Welcome to this edition of Dimanche (That Means Sunday), a roundup of things that caught my eye this past week.

This week was…odd. It went from being almost spring to winter again, which I wasn’t happy about. I did my best to shoulder through. This involved distracting myself with baking projects, reading, and coffee, and it also involved a leisurely dinner with my friends from Edelbrand Pure Distilling (more on that later).

In other news, I just started going to Kundalini yoga. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the practice, it involves more chanting and breathing exercises than regular yoga. I went to my first class last weekend and I was surprised by how much it worked me out. I woke up with sore arms the next day.

Yesterday when I went, my teacher was talking about fire in the body. Fire, or some kind of unpleasant emotion, can be a good thing. It spurs us to act or motivates us to keep going. But when it goes out of control it can destroy us, just like a fire does in real life. My teacher encouraged us to let go of some of the fire, or negative feelings, through our breathing and chanting. I know it sounds hokey but it worked. It was a good reminder that we can’t always control our circumstances but we can control our response.

Without further ado, here is Dimanche:

French fraud officials are looking into the recent Nutella riots. In last week’s Dimanche I wrote about a super sale on Nutella that sent tons of French people to the grocery store to stock up on containers. After the sale spurred riots, the Directorate General of Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control in France looked into whether the sales were legal. You can read more about the situation in this article from NPR.

When the weather gets cold and I need something warm and reassuring, I turn to Big Heart Tea. They’re based in St. Louis and they have some of the best herbal loose leaf tea blends. One of my favorites is the Cup of Love, which has dried rose petals. Rose is such a calming scent and the flavor is delicate and light. You can find the tea at a lot of local shops and coffee shops, including Lemon Gem in The Grove.

I don’t really care about sports, but this story about animals on the playing field caught my eye this week. The Atlantic put together an article with photos of kangaroos, cats, dogs, and other animals who have intruded on sporting events. I predictably lost my shit when I saw the photo of the baby deer (see: #10). They forgot a photo of rally cat, though, the cat who crashed a Cardinals game last year and made headlines after it started attacking the guy who tried to take it off the field.

I like moments when I feel like a tourist in my own city. This happened last week when I took an impromptu field trip during my lunch hour to the Old Courthouse in Downtown St. Louis. The courthouse is best known as the place where the Supreme Court heard the Dred Scott case. There’s a lot of history inside and the interiors are stunning. I’d highly recommend checking it out if you’re in St. Louis, especially if you’re by the Arch.

A spice seller in Wisconsin really hates Trump and he’s not shy about it. I’m a big fan of Bill Penzey after reading this article in The New Yorker. Penzey, who owns Penzeys Spices, is using his business’s social media platforms to lambaste Trump for his racism and elitism. So far, it seems to be paying off: Online sales spiked after he made the statements. Still, not everyone is on board with Penzey’s business philosophy. Penzey’s sister, who runs a competing business, encouraged conservative bloggers to buy spices from her company using a promo code, “NOPOLITICS.” Sounds more like “NOPROFIT” to me.

I was scrolling through Twitter earlier this week and a tweet from Dana Cree caught my attention. Cree, who used to be the pastry chef at a well-known restaurant in Chicago called Publican, recently decided to step away from her position there to open an ice cream joint called Pretty Cool Ice Cream. Cree is opening the shop with the owner of Bang Bang Pie, a popular pie shop on Chicago’s Northwest side. To make a long story short, Cree got good press about her upcoming shop in the Chicago Tribune. Then Eater wrote up the story from a sexist angle and made it sound like Bang Bang’s owner, who is a man, was leading the new company. Check out Cree’s tweet for the whole story.

Last but certainly not least, I finally tried Polite Society Friday night and I was blown away. I went with Lynn DeLean-Weber and Martin Weber, my friends from Edelbrand Pure Distilling. We had a great time sampling all the food but this Ozark mushroom tagliatelle really stood out. The pasta was tender and perfectly cooked and the white wine sauce, mushrooms, and spinach paired well together. Check out more pics of my meal on Instagram.

Enjoy your week! Here’s a song to get you started. I got up early this morning, made waffles, and then got back into bed and listened to 60s soul and R&B music. This song is one of my favorites.