Marché aux Puces de Paris-Saint Ouen

What's better than this for thrift shopping?



















But the best part was him...

a sad dog!

***

Now I'm off to dinner in my fav restaurant ever! What a great way to conclude this day!

Do you like to thrift shop?

An Antwerp guide by an italian girl- Part II

So, here we are for show you the first reason why I decided to spend a day in Antwerp, and I'm not afraid to say so: Shopping!



Antwerp is full of nice shops and especially of my beloved vintage ones, but let the addresses do the talk:

Belchique

Kloosterstraat 177

Labels Inc.

Aalmoezenierstraat 4

Jutka &Riska

Nationalestraat 87

Sussies

Oude Koornmarkt, corner Zwaluwstraat 69

Bonaventura

Aalmoezenierstraat

Pardaf

Gemeentestraat 8

Think twice

Lange Klarenstraat 21

I also went to Urban Outfitters because I love so much their clothes and here in Europe the stores are rare (only in the northern part) and in England.

***

With all this shopping you'll become hungry at a certain point (like I did; many times). The city is full of cute places for lunch or for a snack. Unfortunately I can't suggest you any place for dinner since I didn't dine there. I really appreciate the fact that there were a lot of  clearly indicated vegetarian option on the menus of the restaurant that I checked (it's usually the same in Leuven, but one time I couldn't take a soup because all the option -6/7 soups in total- were made with chicken stock; this won't happen to you in Antwerp for sure!). Anyway, for lunch I went here:

Lombardia

Lombardenvest 78

I basically chose this place because it was colorful and it has the same name of the italian region where I study, so I was curious to discover why (= the name of the street is Lombardenvest and it has really something related to the italian region). I had one of the best pumpkin soup ever, but it went with only a slice of bread (I need more carbs to tackle an afternoon of shopping!).

Earlier I stopped for a coffee and to plan my day here:

Exky

It's a kind of all natural high quality fast-food restaurant chain and it was full of yummy sandwiches and cakes. I got a good coffee (yes! It wasn't dirty water as usual, a carrot chocolate and some dark chocolate that I'm finishing as I type this, yum)

Another place really worth to mention for baked goods is this:

Desiree de Lille

Schrijnwerkersstraat 14-18

***

To finishing up this afternoon guide to Antwerp, here are two more reasons to visit it:

It's super girlie

Even walls are worth to notice

Enjoy it!

Random Monday II

Second post of the day. Lucky you!

I collected my database book (exciting!) from the post office and now he is menacingly staring at me... brrr

It doesn't even have words!!!

***

As snack I had an eat natural bar, documented (and eaten) very quickly since I didn't want to look like a crazy while snapping a photo of it. I don't think I succeed.

It was good, but they practically forgot the dark chocolate part

in the cranberries, macadamias and dark chocolate flavor's expectation

Ok, I know I've just promised that I would not have gone grocery shopping anymore, BUT that was before I passed by an asian food shop that I had never seen AND I remembered that I needed some tomato sauce if a wanted to cook the premeditate dinner for tonight. So I just did it, but I limited myself at just one item:

Whole wheat soba noodles

I have NO idea how to use them,

Any suggestion??

Dinner was a long-term (=yesterday) craved item:

Whole wheat Pasta with Eggplant, Chickpeas and Black olives sauce

It was delicious and it took me like 20 minutes to make it.

While waiting for the water to boil, I sliced a small onion and browned it with some oil in a frying pan; then I added 1/2 medium-size diced eggplant, chickpeas and some water to make them cook. When the eggplant was tender, I added the tomato sauce, pepper and hot pepper to taste, black olives and some basil (not fresh because I forgot to buy it, ehm ehm). Then I threw the cooked pasta directly in the pan to mix all the flavor. Enjoy, I surely did! =)

"Dessert" was a boring pear, but I'm sure I'll eat some chocolate later since I'm studying database... Moral support needed!

Today, I didn't run but I walked for like three hours (not all at once!) and I'll probably do some stretching later since my back is hurting me. Mmm I forget things, my back is a pain, I don't go out because I'm tired, it definitely looks like I'm 81.

Random Monday

This morning I wake up relatively early for a no-class no-study day, but I thrown a lot of my morning time away doing this (totally worth it!!) and reading blogs (also totally worth it!) instead of starting to pack (bleah).

I ran some errands, though. Among these were returning my rented bike (I actually walked to the bike shop since after five minutes out it started raining. A lot!), going to a grocery store; completely forgetting what I had to buy; going out from the store; remembering what I had to buy; going in another grocery store; buying the THING (that you'll see as part of my lunch); chasing the bus and finally take it.

Oh right! I also made some thrift shopping; for 9.55 € I won:

Two fancy glasses (I see a lot of nice parfaits in my future),

a plate, a rainbow table cloth, a not-needed grey dress,

plus the blue plate that I used for lunch (and I didn't want to wash yet ehm ehm)

***

Lunch was practically thrown together with the same ingredients as breakfast since I need to finish as food as possible before leaving -that means NO exciting grocery shopping this week =(

a Salad made with:

Baby spinach leaves (the THING)

1/2 pear

lamb's lettuce

pomegranate seeds

mixed seeds and nuts

(sunflower, pumpkin, almonds, flax, courgettes , pine nuts)

balsamic vinegar as dressing

2 slice of whole wheat bread with goat cheese

plus an orange and caffèlatte

Now I'm off to the post office to pick up my database book (bleah) for the exam that I have to do at home. I was secretly hoping that it was lost somewhere in Europe, but nope! So I don't have more excuses, dammit!

January, 14

Today I woke up too late for a proper breakfast, but too early for lunch, so I had just this:

Arizona diet green tea with ginseng

(very gooood)

It was also too late for doing something productive (studying, anyone?).

For lunch, I went to Greenway. Again. And it was good. Again. I ate a multi-vegetables soup and a ciabatta bread. I was sooo missing ciabatta.

Since I do(n't) have an exam on Monday, after lunch I went shopping

I'll surely find a way to use them

(I'm trying to convince myself that I didn't just waste 7 € for buying nice pieces of paper)

If  you ever will come to visit Leuven

(I don't know why and I've lived here for six months, but anyway who knows)

check this cute shop

Sales at the Body Shop

From America Today

I was willing to pay this 59 €, because I thought it was already the final price, so I was super happy when I discovered that the discount was still to be applied. (yeess)

I needed some shopping therapy.

All my happiness was wasted since I just had a huge discussion with my dad concerning my return home at the end of January.

I hate moving

(especially when it's the third time in six months)