Knock, knock! Anyone there?

I do not know how to start after 4 months without posting anything on the blog.

What began as a summer break, has become something else. Why? I do not know very well … I guess that several factors come together. Fatigue after two very intense years, blogging, working inside and outside home, and four books published. The haters, that end up undermining your confidence. And above all, social networks that suddenly seem like a waste of time. A quite funny waste of time, but waste of time after all. And I do not want my life to revolve around it. Suddenly all this life “virtual” has lost its meaning. And I can not explain why. I just can say that I see myself in this ad by Coca Cola.

I do not want anyone to think I’m trying to demonize social networking, I guess it’s all about balance. I have met very interesting people thanks to twitter, or facebook that otherwise I would never have met. I have said on more than one occasion that I learned to cook by reading cooking blogs. So I have to be grateful to them. But I do not want to spend my life glued to my iphone checking if there is a new message, a tweet, a reader with a question about a recipe … I don’t want anymore. I do not want Pablo and Jorge to think that normal life is that way. Children learn from what they see more than what we say. A week ago, a neighbor was passing with his motorcycle on the street, and Jorge (4 years) went: “Look Mom, there goes a jerk, as you say.” My street is pedestrian, maximum 20 km per hour, and occasionally there comes one who believes he/she’s in Le Mans and runs at full speed … and it’s true that I often mutter, “Where does this jerk think he is going?”. Clearly he’s heard me.

In recent years I have not had time any time for resting, I have passionately dedicated every single free second to this blog. I do not want to give the impression that I’m complaining: I did it because I wanted to, because it made me happy. But now I’m free to ride every day my children to school with my bike, I can go skating on the weekends without feeling guilty that I have not post a new recipe for a long time or because I have thousands of mails unanswered, and there is always something homemade at home for breakfast or snack. Sometimes I even watch TV! Or I decide to devote a whole weekend to read all Jane Austen’s books. And all those little things are luxuries that I have not been able to afford for a long time.

So it has come a time when I have to choose. And I choose my “real” life. I choose not neglect the people I have around me, or my work, and that’s why, at least for now, I am leaving the social networks. I do not want to leave the blog, which has meant so much for so long and has given me so much joy. But I will have to make it another way: posting only when I can and I really want.

I have given much thought to this, and still feel unsure of what should I do. For me, having a blog means having people interacting, commenting, asking questions … and I do not have time for this anymore.

Thank you very much to all of you who are worried about me during this time I have not been round here. I wanted to post before this recipe, but I’ve had the blog crashed and would not let me publish anything. I guess he needs a vacation too. I wanted to choose a recipe representing that I am well, and also reflecting the spirit of the blog: a collection of special recipes and happy moments. So what better than this rainbow cake that is included in the last book I made “Con la comida sí se juega”. Below you can see some of the recipes included in the book.

See you soon I hope. Thank you for always being there!