Ingredients: onion, cardammon seeds, ginger, Esplette red pepper, coconut oil, coconut milk, vegetable broth, roasted pumpkin

I didn't think I could have mishaps with my camera while taking photos of food that doesn't move, food that sits still, and no-motion food but just before the hols I broke my 50mm lens taking pictures of the the raw veggie makis —um, let's just say I had two left feet while jumping over my very still food set. Then, today my camera somehow fell out of my hand and took a dunk into the soup before splashing everywhere and all I could recall was orange patchy blotches everywhere.

Clumsy, clumsy me, and a very lucky, lucky me as I had a protection filter that actually did what it was meant to do, protect my lens—close call. We are all cleaned up now.

Soups are the thing for me lately. I'm purging myself from refined sugar, dairy products, wheat, and alcohol this month so it's just easier for me to keep a big batch on hand and heat it up whenever I want. Besides, it's less hassle when I don't have to think about what to eat myself. Thinking for the three others in my family is plenty enough for me. Wouldn't you agree?

I usually have a variety of dairy replacements at home but I don't exclude it. We like to mix it up day to day so it makes it easier for me to snatch a bottle of dairy replacement out of the fridge when I am making something that normally needs some dairy product. These days I'm just making more of a conscious effort of what I consume than usual. I'm taking care of myself instead of neglecting myself. I call it my period of restoration. This is my jump start into the new year.

Roasted Pumpkin Ginger Soup

INGREDIENTS//Serves 4

• 700 grams pumpkin, roasted with skin
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) knob ginger
• 2 cardamom seeds
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1/4 teasoon chili powder ( I used Espelette red pepper)
• 2 cups (500ml) vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup (100ml) coconut milk

Toppings:

Crushed sea salt, grilled sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds
Pumpkin seeds, goji berries

INSTRUCTIONS

In a large pot, drop your coconut oil and add the onion, ginger, and cardammon seeds.

Cook until the onion is brown.

Add the vegetable broth.

Cut up your roasted pumpkin with the skin into chunks and add it to the pot along with the coconut milk and the chili powder.

Bring the soup to a boil. Then turn off the heat and let it stand before you use your hand mixer or blender to liquify it.

Use a mortar and pestle and crush some sea salt, grilled sesame seeds, and pumpkin seeds.

Sesaon with this topping accordingly.

Fruit flavors, coconut milk, and agave syrup.

Early Sunday morning as I stepped out the door on my way to the market, I was greeted by brisk weather. We had a heat wave just up until then so the contrast was startling. A surge of anxiety immediately entered my head—Where did I store the children's down jackets? Time to pack up the summer clothes (gosh, didn't i just take them out a month ago?) And the comforters?...

At the market, my hoarding tendencies shone through and I quickly filled my bag up with as much summer fresh fruit as possible. We never know when that dark, grey nimbostratus cloud may appear and disappear. If we are lucky, by next spring we will see sunshine again. That was me heading into panic mode.

We love berries & coconut and mango coconut flavor.

That all went away rather quickly. The sun proved stronger and stuck around. I came home with a load of fresh fruits, spent the following days making different flavor fruit popsicles, and eating them on our balcony in the sweltering heat with the kids.

We clung onto our last summer days together, sucking down our popsicles before heading back to school today. After the long summer hols, people are back at work, and children are back to school. Paris has resumed its daily rhythm. In France, they call it la rentrée. Wishing everyone a bonne rentrée!

Homemade Fruit Popsicles

INGREDIENTS//Yields 8 popsicles (2 ounce molds)

• Fresh fruit
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons agave syrup or maple syrup
• 1 lemon

INSTRUCTIONS

You will probably have to adjust the quantity of fruit and coconut milk to fill your popsicle mold.

We chose to make different fruit flavors for each popsicle holder so we blended each concoction individually and then filled the mold.

Prepare your coconut milk by adding 3 tablespoons of agave syrup to it. Stir to combine.

Choose a couple of pieces of fresh fruit (don't be afraid to mix and match!), add two tablespoons of coconut milk, and squeeze a couple of drops of lemon juice. Blend it, fill your mold, and then freeze it.