the simple pleasures in life

I realized that at the end of the day, my needs are not that complicated. A delicious healthy meal prepared with love and good karma, enjoyed with people I hold dear. A good stretch with some blissful yoga. And walks in the sunshine.

Well, a walk on the beach with a view of God-light wouldn't hurt.

Headlands Beach, Lake Erie

I love God-light.

Might as well throw in some yoga while I'm at it...

Hope you savored many moments of simple pleasures today, as I have...

Thank you, A., for the yoga action shots, and for the wonderful day of simple pleasures.

the hand that rocks the cradle

...is the hand that rules the world." (poem by William Ross Wallace)

I came across this website, Mothers Acting Up. It is an organization that works to mobilize mothers (mothers and any other persons who care for children) to advocate on behalf of the world's children. What a great way to channel the powerful yet nurturing maternal energy towards advocacy and activism!

"We realize that we live in a world that does not prioritize or protect our children's well-being and that this will not change without each of us finding the courage and commitment to speak out on their behalf. By mobilizing our gigantic political strength, we can ensure the health, education, and safety of every child, not just a privileged few. Let us: whisper this to each other; sing it out in the streets; yell it from our rooftops; declare it in our houses of government -- we will protect our children with our personal and political strength, wherever they live on earth!"

- Mothers Acting Up

Wow. That just gave me goosebumps.

Read more about MAU here.

To my mom, my best friend, who taught me to work towards my best self, and to do it with grace, compassion, faith, and generosity. Who taught me to dream, and to dream big... while still keeping family and loved ones front and center. To all my "adoptive" moms here in my second home: thank you for caring for me. For looking out for my safety. For letting me cry on your shoulder. For welcoming me into your homes as mothers do so well. For being my family while I am away from home. THANK YOU. And to all my beautiful mom-friends (you know who you are). You are all AMAZING.

Happy Mother's Day to all women who are mothers, or are acting in a maternal capacity towards children.

lavender honey dark chocolate

I have to admit that when the going gets tough, I reach for chocolate.

To my disappointment, I was out of my usual chocolate bar and was unable to go to the store to get another one. Usually when I am towards the end of one chocolate bar, there's an extra one in my kitchen somewhere... or even in my purse. I think a square or two of chocolate a day is perfectly reasonable, and it's such a treat after lunch or dinner. But there was none to be had.

So I went into my kitchen to look for chocolate, and then I found chocolate tableas from the Philippines that my mother sent me last year (these things last a pretty long time, kept in a cool dark place).

These chocolate tableas are deep, rich, and best of all, heartwarming. It's the kind that takes me back home, to childhood memories of my mother making this hot chocolate for the holidays. She would make it in a HUGE pot, enough to feed our big family and more -- for the guests, both expected and unexpected, but welcomed all the same. The scents would fill the kitchen and waft into the living room as we waited in anticipation for the chocolate to be ready. Memories of my family gathering around a candlelit table, each with a cup of hot chocolate (and some sweet, buttery, brioche-style rolls we call ensaimada, for dunking).

So making this chocolate here, is like a taste of home in a cup. At 11 pm, I decided to make some. The enjoyment is in the process of making it, as much as it is in savoring it. I think part of it has to do with the "slow-food" feel of preparing it. No microwaving here.

Sometimes I make it in the more traditional way, the way my mom makes it. Just the chocolate, melting in a pot with some water, until it's simmering. Make sure you stir fairly constantly, so the chocolate melts evenly and no chocolate get scorched in the bottom of the pan, which would be a tragedy in my world. A little milk --  or a lot, depending on how dark or how milky you want it (I prefer the former). And turbinado sugar, depending on whether the tableas are sweetened or unsweetened.

Or sometimes I make it with a little twist - in the winter I might make it Mexican style with a little cinnamon and cayenne. But this spring, I wanted the flavors of lavender and honey.

I had this bottle of lavender honey which I bought in a cozy local store in Asheville last spring. I'm quite proud that I've been able to ration it. One year later, and I still haven't consumed the entire bottle. I have about a quarter of it left, and I wish I had gotten two bottles.

Lavender honey. There's just nothing like it. The subtle flowery lavender notes in sweet, fragrant honey. It's nature's magic.

So I melted 6 chocolate tableas (might as well make enough to last the week, right?) in a little water, in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan (or you could use a double boiler) over low heat. Once all the chocolate was melted and the mixture was simmering, I added some plain almond milk, about a cup or so. I let it cook until it was heated through, then added a few tablespoonfuls of this lavender honey.

I enjoyed it in a little cup, letting the heat of the cup warm my palms as I placed my hands around it. And believe me, this is rich, and a little teacup's worth of hot chocolate is probably enough. No supersized mugs here. It's something that's meant to be sipped and enjoyed slowly.

Hot chocolate from the Philippines, 
with lavender honey from North Carolina, 

served in a Turkish cup and saucer, 
enjoyed in Northern Ohio,
thinking of family and memories from half a world away. :)

happy Monday

I just received an email this morning from this Filipino food blogger, telling me that I am the winner of his chocolate giveaway contest!

So I await 2 bars of chocolate (sourced from the Philippines... YEAH!) in the mail. One regular dark chocolate bar and one dark chocolate bar with fleur de sel. I love fleur de sel in chocolate... the sweet-salty combination just hits the spot.

The stars must have been aligned just right...

And another freebie... the yoga instructor at our student rec center gave us each a pass for ONE FREE WEEK OF YOGA at this studio! She actually gave it to us some weeks ago, and unfortunately I thought I misplaced it in between my stacks of books and papers... and then yesterday it turned up. What a perfect week for me to find it... because this week is crunch time in the semester.

Hopefully I'll breeze through the week with lots of stretches, deep breaths, and OM's.

It's a great Monday already... have a great week!

a real-life love story... and perhaps the best ever.

Happy Anniversary to my Mom and Dad!

my parents in Bohol, Philippines

November, 1970. My parents meet at a mutual friend's party. There was a power outage, but that didn't stop the sparks from flying... perhaps the darkness made the sparks even brighter.

February, 1971. My dad proposes to my mom. Mom accepts.

May 1, 1971. Wedding bells and I-do's.

May 1, 2010... 39 years and going strong... and honeymooning at every opportunity.
 
Through a daughter's eyes, your lives have been about giving. Of each other, and to teach other. To us, your children... and to others, family or not. And for that I am inspired, and of course, truly grateful. You truly have set the bar.

Much love to you, Mom and Dad.

(Photo shared by my Dad)

this week's yoga practice

My yoga practice hasn't been what I wanted it to be this past week. Between working on my own papers, preparing for teaching a Master's level special education class, and grading students' work in said class, I have not made the commitment to practicing more yoga.

Why is it that it is during those times when I need yoga the most that I do it the least?

I have been attending a kick-butt vinyasa class on Monday nights, and practicing on my own the rest of the week. The problem is, my home practice becomes quite variable, depending on my time management (or lack thereof).

At the very least, just practicing a few sun salutations gets the blood flowing and the breath regulated...a few long, deep yin yoga stretches for the lower back and hips (great after sitting at the computer for hours on end)... and of course there's savasana, or corpse pose. If there's one thing I should commit to, it should be 5-10 minutes of full relaxation in savasana.

My father always used to take naps. Even before he retired and was working full time, he would carve out a half hour out of his work day to shut the door of his office, put on his eye cover, and take a nap. Then he would face the rest of the day, feeling refreshed and re-energized to get all the work done. Doesn't napping increase productivity?

I would say that savasana can increase productivity too. It's about taking a break to clear the mind and bring the body back into balance.

I've been trying to remind myself to get up every hour or so to do a few stretches -- to wring out my shoulders after being hunched as I type, to lengthen the spine and hamstrings in downward dog, to open up the lower back in a deep, relaxed forward bend.

But I have to admit that I sometimes neglect savasana. Whether it's the worry that I might fall asleep and end up dozing off for an hour, or the difficulty in giving myself permission to relax. Not a good thing.

Yoga teachers do say that savasana is one of the most difficult poses. It sounds ironic, because don't you just lay there, close your eyes, and breathe?

But in savasana, we try to be completely relaxed, yet conscious. In savasana, as in meditation, thoughts may come and go but the mind just observes without reacting or attaching. And that's the challenge that takes practice.

The mind is a challenge. It's in the mind where I hear all this self-talk: "oh, I have to do this... I have to remember that..." etc, etc.

I remind myself to focus on the breath, to bring me back to that place of stillness and clarity. That place where the breath is the only thing happening right now. It's not easy! It's not easy to let go of the inner scheduler, the inner taskmaster, and most of all, the inner critic.

I find that one way to replace that self-talk is to silently recite some words or mantras. Or even a simple phrase on which to focus the mind. Like "let go".

Inhale, "let."

Exhale, "go."

So I try to let go of worry. Let go of the negative self-talk. Even just for 10 minutes. And when I come out of savasana, I never regret it.

How do you practice savasana? I'd love to hear.

food elimination chronicles

Ok, so I gave up all dairy products last week. I dutifully recorded everything I ate onto a file on my computer, and recorded whether or not I had a headache, including the time.

I still had headaches, often in the evening.

So I'm not giving up on food headache triggers yet, but now I'm thinking that my headaches are EYESTRAIN-related. Since they have been happening towards the end of the day, after a LONG day of looking at the computer (and ironically, here I am, past midnight, BLOGGING. Hmmm.)

A newfound friend/long-lost distant cousin "found" me on facebook recently, and due to our mutual interest in yoga, healthy living,  and nutrition, we've been exchanging messages back and forth over the past couple of weeks. With her education and experience in nutrition, below was her advice for an elimination diet to find out the culprit behind my headaches:

Week 1: give up wheat (GASP! There goes my bread...)
Week 2: give up soy (There goes my soy milk; but this is ok since I like almond milk.)
Week 3: give up dairy (There goes my parmigiano-reggiano. A little tough, but not too bad.)

Ok, so for the next day or so, I will be slowly finishing up the rest of my bread so I can start going wheat-free on Wednesday. Hello, rice and barley. Thank goodness for my Filipino roots because I LOVE rice. I have to be careful about other sources of wheat though such as seitan (which I really don't buy much of anyway, as they seem to be heavily processed) and even soy sauce (which I have occasionally and sparingly with veggie sushi). But I have wheat-free tamari and Bragg's liquid aminos as alternatives, so that will be ok.

Surprisingly, she didn't mention chocolate :)
(Thank goodness for dairy-free dark chocolate)

AND she didn't mention nuts and nut butters :)

Also, this comes at a good time... it's almost the end of the semester, and being headache-free would definitely be a good thing.

More soon...