I forgot to mention that between Dublin and the sightseeing, I had to take care of a little something at work Monday and Tuesday. That little something being the big conference I had been busy planning for the past 2-3 months. Monday was a long 11-12 hour day...but everything went off without a hitch. By Tuesday afternoon, I was ready to relax and enjoy my time with Stephanie.
Unfortunately, after the Eiffel Tower, Stephanie became un peu malade. I think I wore her out in Dublin. ;) Although she had to spend more time resting at my apartment than she would have liked, she was able to rally for Wednesday night on the Champs-Elysees. Arc de Triomphe, dinner at Chez Clement, and hot chocolate at Laduree, which I now feel comfortable in deeming the best hot chocolate in Paris.
Thursday night, Stephanie and I invited Melissa, Hayden, Andrew and Holly over for a dinner party. ''Market Dinner'' as my boss taught me - I bought a roast chicken and some baguettes, they brought some veggies and cheese from the market and champagne. I am really going to miss going to the boucherie after work to pick out a freshly-roasted chicken, then stopping by the boulangerie and buying freshly-baked baguettes.
I know a lot of people have read that recent article in the New York Times comparing a country's obesity rate to the amount of time its people spend eating each day (thanks Amy!). Not surprisingly, France is one of the countries that spends the most time eating per day and has one of the lowest obesity rates. Americans, on the other hand, spend little time eating but have high obesity rates. The article rings extremely true. The French spend hours on their food - whether it's preparation, selling, or eating. Every street you will find a market, a boulangerie, a patisserie. A good proportion of that food is natural and baked daily. And then there's the eaters - the French spend hours lingering over restaurant meals, enjoying their foods, preparing dinners. Despite this almost obsessive attention to food (and their addiction to wine and cigarettes which is another story) they are walking the streets, skinny and energetic while Americans are driving down the street obese and full of heart disease (an overgeneralization, yes, but you get my point). I know the always over-achieving Americans think they are superior to the sometimes lazy and extremely bureaucratic French, but in this area, they have us beat by a mile. Perhaps we should change our priorities?
About Me
- Michelle Hershman
- Washington, D.C., United States
- Michelle Hershman has always been enthusiastic about eating, but it took her a little longer to become passionate about cooking because she wasn’t allowed to use the oven unsupervised as a child. Her first cooking experience involved baking a cake in the microwave. But, Michelle persevered. She attended Virginia Tech, where she received a Communications degree and mastered the quesadilla. Then, she headed to University of Richmond Law School, and when she wasn’t hitting the law books, she devoured cookbooks and food magazines. In 2007, she began a job as a Presidential Management Fellow with the Federal government. Her love of food reached an all-time high when she was sent to Paris for work. She spent four months eating creamy cheeses and crusty baguettes and frequenting farmer’s markets for fresh produce. She ate pasta in Italy, Hagis in Scotland and street food in Istanbul. She vowed never to eat a frozen dinner again. Now, she works as an attorney during the day and experiments with recipes for her food blog, Healthy Recipe Ecstasy, at night. In her spare time, she’s planning a wedding with her wonderful patient fiancé, Alasdair Cain.
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