CHOCOLATE oh CHOCOLATE

Chocolate 

Five things to do with chocolate that does not involve eating.

Glorious Chocolate.

Massage.

This would have to be one of my favourites. Pushing most people I know to their erotic edge, being covered in or covering someone else in chocolate conjures up sensual and often wicked thoughts.

Most people ask me when inquiring about the chocolate massage that I give, if someone comes and licks it off!!

“Well if you invite someone along, yes!”. 

Other wise a warm shower is recommended!     
To do a massage, melt the desired amount of cacao paste with generous amounts of coconut oil and even some cacao butter if you like. For a full body you will need about half a kilo of paste, at least a cup of oil and a generous blob of cacao butter.  For the face you may like to seperate a small amount and add honey or sweetener so that it tastes good if it finds its way to the receivers mouth during the massage !!  Put on some good music, cover the floor with old towels and if you can keep the mixture warm through out the massage with a hot a plate or keep the pot of chocolate bay marie style in warm water then brilliant!  Massage as you would with oil.  Breath in the aroma and feel the effects of the ancient bean working its sensuous magic for both yourself the giver and the receiver.

Pray.

The Mayan Goddess of Chocolate, Ixcacao , has a humble but very honorable origin. An earth goddess, an ancient fertility goddess in a matriarchial society where it was women's work to gather crops and see to it that everyone was fed, her divine responsibility was to banish hunger and provide safety and security to the people.  A good woman to pray to!  I have cacao pods on my alter and include the vision of decadence, nuture and the ancient goddess in my visions as I meditate in the morning. If I am building an alter of gratitude, especially before a feast to share with friends, I always include a cacao pod or cacao beans amongst my crystals, feathers and other important finds from mother nature.

Body Oil.

When I lived in Peru, amongst mountains covered in snow and in freezing cold weather for the most part, many people asked me how was it I maintained a healthy glow much like a suntan.  Well it was chocolate.  I would melt with a generous amount of coconut oil, cacao, enough to colour the oil, but not too much to make it actual eating chocolate.  My morning ritual, was rather decadent.  Before showering I would warm this mix and then I would have warm coconut oil to cover myself with once out of the shower.  It was always commented on how I smelt like chocolate.  I have to say this is my favourite body lotion ever.   Made in my very own kitchen from two of my favourite products.   Chocolate and coconut oil.

Paint.

Instead of toxic paints use melted chocolate. A sweet smelling gift for the grandparents or step it up a notch for a lover. Roll yourself covered in chocolate over a large canvas leaving imprints and images of your body parts!  Eco friendly, fun and smells delicious.

Plant.

Yes chocolate grows on trees.  The cacao tree is commonly called Madre Cacao.  Theobroma cacao meaning "Food of the Gods" a name coined by the swedish Linneus, that merged the greek words "Theo" god "broma" food with the Maya cacao.  Plant one, build an altar under it, harvest the pods, ferment the beans, dry them and grind them and there you have your very own chocolate.  Life does not get much better than that !!

Australia to Costa Rica

Australia to Costa Rica

As Published in The CostaRicaNews

http://thecostaricanews.com/ 

Raising my son on the road.

This is the third time we have been to Costa Rica and this time we are here to stay.
According to my son whom is about to turn ten years old next week, we are not moving.
Well he isn’t.
I am free to keep on travelling and visiting other countries if I want to but for now he is staying put.

He declared this to me a few weeks ago whilst we were lazing in hammocks on our balcony overlooking the forest that lay between us and the not so distant ocean view.
In our hands we held the first pick of the guanoabana season.
To be more precise the guanoabana was dripping all over our hands,fingers and arms whilst running down our chins.

I have not been taken by such a delightful and heart stopping taste sensation of a fruit since I tried the  perfect Lucuma in Peru two years ago. And that experience was like eating soft fluffy caramel.

The delectable sweet white flesh of the guanoabana tasted better than any sort of ice-cream I have ever had. Until this experience I had never seen one or known that this fruit existed.

Exotic Mangoes

Back in my home country of Australia growing up in the eighties and nineties mango was the most exotic and sought after fruit around. If you were lucky that is.
Here in the mountain range between Dominical and Perez Zeledon , at an average of 700 colones per kilo ( about  $1.40 ) in our local surrounding markets mangoes are as common as apples use to be.

Where we live in this small community of a mix bunch of both foreigners and locals alike, everyone is excited for guanoabana season.
The fruit is regarded as a treasure.
Eyes glaze over whilst smiles broaden at the mere mention of eating one.
  Our house is surrounded by trees that grow the fruit and we spend each day keeping a close eye on the large green bulging spiky balls of deliciousness making sure we spot the perfect time to pick them before the Toucans get to them first.

This is how I saw that the fist guanoabana was ready to pick. A huge toucan flew above and rested in a branch not far from where I was sitting. Dribbling out of its huge colourful bill was the white flesh of the fruit. I retraced a path from where the toucan had flown and found a half eaten very ripe guanoabana about to fall from its branch.

Jack Pot. 

Rescuing what was left I spent the afternoon in fruit heaven with my son beside me declaring his love of this country and his complete non interest of moving.

And I have to say I can’t blame him.
We left Australia three years ago after making a relatively easy and for all tense and purposes quick decision that life in the west was not for us.
Sitting on the floor of the small shop in the industrial estate of Byron Bay in New South Wales from where I was attempting to run a clothing label business, my then six year old son and I made plans to sell everything and leave.
Life in Australia was typically geared towards the need to work more for more consumption and it was glaring down at me way too brightly for my liking.
Leaving was only the real plan we had.
 The mere act of packing up and flying out would surely set in motion the realisation of where we would need to go.

No fixed plans 

 

 

With no fixed plans at all we spent three months in Bali followed by three weeks in France and Belgium visiting grandparents to then arrive in San Jose just after my sons seventh birthday.

Having never set foot onto Central America before strangely enough nothing felt out of place at all.
Feeling at ease as if we were at home we quickly found our forest groove living in an intentional community outside of Nosara in the Guanacaste area.
Never being one to have worn shoes even in cities such as Brisbane or Sydney and definitely not on the island of Bali in Indonesia, my son found his kindred posse of young boys with bare feet and wild long hair amongst the howler monkeys running through the over growth of dense greenery.
Tarzan, Mogly and Peter Pan all seemed to be gathered in the one spot and it happened to be close to the small wooden cabin with no walls we then called home. 

 

After six months of a simple but wild life of beach days, hot days and intense rainy days filled with snakes, monkeys, humming birds and turtles we decided to go to Peru to live for awhile. Although he had learnt to speak many words of German and Hebrew, community living was not giving my son the chance to learn Spanish. It was time to go further south on the continent and try some mountain living and local village integration for the chance to grasp the Spanish language.

Two years later

That was exactly two years ago now.
Back in the warm climate of this lush land of Costa Rica no on can quite pick where we are from. I use to live in Paraguay decades ago where I learnt my Spanish and still can be heard to have an Argentinian tilt of an accent from a marriage in my late twenties.
Constantly jumping from his Peruvian street twang to the local slur of the “Tico tongue” many now believe that my son was born here. I am proud to say that no one ever guesses we are Australian. From Brazil maybe, and not often asked if we are from the US of A , our origins are a constant flux of conversation.

So for now Costa Rica it is.
With local food markets that are like theme parks with new rides and sights each time we go, the extensive variety of fresh fruit and vegetables alone are enough to keep us here.
We drink fresh water straight from the spring and every sunrise is accompanied with the sound of howler monkeys on the ridge.
Birds of every colour, butterflies as large as my hands and wild horses grace our every day.
Brightly coloured frogs, lizards as green as can be and insects the size of small mammals are everywhere.
Armadillos come by noisily at night rummaging through the pile of opened coconuts that lay beside our house.
The surrounding nature is a living playground with the animals as the characters that keep us highly intrigued, entertained and in constant awe.

Life in our little patch of paradise here in Costa Rica is rich with surprises, intense colour and constant joy. Pure Vida may be the local catch cry to describe everything from health, state of mind and the weather, but our life is a pure life in deed when we get to live in surroundings so alive and incredibly beautiful.
I am with my son on this one.
There is no need to move and for now Costa Rica is definitely our home.




Hailing originally from Australia Melissa has been traveling the world on and off for the past twenty five years.
A blogger, chocolate maker, clothes designer and fresh water lover her biggest passion is raising her beautiful and wild son with the world as their classroom.
Currently living in Costa Rica and writing her first book you can find her on Instagram and Facebook as “yeslifeisawesome”.

Jungle Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream

Recipes from the Jungle Kitchen

Super food, Super delicious and super easy

vegan 

ice cream 

In the afternoons after taking a walk amongst the deep green that surrounds our home we sometimes feel like a big tub of ice cream. 

At times it is all we want to eat here in this part of Costa Rica because it can get so hot.

Although we live in the mountians we are not far from the beach and still feel the soaring heat during the day.

With no ice cream palour near by or even new age raw treat cafe to frequent it is all about the jungle and my kitchen.

And with a recipe like this you can eat it foe breakfast ! Lunch ! or Dinner !

Filled with electrolytes, nutrients and minerals it is

Perfect for any meal. Especially for the little ones, and those of us that are still little at heart !

No food miles, only food meters and ALL Local from Costa Rica.

Jungle Vegan Banana Chocolate Ice cream.

Ingredients:

Frozen bananas ( I used  5 )

3 to 4 heaped Tble spoons of cacao powder

Pipa  (coconut ) water .. from one pipa

Jelly of 1 or 2 pipa (coconuts)

A handful of Chia seeds

Extra add "ins" if you like 

Cinnamon

Hemp seeds

tsp of Maca powder

Blend in a blender until smooth.

How perfect is this for a quick breakfast ?

Especially with the seeds added in it is great for you kids and they will LOVE the idea of chocolate ice cream for breakfast.

 

Guanabana Ecstacy

Here  in Costa Rica the guanabanas are ripening on the trees out side of our wooden house here on the hill.

They are huge and sweet.

We make ice cream and smoothies with what is left after we have devoured all that we can from one fruit as big as a large saucepan !

Exotic tropical fruit is one hell of a reason to live here.

Pura Vida.