Mashed potatoes and....cauliflower?

I would never have thought of mashing cauliflower, let alone adding it to mashed potatoes. But I was at a fancy banquet recently, wondering what was lending such a subtle flavour to the mashed potatoes, and the banquet organizer told me that the chef had told her it was cauliflower. Genius.

The chef wasn't about to reveal his recipe though, so I had to make up my own. The chives are my own addition, for a touch of green and even more flavour. Served it up last Saturday and BFF Berns said it was the best mashed potatoes she'd ever had. Then again, she could be biased. So try it yourself and see if you agree.

CHIVE MASHED POTATO AND CAULIFLOWER

4 large russet potatoes
1 head cauliflower, green parts removed
1/2 cup whole milk, half and half, or table cream, warmed
1/2 cup butter, melted
Bunch of chives, chopped (save buds for garnish)
Salt and pepper to taste

Peel and quarter the potatoes and put in a heavy bottomed pot along with the cauliflower florets and enough water to come halfway up the sides of the pot. Cover and bring to a boil, then lower heat slightly and cook until soft (about 1/2 hr-45 mins).

Remove from heat and drain off the liquid, but leave a little bit in.

Mash with a potato masher. Stir in the warmed milk or cream, melted butter, and chives. (Are you drooling yet?)

Season, garnish and enjoy!




Mashed potatoes and....cauliflower?




Homemade Tahini-Based Dips

Tahini, or sesame paste, is a staple ingredient of Middle Eastern cuisine. It's sold in most supermarkets, or you can make your own at home.

I got introduced to tahini years ago, after having a delectable dip called baba ganoush at my brother-in-law's mother's house. Researching the ingredients, I discovered that it's made of mashed eggplant and tahini, and that it's very simple to make.

Grillng the eggplants gives the baba ganoush a smokey flavour, making it an ideal summer appetizer. But when I get a hankering for it in the cold months, I simply grill the eggplants right over the hot stove coils. It makes a mess, but it works.

BABA GANOUSH

2 large Japanese eggplants (I use this variety, as opposed to the fatter Italian eggplants, because they are faster to grill and are more flavourful)
6-8 tablespoons tahini
1 large clove garlic, peeled and mashed to smooth pulp with a sprinkling of coarse salt (easily done with a mortar and pestle, or on your cutting board with the edge of your knife)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil

Grill the eggplants until soft and blackened all over. Pop them into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to steam for a few minutes. Cut off the stems and peel off the blackened skins.

Place in a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients. Pulse a few times for a rough consistency, or puree until smooth.

HUMMUS

Growing up in the Philippines, I was not a big fan of chickpeas. They were what some cooks used as a filler in stews, but I was able to muster about as much enthusiasm for their presence in my callos as for an unwanted guest at a party. Luckily, you can shove chickpeas off to the side of your plate and ignore them without too much guilt.

I'm still not a fan of whole chickpeas, but hummus is another story. I love creamy, garlicky hummus with just a hint of lemon. It's delicious; it's nutritious; and it's super-easy to make.

This recipe uses the same basic ingredients as baba ganoush, replacing the eggplants with 2 cups chickpeas (I use canned chickpeas and leave some of the liquid in for a creamier consistency).

Serve these two dips with pita or bagel chips, or fresh veggies, and olives, roasted red peppers, and cubes of feta cheese.




Homemade Tahini-Based Dips




It's not Seventeen Again...it's a whole lot better

Carole King sings this song called So Far Away.   There's a line in it that goes, "It would be so fine to see your face at my door..."

I can't tell you how many times I've listened to this song over the years, thinking of all the well-beloved faces I longed to see at my door.

Last night, by a happy coincidence, my college BFFs Berns and Prixie arrived at my place at the same time with their husbands, and they all walked through my door together.  It was a sight worth waiting eighteen years to see.

Call me sentimental if you like, but I think I'm going to have let the photos do the talking.  Right now, all I can say is, "Thank you, God, for good friends!"

A feast fit for a reunion.  Recipes to come soon!




It's not Seventeen Again...it's a whole lot better




Bench Bunch: The Reunion

The Bench Bunch at Christmas 

So two of my BFFs from college are coming over for dinner tomorrow.  Berns is driving up from Washington State; Prixie flew in earlier this week, all the way from the Philippines, where we lived and laughed and were young together.

Prixie's the one I wrote about in an earlier post, the friend I found on Facebook when a friend tagged a picture of her that another friend had posted.  Berns was the tagger.  The poster, Monica, is back in the Philippines plotting another reunion in five years, with all members of the Bench Bunch hopefully present.  Who knows, it just might happen.  In the meantime, the three of us will make the most of this mini-reunion.

We called ourselves the Bench Bunch because we used to hang out at a particular bench in the college quad, handily located just outside the cafeteria. Two benches, actually, that faced each other, where we preferred to sit in all but the wettest weather, braving even the higad (itchy caterpillars) that occasionally dropped down from the tree branches overhead.

That was literally half a lifetime ago.  My memories of that time are filled with sunshine and laughter and guitar music, and they kept me warm through many winters that followed after.  They still do.

Tomorrow will be the first time we three are going to sit down together as grown-ups.  (I think the last time we three were at dinner together was on this occasion - my eighteenth birthday!)  Both Berns and Prixie are bringing their husbands...new faces in a circle that's growing ever-wider.

So what to cook for this singularly special dinner?  It's a surprise, but let me say that I think I'm getting good at these make-ahead dinners.  Homemade dips and appies: chilling nicely in the fridge.  Ingredients for main dish: defrosting.  Last-minute run to the green grocer for fresh veggies: check.  Liquor store for drinks: check.  Dessert: in freezer.  Tonight I'll be setting the table and getting all the serving dishes ready.   My main goal is not to be dashing around the kitchen like a madwoman when the guests arrive....this truly defeats the purpose of entertaining!

Stayed tuned for more Bench Bunch stories, and tips on how to make your make-ahead dinner a success! 


Bench Bunch: The Reunion




Urban Jungle series

I love this pool that's shaped like a giant leaf.




Urban Jungle series




Smoothie on my doorstep

You probably have your own ideas about how best to spend this gorgeous July Saturday morning. Me, I'm peacefully sitting on my own doorstep, watching the world go by, and sipping this deliciously refreshing homemade smoothie.

No matter what your plans are this weekend, don't forget to start your day with a healthy breakfast!

MANGO AND BERRY SMOOTHIE

1 1/2 cups tropical nectar (I used Sun Tropics mango nectar, made from Philippine mangoes - the best the in the world!)
1/2 mixed frozen berries (you can use any fruit you want; you can also use fresh fruit and add 4 ice cubes to the mix)

Blend until smooth and serve immediately!




Smoothie on my doorstep




Urban Jungle photo




Urban Jungle photo




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Droppings ni Lolo - or, Shit My Grandpa Says

Until the day she died, at the ripe old age of 93, my Lola Anita - God rest her soul - could remember all her family members' birthdays (day, month, year) and full names (if you are familiar with the Filipino tendency to have three or more given names, you will admit that this was no mean feat).

Her son-in-law, my Lolo D, has a remarkable memory too - remarkable, that is, for its unreliability. He doesn't forget names and terms - he just mixes them up...often with hilarious consequences.

I remember he used to call our household help by the wrong names. Not each other's names, but his own made-up approximations of their real names. It was a great source of entertainment for all of us, as we constantly had to guess whom he was referring to.

He calls roast beef drippings "droppings" and describes scantily clad people as "wearing nothing but their heebie-jeebies." Maybe because the sight of scantily clad people gives him the heebie-jeebies.

Newly settled in Montreal, he was informed he had to obtain a hospital card in addition to the provincial health care card. Accordingly, he and my mother went to have the necessary paperwork filled out and filed. The clerk assisting him asked, "And in which department of the hospital is your doctor practicing?"

"Gynecology," Lolo D answered.

The clerk gave him the fish eye over the top of her glasses and said, "I don't think so." At which point, my mother, red-faced, intervened. "It's geriatrics. Geriatrics." And in an aside to my grandfather, "You are embarrassing. I'm never going with you to the hospital again."

The latest incident occurred at the dinner table just last week. I wasn't there, but my sister was. She told me all about it over the phone, and we both laughed till we cried.

Lolo D had brought home a box of donut holes, or as we call them in Canada, Timbits. Mom popped them into the fridge. Later, while they were having dinner, someone wondered aloud what to have for dessert. Lolo D turned to Mom and asked, "Where are my balls?"

He blames all of this on a family propensity for malapropisms. My grandmother called it "having senior moments." Whatever it is, I think I've inherited it. I told my sister the other day that I had learned a new word. Guddling. "It's what you do to a mint leaf to bruise it before adding it to a mojito," I explained.

Long pause at the other end of the line. "I think you mean muddling," she said at last.

Oops, okay. Muddling. "But guddling is a word too," I insisted.

Another long pause. "Uh-huh...." she said. "But it's definitely not what you do to a mint leaf."

Wondering why the long pauses, I looked up the word "to guddle." Of Scottish origin, it has many meanings, some rather less savoury than others. And my sister was right - none of them has any connection to mint leaves whatsoever.

I guess I'll be thinking twice from now on before laughing at Lolo D's latest. There's just no escaping heredity. Or karma. 


Droppings ni Lolo - or, Shit My Grandpa Says




It's barbecue season....

...now, if only the weather would cooperate!

I've been to three barbecues this week. Two of them were rained out. Not to worry: our spirits remained undampened, even if the patio furniture didn't. But it would be nice to have some warmer, sunnier weather - it is, after all, July!

Well, we had a nice day today. And even if summer is taking its time this year, I have memories of past barbecues to keep me warm.

The smoky aroma of barbecue brings me right back to my childhood, when all it took was for a few friends of my parents to drop by, and presto! We were having a party. The grown-ups would go off to market and come back with loads of wonderful things to eat: tomatoes and onions, salted eggs, green and yellow mangoes, cantaloupes, watermelons, sweet rice cakes, fish and shrimp and mussels and clams, cases of my dad's favourite Red Horse beer.

Most importantly, there was meat - freshly sliced pork and choice pieces of chicken, which would soon be marinating in huge green plastic tubs, because the kitchen bowls weren't big enough.

We had a concrete barbecue pit built right onto our patio, with a wide brick ledge all around for holding platters and utensils. Ronnie, my dad's right-hand man, would stand there, wielding an anahaw fan, coaxing the coals into a white-hot smoulder, and barbecuing the first pieces of meat, which he skewered onto thin whittled bamboo sticks for easy handling.

In Canada, we managed to build a barbecue pit ourselves with stackable bricks.

And then other friends and family would start arriving, and Pops would start opening the beer bottles and serving up the sizzling barbecue. Our sprawling garden would be filled with laughter and conversation, everyone sitting at long tables spread with fresh banana leaves that served as both tablecloth and plates - most convenient, not to mention eco-friendly!

Finally, when night fell, and all the barbecue was consumed, hands were washed and rubbed with lemon rinds, the patio cleared of chairs, and there would be dancing under the inky, star-pierced sky.

So, in celebration of one of summer's most beloved rituals, I offer you now my family's version of Filipino barbecue. It works well with both chicken and pork. Serve it with ice-cold beer and whatever sides and salads you like - but remember, it tastes best when accompanied by laughter and music, and if you can get it, a skyful of stars.

FILIPINO BARBECUE

2 kg pork shoulder, sliced thinly

1 cup soy sauce

1 can 7-Up

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 head garlic, peeled and crushed

pepper to taste

Combine the soy sauce, 7-Up, sugar, garlic, and pepper in a large bowl and whisk to mix well. Add the meat and marinate for at least two hours. Thread the meat onto bamboo skewers and grill on both sides.




It's barbecue season....




All-egg-white omelettes? Oh, yes!

In The Skinny on Losing Weight Without Being Hungry, Dr. Louis Aronne prescribes a protein-rich breakfast to get your day off to a good start. And a good source of protein is eggs - specifically, egg whites. Dr. Aronne recommends making omelettes entirely out of egg whites because this allows you to consume a greater amount of protein without the fat and cholesterol contained in the yolks.

I admit that I was skeptical at first - I couldn't imagine anything more boring and bland than egg white. To me, egg white is what you use to make other interesting things like meringues and pavlovas. But I decided to give it a shot, and off I went to the supermarket for those egg whites that are sold in cardboard cartons.

My first all-egg-white omelette was a pleasant surprise. I added sliced asparagus spears, a little bit of sliced garlic, and salt and pepper. It was tasty and filling, and Dr. Aronne was right - you really can't tell the difference.

Just like with salads, the ideas for omelettes are endless. And a hot, healthy, hearty breakfast is definitely worth setting your alarm clock for.

Mexican Omelette

1 cup egg whites
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1/4 red onion, sliced
1/4 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

chopped cilantro (optional)
salt and pepper

Heat a tiny bit of oil in a small, nonstick skillet and add the tomato and onion. Season with salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes, until they start getting soft and translucent.

Spread them out evenly and pour in the egg whites. Sprinkle the cheese and chopped cilantro over all. Cook until the bottom is golden and set, then flip carefully to cook the other side.

Serve with diced avocado and salsa.




All-egg-white omelettes? Oh, yes!




Crazy over salads!

I can't believe I used to turn my nose up at salads! I've been having a salad for lunch every day for a week - and some days for dinner as well. They are so easy to prepare, are light but filling, and taste fresh and delicious. What more could you want from a meal?

It doesn't take any special genius to put together your own gourmet salad. And with the wide variety of ingredients out there - especially now during the summer and well into the fall - you can come up with endless combinations.

Here are some combinations that work for me:

Shredded romaine hearts, shredded white meat from a roasted Cornish game hen, sprinkling of bacon bits, diced avocado and tomato, ranch dressing

Watercress, Schneider's fat-free smoked chicken, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, slices of red onion pickled overnight in some raspberry wine vinegar, cucumber, vinaigrette dressing

Baby spinach, slivers of Genoa salami, Schneider's fat-free turkey breast, tomatoes, avocadoes, Italian dressing

Mixed greens, roast beef slices, red onion, cucumbers, crushed peanuts, chopped basil and cilantro, dressing made of low-sodium soy sauce, lime juice, dab of chili paste

Thai Beef Noodle Salad

I also sprinkle some crunchies (pumpkin seeds, soy nuts, almonds or dry roasted peanuts) over every salad.

Remember to wash and spin your greens well - even if the package says pre-washed.

Tossing the ingredients together right before eating ensures a crisp, fresh salad. I just pre-shred and pre-slice the ingredients - except the avocado. If you are left with half an avocado, leave the seed in until you are ready to use it. The avocado will magically stay green as long as the seed is still there. And yes, it works even when the seed pops out by accident and you put it back in.

Another great thing about salads is that they are easily portable - so take yours outside and eat it in the sunshine!

Here's to good health and good eating! 


Crazy over salads!




Homemade Spa Water

This summer, instead of sugary juice drinks, try this refreshing water luxuriously flavoured with mint, lemon, cucumber and ginger. Keep a pitcher in your fridge and drink as much as you want, up to one recipe a day.

Sassy Water

(recipe from The Flat Belly Diet)

2 litres water (about 8 1/2 cups)
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 medium cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced (I use a vegetable peeler to get nice long slivers, then discard the middle part with all the seeds.)
1 medium lemon, thinly sliced
12 mint leaves

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher, then chill in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to blend flavours.




Homemade Spa Water




Friday afternoons with my Tough Love Goddess

I ran into an old friend a few weeks ago. We hadn't seen each other in ages, so it's taken quite a few coffee sessions and park-bench chats to catch up. One afternoon she gazed straight into my eyes and said, "You look good. How are you feeling?"

It was a sincere question that deserved a sincere answer. So I said, "I feel great, mostly. I just wish I could lose more weight."

To which my friend said, "That's b---s---. You don't wish you could lose weight. You just do it."

The words look bald, even brutal, in black and white, but she said them with such firm, no-nonsense kindness, that instead of bristling I realized she was exactly right. When you want to do something good, it's not enough to sit around thinking about it. You have to get off your butt and do it.

I also realized that you need at least one friend in your life who isn't afraid to tell you when you're b---s---ing. And that there's no such thing as coincidence. But that's material for further reflection. This post is about what I'm doing now that I've gotten off my butt - and how my friend the Tough Love Goddess is helping me.

(I should explain that my friend is half-Greek and that her Greek name is Aphroditi. She is beautiful and feminine, with a big heart and an inner core of steel. She's also a super-fit personal trainer, among other wonderful things. This is why I call her the Tough Love Goddess. TLG for short. She is one of the most amazing women I know, and her story will be coming soon as part of the Wonder Woman series.)

So with TLG I've started walking on Friday afternoons. Yesterday we walked across the Cambie Street Bridge, enjoying the sunshine and the gorgeous views of False Creek, downtown Vancouver and the mountains in the distance.

Before we set out, we stopped by the Terry Fox monument at Robson and Beatty, for a moment of reflection and inspiration.

I should also mention that I've started making a few changes to my diet. I'm using a combination of principles from The Skinny by Louis J. Aronne, M.D., and The Flat Belly Diet by Liz Vaccariello. I will explain more later, but basically, I'm eating a lot more veggies and filling up with healthy protein and fiber rather than with processed carbs. I've been doing it for just a few days but I feel so much better - not hungry all the time, lots more energy, no more dizziness due to dips in my sugar levels.

The other day I had lunch out...I ordered cedar-planked salmon, and for the first time in my life I asked for more veggies in place of the garlic mashed potatoes. I was rewarded with a forest of asparagus - my favourite veggie. I'm taking it as a sign that this is going to be easier and a lot more fun than I ever would have expected.

Stay tuned for more TLG in upcoming posts!




Friday afternoons with my Tough Love Goddess




Lessons from my father

My father is the world's most quiet, unassuming, soft-spoken man - I think he had to be, just to balance out the dynamics in our household of talkative, easily excitable, occasionally crazy women. He doesn't say much, but the few words he does say - or his very silence - have taught me some of my most valuable lessons.

When I was about six years old, I was splashing around one afternoon on the steps of my uncle's swimming pool. Somehow I slipped off the last step and found myself in water way over my head. I didn't know how to swim and wasn't wearing floaties (which is why I'd been warned to stay on the steps). I remember a moment of pure, breathless terror as I desperately tried to get my head above water. I couldn't even scream. Then my father, who had been nearby and watching me closely the whole time, plucked me up into his arms. I almost cried with relief. And he said, "Honey, don't panic."

I didn't realize it at the time, but those simple words he said to reassure me I was safe, to calm me down, would become one of my life's guiding principles. In stressful situations, during moments of unexpected difficulties or at times when things just seem almost overwhelming - don't panic. Steady yourself, keep cool, keep treading water, take a deep breath, look around - and ask for the help that you need. Holler if you need to.

Just being in my dad's serene presence gives me peace. It also gives me joy. He has shown me time and again how a bit of quiet good humour can diffuse tension, sadness, and ill-feeling. Now I often tell myself and other people that nothing is ever so bad if you can still find something to laugh about.

My dad taught me the value of work done well, without complaining, without vainglory. He taught me to look beyond my own small universe, to be interested in what's happening out there in the wide world. He taught me the value of friendship, the importance of making time for people, to listen to their problems and try to help them. He taught me how to pray. He taught me how to love.

I'm not saying that I've learned all of these lessons by heart. Some of them - maybe all of them - I'm still struggling with. But I just have to look at my dad to find proof that they are all perfectly possible to put into practice.

And the amazing thing is that he taught me all these things without having to say a word. He just does them all himself, day after day, without ever saying, "Do what I'm doing." To him, this is all just the natural way to live, which I think is the most powerful way to lead by example.

So every day, and especially this Sunday, I give thanks to my dad, and for my dad. Happy Father's Day, Poppie!




Lessons from my father




Feather moon

"Fotografiar es colocar la cabeza, el ojo y el corazón en un mismo eje."

Henry Cartier-Bresson




Feather moon




Celebrating the Beautiful Game

It's World Cup time again, so I've invented this recipe in honour of the team I'll be cheering for.

Go Italy! Artichoke and Spinach Dip

4-6 canned artichoke hearts, well drained and chopped

1 cup fresh spinach, wilted in a hot pan with a little oil and salt, and well drained

1 cup chopped cooked shrimp

1 small red pepper, chopped

1/2 cup Hellmans mayonnaise

1/2 cup mozzarella, coarsely grated

1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated

Stir all the ingredients together in a small bowl and season to taste with a good grinding of pepper and a dash of Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce. Scoop the mixture into a small, shallow, oven-proof dish and bake at 350 degrees in your toaster oven for 15 -20 minutes or until top is lightly golden brown. Serve with bagel or pita chips.




Celebrating the Beautiful Game




When you get to a bridge, cross it

Vancouver weather can be very fickle, and this spring it's been more so than usual. Downtown was overcast and showery all day, but just now, I crossed the Granville Street Bridge, over which the clouds have literally parted, and ahead of me is the south part of Vancouver in a blaze of sunshine, while on either side of the bridge, the water dances with sun pennies.

Decisions are a lot like bridges.

You come to a bridge, and the ramp is so slippery and steep, you think you'll never make it up. Then finally you step onto the bridge, and the wind is so strong it takes your breath away. So you hold on tight to the railing and keep moving, putting one foot in front of the other...until you look up and realize - you made it. You're on the other side. And you've left the storm behind you, and there's only sunshine up ahead.
We can spend all our life at the foot of a bridge, knowing we ought to cross it, fearing that we can't, hating to leave the security of what's behind.

I made a decision today. It's one I've been putting off for too long. So today - I did it. I crossed the bridge. And I'm really liking the view from this end.

Until the next bridge. But I'll cross that one too, when I get to it. 


When you get to a bridge, cross it




When life hands you a lemon, make lemon squares

You know how you encounter something so wonderful in your childhood that you grow up trying to find it again - or at least, a passable substitute?

I encountered two wonderful things. One wasn't actually a something, it was a Someone. A man. Superman. My grandpa took me to see all the movies and I became completely enamored of the Superman character, so dashingly played by the late Christopher Reeve. It took me many years to figure out that Superman doesn't actually exist in real life.

The good news is that, unlike Superman, my second wonderful childhood thing is real, and I can recreate it myself. When I was a little girl, I tasted lemon squares for the first time at a party and it was love at first bite. It's taken some figuring out, and a lot of help from my sister (the baking expert over at cook-snap-repeat.blogspot.com) - but I think I've finally found a version that stands up to the ultimate test: the cherished, unforgettable perfection of a childhood memory.

Lemon Squares

Shortbread crust (click here for my sister's recipe)

While crust is baking, prepare the lemon filling:

8 oz cream cheese

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tbsp flour

Zest of one lemon (I use a Microplane to zest my lemons - another great tip from my sister)

Blend the above ingredients, then mix in the juice of the zested lemon and 1/4 tsp baking powder.

Pour on top of the still-warm crust and bake for 25-28 minutes, until surface is golden.

Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares. Dust with icing sugar right before serving.

Close your eyes, bite, and get transported back in time...oh, wait. That last step is just for me.




When life hands you a lemon, make lemon squares




Keeping hope alive in a culture of death

Tonight I had the distinct pleasure and privilege to hear Mr. Raymond Arroyo (journalist, producer, and host of EWTN's "The World Over Live") talk about how to marshall true hope in today's troubled and troubling times, with particular reference to the pro-life movement.

He observed how beautiful and at the same how tragic it is to celebrate and exalt something so basic as human life: a battle for which so many people from so many walks of life need to fortify themselves.

"Upholding the culture of life draws people together from all cultures and points them to something greater than we all are," he said.

Something very interesting - and, I think, quite true - that he said was that culture should be given more weight than politics.

"Music, art, literature, and media are what can transform the hearts of people."

He also said that what's on TV is a good barometer of what's on people's minds and in their hearts. I thought about shows like King of the Hill, Sex and the City, and Jersey Shore, and said to myself, "Then God help us all." But as if he had read my mind, Arroyo then pointed out new shows and movies that, surprisingly enough, value and celebrate life: Sixteen and Pregnant, Bella, Juno, Up - even the ultrasound images in the movie Knocked Up didn't escape his keen attention.

We shouldn't underestimate, he said, the power of images in today's tv and internet age.

"Many people simply don't realize what abortion really means, what's involved, what it does," he said. Hence the need for education and public discussion. "It's up to us to point to a better way."

So to uphold life, there are several key principles we need to have firmly in place, that we ourselves need to be convinced of before we can hope to convince others.

First, Arroyo quoted Mother Theresa, who directly and fearlessly told world leaders that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion. "We can't tell people to stop killing each other if we accept abortion," she said. "A country must be judged on how it loves and protects life."

Second, someone's personhood does not depend on others' recognition of it. "It's God who confers personhood on us, not other people."

Third, Arroyo said that we need to challenge "slippery" words - words like "reproductive choice", "tubal ligation", "pregnancy termination", "emergency contraception." These are words that attempt to mask and sanitize serious wrongs. Kind of like using "air freshener."

Fourth, "abortion is the decline of human significance," as Father Richard John Neuhaus once said. Once consented to, the disregard of human life does not stop at embryos or fetuses. The battle lines in Canada are now drawn on the euthanasia front as well.

Fifth, we don't know God's plan for each child lost - or saved. Case in point: decades ago in a Michigan town, a mother of three girls was talked out of her decision to abort her fourth child by a doctor friend of the family. The baby girl grew up to become Judy Garland.

Lastly, the culture of death is literally dying. One day it will most assuredly destroy itself. On the other hand, cherishing children means ensuring a hope-filled future. "Life is the call," Arroyo concluded. "It is also the gift within the call."

Raymond Arroyo made these remarks at the annual Focus on Life gala dinner, which raises funds for advertising a help line for women in crisis pregnancies or suffering from post-abortion trauma. For more information please visit http://www.thesignalhill.com/. 


Keeping hope alive in a culture of death