French Street Food

France is known for a lot of things including great wine, cheese, bakeries and culture. And Paris is known for a lot of those things including the Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa, the Notre Dame, and amazing pâtisseries. When I told my friend Alex that I was headed to Paris for work I didn't even get a chance to ask her what I should do before she said "you absolutely have to get a banana and nutella crêpe from one of the street vendors." It was a common theme among friends when they learned of my trip so I made that my mission once I arrived. I took a few detours on my way to crêpe heaven, first to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo

and then to the top of the Eiffel Tower,

but it wasn't until I made my way down the river to the Notre Dame

that I finally saw what I could only dream of previously, the famous street vendors that create the Parisian street food known as the crêpe. I saw lots of amazing and inspiring artwork, sculptures, and architectural wonders, but at that moment it was all about the banana nutella crêpe so I stepped right up and ordered one.

I think the young woman making my crêpe was a but uncomfortable with me taking pictures, should I have asked first? I was giddy like a little kid in a candy store; I was hungry and could not wait to try this crêpe I had heard so much about. Smeared with nutella and stuffed with ripe, sliced bananas, it was a challenge to eat with a broken arm in a cast, but I managed, a couple times. The crêpe pancake was hot, sweet and perfect and the nutella and banana filling almost brought me to my knees. Wow, so good. Seriously amazing. I want to go back to Paris for a lot of things and one of them is another banana nutella crêpe. Bon appétit!

Mangoes and Bananas for Breakfast

I love summer in New England for fresh fruit and produce, warm, sunny days, and shorts and flip-flops. I also love summer in New England because the weather is just right for fruit smoothies! I make smoothies for breakfast at least a few days a week. I am always mixing up the fruit combinations but three ingredients always remain constant - plain non-fat yogurt, orange juice, and a banana. When I use Greek yogurt, which I did today, I always add in some honey to balance the tang of the Greek yogurt. The different fruits that I use include mangoes, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and peaches. Occasionally I'll add some protein powder to the mix but it changes the consistency of the smoothie and my wife Jeanine doesn't like it.

This morning I made a couple mango banana smoothies, one for me and one for Jeanine. A picture of a smoothie isn't all that sexy so I'm not including one, but here is the recipe I used for the smoothies this morning. So here is how to make mango banana smoothies:

Mango Banana Smoothie
1 cup non-fat, Greek yogurt
1 cup orange juice
1 banana, broken into a few pieces
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups frozen mango

Put everything into a blender and blend until smooth. The consistency should be perfect for sipping through a straw and the balance of protein and carbohydrate should keep you going for a while.

Do you like piña coladas? Try this smoothie instead - replace the orange juice with coconut milk and the mango with frozen pineapple! Have the day off? Add some rum!