And second, a photo of a Cassoulet. Because I love Cassoulet.

 

 

The first 15 days of the month are now blurry to me. I remember receiving my aunt from London and trying her delicious rhubarb cooked in a slightly sweet syrup, but I probably don’t remember anything else.

 

 

Well, I’m lying, we took some photos for the upcoming gigs that we’ve finally announced! It was only one month ago but it seems like it’s been ages. When you do a lot of things, time goes by differently.

 

 

The highlight of the month of July, though, was Paris. I finally gave myself the well-deserved “holidays” I needed. And I say “holidays” because I was actually working all the time. Yes, I know.

 

 

We had to get things ready for the tour and I couldn’t leave that undone. Also, Sílvia Fooding thrives in restaurants and food I haven’t tried before. I couldn’t let that pass either.

 

 

The story begins when Alex, a friend living in Paris. He asked me if I could take care of his cat. If I tell you the story of the previous days and you know anything about the universe, quantum physics or synchronicities you’d say….duh! But it’s a funny story anyway.

 

 

I’ve been obsessing about going to France (not Paris, anywhere in France) for ages. I love the country, I love the people (even though each time I say this, it means I would have to defend them with a thousand examples of their kindness). I love the food, the cultural offer, the beauty of their architecture, and the vibe in general.

 

 

This love is something that lives inside me since the first time I went there as a kid. I didn’t love Eurodisney as much as I loved Paris or Reims. I wanted to be near France, something about the place made me want to be there.

 

 

Some months before Alex told me, I was feeling very nostalgic. I was watching “Les Carnets de Julie” almost every day, I was reading French books, listening to french podcasts and fantasising about the moment I would go there.

 

 

I remember, in April, I was planning my next trip to Barcelona (work and health related trip) and I just thought…maybe I can go to the border for 1 hour, that would suffice. But in June, France was in lockdown.

 

 

I remember thinking about the possibilities. I struggled to find an excuse just to cross the border, buy a baguette and leave…I analysed every possible scenario in my mind and then…I realised it didn’t make any sense. So I remember snuggling in the sofa for a while and when Carlos saw me, I asked him, almost crying (I know, very dramatic) to pass me France’s Lonely Planet guide. I opened it and felt so misserable for not being able to go there.

 

 

Another year had passed and I just wanted a bit of France. It’s been since 2017 that I’ve been dreaming about this.

 

 

But then, I noticed I was wanting it too much and it wasn’t normal to feel what I was feeling…I am a holistic coach and I teach this kind of stuff in my sessions. However, when it affects you it’s more difficult to grasp.

As funny as this whole story sounds, I was feeling awful. I felt like a very important part of myself was missing and wanted to stay there cuddling the book.

 

 

 

Then I realised, that wasn’t me and I left the book aside and said out loud: “No! Whenever I have to go to France, I’ll go. And it would be perfect. I won’t be making a thousand different plans just in case everything goes wrong. I won’t have to wear a mask on the street and it won’t be just a two hour drive to stay there for five minutes and buy a baguette. It would come in perfect timing”

 

 

Next day, Alex sent me the message. I remember accepting almost instantly. You don’t question the universe when the opportunity comes. The best thing, I was making him a favour because he didn’t know who could take care of the cat (Leia). As it’s common in manifestations, it was a win-win.

 

 

And there I went, I took Carlos because we needed to work on some stuff of the tour and also, I needed a camera for all the restaurant pictures I will be publishing from now on. Because I’m sure you want to know about all the places I’ve visited and all the food I’ve eaten.

 

 

I must say he took the job very seriously, even more than me. I remember some moments in which Carlos was giving me directions like: “Love yourself more!” because I was chewing a pizza bite instead of noticing him taking the picture. I get very serious when it comes to food, but not when it comes to photos. That’s why I never look good while I eat 😂

 

 

We had a great time. And although there was a lot of work involved, I got to enjoy the feeling of a Summer holiday some days. I enjoyed the places I’ve been noting down for years and redeemed myself trying some food I couldn’t try on 2017 because of the car accident.

 

 

I closed the cycle and honoured those moments. Even if the food was not what I would go for today, probably. I think it’s important to do this sort of rituals.

 

 

Another great thing about this trip was being able to meet Alex again, and his beautiful wife, Julie. Alex and I met in 2017 and we’ve been making plans of me going to Paris and try the food ever since. We are such food nerds both of us. We have a lot in common: cats, food, animation, music and comic books. What’s not to love about us?

 

 

Being able to meet him again and try food with him, was something we needed to do. The restaurant list was getting too big 😅 Even though they left soon, we were able to hang for a couple of meals. Yes, I count the meals, not the days ✨

 

 

And, what can I say about Paris? It’s as beautiful as I remember, but even better. Last time I went, I was in my early twenties. Now, I’m a little bit older (not too much). I enjoy things in a very different way. It’s enjoying with the 5 senses vs enjoying full spectrum.

 

 

Mocktails in the Happy hour was something recurrent. As were watching a movie at night when I came back tired after so many steps.

 

 

 

My Health app must have thought my phone was stolen. There were days marking 35000 steps. My feet and legs were trying to let me know I needed a bit of rest. 

 

 

Carlos and I ended up coming back to a pizza place where they had amazing simple pizzas. Carlos is the complete opposite to me. Whenever he finds a place he loves, he wants to go there often. Me? I wouldn’t repeat a restaurant in a month, then I’d come back next year and go to the ones I loved the most.

 

 

But I must say, I follow Carlos desires to repeat places because that is what makes a routine and makes you remember a trip.

 

 

I ended up trying a lot of Lebanese food. I was a bit dried our with so much carbs in the shape of baguettes, croissants and other beautiful things.

 

 

Actually, I’ve been eating fruit, veggies and nuts almost exclusively since I came back. My body needs them.

 

 

What can I say about art. It is everywhere, I loved how the Place des Vosges was full of Art Galleries and found one with sculptures by Valérie Hadida. I loved them.

 

 

But it didn’t stop in the galleries. I found these beautiful ladies with nice minimal drawings and bought one of them.

 

 

Art was even in the floor. Many broken pieces of concrete were restored in a beautiful manner. I loved that.

 

 

Even though I’m not a dessert person, Paris was full of sugar for me. I’m sure I wouldn’t eat like that if I’d go back again, though. I believe I was craving it and being Paris, it’s the perfect scenario for a sugar craving.

 

 

The weather was incredibly inconsistent. It felt like Galicia. Carlos and I keep joking that wherever we go, we turn the place into a Galician dream. We joke, but it’s getting serious.

 

 

The days when the rain poured down, I decided to walk anyway. Yes, I just walked and ate in Paris. Basically. That’s what I do most of the time I visit a place.

 

 

Carlos sometimes tells me that it’s a bit intense that as soon as I finish eating I’m searching for the place where I’ll have dinner and walk there. Yes, that’s my thing. But between lunch and dinner there’s many hours to enjoy. But the true purpose is the food.

 

 

I didn’t have more than one ice cream in the 20 days I stayed there. And it was more than enough. But I needed to have one from Amorino. It’s another thing I promised myself.

 

 

And more synchronicities. I met this guy while walking through France.

 

He’s a filmmaker and I admire his work. He has a youtube channel I found by chance some years ago when I watched one of his videos in Mexico. I’ve been watching him since then and thought I’d say hi. We ended up exchanging numbers and meeting again in a little party at his apartment. All the people I met that night were from a different country. I enjoy meeting new people as much as I enjoy eating new foods. It’s all exciting. It was a fun soirée. 

 

 

Elsa, was the person I talked to the most during the evening. I loved her way of talking about any serious topic in a light way. I love having deep conversations with people. We had a lot of things in common. 

 

 

 

All of us made plans for meeting whenever they came here or we went anywhere else. When you are used to travel for work, you never know where you are going to meet the people you know.

 

 

The same happened with Glen. We didn’t know he was going to be in Paris, and we didn’t plan on meeting him at all, but some common friends where with him and we ended up seeing him again. Talking about plans, France and pre-amps and microphones. Life is amazing, and the more I understand about life, the more these kinds of things happen.

 

 

It’s interesting how you go to a place where you don’t know anyone and end up meeting people every two days. I love that about life. I make plans on cities according to the food and the people that I know. I love life.

 

 

I hope your Summer is going well. I am having a blast and I’d say I don’t want it to end, but I know it’s not because it’s Summer…it’s because I’m moving.

 

 

I also ate some homemade food, and I enjoyed picking what I thought was a little bit more typical and not so European. Like this beautiful long radishes. 

 

 

Drawing on location was something I ended up not doing as much as I planned. Sometimes you need to go with the flow, and the flow this time was walking, meeting people and eating. 

 

 

Yes, and apricot/pistachio flavoured everything:

 

 

But this Summer is not only wonderful things, though. When I came back I had to deal with the death of a very loved one. I’m going to miss her like crazy. She had the greatest energy ever and she was well loved. But, her death was an excuse for the whole family to have a lunch-dinner and enjoy each other’s company.

 

 

We celebrated her life instead of her death. I believe that i’t’s the best way to go. It doesn’t mean we won’t miss her, but we won’t be doing anyone any favour being extremely sad. Of course this feelings and emotions come and go, and I’ve already cried my eyes out a couple of times. But, after validating my feelings, I think about something good I learned from her or a beautiful moment we shared together, the sound of her particular voice, something special she did and all the legacy she left behind. Then I smile with a bittersweet sentiment and decide I don’t need to stay there, I can keep moving and it doesn’t mean I am not honouring her.

 

 

Emotions are a very complicated thing, and I’ve learnt I’d much rather stay in a positive mood, even if it looks impossible, but only after understanding how I really feel. You can vibrate high while you are sad. I’ve done it before. In this past five years, I’ve learnt a lot of things I couldn’t understand before. 

 

 

 

But I don’t want to leave you with the bittersweet feeling. I want you to enjoy life. But don’t enjoy it because it is too short, enjoy it because it’s your purpose. It’s everybody’s purpose, actually.

 

 

Don’t take things so seriously and enjoy the little things, the big things and even the bad things. They are a part of life, and that’s what we came here to do.

 

 

As always, have fun and keep fooding!