Thursday, July 29, 2010

Frank Chester in Manila

Thanks to Waldorf Mom, who just e-mailed me about this very interesting event by Frank Chester. At first, I declined because I thought I wasn't going to be in Manila. Then the universe paved some ways for me! A series of (un)fortunate events led me to fly in that very week.

 Click here for more info if the text of this poster is not visible.

God truly provides if intentions are good. I feel a wave of gratefulness :)

Earthly Pleasures

I am grounded.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Seedy Surprise!

I received a huge package today in the mail. I felt giddy, like a child opening a present from Santa Claus on Christmas day. But instead of getting toys...


...I get packets of seeds! Oh, what joy! Thanks to my new friend Beth who was generous enough to send them in from Manila for the Bahay Kalipay community and myself.



How I met Beth is an interesting story in itself. One weekend, I received a text from someone who wasn't registered in my phone's memory. She introduced herself to me, saying the following things:

A. She is a fan of my blog
B. She has a daughter about the same age as Santi
C. Is really stressed and needs a weekend getaway
D. Is on the airport en route to Puerto Princesa in an hour and hopes to meet me and my family

I thought to myself..."WHAT THE ?!"

Letter 'D' got me nervous because I'll have to meet a complete stranger. I wasn't even sure about this person's identity...was she for real? Is this a joke? A male stalker pretending to be a female?

After minutes of getting sucked in paranoia, I pushed all my worries aside and just went with the flow. Later that day, we met in Bahay Kalipay and I found out that she was a genuine person after all! Although we didn't grow up in the same social circles, we exchanged stories about our lives and saw that we had a lot in common. What I found most interesting is that she actually works for a seed company! Just when I decide to move to Palawan in pursuit of a greener life, I meet someone who actually deals with seeds for a living. Talk about the law of attraction!

Beth--Thanks again, sweetie! I promise to plant all the seeds in the farm with love and take pictures of the organic produce for you. Why, you can even have the fresh crops when you come over! ;) Here's a photo of us having lunch after our yoga class when you came to visit. I hope to see you in September for our birthday retreat!

XOXO,
Monica

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Inner Dance Yoga Retreat

Inviting you all to come celebrate my birthday weekend with me in Palawan!

A three-day Raw Food Yoga Retreat with Monica Eleazar-Manzano and Inner Dance Healing with Pi Villaraza on September 17-19, 2010. Find the union between sacred movement, stillness and your mind-body-spirit connection, Bahay Kalipay Retreat Center, and journeys to the beaches, mountains and hot springs of Palawan

For inquiries contact Monica at 0915.294.3441 monica.eleazar@gmail.com
Limited room, first-come, first-served basis.

click each page to enlarge :)


Saturday, July 17, 2010

Becoming a Raw Foodie

Since I moved to Puerto Princesa a few months back, I have been properly introduced to Raw Food by Pi & Daniw of Bahay Kalipay.

 Breakfast from BK: Avocado-Mango-Banana with honey + coco milk + cacao bits

I have read about this diet years ago but found it quite drastic since I couldn't fathom eating anything that was un-cooked all day. Yes, I have been pork & beef free (and at times happy with a pure vegetarian diet) for so long but the thought of having to eat ONLY fruits and salads was just out of this world. To me, salads were always for starters and fruits were commonly just for snacks or dessert. I also grew up eating all kinds of food and delicacies..most of which are, sadly, not healthy for you.

Review all those comfort foods we all grew up with - white rice with ulam (dishes), pasta with bread, milk, butter in everything, potatoes in all forms esp the fried ones, fast food joints, oh and don't forget the chocolates, cakes and ice cream. The sweets, I find hardest to remove. Up to this day, I can remove all the others listed above but please don't take away my chocolates :(

So, imagine having to cut off all those deeply ingrained eating habits which you have grown to love all these years? When you are into healing, however, you slowly evolve into this being who resonates towards purity. And for a pure body, mind and soul... you'll need to detox. Remove all junk, toxic wastes from the body to let the light and life force flow within.


The Raw Food Diet is considered super nutrition that immensely adds life force because it's majorly composed of, preferably, organic fruits and green vegetables that provide live enzymes without all the junk. Pi Villaraza has an amazing explanation on this topic and foods that we are addicted to and why we should get off them. He connects this to our life force and spirituality. For those interested, he will be conducting a Raw Spirituality Workshop focusing on Raw Food in Manila on Aug 27, 2010. Limited slots only. Please contact kalimata777@gmail.com or 0999-451-2765 to save your space.


In a nutshell, what I have learned so far from Pi's talk, is that, being on raw would be spending the least amount of energy plus the most nutrition into your body. Having to digest very heavy food like processed carbohydrates disturbs your energy system. In yogic view, this would be likened to 'wasting or dumping all your energy'. After cooked meals, you draw all energies towards your digestive system just to break down all the food you have eaten when you would want energy to rise up to higher chakras instead of down to lower ones. It's basic energy consumption.

The sweetest yellow watermelons from the BK Garden

It's really removing layers of yourself like an onion. Until you get to your raw core to unleash your full potential. So, I'm aiming to slowly ease myself into raw. I've started with green smoothies or basic fruit for breakfast each day and experimented & incorporated some raw food dishes that actually fill the tummy for other meals at home. My days vary between 30% - 50% raw but I am pushing for 70% especially after our farming course! 100% Raw will continue to be a dream for now :)

Here's an interesting recipe taught to me by Bahay Kalipay's raw food goddess, Daniw. Making and tasting this sumptuous dish will surely jumpstart you and your family on your raw food journey.

Raw Pesto Pasta



Ingredients
-shredded fresh coconut meat (this is your noodles substitute!)
-tomatoes
-white or green onions
-pepper
-cayenne
-homemade pesto sauce : a mixture of basil, cashew nuts, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, Bragg's liquid aminos tossed in food processor or blender.


What I love about raw food preparation is that there is absolutely no cooking involved! So, just toss all ingredients above into a bowl and mix well :)

*Don't ask me about quantity because mine is always different per batch. Just use your instincts :)

Santi loves his raw pesto pasta! Plate is clean and mum is happy :)

Some Starter Tips on Becoming a Raw Foodie
1. Start small. I helped ease myself on all this by introducing green smoothies. If you are not fond of greens, at least it is being masked by the fruit and honey in your shake! Have it all day long if you end up loving it.
2. Since no cooking is involved, you save on a lot of costs on gas or electricity and can invest in a good set of knives, scoopers, and a bamboo chopping board instead.
3. A food processor, powerful juicer, and a really good blender is a MUST! Many raw foodist like Victoria Boutenko swear by VitaMix. It's got a very high price tag so I'm sticking to my trusty Osterizer until it konks out :P
4. Stock up on lots of green vegetables and fruits. Remember that fresh, local and organic is best so source them in your weekly organic markets. In Makati, there is the Salcedo Market every Saturdays, the Legaspi Market on Sundays and the Lung Center in Quezon City on Sundays.
5. Grow your own vegetable patch & herb garden. This is the most ideal situation. Growing your own greens is the most fulfilling for a raw foodie. It helps your kids learn where there food & health comes from! Later on you'll be amazed at how they will learn to respect
6. Have fun in your little dish experiments! The internet is a great source for hundreds of raw recipes by the experts. Here are some links for you:

http://www.rawfamily.com/
http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/
http://www.therawfoodfamily.com/
http://www.aniphyo.com/

Goodluck on your raw endeavors in the kitchen! If you have any interesting recipes to share, please send them in. We'd love to hear from you! :)

Friday, July 16, 2010

A Crash Course on Soil

Day 1 of our much-awaited course in Natural Farming of Bountiful Harvest is over. Today, Simon Gill focused and lectured on Soil Management which is top priority when starting out on a farm or even a personal vegetable and herb garden. 


We all know that the SOIL cares for PLANT which cares for YOU....But who cares for the SOIL? Aha!

Current soil status all over Palawan (and other parts of the Philippines & the world I can imagine!) is acidic. He explains that people have been mining on the soil, depleting soil of their trace minerals through wrong practices like chemical fertilizers, wrong practices of slash & burn, etc. This results to having mineral deficiency in the crops, the food on our plates. 

 Simon is proud of his healthy organic corn crops

It's simple to remember this...when minerals in the soil goes down, diseases in humans and animals rises. Studies have also been made on nutrient content of our foods today- to get the same nutritional value of an apple back in 1940's, you will need to consume 4-5 apples. Hmm..I would've used a local fruit like saba (banana) or camote (sweet potato) as an example but maybe the study he was referring to was from the US.

Since we are on the topic of food, here's our nutritionally dense food for a day's work- A variety of delicious vegetarian dishes by Jinky Gill, Simon's wife. There was brown rice, a spicy kang kong dish, bean soup, veggie rolls, eggplant and okra. All came with their own yoghurt based dips which were all very tasty and good.

She also served us snacks like fresh coconut, mango shake and fried bananas throughout the day. 
 Mango shake with a lovely edible flower from their garden

Most of the ingredients used in all their home-cooked meals are from their farm, of course! Nothing but fresh produce. I look forward to next week's class because she promised us Indian curry dishes, oooh yummy! :)

Some scenes from the farm---

 One of their local farmers on siesta break from 1pm to 3pm

And we proceed to make the carbonized rice hull for soil conditioner
 
  
And some magic soil mix


I found natural LOVE formations on the soil, too!
M and I have agreed to make this our weekly bonding activity. Something we could do together without Santi. Think of it like a special eco-date :)
 Cheers to the future food farmers!

It's another affirmation and physical manifestation of our green intentions for our family and more importantly the next generation's future. Like Simon says... when the oil, rice and vegetable prices sky-rocket (and you know they eventually will!), you're food farm will be a gold mine!

Now, can you digest that? ;)

Bountiful Harvest
Brgy. Sicsican, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan
Jinky Gill 0917-8492911

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