Feasting and Fasting

Over the last year I have discovered or rekindled a love for cooking and baking and it is not a phase but it has become a certainty in my life. I am making an effort to make as much as possible on my own starting with granola or bread or dinner or lunch.
I have always known that a love for producing meals was in me but being busy and not wanting to take the time to slow down to prepare a meal have kept me from it for a long time. I have always loved gathering people around the table and sharing a meal and cooking for them. But there is a difference between the everyday cooking and the special cooking in that that you have to stay creative everyday and really make an effort to feed yourself well.
For my birthday this year I got this book and it spoke to the innermost part of me. I could hardly put it down. The other book I got was of course by Kinfok and I had wanted it for a long time. It is such a beautiful book with great stories and recipes and again the effort to gather people around a table in very simple ways.
So of course my summer has been about trying out recipes, eating well, having friends over, baking, drinking lots of coffee (hello that's what you do when you're in Italy) and lots of cheese. It has been a season of feasting and enjoying.
But I believe in balance in my life and I don't mean the ying and yang kind of balance but having your priorities in check, knowing where to invest yourself, knowing when to rest, knowing when to push, knowing when you need your family and friends and when you need alone time. I also believe in balance when it comes to food. I do not believe in diets and all that comes with that. I believe in real food, seasonal and local and in whole fat milk and yogurt.
So after a season of feasting I also think it is important to take time and fast to get back into that balance. Thankfully this whole week we're having a prayer and fasting week in my church and I love it. It was the perfect opportunity to cut some thing out of my life for a week like coffee or sugar or TV or movies. It was a week to rethink, regroup, refocus. It is then when we cut out all the unnecessary things and focus on God alone that we hear His voice even clearer, that the path becomes more enlightened and that we are more sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
It was the perfect transition from a calm and relaxed summer to Fall and all the change and adventure that it will bring. It was perfect because I was able to get back in balance and see the my priorities and what really counts. And one of the main things I am taking out of this week is to stay the course no matter what comes my way.

xoxo

Ramona

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