Dipping & Dining in Paris - 4

From the Pompidou, we walked / dodged from shadow to shadow across the short & sunny stretch of Paris to the Musée d'Orsay.

On our walk we crossed a bridge. But not just any bridge.

Spencer & Lucy from MIC kissed on this bridge, woaaaaaaaah... As you can imagine, we were really excited about this, so I took a photo of Louise to remember this historic moment. (Don't worry I'm not really thaaaat obsessed...only a little bit)

We then arrived at the Musée d'Orsay. After climbing the thousands & thousands of steps all the way to the top, we arrived at the most famous floor.

It was a-mazing. Louise & I tagged along to a guided group to listen in on what each sculpture / painting meant, it was really interesting. 

My favourites were Monet's pieces and Degas' sculpture of the little 14 - year old dancer. I have a book about her at home and it was incredible to see her in real, ribbon and all! 

No photos were allowed so I made do with this sneaky shot.

After this, we did even more walking, through the famous 'Jardins des Tuileries', to get to our restaurant for the evening. Louise joined me in my quest for shade this time, it was so so hot!

I had a little dip in the garden's big fountain, then we resumed our walk, walking past Le Louvre on our way.

The restaurant was gooood! Turned out it was a pizzeria & we all devoured our food. After all that walking can you really blame us?

It was delicious & pretty central so it was nice to see the hustle & bustle of Paris as we ate outside. Cheers Louise!

Above: Aaron & Safa

Below: Myself, with a knife in my Orangina glass, attempting to de-fizz it. I thought this was a pretty normal thing to do but there I got quite a few odd looks...

I had a sizzling hot marguerita. Look at it ooze with delicious-ness. Mmmm yeah.

The meal was really tasty & amongst the people walking past, there was an awesome guy who had given his dog dreadlocks. Yes, dreadlocks.

It was really cool when the dog jumped, showing off his locks.

Our pizza feast was so tasty that we asked to take our leftovers back with us. (No use in wasting, eh?)

Listening toooo: 'Young And Beautiful' by Lana Del Rey & 'Alors On Danse' by Stormae.

Wagamama

It's the end of another Cambridge term & that means another trip to bring E home.

This time we stopped by at Wagamama to escape the cold snowy weather, and enjoy their huge portions & good food.

To begin with, we had a selection of Miso soup & Ebi Gysoz (vegetable dumplings for you & me).

I'm not a huge fan of Miso soup, but the pots they're served in, oh my they are brilliant.

I could base an entire architecture project on them if I was allowed...

Then we had our mains. I chose Yasai Yaki Soba (below). It was delicious. Although I love noodles so I would say that. The vegetables were cooked really well & I liked the mixture of flavours. Especially the ginger, which worked well with the ginger beer I was drinking.

Above is Chicken & Prawn Cha Han (although we found no prawns) & below is Amai Udon. From the empty dishes my family left, I assume they were also delicious.

As the portions are so big at Wagamama, we managed to have these 3 mains between the four of us with leftovers!

And there is always room for desert...

E chose Sweet Ginger &Apple Gyoza (above) & we all had a taste. It came with some custard which she seemed very pleased about & my favourite part was the cinnamon.

Although I think my dessert was better. Of course.

Raspberry natural fruit ice lolly. Mmmm. You could tell it was made using real raspberries, not just flavouring as there were little bits, my favourite!

To emphasise how odd it was to be eating an ice lolly when its snowing outside, I thought I should wear my mittens. Teehee.

Mother's Day at Michaelhouse

My family celebrated Mother's Day a little earlier than everyone else in the UK. 24 hours earlier, so here I am to tell the tale...

So as to spend the day with my sister too, we drove to Cambridge.

We arrived a little early for lunch, so I had some time to set out my sketchbook in my sister's room & get to work (with the company of music & a cheeky slice of Angel cake of course!).

I then set out to meet the rest of my family for lunch, passing plenty of gorgeous food stalls & flower merchants on the way.

After reuniting, we made our way to my mother's favourite lunch spot - a bustling cafe nestled inside St Michael's church.

We arrived and were quickly whisked off our feet by all the delicious scents & smells. Everything is flexible there, you can pick what to eat & match it with your favourite salads or scones as you like.

There is usually a queue, but it goes quickly & is probably an advantage as otherwise you'll be panicking which dish to pick - they're all delicious I assure you. 

Whilst you wait, its the perfect opportunity to admire the beautiful architecture, even the lights are pretty & there is a great selection of artwork on the walls.

I chose the pizza of the day & added a selection of salads. The rest of my family all chose the same dish - spinach, pumpkin & feta cheese quiche. Being the greedy person I am, I had to taste their dish too & I can safely say they were both incredible. 

My pizza had a really good mix of flavours & the salads I chose were very tasty. The quiche was also very good, I hadn't actually ever had pumpkin in a quiche before, but it is definitely something I need to start doing!

Before leaving, we went into the church area of the building & admired the architecture.

After a little roam around the city, we headed off feeling toasty & happy despite the cold weather.

If you want to find out more about Michaelhouse, here is a link to their website.

Happy Mother's Day to my very own mother!

Bill's

Yesterday I travelled to Cambridge to visit my sister for the day, & we had the pleasure of stumbling upon this little gem for lunch. Bill's.

Judging by the queue we found as we arrived, this place was clearly worth listening to our grumbling tummies for that little bit longer.

And oh my it was.

I ordered the home-made cod fish finger sandwich, whereas my sister ventured into the unknown, choosing moules frites for the first time in her life.

We were not disappointed.

The portions were perfectly sized & each dish had a cleverly chosen mix of flavours to keep your taste buds tip top.

The place had a glorious mish mash of details & had shelves filled to the ceiling with foodsy items you could buy. 

Not to mention the impressive decoration, I had a bunch of chillies suspended above my head!

It was a lovely lunch, with a good atmosphere, the place was busy, but calm enough to have a good conversation.

Inspired by the culinary success, we trekked down to Heffers, the book store, & I nosed around the cookery books.

I also had to get several bits and pieces so we went shopping for a while, before going on a walk around the (admittedly freezing) parks.

If you want to find out more about Bill's, go to the website here. It's a great place to meet with friends I definitely recommend checking it out.