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Good energy, bad energy, and the importance of positivity

Written by: Annette Cohen

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Time to read 6 min

Good energy, bad energy...

So what does this mean? Let me tell you what happened the night Passover ended so you could really understand what I'm saying here. 

We had just finished celebrating the holy Jewish holiday of Passover. It's a week filled with praying, eating meals with family and friends, and lots of matzah (unleavened bread). There is a Moroccan tradition to have a post-party celebration which includes many traditional foods, namely the famous 'moufleta' (a type of crepe). We have taken on this moufelta tradition, so it's the first thing I do once my kitchen is converted back from my Passover dishes.  I just wasn't in the mood this year to get back to cooking. There was no recovery time between the many holiday meal preps and I simply did not want to stand in the kitchen for another second. But since tradition demands it, with bad energy, I proceeded to make a batch of moufleta. To say it was a flop is an understatement. I garburated the batch of dough, took a few minutes to collect my thoughts and flipped the switch in my head. I got rid of the bad energy and turned it to good energy and made a second batch which, if I do say so myself, was award winning. This is exactly what I mean every Monday morning when I say "Monday is the driver of the week, make today a good day and the rest of the week will follow." Go into the new week with good energy and positivity, and you will always see the benefits of doing so.


Moufleta recipe

I have been using Jamie geller's "Easy Moufleta Recipe for years. It's in fact easy and quite frankly the best moufletas I have ever tasted. The irony here... I am an Egyptian Jew, following an Ashkenazi Jew's recipe for a Moroccan dish. Haha! Go figure!


I share with you her recipe with permission


Ingredients

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1/3 cup oil (for the pan and for frying, don't make my mistake by adding it to the mix!) 😑

Preparation:

1. Sift flour and mix in salt, with one hand add water slowly with the other mix, until you get a sticky dough consistency. Pour a small amount of oil on top of the dough cover and let stand 15 minutes.


2. On a baking sheet pour 1/3 cup oil, form small balls slightly bigger than a golf ball, and place on the oil. Continue untill all of the dough is formed into balls, cover and let rest 15 minuntes.

3. Heat a large skillet on med-high heat. on the counter top, flatten out the balls one at a time, using a circular motion and stretching with your fingers. Be careful about the amount of oil you use- too little and it will stick too much, and it wont get thin enough.

4. Dip the ball in the oil from the tray before flattening, you want to get it very very thin. (It should strech to larger than your hand).

5. With two hands transfer to the pan, immediately start stretching another, flip what is in the pan with a fork, and place the next one on top of the first. Strech another ball, flip both Mufleta in the pan and add the new one.

6. Continue this pattern untill all of the balls are stretched and you have a huge pile of Mufletot on the pan (use 2 forks when it gets too heavy for just 1).

7. Serve hot from the pan with honey or silan and butter or jelly to slather and then roll. Enjoy!

Tip: If doubling the recipe, try to do no more than 15 in a pan at a time in batches.

Enjoy and let me know if you make them! 😍


moroccan moufleta crepe

Let's talk about 'the big picture'...


Sometimes when I am feeling down (and yes, I too, have those days), I wonder why things happen/don't happen the way I want them to. I'll spend months planning a trip that turns out to be a huge flop, or I'll imagine an incredible dish in my head, cook it and it will end up in the garbage, or I'll order my next fashion collection for delivery on a certain date, and it will arrive three months late (think the Playa, Bali, Skater, Cali Cargo skirts) 😠 


We have all been down this road. Those moments when we start to think of all the good deeds we do, all the prayers we put in, all the charity we gave, and we wonder: "Does Hashem hear me? Has he forgotten of my existence? Why are things turning out this way?" 


It's not easy having these thoughts. So I take a small step back and breathe. And then breathe some more until I remember something that someone made me realize. We don't see the big picture. There is so much more to every situation that we just don't know. 


Think about this for a second. A three year old child picks up and starts to play with a sharp object. The child's mom notices and quickly grabs the object away. The child starts to cry and is very frustrated because he/she was enjoying exploring the object. The child doesn't see the big picture. The parent does, and keeps the child safe by taking it away. 


So too, when things seem hard to deal with, remind yourself that there is a bigger picture and that Hashem does things only for the good even though you may not see it at that moment. 

The picture to the right looks like a miserable piece of land. Scroll down to see just how beautiful the full picture really is.

grassy area
girl at the lake

Celebrating Progress, Not Perfection...


I've learned over the years that focusing on the things I like about myself, helps me to improve the things I don't love. I'll give you an example. I've always thought I have nice eyes. They're nothing special really; not blue or green, not a gorgeous shape, I don't even have long eyelashes. But the way I have been applying my eyeliner and creating a cool wing in the corner has always been a strength for me. 

In case you didn't hear it when I screamed it from the rooftops, I turned 50 last summer. With 'the big 50' comes new challenges. In my case, I started to see a few *gulp*, dare I say it,... wrinkles. Yes, wrinkles. Now the truth is, that wrinkles aren't the worst thing that can happen to a person. Unless of course you spent the last 35 years creating a cool wing in the corner of your eyes. 👀 I've been feeling sorry for myself about it for months. Do you remember when my arm was in so much pain and I couldn't lift it? I remind you that I couldn't dress myself, wash my hair, or apply make up. For the first time in my life, I had no choice but to leave the house make-up free, and if you know me well, you know that I love that idea as much as I love spiders.😦 As my arm slowly healed, I was able to lift it very little and I managed to apply eyeliner but couldn't manage the wing cuz it was too painful. In time, I started to celebrate the progress my arm was making when I was able to lift it a bit for short periods of time. My eyeliner was not perfect but it was a small victory and I was beyond thrilled. My positive attitude helped me get through that very difficult time. Totally unexpectedly, I was getting loads of compliments on my eye make-up, or lack thereof, 😁 and lo and behold, the wing-less eye started to grow on me. I no longer bother to even try to create the wing, and now I embrace my 50's and the challenges that come with it.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of celebrating small victories and progress on the journey toward personal growth. It's quite literally what gave me the ability to move forward.

Conclusion

Embracing positive thinking is not merely a mindset shift, it is a transformative lifestyle choice. It reduces stress, anxiety, and depression by reframing negative situations into opportunities for learning and growth. By adopting a hopeful and optimistic outlook, you actually unlock benefits that enhance your well-being as a whole. It's not always easy to do this, and we are all a work in progress. We got this


Wishing you a blessed week,

Annette xo


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The Author: Annette Cohen

Meet Annette, the creative force behind the modest fashion brand Esteez. With a passion for fashion and a keen eye for style, Annette curates a vibrant online space dedicated to celebrating modestwear and timeless elegance. Through her Instagram account @esteezonine, she shares her love for versatile fashion, food, and lifestyle offering inspiration and insights into living a life of both modesty and individuality. Join Annette on her journey as she explores the intersection of fashion, faith, and personal expression in her blog.

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