Café of the Week, a Health Update + My Peanut Butter Hummus Recipe
PARIS JOURNAL · FOOD + LIFE
A Paris café worth knowing, a personal health update + the peanut butter hummus I couldn’t stop thinking about.
SHWI
You’ll remember how I raved about SHWI having the best hummus I have ever tasted last week. Well, this week we finally made it to their sister restaurant, Kubri.
Same team means my expectations were high. Two hummus options on the menu:
I went with the standard option (topped with za’atar, EVOO + dukka over the short rib shawarma option as I wanted to actually taste the hummus itself.
Verdict?
90 percent as good as SHWI.
Close, but SHWI still edges it.
The chicken stole the show though, a perfectly roasted rotisserie chicken with toum + black lime, served on a bed of lemon + garlic chicken jus, with a side of laffeh.
Warmed Lebanese bread for mopping up every last drop of jus, the leftovers of which went straight to my Piggies on the walk home.
Obviously have to feed my Piggies friends. Just FYI, restaurants have to throw away all leftovers on your plate by law so next time, get it as a takeaway + either give it to the piggies or even a homeless person. One kind act can go a long way.
Reversing
osteoporosis
The bigger news this week was a full day at Zoi, a longevity wellness clinic here in Paris.
A DAT AT ZOI
The gold standard of preventative health.
The bigger news this week was a full day at Zoi, a longevity wellness clinic here in Paris.
They test everything. 150+ biomarkers, 11 functional exams, 5 imaging scans, 3 consultations with your doctor, the lot.
They also picked up that my Spider-Man virus, which some of you will remember I’ve spoken about before, seems active again. So I’ll be back on my protocol for that.
A Full Day of Treatments
You’re in your own private suite for the whole day, lunch was a full set menu from Alain Ducasse, who holds 17 Michelin stars.
The menu was built entirely around my own allergies + preferences.
You finish off the 4.5 hours in the recreated Onsen before a Japanese natural hot spring therapy.
Think warm salt pools, magnesium baths, steam area + ice rain showers.
The Treatments
I do acupuncture + a massage, but this, arguably one of the most premium clinics in the world.
It sits in the middle of the most beautiful, most visited cities on earth + comes out of the same rainy Western tourist mentality.
It’s not just a Tuina thing anymore, it’s a Paris thing too.
18 months later,
things are moving
in the right direction.
The headline result though was my DEXA scan. My first scan was diagnosed with osteoporosis 18 months ago.
Back then my body fat percentage sat at 37 percent, technically classing me as obese on paper even though I looked + weighed healthy, the same as I do now.
This time round, most areas have reversed, both the osteoporosis + the osteopenia, which doctors had told me flatly wasn’t possible.
They said the best case was medication to just stop it in its tracks.
My body fat percentage came down to 21 percent, muscle mass increased + my biological age reversed by a DECADE.
I am, funnily enough, ten years younger than my actual chronological age, which feels like a small miracle given I’ve just been through brain surgery + two hip surgeries.
I am, funnily enough, ten years younger than my actual chronological age, which feels like a small miracle given I’ve just been through brain surgery + two hip surgeries.
Peanut
Butter
Hummus
A simple twist on hummus, created out of pure curiosity.
INGREDIENTS
1 can chickpeas, including the aquafaba (chickpea brine)
150 g pure peanut butter
1/2 garlic clove
50 ml - 100 ml aquafaba or cold water
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon pink salt
Juice of 1 lemon
METHOD
Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend on full speed until smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed. A total of 2 minutes blending time will suffice.
Using the back of a spoon, spread the hummus out onto a shallow dish.
To serve, top with a layer of extra virgin, good quality olive oil. Make sure to take it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving.
This hummus will keep in the refrigerator for up to three days.
How I'd serve it.
Extra virgin olive oil, black sesame seeds, gomashio, edible flowers + micro herbs. Take it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving. This hummus will keep in the refrigerator for up to three days.
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