Maui memories

In no particular order... just writing these as they come to mind. Will add more as I think of more.

Sleeping in the Oahu airport for 10 hours. It was actually not as long and boring as we thought it might be. The floor was a little hard but it's an open airport so there's plenty of fresh Hawaiian air. I am sure that helped us sleep.

Facing giants at little beach. Large waves would come crashing in. I'd stand there in the water, watching them come, letting them get as close to me as possible before ducking under them and feeling the power of the wave flow around my body.

Fish tacos! Everywhere! We've contemplated starting a book which rates all fish tacos everywhere on Maui. So far, our favorites are the ones in Whalers Village near Kanapali and the number one (in my books anyways) is from the Jaws fish taco stand just before Big beach/little beach. It's mandatory to have some before going to the beach! Even if you're going to burp them up all day long because you didn't digest properly and ran straight into the water once you got there.

Hanging my hammock in a tree, overlooking other trees, little beach and the ocean. I would have loved to take a picture of this because it was perfection! I just didn't bring my camera to the beach so that it didn't get sand in it. Also you're not allowed to take pictures on the nude beach because other nudists don't appreciate it. Understandable.

Mio principe, Cesare aka Ceasar Salad. I learnt a couple of words in Italian thanks to my travel romance.

"An other beautiful day in paradise." Every morning, one of the guys from the hostel (I never really got to see who because he was either behind foliage or walls when he said this) would greet other guests at the hostel with this in the morning. When he'd say this, I would always smile and my heart would swell with happiness. It's so true.

Two flat tires in the middle of butt fuck nowhere Maui :) Both on the passenger side. Did we freak out... not particularly. We figured the damage was done and stressing out would only make the situation even more difficult for one an other. We happened to break down where we could watch the sunset. Once we called the towing company, we blasted music, danced and watched the sunset. Couldn't have been a more perfect accident :) I love my girls.

The team work I had with Darla navigating around the island (she drove, I navigated. Never raised our voice once, stayed friends and strengthened our friendship).

Getting tossed around the waves with Darla and Maja at nudebeach in Paia. Laughing so hard that I almost threw up (could have also been how much salt water I'd eaten). The waves were so powerful that when you'd crawl away from the ocean you'd get hit again, roll around in the wave and get sand EVERYWHERE. I think it took is a day or two to wash all of the sand out of our hair.

All the good food we had! It was amazing meal after amazing meal! I can't recall the last time I'd eaten so well so many days in a row. Hostel favorites: pancakes with papaya mango chutney with fresh made syrup from local sugar we'd gotten for free at the sugar museum. Also, fresh papaya, sliced in half, seeded, with two scoops of yoghurt and a sprinkle of granola on top. YUM!

Eating fresh pineapple while standing at the edge of the ocean, butt naked on little beach, not caring that pineapple juice was running down my face, arms and body. Then going for a swim to clean off.

'Yacutzzi' (jacuzzi said with an italian accent). Cesare making a 'home made' yacutzzi in the ocean by taking both this hands and trapping air and bringing it under the water under himself.

Seeing 7 sea turtles from the beach and the rocks in less then an hour.

Swimming in the ocean and seeing sea turtles swim by you!

Breaking the hostel hammock. After two bottles of wine, all three of us were piled in the hammock, laying there, rocking gently, relaxing, while our laundry was being done. All of a sudden, boom, we were on the ground. It took us a couple of seconds to realize what happened then we just bust into laughter. In the end we just broke a bolt, the hammock was fine so we didn't feel too bad.

"So what are you guys here for?" Says a hosteller who knew about our car oops and who witnessed us breaking the hammock. "We're here to break stuff." It kind of became true :) We broke lots of things. Not ourselves, luckily, because I didn't have insurance ;)

Having a nap on the beach, not caring that I was rolling around in the sand, most likely exposing myself (at a non nude beach...) and waking up with sand in my mouth. Along with MANY other naps on the beach.

Kayaking to the Mokes (I think this is what it was called) with Darla. Awesome teamwork and a fantastic destination. An other nap on the beach, getting caught in the rain, watching a rainbow appear between the Mokes, then hanging out on surfboards until I got sea nautious with Maja.

Dominik Sashimi! He was an other hosteller, also a friend of Ceasar Salad. How he got the nickname? He was staying in a different room with an older Japanese guy who was sleeping. We were drunk and he was contemplating going back to his room but was afraid to because the old Japanses man would turn Dominik into Sashimi for waking him up. I think you had to be there... but we hung out with Sashimi and Ceasar Salad our entire trip :)

"Hey, what's up" "I'm marinating." Our new saying that we're bringing back to Canada. It's when you're just chilling out :)



The night Michael Jackson passed away, a couple of us at the hostel drank in his honour, sang and danced to his music. There couldn't have been a better way to remember MJ. (Photo: French Canadian, Luca and Maja moon walking on the picnic table at the hostel).

Going to dinner with my girls, noticing a large frog (or toad) hopping on the sidewalk. Became fond of little frog. On our way back from dinner, we notice a fresh road killed frog, right about where we saw our friend the frog on our way to dinner :( Poor frog. Was subsequently amused that frog in Italian is Rana... lol the frog got ranaed over :P

Being with my girls for a whole 10 days and still loving them to bits afterwards!

Paradise withdrawal

I go through it every year when I come back from Hawaii. I just came back this morning. It was hard to leave. Maja, Darla and I decided it was like leaving a good friend that you only visit once in a while behind. I guess that's true in more ways then one. While you're there, you make friends and the bonds are so strong because you're there, uninhibited, and you're happy. Then you leave. Good bye should be getting easier. In reality it doesn't. Sometimes you learn to get less attached to those you meet but that's not always possible.
I woke up from my nap this afternoon and I cried. My hands and feet are cold (they weren't in Hawaii, not even once) and I'm cold. I want to go home to Hawaii. This time I went it really felt like a second home. I knew almost everything and it just felt like I was coming home. Just like last year I've got to promise myself not to make any decisions for three weeks after I come back because they'll most likely be silly ones (last time I almost left for Denmark... why Denmark? Because it's not Vancouver). I've been back for 7 hours and I've already leafed through the Lets Go Europe travel guide and looked over the map of Europe (mostly to orient myself and see where my new friends are from). Hopefully when I work Thursday it'll keep my mind off being back and I'll get over it that much faster. Or I might just have to leave for Hawaii again. :)

Miracle

Don't they know that there's something going on
What they're harming with their indecision
But who will be left standing when I'm gone?
There'll be nothing left but a vision

It's too easy to turn a blind eye to the light
It's too easy to bow your head and pray
There are some times when you should try to find your voice
This is one voice that you must find today

Are you hoping for a miracle
as the ice caps melt away?
No use hoping for a miracle
There's a price we'll have to pay

It's too easy to turn a blind eye to the light
It's too easy to bow your head and pray
There are some times when you should try to find your voice
This is one voice that you must find today

Are you hoping for a miracle
as the ice caps melt away?
No use hoping for a miracle

Oceanlab

Falling to freedom

Tuesday night, the girls get together to celebrate summer, graduation and the fact that we're an awesome group of women :) After a great meal, we sit on the deck, enjoying the night and having many laughs.
We hear the neighbor boys (who we'd never met, just saw in passing) come home and Pam yells "Hey boys! What are you guys up to tonight?". Soon after, Tyler and Conor are sitting on the deck and we've finally met the neighbors.
It all started with a simple question "So how's your summer going?". We asked this to our neighbors, Tyler and Conor. It's a simple question, one we ask to create small talk and fill the silence with words.
They told us about their friend Dav, he'd been missing for 10 days and they were pretty sure that he wasn't coming back. That night, I am sure that Tyler and Conor couldn't have ended up with a more compassionate and caring group of people. We listened openly and tried to put ourselves in their shoes. Impossible. I honestly wouldn't know what to do if any of the girls disappeared for any length of time and we knew that they weren't coming back.
It's been on my heart and mind since Tuesday night. Shook up by it all, Maja and I talked about it on the beach while recovering from the night before. What would we do if one of us girls went missing? When someone is so fed up with their life, is it ok to leave it behind? If they've been upset and feeling down all their life (and have seeked help), as a friend, is it ok to let go and tell them it's ok to pass away? Would we be happier knowing that our friend is no longer sad? We'd then lose a friend and we'd miss them terribly. All of these questions didn't really have answers. We discussed them but nothing really came of it. When jumping off a bridge, when does one die? We agreed that realistically they'd most likely drown. The myth is that people die of a heart attack, however I strongly doubt that, otherwise the vast majority of bungee jumpers and sky divers would be dead. For the sake of our own peace of mind, we agreed that mid way through the fall, they'd slip away, feeling free (and hopefully not filled with thoughts of regret).
Tyler and Conor left for Banff yesterday (where they're from) and over the course of yesterday evening, I caught myself glancing over every time I heard the creek of the gate or the sound of foot steps on gravel. I guess I somewhat took over care of guardian, waiting for Dav to come home. Who knows if he ever will walk through those gates again. I hope he does.
I don't know why this has hit me so hard. I guess it's made me think of life and death. It's brought me back to my conversation that I had with Eric about death a couple of years back. He believes that after death we shouldn't be sad. After a time of mourning, we should celebrate the person's life. I agree but I find it hard to do (I tried to practice this when Minette passed away). Perhaps it's because I didn't know Dav at all. Sure I'd seen him walk in an out of his basement suite, I'd jump every time I was studying and he'd slam the gate (my desk is right next to the gate but there's no window so I can't see if any one's walking up to it, I only hear it slam) and we'd exchanged a couple of hellos and simple conversation but really, I can't claim to have known him. It's been interesting.

Recipes for a perfect night

Maja, Darla, Pam and I got together for our annual eat, drink and be merry get together at my place :) We did this last year and made some awesome food and caught up on the latest. We had such an awesome time we decided to do it again this year. We often get together, however we'll usually go out for food or we'll go for drinks, dancing or what not. It's really nice to have a low key evening where we stay home, listen to good music, try out new recipes and solve the worlds problems :)
Because I was so damned impressed with what we made, I've decided to post our menu.

MOMMA BEAR
(a drink created by me, in honour of our friend Heidi who started labor when we were grocery shopping and gave birth to a beautiful little girl some time when we were hung over the next day)

Fill glass 1/2 full with ice
Take two basil leaves and scrunch them to release the flavor
1/6th of a lime squished and tossed in with basil and ice
2oz (or more, we honestly dum dee dummed* the amount of alcohol) of Sugar Cane Spirit**
Carbonated spring water to top up the drink (we made these in pint size glasses... well until we started making pitchers of it)

ROMAINE, GRILLED AVOCADO, AND SMOKY CORN SALAD WITH CHIPOTLE-CEASAR DRESSING
Serves 4 (main courses) or 6 (side dishes)

1/4 cup grated parmesan (I used dry)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced canned chipotle chilies in adobo (I just used canned chillies from Safeway...)
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 ears of corn, shucked
2 firm, ripe avocados, halved and pitted but not peeled
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 head romaine (or fresh lettuce, which is what we used)

Preheat BBQ to super hot for grilling (gotta get those nice grill marks).
Add parmesan, olive oil, lime juice, garlic, chilies in a blender and blend until smooth. Or you can whisk it all but it's nice and creamy if it's done in the blender.
Rub vegetable oil on corn and avocados. Grind fresh salt and pepper on corn and avocados.
Grill avocados, cut side down, and corn, covered (if using a gas BBQ), turning corn occasionally, until golden brown (3 to 4 minutes - I found that the corn took maybe 5 or 6 minutes but the avocados didn't take as long).
Peel avocados and thinly slice. Cut corn kernels from cobs.
Toss romaine (lettuce) with dressing and serve topped with avocado and corn.

YUMMM CAJUN HALIBUT

6 Halibut filets cut to 1/2 to 3/4 inch thickness (1/2 pound to 1 pound per person. We didn't cut our fillets, we just them cooked them as they were, the cook time was just longer)
Cajun spice - recipe follows
2 tbsp butter
Mango Chutney - recipe follows

Heat the skillet on the stove over high hear until very hot. Cover the fish in Cajun spice.
When pan is hot, add butter then carefully add as many fillets as will fit in the skillet, leaving at least 1/2-inch between each.
Cook the fish for approximately 2 minutes on the first side, and then flip the fillets.
Sear the fish on the second side for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. Repeat with remaining fish fillets, adding more butter as needed.
(What would work - I have yet to try this) is to make a paste with the butter and cajun spice and smear it all over the fish then BBQ it.... yummmmy!!)

Cajun spice
2 to 3 teaspoons cayenne pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons garlic powder or granulated garlic
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon ground tyme
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl, stirring until well mixed. Set aside for fish!

Mango Chutney
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
2 to 4 mangoes chopped (can substitute kiwi, peach or cantaloupe, however we used mango because they're in season)
1 cup dried cranberries
1 small lemon, zested
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup cider vinegar
Dash ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Add all ingredients to a medium non-reactive saucepan. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Set aside and keep chutney warm until ready to serve.

GRILLED PINEAPPLE WITH BROWN SUGAR, COCONUT AND RUM

1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 pineapple peeled
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup dark rum
2 tsp curry powder
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
Accompaniment: Mediteranian or Greek Vanilla Yogurt... or ice cream if you're not leaving for Hawaii in less then a week

Toast coconut in a small heavy skillet over medium heat, stiffing frequently, until golden-brown, about 5 minutes.
Cut pineapple crosswise into 8 slices (about 3/4 inches thick) and core slices. Stir together remaining ingredients in a shallow glass baking dish and add pineapple in 1 layer, turning to coat evenly. Marinate, turning occasionally, 30 minutes.
Prepare a gas grill for grilling pineapple (if you've got your grill on to make the salad, just throw these on right afterwards, they're just as good cold and it'll save you having to turn on and off your BBQ).
Grill pineapple (reserve marinade), covered, turning once, until grill marks appear and pineapple is heated through, about 4 minutes. I brushed on some marinade before and after turning the pineapple so that it added extra flavor... it made a bit of a caramel over the pineapple and the smell of burnt sugar was amazing!!
Serve pineapple with marinade and sprinkle with toasted coconut.

That was our meal :) It was thoroughly delicious. Yes, we planned it so that it would revolve around grilling. It's summer time and girls BBQing is fun. It's not too often I get to play with the grill and I am looking forward to more creations.

If anyone tries any of these recipes, let me know how it goes! I'd love to hear about your experience or any feedback you may have.

*term used by my Dad when he means adding without measuring
**we used Cachaça from Brazil. We bought it at the liquor store on Cambie and 41st for under $30

Picking new sports

So I've got all of this free time right? And I can't spend it ALL in my hammock (especially with 30 plus weather... too hot! not that I'm complaining. Just sayin') so I've decided to pick up an other outdoor sport. I've contemplated skimboarding because I love being by the water. The only down side... it looks like a recipe for busting my wrists. I've learnt that anything that can injure my wrists is most likely not a good idea. Without my hands I'd be a pretty terrible massage therapist. So... what are other options? The answer.... Slacklining!
Some of you may wonder what on earth is slacklining?! Well I wondered too! I've seen people do it but I had no clue what it was called. Essentially it's a slightly springy nylon webbing string/rope type thing attached between two trees. You then balance on it and walk back and forth. Kind of like tightrope walking but without the rope being rigid. It's more like walking on a very skinny trampoline. Anyways. I have terrible balance so this should be highly entertaining :) There are two trees in front of my house so I'll be able to practice on my quiet street. Hopefully not too many people will watch me fall. If they do, here's to hoping that I fall gracefully and that I don't look like a tightrope walking elephant.
I also figured this would be a great way to meet those in the neighborhood. Just yesterday I met Heidi, a young woman across the street and two doors down from me (she's planting a garden and I'm giving her some of our extra tomato plants... it's fun to get to do neighborly things!). Next to her is a house with 5 guys and 1 girl (all younger, all going to the college near by). Next door to where I live are two guys, also going to the college near by. Otherwise it's all young families and old people. So if we end up getting all of the youngins out that would be cool. Slacklining is also something that more then one person can do. It could also be quite fun after a couple of beers :) Anyways we'll see if anyone else comes out to play but in the mean time it'll just be me.
Oh! And I could bring it to Hawaii! I don't know if there will be much room in my backpack. It's already nearly full with my hammock, yoga mat and now slackline. Cloths are overrated anyways :)

Starting up

So I've got myself a career :) I am not too sure how it happened because it all happened so quickly! I'd compare my life since graduation to running down a sand dune. You start at the peak, looking down and you start running, slowly at first. Eventually one foot keeps falling in front of an other, you pick up pace, the path unsure and your footing unstable. Somehow you manage to keep going. Your legs stay in motion, your feet keep stepping one foot in front of an other. Surprisingly you don't fall. Laughing all the way at how exhilarating it is.
Last Wednesday I met Darla at Solarice after work. I e-mailed my resume in a couple of weeks ago with no response. I decided to drop in and say hello to the manager. I ended up with an interview :) Thursday I had my hands on interview. Friday I did my training and I worked Saturday and Sunday. It's a totally awesome place! I am so glad I got the job because it was my number one choice. It's got a great mix of spa type treatments and clinical treatments (all while remaining in the spa setting). It's also located on 4th in Kits which is a great place to be.
Now all of this is great but there's one thing that I have yet to get used to. I only work when I have clients. Otherwise I am on call. I know that as a bodyworker (yep, this is what we're called when we're not registered) it will be slow to start building a client base. I am ok with that and fully anticipated it. It is, however, difficult when you're so eager to work to not have any work. For example, Saturday, I had one client. For the rest of my shift I read, got bored of reading, had a nap in the sunshine, walked along 4th and went in ALL of the shops (I didn't buy anything!). I even talked to the red cross people that were selling subscriptions because I was bored. Today I had no clients. I stayed home, on call, and cleaned all day.
I've started to tackle my school stuff. I'm not studying yet, I am just sorting through my huge piles of notes, trying to organize them into some kind of order. It's stressful though. As soon as I start to look at school things I start feeling blah and want to procrastinate. I know it's a bad idea though because summer is going to be crazy busy and so I need to start early. I am hoping that by the end of today I'll have sorted though everything, cleared my desk and started on my study schedule. Knowing that I'll have some down time at work, I'll bring my study things with me. That'll help pass the time. The beautiful weather helps too because I can sit in a little park and study (most coffee shops don't want you sitting in there for 6 hours). Ok, time to go tackle the piles of class notes! Maybe I should just recycle them all :) hee hee... nawe I can do that in September!