One of the things I love serving at a dinner party is a platter of various delicious cold things with a bowl of dip. You can find some really good store-bought dips but it is not actually that hard to make your own and it is also much nicer.
I became familiar with the idea of dips while living in Australia as I discovered entire supermarket aisles dedicated to this. And then every party we went to there always had a huge selection: spinach, corn, caramelised onions, artichoke, cheese, humus, beetroot humus, guacamole etc. the list could go on an on.

I do love having dinner parties where the main course is just a giant platter of cheese and charcuterie. To balance it, I add a few crudités (selection of raw vegetables) and a dip or two. As much as there are many many dips to choose from, I prefer to stick to just a couple I really like: humus and whipped feta. Those are easy enough to make at home rather than buying ready-made.

How was your week? I feel like mine went quite fast between juggling work, the blog, every day things and preparing my next trip (we're talking getting a visa, travel insurance, foreign money etc.). I managed to find good breaks to go stretch at my Pilates class, preparing meals while listening to the French radio and diving into a very interesting book before bedtime. It's all about finding a good balance sometimes!
Here is a little selection of links I collected this week:

- Something interesting: this story about a young girl having her portrait taken is truly beautiful and moving.

- Something delicious: I am really craving spaghetti carbonara after reading this blog post and seeing the beautiful photos accompanying it.

- Something else delicious: this recipe for leek soup and whipped feta might be of good use this weekend if the weather doesn't warm up.

- Something to wear: a French blogger I follow released a line of sustainable clothing with the brand Close this week and I have to say it all looks quite pretty.

- A film: I went to see this magical Disney movie last weekend with family members and it was very enjoyable, I was reminded of the type of movies I really loved watching as a child.

- A song: I have been listening to Arcade Fire quite a bit recently but especially this song from my favourite album of theirs.

Let's talk a little bit about eco-friendly things for the home here!
This post is not about going completely zero waste at home because I do not think this is something we can pretend whatsoever or that we will achieve anytime soon, we are not perfect. And I will not write a long speech about green life, or ecology either.
This is more about our efforts at diminishing the amount of waste found in everyday little things. These are small efforts, yes, but I feel like if I share a bit about ways to reduce the amount of plastic and paper waste at home, it might be helpful for those of you who would like ideas on how to do this, even one small step at a time.

There is quite a bit of plastic and paper waste that can be avoided when it comes to everyday things like: drinking water, cleaning the house, wrapping and covering food etc. The following solutions are the small things we have improved at home as an effort to reduce waste as much as we can. Both our waste and recycling bins have been filling up much less since we started this.

Here are the things that have helped our effort to use more eco-friendly products:

Bonjour! I hope you all had a good week! What have you been up to: work, holidays, cooking, reading, relaxing?
Mine was the type of week that slows down completely. After a past weekend of unusual events, it was time to just take it easy, catch up on work, focus on calming things like reading, make home a relaxing and cosy space and be creative with cooking.
Here are the weekly links for you to enjoy this Saturday:

- Something interesting: I love this to do list about adulting in the Springtime.

- Something else interesting: and while we are in the process of refreshing and adulting this Springtime, my friend Alex also shared some great tips for Spring decluttering.

- Something delicious: a tempting smoothie idea for breakfast. I do not like breakfast habits and always change the foods I eat for that time of day every few weeks so this would be perfect to try.

- Something else delicious: my friend Caroline at Yvonne & Guite is now baking and selling chocolate canelés in her range of wonderful little indulgences and it looks absolutely delicious (her canelés are to die for - if only she delivered to Ireland too...).

- A documentary series: there's a new season of Chef's Table coming to Netflix and this time it is about pastry! Have you watched the trailer? This is so exciting!

Is it Spring time already? Why am I still wearing a Winter coat then... I guess it is a season that is only warming up slightly so I feel it is reasonable enough to continue sharing soup recipes over here.
After all, there is a French expression that says 'en avril ne te découvre pas d'un fil' (in April, don't remove a thread - of your clothing). So, my plan is to keep a few (a lot actually these days) layers on and make some delicious Spring vegetable soup such as the leek one I am sharing today. The thing about this soup is that it is not just plain leek. There is some added celery for flavour and potato for creaminess. And to make it even better I add a wonderful topping to it: whipped feta.