What are you doing during your downtime?
One of my favorite pastimes when I am not working, exercising, traveling or hanging out with family and friends is cooking. The way some people read, take a walk or chill out in front of the TV to de-stress, I cook!
Cooking to de-stress and nurture
I love both cooking and baking but tend more towards cooking because I can’t have all of the sweet stuff in my house or I’ll eat it! That being said, I love the regimen of following a good recipe. Some chefs have the ability to create a masterpiece out of refrigerator left overs, that has never been my talent. My patent response to anyone who complements my cooking is that I am not a great cook, BUT, I can ferret out and follow a great recipe and can usually tell up front
what is going to turn out perfectly. In fact, I often test cook for company and
very infrequently am I disappointed.
The magic of Moroccan cuisine
One of my favorite cuisines is Mediterranean. The combination of spices, vegetables, fruits and lean proteins hit all of the marks for me. This past November, 24 women from Balance Studio spent a week in Morocco. The culture, colors and shopping in Morocco were over the top but the food was spectacular.
Every meal was fresh, fragrant and delicious. We spent an afternoon making Tagine; chopping, prepping and then patiently waiting while it was cooked in traditional tagine pots over an open fire. It was worth the wait when we had the opportunity to share our masterpieces for lunch. It was one of the highlights of our trip.
Travel builds the bonds of friendship
The relationships that begin and grow during travel are one of the reasons that we keep offering retreats at Balance. One of my passions is travel, the other is building relationships with like-minded people. It always amazes me how a group of people can start a week knowing very little about one another and then transition to life-long friends before we touch down in Boston. Some of the group texts from my travel buddies have been a life saver for me these last couple of weeks. The banter, jokes, meme’s, support and personal stories keep me in hysterics and are like a life- line when things get a bit dark.
The best Moroccan chicken!
Last night, I made Moroccan chicken and I thought I would share this fabulous recipe for those of you who like to cook or don’t even necessarily like cooking but love a fairly easy, fabulous meal! One of the wonderful women from our trip to Morocco invited a bunch of us over at the end of January for a reunion dinner and this is what she and her husband served us. We were all in heaven and immediately transported back to the magic of Morocco!
Honestly, I think she googled best Moroccan chicken and this is what
popped up. Spoiler alert, I think the “20 min” prep time is a bit over exaggerated however, there is not a lot of heavy lifting and it’s totally worth the effort! The only thing you may not have in your cabinet is the Ras El Hanout spice. (It is really just a combination of cinnamon, turmeric, coriander, ginger, cumin, paprika, black pepper, Alspice, Mace, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg.) I got mine from Amazon in 24 hours a couple of months ago…it may take a bit longer now, but again…worth the wait!
