About

2025 edit

Hi. I’m Vivi Ball.

Mom. Actress. Teacher. Blogger. Photographer.

But today, right here in front of you, I’m simply a woman who cooks with joy.

I don’t know how to do plating.

I have no idea how to seduce a client into tasting a dish ten only times just to keep their taste buds intrigued.

I cook a lot. Just like I live.

A lot, with passion, with noise, with heart, with laughter and tears, with a pinch of salt measured by eye, with bare hands and a full soul.

I’ve been cooking since I was six.

Buni, my grandmother, was my first head chef.

She taught me that there’s no such thing as “too much.” Too much flavor, too much butter, too much time spent in the kitchen.

In her tiny communist-era kitchen in our two-bedroom flat in Drumul Taberei, I learned to love by cooking beside her.

Buni wasn’t a trained chef. We read together Sanda Marin’s Cookbook, but we always cooked by instinct.

Every meal was an adventure. Often, we didn’t even know what the end result would be.

I remember one time we made a cake, and of course, added too much syrup. It collapsed.

Buni stuck her hands in the whole thing, kneaded it, and voilà, “potato cake” was born. Problem solved.

I created this food blog in her honor: Cooking Romania by Vivi (https://cookingromania.vivianaball.ro/).

You’ll find all her massive dishes there: fatty, hearty, generous;  grilled mackerel, eggplants, baclava, stuffed peppers, chicken roasted until golden-crusted, her famous “vinete” salad, and her magical homemade fishroe dip.

That’s where Buni still lives; in my blog, and in my heart.

I am who I am thanks to her.

These days, I sometimes cook with my daughter, Adara. She’s my videographer, my partner, and the toughest critic I’ve ever met. She never goes easy on me; not when I cook, not when I dress.

Adara is an artist turned finance wizard. She’s been a public speaker and mini-influencer since she was three, teaching Romanian to foreigners back then. She lives with intensity and brings a unique energy into every room.

As she grew older (she’s 24 now – 2025 edit), she started setting strict kitchen rules: no dressings, no salt, no frying, no baking, no fish, and almost no meat unless it’s chicken breast and it ends in full-on carbonization.

She often tells me:

“Mom, I’m sure what you made is amazing… but I won’t eat it.”

Adara is my raison d’être. She’s the reason I’ve reinvented myself. She’s the reason I turned food into creation, not just survival.

Our blog, our YouTube channel, our stories prove that one generation can learn from the other. And vice versa.

I’m 52 years old and I’ve never trained in fine dining.

I’ve never made carrot mousse or caramelized onions for four hours.

But I’ve cooked hundreds of meals.

For kids. For colleagues. For students. For foreigners visiting our country who became friends around the table.

That’s how Cooking Romania by Vivi came to life; feeding people Romanian food goes beyond language, and I want to share this joy in words almost everyone on this planet can understand.

To me, food is acting. It’s connection. It’s a language of love.

I’ve been an actress since 1999.

You’ve seen me in sitcoms, commercials, period films, reality shows, and you’ve heard my comedy and music shows on the radio.

I’ve written and delivered intense lines on screen. But in real life, my most honest line is the sound of my blender. Or the rhythm of my chef’s knife against the board.

In 2001, I founded Wordland, a foreign language school.

Many times, when I teach Romanian, I bring up food first:

“No, soup is not the same as ciorbă. Let’s start there.”

To me, culture begins in the kitchen. With what we put on the table. I turn food into a universal language. A way to connect. A way to care.

On my spirituality blog (https://vivianaball.ro/), I write about inner peace, balance and the courage to heal yourself.

And food has its own healing powers. The smell of a slow-cooked stew, just like Buni used to make, can sometimes go deeper than an entire hour of meditation.

I believe in well-being. In joy.

In cooking with gentle music in the background and curious cats circling my bowls and plates.

I cook with Fideluțu on the table, Narcisa and Rodica judging me from the windowsill, Felix always stealing food from my plate, and Cici, our Chihuahua, who will eat anything that I drop on the floor in a heartbeat.

Then there’s Marcelino, my adopted pigeon. He believes he’s human and has his own room. If I dared bring him into the kitchen… well, that would be the last time the cats saw him alive.

I’ve never gone to culinary school. But I learn. Constantly. Every single day.

My motto is: Learn to Stay Ahead!

In Romanian: Învață, să stai în față!

I believe in learning. In effort. In perseverance. In people who don’t stop at “I don’t know.”

I don’t know how to plate.

But I know how to work hard. And I know how to love what I do.

This life is the most beautiful chance to learn from masters, to reinvent myself, to discover new flavors and techniques that one day will merge with the tastes of my childhood.

It’s my chance to pass on what I’ve received: the joy of feeding others. Also, the joy of understanding, refining, and evolving.

I don’t know how to drip sauces or decorate fancy plates. But I know how to balance flavors, feelings, and stories. I don’t know what a competition dish should look like. But I know what a dish looks like when it brings a smile.

I’m a woman who’s lived deeply with the highest ups and the lowest downs. With applause and scars. And now, I want to live once more right there, in your kitchen, on your table (maybe joined by cats?).

I bring with me Buni’s memories, Adara’s sharp critiques, the smell of roasted eggplant from our apartment, and my wild hunger to learn.

I am a woman of rich tastes.

Of full life.

Of loud laughter and real food.

Still, no plating. Just soul.

Not fine. Just warm.

Not minimal. Just… too much.

That’s who I am. Vivi.

And I want to win you over the only way I know how: with food that tells a story.

Because ”a hand extended without a story will always come back empty.”

Cooking Romania by Vivi is dedicated to my Granny, Victoria and it is my legacy to my daughter, Adara. I write easy recipes for busy people.

My name is Vivi and I was born in Romania. This cooking blog is a token of love for my daughter and my paternal Granny, Victoria. I am a teacher and I like cooking, writing and photography. Since 2020, my daughter Adara has been actively involved in Cooking Romania by Vivi shooting and editing all the recipe videos.

This cooking blog contains fun and easy recipes for busy people. Cooking Romania by Vivi mainly addresses businesspersons with a sense of cooking. I don’t have a lot of time to cook (although I would love to spend my entire day in the kitchen), so I thought I should share some tips and tricks that have made my life easy and my culinary talents quite popular, whatever that means.

11 things about me

• My daughter has always been my teacher. She has taught me to be the mother I wanted to be, and to be a better person every single day.

• Cooking has played an important role in my life since the age of 6. I started helping my Granny in her tiny kitchen, and later food and cooking became my number 3 passion. For me, cooking is love.

• Although I am not a chef, I am an unsophisticated creative, passionate and practical food enthusiast who loves cooking and plays at the intersection of food and self mastery. I use cooking as a form of meditation. This blog has the sole purpose of helping busy people prepare easy and fast recipes.

• I love humans and all beings equally. I think that everything happens for a reason, and that reason is some form of advancement.

• I have been a teacher all my life. I have taught since 1990. I have acted since 1999.

• I was the sole caregiver for my Granny (20 years, she passed in 2012) and for my grandfather (6 years, he passed in 2018).

• Favorites are not my favorite thing; I love all colors, foods and whatever comes my way is more than welcome.

• I am a Taurus, so yes, apparently we all love food.

• After a long break, I restarted my spiritual journey in 2013. I write about my self-realization journey on The Vivi.

• I have been following a low carb sometimes even keto lifestyle since November 2018. I have lost 11 kilos since. 2025 edit: no keto diet. Just eating a bit less although it causes me a lot of pain!

• Concert and food photography is passion number 4. This is one of my dearest and most famous photos:

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I always say that my daughter is not only my first (quite often picky) customer, but my right hand, too.

I am very proud of my cooking, and I am confident that you, dear follower of Cooking Romania by Vivi will find my tips and tricks useful. Just as I learned everything I know about cooking from my grandmother, a wonderful lady, an amazing tender and loving granny who passed away in 2012 at the age of 92, you may find one day that a vegetable soup is not such a difficult thing to prepare after all. Enjoy my unsophisticated culinary journey, and don’t forget: food is fun! For me it’s fun to shop, to cook and to eat! Let’s dig in!

I would love to hear from you. Just fill in the form below:

Vivi is a passionate teacher, story teller and photographer. Adara is a passionate accountant, businesswoman and videographer. On Cooking Romania by Vivi, the Mom and Daughter play together at the intersection of self and food mastery.