A Single Vegetable

Hello again! You find me still in Banaue, enjoying yet another San Miguel, except this time I earned it after going on a wee hike this morning. The term hike is used relatively loosely here, since the majority of the inclines and declines involved steps. But the inclusion of rain, narrow ledges, wet moss, and my complete inability to stay upright made it worthy of an upgrade from a simple 'walk'. My driver picked me up at my hut hotel this morning, and brought me to the beginning of the 'Elvis Trail'. I think it is called the Elvis Trail, because if I had actually done the entire trail, I would have died a fat, pathetic death, facedown in a pile of something brown. Since it had been pouring rain all day and night since I arrived, old Busted-Ankles-Buskell over here was feeling a bit of trepidation about the slipperiness of the trail, particularly after chatting with one of the owners of the hotel, who said she'd never do it in these conditions. My guide, ...

Good day, fair friends. I write this from the most stunning viewpoint in Banaue, sipping on a cold San Miguel Pilsen, and listening to the leftover raindrops falling around me. I arrived here after a long bus ride from Manila - 10hrs to be precise. This area of the Philippines is not accessible by plane. The closest airport is, I believe, Manila. To get here, you have to either drive or suck it up for the long coach ride, and let me tell you, after witnessing traffic around these parts, I wouldn't attempt to drive here if you paid me a million bucks. The city is fucking mental, and the twisty windy roads on the approach to Banaue are enough to give you motion sickness just looking at a map. But, the long and mostly uncomfortable coach ride was well worth it, even just for this view. Come about 6am, the sun was just rising as we started driving through the hills and valleys, which were almost completely obscured by clouds, save their very peaks. As we wound further an...

I'm writing this, refreshed and sipping on a much needed cup of coffee, from my room at the Hyatt City of Dreams in Manila. Let me tell you, that hotel name is no joke. I was lucky enough to somehow score an upgrade to a suite here, and this room is like twice the size of my apartment. The bathroom alone is bigger than my living room, with a huge walk in rain shower, and massive soaker tub that you better believe I took full advantage of last night when I finally arrived here after 18+ hours of travel. I slept like an angel in my king sized bed, after doing something I only ever do on holiday... watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians. That show is pure trash, as you know, but it is often the only thing on English TV in foreign countries, and also a  really fucking awesome way to fall asleep. So, I haven't blogged in a while, obviously. While this isn't my normal blog subject matter, I figured picking this back up again on my travels might be fun! I've never ...

I actually started writing this blog 2 weeks ago, right after the Eastside 10k, when I was riding that runner's high. And then life happened, as it does, and now I'm rewriting the whole thing the day before the Run for the Cure. So, did you guess it? The topic of this blog is running! I am, by no means, an expert runner. Not even close. At the beginning of this year, my friend Carmen mentioned that the BMO Marathon conveniently happened to fall on her birthday, and that me signing up would be a great birthday gift. She was wrong, as that is a fucking terrible birthday gift, but I signed up anyway. No, not for the full marathon - she and I wouldn't be friends any longer if that was the case - but they had a wee baby 8k on the roster that we figured would maybe be attainable for me (she did the half marathon, by the way. She is WAY fitter than I am). Without her nudge in the right direction, I never would have embarked on this little journey to learn how to run. I would st...

Welcome to week 2 of Veg-tember! I have already successfully failed one of my goals, which was to blog at least 2x/week. But, sticking to one of my other goals, I'm not gonna beat myself up over it! My laptop is still being repaired, so I only have my work computer to use anyway, and that's what I'm gonna stick to as my excuse. It has nothing to do with the fact that I spent all week binge watching trash TV, and weekend drinking beer with my friends. Nothing whatsover. I used to wonder WTF was up with recipe blogs that post an entire fucking essay about the meal they prepared before posting the actual goddamn recipe. But now, as I post my first recipe, I find myself feeling like I need to share a backstory on it. I'll keep it short, I swear First recipe on the blog is one that is most certainly not original, but it is something I've been wanting to try for a while - jackfruit 'pulled pork'. The issue I found with many recipes is that they call for store...

it's some broccoli Welcome to September aka vegan challenge month in my house (my house being me and my cat. And my cat is not participating, but you can take that up with him yourself). As I've mentioned before, I've been semi-vegetarian for a few months now. By committing to a month of strict veganism, I am going to see how it works for me - mind (can I effectively prepare vegan meals? Can I remain compliant when eating out?), body (does my body react well to a plant based diet? am I feeling energized/not bloated/recovering well from workouts?), and soul (how do I feel about the impact this dietary choice is making on the environment/animals/the world? Can I be vegan without being super annoying about it?) Here's a few guidelines  I'm laying out for this month I will - Commit to a clean vegan diet. Yeah, I know, Oreos are vegan. But I don't even fucking like Oreos so you can keep em. This doesn't mean to say there won't be the odd treat or...

My babies, my sweet lovely babies. I can't tell you how thrilled and heartened I am by the positive responses to my last blog. I send each and everyone of you a virtual open-mouthed kiss Shall we continue where we last left off? Let's. For the last 2.5-ish years, I've eaten relatively strict Paleo. I haven't cooked any non-Paleo food at home in that time frame, with the exception of occasionally adding cheese to a recipe. When eating out, unless I was on a round of Whole 30, I usually permit myself to eat whatever I wanted. But I don't eat out all that much because, like most of my fellow millennial Vancouverites, I'M ALWAYS FUCKING BROKE. For anyone not familiar with the Paleo diet (aka caveman/Paleolithic diet), the idea is you only eat foods that would have been available for preparation and consumption by Paleolithic humans. Anything you could easily harvest from the land or hunt, requiring little or no preparation other than cooking over fire, is permi...