Rainbows on Our Dinner Plate!

Prosy's Provencal Salad

What happens when health becomes wealth?  I had experienced the depths of inconsistent self-care, brought on by indulgent meals while vacationing in the Philippines. Yup, I was fed well, but also since there abound so many sources of triggers for allergens, my asthma was so out of control, but life-threatening, when combined with flu and allergies in 2007.  I thought I would remain so hooked to inhalers to get relief for my asthma. 

But, my husband, Enrique Delacruz,  was so determined to strengthen our immune systems. He experimented and came up with his formula for our morning breakfast, juicing nine varieties of fruits and vegetables.  In my old archives of blogs, the juice recipe appears.  But to make it easier on my reader, here it is

Then, we incorporated more exercise into our daily lives.  The regimen kept us away from major bouts of diseases and illnesses. But, not quite yet on reaching the peak of health is wealth.  We are still on our journey.  Being healthy is not just about the absence of illnesses.  It is the condition of one's body which fully supports the rigors of one's life.  Until I got to where I felt I could move around without aches and pains, I did not consider myself healthy.  

Mind you, I have logged in 214 days of exercising since 385 days ago as of today, March 28, 2011.   The rigor of the routine is pretty intense, walking uphill to the summit, alternating with two days of kettle bells, now lifting 53 pounds and while holding this heavy kettle bell, sometimes with one hand, sometimes with two, I have to do swings.  

Then, on cardio days, it is a triset, with no rest in between three different sets, more like continous that by the end of the third set of exercise, you feel like so deprived of oxygen, which you won't be, if you had remembered how to inhale and then exhale with each move.  It does not come that easy, but I persist, because the reward, the payoff is a deep, deep sleep!

Another payoff is the ability to write, to have a clear head, to be able to think and to compose my essays. This way, my editor, I like her, as she does not mince language on me, she says like it is, she uses no poetry to deliver that my work needs editing, and then she comments that her editing work can  sometimes become " karumal-dumal. "

Look up that word and you will see that she paints it precisely.  But, after working with her for a year now,  I believe we are more receptive to each other's feedback.  But mind you, she can be sparse with good tidings.  Of course, our interpretation is no news is good news.  As long as I have one reader, yes, just one reader affected, influenced or impacted by my writing, I am content.

Back to health is wealth.  So, with exercise, with juicing, nothing changes in my body.  It seems to hold onto to every pound of fat I have.  Of course, I love my fat grooves, but as I grow older, I wish there can be more muscular grooves.  After all, I work so hard exercising and eating nutritious foods. 

As a last resort,  I listened and I even applied my creativity to what my coach suggested for my nutrition for the week: lean meats and veggies, no dairy, limited good fats, no whites ( sugar, flour, pasta, etc. ) What made it easier to stay on it is the allowance of one cheat day while doing six days of nutritious eating.  Fruits are forbidden, well limited, and since this salad was more yummy with mango, I added it and ate few chunks.  He was so convincing, he was ready with his science to explain why white rice, white sugar, white flour, white pasta all become sugars in my body.  So, when he explained it that way, refined carbs became a once a week guest in my meals. 

So here goes Prosy's Provencal Salad. I called it Provencal, as the dressing was inspired by my Provencal master teacher in cooking, Tessa.   

2 blood oranges, peel then, cut in semi-thick circles

1 fennel bulb, sliced thinly

1 avocado, sliced into serving sizes 

1 or 2 tomatoes, quartered

Radicchio, sliced

1 Mexican mango, cut up into serving sizes, like the avocados ( you can slice it the way you want )

Balsamic Blanc

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Pour the balsamic blanc and olive oil into the salad, a ratio of 12 parts of olive oil to 1 part of balsamic, depending on your taste.  I have lessened it to 6 parts to 1 part and both my husband and I like that combination. 


I serve this salad with smoked milkfish or tinapa, or steak or porkchops or sometimes fresh crabs or garlic sauteed shrimps.  Tonight we had it with pork.  The salad leaves a satisfying feeling first, in your mouth: textures are both crunchy and smooth, and second, the eyes are so satisfied, looking at all the vibrant colors on the plate, it feels like you are eating rainbows on your dinner plate.  It is a period, a high five, a slam dunk for both of us!  It is light enough, and it has plenty of fiber to keep us not quite so hungry until the next morning's breakfast!


Bon Appetit!

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The Chair of Privilege

The Chair of Privilege, taken in Oregon Coast, on July 2010 by Prosy Delacruz  

"Life is a battle – you must enter into it fully, and do what needs to be done. You cannot shrink from your duty. Life presents difficult, sometimes horrendous situations, unwelcome tasks, and obstacles of every sort. Despite this harsh reality, you must resolutely go forward." Pierro Ferrucci


I have wrongly believed life is a battle, in which I have to face all the challenges everyday by myself. It was much later in life that I realized that my Universal Partner is always with me and that I have the capacity to create my own life of privilege.


I have often wondered what it is like to sit in "The Chair of Privilege," wherein one’s check book is freely accessible towards a donation to a church project or a non-profit cause. Or perhaps where one’s circle already includes the ‘sifted and the centrifuged ‘ crème de la crème of society. They can be folks who have endured their own life’s challenges, embraced them, and now are at a point of coming to their privileged times of harvesting the fruits of their labor.


Or simply folks who are children of elites, who have no financial barriers yet still, have interior challenges of living a life of purpose, fulfilling their own goals using motivation and determination that we all must have to reach ours.


When I was going to the University of the Philippines’ College of Home Economics to pursue a science degree in food technology, I was part of a different universe. Some of my classmates were children of elites, chauffered by their own drivers, in their own cars, to the university campus. I was trained by my working parents and my elder sister to take the bus and to ride the "ikot jeepney" to reach one end of the campus, and back. It was a sheltered life: go to classes, go to mass, go to cafeteria, do laboratory experiments and sleep in the dorm. Our weekends were spent at Ma Mon Luk for siopao and mami and the movies.


While I lived a sheltered campus life, I was not content. I instead, compared myself to the children of elites, as if I have much less. My mindset was quite wrong. Somehow, I expected a rich person, an elite to reorient my life to work for me. I did not educate myself to look at my parents as my role models. Not having that secure belief in my family and myself hindered me.


Could it have been my Christian education then in the early sixties, wherein the nuns emphasized a life centered on academics and prayers, but not service to country and its poor? Or was it my university education which emphasized having the skills to work abroad, but not harnessing my skills to improve the industries in the Philippines? While my core education gave me skills, I did not have the inner fortitude to have a correct mindset.


It was not till much later when I was in the United States, that I came to realize how much my father, Eleazar, sacrificed to get his higher education in law. He was an orphan, and without financial means of support from his parents, he befriended hunger. It was his daily companion. He walked barefoot several miles to go to school. He had water but no food. He believed that his higher education was his ticket out of poverty. And it was by divine providence that he got to eat.


His active imagination helped him visualize a better life for himself. Then, he met my mother, Asuncion, who herself was determined, and had her own inner determination. She burned the midnight oil to get her master’s degree in Science, while teaching full-time and raising five girls. She showed me by example how to work hard to reach our goals.


While I had those life examples to learn from, I took them for granted. I incorrectly viewed myself as poor, when I am richly endowed with my parents’ life examples of patience, perseverance, true grit and imagination.


Because of what they showed me, I instinctively knew I can pursue higher education. Because of how my dad and my mom sacrificed, I knew I can achieve, with sacrifice and hard work.


But, my life did not turn around to a life of privilege until I was grateful for what God has endowed me: my own skills, talents and knowledge. It did become a life of meaning, of purpose when I serve others, mentoring them to reach their own life’s goals.


I began to realize that my own poverty of imagination and my own poverty of spirit stopped me from having a life of privilege, one that is connected to the Higher Source of imagination and creativity. I stopped desiring what others have. I started cultivating my own gifts of imagination and creativity.


So here goes now, my life begins with an ambitious climb of 282 steps. This overlook trail was created by the collective foresight of the community and good governance by the state government. It took over a decade for the community to gain this public victory. Yet, the Baldwin Hills’ African American community persisted, and sustained their community efforts not to fall apart to dissension. They solidified their ranks, through their social ties, and with their own creative skills of coming together by holding coffee klatches, movie nights and dinner potlucks, they succeeded in stopping the development of 241 homes over 50 acres of private land. It was not till the land was bought, and state rangers appeared did the community truly recognized their own strength.


282 Steps to Scenic Overlook Trail, taken by Mike Murase

Now this overlook scenic trail is populated by folks of different origins, of different ages, of families persisting to have their own lives rich in imagination, rich in creativity, but mostly, rich in connections with their Universal Partner. Here is where I found a 78 year old poet, running up these stairs and working through her own issues of poverty, unbeknownst to her, her own writing skills, stumped by her own grief, and expecting folks to like her. Here is where I found close to century old - couple whose formula for life is not about viewing challenges, but to take a step at a time, by loving one another for 64 years and smiling as they walk together. They appear to be living lives of privileges, connected to their Universal Partner, the source of all Goodness.

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