(A beautiful sunny day in Paris. Morning)
(Elliot and Tanya are waiting to collect their hired car at Gare du Nord Station to drive to Mont Saint Michel)

Avis Lady:  Your car is ready, please sign below
Tanya:        Oh, it says here there is a mileage limit of 250km per day with up to €0,80 per km fee after that. We are driving all the way to Normandy. And tomorrow we are driving back again.
Avis Lady: You will be fine, it is about 230km to Normandy from Paris
(Elliot and Tanya eagerly prepare for the scenic drive)

GPS:        There is 380km to your destination
(Brain calculations, followed by cursing sounds)


This was one of those rare times, that I wish I wasn’t so quick at maths. All those tunnels to get out of Paris didn’t really help much either, as the GPS would lose signal and get us making U-turns on more than one occasion... “€1.. €2 ..€3..” turned into a song. And then the chorus to this fun song came at every Toll stop (we sung the chorus often).


Ah well, I’ve been dreaming of seeing the Mont St Michel castle ever since Elliot and I moved to the UK over a year ago. In our unsuccessful attempt to get there when in Paris last year for all kinds of reasons (no cars available, all train tickets sold, no accommodation vacancy), we decided to give it another go in a ‘much in advance pre-organised’ fashion. A year of wait and €400 drive later, just getting there made everything worth it.

Mont St Michel was a rocky tidal island of French Magic. I couldn’t quite stop jumping from excitement, incase that’s not evident from photos.


If you have been to France, I don’t have to remind you twice about how much cheese there is- every menu, fridge and supermarket shelf has the most unbelievable choice of cheeses...accept...Raw Vegan. The inspiration of Mont St Michel will now forever be imbedded into my new recipe...




This recipe has the creaminess of Cream Cheese and the tanginess of Cottage Cheese and is so divine, it's hard to believe there are only 3 simple ingredients!

Essentials
Blender
Colander
Cheese Cloth/ Nut Milk Strainer/ Nylon Mesh
Plate
Bowl
Something heavy to weigh down the bowl (I used dry peas, but dumbbells or jugs with water will also work well)

Ingredients
1/2 Cup Macadamia Nuts
1/2 Cup Cashew Nuts
1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp Pure Water (or just enough to cover all the nuts when in blender)
Optional: Herbs and Spices

-Blend everything together (If you are not using a high speed blender, you may need to occasionally stop and scrape the mixture off the sides back onto the blade. Pulse from time to time, making sure there is always some mixture touching the blades). Make sure the nuts are well ground and the mixture is creamy

-Place the colander on a plate (this will stop the whey, which will be strained out in the process, from making a mess on the table). Place cheese cloth inside the colander

-Pour the mixture onto the cloth (on the right, you can see the consistency is blobby, not liquidy)

-Place the bag inside another one, or if you only own one- try turn it over itself, just as long as no mixture can escape when placing a weight on top

-Place whatever you decided to use as a weight on top and put the stack in a place away from draughts (mine is inside the dehydrator with trays out)

-Walk away for 24 hours. (I must admit I can never just walk away and readjusted the weight from time to time to squeeze more Whey out and also tasted the cheese in the process, but 24 hours seems to be the perfect time)


-Transfer to the fridge for half an hour to harden, shape into logs and then roll into any herbs or spices you like (I had one log in Cracked Black, Red Pepper and Paprika and the other log in a Mix of Dried Herns including Thyme, Marjoram, Parsley, Oregano, Sage and Basil)