recipe for life

By: ophélie doll
Edited date: November 10, 2022Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

I’ve always loved food.

But it took me a long time before feeling at ease with it. 

I remember once my fiancé gave me tomatoes to help him with cooking one of his specialties, the “moqueca de peixe”, a typical Brazilian dish. I just didn’t know how to cut this object and I felt way more comfortable with putting the salt, pepper and a bottle of wine on the table.

Then, one day I bought a vegetarian recipe book and cooked almost all of them for my friends, strictly following all the indications. Later on, I started to cook without guidance, letting my imagination go wherever it wanted, and took cooking classes to explore new horizons.

What I love the most about cooking now is looking at the process of creation: from the whole vegetables, fruits, cereals in their original form to their final composition on the plate.

I have no idea of what’s going to happen, and often, “la magie opera”. 
It’s the same with writing a text or composing a song. I start without any idea of the final result…

I remember a time, no that long ago, when I was blocked by fear of the outcome. I couldn’t do anything but think of how things would turn out, anticipating already the fact it wouldn’t be as perfect as I wanted. I was in constant fear. Fear of expressing myself, fear of not being good enough, of being judged, of living… just scared of myself!

I tried many ways to overcome it: workshops of all kinds, self-improvement books, lots of writing, walks and talks, healers… and I’m sure a lot of understanding and reassurance came out of it, but the thing that freed me the most is actually doing!

As soon as I’m in action rather than imagining a projection of what I could do, the stress miraculously vanishes. And not a single book could teach me that. This journey lead me to start teaching how to cook and when I taught a cooking class for the first time, I had no idea what we were about to cook. I chose the ingredients according to the chakra of the day, working hand in hand with Francesca, this precious friend of mine and yoga teacher.

I’ll share with you the recipe of the inspiration of that Solar Plexus chakra day with my sweet and solar salad. Have fun with the ingredients and the quantities, try, dare, make mistakes and do it again. Just play. With food, with friends, with life.

I got out of my head and started to play. I make Earth a giant playground and try as often as I can to see it as a game. I’m a grownup child, I want to have fun, and share it whenever I can. 

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