinque Terre. But this time, Bellagio (on lake Como) was our destination.

After a short flight (1h and 20 min) we arrived in Milan, then took a train to Como (about 1h15), then a hydrofoil to Bellagio (about 50 min). It was quite a trip to get there but once we arrived, we knew we had made the right decision.

We had booked a room at Hotel Florence and it was so romantic:

We spent our days walking around, exploring the nearby fishermen towns, drinking tons of cappucinos, enjoying mid-afternoon snacks of cheese and wine (brought back a bottle of Amarone del Valpolicella, our favorite!) and late nights “italian coffees” with Amaretto . Bellagio, “the pearl of the lake”,  is an extremely beautiful town, with 2 18th-century villas (Villa Serbelloni and Villa Melzi), small tiny streets and an incredible view on the lake!

Here are a few photos. Enjoy!

First, some shots taken while walking around Bellagio:

Lunch at La Punta, the tip of the town with a beautiful view of the lake:

Travis found these intertwined daisies and requested I take a picture of them for his desktop. This turned out to be our favorite photo…..

Walking to Pescallo, a nearby fisherman village:

The gardens of the Villa Melzi:

The view from the villa’s porch. Notice the snowy Alps in the background:

As you could tell from the photos, the weather was quite changing. Here are 2 shots taken from our hotel room. The first one at 9:30 am, before breakfast. Looked like a cloudy day, right?

Well, here is the same view, an hour later, when we got back from our breakfast. Surprise!!!!

We had such a FANTASTIC time! Bellagio is amazing…..

Luckily, we’ll be back in Italy in less than a month. We’ll be in Positano and Pompei with our friends Nick and Melissa for 10 days! Can’t wait to be there and especially to spend time with them!

What I have been up to…

Sorry I’ve been away for so long. This past couple of month has been really crazy for many reasons:

1) I had 2 poster presentations to prepare for the American Academy of Neurology meeting I was attending. And I undertook a MAJOR project 2 weeks before the meeting that I absolutely wanted to present. So I ended up working every night after work (and weekends) on my research project. This left me seriously sleep deprived but totally psyched about the new results of my research!

2) Although the meeting was great, being stuck in Toronto for 5 days (thanks, Volcano) not knowing when I would be able to fly home was NO fun! After 3 weeks of arduous work, I was really looking forward to being able to spend some quality time with the hubby…

3) But after my return,  I still had 2 more conferences with one poster and one oral talk to prepare . Ahhh…..Work Work Work…..

4) Major Bummer:  I haven’t blogged in over a month! Not that I haven’t had any blog material. But life just gets in the way….

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But I know that dwelling on the bad times wont get me anywhere and I am determined to see the bright side of life. In spite of everything I just mentionned I’ve had some pretty rocking moments too. Here is a little overview of what has made my heart smile over the past few weeks….

1) Niagara Falls:

I was at first pretty disappointed to discover that there was a city around the falls. I had imagined something pretty wild and remote. Not a big city with lots of tall hotel buildings overlooking the falls. But taking the boat to get a closer look at the roaring waters was just amazing!  Was also a great way to spend time with my coworkers and get our minds off work!

2) Reading a book at Starbucks!

Oh… that felt soooo goood….. I hadn’t given much time to reading but while I was in Toronto, I decided to take a morning off to go to a local bookstore, sit with a Soy Latte and read. I was so lucky to find the perfect book for my lazy morning: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin! It is such a fantastic source of discussions, quotations and thoughts on this very tricky question: Is it possible to become a happier person? Like Rubin, I am not an unhappy person, I haven’t experienced traumatizing catastrophes, I have a good job, a lovely husband and I live in a beautiful city. But I have always believed that little changes in my attitude or my outlook on life could make me a happier person. This is not a self help book but through her experience, Rubin has helped me find some little ways to make my life more enjoyable and overall more fun! I loved her openness, especially when talking about her relationship to her husband.

I highly recommand this book!

Especially with my new adorable bookmark! I couldn’t resist….

3) AirFrance!

Spending time in Toronto was fun but I was so frustrated to miss time with the Hubby while we were stuck there. After 5 days, my group finally flew to NYC, hoping to get on a NYC-Toulouse flight (the Paris Airport was still closed at the time and southern French airports had just reopened).

I was just so so glad to get in that airplane! Especially when the announced that the Paris airport had finally reopened and our flight was redirected to Paris.

More than 2000 people were waiting at the AirFrance checkin area. Almost all of them were able to go home that night! It was such a relief!

4) Driver’s license!!!!!!!

Yep! I finally did it! Passing the stupid driving test wasn’t easy! The success rate is about 40% (so different from America, huh?) but I did it! I did it!!!! It is such a relief for me … and my bank account (learning to drive in France usually costs around 2000 euros, and even more if you have to take the driving test several times!). So glad it is over!

I even got to drive my sister’s Smart car (the “A” in the back is my mandatory “young driver” sign):

Oh so cool…. The hubby and I are even thinking of buying me a car! I’m so thrilled!

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Well I think it is time to end this crazy long post! I’ll be back with more news later this week!

‘Night yall!

Passover Seder Recap!

Passover celebrates the jews’ escape from enslavement in Egypt. It is one of the most widely observed jewish holiday. When the jews escaped, they didn’t wait for the bread to rise. So during eight days we don’t eat any leavened bread.

It is traditional for my family as for most jewish families to gather the first 2 nights for a special dinner: the Seder. At the Seder, every person should see himself as if he were going out of Egypt. Beginning with our Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we recount the Jewish people’s descent into Egypt and recall their suffering and persecution. After our reading of the Hagadah(the special book retelling the story of the exodus), we get to sit down to a delicious (huge) dinner.

My family is from Tunisia (which used to be a French colony) and forever our Passover dinner has been prepared with lots of love by my sweet grandmother. Only a couple years ago (at age 90!) did she decide it was a little too much work for her. I have since been hosting our family seder and prepared the traditionnal tunisian food with my mom and sister.

I only have time to post a few photos right now but I’ll make sure to give yall the recipes later.

We started by a Kemia, an assortment of typical salads and appetizers:

Potato, egg and tuna salad

Mekbouba: stewed bell pepper and tomato salad

Cumin carrot salad

Maakoud: a loaf made with eggs, fish and spinach

Boutargue made with dried fish eggs

Banatages: yummy fried potato and meat balls

Larenj: the most awesome turnip, bell pepper, grapefruit and orange salad! This is my absolute favorite! I tried to make it once but it was not nearly as good as when my mom makes it!

The main dish is called Msoki and is a stew made with 19 vegetables and herbs along with some meat. We only eat it on passover.

For dessert, I did some baking experiments. Making cupcakes without flour and baking powder was actually easier than I thougt. I made two kinds: orange-almond and chocolate-hazelnut.

Chocolate-hazelnut cupcake

Orange-almond cupcakes

Both types of cupcakes were really awesome. The Husband has eaten a total of 18 cupcakes in 36 hours! That is one cupcake every 2 hours!

I’ll be back with the recipes and more tunisian food!!!

Have a great day!

A parisian saturday

I was very excited to have my saturday off, even though I knew I’d have a lot of work to do on sunday with the American Academy of Neurology meeting coming up (and my 2 poster presentations to prepare). I still had a driving class scheduled early afternoon (which is kinda stressful with the test coming up) but I decided to take the afternoon off to relax and walk! Last summer, I woud run about 1 hour 3 times a week around the Eiffel Tower and Trocadero. I would leave home right when the sun would rise… When I’d make it to the top of the Trocadero (which faces the Eiffel Tower from accross the Seine), there wouldn’t be any tourists. Just me, a few runners, the rising sun and the inspiring beauty of the city. For some reason, I assumed I would get that same feeling of peace if I went in the middle of the day, and even worse a saturday. I was so disappointed when I got there. So many people…. too many! It was overwhelming. I sure had a good time watching tourists take the craziest photos of the Eiffel Tower… But it was not the same.

Seems that people don’t get tired of the Eiffel Tower, they even have to sell it in evey size and color imaginable….

I know I am lucky to be living in such a cool city. And I really don’t mean to complain so much, but really it was weird…. So please, if you ever come to visit Paris, remember me, suck it up, wake up early and go see the Eiffel Tower at sun rise. you won’t regret it!

After my quick visit to the Trocadero, I walk around a bit. Passed the statue of Ben Franklin:

Came accross a really cute flower store:

Some delicious looking cakes:

A quiet, unexpected church behind Rue de Passy:

These were the true highlights of my day.

The husband met me later and we finished our walk together. We came across this place:

I had planned to make a chicken curry for dinner but when the Husband suggested we have Cheese, Bread and Wine instead, I couldn’t resist.

Our living room lamp died last night so we enjoyed our dinner “aux chandelles” (by candle light). While the photos didn’t turn out, it was very romantic….

We had 3 types of cheeses (goat, cow and sheep). The sheep soft one was my favorite. We also had 5 types of bread: fig, walnut, dried apricot and hazelnuts (called the squirel bread), classic baguette and Pain rustique (dark wheat loaf). I enjoyed a couple glasses of a good Bordeaux red wine. It was perfect!

One more week in sicko’s life….

Thank yall for your kind messages.  I don’t think I’ve been this sick in many, many years…. Probably since junior high….I started taking antibiotics a few days ago and I have to say my sinusitis is finally much better. I hate the idea of taking antibiotics, or just the idea of needing them… What can I say?  Doctors are the worst patients…

Here are the highlights of my week:

Oeuf au Plat et Tartine du Dimanche (Sunday’s fried egg and toasts)

This is a simple sunny side up fried egg with fresh chives (the way my mom used to make them when I was a kid). On the side, I made “Tartines” with toasted pain rustique (one of my favorite breads from my local Kaiser bakery), melted Tome de Savoie and thin sliced San Daniele ham or melted goat cheddar and pan seared pears. Easy and so satisfying….

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Piperade with poached egg:

Piperade is a traditional dish of the south west of France. It is made with stewed tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and hot peppers. It tastes very much like a tunisian stew I grew up eating (shakshuka). My sis brought me a can of piperade after one of her trips to south of France a while ago and it has been sitting on a shelf since then, waiting for the perfect day to be opened. After a long tuesday at work, I was so glad I had waited for so long to open that special can because it finally was the perfect day. I heated the piperade in a small saucepan and when it was finally simmering I added two eggs to the mixture. I cooked the eggs until the white was firm then transfered them carefully to bowls along with some of the sauce.

It really reminded me of my childhood… which made me think I should post more tunisian recipes soon. With Passover coming up, I’m sure I’ll have a lot of family recipes to share!

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Pear Chocolate Oat Bars:

Remember my delicious sautéed pear hot cereal? Well, I had a couple ripe pears sitting on my kitchen counter waiting for me to replicate this meal. But I never found the time to prepare such good breakfast for myself this week. And I couldn’t let these pears go bad either. So I decided to include them in a new oatmeal bar recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 large pear, diced
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1.5 cup rolled oats
• 1 egg + 1 egg white
• 1.25 cup skim milk
• about 3 Tbsp agave syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp ground flax seeds

Preheat oven at 350°C. Mix dry (except flaxseeds) and wet ingredients separately. Combine wet  into dry. Pour into baking dish, sprinkle with flaxseeds and bake for 30-40 min.

The husband ate almost the entire thing in one sitting. I still managed to save a couple bars to take to work. I liked them a lot.

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Now that I’m feeling a lot better, I can’t wait to get back to the kitchen and ….. to the gym! I have a Body Pump class scheduled at 7:15 tonight and I’m really excited to go. I feel that my body can finally handle it!

Stay tuned, I’ll be back soon…..

Sicko’s survival foods…

Well before I start renting, you better know I’m NEVER sick. Never as a child, nor as a adult either. So being sick makes me quite frustrated and frankly I hate it! And for some reason I have not yet figured out, this is the third cold/ flu virus I catch this winter…. I still don’t know how to deal with sickness though and had to have the husband talk me through the whole “take it easy” process. It is not very natural for me to “just rest”. But I have to say I’m glad he forced me told me not to exercise or work longer hours than absolutely necessary, as today (Day 5), the fever is down and I’m feeling a little better. I think it would have taken me much longer to recover if I had put much stress on my body. Hopefully, I’ll be a lot better next week and will get right back into my routine.

I don’t know about you but when I’m sick I don’t feel hungry at all. My taste is altered and I just need foods that are easy to prepare, easy to digest, and full of nutrients to boost my immune system. So here is what this week was made of:

1. Chicken and Egg Soup:

The secret to a great chicken soup? Make your own broth. To make this quick chicken soup I used a rotisserie chicken. I simmered the bones and carcass for one hour or so to make a tasty broth, then I removed them and drained the broth.

Then I placed the fresh broth  along with the chicken meat, 2 carrots, 2 zucchinis and 3 turnips (all cut into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces). I seasonned with some fresh thyme, salt and pepper, brought to a boil, then covered and let simmer for 30 min. After the 30 min had passed, I brought the soup to a boil again and I poured a beaten egg in the soup, stirring constantly until small egg threads form.

This was delicious!

2. Yogurt and Fruit Parfaits:

I actually had that for dinner a couple of night when I didn’t feel hungry at all. I love fruit and yogurt parfaits. They are perfect any time of day!

I like the way this looks against my bright orange wall…..

3. Crèpes à l’oeuf, champignons, féta et basilic (savory crepes with egg, mushroom, feta and basil):

These are really easy to make since you can buy the black wheat crepes at the store (all organic, of course). Then you can top with whatever your little heart desires…. I like savory crepes they are a perfect way to eat your proteins, veggies, and grains in one little package. Yum…

What do you survive on when sick? Do you force yourself to workout? Do you feel guitly about resting?