Bicycle trouble

My time in the Deux-Sèvres was (surprisingly, as you might think) far from being boring: besides having a sunny weather which allowed me to spend a lot of time walking and cycling, I happened to get into quite a lot of (little) troubles ;-)

On the first day after I arrived, a highly colored sunrise drove me out of my bed early; as I was eager to discover what had changed in the area, I quickly settled for a little trip all around with my old bicycle. Alas! Endeavoring to follow what I thought was a shortcut to where I was headed, I made the wheel bump into a particularly sharp stone which left me with a giant hole in my bicycle inner tube (of course I had no spare piece with me). I had to walk all the way back, carrying my bike up and down the hills...

A nice way to get a closer look at everything, though!

Stinging nettle


Under the wind


Fallen leaf

Colors of magic

Some pictures of the most wonderful sunrises that I've seen in 2015!

Bathed in sunshine


Bright cold light

Blood red sky

Xmas time

With the wonderful weather we had for Christmas, I hope you've had the opportunity (if you enjoy it as much as I do) to take a stroll across some piece of countryside in your favorite area!

I was very happy to be able to visit my family hometown (rather home-hamlet, truly speaking) in the Deux-Sèvres area, where I hadn't been for more than a year. This is an exceedingly nice place, where you can find many a beautiful village, with old houses and their exposed stone walls, or small fields surrounded by thick bushes and trees - and even wild animals (OK, nothing more exciting than the local cow, sheep, duck, dog or cat). It felt incredibly nice to me, being somehow 'reunited' with my childhood countryside :-)

I've taken so many pictures from there, endeavoring to collect memories of this treasured place, that I will have to post several articles to show you everything that I love there; some first ones to begin with!

Sunrise over the fields


Misty way home


A path into the fog

Botany enthusiast

Winter is certainly not the most appropriate season for 'botanising', however I'm really feeling like going around gathering samples - leaves, fruits, maybe some late flowers? - and determining which plant they belong to :-)

I'll definitely set up an expedition one day or another with my Bonnier flora determining book - very soon to be sure!

A leaf

A fruit

Or a flower?

Trees and twigs

Are you planning to have a Christmas tree this year?

I don't, and I feel a bit sad about it... But this isn't something that you can easily fit into a small apartment. Unless you choose a tiny plastic one or a single branch maybe. Anyway, people keep saying that I'm too enthusiastic about the coming Christmas - being an adult and all.

So as a way to comfort myself a bit after this huge disappointment (;-D), I've taken some pictures of trees and branches and twigs - happy Christmas tree installation!

Pine cones


Christmas decorations

Pine tree

Food tour

As a true lover of Asian food (easily noticeable from the previous posts...), I would like to gather here some of the best Asian meals I've tried while in Paris :-)

Unfortunately, since I have had my sweet camera for a few months only, some of my favorite dishes are not among the ones I have shot yet. I'll make a list of what is missing and try to collect more photos... For instance, during a future random challenge? (still to be set up - hem, I've been far too lazy recently)

Here are a few of the most funny Asian meals that I've tried recently. Quite a lot of pictures for a single article actually^^ and I definitely need to add other Asian countries as well!

Banh mi dac biet, VIETNAM

Pho bo, VIETNAM

Okonomiyaki, JAPAN

Ramen, JAPAN

Loc lac rice, VIETNAM

A blue gift

Now that Christmas is almost here, the highly feared present quest is to begin - and sometimes, that implies offering gifts to people you don't know well enough. Especially on the occasion of your company's Christmas celebration party!

As I'm hopelessly under-inspired by the theme that was selected this year (blue...), I think I'll stay with merely cooking some nice & simple little cookies with a pinch of blue food coloring. And maybe shape a small paper box (a blue one, of course) that I could put the biscuits into?

Seems that I'll end up giving quite much thought to this project ;-)

Abandoned pen

Scribbles and scrap of paper

Designing the model

Photo mash-up #4

Following the current color contest again, today theme will be: RED AND WHITE!

Quite a nice choice of colors actually, with everyone being busy with their Christmas preparations at the moment.

Here are some pictures that I took in front of restaurants in a passageway at night; the red and white colors are everywhere once you start looking for them...

Happy red day :-)

Okonomiyaki

For some time already, I had been planning to eat a special Japanese delicacy that some friends of mine had glowingly spoken about: okonomiyaki (literally 'grilled whatever-you-want' dish). 

This is a kind of omelette or savory pancake, made from various ingredients mixed into an egg and flour batter. Among them, you will find grated yam (or some equivalent species), bonito flakes (which give the impression of being somehow alive, because they keep waving under the steam streams), shredded cabbage, some meat, etc...

I finally tried it today at a restaurant in the Paris Japanese area (around the 1st arrondissement), where I had once gone in vain some weeks ago (...of course it was closed on Sundays). Despite quite a long time queuing outside in the cold, then inside in a over-heated room, the trip was definitely worth it. Honestly okonomiyaki is not that much special, it's probably something that you would manage to do by yourself with your own ingredients, yet this was very good and funny to eat.

Some pictures before I try cooking this by myself (might be far less attractive and photogenic)...

The okonomiyaki cook

Yummy-looking okonomiyaki

Some side-dish that I tried

Photo mash-up #3

Well, quite a lot of water has been flowing under the bridge (as we say in French) since I posted the latest photo mash-up. 

So now is the time to launch a new one: and today theme will be DOGS! 

I know, it's usually (...the previous two selections) about colors, but let's extend the scope a bit :-) 

Happy woof day :-)

Bleu Blanc Rouge

Terrible news in Paris, following previous events in France and other countries...

Bleu (blue)

Blanc (white)

Rouge (red)

Rasta colors

I've been featured in Catchy Colors weekly themed contest!

However I'm not quite happy with the green yellow red colors in the picture. It took me quite a while to get the right colors in the frame, as the colors were generated by some color-changing lights under a bridge and I had only a very narrow point of view without cars in front of me. The 50mm objective did not help either, I had to stand at the middle of the road while attempting to capture the colors! In the end, quite a stressful and tiring moment...

I'd rather have had some other pictures in the selection, but I guess I'll have to find more original ideas first ;-)

Selected: Rasta (green-yellow-red) colors

New weekly theme: purple and green

Random challenge

It's incredible how surprisingly inspiring the metro is, when you are looking for ideas! Especially on long distance trips - that terrible moment when you get bored of your book, phone, or whatever you have been using for the past 30 minutes...

During one of those moments, discussing photography (somehow a default subject^^) with my friend, we came up with a new project idea, let's call it the random trip challenge: some days before (or the very day if in urgent need of photography), you take a map with the desired level of detail depending on the time you have and the means of transport that are available. Then, you point your finger at a random location (eyes firmly closed of course) and taadaaa! There you go for your next photography project.

All that remains is to try it!

Streets can be full of wonders...

...And contradictory perspectives!

How many laughed at it?

Inspiration

I've been thinking over something for quite a while: what could I explore now beside forests, mushrooms, chestnuts and all kinds of autumn features? It seems those have been the only subjects of my pictures for about 3 months or so... I'd like to find something new that could bring some originality to my Flickr photostream at least :-)

Alas, my best DIY source of inspiration is still building her blog (style and decorations should indeed matter since it's about DIY) and my photographer sensei has always been fonder of monuments than I am (even if I'm always filled with admiration at his architecture photos). Time to fly on my own wings and start a resolute subject hunt?

First I intended to look at different Flickr groups; Catchy Colors is by far my favorite (if some day I could get one of my pictures posted in the themed photos selection...). Anyway, there are many extremely beautiful pictures in this group, but I sort of feel embarrassed to copy anything - be it innocent fear that someone might reproach me for stealing their ideas, or maybe jealousy that I couldn't find it on my own.

So, where should I look for inspiration? I'll give it some time then and will definitely get back with an action plan. Brainstorm begins!

Outdoor scenery


Indoor item


Animal portrait

Halloween

Let's enjoy Halloween, with its vivid orange and black colors!

I'm absolutely not used to celebrating Halloween, and I had completely forgotten that kids might come that evening to gather candies - so I sort of escaped of my apartment and spent the evening outside, afraid that they might throw eggs at my door... Finally I'm not even sure anyone came knocking and asking for sweets. How sad. 

Next year first resolution: get better prepared for all year events in advance :-) 

 PS: and because I love DIY: have a pumpkin!

Halloween pumpkin

Orange leaves and black stem

Orange and black

Cooking experiment

Do you like roasted chestnuts? 

When autumn comes, this is a meal - or a snack - that I'm really eager to eat. However, I had always bought them at small stalls, in the streets, and had never endeavored to harvest and/or cook any - before last weekend.

Exploring one of the nearby forest (the one in Meudon) with my photography sensei, we came across tons and tons of chestnuts lying on the ground, which had visibly fallen just a couple of nights ago. It was truly amazing. So we began gathering some of them, then a bit more, and suddenly we had collected a whole bag of chestnuts and we could only focus of one thing: eat them at last :-)

Those terribly appealing chestnuts finally made their way to my home (fortunately they were less delicate than mushrooms, as I recall from some unfortunate past attempts), and from there, to my kitchen where we contemplated them for a while, drooling over the perspective of eating them. But how? We were not that thrilled at the idea of cooking them directly in the oven, for fear they might be too hard, so the only remaining solution was to boil them first - and roast them in the oven later on. 

Grabbing a pan and some water, we immediately implemented the idea; and hardly after half an hour of additional time in the oven, we had a bunch of home-cooked roasted chestnuts before our eyes! 

See how good-looking and appetizing they seem, don't they make your mouth water? 

Roasted chestnuts

Yummy chestnuts