Eat well all year not just on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the holiday of saying thanks, being grateful and giving to others!

Make the commitment to yourself and your family to not just enjoy each other and eat well this one day a year, but celebrate good friends, family and food throughout the year.


In living in France we learned quite a bit from the French obsession with food, mealtime and overall health. Start this Thanksgiving with a thank you for not only having good food to eat, but enjoying the pleasures of food and mealtime each and everyday.

16 Tips on how to prolong Thanksgiving and the gratitude you have for a great meal and good healthy living everyday.

1. Bon appetite--Sit down at the table to eat with your family or friends as often as possible. Light the candles and enjoy the conversation and the food. Take time to taste your food and enjoy the company.

2. If eating alone, take what time you do have and enjoy your meal. Read a book if you desire, but stop working. The last thing the French would do is eat on the run, in the car, in front of the TV or at their desk or computer.

3. Balance what you eat everyday. Breakfast is small, lunch is medium or large, and dinner is the opposite of lunch. All of it is eaten sitting down with a china plate and tablecloth. Treat yourself by eating off pottery not paper. It is good for you and good for the planet.

4. Save up for a great meal and indulge yourself when you go out. Eat healthy and well at home having fruit for desert and when you go out (maybe once a week or once a month) live it up with a tasty appetizer, entrée, delectable desert, and wine.

5. Buy fresh produce from the farmer’s market and use seasonal food. Seasonal vegetables and fruits get cheaper and cheaper as the season comes to a close. Stock up and use readily, freezing the leftovers.

6. Try new recipes with seasonal food – If it is fresh, it becomes fun. (see recipe below)

7. Take a walk on Thanksgiving Day. Walk after dinner. Walk on Sunday. Walk whenever you can.

8. Don’t take things or yourself or others so seriously—Ce’nest pas grave. It's just not serious.

9. Go slow and enjoy sitting in a café. Order your café latte in a mug and savor the time. Switch to a mug from a takeout cup and feel the difference.

10. Drink a glass of red wine each day(good for the heart and avoiding dementia)

11. Drink lots of water

12. Watch the frites or any fast or fried food for that matter. Clogs the arteries, brings on diabetes and obesity and adds pounds.

13. Free up one day on the weekend (or week) that is schedule-free. Be spontaneous, get out in nature, read a book, take a nap, play games. When you have a day free—the world seems like a more friendly place

14. Have people over for Saturday or Sunday lunch under the trees or on the terrace whenever the weather permits. In the winter, eat in front of the fireplace and enjoy a long leisurely meal. Take a walk after the meal, rain or shine.

15. Share a desert and use the three bite rule. The first bite is delectable, the second bite is a must, and the third bite satisfies the palate.

16. Find the light and funny things in life all around you. Whether it is something you heard from your child or grandchild, something you saw, or something you did. Enjoy sharing stories and anecdotes and laugh about them. Sharing stories and laughter are a great way to keep us healthy and joyful. 

When it comes to good food and living healthy, this quote  by Mireille Guiliano of French Women Don't Get Fat sums it up.

"Tout est question d'équilibre" It is a question of balance.
— Mireille Guiliano (1946-) Author of French Women Don't Get Fat

We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and a Healthy Year!


P. S – Here’s a great seasonal recipe from Epicurious.Com for Lentil Soup!

• 3 tablespoons extra–virgin olive oil
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped celery stalks plus chopped celery leaves for garnish
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 cups (or more) vegetable broth
• 1 1/4 cups lentils, rinsed, drained
• 1 14 1/2–ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
• Balsamic vinegar (optional)
.

Preparation
Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium–high heat. Add onions, celery, carrots, and garlic; sauté until vegetables begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Add 4 cups broth, lentils, and tomatoes with juice and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium–low, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 35 minutes.
If you choose to have a more puree soup:
Transfer 2 cups soup (mostly solids) to blender and puree until smooth. Return puree to soup in pan; thin soup with more broth by 1/4 cupfuls, if too thick. Season with salt, pepper, and a splash of vinegar, if desired. Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with celery leaves.

The best to you and your family on this Thanksgiving Day

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The best meal in the world

Moules et Frites (or Mussels and French Fries) are a tradition along the mediterranean. A large black cast iron pot filled to the brim with Moules sauteed in a white wine sauce, roquefurt, or my favorite curry is nothing less than finger licking good.

It is not just the Moules that are fresh and not fishy tasting, but it is the time it takes to eat--- slow, slow, slow and the licking of fingers after each bite. The French Fries which I usually try to avoid compliment the fish as they are dipped into the sauce for added flavor.

Add a glass of cote du rhone and a view of the mediterranean and you have the perfect two hour lunch.

If traveling isn't in your plans, try this recipe, close your eyes and savor the enjoyment of being able to eat your entire meal with your hands.

Following is an easy recipe for making Moules (Mussels) from epicurious.com

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Mussels-with-Garlic-and-Fines-Herbes-101374

Closing one option

The week in France was a whirlwind of emotions and reactions to the possibilities of moving back towards Montpellier and making an income. After a few signs of the reality of life, the challenge of the French tax system, and the realization that our heart was in the countryside, our creative corner of St. Quentin we reneged on resubmitting our carte de sejour and recognized that maybe the south of France was for our time off and retirement and not for fulltime work life. Was it our own limiting beliefs? Or was it the truth that maybe, just maybe when you have to work everything seems different? At times everything seems to flow beautifully and at other times the signs just aren't there. Having made most decisions in our life based on thinking and rationale thought, trusting our feelings is hard to do. Yet when they are so strong, there isn't truly any other choice.

The sadness we felt showed up in terms of a few breakdowns, tears, laughter, and having long leisurely meals with friends. Our walks in the country, by the sea, and under the Pt du Gard reminded us of what we love and are so grateful for having had experienced. At the same time, nature and beauty is also in our backyard in Marin and a million other places in the world.

Jean and I both realized how this week was another week of grieving and yet we knew we had to begin to close a door or two to open some new ones.  And so the journey continues.

Sometimes you have to go there

Tomorrow night we are headed to France for a week of enjoyment (how can you not enjoy everything about France) and to make some decisoins on purchasing a home there again after having sold our 3 story village house after 15 years.

It used to be harder to get 3 frequent flyer tickets than make a life decision. Now with the economy and world turned upside down, it was easier to get the tickets two weeks before and harder to know what decision is right for the long term. 

So we are off to see how we feel, test the waters, and let it ride. Sometimes that is the only thing that works-- trusting your gut.

Until then  A tout l'heure!

Focus on your strengths

This week has been full of articles on Marcus Buckingham's book, Live Your Strong Life. The research showing that women have become more and more unhappy and sadder as they get older over the past 40 years. The reasons behind it are both speculative, hypotheses, and anecdotal. Overall, however, Marcus believes if women focus on living their strengths they will be happier.  By the time you get to be 50 this seems like the correct rite of passage women need to embrace. We are too wise, too mature, and have seen too much to worry any longer about improving our weaknesses all the time. In fact, I think as we get older we just become more of who we already are, just more so. A toast to Marcus to remind us all to focus on our strengths to live a better life!