She passed away this morning while another classmate and I spoke of prayers and masses for her peaceful journey Home to God! Linda Rozales, may you rest in peace.
Inspired by a mantra, we are not promised our tomorrows; we all made personal sacrifices to meet each other.
One drove from Temecula to pick up a classmate from Oceanside, ordered lunch from a favorite turo-turo place, then they both drove to San Juan Capistrano to pick me up.
That makes it 60 miles for our classmate, who lives in Chicago part-time and has just become a California resident, to be a doting grandmom/uber driver to her talented grandchildren.
I woke up early to park my car and catch the Amtrak train at 1010am and arrived at San Juan Capistrano at 1130am.
We all went to visit our classmate in Mission Viejo. We had the longest lunch, quite sumptuous indeed, and the best part was the sharing of stories of faith, family, surrender, God’s mercy and goodness, cancer, heart attacks, illnesses, holidays, end-of-life real estate, even green apple puff pastry using green apples from the backyard.
Our last reunion was about countries to travel to; then, the pandemic hit, and our collective health changed. We increasingly realize that each day is a gift from God, who gives us the ability to breathe with a healthy body. We now pray for more years with pain-free bodies and good health.
As we gain in years, the coming of age we used to feel has become more fragile daily, and we now are more open to stealing joy, laughing over our high school memories and mistakes, and belly-aching laughter. It was an afternoon of “we love yous.”
The funny part is the girl in a yellow dress, Elsa, was picking me up, with my back turned away from her, taking photos of the clock tower. There I was, there she was, we ended up calling each other, and we both turned around and laughed, as we were a foot distant from each other.
It was a leisurely long lunch that lasted 4 hours. The best part was homemade halo-halo with real kayumanggi macapuno, leche flan, ube halaya, sweetened garbanzos, beans, green pinipig, crushed ice, and Arce ube macapuno ice cream from Island Pacific in Lake Forest.
It was grace upon grace, free parking, free shelter from the sun courtesy of the bar waitress who served my classmates’ ice-cold water and tipped her $5, a friendly oasis in front of Santa Fe Capistrano, free #iylagranola for my classmates.
It was a beautiful family we visited, and we all had such warm, sweet, joyful classmates bonding!
Thank you, Natimarie Pagayucan, for planning and driving the distance, Elsa B. Azote for coordinating and organizing, and Linda Rozales for being a gracious host, cooking the pinipig and macapuno, and much thanks to Tonton for crushing the ice.
Air fried dry-rubbed baby back ribs with sinigang mix, salt and pepper, using three functions: roast, broil and air fried. I checked after each function is done and decide the time needed for the next function. I like how it turned out, not chewy and browned burnt edges where caramelized flavors are.
I also made baby back ribs sinigang with three homegrown produce: kale, kumquats and calamansi. I sauteed the ribs with onions, leeks and sinigang powder. I then added broth and the citrus liquids from calamansi, lemon and kumquats, then the vegetables.
Several folks have asked me for help: read my doctoral thesis, one said. Another fully involved me, chapter by chapter to read and edit. Another would vent and simply needed an ear to give her a mirrored reflection of who she has been and what she is looking forward to be.
Another needed to be coaxed out of music to finish his dissertation – sometimes our phone calls would last hours. It turns out that he had unprocessed grief of someone close that he was mentoring and just died. He finally did his dissertation after a dying friend from cancer cared enough to make a long distance call to make him promise he would.
Another was a college graduate who was sobbing when my son said “please talk to her Mom.” I did and fast forward, on her growth efforts – she is a globally acclaimed author, whose book was translated in multiple languages, an entrepreneur, a founder of an association and a keynote speaker.
Another sobbed and we cried together at a French bakery where we talked for hours. She too had unprocessed trauma and simply I said to her that she cannot be stuck in her pain and suffering and that she is more than her tears. In her growth efforts, she finished her dissertation and she has been of late mentoring others how to write their dissertation.
Another could not finish her college thesis at a prestigious public university. My son asked me to talk to her. I did, we sobbed, it turns out she lost her brother who was very close to her. I offered her a challenge – to dedicate her college thesis to him. She processed her grief by writing and producing broadcast tv shows. She is now happily living and working.
I am integrated and connected to my community folks and for that much, I am very grateful for the community’s public trust in me. Your secrets and sufferings are safe with me. I release and pray for the Holy Spirit to intercede. I don’t write articles about these intimate sharing.
Maraming Salamat po for your trust in me.
I need to motivate myself while grieving that I am about to lose a classmate to cancer. I love people as they are here only for a short time on earth.
EVEN THE RAINBOW HAS A BODY—Distinct Artistic Legacies. by Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz. Squid Printing Company LLC, Los Angeles, CA. 2016. 225p. Softcover.
This book is compilation of essays on Filipinos and Filipino-Americans who have put the arts in the center of their existence and made it their life’s mission to help others achieve their goals in different artistic fields. It attempts to share the stories of exceptional individuals who took the extra mile to show their commitment to the arts against all odds.
The book consists of six chapters, with each chapter featuring individuals in various fields of art—from theater and film to art and design, with most of the featured artists falling under Chapter 3–Music.
In the first chapter, one of the artists featured is Ted Benito, considered a cultural visionary. He is credited with bringing the manongs’ story into the theater and raised awareness of the sacrifices of Filipinos in America of the 1920s to the 1940s. Ted’s vision for The Romance of Magno Rubio was to expose the audience to a different experience and subject matter. The play ran for six weeks at the Ford Theater in Hollywood where over 1,600 people saw it in its English, Tagalog and Spanish versions. This was the first time that Filipinos came in droves to see the play—since Filipinos were never “identified as lovers of theater or the performing arts.”
In Chapter 2—Photography, the artist Hydee Ursolino-Abrahan stands out as one who takes photographs with a “perfect triangulation of emotion, timing and moment,” where she is able to capture the emotional peak of the moment. In each shot she attempts to tell a story without the use of words.
There were 15 artist featured in the chapter in Music, and the most visible, or most known is Ryan Cayabyab who is associated with the history of OPM or Original Pilipino Music. He is credited with developing 23 film scores, 15 OPM songs and several albums. In addition he is the author of 11 musicals and produced albums for artists such as Smokey Mountain, a singing group consisting of teenaged performers back in the 90s—such as Geneva Cruz, Lea Salonga and Julio Iglesias. He also had a television show for years called Ryan Ryan Musikahan which garnered various awards. Despite his staggering output, he makes time to teach young people, going around the country giving workshops in songwriting.
Chapter 4 is devoted to the culinary arts and Chef Romy Dorotan is one of the culinary artists featured. Romy Dorotan and Amy Besa used to own Cendrillon located in SoHo in New York. Eventually the owners closed the restaurant and opened Purple Yam in Brooklyn, which was named one of Michelin’s Best 133 New York’s restaurants in 2016. Purple Yam, which has a minimalist interior design uses touches of bamboo throughout the restaurant, complimenting its Filipino-inspired food.
In the field of literary arts, the writer NVM Gonzales is one of two artists featured in Chapter 5. When asked with the question—“How do you write”? He answered, “Write like a lover, but edit like a serial killer.” The author, who was his student during his days in the US describes him as “an 83-year old literary icon who has written 14 books and has significantly influenced the lives of Fil-Am youth in their search of identity.” A distinguished scholar, NVM Gonzalez is one of the central figures of Philippine literature. His works has been translated in several languages and is recognized internationally.
Benedicto Reyes Cabrera, also known as BenCab, is one of the featured artists in Chapter 6—Art & Design. He has built a museum in Baguio to house his eclectic collection of indigenous art. He also advocates for the preservation of the Cordilleras and the environment. The land area around the museum is planted to vegetables that are served in Sabel Cafe located within the museum. He also grows his own coffee, raises ducks and chickens and has created a haven that integrates art and nature.
The author, Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz, writes feature stories and a weekly column for Asian Journal and is also a contributor for Balikbayan Magazine. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of the Philippines and a law degree from Whittier College of Law in California.
An interesting collection of interviews, the anthology provides a window to the minds and hearts of artists of Filipino ancestry. It is a timely book about artists and the processes they adapt in creating their art. It is also a testimonial to the creative spirit of the Filipino.
I was talking to the Chef of #monsieurmarcel buying enough seafood for 2. He added to my portions and gave me a leg of #kingcrab.
Earlier, I also stopped by #nonna to get some empanadas. A great snack to serve for my 8yo #princess2015la. To my delight, I opened the box and I got an extra empanada.
