Excusez-moi!

I have been on vacation (and will be until this Thursday), so please pardon my lack of writing over the past few weeks. We have been traveling all over Spain and a bit of France.

Of all the things I notice in traveling abroad — and particularly in these parts — it is the lack of obesity. Quite simply, I could count on hand the amount of overweight people I have seen since my arrival.

Why? I have a few theories, but I have always admired the French and Spanish use of only the freshest ingredients. Not to mention the ability to walk everywhere (driving a car is really quite a pain here!) and the lack of “to-go” culture.

Want to make your life a little more European? Check out Martha Schulman’s series on soups for some easy cooking at home (she notes the French love of soup for even a main course) = nytimes.com/recipesforhealth/soup

Or maybe whip up some Basque style pintxos (my personal favorite) = amazon.com/pintxos

More to come. Don’t you worry.