Spring Cleaning for the Palette: Launch of the Skinny Carib Kitchen

White Wine Splash, by Paul

If you have watched the series of films Oceans 11, 12, and 13 you may have heard the elder cons debate with the handsome young cons about the difference between a Grand Opening and a Soft Opening.

Why not get out the ticker tape, balloons, bands and fan fare and just open, or in this case LAUNCH the "Skinny Carib" Kitchen? 

When have you ever started a diet or exercise plan that you started out "guns blazing", pumped and from start-to-finish-to-now actually succeeded in reaching your goals?   In that case, I raise my glass to you, and I cannot wait 'till you decide to become our guest blogger! 

For most of us, especially after the religious and secular Spring holidays, college and other school exams, the debauchery of Spring Breaks and in the United States--TAXES!!--we, uhm, need a moment..., to decompress.  We are walking around hung over from living life as the modern pace demands.



Flying Balloon During Sunset, by Teeratas



So, today, with the wisdom of compassion--for you and for myself, we start with a soft launch.   Think of it as saying grace in the moments before you partake in our course of meals, mellee [meh-lay = chatty gossip] and movement [my simple exercise philosophy].

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My first lesson is in Spring Cleaning.  Literally changing how you clean the kitchen itself (some of you are already doing a phenomenal job, here).   And, more like a Skinny Carib from way back in my Mamma Mary's Caribbean kitchen, adding your physical body to the kitchen line up and giving the body a good internal cleanse.

White Towel and Flower, by Sura Nualpradid



NO! NO!  Not that juicing fast thing.  I don't know a thing about it and wouldn't promote it here or elsewhere.  That sort of thing is for professionals and mystics.   I am not a doctor or herboligist in real life and I don't play one online.  

 

BUT, my Grandmother (Mamma Mary) knew what she was doing…

One Spring, when I was 11 years old, I became very ill--I now track it back to the beginning of the active stages of my disability.  My white blood cell count was extremely high, my hair was only healthy in patches, my neck became very swollen and one morning I woke up and I could not turn my head in any other direction than the one it was facing--to the left.  The toughest part for me is that I could not go to school.  Although it was not called "Home Schooling" my lessons were sent home to me and I could not participate in my beloved labs in Science class--unless you count the probings of doctors and random potions of well-meaning neighbors as my personal science lab.  At the end of that school semester, having turned the age of 12 in bed at home alone, I was sent Home from St. Thomas to Antigua to my grandmother... 

By the end of that summer, it was anybody's guess what sort of body would return--if one would return at all.  

I remember overhearing a woman talking to my mother: "Eh, Miss Ruth...how's 'de child? Mon-eeque?" 

And my mother saying simply: "That's Monique. Right there."  My mother pointed, directing the woman's attention to my self standing behind her skipping--up on the concrete divider and then down into the open yard.  I was too happy to be too upset that this woman, my mother's good friend and sewing client, had ignored me the whole time she was there talking to my mother in the yard at Kromprindsens Gade #65 in St. Thomas, USVI—as she had always been one of my adult fans who made me feel happy to be alive in my Carib skin.

Months earlier, my grandmother, after her observations and evaluations, had held my chin, angled it to meet her face, and looked directly into my eyes.  I smiled back.   SHE began with a cleansing...

And though there were herbs, teas & "bush baths", it was nothing like the sort of dramatic fasts that I recognize is an important part of some methods.

I know you, too will have your way to begin.   I do advise cleaning up the pantry and refrigerator if the items there contain certain additives.  And though this is not a Vegan or Vegetarian blog/philosophy, I do suggest more whole and organic foods.   It also helps to have a mind-set that is able to accept that not all changes should be done at once: there is a difference between running water over dishes to wash them and stacking them up in the middle of the tub and getting out the hose--a gentler path can be more precise.

I've found that I learn something when I can apply patience in the process.   It's usually the very thing I needed to learn so that it's impossible for me to repeat old habits.  AND it respects my schedule. 

So, on April 18^th, 2011, we begin here too with our version of a rocket launch, in honor of the pacing and quietness of a full moon --lighted, gentle, glowing, soft and yet remarkable set amongst the flicker of stars.  

photo by Sujin Jetkassetakorn

 

Welcome to the Dance of the Skinny Carib(R),

The Festive Launch of Healthy Living, Loving and Laughing--Caribbean Style!

m.
The Skinny Carib(R)

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