Paris in 5 Days!

End of January, I finished my exams early and took a week off to go to Paris. Paris is beautiful. Paris is absolutely beautiful! Not only is it easy to move around, it has a seriously prestigious architecture, delicious gourmet and much more! So here are the top 8 things I loved about Paris.

1- Paris by bus and metro

Paris is very easy to move around, all you gotta do is get yourself this "Paris Metro Map". It is usually given for free at hotels; nevertheless, make sure to have one - it 'll make your life the easiest possible! Try to take metro numbers 2 and 6, they go above ground thus offering some spectacular scenes of the city such as the Eiffel Tour and La Basilique du Sacre Coeur de Montmartre. Better yet, to enjoy the city more, take the bus everywhere. This might get you in some traffic, but if you're not in a hurry, you'll enjoy it so the bus map will come in handy as well! I must admit though that maybe, maybeee, the fact that we don't have such transportation made me love metros more than one would typically do.

2- Paris is a great walk

Walking around is easy, all streets are flat and you'll get to enjoy the view, smell freshly baked bread and walk in the misty rain. It wasn't heavily raining there, so walking around seemed best!

Paris has museums and churches every 5 walking-minutes, so it's a bit pointless to take metros or buses in the same region. Just get your map and circle all the things you want to see during that day. You will only find yourself walking from one spot to another, and you'll end up walking the whole day (so make sure to have very comfy walking shoes). For example, the church on the right directly faces le Pantheon, 5 minutes away from la Sorbonne, 10 minutes away from Musee de Cluny, 10 minutes away from Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral, around 10 minutes away from les jardins de Luxembourg (in the opposite direction) which is 20 minutes away from Tour Montparnasse which is 5 minutes away from les cimetieres du Montparnasse! So you see, all in all, these should, and will, be covered by walking!

Read more, and you'll see why it's good to walk around.

3- Everyone enjoys a good read!

I couldn't but take photos of people
reading in the metro, so focused!
Beirut Street Photographers would've been proud.

Whether on the bus, on the street, in the rain or on the metro, most people are always reading books, magazines and newspapers! I loved that they're totally focused on their reading.

What I loved more is the book markets! All along the Seine river, where you can find the Louvres museum, Musee d'Orsay, les bateaux mouches, and the Tuileries Garden taking you all the way to L'Hôtel national des Invalides, you can find book markets on on this street. Some even have the oldest books I have seen, and they smelled beautiful!

4- The Architecture, ouf!

Le petit palais and l'arc de triomphe!
There's a lot to see in Paris, especially if you appreciate art and architecture!
This city has a beautiful history depicted in the tiniest details of its churches, monuments, temples, buildings and towers!

Taking les bateaux mouches in the Seine river
will let you see Paris by night! It was extremely cold (hats, scarves and gloves are a must in January), but it was definitely worth it.

5- Museums, museums, museums! 

When I was researching Paris before leaving, I thought, well how many museums could one city have! Yea well think again. To have a glimpse, check this whole list of museums.

Art museums interested me most... As well as the ChocoStory, the chocolate museum, but this one will have a post of its own!

Musee du Louvres and the Seine River

I adored how Renoir drew real people
displayed in le Musee d'Orsay.

But Claude Monet is by far, by faaar my favorite artist!
I adore this Water Lilies, I even got a mini painting of it to keep!

6- Operas!

If you go to Paris, make sure not to miss their opera houses! I found 2: Opera National de Paris and Opera Bastille, where we went to see la Dame de Pique and yay was it beautiful! With live orchestra playing Tchaikovsky! I even booked my tickets before I got my visa and yes, it is not to be missed!

7- Cafe Trottoires are everywhere!

With the temperature during the day being between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius in January,
finding coffee/tea shops and creperies everywhere makes life warmer and sweeter,
one sip and a bite at a time!

8- Eating there is a bliss, definitely not to miss!

Thank God I was walking all day, because I sure needed to burn all the deliciousness I was eating! In Paris, I lived meal by meal, waiting for what I will eat next was really intriguing. Those French really know their food. From the enormous variety in breakfasts, to gazillion types of cheeses, to seafood and desserts, I couldn't finish most of my meals! And it wasn't just because I was full, it was more of gluttony. Weirdly enough, I couldn't find obese people in this city, it must be because of all the walking because the food sure makes you eat more! 

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
This is the 'only' reason why I made sure to have my Frenchy breakfast!

Heavenly Chocolate and Crepes!
I couldn't resist their chocolate - Even the smell of chocolate stores was delightful!

I had a thing for seafood there, weirdly not for cheese!
I had moules frites, saumon grillee and scallops casserole and all were worth it!

The trip was delightful, carefree, delicious, artistic, educative and beautiful to the eyes! What more can you wish for from on a holiday!

Get Yourself Enough Vitamin D

Lack of vitamin D has become quite the issue among the Lebanese community nowadays and I'm hearing lots of concerns of what foods provide you with your daily needs of this vitamin especially that this vitamin is associated with good, strong bone health!

Vitamin D insufficiency can result in thin and brittle bones and thus increasing the risk of rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Together with calcium, vitamin D helps protect from osteoporosis, modulates neuro-muscular function and reduces inflammation.

So where can you provide yourself with enough vitamin D?

Sunlight helps your body to make vitamin D. But because of the skin cancer risk, there are no official "sunlight" recommendations up till now. Therefore, exposing yourself to small amounts of sunlight - 15-20 minutes - could be helpful. Keep in mind that the sun is less likely to provide your daily needs at higher latitudes, in winter, if you're older or dark skinned. So with this scorching sun during summer in Lebanon, it is important to use sunscreen when you're spending the day at the beach! Saying "I'm getting my daily dose of vitamin D" is not actually a wise decision to take!

Fatty fish such as  salmon, trouts, mackarel, tuna, eel and canned tuna & sardines can provide with you with good amounts of vitamin D as well as heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids. 

Fortified milk/yogurt can be fortified with vitamin D >> the key is to read your nutrition facts label. And a good note to keep in mind is that ice creams, labne and cheeses are never fortified with vitamin D! On the other hand, some soy/rice milks can be fortified so yea, keep reading those food labels!

Egg yolks- the yellow part of an egg- is what contains the vitamin D you want. Therefore having boiled eggs can be a part of healthy diet when eaten in moderation, but make sure to adjust your cholesterol intake during your day because the American Heart Association recommends that you consume no more than 300 mg of cholesterol per day, and just one egg contains 200 mg!

Vitamin D can also be found in fortified cereals, fortified orange juices and in beef liver. Though I personally don't recommend that you have your vitamin D from beef liver because it's super high in cholesterol - and no you don't need that much of cholesterol in your diet!

Supplements can provide you with your vitamin needs but it shouldn't be your first option, like most doctors in Lebanon advise you to go for! Supplements are surely needed if you have low levels of vitamin D and best thing about them is that you don't have to split your supplement doses. Just don't go buying supplements, consult your doctors ahead of time because vitamin D can be toxic in large amounts.

References: Health.com

Enjoying a day at the beach photo

Delicious salmon dish photo

Fortified cereals with fortified milk photo

Shopping for Fish this Summer!

The intake of fish and seafood increases with summer so it’s pretty crucial to ensure that what you are buying is fresh and safe! Just follow these tips for buying and storing fish and shellfish to keep your meal safe and delicious!

Shopping for Seafood

A faint sea odor is normal, but fresh seafood should not smell "fishy". Freshly cut fish, peeled crustaceans (shrimp, lobster and soft shell crabs) and mollusks (scallops, oysters, clams and mussels) should be moist, not slimy or dry around the edges.

Fresh fish should have clear, well-rounded eyes, not clouded, dry and sunken. The gills should be bright red, not darkened or slimy so ask that the gills be lifted up and check for sliminess and color! You can also place your finger on its skin for fish should feel moist and springy (skin should bounce back when you touch it) instead of having a mushy hole in it.

Fresh prawns, shrimp, lobster, soft shell crabs and rock shrimp should have a uniformly light-colored tail without any discoloration. Mollusks in the shell should be alive and hold tightly to their shells when handled. Moreover, when buying fresh oysters, look for a natural creamy color within a clear liquid.

Always buy fish last! You can pass by, choose your fish, ask them to be cleaned then pick them up at the end of your supermarket tour; I mean that’s what I do. This way  you will go directly to the cashier and then head home and right back to the fridge. If you know you’re running errands after your supermarket trip, keep a small fridge with ice in your trunk, where it’s best to place fresh milk and meats till you get home. By doing this, you will ensure that the temperature of foods that need to be stored in a cold temperature won’t increase to a point of proliferation health hazardous bacteria .

It's best to buy fresh seafood the day you're going to eat it. Now if you want to buy frozen fish, make sure there is no sign of thawing and refreezing crystals in the bottom of packages. If there are any tiny refrozen crystals, simply don’t buy that specific package. If that isn't possible, properly store it in the fridge or freezer until it is prepared and cooked.

Storage

Fresh fish, shrimp, scallops and lobster tails can be stored in tightly sealed storage bags or plastic containers and kept on ice in the refrigerator. Using this method, fresh scallops and crustacean tails will keep 3-4 days and fresh fish will keep 5-7 days.

Scallops, crustacean tails and fish can be frozen in water and stored in a freezer for 4-6 months (0 degrees Fahrenheit or lower). To thaw, leave them in the refrigerator overnight or you can place them under cold, running tap water immediately before you cook them.

Live, hard-shell mollusks can remain alive for a week to 10 days stored un-iced in the fridge, kept at 34 to 38 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fresh soft-shell crabs can be stored up to two days if wrapped in plastic and packed in ice in the fridge. They can keep for up to six months when wrapped in several layers of plastic and stored in a freezer (at 0 degrees Fahrenheit). It is important to thaw these overnight in the refrigerator only.

So bon appetite, grill your fish and seafood and enjoy ample of healthy omega 3 fatty acids!

Sources: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/