We've been fans of Rita Rodrigues around here for many years... even before she got married. Her love of cooking made her the easiest journalist to talk to ever (for me of course).
I hope you enjoy getting to know her better inside out, lots of tips and good things!
TO BE
Lion sign
Season of the year: Summer
One color: Purple
A book: The Little Prince , Saint-Exupéry
A film: 'Great Expectations'
A song: Wicked Games, Chris Isaak
A podcast: " Extremely Nasty "
An object: cell phone, connected with everyone and the world.
Favorite place in the world: there is a beach where every year I go with my husband and my daughters and we stay there for three weeks and, year after year, we leave there happier than we went. I can say that I live 11 months of the year waiting for those three weeks. Time stops, there are no clocks, we only have essential routines. The air is cleaner and we breathe more deeply. Everything is softer, slower and more beautiful.
TO CREATE
Who and what inspires you? Stories of brave and courageous people who dared to think differently or simply not fold their arms in the face of conformity. And today the media and social networks show us so many cases of people like this. Your overcoming is, without a doubt, an inspiration for me to overcome myself.
What do you still need to create? All. Life is a notebook full of white pages. I still have so much to do, so many places to visit, so many things to see. My greatest creations were, without a doubt, my daughters, and watching their growth is a privilege in life. But I also want to see how I evolve myself. What challenges does the universe have in store for me and how will I live them? But I want it to be a process of enjoyment, without rushing. I don't have a 'to do list'. I want to live each stage.
How to maintain creativity: with open arms and limitless horizons, without preconceptions or prejudgments, just with a desire to experiment. As we grow we become more burdened with responsibility. We have to challenge ourselves to step out of the box to do different things and achieve results that surprise ourselves.
TO LIVE
First thing to do when waking up: take a deep breath, stretch and drink water.
How to relax at the end of the day: disconnect from work and the news and dedicate myself to my family. Listen to what my daughters have to tell. Talk to my husband. Cooking for everyone.
A place to disconnect: my sofa, where I can read, watch films and series or simply do nothing.
Favorite physical exercise: yoga and running.
How you release stress: with a run, with yoga, with meditation.
A woman who inspires you: my mother, for the woman she has always been, for the example she always gave me as a worker, competent, professional, dedicated and demanding of herself. But at the same time as an attentive mother, always present, very intuitive and complicit, who communicates more with her eyes than with words.
NOURISH
Your ideal diet is… diverse. Each time I become more convinced that eating a little of everything, without depriving myself of anything, gives me more assurance that I won't dive into a bag of sweets to make up for any deficiency.
What you always have in the fridge: kilos of fruit because at home we all love and eat fruit all the time. And the vegetable drawer is never short of leeks, courgettes and carrots.
Dinner-saving recipe: sautéed vegetables, which go well with everything... pasta, couscous, lettuce. And if I need a more nutritious element, I can always add a poached egg on top, which doesn't require any work and still gives the dish a really eye-catching effect.
Favorite drink: nothing satiates me like water, nothing comforts me like coffee.
Favorite snack: a well-baked bread without crumbs.
Favorite restaurant: I can't resist a good Italian restaurant.
Favorite cookbooks: already with lots of food stains and fingerprints, those by Mafalda Pinto Leite , obviously, with practical, economical, quick, delicious recipes, to repeat and repeat until you know them by heart.
TO CARE
Beauty icon: Julianne Moore
An essential piece of clothing: jeans.
What's not missing in your beauty routine: as I wear a lot of makeup every day, for me the most important thing is a good moisturizer that prepares the skin to receive all those extras and then a thorough makeup removal, which doesn't leave even a trace of foundation, mascara or eyeshadow. And always sunscreen.
Favorite MPL'beauty product: I can't decide between the smell of the salt and lavender scrub and the cleansing effect of the detox drops .
How do you feel more beautiful? I've had makeup done by some of the most talented Portuguese makeup artists, but the feeling after a yoga and meditation class is what makes me feel brighter and more beautiful. A glow that comes from within and radiates outward.
