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The Journey of Flavor and Faith: Discovering The Flavor of Panamá

A reflection on heritage, faith, and the beauty of sharing authentic Panamanian recipes from the heart of Central America.

Some journeys begin with a destination in mind, and others start with a longing — a quiet desire to reconnect with something familiar, something sacred. Writing The Flavor of Panamá: Authentic Recipes from the Heart of Central America was both for me. It was a journey back home, guided not only by memory but also by faith.

Food has a way of bringing us closer to one another, to our roots, and even to God. Just like life, cooking is a process that unfolds one step at a time. You don’t always see the finished meal when you begin, but you trust the process — that with patience, care, and a little faith, it will all come together beautifully.

That reminds me of how God leads us. He rarely gives us the full list of directions — only the next step. Much like a GPS, He guides us one turn at a time, trusting us to follow His voice. And when we do, we discover that He’s been preparing something rich, meaningful, and full of sabor all along.

Panamanian cuisine tells a similar story. It’s a tapestry woven from many influences — Indigenous, African, Spanish, and Caribbean — coming together in perfect harmony. Dishes like Sancocho, Arroz con Pollo, and Patacones speak of community, resilience, and joy. Each meal reflects a history of faith, endurance, and celebration.

As you turn the pages of The Flavor of Panamá, I hope you’ll do more than follow recipes. I hope you’ll take time to savor — not just the flavors, but the memories and lessons that rise with every simmering pot. Let each dish remind you that, just like in cooking, the beauty of God’s plan often reveals itself step by step.

So take your time. Gather your ingredients. Stir in gratitude.
And as the aromas fill your kitchen, let them remind you that the same God who seasons our lives with purpose and grace has also filled the world with flavors worth celebrating.

Let’s cook, let’s remember, and let’s give thanks — one dish at a time. ¡Buen Provecho!

✨ Bring Panamá to Your Table

You can find The Flavor of Panamá: Authentic Recipes from the Heart of Central America on Amazon.
May its pages inspire connection, comfort, and a taste of home wherever you are.

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Down the Road of Fasting and Plant Paradoxes

Lately I’ve been intermittent fasting.  I basically lowered my caloric intake significantly by only eating between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., but yet I am not losing any weight. 

Why is that? How is it possible to eat only two small meals per day, exercise daily, and still not drop a pound?

I was online surfing through YouTube videos when I stumbled upon a video by a Doctor Jason Fung, a nephrologist, and he was explaining that traditional treatments for diabetes have been ineffective and that there is a better way of treating people with the disease.

The video caught my interest because I know many people, family and friends, who are living with diabetes believing there is no cure and that it is their lot in life to prick their fingers regularly.

According to Dr. Fung, diabetes is treatable and curable.  He is an avid advocate for fasting.  Now this is not the reason I am fasting.  I’ve been doing it for quite a while now but became frustrated with the lack of positive results.  I figured there has to be something else going on in my body to explain why it is such a challenge reaching my weight-loss goals.

After watching a couple of Dr. Fung’s videos I began watching another video by Dr. Steven Gundry, the author of the Plant Paradox which happened to follow Dr. Fung’s videos.

As I stated earlier, I had questions as to why I’m supposedly eating healthy and I’m exercising regularly but yet I’m not losing any weight.

Dr. Gundry explained that there are certain elements in the foods we eat that can at times can cause more harm than good.

One such element is a protein he identified as lectin (with a C), not to be confused with the hormone leptin (with a P).

In his video, which was actually an advertisement for supplements he markets, Dr. Gundry is explaining what lectin actually does in the intestinal tract.

He says the protein creates tears in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract causing toxins which should be expelled from the body to leak out back into the bloodstream, causing other problems throughout the body like itchy skin, acne, allergic reactions, inflammation, among other unpleasant things.

The toxins in the blood taxes the immune system, rendering it virtually ineffective.

I decided to put Dr. Gundry’s Plant Paradox to the test, which means there are a lot of foods that I love to eat that I will have to do without for a while to see if this actually works for my body.  As I approach 50 I am recognizing my body is changing and the best thing to do is to flow with the changes and determine what works best.  I know that I cannot eat the way I used to twenty-five years ago so now I have to figure out what I can eat and design a diet that works for my body and my lifestyle.

I will be chronicling my findings as I proceed forward.  Feel free to leave comments and suggestions or even to share your own experiences with weight-loss and just overall dietary health.

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GPS – God’s Positioning System

Many of us use AI software to obtain information or to automate certain areas of our lives.  We use Global Positioning Systems, or GPS, to help us navigate our many voyages to ensure we get to our destinations in the shortest possible time.  Some of us use software like Apple Maps, Waze, Google Maps and so many others.  Whichever one we use is determined by personal preference. 

Have you ever noticed that after you enter the address for the place you want to go, the GPS only tells you what the next immediate step is? It never tells you all of the steps. Sure you can scroll through and see the steps, but neither Siri, Alexa or any of the other systems will actually speak the full list of instructions, only the next step.  And you won’t hear the step that follows until you have completed the step that was spoken.

I believe following God is like following a GPS. You will know your destination, where you want to go, what you want to be, and He will give you the next step to take, but He won’t give you any further instructions until you complete the task He has given you.

In the book of Genesis, chapter 12, God told Abram to journey to a place that He would show him. He never told him where that place was, just that He would show it to him.  God simply expected trust and obedience from Abram in exchange for the blessing.  There are so many other examples in which God takes people on life journeys, where they have no idea what is going to happen to them because of the circumstances they find themselves in, but because they’ve yielded their will to do His will, they found themselves in places they never expected to be. The stories of Ruth, Esther, and Daniel come to mind. 

We tend to scroll through the list of instructions in the GPS because we are impatient and want to cut the time needed to reach where we want to be.  Usually we are in such a rush that we don’t pay close attention to the path we are on to notice anything noteworthy, like a landmark, that will help us to remember the way the next time we have to take that trip again.

Unlike with Siri and the other programs, God doesn’t give us a list of instructions. We simply have to trust Him. This is where many of us make mistakes.  We look at our circumstances and situations, we look at what other people are doing, we listen to what other people are saying, and we make decisions on what we think the next step should be.  Then we end up getting ourselves turned around and asking God for a miracle. Some of us even get mad at God and even discouraged because we don’t know where to turn or what to do.

We might say, “if God would just give us the full set of instructions, it would save us a lot of time.”  But let’s be honest, if we knew what was ahead of us and what we would have to deal with, many of us, if not all of us, would simply say “nope, never mind”.

When we are not sure where to go next, we are just supposed to simply move forward, to keep going until we are given instructions. Many of us have “zigged” when we should have “zagged” on our respective journeys, and getting back on track is what has taken up so much of our time.

When we make a wrong turn, the GPS will recalibrate and give us new step to follow.  Again, not a list of instructions, just a single task. It will revise the instructions and recalculate the time it will now take to get us to our final destination.

God will also revise our journey in order to get us back on track to where He has determined for us to be, but He will never violate the free will He has given us.  Getting back on track in a timely fashion is largely due to our personal growth, maturity, and willingness to yield to His will.

It is always good to look back in retrospect to see where we might be at this moment in time if we were obedient to His voice and patient enough to grow with the process.

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Another Big Chop

After living in New York for the last 30 years, I moved to Atlanta for a fresh start.  On New Year’s Eve, I decided to cut my hair to begin another aspect of a fresh start.  Doing a big chop is nothing new to me.  I’ve done it many times before.  Sometimes because of hair damage, other times to have a new style.  I have worn my hair natural, relaxed, loc’d, I’ve had braid extensions and jeri curls.

This time, cutting my hair was more a psychological and spiritual release of the past.  There are many things that I am letting go of, like past loves and ideologies and the New York lifestyle, although my principles and convictions remain the same.

Atlanta has a significantly different vibe than New York and I’m still getting acclimated to it.  The spirit of the city is different.  It has a different rhythm.

Cutting my hair was like cutting away memories that I no longer wanted to keep.  Kind of like Spring Cleaning, releasing old baggage.  When I was done, I felt lighter, more free.

I’m not sure how long I’m going to keep my hair short or if I’m going to let it grow long again.  At the moment, I am enjoying not having to do anything with it.  Washing and conditioning my hair is now an in-the-shower task that is done in minutes, as opposed to hours of preconditioning, shampooing, deep conditioning and then the arduous task of twisting or braiding my hair for whatever style I will wear it in for the next few days. And when you are doing your hair yourself, it does take a long time.

The only thing I will be doing from time to time is coloring my gray hairs which appear quite prominently in the front.

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Stepping into 50 with a Better Me

I am 49 years old and one of my goals this year, 2021, is to be physically healthier in my fifties than I’ve been in my forties.

Growing up I was relatively healthy.  I was neither obese or skinny.  My average weight in my twenties and thirties was between 125 and 130 pounds.

And then I turned 40 and everything changed.  My hormones started to go haywire.  I started to get menstrual pimples which were leaving marks on my face, and no matter how often I worked out and how little I ate, I was packing on the pounds.  My GYN prescribed birth control pills which somewhat got my hormones under control, enough to stop the pimples, but the pill did nothing for my weight.  Over time, the pill created another problem, blood clots, which travelled up to my lungs and could have caused me to have a stroke, or worse.  This forced me to stop taking the pill, which meant the return of pimples.

My ideal weight is between 145 and 155 pounds.  Right now I weigh a glorious 180, which is pretty heavy for someone standing at 5’1”.  Quarantining and not being able to go to a gym to workout did not help matters.  The truth is I do not have the discipline to workout at home by myself. If I’m home, once I sit down on my couch or lay down on my bed, I am not getting up to work out.  I’m more motivated and hold myself accountable when I’m at a gym with other people. In the most recent months, pre-covid, I enjoyed going to “I Love Kickboxing” or ILKB. The one hour session included cardio, strength training and a lot of punching the bag, which is a wonderful way to relieve stress. It was fun and energizing and I was able to lose weight rather easily.

My primary reason to lose the weight is to take the pressure off my joints.  I have occasional joint pain in my hips and knees, which I know is caused by the extra weight.  Better to fix this problem now than to end up using a walker later.

I just recently joined a gym and I’m looking forward to engaging a solid and consitent workout regimen.

Also, for the month of January, I decided to do a fast in which I will not be eating any meats, poultry, pork or dairy.  I expect that eliminating these elements from my diet, at least for a month, will significantly increase my ability to lose weight, decrease the overall inflammation in my body, and possibly balance my hormones.

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Fresh Start in 2021

We have just come through months of global emotional, physical, financial, and political chaos and there is no person who can say they were not affected at all.  We have all battled our fears, and run the gamut of emotions, from anger to indignation and everything in between.  2020 began with the tragic deaths of Kobe Bryant and his daughter in a helicopter crash.  Then the Covid-19 pandemic shook the world and locked us all down.  Lots of people died as a result of the pandemic.  The most tragic part is that the virus deaths could have been prevented, but we’re not going to get into that.  There were also the horrific murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor which set the world on fire.  This and so many other atrocities that came on the heels of government-sanctioned kidnapping of immigrant children so that the U.S. government can use them as an example and deterrent to the many families fleeing situations fostered by political agendas outside of their homeland. 2020 was a culmination of all of the nonsense happening in this country and around the world.  You could say that 2020 was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  And everyone is now fed up.

Journalists and Social Media did not help matters.  They spent most of their bandwidth calling truth “fake news” and saying that lies were real.  Chaos.

Because of the pandemic, many people lost their jobs and faced homelessness, and the government of the most prosperous country showed the world just how inadequate it is in helping its citizens and keeping the economy stimulated.

All of that said, my heart goes out to all who have lost family and friends from Covid, cancer or some other tragedy.  I pray for those who are struggling financially due to the government’s failure to care for its taxpayers.

On the same token, I have to say that I am grateful for all that I’ve experienced in the last year.  I have become more prudent with maintaining a solid budget and finding ways to stay afloat.  I’m sure I speak for many, not all, when I say that once we were able to shift our focus from the media chaos to what immediately affected us, we were able to find ways to do more than make ends meet.  We are creative and many times, creativity is born out of necessity.

In this new year, I’ve decided to start fresh in many ways.  I lived in New York for the last 30 years and now I’ve moved to Atlanta, Georgia.  I work remotely in I.T. and did not have to terminate my employment to relocate, that means there are no lapses in my finances, which is a good thing. I’m also in a good place, being with my mom and my sister. Quarantining by myself for so many months can be trying but I’m so glad that I have been blessed with my sister-friends who are, and have been for me, a solid support system.

I just joined a gym and will be embarking on a new weight-loss journey.  I’m 49 and I have gained a significant amount of weight in my 40s.  Hormones are no joke when you get to this age and women don’t really talk with their younger counterparts about the changes they will experience when they get older.  My goal is to get my body to a healthier state and make sure my hormones are balanced as I approach 50.  My grandmother is about to be 97, so I know that genetically, I have a high probability of reaching that age and I want to make sure I am fit, fabulous and in my right mind.

I also cut my hair as a way of starting fresh, physically and symbolically cutting away all attachments to the past and cultivating this upgraded version of myself.

I am grateful for where I am right now and the fact that I am still standing and moving forward.  Perspective is everything.  How you choose to look at the world and how you choose to either react or respond to people and events will determine how easily you are able to navigate and push ahead.

You are welcome to join me on this journey of health, wellness, enjoying good food and crafts, of increasing physical, spiritual and financial resilience and not just merely surviving.