Next big thing

And hes off!
I have decided to hit the road, I am going to be traveling Canada once again. I am buying a discovery pass from Greyhound. This pass allows me to catch any greyhound bus, get on and off whenever for 60 days. It doesn't not allow anywhere east of Montreal, so the trip will begin there.
I'm not sure all the stop i will be making, or even where i am going to be staying, but that's half the fun.
The plan for this trip is to see and do as much as i can. If any one has any suggestions feel free to email me, also if you know anyone that wouldn't mind showing me around anywhere it would be greatly appreciated.

Vancouver 2010

I got to Vancouver around 7pm after 3 days on the bus. I grabbed my pack and started walking. I had nowhere to go, didn't know anyone, had never been in Vancouver. My heart was racing.
If you have ever been to Vancouver you know not to walk down east Hastings at night, well i did just that. I saw my first junkie shooting up, he was sitting in a bus shelter. I must have looked out of place because I was approached by a guy who asked if I knew where I was going, he walked with me to another street, that was the first person to warn me about Hastings.
The first night was a little scary, I had nowhere to sleep and was looking for a hostel. All the hostels were all either full or closed for the night. As i was scoping out benches and parks I came across a homeless shelter, the covenant house. They welcomed me in, fed me, i had my first shower in 3 days, it was great. The next day i was fed breakfast and i went on my way. I found a nice little hostel, The American backpackers hostel. It was run by an old Italian man who loved him some Hendrix, he would play it over the loud speakers every morning.
I got myself a bunk and went out to explore the city. The first couple days i was there i would get up in the morning and just walk. I would walk as far as i could everyday, learning the city(in case of zombie invasion i had to know all my options).
At the hostel i met people from all over the world, some living there trying to make money, others visiting for the Olympics, and the odd drunk who just wanted a nice conversation.

What i will never forget from Vancouver was the night that team Canada won gold in mens hockey. I was siting in this room------------------------------------------------------->
With 21 other people from all over the world. 2 Americans and 1 German cheering for the states every one else sporting the red and white, after the golden goal by none other than Crosby the partying didn't stop till the next day. The most amazing thing was the streets, they were packed with cheering Canadians all night. At one point out of nowhere the hundreds of people around me burst out into Oh Canada, it sent shivers down my spine and gives me goosebumps to this day when i think of it.

Things I like
I like to put eggs in my snowballs

Porky Pig

Pork. Delicious healthy pork.
So many wonderful ways to prepare it. There is bacon, which is good on or with anything. Pork ribs cooked for hours till they fall off the bone. Pork loin slow cooked to perfection. My mouth is watering just thinking of the flavors this swine gives us.
This week's recipe was a staple in my diet while I was in Montreal.
Breakfast Sausage
I borrowed this recipe from Good Eats with Alton Brown, but I will tell you what works best in order to have the best pork experience possible.
If possible don't pick up lean ground pork, get it fatty. Most places don't have fatty pork though, they say it is unhealthy so you are going to want to add a little fat(flavor).
What you will need:

• 2Lbs ground pork
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground sage
• 2 teaspoons thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Take all the ingredients and mix that shit together, let it chill for an hour.

Now a little trick I learned, put the mix onto a sheet of parchment paper and roll it up, twist both ends and freeze it. Now whenever you feel like a nice little sausage round, you pull it out, slice what you want and put it back in the freezer.
Cook until it is cooked through, either in the frying pan or in the oven at 350 ferenshit
I hope you enjoy.



Things i like
I like to see how far I can kick things while I am walking

Oh the buses I've rode

Over the past couple years i have spent my fair share of time on a bus. I have traveled from Ajax to Ottawa or Montreal and back dozens of times, Winnipeg to Thunder Bay and back, Prince George to Jasper and back.  I have been on a bus for countless hours. The one trip that trumps them all was my bus ride from Toronto to Vancouver.
I was prepared for the 3 days on a bus. I had my buns and peanut butter, tunes, coloring books, but you can never prepare for the people that you run into. Boy did i run into some characters. I will tell you about one in particular. We'll call him Phil, now he didn't look like a Phil, but that's beside the point.
At first Phil seemed like a decent guy, clean clothes, gold teeth, big wad of cash in his pocket that he would count every half hour. There had to have been at least a thousand dollars, but i digress. Me and Phil got to talking and it turned out he was headed to Calgary for "business".
Phil was a business man and tried to offer me a position, he gave me the option to come to Calgary. I would be put up in a place to stay, do some "odd jobs"(he didn't say what). The most inviting part was that he offered me 5 grand to do it. I reluctantly declined, but asked for the loot anyway, he didn't find that as funny as i did.
He made some friends on the bus. He kept passing his puzzle book to people and they would return it with cash in it (turns out he was selling crack). So Phil thinks it smart to start drinking on the bus, I partook a little. Phil downs about a 26 of Greygoose and its only 11pm. We are about 5 hours from Regina. I made my escape and moved to an empty seat when i had the chance, and man was it good that i did. Phil was smoking in the washroom on the bus, stealing peoples noses (classic dad trick "i got your nose") and starting fights.
What i heard in the back of the bus i will never forget. Phil threatened to stab some skinhead over a transaction. Well, this skinhead opens his jacket, looks him dead in the eyes and says "If you stab me, you better make sure I'm dead".
To this day that is the most badass thing i have heard anyone say.
Well when we got to Regina there were police waiting to arrest Phil as he got off the bus. Lucky for him he had a joint behind his ear, and boy was he drunk.
Needless to say the rest of the trip was not as exciting, although everyone on the bus had something to talk about with each other.
I got to Vancouver safely and had a blast, but that's another story.

Things I like
I like standing on the bridge over a highway and guessing which lane the next car is going to come out

Katimawhat?

 Most times when i mention Katimavik its always the same reaction, Katimawhat? Well let me enlighten all you who are blind to the amazing program called Katimavik.

Katimavik, where to begin. I was a participant in 2008-2009 back when there was only one program, 9 months of this wonderful country, Canada. I lived in 3 vastly different communities for 3 months each. I lived with 6 other "kids" but the groups could be as big as 11 delinquents aged from 17-21.
My Katimajouney started in Prince George BC. I had always wanted to go to BC and now was my chance, and it was all free. Not only free, but i was getting paid, 3 bucks a day, oh the riches. Little did i know what i was getting myself into.
It was pretty easy to pick out the other katimavictims at each terminal. As we reached our final stop i had already made friends with all of them. So there we were, about 30 of us (3 groups) all strangers just hours before, and now laughing and talking like we had been friends for at least a couple hours.
Off to Mass O camp, the spark that started everyone's katimafire (if you haven't noticed you can add katima to the beginning of anything). Three days of meeting new people, playing games, and learning rules, ohh the rules. The one rule everyone dreaded though, no alcohol in the katimahouse, which we all followed of course.

Now that everyone knew the rules and had a vague idea of what katimavik was (we still had no idea), off to our houses we went, where we would get comfy and learn the community just in time to be shipped off to our next stop.
I could go on for pages, alas i will tell more in the blogs to come.
I leave you with something my father once told me

Pizza galore

As i mentioned i worked at a pizza restaurant, now over the two summers that i worked there i consumed more pizza than any one person should in a life time, and somehow i still love it.

I not only made pizzas at work but also at my abode, we had a pizza stone and peel so it was pizza for breakfast (eggs on pizza) lunch and dinner. When our pizza adventures began we would make za's as fat as we could (we called them fat pizzas) we later realized that sometimes less is better as we would get soggy dough sometimes, but every time it was a different pizza and damn delicious. Except maybe one time when all we had was hot sauce and mushrooms (no cheese), i devoured it either way, but man I had the burning ring the next day.

Personally i think everything is good on pizza, with the exception of pineapple. The best toppings are bacon, lots of mushrooms, red onion, green onion, bell peppers, bacon, tomatoes pretty much any veggie you can get your hands on, and bacon.



So the first recipe i am going to hook everyone up with is pizza dough, the basis behind every pizza, toppings don't make the za, if the dough is good, most anything will be great on top. Except pineapple.
You will need:
  5-7 cups flour
  2 1/2 cups warm water
  4 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast (2 packets)
  2 teaspoons salt
  4 tablespoons olive oil

You are going to want to start this 18-24 hours before the feeding frenzy can begin.
Preferment- 1 cup Flour
                    1 cup warm water (H2O)
                    2 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast (1 packet)
Stir all this together (always stirring in same direction) until yeast is dissolved, then let the magic happen for 18-24 hours (let it sit on the counter)
*18-24 hours into the future*
In a separate bowl dissolve
                       2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (1 packet) into 1 1/2 cups warm water (or milk).
Make sure all the yeast is dissolved. Once it is dissolved add this concoction to the flour, water and yeast from before as well as
                    2 teaspoons salt
                    4 tablespoons olive oil
Remember always stirring in the same direction
Now is the fun part(messy part), adding the flour. It will take between 4 and 6 cups.
Add one cup at a time, you will have to take it out of the bowl after 2 or 3 cups and get your hands dirty. lightly cover the counter with flour, put on some tunes and get kneading. adding flour as it get incorporated.
Add the last of the flour slowly until the dough is no longer sticky.
After kneading for 5- 10 minutes you are looking for your dough to be smooth and springy.
When you poke it, it should bounce back.

Alas you have pizza dough.
I recommend letting the dough sit for a bit before indulging. 
You can separate it into balls and freeze them if you want, or you can leave it in your fridge and cut off what you want when the time for pizza i near. When you have dough the time for pizza is always near.

The rest my friends is up to you, i bid thee good luck, and always remember to never forget

And it begins

So iv finally decided to share my wonderful adventures of food and traveling with the world.
Disclaimer!
Do not trust or believe anything i write, that being said everything i write is true and the recipes that you read will be delicious. I am going to try and put up some of my favorite recipes, 1 a week probably.
I just recently got back to Ajax (the homeland). I was living in St Anne de Bellevue for the past year and a half with my close friend and cooking mentor Mike Vahabi, all of my cooking skills are because of this wonderful man.
I worked at a restaurant, The Violet Angel, if you are ever in St Anne you should check it out. I made pizzas and met many great people and made some very good friends in the process.

Now let me go back to when i fell in love with traveling. I always had a flair for the outdoors, whether it be camping at Algonquin park with my parents, hitting the slopes, or playing pond hockey for hours outback of my grandparents house. But in 2008 i embarked on an experience of a life time. KATIMAVIK. A 9 month program where i traveled across Canada spending 3 months in 3 communities. Now just the flight from Toronto to Vancouver blew my mind. From the parries to the mountains, the sights were astounding. I had the privilege to live in Prince George BC, Brandon Manitoba, and finally ending up in Dieppe New Brunswick. Now i cant go into details just yet about these places, but stay tuned and you will learn more.
The last thing i will say is that if you have not traveled Canada, you should really get on that. Canada has so much to offer and all the people i have met have been great to me.
I will end my first blog with a little joke