Select Page

Celebrating Life is Messy Kitchen

COVER-LIMKI can’t even begin to explain how I feel today. If you could peek inside my heart, all you would see is sheer joy.

Today, Life is Messy Kitchen comes out into the World for all of you to see and enjoy. For all of you to cook with and play in the kitchen. Your kitchen: the real, beautifully messy place where you cook for your families. The place where you will make these recipes your own, cooking with your kids, your husband, your mum, your friends…your loved ones.

Life is Messy Kitchen is the first cookbook I photographed. The first job I had as a professional photographer. The first job in which I got to collaborate with an amazing team of professionals who put their heart and soul into bringing this book to life and making it not just a cookbook, but a work of art.

PicMonkey Collage4

 Life is Messy Kitchen is a work of love, and a tribute to messy lives, to things that don’t go according to plan, to tough moments and getting through to the other side. It’s a tribute to friendship and professionalism. A tribute to getting things done to the very best of our ability, no matter what. A tribute to getting back in our feet when life knocks us down, and a powerful statement about the huge power of dreams.

Life is Messy Kitchen is a work of art, because it has over 100 of Mayi Carles amazingly cute, melt-your-heart- funny illustrations, over 200 photographs taken by yours truly, and because it was designed and art directed by the sheer genius of Marbel Canseco who transformed it into a book you will most definitely want in your coffee table, into a book your kids will love, into a book that is bound to inspire you and that you will treasure for years to come.

This book is pure eye-candy and it makes my heart beat faster just knowing that I got to be a part of it.

PicMonkey Collage5

And Life is Messy Kitchen is an amazing cookbook. I should know, because I made each and every one of the 115 recipes it contains-many of them several times. The recipes, my friends are nutritious, beautiful and, most of all,delicious. As in seriously delicious. And they work. 

Because you know those books full of pretty photos but with recipes that are just impossible to make? The ones with  cakes that  flop, with cupcakes taste like cardboard and the ones where you can never get anything to look as in its pages? This is NOT one of those books.

Each of the Life is Messy Kitchen recipes was made in my family kitchen, styled in a way you may style them at home, without tricks that  would make them pretty but inedible, and photographed exclusively with natural light.

What you see is what you get.

And what you get is wonderful. I promise.

PicMonkey Collage6

The book comes in 3 versions :the digital pack, which includes the full pdf and an interactive guide, the print book (to be shipped in March), and the big bundle, which includes the digital pack, the print edition and an adorable coloring book that was Zoe’s delight when I was photographing it and even comes with bonus printable  cards and gift tags.

zoe coloring tea rexbis

 

zoe coloring tea rex_4bis

AND! AND! AND!  All versions include also super cute printable menu planners, grocery lists and recipe cardsillustrated and designed by Mayi herself, and access to a community of messy kitchen owners and recipe lovers, just like you and me :)

So, my dear friend, come celebrate with me!

-Visit http://www.lifeismessykitchen.com/, check the book’s preview (wiii) , tell me what you think (fingers crossed that you’ll like it)!

– Tell me your messy kitchen stories in the comments below!

– Follow the hashtag #lifeismessykitchen on twitter and instagram not to miss any of the launch party activities-it’s going to be fun, and there are going to be prizes!

– Promise me that you’ll join us for the Life is Messy Kitchen live call (subscribe below to be notified about the exact date and time!)

– If  you would like to see the “making of” of this book-well at least how the book was photographed- keep your eyes open because I’ll tell you all about it in my next post!

Have a beautiful Tuesday!

Thrive: my word for 2014

Choosing a word for the year is a powerful thing, a life altering experience that I can only recommend.

At the beginning of 2013, I wrote a blog post about how my word for 2012 (Integrate) helped me cope with the series of curve balls that the year threw at us, how it helped me become whole again after feeling that my brain, heart and soul had been shattered. You see, 2012 was the year when Luka and Zoe were assessed for Special Needs and were found to have developmental delays requiring Speech and Occupational therapy, as well as Sensory issues. 2012  was the year when and we had to learn not only how to help them but also how to deal with our own pain and confusion in the process and how to advocate effectively  for them before schools who were fearful and, thus, reluctant to  adapt as recommended by the children’s therapists. (It is both an irony and a lucky event that I have a postgraduate degree in Human Rights Law).

2012 went by and made us stronger. And even though we were still very much in survival mode when 2013 arrived, I was ready to move forward from the pain and welcome a new stage in our lives. I was tired of feeling sad and, so,  Forward was my word for last year, and forward I moved. Not because things were easier, but because when they were not, I was reminded by the mere whisper of my word that getting stuck in the bad was ultimately a choice: a choice I decided to reject. From old school, to new school, to homeschooling, from letting go of my old career to embracing a new one, from paralyzing fear to the courage to jump into the unknown with nothing but faith: every decision was marked by a deep desire to progress and let the past behind.

December came and I felt in me the need to release the old one, and chose another word. I knew I wanted to go one step further this time: I didn’t just want to move forward, I wanted the movement to be positive, I wanted to grow. This year, I wanted to go deeper, and put some thought into making my word a reality, and so I got Leonie Dawson’ s ” Create your Amazing Year” workbook and planner an,  one cold day of  January, I spent a morning at a cafe connecting to myself, dreaming and planning.

Dreaming…If you have been through a crisis of any kind you certainly know how difficult, almost impossible it seems to dream and how liberating it can be when we are finally able to do it again.  When I sat down at that cafe earlier this year and started planning 2014 and dreams and hopes started coming out of me, I felt reborn.

And in that moment I knew what my word for this year had to be:  Thrive

THRIVE

This year I want to wave a gracious goodbye to the past, without regrets or ill feelings of any kind. Forgiveness is, for that reason, a big part of my year.

This year I want to love deeply- and this includes learning to love myself, a task at which me and my inner self critic have always had a very hard time. For this reason, this year I am committing to self-care without shame or blame. I want kindness to be at the center of my relationship with me, for the first time in my life.

This year I want to prosper. For this reason, I am committed to working on my money blocks and on overcoming my scarcity mentality. I want to feel (not just know) the Universe as expansive and abundant.

This year I want to learn new things and to share what I learn.

This year, I want to flourish and help others do the same.

Why am I telling you this in May? Because I will turn 38 years old in 17 days. Because any day is a good day to start living with intention. Because it’s never too late to dream again.

What are YOUR dreams for 2014? What are you hoping to leave behind and what are you hoping to embrace in the next 7 months? 

Tell me in the comments below and let’s find a way, together, to make those wishes come true!

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close