I give thanks for my life and that of my wife, as we just celebrated each of our’s birthdays with a birthday dinner at the famous White River Fish Market. As an older, very friendly Hispanic woman brought us our meals, I asked her what tuna tastes like, that is the fresh fish not the tuna in the can, and she later brought me a small sample of grilled tuna. She understandably could not give me more than an ounce or two as it is $23/pound, but when I tasted it I was amazed.
Grilled tuna tastes very similar to rib eye steak! This blew my mind. A very healthy piece of fish rich in healthy fats inflicting omega-3’s and it tastes like a choice cut of beef?
For those of you following my journey of health recovery (update: I keep improving in my overall condition one day at a time), I take every inspiration for the future I can get. And for me, this was inspiration.
My wife being from the Philippines, and my mother being 89 years old, our plan is, after her time comes, to move to the Philippines. And I anticipate, God’s will be done, to be able to live very nicely off the interest of my inheritance. Yet, I would still work online and do part-time volunteering locally in physical therapy (would consider opening a traditional Catholic mission free outpatient clinic).
Would even continue the Okie Traditionalist when we move there but change the title to include “(now living in the Philippines)).”
So lately for motivation each day to follow all the aspects of my daily recovery protocol, I’ve been watching YouTube videos of American expats traveling and living in the Philippines. There is this one very entertaining young expat guy, actually from Canada, with a hugely successful channel called BecomingFilipino, becoming now a Filipino citizen. In some videos he stood at road side outdoor markets and often buys tuna to grill.
To catch tuna, fishermen must go far out and fish deep sea water with special nets and techniques. Tuna are very strong, powerful, muscular fish, hence the richness of their muscle. Popular kinds of tuna are blue and fellow tuna. Whereas tuna here is very expensive at, as I mentioned, $23/pound or higher, and is still relatively on the upper end for Filipinos, with American dollars (58 pesos = $1), it is 200 pesos per kilo, or $1.57/pound! For s very healthy fish that tastes very close to ribeye.
One day, God willing, I will be sitting in my new house near the beach in the Philippines enjoying grilled tuna. That thought is very motivating for me right now. There is something very life giving and healthy about life in the Philippines, nature there, everything that comes from nature including fresh healthy food, and life from the ocean. I don’t know (yet) very well what it is about living near the ocean, but there is something rejuvenating about the salt water in the air, the breezes, and the climate.
And as a lover of nature, someone who has since childhood really immersed himself in nature, finding God through nature, I am today very thankful for this little birthday gift of discovering tuna, which comes from the life-giving oceans the Creator gave us. Deo gratias.
My goal is when I’ve recovered to where I was back in September, to go buy a pound of tuna from the White River Fish Market near by, and grill it Filipino style, and I will share that milestone here with a photo.