Nice is nice this time of year

I spent a few days in Nice, France this time last year. My best friend's sister has lived there for a couple of years and always raves about how beautiful it is, so I've wanted to see if for myself for quite a while. When planning our trip, my girlfriend and I wanted to travel to a couple of places we'd never been before, so Nice, France and Florence, Italy made the cut.

Arriving in Nice, we spent a couple of days wandering around the city, exploring some historical spots and taking in the beautiful scenery. Something else we did was a pastry baking class. Our teacher was actually a chef who'd been on Masterchef France!

I really enjoyed Nice. The architecture, the food, the atmosphere - it's somewhere I'd like to spend a bit more time in the future. I have a sneaky feeling I'll be back again some day.

A snapshot of happiness

A year ago, I was at a bit of a crossroads in life. Things were up in the air and I felt like I didn't have control of my life - something that always makes me feel uneasy and unsettled. My trip to Europe was something that came about very quickly and while I was on the trip, there were times I had to force myself to enjoy it. One time that it wasn't forced, however, was a year ago last night.

I'd spent a couple of hours wandering around on my own, visiting favourite haunts in London and feeling gleeful that I easily remembered my way around. When I finally felt a bit tired, I found a Starbucks to pop into to charge my phone and have a little rest. I bought a Peppermint Mocha and sat in the window and pulled out my book to read for a bit. I looked out the window to see some wet snow had started to fall. Watching double-decker buses and black cabs zoom by, along with dozens of people hurrying about their business, I felt the most amazing sense of contentment, happiness...just generally at peace. It was the happiest I'd been in a very, very long time.

I sat there, recognizing this fact and took in that feeling, really being in that moment. It was something that's stayed with me ever since, and I hope I get to feel that way again soon. 

Hopping back in time

There's an app that I recently downloaded that I check almost every day. Timehop is an online time capsule that connects to your social networks and shows you what you were doing one, five, however many years ago on that day.

I checked my Timehop today and this time last year, I was waiting for a late night flight to London for a fantastic two-week vacation with one of my closest friends. It was one of my favourite trips. I'll most likely blog about it more in the days to come, considering I'll have lots of Timehop throwbacks coming up over the next two weeks. :)

I also scrolled down further in the Timehop app and it showed me what I was doing nine years ago today. Funnily enough, I was with that same friend and some of our other friends on a night out on the town. Thanks to Timehop, I'm reminded of some fun nights we had in the distant past, and some more recent fun nights we've had, just a year ago.

For someone who's memory isn't the best, I like having Timehop remind me what Elizabeth was doing four, six, nine years ago. It lets me reminisce about the person I was then and how much I've grown and changed since those years. If you don't have Timehop yet, why not download it and check it out? You might be surprised with what you find!

Sunshine on a cloudy day

There's nothing like opening your curtains first thing in the morning to see a beautiful sun shining down on the lake. Here's to a lovely day!

Harlow

There's something about this time of year that makes me really nostalgic. I always think back to what I was doing three, five, seven years ago, and how my life has changed since then. This time of year always makes me especially miss Harlow, where I spent the autumn of 2005 during my undergrad at Memorial.

When I talk to other people about their Harlow experiences, the same words usually come up every time; their time in that small English town was "life-changing", and I know that for me, it truly was. I had the opportunity to study great classics like Pride and Prejudice, Great Expectations, North and South and works by Shakespeare, and then visit the areas of England where the books took place, or where the author grew up, or where they were laid to rest. To be able to have an experience like that to look back on fondly is something I'm so grateful for.

The picture below is just over seven years old. Even though it's been a while, I can remember it being taken. I was sitting in a T.G.I. Friday's in London, the one on Coventry Street, just down from Piccadilly Circus and across from the London Trocadero. My folks were visiting me for a couple of weeks and we stayed in London for the weekend in a lovely hotel on Gloucester Road. I remember being so happy to see them and missing Newfoundland and the people there...but at the same time, I was completely content with being in England and loving my little life there.

I can honestly say I think about Harlow every single day since my time there.Whenever I talk to people who are considering studying abroad for a term, I always, always encourage them to do so, because you will undoubtedly learn more about yourself, others and life in general than you ever thought possible. If you're thinking about making a move, just do it. Stop wondering and do it. :)

Transatlantic Tastes - Homemade Tomato Soup and Deconstructed Grilled Cheese

N and I were Skyping a few weeks ago and decided we needed to get cooking again. Transatlantic Tastes has been on hiatus for too long and we missed it! So, last weekend, we "got together" (via good ol' Skype) to whip up a delicious meal.

As it's now autumn and the leaves are changing and the weather's growing cooler, there's nothing like a delicious bowl of soup to warm you right up. That's why, when we were trying to pick our next recipe to try, I thought we should do something completely different from what we've done in the past: soup.

There are lots of different kinds of soup, but I picked one that is a personal favourite of mine: good ol' classic tomato. Jamie says this recipe is really simple, and he's not kidding - it's so simple. With an ingredient list that's comprised of all foods that you'd most likely already have in your fridge or pantry, whipping up a pot of this scrumptious soup can make anyone feel like an accomplished chef.

Along with the soup, I decided to make a grilled cheese sandwich, because nothing goes better with tomato soup than grilled cheese. Though again, I didn't want to do the traditional grilled cheese with the two slices of manufactured white bread and the processed cheese slice. Instead, I bought some freshly baked Italian style ciabatta bread and some fancy aged cheddar cheese and broiled it in the oven. The result was amazingly tasty!

This soup was so good, I invited my parents and brother over for dinner the next day to enjoy it, and they cleaned the pot out! And I loved making it so much, I made it again later in the week with the rest of ingredients I had in the fridge, and it was even better the second time. I've now divided it up into separate containers and this delicious meal will be great to take with me to work over the next couple of weeks.



Seriously, do yourself a favour and go make this soup. You'll impress yourself and any of your culinary critics. And let me know how it turns out!

Adventures in Baking

I like to talk about a number of topics on my blog, one of which is food. Whether I'm sharing the story of meeting my favourite chefs, or divulging where to find the most delicious pasta in Toronto, or indulging in gourmet foodie heaven at a TweetUp, I like to talk about food every once in a while.

And why not? It fuels us, sure, but there's something about the joy of food - the preparation, the look, the smell and of course, the taste, that makes us all enjoy at least one of those elements. It can be a conversation starter, something that brings friends and family together, and an adventure to go on all without leaving your kitchen.

I'm a big fan of the website Pinterest - basically an online bulletin board where you can "pin" things that you like. For some reason, I got the baking itch tonight, and I needed to bake - not wanted to, needed to.

I didn't want to make the trek outside in the cold, so I looked up an easy recipe on Pinterest for simple chocolate chip cookies. I came across this one, the "Best-Ever Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies", on Kelsey's "Apple A Day" blog. Well, if a cookie is called the "Best-Ever"...then I have to find out for myself.

In a relatively short amount of time, my cookies were

mixed

rolled

and baked!

And what goes best with fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies? A nice tall glass of deliciously cold milk. Perfect for a chilly autumn night! Do you have any easy recipes that you love?

*Be sure to check out Kelsey's blog for more great recipes! There are some delicious looking dinners there!