New England is Awesome

I currently live in Paris, and although I have lived out of the United States for nearly twelve years (my goodness, has it been that long?!), I still consider Connecticut to be my home base. As such, from time to time I like to check out what the Tri-State Area offers in terms of my various hobbies and interests. Who knows why? Maybe I still think I will move back one day...

I was delighted to discover the Raw New England Community. They have a bi-monthly mailing list that serves as great sources of information for raw food and healthy living events for all of New England. And the website has links to products, books, recipes, and restaurants in the form of a discussion board.

If you live in New England, check out the site and join the conversation. It's tag line is: New England is Awesome. With that positive attitude, how can you not check it out?

Bio Panier: organic local goodness delivered!

France has a proud agrarian culture that is reflected in the outdoor markets, at the food and wine expos, and in the focus and respect for  local cuisine and artisanal products.

To protect its agrarian heritage, and to maintain its culinary and vegetation diversity, there is a growing focus on promoting organic and local food production. This promotion meshes well with increasing demand from consumers for better health and to know where their food comes from.

As consumers, each time we spend our money, we vote for the type of economy and world order we wish to have. It may sound dramatic, but it is the truth! Buying locally produced organic sustenance is a vote against the industrial, monoculture agriculture that is stripping natural resources from the planet and our health, and a vote to support your neighbor workers and the ecosystem that surrounds you.

I recently discovered the Bio Culture site that delivers organic fruits and veggies from France and Europe at a reasonable cost every Wednesday to my local wine store. In the above picture Serafina is checking out the goods. Each week I am informed as to where my produce comes from, and what stage of the harvest we are in. I swear there is something about having this knowledge that makes the food taste better! There are many different bio (organic) delivery or local produce sites in France (see the list below for delivery sites around Paris), and around the world. If you live in the United States, check out Farm Fresh for a list of local farms and what produce is in season near you.

Paniers Bio
www.mon-panier-bio.com
www.reseau-amap.org
www.lespaniersduvaldeloire.fr
www.lehautdupanier.fr

Raw food at Bob's Kitchen

One of my favorite vegetarian restaurants in Paris is Bob's Kitchen. It is just up the street from the Marais Bikram yoga studio, on Rue des Gravilliers, and after class I love to treat myself to their fresh juice of the day. My fave so far has been lemon, strawberries and mint. Yum!

Two weeks ago I noticed they were announcing a raw food special dinner hosted by local raw foodie Arletty Abady with special guest chef Adam Graham. Hooray! This was my first discovery of raw cuisine in Paris, I was more than excited. Could this mean no more trips to London for raw desserts?

The theme was Italian food, and it was delicious. The appetizer was a fennel, orange, yellow pepper salad and mushrooms marinated, stuffed with olive tapenade, and dehydrated. As someone who has dehydrated a fair amount of mushrooms, I can tell you that these were divine. Full of flavor and a great texture.

The main course was zucchinetti (can I trademark that word?) with a pesto made from a wild herb foraged in the forests of Belgium. Foraging is becoming a new interest of mine, so I was very excited to discover a potential forest guide in neighboring Belgium. There was also a delicious eggplant, marinara tomato, cashew cheese stack.


Dessert was a chocolate cheesecake (made from cashew cheese) parfait with raspberries. It was divine. Raw desserts are the best! The raw heart-shaped chocolate was made by Arletty herself.

Overall, it was a wonderful evening. It was great to meet other folks in Paris interested in raw food, and I look forward to working with them to help build the budding community. There will be other raw food events in the future, I will be sure to post about them here. In the meantime, check out the awesome veggie resto. Enjoy!


Bob's Kitchen
74 Rue des Gravilliers 75003

Yoga thought: winding down

You're hitting the last five minutes of an hour long conference call, or the thirtieth - and final! - review of your article, and in those final moments it it easy to say: I've done great work till this point, I'm tired, let's just wrap this up. As a result, we tend to wind down at the end of projects.

I practice Bikram yoga, a 90-minute practice that consists of 26 postures repeated twice on both the left and right side. It is towards the end of holding each posture that is the hardest; my muscles are tired, my determination fumbles, and I think, I've held the position so well until now, there are only a few seconds left, I can let go.

In fact, it these last few seconds that are the most important. It is in these last few seconds when my mind and body are struggling the most that holding the pose delivers the most benefits. And the other day my teacher gave me a new thought: in the last few seconds, he said, do more than maintain - go deeper in the pose, reach further.

If you have worked hard until the last few seconds, why give up on the end? Maintain or even increase your intensity, and instead of winding down, the project/call/yoga posture may wrap up to a new level, may produce an even greater result, may reach a greater expectation. What a reward for all your hard work! So, why do we wind down?