Lily the Wonder Dog

Ellie Posing

Trying to get Ellie to pose in front of the Christmas tree with her new sweater.

 Is that a camera in your hands?

Are we going to go for that walk?

Salt & Vinegar Kale Chips

It's Sunday morning and I thought I'd share my weekly routine of making Kale chips for the week.  I am making a Salt & Vinegar version this week, it's super simple and way healthier than store bought chips.  There are no ingredients that I cannot pronounce and everything is a natural product.  This was one of the first items I made when thinking about eating more plants since it seemed like a good way to incorporate Kale in our diets.  Since the first taste, I've likely made these chips 2-3 times a month.  They are so good.

The ingredients are:
- 1 head of Kale (any variety will do, though curly is best)
- 1/2 cup of soaked (2hrs) Cashews or Sunflower seeds (no need to soak the Sunflower seeds)
- 1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- a little bit of water to liquefy the mixture paste

You will also need a food processor and a food dehydrator.  You can bypass the dehydrator and use your oven, but you will have to frequently check to make sure you aren't cooking your chips.

  Step 1: tear your Kale into chips and rinse them in the salad spinner

 Step 2: Assemble the remaining ingredients

 Step 3: Process the Cashews and blend in the remaining ingredients

 Step 4: Get messy and spread the Cashew mixture over the Kale and thoroughly coat all the Kale chips

Step 5: Dehydrate and wait 6 - 8 hours (the hardest part)

Step 6: Eat lots!

Thrive

For a few years now, we have been purchasing a product from Vega: Whole Health Food Optimizer (WHFO), formulated by a fromer Ironman Pro Triathlete and uber vegan athlete Brendan Brazier. 

We both noticed that we feel great throughout the day when WHFO is used for breakfast smoothies, or post workout drinks.  It did take a little getting used to since it is a all-vegan sourced smoothie and it has light cleansing properties from all the greens in the mix.  It really wasn't until I stopped taking it that I noticed I started to feel like my body wasn't recovering from workouts the same and I was starting to eat more throughout the day.  Needless to say we started using the product again, only this time the Vega brand has added more products to the shelves such as:

- Shake N Go (easy to mix protein drink)

- Vega Sport (multiple options for before, during and post workouts) (Thanks Daphne for getting us onto this one)

There are also several other products from Vega and their parent company Sequel Naturals that we have used.  

In July we decided to purchase Brendan's Books; Thrive Diet and Whole Foods to Thrive.  These books combined with a fellow blogger (an in-law) who had recently experimented with a Vegan diet was the tipping point for us to change our diet.

It was a little challenging at first to go from eating meat at least once a day to consuming no meat, eggs, dairy, cheese, yogurt.  However, we had thoroughly researched this diet and allowed ourselves a gradual transition to eliminate these foods from our household.   A couple of weeks into the diet and it became easier, and a month later it was much easier to find these new foods in the supermarket.  Our supermarket purchases moved away from the meat, dairy and eggs and towards more vegetables, dark leafy greens (kale and chard), fruits, grains, sprouts, beans, and some odd sounding foods (nutritional yeast).

We both have our challenges with eating this way and so far my biggest hurdle to overcome is my love of Hawkins Cheezies (which are now on the banned list).  Tammy had a tougher time with the transition and is now nearly vegan (once or twice a week she will prepare something with cheese or meat) but works to remain conscious of her food sources.

We are now 6 months in and we both feel stronger, lighter, sleep better and feel more connected with nature than before.  Since we don't eat at fast food locations, eating out is also relatively easy.  From the beginning we agreed that if we are invited over to someones home for dinner we don't expect anyone to cater to our diet needs and will eat what was prepared for us.  So far, this is working pretty good.

The R word

Redesign!  It's coming.

Ellie Pictures

Our friend Jodi, who is a fabulous photographer, took these pictures of Ellie a while ago.  Just thought we'd share them.

Victoria Half Marathon

Tammy raced the Victoria Half Marathon yesterday morning.  I was signed up, but wasn't able to race due to an injury.  So instead I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the day.

 The leaders of the Half

 Starting to get congested

 This woman dropped her shirt and ran back for it.  I didn't think she would make it without causing an accident.  

 Lots of runners....5,000+

 I spotted Tammy in Beacon Hill Park

 Tammy not loving a hill

 Walking through some ducks

 Peacock

 View from the Beacon Hill Park flag, runners and walkers

 Mens Marathon leader and overall winner

 Love birds

Not bad pictures for a cell phone on sports mode.

Tammy ended up beating her personal best by 6 minutes (1:39:xx or 1:40:xx depending on Gun time or Chip time).  If I was running I think Tammy would have beat me by 10 minutes.  So proud of her.  

Happy Thanksgiving Day today!

Fall Day Walk

This morning I took Ellie out for brisk walk in a nearby park.  Fall is in the air.

OK Go and The Muppets - Muppet Show Theme Song

A Little Tribute to all our pals racing Ironman Canada this weekend..........

The Chad

Thought I'd share the perks of working at the facilities building during the summer months when our painters are working on repainting the parking stall lines.  

The most awesome parking spot in the School District!

Medieval Helpdesk

Canucks vs Sharks

Awesome experience to be there for a series winning playoff game. Game tied up with 14 seconds remaining and then a double overtime goal for the win! I would have taken some pictures of downtown Vancouver after the game, but my phone/camera battery died halfway through the game. It was surreal walking around the town. I can still hear the car horns blasting.

Next up... the Stanley Cup!!

Haleakala Summit Ride

Lobster boy and Cervelo Girl Tackle West Maui

 
I should point out the title of the post indicates my nickname for the trip.  Yesterday we spent 2 1/2 hours at Polo Beach in South Maui.  It is a beautiful shallow, sandy beach with very clear water.  Not great for snorkeling but it was fantastic for doing some body surfing.  Tammy knows very well that I am a water baby and when I see water I am in it until I get called that it is time to go (I don't think I'll ever grow up).



 I spent 2 hours and 25 minutes in the water with what I thought was a waterproof sunscreen.  Turns out the sunscreen wore off fast with all the surf and playing in the waves.  I now have a very red back and triceps.  Hence the name "Lobster boy".

After all the playing in the waves we made a choice to get up early and ride around West Maui.  We heard that it is very beautiful and low in traffic (in certain area's).  We mapped it out and saw that it was 110km from the front of our door in Kihei.  Kinda a big ride, but we were confident that we were capable.  We started early to avoid the heat of the day.  The ride through to Lahaina was fast and flat, the ride started to go up shortly after Napili.  The road narrowed and became 18% for what felt like a lifetime (really only a minute).  The ride was crazy awesome, with us cycling on what seemed to be a semi-paved goat trail barely wide enough for a car.  We were extremely low on fluids then suddenly the city of Wailuku appears and we stopped for some much deserved Dr.Pepper and water.  Finally with the trade winds at our back we ripped down towards Ma'alaea only to make a wrong turn on a state highway.  We quickly realized our (my) blunder and U-turned back to Kihei.

Now after a shower and some pool time I feel better, but that was a shattering ride.  Tonight we might devour enough food for a family of six.

Maui

Ryder Hesjedal :: Haleakala Record from Media One Multimedia on Vimeo.

A little inspiration for our upcoming ride....

Advance Voting - 12 minutes

I'm not going to say who I voted for, but I just wanted to say that I left the house to hit the advance voting polls at 6:50pm tonight.  I returned home at 7:02pm.  I had to drive for 4 minutes, walk to the empty voting area, show ID and voting card, then vote, and drive home.  The whole ordeal only took 12 minutes!  It sure beats voting on the final election day.

Nigerian Email Scam

Bird Update

Towlee Bird is still trying to break the window.....

April Showers

Looking out the window at work today I didn't think that I would be cycling outside tonight.  The weather was not inviting at all.  Heavy rains and cold temperatures make for a miserable experience on a bike ride.  However, once I got home after work, the sun was partially out and the roads gave the impression that they were dry.  So I prepped the road bike, and left to meet the group at the designated meet up spot.

On the way there the wind was gusty, and the skies were spitting at me lightly.  The group workout was 6 x hill repeats with an increasing intensity from 1-3 and holding a strong intensity for 4, 5, and 6.  I did the best I could but the rain was coming down harder and the temperature was dropping.  My engine started sputtering on #4.  This was turning out to be a character builder ride for everyone.  As soon as the group was done, I sprinted for home, hoping to beat some of the cold out of my legs.  My thumbs and fingers decided they weren't happy with the cold wet weather and decided to inform me via the pain channel.  Wow did they ever hurt from the cold!  Braking and shifting gears with cold wet hands becomes increasingly difficult.

Once home, I jumped into the shower ASAP.  I was so cold that I couldn't tell if the water was hot or cold.

That was one cold ride!  Still happy I did it!

Play Date

Ellie had a special play date Saturday evening on her walk.   Her boyfriend, Rocko, was able to come out and join us.

Ellie typically doesn't care much for other dogs that we come across, usually just wants a quick sniff and then walks away.  However, the day that she came across Rocko it was a different story.  She just want's him to pay attention to her, she will run circles around him, swat at his face, and other doggie related stuff.  Rocko on the other hand, pretends to not be interested and this only urges Ellie to be more persistent with her behaviour.  It is absolutely comical to watch as Ellie runs a circle around him, then runs up to his face only to swat it and then run another circle.  

Bird is the Word

For the past 1 1/2 weeks we have had a Towhee bird trying to break our dining room window.  It is relentless at throwing itself against the window.  It seems to start around 6:30am and will continue for 10 minutes, then a small break and the bird is back for another round.  It will fly away when it see's one of us approach the window, but it doesn't last long.  It's starting to make a mess of the window.  We took down the screen since it was using that to hold onto to tap the window, now it's just flying it's beak and chest into the window.  Ellie has learned to ignore the constant tapping and banging on the glass.

Here is picture I took last week before we took down the screen:

I've researched some bird forums and have found that this is normal behaviour during the spring and shouldn't last longer than 2 weeks.  It's either trying to defend it's territory from it's reflection or it's trying to mate with it.  Either way, I'm not opening the window.

Closing the blinds only forces it to move onto the next window.

Random Picture

This strawberry looks tasty!

Sweet Doggie Dreams........

Riverdale Trailer....

Not an actual movie, but a low budget trailer put together in Vancouver with $3,500 and a call for volunteers from craigslist.  I wouldn't mind seeing this if it eventually became a movie.

I knew it!