Simply Belle

I haven’t really eaten much of Filipino food lately because I have been eating mostly weeds, and juices. During lunch, I would sometimes just gulp a glass of green juice and half of avocado — other times, plain rice and slices of avocado. Or, I will gobble an orange and some crackers. Weird, huh?

In the morning, all I have is a glass of juice made from fruits and veggies that my husband lovingly fixes. You might think there isn’t much to it but let me give you an idea as to how much goes into the making of the juice. It includes the following:

carrots
cucumber
celery
slices of ginger
beets
granny smith apples
sweet potato or kamonte
spinach
kale
and sometimes pears when they are on sale at the store.

Now, if I have to eat them raw the way they are, I wouldn’t even come close to eating a fourth of them. And we are supposed to consume 8 servings of fruits and veggies a day, right?

At dinner, I satiate myself with just plain steamed spinach from the garden and plain rice. Sometimes, I would pop a can of lego sardines into the pan, add some some tamarind or guava soup base, and then toss in a bunch of spinach. Voila, I have delicious spinach sauteed in sardines with sour broth. I tell you, it doesn’t take much to please me.

Sorry, I digress. Anyway, today, I have this immense craving for Filipino food, but as much as possible, I would like to stay away from pure meat dishes. I simply don’t enjoy meal without vegetables or salad anymore these days. How about you?

After much thought, I settled for pancit. Normally, my husband doesn’t care for pancit because he thinks it is dry, greasy, or soggy. But, this particular one I cooked today was a big hit. The consistency and the flavor were just perfect.  Just plain luck, I guess. He complimented me not just once, but twice. He said that if pancit were to taste like this, he doesn’t mind eating it often. Yes, my husband is now a pancit lover.

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This particular outfit that I am wearing in the picture has been in a bag that is meant to be taken to Salvation Army or to be shipped home –which one happens to pop into my mind first. I had it shoved away in the closet for 10 years, and since I gained 10 pounds over the years, I had no choice but to let go of it to give room to the new wardrobe (not that I fancy buying clothes these days when I have two girls in college) how painful it may be. I like this particular ensemble very much because of its comfort, plus it cost me an arm and a leg to buy it brand new.

Anyway, this afternoon, I was in a mood to do yoga in the comfort of my living room. I thought I would have my husband take pictures of my yoga moves just for fun. It took me a while to find a comfortable yoga outfit from amongst the pile in my closet. And since I haven’t done my laundry, I couldn’t find an outfit that suit both yoga and the kind of weather we have. They were probably all in the laundry pile.

So, out of desperation, I turned to the plastic tucked below my wardrobe that is awaiting to be tossed away , and retrieved whatever I thought would fit me. I found this gray outfit. I tried it on, and it wasn’t bad at all, except that the blouse might have shrank a bit over time. Hey, last time I put it on, it was a bit snug, and my number 1 fashion critic, my husband, totally despised it. “It is showing your derriere a little too much,” he quipped. I grunted and snarled at him back., grrrr!

I have been doing yoga for the last 3 semesters, and I love every minute of it. The poses that I am going to be posting here may look really easy, but trust me, if you haven’t done yoga, it is not a piece of cake. In yoga, it is all about proper alignment, moving gracefully into a pose, holding a pose for a while, and getting out of the pose gingerly in order to get the full benefit. So far, and 3 semesters into it, I have progressed quite astonishingly but I think I have a long ways to go before I can handle hard poses like the acrobatic type of moves that you see in magazines. Or I may not even succeed in getting that far considering my age. But one thing I am sure of is I have become quite flexible. Certain challenging work moves that usually gave me discomfort or pain, now I can do with ease and confidence. It seems like I am gradually getting my youth flexibility back.

At first I was a bit apprehensive in taking yoga because how it is possible to lose weight without vigorous exercises like walking, running or doing aerobics? But as I learned more about it and got deeper into the world of yoga, I started seeing results. I have more flexibility, I am leaner without having to run on a daily basis, and I am calmer. As we get older, we are limited to what we can do like I used to be able to run, but after I hurt my knee, running is now out of the question.

Anyway, let me show you some poses that my husband took.

Picture 1:  I was trying to put the soles of my feet together but I couldn’t.  I need more training.

Picture 2: I was getting ready for a triangle pose, trying to stretch my body sideways as far as I could without feeling uncomfortable.

Picture 3: Downward dog pose. This pose is named as such because it resembles a dog when it streches itself out. This pose helps strengthen, stretch, and reduce stiffness in the legs while shaping and making the upper body stronger.  Holding this pose for a minute or so helps stimulate and restore energy level and regular practice of this pose rejuvenates the entire body and stimulates nervous system.

Picture 4:  Triangle pose. Not an easy pose to do as you have to make sure the body is perfectly aligned, avoiding twisting, to get the full benefit.

Picture 5: Bend over pose keeping both feet straight.

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I can’t hold still. It is snowing in my neighborhood right now and Lexi is home for the weekend. Which means, she has to traverse the treacherous mountain road to go back to her university today. And she doesn’t even have a 4-wheel drive car, is barely an adult who is inexperienced at driving on snow. If she only listened to my endless begging and warning earlier not to come home for the weekend, we would have spared ourselves with the worry. Kids! Kids!

I am pacing back and forth in the living room looking out through the window hoping that the snow will taper off anytime soon. And there seems to be no letting up in sight. When I get this nervous, I get the feeling of literally having “cold feet.” Lots of scary thoughts come popping in my mind that I try to brush off. My husband noticed I was unusually quiet. It is because aside from overly nervous, I am composing this blog so I can get my mind occupied with other matters than dwelling on something that I have no control of. Makes sense?

And coincidentally, today is Sunday, which means that the plowers are still in their dreamful slumber in between the sheets. I am not even sure if they work on Sunday.

Well, let me back up a little bit to explain why she drove home despite of my incessant warning. Earlier, the weather forecast said the snow was expected to hit our area yesterday, which was Saturday. But surprisingly, snow didn’t show up as expected, and instead we were endowed with beautiful sunny weather all day Saturday, though rather cold.

Lesson learned for kids to pay heed to parents’ warnings and the weather advisory seriously. The weathermen are equipped with satellite/radar that monitors the weather conditions. The parents have been there, and have done that, and so they know what is best for you.

So, judging from what the weather exhibited, she made an unwise decision to drive home. She said she wanted to spend her pre-Valentine’s birthday with us before she visits her sister in CA on her birthday next week. Although, she hasn’t been home since the first week of January, we must have driven over to her place about three times. So, it is not like we haven’t seen each other in a while.

Of course, who doesn’t want to spend time with a daughter especially on her birthday? When I called her at 4:30 PM yesterday, she was within 15 minutes home. I was ecstatic and worried at the same time. “You silly girl, why did you go against my advice,” was all I could say.

We don’t know if she will be able to drive back to her place in time for her school tomorrow. And the snow is pouring down so heavily still.

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Bless her soul, this post is written in her memory.

In Bagumbayan where I spent my childhood, I am forever grateful and honored to have lived next to a neighbor who was mentally challenged, and yet with uncommon good sense that belied her true condition, shouldered single-handedly the responsibility of taking over her aging father. Inspite of her handicap, she was very hardworking and responsible. Early in the morning, she would talk to herself excessively that even in your deep slumber, you would be awoken almost instantly. We didn’t do anything to stop it because knowing her state of mind, there was nothing we could do. Instead we adjusted our bed time during her silent hours so that we got plenty of sleep by the time she started getting visits from her invisible noisy visitors. We considered her our alarm clock.

She survived by eating mostly steamed veggies, and fresh catch from the swamp. I never saw her fry her food or use coconuts in her cooking. She mainly boiled her food long enough so that her toothless father could gum on his food. The father was confined on a makeshift seat turned into bed in a second floor. He basically slept, ate, and pooped. Come to think of it, it was a big mystery where he did his thing because he was mostly upstairs 24 hours a day. The only time I would see him downstairs was during meals. He most likely did it in arinola upstairs and let his daughter discard it in the big public bathroom–the back stream.

As a busybody that I was, I would come over to their place, usually during mealtime, and had a fascination of watching eat his meal. His meal was usually consist of boiled kamote tops, boiled taro leaves, or boiled shrimps. Being toothless that he was, he made a rather interesting gumming noise, as if eating a delicious dish. Sometimes, I felt like scooping a few bites off his dish, but I managed not to.

Amazingly, she was indebted to no one. She made a living by catching shrimp and fish at the swamp, and sell half of her catch to the neighbors. Proceeds went to buying necessities like matches, vechin, and kerosene gas. Unlike most people in the barrio, she never ran out of food like supas or bread.

When she was low on food supply, she would go to the mountains, and gather vegetables regardless of who they belonged to. She claimed they were all hers. She also went to a Chinese bakery in Virac (which she claimed her own also), and spent time bossing around people in an amusing way. She was harmless, and so, instead of people shooing her away, they usually gifted her with supas/bread and other stuff to take home. And they looked forward to her next visit.

When we butchered a pig, she would be the first person that came to mind to receive pieces of meat and cooked meat dish. She was grateful, of course. She didn’t have running water so she fetched water using a bamboo container and stuck it through our fence to get water from our faucet. She timed it when someone was around to turn on the water for her. She didn’t need much as she used it mainly for cooking. She did most of her washing in the big river behind our house.

Her father lived to be a 100, while her life was cut short by a dog bite with rabies infection. Her relatives couldn’t afford to get rabies shots for her which were crazy expensive. It also claimed the life of his brother and a lot of people all over the province some 10 years ago.  She was 75 years old.

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As I approached new year with an upbeat attitude, I was immediately hit with storm of allergies in no time.  And to tell you the truth, I am not sure how I am going to handle it again this year. It seems like it came earlier this year, and has worsened.

Many people who haven’t experienced the debilitating effects of allergy to a person like me, may think that it is nothing serious. That it can easily be remedied by over the counter drugs like Benadryl, Chlor-Trimetron, etc. Problem is these drugs bring no relief to my allergies. They simply don’t a thing. And neither those that they sell at health food stores. I also availed of the 2-year allergy treatment since July 2008 from an allergy doctor here in town, which is done orally rather than a regimen of allergy shots, but I haven’t felt any relief.

I don’t want to succumb to another Kenalog shot because of its side effects like halting my monthly period for more than half a year, and still hasn’t showed up to this day. The Kenalog shot did the trick alright as far as allergy is concerned as I was allergy-free for six months after I took it. Yes, it felt good being able to breath through my nose, sleeping through the night, being able to eat the food I love without going into a coughing fit for hours.

Going through coughing spell is no fun at all. First, I feel my throat is sore, then becomes constricted, and eventually the coughing begins and can last for hours especially at night when I am trying to get some sleep. Then wheezing kicks in, and the more I wheeze, the more I cough. Nose becomes completely clogged that even drinking a glass of water is a chore. Why? Try swallowing water while your nose is pinched and see what happens. Or worse yet, try blowing clogged nostrils. It makes a squeaking nose in your ears as if it is creating a detour for the air passage. You feel like you are drowning, gasping for air constantly. It is a terrible feeling.

The only thing that seems to help for me is by drinking juice of fresh fruits and veggies that my husband lovingly fixes every morning, and eating mostly raw food. At least I don’t go into coughing fit like normal food such as adobo, chili, pizza, fried chicken do to me. I found out that I can also take simple food like rice and steamed veggies, fresh organic chicken soup, split pea soup but devoid of spices and salt. Well, it is better than not being able to tolerate food at all.

I am also working on having my mercury fillings removed as my daughter thought it might be the cause of my allergies. I have six mercury fillings from years ago, and, indeed, that is a lot of mercury lurking in my body. Could be it the culprit?

Juice anyone?

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my beautiful flowers in Catanduanes

Happy Thursday everyone!

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New York, London, or Gay Parie? Hardly. Stephanie Mae grew up in a small town in rural Arizona. There,  in the rarefied mountain air, she composed many of the tunes you find on her CD, Pokerface.

It started one afternoon while life guarding at the municipal pool. She discovered that the melodic splashing of all the twittering, laughing children somehow instilled in her mind the basis of the tune, “At The Edge.” Then, While washing dishes one evening, she put together a few bars of ” Crazy” to the musical background of pots and pans scraping against the sink. And as a president of the high school Key Club, the tune Poker Face found its way into her assembly while she was listening to the clanking of donations dropping onto assorted piles. On these occasions, she would rush home to her piano and finish composing her new songs while they were still fresh in her mind.

As time went on, her passion for music gripped her so deeply that at any moment, she might set the piano to jumping and the walls to shaking when she pounded away at the ivories. Members of the family would have to flee to the far corners of the house to protect their ears. Are those signs of a genius?

It is often said that music and mathematics are interrelated. And when a person is exceptional in one branch of knowledge, she might do well in the other. So it is true with Stephanie Mae. Her aptitude for mathematics earned her a scholarship at Stanford University where she is currently pursuing, of all things, a degree in Bio Mechanical Engineering! Well, a girl has to earn a living, doesn’t she? But you can bet that she crams in plenty of music appreciation courses into her busy schedule. And she spends quality time with her friends in the Every Day People A Capella choir.

Stephanie Mae is now in her senior year and can’t wait to graduate. She plans to start her own recording studio where in her free time after work, she can sing and burn CDs to her heart’s content. Bravo! We expect to see and hear a lot more of Stephanie’s extensive talents in the near future. That is, unless she plans to go to grad school. Stay tuned.

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From my family to yours, Happy Holidays!

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picture lifted here

My daughter came home yesterday from Flagstaff by way of Lake Mary but had to turn around because the road was closed due to snow. I had told her several times before her trip to check first the road closures in the area before proceeding home. Of course, she didn’t listen and assumed that the road was passable because the weather has been nice since the snow storm.

After driving half an hour into the road, she called us that she had to take an alternate route because like what I was afraid of, the road was closed. Hmmm, if she only listened, she would have saved a 40 minute-drive, and gas. It was 3:30 PM when she called.

I expected her to arrive around 6 PM via the long and winding route which she hasn’t driven alone before, so I was a little worried. I told her to call us if she needed help with  direction. I also prayed that she would have a safe journey home. At 5 PM, my eldest daughter and I drove to the mall in town to do some last minute shopping, and also to get my mind off L

From a distance on my way home,  I didn’t see her car parked along the driveway which worried me a bit. It was about 7 PM, and so the visibility was poor. As I turned on the street where I lived, I saw a red car stranded along the road in front of our house.   I suspected something was wrong as she normally doesn’t do this.

Me: L, why is your car parked like that outside? Why didn’t you park where you were supposed to?

L: The car quit working. I just barely made it to the gas station in town, and then it ran again until just right in the front of our house.

What a perfect timing because my husband just signed up for a road side assistance four days ago due to my prodding. He called the 1-800 to ask for help first thing in the morning. He couldn’t get through. He tried again, and he was put on hold for half an hour. I told him to dial again and maybe he would have better luck the second time around. Wrong! The line was busy.  Busy! Busy!  We dialed again, and again, and again, and no luck. This went on for an hour or so. We were getting agitated.

My husband called the insurance, where he signed up with, to complain about the service. She told him that he just had to wait for his turn because there might be tons of people calling. Huh? She wanted us to go through that same routine again by waiting for an hour or so by the phone, wasting our whole morning.

This time, I got up and used my cell phone to call the agent in town, upset. We exchanged words and I got hot under the collar. She insisted that I also wait for my turn as there could be a lot of people calling. I said, “look, if I am in the middle of nowhere and I do as you told, my cell phone is going to run out of battery. What good is it if I couldn’t get a hold of anybody?”  She said she was able to get through earlier. I told her that I would come over to her office that minute for her to show me how to get a hold of the sales representative because we couldn’t. And I also told her to try calling them, wait by the phone, and asked her to call me back, should she get through.

Evidently, she was unsuccessful, as well. Told her  so.

She called back, and said that it was alright to call a towing service in town as long as the fee was under $150, and that she would reimburse us for it.

It took two unpleasant calls before the agent caved in to option B.

Problem solved.

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took these pictures late this afternoon

Have you had your fair share of blustery snow storm yet? In my neck of the wood, we are expecting our first dose of it anytime soon which is supposed to last a week. Yesterday, while I was visiting my daughter, Lexi, in a 7,000-foot altitude city, I heard people talking about it, which made me worry a bit. I don’t care for snow at all. Yes, snow is a beautiful sight to behold, but for a working woman like me, there aren’t words to describe how much I abhor snow especially my kind of work requires me to be on the road most of the time. I do uphold the slogan, “neither rain nor rain nor sleet nor hail shall keep Belle from doing her rounds.”

So, count your blessings if you have the choice to stay by the cozy fireplace, sipping a cup of hot tea or cocoa on a cold winter day.

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