Our Day in Paris

We decided to visit Paris for the first time today, and to be honest I thought I would hate it. I thought it would be big and hot and crowded, that people would be rude and that we would get lost, but it wasn't and I loved it.

We didn't want to do too many things during out first visit, and we really wanted to find this gluten free store that we found online last night. So we woke up early this morning, got in the car and drove to Paris...

We started the morning by walking around a bit until we found a boat tour that went down the Seine. It was nice, not too long and we got to see most things from a very interesting angle.

When we got off the boat, it was time for lunch. We walked around a bit and found a cute little restaurant to eat in... more on this tomorrow...

When we were leaving the restaurant, I asked the waiter if he knew where we could find the gluten free store, it was just two metro rides away. We hopped on to the metro and got to the store,unfortunately only to find that it had already closed for the day.

We walked around that neighbourhood for a bit, and luckily we ended up finding, a different natural food store that stocked loads of gluten free things as well! So we were in luck. We celebrated with a coffee in a local cafe, and then hoped back on to the metro and rode it to the car's parking spot.

As we drove out of the city we drove past the famous Arc de Triomphe and back home to Belgium.

I loved Paris, I especially loved how easy it was to get around by the metro. I loved how everyone was much more helpful than I could have ever expected and I loved how much fun Alara had there. We can't wait to go back!

My NEW favourite chicken salad

Last Sunday I went to the market and bought a rotisserie chicken. We ate in on Sunday night, and re-ran it on Monday, but there was still a bit left, so I thought, I'd make some chicken salad. I love chicken salad. My old favourite recipe involved chicken, mayo, celery, onion and grain mustard. But not anymore!

I have found a new chicken salad recipe and want to share it with you. I was looking in the fridge, getting out my traditional ingredients, when I came across something, cherry jam.

I thought, this will give it a nice sweetness and it does. Here is my new recipe.



Cherry Chicken Salad

cooked chicken (cut up)
chopped up celery and red onion
mayonaise (as much as you'd like)
cherry jam
salt and pepper

Put all the ingredients in a bowl, and mix adding as much mayo as necessary to stick it all together. Put on your favourite bread product (with or without gluten). Enjoy!

A funny story from the road

Here's a humorous story that happened on the road...

Let me start with a little background info... When we were getting ready for the big move and road trip, I was feeling a bit useless, Seyfi was running around getting things ready, and all I was able to do was to do was pack boxes (not what I call fun).

So, I asked Seyfi, 'how far do you want to get once we get off the ferry in Italy?' He thought we would be able to get as far as Basel, Switzerland, and my big ideas was that I would book the hotel room there. So off I went to search the internet for a hotel...

Here's the thing, hotels in Basel, Switzerland are very expensive, and we would only be spending the night there, probably not much more than that because we wanted to leave very early the next morning as well.

I searched and searched, and finally found a hotel that was listed as 'cheaper hotel outside of Basel' and it looked great! Mexican restaurant, and breakfast started at 5:30 and was included in the price, with was very reasonable. So I booked it.

We were a bit worried about how we would find it, so I clicked on the map, but it wouldn't open (it's a google map, those in Turkey know why). So I took the address, typed it into yahoo maps and punched it into our GPS and said job well done! I was very proud of myself.

That day, we ended up getting off of the ferry very late, much later than planned. The drive through Swştzerland was amazing, more beautiful than I ever could have imagined, but it was very late by the time we got to Basel, it was after midnight.

We were looking at our map, looking at the GPS, we could find the intersection of the two streets where the hotel should have been, but it wasn't there. We tried calling, but it wouldn't connect. We were tired, cranky and just wanted to sleep. We even thought about just pulling over and sleeping in the car.

Then we saw a taxi, Seyfi(who is not your typical man), ran over to him with our map and GPS and asked where the hotel was. The taxi driver looked at the map, looked at the GPS, and looked at Seyfi and told him he was in the wrong COUNTRY! Our hotel was in GERMANY, not Switzerland!

Luckily, Basel, Germany is only ten minutes from Basel, Switzerland, so we were able to get to the hotel, and more importnatly to bed in no time.

Here is my question- how are there two towns with the same names, and the same street names that interesect each other, ten minutes apart???

They guy at the hotel told us it happens all the time....

Alara and crossiants

Of course we could get croissants in Turkey, but they aren't like the ones here.

Croissants in Belgium are light and flaky, they are soooo buttery. They have crusty flakes on the outside, and a wrapped yummy dough inside. Alara loves them, she loves them plain or with chocolate. She really is very cute about them, as she stills them from your plate...

We do feel very sorry for Seyfi, who sits there watching us while he eats his gluten free croissants, that are nice, but not as nice. However, we are very grateful that we have been able to find both gluten free sliced bread (the return of sandwiches!) and gluten free croissants.

The other day, Alara and I walked to a local bakery and got some plain and chocolate croissants. We couldn't wait until we got home, so we stopped under a tree and ate one plain and one chocolate. Alara had so much fun, calling it a picnic. We'll have to do it again soon!

Mons Market

You all know how much I love a good farmers' market, and yesterday morning Alara and I went to the Mons Market. It was a very good market, and had a variety of things to buy.

Of course it had fruits and vegetables, and we bought lots of those! Lettuce, carrots, oranges, butternut squash! Blueberries! (two things that I haven't been able to buy in years!!

But there were other things there too, there were trucks roasting chickens and meats right before my eyes! I bought one of the chickens, and it was quite nice.

There were also many different types of cheeses on offer. I chose one of the cheese makers and bought a selection of her cheeses. They were all very lovely (honestly though I didn't care for the camembert (but that might be me, not the cheese).

We could also find lots of differen breads, pastries and desserts, but Alara found the one thing she loves most... waffles!

The Road Trip- A Recap

I'm just going to start by apologizing- my camera was packed in the back of the car for most of the trip, so there are basically no pictures from our trip, not that we had much time to take pictures.

Let me start by saying that the trip was FABULOUS!!! I truly loved every minute of it!

The scenery was amazing, between Turkey and Belgium there are so many different things, flat dry areas, forests, little villages, mountains, lakes, seas, cities, flat fields it was all amazing.

Also, the ferry completely surpassed my expectations. Our rooms were the perfect size. We were sure that the food on board would be expensive, but it wasn't. There was a children's' room for Alara to play in. It was truly a wonderful part of the trip.



From the drive, I know that I really would love to go back and see Switzerland a bit closer up, and preferable, not at night.

The one place though that sticks out in my mind as a place I would love to return was Lake Como, Italy. It is such a beautiful place, you are driving along through the mountains, you pass through a tunnel, and wow, there it is. A lake in between the mountains. A true beauty.

Having said that, there are a few things that I would change for the next time.

One, I will add at least one more day to the trip. I felt like we just didn't have time to get out of the car to relax and enjoy anything, we had planned to spend an afternoon in Milan, but because the ferry arrived three hours late, it was impossible to do that.

This wasn't a huge problem though (at it is the second thing I would change), I will not be travelling through Italy on a Sunday again. We really wanted to be able to eat something and shop in a market in Italy because we had heard (through Gluten free girl) that Italy was great for a gluten free person, and had lots of products available.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see any of these, or even eat in a restaurant there. The only things open in Italy were stops on the highway, that didn't exactly have much on offer. It's okay though, we had some great coffee and chips as we passed through.

I really loved the trip, it was a great experience for us as a family, and I know that we all had a wonderful time.

We've arrived (and are finally connected)

Today's post will be quite short....

...because, after a very long road trip, five days of house hunting and staying in a hotel, one week in our house without furniture, one week in the house with furniture, we are finally connected to the Internet, and with all of you!

I will post more about the trip, but what I will let you know about today is that Belgium is a lovely country, and I know that we will be very happy here. It is not as hot as Turkey, and it rains a lot! but the people are very nice, and my French is improving every day.

Seyfi is back to work, and Alara seems to be settling in, (she called our house 'home' today), and I am getting use to the whole 'housewife' way of life.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow, if I find my camera that is...