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108 Sun Salutations, Burpees, and Pain au Chocolat… Manger Bouger?

Last night Bobby and I went to NJ for my sister’s high school graduation. It was great! I’m so proud of her. Afterwards we went out to Uno’s where I wolfed down a Cobb Salad. My dad came back with us to the city because he has a super-fun pension conference here today.

This morning’s workout:

  • 46 BodyRock Take Me Burpees
  • 15 sun salutations

Some yogis like to do 108 sun salutations at each change of the season (spring to summer, summer to fall, etc…). There are many answers to the question, “Why 108?” and one of them is that there are supposedly 108 names for Buddha. HuffPo has some more.

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I’ll share another French moment. This IS a food blog after all. (I got the best comment ever yesterday.)

  • Coca-cola. (Bobby’s. Real sugar coke! I still don’t like it.)
  • Pain au chocolat. (To share.)
  • From La Mie Câline in Saumur.

Since I am generally a healthy eater I have no qualms about indulging in buttery, chocolatey, French baked goods when I’m on vacation. They’re not as sweet as they are in here in the states, and they are tiny. The “gargantuan” croissants were the size of our regular ones. Even the bottles of Coke are smaller.

In France, most food ads come with this message (or a similar memo) at the bottom:

Pour votre santé, évitez de manger trop gras, trop sucré, trop salé.  www.mangerbouger.fr

It means, “For your health, avoid eating food that is too fatty, too sweet, too salty.” Manger-bouger means, “eat, move.” I certainly didn’t see many overweight people in France – though I am not sure it’s because of this campaign. I did see a lot of smokers and wine and coffee drinkers. So while they may have a good thing going in terms of food and portion control, I think they are a little bit behind the times when it comes to other areas of health. (No, coffee and wine are not bad, in moderation. There is never an excuse for smoking.)

Do you think we should have mandatory messages on food ads and packaging? What would the messages say?

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Five Things Friday – from France!

Bounjour again from Paris! We are here until Sunday in the wee hours of the morning. (We leave around 9ish France time which is 3am NYC time.) We’re having a lovely time and I will be sure to post more pictures soon. Today I wanted to share some things.

  1. Clare is giving away a t-shirt. It ends tomorrow (6/11) at midnight.
  2. I am in love with cutoff jean shorts. I just saw two today – on Little Tin Soldier AND on What Would a Nerd Wear. I cannot resist any longer. I will have to pick up a pair of thrift shop jeans when I get back to the states and hack away.
  3. On a friend’s recommendation I recently finished reading this book: The Philosopher and the Wolf. The book is memoir-ish and follows the lives of Rowlands (the author) and Brenin (the wolf). Rowlands, a “snarly misanthrope”, writes about what he has learned about the human animal by observing the wolf. I hesitate to say “his” wolf, as Brenin seems to have been just as much an owner of Rowlands. A wonderful book, with incredibly intelligent insights into the nature of us “apes”.Side note: The friend is Bobby’s best friend from middle school and high school – they were in school together from 6th or 7th grade all the way through the end of college. He was Bobby’s best man and Bobby will be his; his fiance was my bridesmaid and I’m going to be hers in November. She was my freshman roommate and then the next year we met Bobby and his friend. They started dating a year after we did 🙂
  4. Last week I saw Midnight in Paris (Minuit a Paris) with my cousin, and then saw it again last night with Bobby here… a Paris. It is possibly my favorite Woody Allen movie. Go see it.
  5. Catacombs were so cool. Over 6 million (six millione, en francais) sets of bones now lie underneath the streets of Paris in out of use limestone mines.

That’s it for my 5 things. What a fun way to share juicy little tidbits. What are your things, and what are you doing this weekend?

This weekend for us – tomorrow we are going to go museum hopping and then Sunday we are headed back to the states. And Monday it is back to work. This week has flown by.

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Bonjour de Paris!

Bonjour! We are in Paris. We left New York at 3:30pm on Friday, and after a short layover in Boston we were on our way to France. We arrived at CDG (Charles de Gaulle, the main international Paris airport) at 7:30am on Saturday (samedi). (Please excuse my use of French words while I’m posting here; I adore French and will make any excuse to use it.)

Dinner Saturday - tired and hungry, but happy and excited to be in Paris.
Also dinner Saturday - I will post the food pictures from that meal later!

We walked around the city almost the whole day (we did take a nap in the afternoon) and then stayed Saturday night in Paris. On Sunday we took the train out to Saumur, a petit town Southeast of Paris, on the fleuve (river) Loire. We attended a wedding for two days – a dinner event Sunday evening, and then the ceremony all day on Monday (ceremony plus beaucoup de manger!). The wedding was at a petit chateau that was transformed into a hotel a while back. The owners are actually descended of French royalty. They managed to survive the guillotine I suppose 😀

Inside Notre Dame - Saturday afternoon.
Walking the streets of Saumur (on the way to the pre-wedding dinner Sunday night).
Bobby, post pre-wedding dinner. Full and happy!
Day of the wedding. This is how I feel about dressing up! (I changed shortly after.)
I don't think Bobby likes dressing up either. (Day of wedding.)
View of the chateau from behind.
Inside the chateau.

Today (Tuesday) we took the train back to Paris and here we will stay for the rest of our time in France. So far everything has gone perfectly (fingers crossed things stay that way). Before I go, I want to share a few food pictures from our first French repas (meal) together Saturday matin (morning)…

Petit dejeuner - jus d'orange, yaort, croissant, cafe.

We got the typical (?) French breakfast – jus d’orange (orange juice), croissant, cafe (coffee = espresso; Bobby got a regular and I got the “cafe creme” which I think is simply cafe with milk), and yaourt (yogurt). Bobby also got the add-on of bacon and scrambled eggs. I tried them, bien sur! Delicieux.

Petit dejeuner part deux - bacon et des oeufs.

This breakfast (petit dejeuner) is smaller than it appears. Each part of the meal is a modestly portioned, but the healthy fats and protein make it very filling. This “breakfast” actually lasted us all the way through dinner (admittedly part of that time was spent napping and it was an early dinner).

I must go! We have beaucoup de faire (lots to do) this evening and it’s already 6:30pm. (Il est deja six heures! Oh la la.) I’m still listening to these tapes by the way. So useful.

Au revoir! I will post when I can 🙂

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We’re Going to Paris! (Travel Links & Ideas)

If you have any suggestions for places to see or visit in France, please comment below! I have found some things already, but I would love to hear more from people who have been there recently, or especially people that live there.

The last (and only) time I was in Paris I was 7 years old. It was November of 1993. We stayed with our family friends who were lucky enough to get relocated to France for work. We did a week in Paris and a week with them (near Normandie I believe?).

Note: all photos from Wikipedia unless otherwise noted.

Paris Trip Ideas

1. Saumur. “The historic town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon,Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc. which produce some of France’s finest wines.” – Wikipedia. It’s about 3-4 hours away from Paris. Definitely going here. Beautiful chateau in Saumur:

2. Tours. Between Paris and Saumur. It’s also known for its wines. This is their town hall (!):

3. The Louvre. I remember going here when I was 7. I brought back a picture book about Monet and the waterlilies called Linnea in Monet’s Garden. I read that book countless times! I wonder if it’s still at my parents’.

(Book pic from Amazon.)

4. Notre Dame. A gorgeous cathedral. It happens to be famous for its gargoyles. Gargoyles also make me nostalgic. Ha – growing up we had these gargoyle replicas and they had tons of wax on them (I don’t remember if they were candleholders or if they were victims of my brother’s and my drip-wax-on-everything antics.)

5. Les Catacombes. An underground ossuary in Paris (“an urn for the bones of the dead” – the root of this word is os, which means bone – like osteoporosis, or ossify). I find bones fascinating, and only slightly creepy.

6. The food. I’m sure we will eat lots of delicious things.

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What are your tips for things to do/see/eat in France/Paris?

P.S. If you missed it this other day, click here to see what I’m using to brush up on my French. (It’s working.)