Calendar : Octobre

Ouh, last minute! Let's all try to savor October as much as we can.. okay? It is the loveliest month of all, no argument needed.  

xo

Forest

 I recently took the resolution of going for a walk in the forest every weekend. (Or try to) We don't live in a very woody area - yet - but it's easily reachable with little road trips in pretty much all directions. G's family is around Rigaud, Qc and Ontario's border, Mount Rigaud is such a beautiful quiet place to walk. Some trails are a bit more intense, but really we probably just feel that way because we're a bit out of shape. (It's not a very high mountain at all.) We love letting Constance explore around, and this time I felt like my imagination was super open...ripe? I stole some wild flowers (little vandal) for my mother in law, picked a wild carrot! and did not eat it. I also saw the most tiny frog ever, barely 2 cm long. 

 If you don't follow me on Instagram, or Facebook, you might like to hear some calendar news. I have decided to make a paper version again for 2014! The subject matter is quite different, and refreshing for me. It will most likely only be sold in my Etsy shop, and be the only item I bring back. I intend on selling it from November to February. It will probably not be home printed, and not made from organic cotton paper... but you have to chose your battles. And for me, this year, it means finding an option that is not as costly and less time consuming. Hopefully the result will be pleasant still and you will like it! Until then, xo. 

Pic taken by Guillaume, I really love it. :) 

Fast Fashion

 Zoe Gray recently contacted me to share a video that she has produced, concerning fast fashion. I think that this kind of sustainability, longevity topic is super à-propos in many spheres of our lives right now. I personally have felt this way not only about clothes, but also food, furniture, even experiences like what you do over the weekend or where you vacation.. 

 Still, I feel like there has been a sort of shift in my attitude with clothing when I noticed that a lot of what I bought at HnM was coming apart, or having wholes in it super fast (ok blame me, I put EVERY THING in the dryer) Still.. There are pieces of clothing from Gap that I've worn for over 5 years. Sometimes more. (If they still fit me, but that's a whole other subject.)

 I wish I could buy more clothes from local designers but the truth is I kind of cannot afford it. I will splurge on a scarf, or one item from time to time, and I feel like in a small way I am doing what I can to encourage them? But most of the time I have to buy clothes for less money, and figure out the ones that will last many many seasons. First of all I aim at neutral colors (that I won't get tired of, since I mostly like to wear grey, black, beige and navy) Things that mix and match well. And I have also come to find the stores where the clothes are kind of well made - well tailored for me, affordable when in sale, and also going to last long. I also find that as I get a bit older *not that old* my style is not evolving so much with the trends each season. I do love to buy "statement pieces" from time to time, but mostly, I'll stick to what makes me feel like me. 

 Anyways, watch it, it's fun and well made, and interesting! Maybe I have a bit of a bias because of my animation background, but oh well! ;)

Created by OnlineMBA.com

Noémiah : Roses d'hiver

 It's the second time I get to play around and do hair and make up for a Noemiah shooting. Exactly why my friend Noémie trusts me with this.. I have no clue! It's not like I know what I'm doing. But pitching in with whatever experience I have of applying make up on my own face, YouTube videos and pinterest tutorials... it usually turns out ok ;) 

 This time she was shooting her Fall-Winter collection for 2013, Roses d'Hiver, not only for her stunning as usual feather jewellery.. but also featuring clothes and purses for the first time!!! I am so excited to see Noemiah grow her brand. (and to see her evolve and grow as a designer and person at the same time.) She is one hard working woman, and her creations are nothing short of delightful, feminine and graceful perfection. 

 I basically did exactly what she wanted in terms of looks. She came up with most of the inspiration and styles, her taste is always very tasteful and trendy. We usually agree with what looks good with her products, and she trusts my eye too, whenever she hesitates, since we have worked together on many occasions. 

But little did I know I was going to ALSO play florist all day. ;)

The flowers she had picked were gorgeous. (as was the model, right!?)

Playing around with the gold leaf foil was super fun! 

It was a bit time consuming to apply.. but I think the result is really worth it.

Photograph: Manon Parent

Model : Mickeline Couturier

You can see the full collection here and shop here. 

Autumn Soup : Repost

 Well, well, this is not new content.. woopsy. Pardon me, I'm in the middle of a crazy week from hell. Extra crazy work load + allergies of the apocalypse. But I made a simple vegetable soup today for lunch and thought it would be a good time to share (again) this favorite of mine. 

 Pumpkin season is not quite here yet, but it will be soon! In the meantime, this kind of soup is just as delicious with veggies you have at hand. Today, I used up a lot of veggies that were in my fridge for a while.. they are still good, but not as fresh as could be. Roasting, simmering and being blended into heavenly soup submission is fine for them though! 

Here's the ingredients I used: 

-3 big carrots

-2 onions 

-3 small beets

-3 shallots 

-2 apples

-1 cup of betta carde (swiss chard?)

-lots of fresh cilantro

-lots of fresh estragon 

-dry mustard

The process and seasoning is pretty much the same then in the recipe down bellow. Except I did not use any chicken broth. It's simmering right now and it smells pretty gooooood. 

Edit: it is delicious. 

 Fall is ze ultimate best season. No argument. Every romantic will tell you. No doubt it is a great season to cook, and eat local. One of my all-time-for-ever favorite fall recipe is this pumpkin soup. I make it at least once a year in October. Most years, I make it more then once. 

 If you are making this soup for one or two people, the cut outs of your Halloween carved pumpkin will probably be enough. (and a great way not to waste!) If you are planning on making a bigger batch, to freeze some extra portions, or have people over, buy a whole pumpkin for the occasion. Small to medium size will be perfect. Here we go!! 

Remove the top, empty all you can, scooping out with a spoon, and cut you pumpkin in halves. Get rid of the goo and seeds *. 

Dice and peel your pumpkin flesh. Now would be a good time to sharpen your knives. And be extra careful with your fingers, all squashes are pretty hard to cut, if you ask me!

Cut a couple of onions and have them brown with olive oil and butter. Add your pumpkin cubes and toss.

Coat the whole thing with a couple of generous spoonfuls of powdered chicken broth. I use a low sodium / low fat kind...And that's pretty much the only recipe I use this for. (I prefer to make my own chicken broth.) But in this case, it is the perfect sh*(t.

ADD THE SECRET INGREDIENTS!!! 

 Cover everybody in water, add the lid and bring to a big-great-boil. Don't be shy with seasoning. Pumpkin is pretty mild, a lot of fresh pepper is really what makes the soup.

 Let simmer for a gooood while, stir a couple times. Wait until the flavor are really mixed all together and strong, all the veggies should feel very tender. You can enjoy the soup as is, or have it as a smooth potage, blended with a hand mixer. Add a touch of cream, salt and pepper to taste. :)

* While you're at it, do roast your pumpkin seeds!! Mix in some tamari, coarse salt and pepper, and a touch of brown sugar. Spread them evenly on a cookie plate, with a sheet of parchment paper. 400 degrees, shake every 10 minutes, and cook until crunchy. 

Calendar : Septembre

Speaking of Fall... 

I don't know about you, but I'm crazy about Paula Red apples right now. (Not because they sound somewhat like my name, actually I always refrained from buying that kind because of that! God, was I missing out!!) What are your fall cravings?  

And now a tune to make you want to kick your feet, kiss your loved ones and eat pumpkin pie! 

Fall...

Some looks I'm looking forward to this fall. (I'll try to look this good) 

All photos from the copyright cemetery Pinterest. All I could trace back is the photo of the first leather jacket up top, it's from Free People. Otherwise all dead ends. I'm sorry. I'm a bad person. 

Mardis Manger : Zucchini & Salmon Fritters

 Well... look who's back!? Mardis manger.. it's been a while, right? Well, not having a proper kitchen for most of the summer is my excuse... even if we still ate some good BBQ, and other things not involving an oven. But let's get started...because a blog post being about not blogging is kind of all I've been doing lately and it's time to change things up! 

 This kind of little cake-ish thingies is often a go-to dinner idea around here. Especially when we are out of creativity. We usually have a can of tuna or salmon around, some left over veggies and these are easy to whip up and super delicious and satisfying. We usually enjoy the little fritter patties over a salad, or with some extra veggies. 

 I made my fritters from zucchini and salmon, simply because I already had zucchini around, and because I prefer salmon over tuna lately. But feel free to try any combinations here.. you really kind of can't go wrong... Crab meat, left over cooked fish, beans, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, etc. This kind of quantities will serve two. (I made 3 big patties, while I should have done 4 medium ones maybe ;))

 I grated my zucchini with a very fine grate. (that we usually use for Parmesan) I also cut my garlic scapes (we call it garlic flower in French) and lemon peels very small. If you have bigger chunks in your mix, your patties might unravel more when they are in the pan. 

 So you simply mix together your salmon (1 can) and zucchini with your garlic and lemon zest. I added some more flavors with capers, sriracha, salt and pepper. To help things stick together, add 1 egg and some panko. (or other breadcrumbs) You will get the feel of how much panko you need to add, to make your mix more or less moist. Start with a tiny bit and add up. If you end up too dry, add some lemon juice. You also want to have some breadcrumbs or panko in a plate, to coat your patties in it one last time before they go in the pan. We cook them in canola oil, and use as less oil as possible. 

  

I made a quick spicy mayonnaise by simply mixing some sriracha with store bought mayo. We ate the fritters with some green beans. (recipe in this previous post) Your flavor combinations are pretty endless when coming up with those little fritters, so it does not really get old or boring! Enjoy!! 

***

 When I made this last week and decided to take some pictures for this post, I kept having a feeling of déjà vu... My friend Janick shared a similar recipe over at Rose Flash's blog last year, do check it out TOO. I personnally cannot digest quinoa anymore (having loved it for a couple years prior to that... anybody in the same situation?) So I usually opt for pearl barley as a replacement, and most often stick with veggies over grains, since they are also packed with fiber. 

Espace Mukti - Été

 When writing the previous post about summer, I remembered this illustration I did a couple months ago for Espace Mukti. Karine is one of my favorite clients, it is always so much fun to work with her. (I know I've said that before, but it's true!) Working on this made me crave a beach vacation so bad, since we did not plan our annual trip to Chincoteague, VA this year. Turns out, we did pay a short visit to the Atlantic after all.. ;) 

Even though I did not do any yoga at the beach.. and my boat pose is nowhere near being that tight!

I'm thinking of maybe taking some classes at Espace Mukti this fall. I love doing yoga at home, in the comfort of my pj and privacy. But sometimes attending class is an amazing motivation. 

L'été

 I really have some mixed feelings going on with summer.. I know, most people just luurve summer. It's warm, you get to eat outside and enjoy the terraces, and festivals and stuff. I'll admit I do love some things about this season... It's my birthday in July, and I do love to swim, and I love fresh berries and veggies, and to eat al-fresco. But..but I feel like it can become complain-season. We find it too warm, we complain when it's raining, when it's too cold, then the allergies roll in and it just plain sucks. So.. yeah I'm kind of dreaming about autumn already. It's really my favorite season each year, and I just can't wait. The weather has been pretty perfect these last days and I am trying to enjoy summer while it's still around. 

 I also find it harder to balance work and play during the summer too... Especially this year. We took on the kitchen reno at the end of June, and honestly, that was a much bigger bite to chew then we thought. Things are finally starting to get back to normal. Last week, we got our counter tops and sink installed... (like hell-yeah-hallelujah after nearly 50 days of washing the dishes in the bathroom) It's hard to feel efficient when your life feels so disorganized at times. I feel bad about blogging less.. but truth is, I was just not inspired. It's like this summer dragged on and on, and also flew by like crazy... Like I said, mixed feelings!! 

 We did take a mini vacation to Hampton Beach last week. And it was exactly what we needed. We got away, got a change of pace : Constance woke up at 6am everyday there, I blame the ocean air. Still, walking a dog on a board walk by the sea is not a bad thing at all, even at 6am. I even out-lawed it and snuck her on the beach when it was really early. She had the best time ever and I'm glad I did it. While we loved our stay (even our swims, at 58F the water was pretty icy but still felt amazing) I don't know if I'd return to Hampton Beach per se. We did not click with the Jersey Shore vibe (as in the program, not the place) and things were pricy and very tourist-trap-y. We drove around and really loved Rye, NH.. and North Hampton, NH, maybe those places are better options? Anybody ever stayed in New Hampshire outside of Hampton Beach? 

 I don't have any pics of our vaca to share since we took this weekend to really disconnect with the Internet and our Iphones and social media and all. It feels great to just put it away and LIVE. Maybe one day I'll buy a camera and take actual pictures, I used to love it, you know, back in the days with my Nikon and some film! 

 So yeah.. back to almost normal, we will put the final touches around here and I can't wait to share our new kitchen. It's looking better and better as we get closer to being finally done. 

Calendar : August

Spa Balnéa

 A couple months ago I worked on an image with the people of Spa Balnéa for their summer campaign. They asked me to illustrate some tattoos over a picture, and well, that was a lot of fun! The theme this year is Été des chefs, it's all about gastronomy and food and epicurism. It was really different from other jobs, and pretty refreshing to work on. You can see the final version (we ended up modifying it quite a bit) on their website. 

Les Loupiots

 A friend of mine recently started a new blog, about being a Mom. She shares darling pics of her son Edgar, but also some other cute guest nursery tours, weekend ideas, recipes and fun links. I highly recommend giving it a look if you are a Mommy or Daddy too! I especially enjoyed the really touching text (birth story?) her husband wrote recently. It was extremely moving and made me weep like a baby. 

 I have worked with Sabrina before, on her save the dates, and it was true bliss to get to work with her again, this time on her blog's visual. 

Calendar : July*

In my opinion, July always represent the most-much-better month of summer. But if you are in Québec like me, you're probably wondering where summer's been hiding.. It's been pretty cold, and we keep having a lots and lots of rain. Sadly, for some cities and areas that also means floods and water damage. :( 

Maybe this drawing can bring back some warmth and sun our way? We could all use a bit more sunlight! 

*My family updated me on the fact that I wrote June twice into the blog post title. Mistake fixed ;)

Radio Silence

 I'm sorry for the silence around here! I've been busy, then a bit tired and unmotivated to post, and now we're in the middle of a massive kitchen reno. I'm sharing our inspiration -- (skillz) -- photoshop montage. Here's what the new kitchen is supposed to look like when we're done. Right now we don't have any counter tops, we're Guillaume is ripping out THREE layers of cheap sticky floor tiling... 

We're really looking forward to the end result! 

Calendar : June

Summer's finally here!! 

This song has nothing to do with this image.. actually it's far from the same mood. But it's my favorite song right now, so, yeah. 

I'm off to making a pitcher of homemade margaritas and some BBQ.

Calendar : June Sketch

I don't know if you remember... But I've been sourcing all my colors for the 2013 calendar from some of my favorite instagrams. Each illustration's color palette is taken from a photo (in this case two photos, okay..) I took during that specific month, last year. 

Gara

I was about to post a color palette - for the month of June's calendar - when I realized palettes are pretty much the only thing I've posted recently.. :S

I've been busy, but mostly with things I cannot share yet! So in the meantime, here's the final image of that sketch I had posted. The sun is finally back around here.. hoping it'll stick around a bit, it's crazy the difference it makes on the mood. 

Fresh & Cute

Fun new project going on, with a friend. 

Those are some of my favorite colors, ever. :) 

Summer Colors

Can it get warm again? Pretty please... 

This photo, and this line of knitwear.