Bonjour! Have you had a good week? Mine has been spent working, cooking delicious food (see the leek and gorgonzola quiche above) and daydreaming about our recent trip to Paris (which was nicer than looking at the grey sky outside). As usual, I have also been collecting interesting links recently so here they are for a nice Saturday read:

- A good question about biscuits versus scones that made me quite hungry. Let's get baking!

- This interview with Paul A Young needs to be read with some chocolate handy (believe me!).

- This London renovated home is so beautiful.

- Rather than focusing on other people's successes or thinking we haven't achieved enough by the time we reach our mid-thirties, let's be inspired by this Chinese man whose career only took off when he reached 58.

- I recently made this wonderful lemon Meyer focaccia at a dinner party with friends and it was a delicious success.

I have been to Paris many times, mostly visiting family members or quickly passing through to catch a train and get to my region. I have also visited many Paris museums and seen a lot of sights while on a school trip when I was 14, or on my own 16 years ago while staying for a little holiday at my aunt and uncle's in a nearby suburb. But staying in a hotel right in the heart of the city, exploring by foot and finding a lot of delicious food to try, this was a first for me.

We arrived there the day after Christmas and spent three wonderful days in the City of Light. It feels short but  we managed to fit a lot of things in without having to run everywhere (and we barely took the Metro).

Christmas time in Nantes. Two days spent in this beautiful city before heading to my hometown.
As a present to each others for the holidays, we decided to have a mini stay in Nantes at the start of our trip and Paris at the end. And what a lovely present, we had such a great time walking around these cities cheerfully decorated for the festivities!
Our time in Nantes was divided between visiting different areas of the city centre, eating in lovely places, shopping, catching up with my family members who live there and feeling a bit nostalgic (that last bit was just me as this is my favourite city in France, it holds many memories as it was home to me for five years when I was a student).

How was your week?
I am back here with my little Saturday links for the first time in 2018. I have been taking it easy these past couple of weeks as I somewhat felt a bit more drained after coming back from my holidays than before (yes, I know it is meant to be the other way around...). So, I focused on beautiful things instead and relaxed with good food and books (to balance with work days).

- This beautiful and touching story my friend Jamie wrote about cooking for her brother (I read this last year when it was published and had kept it in a corner of my 'beautiful things to read' box - as I chose 'bienveillance' (kindness) as a word for 2018, it felt appropriate to share Jamie's story first thing here).

- These lovely comments about friendship.

- An interesting article if one of your goals for 2018 is to make your year more mindful.

- I made this crazy delicious tomato soup and it is voted one of our favourites at home.

- At a time of year when people focus a lot on new resolutions, I prefer talking about goals.

Here we go! Another year, another set of goals.

But before I get on with all of this, Happy New Year!! Bonne année!
Thank you once again dear readers for following along in 2017. It always means the world knowing Crème de Citron is read in a lot of places and I love reading your comments here and there. It is a real motivation to keep writing stories about lifestyle, food and travels.

So, goals.