A weekend of watching live food porn

Interesting title you may say. But if I tell you what I doing then you may understand.

No it didn't actually involve any nudity and food in a scene for adults only. I spent the Saturday at the 'Eat Vancouver' Festival at the BC Place. ie A big food festival in the big stadium where they hold the Canadian Football League games. (which incidentally are starting soon)



Now one thing I wont deny, my attraction to food. I love food, food loves me. And then food also hurts like any love I've known. In this case it exacts its revenge upon me by making me fat, whenever I try to love it too much. So therefore I struggle through life attempting to get a balance in our relationship.

Food Porn is by definition where you sit and watch food being prepared, mesmerised by the food drooling at the end. Most times it involves some tv show and a celebrity type chef. I can't deny to anyone that I've not sat there and drooled over the food prepared on a Jamie Oliver episode. Heck Iron Chef is still always good viewing. Not only for the bad dubbing. Well Saturday was just a live version of this.



So needless to say on Saturday I was the kid in the candystore, eyes beeming, and my mouth going Wow. And it wasn't just from seeing the size of the stadium. Food everywhere. As sad it was I managed to spend over 5 hours at the exhibition. Over 30,000 people pass through the gates over the weekend so I wasn't the only one. By the end of it I had watched a Barbadian Chef prepare food, completed a local cheese tasting session, tried every sample in sight around the stalls, and even enjoyed a Japanese Sake tasting. Not bad for a day where I originally had nothing planned.



Now that I have overindulged in food again I now dare not tell the body what I have planned for it in the near future.

On Tofino time

Tofino is an awesome place to visit. It's only tiny, and well things happen they say in Tofino time. Well my watch must of been fast because I still managed to fit in quite a bit in the 2 days there.

Lets see. There was the sightseeing of the Pacific Rim National Park:


the starfish on the rocks at Tonquin Park,


Tofino itself,


and oh thats right the 6 hour kayaking tour I completed. The kayaking Tour was awesome. And it only rained for about 1/2 an hour while out in the inlet. Did get to see a sea lion in the water, and a heap of bald eagles in the trees along the inlet.


Many west coast people come here to surf on the beaches. But to me thats crazy talk. The water temperature on the coast was still only 9 degrees. Needless to say I did not go for a swim. I'll wait to I find a coastline with the warmer water temperature and no wetsuit requirement.

Getting To-Fino the weekend

Well the weekend went well. After initial concerns that my ride to Nanaimo was going to halt all proceeding I managed to work around and have a great weekend.

The original plan was to catch the Greyhound Bus there. But as stated earlier it never got out of the gate. Just like betting on them really.


Luckily after I had come into this problem I was directed to go via council bus to Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal. I didn't even think that they'd offer this route to the ferry really. Anyway this bus was cheaper. But wouldn't offer the ride into downtown Nanaimo. Oh well.

The ride there was great. The Ferry though was packed. This was the first long weekend after Easter. ie the first weekend where people travel. All ferrys to the island were booked out for cars after work for weeks. And the foot passengers were everywhere. I ended up meeting a local on the ride. We past the time chatting away on the inadequacies of the system, and how the British Columbian government had managed to screw it up apparently. Very interesting. Anyway this guy also guided me into downtown by walking. It was a half hour walk along a boardwalk most of the way.

Nanaimo was cool. Only had the night there.

And then Saturday I picked up my car to go to Tofino. The nice people at Budget gave me a brand new car. No kidding this Cobalt had 14kms on the clock. Cool!


Anyway on the way to Tofino there are places to see. The main spot being Cathedral Grove. A giant Cedar Forest. Apparently this was the location shoot for Star Wars. The Ewok Village. How cool. So I went Ewok spotting. Didn't see any.

Anyway here's a few pictures.

Tofino pictures come later.

The throwing of spanners is forbidden. But still they persist

I've just arrived at work this morning to find out my plans for this weekend are in jeopardy. Greyhound Buses in Western Canada have just gone on strike as of 12am this morning. Argh!!!!!!!

Why must people throw spanners into my plans. Just because I was planning a good weekend doesn't mean it needs to wreck it.

A 72 hour strike over pay.

I knew I shouldn't have been discussing possible things that could go wrong last night with a friend. I've jinxed myself.

And I'm now due to catch a non-existent bus at 5:45pm which gets me to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island this evening for my long weekend over on Vancouver Island.

The irony of the situation being that buses on Vancouver Island are unaffected.

Yep. I had a Chad moment.

Well most of you who know me know that once in a while I'll have a moment of greatness. A moment in time where anyone would just look at me and just say something like 'you dickhead', 'you idiot', or just shake their head in disbelief that one could do such a thing. The list of these episodes is too great too list individually. You need not email me with a blow by blow of your funniest Chad moment, whether it be an action of mine, or my just as famous foot-in-mouth syndrome.

Even more surprising than committing these acts is the fact that I can't but admit to the acts to everyone. My view being that I enjoy laughing at myself just as much as the next person.

So without further introduction I hence admit 'Oops I had another Chad moment'.

The Scene

Well Saturday morning I was planning to make a trip to Victoria, on Vancouver Island. You know Victoria, as in Empress Hotel, capital of British Columbia Victoria. Now Victoria is fairly distinctive. I had been there before for a day hence knew what to expect. I expected to see the vine covered Empress hotel, and


and the parliament building.


So needless to say when I arrived to this


I knew something had definitely gone wrong. I had arrived at Galiano Island not Vancouver Island. Whoops!

Now don't get me wrong I had already found some indicators prior to the arrival at Galiano Island that I had stuffed up. They were:

1. The Ferry departed 15 minutes before I had expected it to depart. I did at that moment go, 'hmmm, that's weird'.
2. There was a 2nd ferry at another gate when the ferry I was on left.
3. The brochures on the stand on the ferry didn't have any reference to Victoria. They were all about other islands in the channel, like Galiano Island, Mayne Island, and some Salt Spring Island. I noticed this and well, again didn't think much of it at first. As the ferry ride continued it was this indicator which propagated my suspicions.
4. The Ferry Captain asked drivers to return to vehicles earlier than I expected. By this time though I pretty much had come to this conclusion and was preparing to swallow my pride. In fact I had already started making my admissions to friends and family by then.

The Confirmation

Before we docked at Galiano I swallowed the pride and approached a staff member on the ferry with the assumption that I was on the wrong ferry. Answer was, yep. And a, 'I guess they didn't check the tickets that closely today'.

The Error

I have identified my error as being impatience. I got frustrated at the entrance to the ferry terminal due to the crowd and queues not going anywhere. There was a tour group of like 50 people at the entrance lining up for a ticket booth, plus another 50 who had come from the bus I had caught to the ferry terminal. I noticed there to be machines to swipe and pay by credit card, which was immediate and easy. I swiped, paid and escaped all within a minute. At this point I was still lost and well I did what any good sheep does. I followed. I followed a person up the escalator, along the path, and to the departure point where another 100 or so people were waiting, for the only ferry at the terminal. I didn't read any signs. And as soon as I arrived at the gate they started letting everyone board. It was 8:35am, and the Victoria Ferry was due to depart at 9am.

Oh well I've learnt my lesson. Again.

Anyway Galiano Island ended up being a blessing in disguise. It was a highlight to the weekend. A mere 3 hr detour. When I had confirmed my stuff up I confirmed that there was another ferry leaving the island for the Victoria Swartz Bay terminal 2 hours later. It gave me 2 hours to explore a small island I would have otherwise missed. And well it was hardly a terrible mistake to make. The island is a popular day trip destination due to its spectacular views, and feeling of isolation. It would have been better with a bike, and a plan to see the island, but hey, I was sightseeing on the run. I took a walk around to a viewing point, and also stopped off for a coffee until I was able to connect to the 2nd ferry. There was no additional ferry ticket purchase required for my error. So all in all I view my actions just like computer programmers do. Not a mistake, but a "Feature".


The rest of the weekend on Vancouver Island was okay. I did see some other places of interest. But heck the story to go with it doesn't compare.

Nakiskans, Canucks, and exploring the surrounds

I'm still alive. Ok so I haven't written an entry for nearly 2 weeks. I was building suspense, or well building a list of things to write home about.

Towards the end of April I was coming to an end of everything. The working contract was due to end, my room-sitting situation was to finish with the return of the missing flatmate to Vancouver, and an end to the ski season was here. But true to form everything has sorted itself out, but for the snow situation.

The contract has again been extended. This should take me through to the start of July. This is good as I won't need to find another contract before I start traveling non-stop until my return home. I am comfortable with my surrounds in the office, and the people in the office are great. The role itself is still extending further and further as I go. I admit at times I am concerned it's not quite the experience I expected in coming to Canada, but in reality it's a great fit to my needs of the moment, and still providing me with valuable experience.

I'm also here in the apartment at least for another month. The girl I'm room sitting for hasn't returned to Vancouver yet. There is chance she may never do so, but that's not my concern. My concern was a place to live while working here. So lucky for me I've been able to stay at least for May. I'm unsure about June, but hey we've barely started May so have plenty of time. For the moment I'm making use of the access to a kitchen, so I'm eating too well, and more importantly am not living out of a suitcase still.

Yes the snow has gone. I'm mean, sure I could go skiing on Blackcomb at Whistler again, but alas I'm now thinking I should let it go having ended on a high note. Which brings new direction to this trip again. What to do over the weekends. Where to go, what to see. Plan from here is the weekends away.

We've got a long weekend in May coming up. So that might be my return to Vancouver Island weekend. Last time I visited Canada I spent only a day on Vancouver Island at Victoria. This time I want to visit Tofino a 6 hour bus ride away. Other weekends I'll just plan trips around. I might do Victoria again, go to Seattle again, and then take a weekend to Kelowna visiting some of the Nakiskans who've ended up there for the summer.

Past June is still a long way off, but plans are still there in concept. A road trip through the Western USA with my mate CJ. Which only brings the point, CJ if you're reading this, remember you're saving money for this road trip. CJ has taken a trip to Mexico after the ski season, and is now on Toronto searching for a job to get him by, and back eventually to Vancouver ready for our departure in July. Destinations are yet to be established.

Anyway that's the concept. Details to be filled in later. Details of the US part of my trip are at least more detailed than the European section. If anyone wants to join the US trip, then all I can say is 'seats are limited'. And as for the European section, I'm still open to suggestions.

The past 2 weeks have been filled with day trips to other ends of Vancouver, and the occasional visit from other friends from the days at Nakiska. And that's the image I'll leave people with. Last weekend I took a trip out to Steveston. No not a place that worships my brother Steve, but a small historical village to the south of Vancouver. The village was the location of a major Salmon Cannery. Now it is the location of a boardwalk for the tourists, with a great place to enjoy outdoor restaurants. The also have a cannery museum, and historical area of old buildings to walk around.

The boardwalk was great for the fact I got out in the sun. One enjoys the sun when it consistently rains a few days every week. As you can see from the photo it was a really fine day at Steveston.

Other than that I had friends from Nakiska here during the week. Nicole, one of my flatmates at Nakiska was in town organising her visa for her camp programme in the US starting in a few weeks. She's already left for Seattle. I showed her around a bit. We took the ride around Stanley park, and walked the rest of Vancouver. Then last night I had Manu, one of the ski patrol guys pass by for a drink.

Yes this last photo is one of the tulips. Nicole being a former florist had this thing for stopping and photographing the tulips. They are in full bloom at the moment and look awesome. I just had to add this photo cause they were so colourful.

Oh, and the final thing to mention is that the Vancouver Canucks are out of the playoffs. They lost to Anaheim in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Which I will add is way further than Toronto got.