Welcome to Fresco!

The world needs people to come alive

My goal with Fresco is to bring more goodness into the world by sharing and sparking creative ideas and celebrating life’s beautiful gifts of nature, art, design, and food. My recipes are inspired by my Italian roots, and the healthy Mediterranean way of life. The creative ideas are inspired by my art background and art business. These are the things that make me come alive–Passion, Art, Food, & Love! I hope to inspire you too because your gifts make the world come alive.

I have put off starting this blog for many reasons, but now that I am home in this odd time of social distancing and the Coronavirus, I plan to use this time and place to communicate. See all those empty chairs in the photo? It may be a temporary way of life for many of us but we can still gather here online. With more and more of us home-bound wondering what to cook for our families maybe this will offer up some inspiration and comfort.

Creating comfort

I hope you will follow along for some fresh ideas on what it means to use art and healthy food as therapy and comfort. I have been gluten free for almost 5 years and it’s been a challenge to cook and find comforting and delicious foods that are gluten free but it gets easier every day. It might take getting used to a new way of thinking about what comfort is — and allowing your body and mind to get rid of old ideas to make way for new foods that are better for you and just as delicious on another level. If you have allergies or intolerance you know what it’s like to crave things you can’t have and learn to allow new foods to take their place. Let’s share our ideas and tips to help each other!

Creative expression for wellness

I’d also like to share my vision for greater joy and peace by exploring expressive arts and creative experimentation (starting as young as possible). As early as I can remember in kindergarten, doing art particularly in nature, made me feel connected to my world, and true to myself. Fast forward years later, I’m still here pursuing my passions, and using art and design in many forms as an entertaining outlet, for mental stress relief, and for fun! I hope to introduce you my talented friends, family, and colleagues to show you what inspirations they have for you too.

Creative practices can also help us better connect to our surroundings especially during tough times like this. Making art, singing, dancing, and other forms of expression have been proven to help relieve depression, stress and anxiety. We can use many different creative outlets to achieve comfort, and use your intuition to best achieve success. I use photography, graphic design, drawing, decorating, and cooking as my comfort. One of my teen boys uses a 3-D printer for his creative outlet, building and connecting pieces that he prints. My other son finds ways to be creative by playing games and music. Be open to expression wherever you can find it. You don’t have to be an “artist” by definition or worry about perfection, but we all are artists in one way or another and should enjoy the journey of creative expression.

Food is art