Fancy a Fika?

Friendly, Funky and Fresh. That is the three words I would use to describe my favourite Cafe in Manly: Fika Swedish Kitchen. Best known for nailing a good  coffee, Fika also nails a good feed. As a matter of fact, ‘fika’  translates to ‘taking a break for coffee and a bite to eat’ in Swedish and it does so perfectly. Hearty food,original menu options and a beautiful Scandinavian set up will leave you wanting to come back for more.

Friendly

This place has an incredibly friendly atmosphere. From the cheerful staff, the smiley, content customers to the inviting interior design (see photo above for cute ‘hej, hej’ sign at the counter), Fika has a perfect ambience to boost up your mood. The staff is attentive, well-informed and keen to answer any questions you may have regarding the sometimes atypical menu options.

Funky

One notable feature of this cafe is its set up. The Scandinavian styled interior design is characterised by minimalism, simplicity and functionality. I am a big fan of the wooden furniture, simple yet very charming table setting and the calming colour palet of blue, white and yellow. To polish it all off, Fika has great tunes playing in the background. Puts a smile on my face every time!

But what makes Fika so funky is its ability to mix lollie bags with jugs of cider (and doing so harmoniously). I mean, have a look at the menu online and try to find something that doesn’t appeal to you. That’s right, what’s so cool about Fika is that, sitting at the one table, you could have:

• Your mate indulging in a greasy Scandinavian inspired hot dog with a Pistonhead Custom Lager beer.
• His girlfriend, a bit hungover, who has chosen a lighter option consisting of the ‘Refuel’ cold pressed juice (banana, filtered water, coconut, kale, spinach, pineapple, mango, lime, kiwi) accompanied by the Knäckebröd crispbread with free range egg and Kalles caviar.
• Your little sister who has gone for the Swedish Breakfast Tray (fralla, muesli and natural yoghurt, boiled egg and orange juice), a Belgium hot chocolate and a cinnamon roll on the side (yep, she’s hungry).
• And you have chosen ‘The Champion’ (sauteed forest mushrooms with horseradish cream & free range poached egg on sourdough) because you rock. And you thought, why not, I’ll have the Bryggkaffe Swedish brew coffee as well.

Honestly though, I haven’t even covered one tenth of the menu here. The portions are generous and the food is busting with flavour. There are also many affordable options with $10 weekly lunch special being a hit.

Fresh

I first heard of Fika Swedish Kitchen because of its popularity for nailing a good coffee. Being a foodie, I was attentive to the food and was thrilled with the quality of the meal brought to my table. You can hear and smell the food being prepared. I had the sensation that my grandma had just baked the fresh cinnamon rolls for me. Awesome stuff.

Ps: if you check out Fika on a Sunday you may be lucky enough to fall upon one of the infamous nutorious muffins :)

 

 

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Something To Get You Through Monday Morning

I’m on a bit of a roll with banana-based recipes at the moment. I just hate chucking away over-ripe bananas when they are so perfect for baking. So this time I created a breakfast banana muffin recipe inspired by my beautiful friend’s recipe, thanks Kelsey!

Makes approximately 8 small muffins.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 2-3 over-ripe mashed bananas
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1tsp cinnamon

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees and prepare your muffin tints with muffin holders.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut oil and honey. Add the eggs and whisk well.
3. Add the mashed bananas and milk, followed by the banking soda, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Mix well.
4. Add the flour and oats to the mixture and mix together using a large spoon (mix until combined). You can add extra ingredients here if you like such as chocolate chips or nuts.
5. Fill your muffin holders about two-thirds of the way. Sprinkle a few oats on top.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean).
7. Enjoy!!!

I loved serving these muffins with yogurt sprinkled with honey on the side. These are also great take-away snacks!

If you have any suggestions please feel free to shoot them to me!

Who Can Say No to Banana Bread?

Who can say no to banana bread? Really… it’s just the best.

After finally handing in an assignment which had taken all of my energy over the past few days, I got the sudden urge to bake something yummy. I was pretty tired so wanted something nice and easy to make. After glancing at sad looking over-ripe bananas in my fruit ball I realised they were calling for me. I hate wasting food, so banana bread it was!

And here is the exciting news. I have made my own banana bread recipe which is low in sugar and also has dairy-free and gluten-free alternatives for those with allergies! Most banana bread recipes use so much sugar which is unnecessary because bananas themselves are naturally really quite sweet. So I hope you enjoy this recipe ;)

Tip: banana bread is best served toasted with a side of butter and accompanied by a hot drink like a cup of coffee or English breakfast tea. Yumzies!!

 

Dry Ingredients:

– ¾ cup of plain flour (use buckwheat flour for a gluten-free alternative)

– ½ cup of almond meal

– 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder

– ½ teaspoon of baking soda

– 1 teaspoons of cinnamon

– 1 tablespoon of sugar (you can use more if you want, maybe ¼ or up to ½ cup)

– Pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients:

– 3 very ripe bananas (make sure they are very ripe – as in pretty yucky looking – because you will get most of the sweetness from these bad boys)

– 2 large eggs

– ¼ cup of milk (use nut milk for a dairy-free alternative)

– 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

– 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar

–  1/3 cup of melted butter (¼ cup of melted coconut oil if you are dairy-free)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a rectangular loaf tin with baking paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla extract, coconut oil and apple cider vinegar.
4. Mash up your bananas and then add them to the wet mixture. Mix well.
5. Add the wet mixture to the dry and fold through until combined.
6. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and chuck in the oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Let’s talk about girls (and their issues with food). There, I said it.

R U OK? 

Today is ‘R U OK?’ Day. A day to remind us that a simple question can do a lot.

In this context, I have decided to write about a rather contentious topic. A topic which is difficult to put into words and even more difficult to discuss publicly. However, I have chosen to write a post about it because I think that it is something we need to talk about. Why? Because I am sick of witnessing so many women feeling so guilty for eating a piece of cake, when we have way bigger fish to fry. It may sound silly to some of you, so you don’t have to read on, but I do know a number of girls who have fallen into some degree of depression over this so, in my opinion, it is definitely worth addressing.

Firstly, although I am primarily targeting this post towards girls (simply because I feel that girls are the ones concerned by this more than boys), I am by no means excluding any gender.

The myths about the ‘superfood’ trend (or whatever you want to call it)

Right, so… Girls, let’s talk about food.

Far too many young women are uncomfortable and unhappy about the way they look. One of the biggest causes of this is the over ‘healthy’ trend which has begun to spread everywhere. Everyday we are bombarded with information about what we should or shouldn’t be doing. It seems that the obsession is ‘how to loose weight?’, ‘what’s the best work out to do?’, ‘what is the best detox to do?’ and the list goes on.

Sorry but that just makes me sick.

It’s so freaking stupid that we let ourselves get so carried away with it all. I’m sorry to break it to you but all of these so called ‘healthy’ brands and advocates for healthy/sports only really care about making money. Ok, maybe not all of them, but 99% of them maybe?

Yep, I fell for it too

What can I say… I will admit that I completely fell in this silly vicious cycle too. Thankfully, I stopped myself before it got out of hand as I realised what type of person I was becoming. I also catch myself occasionally falling back into that sort of frame of mind but I quickly move on to something else, something worth my time and worry.

Your guide to a healthy, balanced and happy self

The good news is I have some advice to give to all of you. And I would LOVE for you to get back to me if you have any questions or would like to share your story/advice/thought with me too!

The key is to: keep it simple!

Rule number 1: Don’t over think it

Do not over think what you eat. It is very important to eat heathy, however, there is a difference between being healthy and being ‘over’ healthy. Think back to when you were a child and did not understand the concept of how ice-cream could be bad for you. Eat what you want! Eat bread! Eat three proper meals a day and stop the snacking. When I go to France I witness people who love their food and eat lots. They just know when to stop and they don’t over think it.

Rule number 2: Don’t over do it

Don’t exercise like a maniac. Be active, yes, definitely. That is so important. But you don’t have to do something if you don’t want to. If running is not your thing then walk. Walking to work if a great start. Or doing yoga or joining a team sport maybe? Quit the gym if it makes you unhappy and puts you in a shit mood. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Rule number 3: Don’t follow it

Stop following those stupid Instagram accounts of women who spend their lives spray tanning and staring at themselves in the mirror. Or the accounts that only drink green tea and almonds for breakfast. Read a book instead, or catch up on the world news.

To sum it up

The less you think about it the better you will feel and the better you will look. I promise. If you need to chat to anyone please feel free to contact me.

For more information about R U OK? Day click here.

My thoughts about Ora

Hi all!!

I apologise for my lack of posts lately. It really has been a while since I’ve written on my blog… Now that I am back at uni and getting into a bit of a routine again I promise I will be better!

Today, I would like to share my thoughts about a cafe which I discovered on the weekend called ‘Ora‘, located on Whistler street in Manly. Now Ora is not your typical cafe… Nope, definitely not. It is quite different actually, starting from the fact that no paper napkins nor plastic straws are to be found there for example.

So, what is Ora in a nutshell?

Ora is an organic cafe in Manly which thrives on the idea that you can eat yummy healthy food.

What type of food do they serve there?

The cafe serves breakfast and lunch, including drinks and snacks. Although the food options are rather limited, the menu caters for a range of taste buds and the drink list runs for a few pages. Whether you are more of a sweet tooth, enjoy a typical bacon and egg sandwich or fancy trying something different, Ora has got you covered. However, what struck out to me the most was the original meal options like the savoury porridge served with bacon for example (see photo below!). In terms of drinks, naturopathic teas are the cafe’s go-to as well as the novel ‘Tumeric Latte’ which I got the chance to try!

Overall experience?

I really enjoyed having breakfast there with my family on a fine Saturday morning. The vibe is relaxed, the staff is friendly and attentive and the design of the cafe rocks! Plus you will definitely feel nice and full after your meal as the portions are generous which is always a bonus.

Thumbs up?

What I liked the most about Ora is that the place definitely centres around serving organic and nice food but, most importantly, it is not about ‘cleansing’ or being ‘vegan’ or anything extreme like that. Ora genuinely aims to create yummy wholefood which is sustainable, makes you feel good and is delicious! The package deal really. And price wise, dishes costs $20 or under so not too bad!

So, Ora, you have my thumps up!!

Fluffy Pancake Recipe

Hi all!

I’m really excited to share this recipe with you today. My sister and I love eating pancakes on the weekend, in fact, it has become a bit of a ritual for us now. I’ve tried some of the ‘healthy’ pancake recipes out there but, let’s face it, those ‘everything-free super healthy’ recipes usually taste pretty damn crappy and they require you to use the most complicated/expensive ingredients. Ain’t nobody got time for that…

So, I’ve finally made my own recipe which I feel has a perfect balance of yumminess and healthiness. What I like the most about this recipe is that the pancakes have a very smooth, fluffy consistency (thanks to the beaten egg whites) which is awesome. I made my 13 year old brother try these out to test whether the recipe was tasty enough from his perspective. He gave me the thumbs up and ate the whole batch. I’m guessing that’s a good sign…

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Here are the ingredients you need to serve about 2 people:

• 1/4 cup of buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup of almond meal
• 1 small teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 eggs (separated)
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 banana
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla paste (or vanilla essence)
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar (which gives a really nice caramel taste but you can omit the sugar if you prefer)
• Butter (or coconut oil) to cook the pancakes
• Toppings (this is really personal but here’s the list of ingredients which I usually use): plain yogurt, maple syrup, desiccated coconut,  banana, blueberries, nutella, homemade chocolate sauce (1 tablespoon of cacao powder, 1 teaspoon of nut butter (e.g. peanut butter, almond butter or tahini), 1 teaspoon of maple syrup and a dash of hot water – from Healthsynergy).

Note: this is a gluten-free recipe which I personally really like but you can substitute the buckwheat flour for normal plain flour if you prefer!

Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together (buckwheat flour, almond meal, baking powder, brown sugar).
2. Mix together the banana, milk, two egg yolks and vanilla paste in a blender (this should make a smoothie-like consistency). You can add a dash of milk if you like your pancake mixture to be kind of runny.
3. Combine the wet and dry mixtures together.
4. Beat the egg whites until they get nice and fluffy.
5. Carefully fold the egg whites in the rest of the pancake mixture – you don’t need to mix too much here.
6. Cook the pancakes on medium heat with a dash of butter (or coconut oil if you prefer). It’s important to be a bit patient here and avoid putting the heat on too high. Wait until bubbles start to appear and then flip the pancake to cook onto the other side.
7. Make your homemade chocolate sauce while the pancake is cooking.
8. Add your yummy toppings. I like to make small pancakes and play around with different toppings for each pancake :)

Now who’s going to kick-start their weekend with pancakes for breakfast tomorrow? I know I will :P

Take-away Breakfast Idea

I’m often rushed in the morning which  unfortunately means I don’t get an opportunity to have a proper sit down breakfast. Although I love taking my sweet time during breakfast, ideally drinking tea while slowly munching away on tasty homemade food then reading a good book or flicking through a magazine, I have found the perfect on-the-go brekkie recipe which makes up for all of the above!

What I love about this recipe is that:

1) It is dead easy

2) It takes only 1 minute to prepare

3) It is very cheap (which is always a bonus for poor university students like me!)

This recipe was inspired from Sarah Wilson’s ‘I Quit Sugar For Life’ book. Although I have never done the full I Quit Sugar program myself, I have experimented with her recipes a great deal. In my opinion, it is very true that we consume far too much sugar each day and that a low sugar diet makes you feel 100% better. The less sugar you eat, the less you crave it. It’s crazy!! Although I am not particularly a strong advocate of Sarah Wilson I do have a great deal of respect for her and I really love her recipes and perspective about food. I strongly support her approach to food waste management as well as her overarching vision which I discussed in my last post ‘Supercharged Vegetarian Salad (and a note about food sustainability)‘. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about! If you want more information please head to her blog.

Here’s the basic recipe for my take-away breakfast:

Ingredients:

– About 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries

– 2 to 3 fresh or frozen strawberries

– Two/Three Weet-Bix (depending on how hungry you are)

– Milk (I used full-cream milk but any type of milk would do)

Method:

– Pour the blueberries at the bottom of your take away-container

– Crumble your Weet-Bix on top

– Cover the lot with milk

– Add strawberries as toppings (if frozen you might want to unfreeze them in the micro-wave)

– Let the milk soak and the blueberries unfreeze for about 20-30 minutes

– Eat your breakfast!

This is a very simple recipe. I really like the texture of ‘soggy’ Weet-Bix and find it sweet enough just like that, however, feel free to drizzle some honey or maple syrup on top for an extra boost of sweetness! I also like to add these various ingredients to it:

– a scoop of chia seeds (soaking the chia seeds in the milk with the Weet-Bix makes a more pudding-like texture)

– a few roasted almonds

– Greek yogurt

– a scoop of LSA

– extra berries such as raspberries and/blackberries

– sliced banana

– granola

– chocolate sauce which consists of one tsp of cacao, one tsp of maple syrup and one tsp of tahini mixed together with hot water (inspired from Healthsynergy)

So let’s get into it shall we!

Supercharged Vegetarian Salad (and a note about food sustainability)

I’ve grown up in a family which eats a lot of meat. My dad especially loooves his meat. He always sources very nice free range meat and, benefitting from the fact that I still live at home, I am so lucky to have access to such good food beautifully prepared by him most evenings. As a matter of fact, my cousins live on a cattle farm in France which explains why my dad loves his red meat so much!

However, I am well aware of the fact that the world is currently undergoing a food sustainability crisis. I’ve actually done a bit of work for Oxfam as part of a university assignment which focused around this issue of food security. In a nutshell: first-world countries eat too much and source their food in an unsustainable manner by importing and exporting way too many products, wasting an unbelievable amount of food and unsustainably growing certain plants/fruits/veggies which has serious negative environmental impacts on the planet. We simply cannot keep going the way we are. If we do then soon enough there will be no food left and our environment will be a wreck (even more than it already is…)

So… I do try to moderate my consumption of meat because I know that if every person on the planet ate as much meat as my dad does then we would be in big trouble (no offence dad). Unfortunately, I am not vegetarian because I love my protein way too much and feel that my body struggles without it. Nevertheless, I have a small amount of animal protein only once a day and then have no animal protein at all once or twice a week. I know it’s not much but I feel that a small step is better than nothing. For both sustainable and health reasons I try to vary my animal protein intake, for example, mix it up between fish, red meat, poultry and crustaceans. I also pay attention to where I get my animal protein from and avoid getting food which I know is unsustainably sourced (yet I must admit that it’s not always that easy to find out these things).

I would highly recommend checking out Oxfam’s GROW campaign which provides heaps of ideas on how to eat in a more sustainable manner. Here’s the GROW method at a glance:

Anyway, here’s the recipe for a supercharged (as in super healthily charged) vegetarian salad:

P.s: this salad was made from left overs in my fridge – again, trying to minimise waste and eat more sustainably!

Ingredients:

• Salad leaves (I used spinach and steamed kale but you could also use lettuce or rocket for example!).
• Two poached eggs (method on how to easily make perfectly poached eggs can be found here).
• Cherry tomatoes (cut up into small quarters).
• Handful of cut up cucumber.
• 1/4 of an avocado (thinly cut).
• Sprinkle of goats cheese (feta, halloumi or ricotta could also work here).
• Dressing: roughly 2 parts olive oil, 1 part apple cider vinegar, 1 part mustard.

Method:

1. Cook your poached eggs (takes 3-4 minutes)
2. While the eggs are cooking mix all your ingredients together in a bowl (don’t forget a bit of dressing).
3. Add the poached eggs.

So easy! You can even prepare this salad in the morning and bring it to work for a very healthy and real tasty vegetarian meal. I find that this salad has a perfect mix of greens, healthy fat and flavour. If you’re lucky enough to have the day off like I did then enjoy eating this delish salad along with a very good book like ‘Eat, Pray and Love’ by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Note: Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar Book really inspires me and I often base my meals upon it (link to the I Quit Sugar blog here). Even though this book might sound like a silly ‘diet’ book it really isn’t anything like it. On the contrary, Sarah Wilson writes a lot about ways to minimise food waste as part of her overarching food sustainability vision and she discourages dieting, opting for simple well-balanced meals incorporating healthy fat, greens,protein and a small amount of carbs (and obviously, given the title of her book, avoiding sugar). I like the way she writes. I have one book of hers and it has an endless amount of yummy recipes which I love to play around with. Give it a try and you might find you like it too!

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

With love,

Camille.

Downtown Kettle Town!

Attention tea-lovers. I have some fabulous news for you: it’s called Kettle Town.

Kettle Town is a newly established tea business based in Sydney. What I love the most about Kettle Town is their diversity. Have a look at their tea collection online and you will be stunned by the the range of flavours available to order. Whether you are a traditional black tea lover, or you enjoy sipping on a herbal tea, or maybe you are more found of a fresh iced-tea on a hot summer day (my personal favourite) – either way, Kettle Town has got you covered.

But it doesn’t stop here. What attracted me to this tea brand so much is the quality of their ingredients combined with their beautiful packaging. The tea can be ordered online which is super easy for busy people and who doesn’t love receiving a cute package in their letter box once in a while? I certainly do! The tea is also stocked in a few places around sydney.

Today I would like to focus on Kettle Town’s new iced-tea collection which particularly appeals to me because this is a cold brew range. I had the pleasure of trying the Eclectic Orange (orange, hibiscus, apple) and the Perfect Peach (oolong, peach, rose) flavours. Recipes containing suggestions of which fruit to add to each iced-tea are provided on Kettle Town’s website which is also really great!

Cold brew tea is ridiculously easy to make. All you need is to follow these simple steps:

• Add 4 teaspoons of loose tea in one litre of chilled filtered water in a pitcher.
• Steep overnight in fridge.
• Strain tea from water the next morning and serve on ice cubes and with added fruits if desired.

For instant tea:

• Bring 250 ml water to boil.
• Add 4 teaspoons of loose tea and steep for 5 minutes.
• Strain leaves from hot water, add a cup full of ice cubes with 500 ml cold water then serve.

My thoughts on Kettle Town’s Iced-Tea?

I love it. I love the fresh, delicate tea leaves and ingredients which are used. I love the smell and taste of the tea. I love the convenience of being able to order the tea online. And finally, I love the way the tea allows one to make a completely refined sugar-free drink which is very tasty, refreshing and healthy!

Eclectic Orange

This iced-tea is a light and tangy refreshing drink combining the eclectic flavours of orange, hibiscus and apple. Sipping on this cold drink is very refreshing and provides a beautiful alternative to unhealthy, sugary drinks. The iced-tea is best served with thin slices of lemon and orange along with a sprinkle of mint. I would suggest serving this tea around lunch time or for afternoon tea. Prepare a large jug as it is likely to be finished quickly!

Note: Kettle Town suggests adding a dash of good quality gin to this tea for entertainment. I haven’t had a chance to give it a try but that does sound very appealing!!

Perfect Peach

Perfect Peach contains oolong leaves as well as hints of rose and apple. This blend has a stronger tea taste than Eclectic Orange which brings a very calm and soothing sensation. I enjoyed drinking this iced-tea with pieces of fresh pineapple and peach which added a bit of natural sweetness to the drink. I find this tea very tropical which left me feeling fresh and detoxed! You could try adding some passionfruit to lift the flavours even more and give it an extra boost of sweetness and tanginess!

I can’t wait to try more of Kettle Town’s tea range, that’s for sure…

Charlie Hebdo Where Do I Even Begin?

Now that the tension and media attention about France’s recent terrorism ordeal had gone down slightly I would like to share my thoughts regarding this issue which was, evidently given my background, very much close to my heart. I must state very clearly upfront that, although I am atheist and am rather anti-religion, I respect the fact that we live in a multicultural society and I have nothing against anybody who practices any religion. In particular, I respect the Muslim community and I do not affiliate the recent events with your religion and beliefs at all. On the contrary, I wish to console you for having to undergo what must be some particularly scary times for you. The only thing I do have a problem with is those people who drive negative extremist ideologies in the name of religion but I will come to that a bit later in my post.

Charlie Hebdo. Where do I even begin?

First off, I wish to send my deepest condolences those who have been affected by these attacks and to all the families and friends of the victims. Now, writing about this topic is proving much more difficult than I would have ever imagined. Why? Because this whole matter began by an attack on writers. An attack on freedom of expression. So yes, there is a strange feeling of anxiousness hovering over me as I am typing on my old laptop keyboard. But let me tell you. The more I write, the more this grey cloud is disappearing. Charlie Hebdo, you are an inspiration. I realise how grateful I am to live in a democratic country where I am allowed to share my opinions and views.

Charlie Hebdo represents the right to freely express ourselves, the right to laugh and be satirical. Yes, they had an opinion and more often than not distributed very grotesque cartoons. Yes, they offended certain people and schools of thoughts. But what is a world where we cannot share ideas and opinions? If we didn’t have people who had the courage to object to certain ideologies then how can the world ever evolve and become a better place?

I’m not going to hide the fact that I felt slightly uneasy about Charlie Hebdo’s most recent cartoon cover which came out last Wednesday. I thought to myself ‘Ahhh is it kind of bad that they are representing the prophet again? That’s the main reason they were so cruelly attacked in the first place. Will it offend more people and stir up even more tension?’ Then my opinion shifted. I realised that, yes there is no doubt that drawing a cartoon representing the prophet is against the Muslim religion. However, just because some people who practice a religion are not allowed to draw their prophet doesn’t mean that everybody must obey to this rule. Just like some people are not allowed to eat pork for religious reasons yet it would be absurd to ban pork from every restaurant for example. You might think that’s it’s naive of me to say that. I know this is not just black and white. But at the end of the day, as much as I respect the fact that I might be making some uninformed judgment here, I do believe that just because certain religions impose certain rules it does not mean that if someone were to disobey that rule (whether they are practicing the religion or not) they should be physically or mentally attacked.

What do I take from all of this?

What I admire the most about France is its deep culture. French people are known for debates, we have constant debates whether it be between our political parties to debates during family dinners. This is what makes us special. This is why some of the most significant paradigm shifts have been driven by French philosophers.

The recent atrocities have not only shaken France but the whole planet. However, somehow these events were also very significant. They gave French people the opportunity to feel and demonstrate a great deal of mobilisation and unity. Together, we are stronger than the desire to activate fear and violence.

What next?

Sadly, there is without a doubt a growing terrorism movement. However, the people who believe in such ideology will never win. How do we stop them? I do not have the answer. All I can say is we must erase those extremist negative ideologies from a large number of people. They need to realise that no religion would applaud committing an act of terrorism. On the contrary, their barbaric actions reflect extremely poorly on the religion they claim to be driven by. We need to target the people who brainwash disadvantaged ones and install within them dangerous attitudes and behaviours. Most importantly, we need to stand strong and not be afraid to speak out against extremists. Newspapers like Charlie Hebdo have a very significant role to play in communicating a warning message to the world.

I could go on an on about this issue which fascinates me but I understand that you have better things to do then to read my blog for hours so I’ll try to keep it short.

To the victims of the attacks, I send my deepest condolences. You will be remembered forever. You have not suffered for nothing, Your courage and opinion has been spread across the world and has be heard. Rest in peace.