The Two Whos

Have you  noticed that when it gets colder, you want to eat differently?   Out go the salads and in come the cooked veggies and then come some soups and foods  that will warm.  Cece has  kept it a secret up ’till now……..but she  gets cold if the temperature goes below 70 degrees! AND it is certainly below 70 degrees in Albuquerque… especially in the mornings.

She saw an interview on  Good Morning America with the Thai chef Su-Mei-Yu who wrote the book “Elements of Life.” Cece  has always liked Asian food and watched the interview with interest. Su-Mei-Yu spoke about eating different foods when it rains and different foods when it is hot or cold outside. This made perfect sense to Cece  as she  seems to do this automatically. She also spoke about finding out your natural element as far as earth, water, wind or fire. Cece used the method in her book, based on your birth,  and found out she  is  3/4 earth and one part fire!  So,  adding in some heavier and warmer foods like pumpkin muffins, squash, green chile stew and homemade soups with fragrant herbs on top makes a lot of sense.

She ,  put the crock pot on and made some pinto beans which are a staple of eating in New Mexico. Check here for a good recipe:
http://www.myhomecooking.net/ Go to Mexican food recipes.

All throughout the night, she  could smell the beans cooking with that little bit of salt pork and when she woke up, she had the most delicious beans imaginable.Too bad the smell could not be transported to you through the computer! Beans are very nurturing.

What Cece also learned from the book is that for her, in the winter, she needs to eat more bananas, dates, applesauce, walnuts, kiwi, cranberry, beans, corn and swiss chard…to name a few. She has identified a few good recipes in the book and will start to try them.

Here is one of Cece’s  favorite recipes for the colder weather. This is a great snack for when you get home from a long cold day of cycling or being outdoors.

Harvest Apples

3 apples of your choice cored in a cone shape with the larger part on the top of the apple. Do not core through bottom and make a hole.

3 TBS peanut butter or for a more earthy deep flavor tahini.

2 large boxes of raisins (3 oz)

2TBS sunflower seeds

Mix all ingredients and stuff 1/3 of the mixture into each apple. Place apples in an ovenproof dish and bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees or until apples are soft, but not mushy. If you put the apples in a loaf pan, they do not roll around while cooking!

324 calories, 7g protein, 55 g carbs, 11g fat, 79g sodium and 8g fiber. If this is too much food for your snack, cut the apple in half! To reheat, just zap for a few seconds in the microwave!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos.

The Saturday Morning Rendezvous will be a place to stop in and meet up  on a weekend morning.  Have a cup of tea or coffee, a special breakfast,  and relax and catch up from the week’s fast pace.  The Two Whos will focus Saturday’s content on physical wellness , food and fitness of all types.  Come back and rendezvous with us!    See you next  Saturday!  Thanks for visiting.

Yun takes a longer route to go home after dropping her kids at school, because she wants to say “Thank you!” to the police woman who is guarding the school crossing.  She also likes to see this woman’s bright smiling face when she greets the children as they cross the street. As she watches, Yun remembers this song that Louis Armstrong sings.

When we see the  world and life through the eyes of gratitude, every word in Louis Armstrong’s song “What a Wonderful World!” rings of truth.

About The Mid-Week Symphony: Since Wednesday is the middle of the week, we have decided to take a moment and have a bit of down time from the writing. Each Wednesday, we would like to bring you a symphony of ideas, a harmony of thoughts, beauty, silliness and all things that make the fullness of life. When we started this blog we wanted it to reflect our entire personalities and interests..and that means yes…. Cece loves the Far Side Cows and Yun loves the mumble jumble philosophical books. Yun and Cece have many varied interests and we would like to share some of them with you each Wednesday.

In 1988,  a song came over the air waves by Bobby McFerrin  called “Don’t Worry. Be Happy.” The song was a simple solution to complex problems, but was a good song to remember when things got hard and you needed to lighten up a bit!    It was the first a cappella song to make it big! Part of the lyrics are “in every life we have some trouble….” and The Whos thought of this  song as they wrote this post.

It has been raining cats and dogs lately.  So, you hear lots of cheers as well as lots of  curses.  People have their own reasons and their own likes and dislikes, so we are happy and not happy accordingly.

A friend of Yun’s loves swimming.  She would swim everyday if she could.  So, Sunny days are her best friends.  She is as cheerful as the sunshine, bubbling with joy for life.   The past months have been unpleasant for her with all the rain and thunder and overcasting sky.  You hear her complaints more about things in life. It seems when the Sun and clouds are not collaborating, nothing else in the world works. She has the excuse  to be unhappy, and she makes it clear and she sticks to it.

Well, it so happens, that an old friend of Yun’s  is a gardener! He loves gardening  and has  a house on the hill with  lots of land to tinker with.  However, friends joke with him and call him  “such a grumpy old man” because he has such strong political positions.  Unfortunately, our political environment has not been to  his liking for many years.   But lately, instead of politics, he sings the praises of  how wonderful the rain has been,  how refreshing the air smells and how lush his garden is now….On and on, he is beaming with cheers and joy.   He is happy for a very good reason, and he makes clear of that.

One day, after a  chat with both of them  back to back, Yun starts to laugh  and marvel at the human’s incredible capacity to be happy or to be unhappy.  The physicist Yun said to the artist  Cece, ” It is almost like in scientific research… one makes a hypothesis, and starts to design an experiment to collect data to prove the hypothesis.  In most cases, one manages to find the data to prove that your  hypothesis is correct!”  Cece giggles too.

Why is it that we allow our minds to take such control  of us that we determine our happiness by the rain or the current political climate or whether we can swim or not?  What if we enjoyed each moment as it presents itself…and what if we could be here now…and relish in the very moment we are in…whether we are driving or walking or working or doing a repetitive task?  Could we perhaps find joy in those little moment by moment things that are happening right now?    What if our mind went astray and went to being unhappy about the political climate?  Could we re-direct it into the here and now and focus on this moment only?

If we decide to be happy, we will find the reasons.  If we decide not to be happy, we can find the reasons too…. The reasons for both are only  in our mind’s eyes.  Make sure that what your mind’s eye sees is working for you… not against you  “Don’t worry, be happy” and make it so!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

Often times, parents can try too hard to ’shape’ their children’s life.  Parenthood can become a stressful experience rather than a joyous adventure with our children.  May all  parents keep a broader perspective on children and enjoy parenthood with faith and unconditional love.

Khalil Gibran started his “On Children” from “The prophet”   “They are the sons and daughter’s of life’s  longing for itself.”

On Children Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

“Bye for Now ” From The Two Whos

About The Mid-Week  Symphony: Since Wednesday is the middle of the week, we have decided to take a  moment  and have a bit of down time from the writing.  Each Wednesday, we would like to bring you a symphony of ideas, a harmony of thoughts, beauty, silliness and all things that make the fullness of life.  When we started this blog we wanted it to reflect our entire personalities and interests..and that means yes…. Cece loves  the Far Side Cows and Yun loves the mumble jumble philosophical books.   Yun and Cece have many varied interests and we would like to share some of them with you each Wednesday.

Labyrinths have been created on the earth’s surfaces  for over 4500 years and cross many cultures and spiritual traditions.  Early labyrinths have been found in Crete , Egypt, Peru and India.    They are a cross cultural symbol of a person’s journey to the center of the self. They are a place to quiet the mind, walk, find balance,  meditate and pray.  Walking in one  is  a way to self-align.

Right before work on Monday morning Cece felt compelled to do an errand.  Afterward, she took a few steps on the sidewalk and then turned the other direction….she knew there was a labyrinth on this property…but where?

She headed north a bit and soon she was staring straight  down into it!  It was a large hand made labyrinth with  rocks and stones detailing the path and patterning of the walk ways.

Cece looked and looked and  knew she needed to make a beginning.  Walking one   takes time ..you cannot do it quickly…. and Cece had to get to work.  But, she told herself that this was a great way to begin her work day…with self-alignment and more silence.

She walked down to it.  Stepping in, she got a jolt!  She came to a screeching halt!  She lost her balance!  For a moment she stopped breathing and shook herself.  Slow down.  She had no choice. Balancing between each slow step now ,  she proceeded along the path.  She could see the indentations of the steps people took in the gravel before her.  The Navajo prayer “In Beauty do I walk...” was in her mind.. and that became her mantra step by step. She looked out and saw the beauty of the earth and was filled with gratitude.  She felt the warmth of the sun and was filled with its heat.

What a wonderful way to start this day.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos