Hiking / Skiing Banff March 2024

On April 3, 2024April 4, 2024 By Rick McIn food, friends, hiking, travelLeave a comment

For the 4th year in a row, I stayed at the Samesun Hostel in Banff.

Alternated days of winter hiking and downhill skiing.

I skied one day with Kelly from Canmore. Two days with Rocco.

Click PLAY or watch Rocco on YouTube. Footage from my new Insta360 Ace Pro action camera.

April 1, 2024 conditions were PERFECT for me.

I opined that this was the best ski day at Sunshine for 10,000 years. 😀

Kelly introduced me to happy hour at Hello Sunshine Banff Sushi. Fantastic.

I’ll be posting 2024 hiking videos on BestHike.com.

Here’s a hike from the past that gives a good idea what it’s like to get on the trails in the Spring.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Hello Sunshine Banff Sushi

On March 31, 2024March 30, 2024 By Rick McIn food, friends, travel1 Comment

Kelly — a BIG Sushi fan — lives in Canmore.

His favourite restaurant in Banff is Hello Sunshine Sushi during Happy Hour.

50% off many Sushi platters.

As well as beer and other menu item specials.

I’m hoping to go 3 times this week. 😀

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hello Sunshine • Banff Sushi (@hellosunshinebanff)

Kelly introduced me to Hello Sunshine after a GREAT day skiing powder at … Sunshine.

Visiting Port Townsend 2024

On March 17, 2024March 16, 2024 By Rick McIn food, friends, travelLeave a comment

Due to the pandemic, I hadn’t made it back to Port Townsend, Washington since 2019.

Since then, Doug and Diana had built a new house on one of their properties.

I was both 3rd and 4th in the guestbook, visiting both going to and coming from Coeur d’Alene.

Carrie came up from Vancouver WA to videotape a chat with myself and Doug about the start of the Tumbl Trak Ambassador Program. Actually, she drove MANY hours in the dark and rain to pick me up in Port Angeles.

I was the first Ambassador, we think, when Doug gave me an inflatable tumbling mat to take to my Gymnastics tour of Australia in 2007. I did clinics in 5 different States.

The other BIG news of my visit was that Diana was getting packed for a trip to Europe with a friend.

Also — Doug bought a new car. A Nissan Leaf.

It was my fault. I took the ferry from Seattle to Bremerton WA by mistake — and there happened to be a Nissan dealership there. 😀

As always in Port Townsend, we enjoyed some terrific meals.

My favourite was Finistère.

As always, I got out running and hiking.

This is dawn down close to Fort Worden.

If you’ve never been, Port Townsend is a tourist gem hidden away off the main highway in northern Washington State.

A Tourist in Seattle

On March 5, 2024March 3, 2024 By Rick McIn food, travelLeave a comment

I do like being a tourist close to Pike Place Market in Seattle.

The original Starbucks opened here in 1971.

Downtown Seattle is a little grungy. That makes it more interesting.

I normally stay at a Green Tortoise Hostel right by the Market.

One night they offered all you can eat Mexican.

Next night, Green Tortoise offered all you can drink local wine.

Ivar’s is a Washington State institution.

I had several meals there looking over the port.

AND here’s where you drop off your gum when finished chewing. 😀

In praise of McDonald’s Jr. Chicken

On February 4, 2024January 31, 2024 By Rick McIn foodLeave a comment

The humble, inexpensive Jr. Chicken is my GO TO SNACK when on the road.

AND it’s got 25% of your daily SALT requirements. You don’t want to run short on SALT. 😀

Juicy and flavorful. Identical every time.

Typically two of these cost less than the bigger McDonald’s chicken burgers.

97% thumbs-up on Chick Advisor.

Under the Vines – season 1

On January 27, 2024January 19, 2024 By Rick McIn food, TV1 Comment

Charming and heartwarming.

Yet another fish-out-of-water comedy.

Like Green Acres. 😀

Under the Vines is a New Zealand comedy drama television series …

Two step-cousins — Australian socialite Daisy Munroe and UK lawyer Louis Oakley — inherit a declining New Zealand vineyard, Oakley Wines …

The joint heirs have no experience with wine-making or New Zealand rural culture, and each is having financial, social, and existential crises. They become interested in the winery’s future but frequently don’t see eye-to-eye. …

Some nudity. Randy Kiwis.

General nonsense.

I really like Trae Te Wiki as Tippy (Isabella) Bidois: Oakley’s young, adventurous and newly successful vintner/winemaker.

Some funny lines.

Why are they so loud?

They are Australian. 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

mmmm – Kirkland Cheese Buns

On December 18, 2023December 14, 2023 By Rick McIn foodLeave a comment

My typical breakfast.

Either half or two half of a toasted, butter Kirkland Signature Cheese Bun. With coffee.

Buy at least 2 dozen at a time at Costco. Slice them in half. Throw them into the freezer.

Costco Kirkland Signature Cheese Buns Review

Should I get a PET Octopus?

On December 10, 2023December 8, 2023 By Rick McIn food, happiness, videoLeave a comment

Have you seen My Octopus Teacher, the 2020 Netflix Original documentary film?

Fantastic.

Seems to me they are the most amazing possible pet.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. This is the guy who created all those terrific squirrel mazes.

Enjoying Pasta in Italy

On September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 By Rick McIn books, food, travelLeave a comment

Venice & Bologna

Bigoli (Venetian: bìgołi) is an extruded pasta in the form of a long and thick strand.

Good for me were pasta to go places in Venice.

Choose bigoi. Choose your topping. Take it away in a box.

This one is a kind of Carbonara.

This one is Amatriciana: Tomato and Bacon.

I can then sit on the canal to enjoy with my Diet Coke bottle of cheap wine. 😀

Overall, the Carbonara variations are my favourites. Eggs, hard cheese, cured pork, and lots of black pepper.

I tried a super popular local restaurant near a train station. AMERICAN portions.

Tastiest of all — however — was a small portion of lasagna I had with Les and Tam at a random tourist restaurant in Venice. I couldn’t recall better.

Bologna

Outside Italy, the phrase “Bolognese sauce” is often used to refer to a tomato-based sauce to which minced meat has been added. As kids in Canada we ate spaghetti and meatballs — thinking it a kind of spaghetti bolognese.

The mayor of Bologna pointed out that “Spaghetti bolognese doesn’t actually exist, yet it’s famous the world over …”

Ragù alla Bolognese is what it’s called here.

Tagliatelle al ragù alla bolognese is much preferred over spaghetti. Often served with grated Parmesan on top.

This is grocery store Tagliatelle bolognese. I added the parmesan and pepper.

Sadly, it was the worst pasta I had in Italy.