Get Cooking

Hey my people. I am a little late to the game on this one but here is my mothers day blog post. Its always a good time to celebrate moms everywhere. Also its always a good time to talk about food. So thats what I am going to do. This blog post is all about my mom and food! 

How do those connect connect Ryan? Well I will tell ya. This past mothers day my mom and I went to Get Cooking for there Eggscellent Mothers Day Brunch class. 
Lets start by talking about my mom and then after we will get to the good stuff later aka food (just kidding). I love my mom and food equally. 

I think moms should be celebrated all the time. They are cool (even if we don’t know it/think so) and they do so much for everyone. We should make all moms feel very important because they are. Moms just need to be loved and respected. I try to do that all the time but sometimes I forget. Ops. My mom is the best mother I can ask for. I love my mom. Thanks to you mom and all the moms out there for just being bad ass. 

Now on to the cooking class. I had loads of fun cooking new foods. Everything about the class was cool. I learned how to make the perfect eggs and how to make smoked salmon. Also other things but those were my two favourites. The people we did the class were really fun. Even though they were strangers we all chatted and laughed a bunch. No one can be mean or grumpy when your around all that good food. I learned some cooking tips. The teachers were really great to make it educational but a fun time. They showed us their tricks to get the best taste out of every food item and dish. Which worked because the food was 100 percent pure awesome. 

For all those who are gluten free like me it can sometimes be hard to classes like this or feel like lots of recipes that are crowed favourites we celiacs cant eat. So we aren’t going to make something you we can eat. Crazy. I cook so I can eat what I make. It was really nice because it was all things I could eat and it was very easy to make such good tasting food.

I love cooking and love my family. So 10/10 would recommend you guys checking out this class. I just want to cook more with my family now after that class. Its fun to have more cooks in the kitchen. It makes cooking like a party. If there are people and food involved I am there. 

Dan and Shay Concert

Hey all my cool cats I went to a cool concert with my cool cousin Nicole. So here is my cool recap of the Dan and Shay concert. 

There were a lot of screaming girls and 10097 percent of the people were wasted drunk. Which means it was a party. They sang a lot of my favourite songs. Their albums are awesome and upbeat tunes. Right from the start I sang so hard that my mouth was too dry to sing more songs. But I pushed through for them. It was a loud rowdy time. They won an award for their number one country song called Tequila. It was my first time at a Dan and Shay concert in Edmonton. They should come back and play at Rogers place. I would for sure be there singing loudly again. You can count on that. 

My favourite Dan and Shay songs:

1. Tequila 

2. From the ground up

3. Island time 

4. Speechless 

5 How not to 

6. My side of the fence 

7. Nothing like you 

8. You and me 

Thanks for reading! Are you guys Dan and Shay fans? If you answered yes to that what is your favourite song by them?

2019 NHL Hockey Playoffs

It’s the best time of the year aka HOCKEY PLAYOFFS! Why do I love playoffs so much?

I like watched sound hockey fans get excited and its fun to see their love for watching hockey games. Its funny to watch how pumped people get during watch parties and just over all crazy times watching live games in their hometowns. The best part to me is all the excitement and the parties. Its another excuse to get together with your buds and eat junk food. People get so into the game (myself included) so its fun to watch fun cheer and get rowdy. 

Playoff season wouldn’t be right without some hockey pool fun and winning the money at the end.

My hockey pool…

1. Jets

2. Tampa Bay

3. Captals

4. Vegas Knights

5. Boston 

6. Blues

If you are not sure how playoffs work…

There are 3 rounds each best of 7 games and the final game is the Stanley cup Championship. 

We are now in round two. The teams left are…

Boston Bruins 

Columbus Blue Jackets

Carolina Hurricanes

New York Islanders 

San Jose Sharks 

Colorado Avalanche 

Dallas Stars

St Louis Bluses 

My predictions for the rest of round two 

Boston VS Blue Jackets 

I think Boston will win four of the 7 games. 

Hurricanes VS New York

I think New York will win 

Sharks VS Avalanche

I think Colorado will take the win with five games. 

Dallas VS St louis

I think the blues will win. 

My biggest hope is the the New York Islanders dismantle the Blue Jackets in this round. 

Some highlights of the playoffs so far

I would say one of my favourite games to was was the blue jackets vs Tampa Bay. The game between Colorado and the Flames…. all hell broke loose during that game. War people war. 

I predict that the final games will be Colorado vs St Louis. I think the winning team this year is going to be Colorado. What is your prediction? I want to hear who you think will take home the cup this year. Let me know!

Ketchup

Hello to all my peeps. I though I would make my love for Ketchup blog official. Most of you may know that I am a big big fan of Ketchup. Such a big fan this whole blog post is all about ketchup. 

Lets start off with why I love ketchup

Well because its tasty. Thats a no brainer. It’s good on anything and everything. You think of it ketchup would taste good with it. People agree with me because there is ketchup cake and ketchup ice cream. I haven’t tried the ice cream yet but I want to so bad. Soon. My day isn’t complete without ketchup. It’s a staple of my diet. I wonder if it could go beyond what I eat….? I wonder if there could be ketchup conditioner and shampoo? I know I am getting carried away.  One year (well more like a few) for halloween I dressed up as ketchup. Best costume ever. Eat, sleep, breath ketchup people. You know how people are %50 water I am %50 ketchup.

Some very important facts about ketchup that everyone needs to know

1. it was used as medicine in 1835 . DR John Cook Bennett through tomatoes could cure Illness like Diarrhea , Jaundice and Indigestion . he made and solid tomato pills

2. Even DR. Bennet had really bad and wrong science he was kinda right. Ketchup has health benefits . it’s good for the heart and helps reduce risk of types of cancer. with all the Ketchup i have eaten i must have the healthiest heart and will never get those types of cancers benefits are because of Lycopene with gives tomatoes it’s red colour and it is in Ketchup.

3. Ketchup is acidic . because of the tomatoes and vinegar . so Ketchup could also be used as an inexpensive cleaner and polisher . so you can have fries with Ketchup and clean your metal stuff while you are at it.

4. there is a massive bottle of Ketchup in Illinois . it is 170 feet tall . i need to go to Collinisville Illinois now to see it . there is even a website with a map to get there. i belong there. i should go live with my Ketchup loving people in that town. sorry mom i am moving

5. Heinz made 57 versions of Ketchup to get it right . the 57th versos was the best . which is a Combination of his Favourite number 5 and his wife which is 7 . talk a lucky product 7 is one of my luck numbers.

6. Ketchup used to be called Catsup . i wish they didn’t change the name . Catsup is so much cooler . Heinz called Ketchup to stand out from all the other competitors .

7. main ingredients use to be anchovies , walnuts , mushrooms, and kidney beans .

8. each person eats about three bottles of Ketchup a year my number is much much higher than that. i could eat three in a mouth

9. Ketchup is one of few packaged foods that doesn’t used rights

10. just by eating 4 tablespoons of Ketchup you will get the same so healthy because i eat Ketchup pretty much every day

Spring 2019 We Have Been Waiting A Long Time For You

Time to get rid of that bulky winter jacket. No more wearing a million layers of clothing. ITS SPRING! Whop whop. About gosh darn time. Say yes to shorts and tank top season. 

Whats so great about spring? 

Everything is great about spring because it means winter is over and we are on our way to summer. It means change and fun things to come. 

Easter 

I love easter mostly just for the chocolate. Also I love that is another day to spend with family hanging out. Start the day of with coffee and baileys then play games, eat chocolate, go for a walk, eat more chocolate because you earned it after that walk, and eat dinner with the family. As a kid I always loved doing easter egg hunts. Fighting with my brother Dylan to get the most eggs. Then eating all our findings and getting a stomachache. Nothing better. I also remember as a kid spring would mean all the snow would melt off the trampoline and so it was jumping time. I spent a lot of time jumping on our trampoline with my bro. Really all the time I can spend with my family is the best. They are the most important, chocolate is a close second though. 

Outdoor Activities 

Golf season starts back up. Have you ever tried playing golf in the winter though? Not good when you lose you ball. Can never find it in the snow. So much better spring and summer sport. 

Enjoyed hunting trips with my dad when we lived out in slave lake. Spring meant checking those traps and quad trips. Still try to get out with my dad to our cabin now that we live in Edmonton. Love me some mud puddles and running fast through them on the quad. Mud in the ears. 

What else man. There are so many things you can do outside now that there is not snow taking up the roads and sidewalks. Like road hockey, walks, work outs in the sun. 

Hockey Playoffs 

Spring means playoff time. Even though the Oilers wont be in the playoffs I still love watching the games and seeing who will win the cup this year. Should have been Oilers though. I am writing a whole blog post on the playoff season so keep your eyeballs open for that soon. 

Sunshine Heat 

With sun comes hot weather. What more could ya want. Ice cold drinks outside on the patio. The best time of year. Cant forget about swimming outside. One of my favourites. 

Some photo highlights from springs in the past

Well thats all my peeps for this blog post. Thanks for reading! Catch ya later. 

Maui 2019

Hi everyone! Ryan Here. This blog post is all about my 2019 trip to Maui. I talk about some highlights and there are some pretty outstanding pictures (if i do say so myself)

Alright first things first. The weather. I really enjoyed being on the beach with the red hot sun while everyone back at home in Edmonton were freeze their buts off in -30 weather. We picked a good time to go. Sorry (not sorry) to all the people back at home that I sent photos of palm trees to and kinda rubbed it in their face they weren’t on vacation in Maui. 

What were some highlights you ask. Well……

Food. Food for me is always a highlight. Nothing better than having cheeseburgers in paradise. I loved eating out and that now places are doing better at having more gluten free options. A fun spot was the Cool Cat Cafe. So if you are every in Maui check it out, say Ryan sent you. Maybe next time I go they will give me free food for recommending it. Also I really love BBQing with my dad. We have made it kinda a tradition now. We always meet some really interesting people and have some fun or strange conversations with them. Mostly the conversations are about sports but sometimes they take a turn and I want our food to cook faster so we can get out of there (oh and eat the food too). 

A vacay wouldn’t be a true vacay without doing nothing by the pool or on the beach. I always look forward to just being glued to a chair, listening to music, drinking a fun drink, reading books and just not moving at all. 

It wasn’t all lounging though. That would be boring. Have to mix it up a bit. In the past with my bro and this trip there was a little beach yoga action. Mostly just sand in places there shouldn’t be sand but also a good work out. Maybe a sandy beach isn’t the best spot for yoga though. I also worked up a sweat at the gym and hit the pool for some laps often. The trip was a good mix of doing absolutely nothing and sweating like a bull (work off all that junk food and mouth watering burgers). 

It wouldn’t be a trip to Maui without seeing some turtles and going snorkelling. It will never not be cool to see wildlife in the ocean. Lots of cool creatures. In one of the pictures bellow the turtles could be mistaken as rocks… I think its pretty cool also they know where to go to lay there eggs. Does anyone else think thats pretty cool? How do they remember to go back to the same spot that they were born. I have said cool a million times but once more I think its so cool. 

Speaking of cool. Here are some other cool fun things we got up to. 

• Went to see Aqua Man while we were there. Got to see Jason Momoa in action. After the movie I though maybe I would see him in action in real life if I went swimming in the ocean. Just looking at turtles then have Jason Momoa swim past. That would be the coolest of cool. Also not far from possible. He is from Hawaii so maybe I will see him. Next time. 

• Flexing my camera skill muscles was cool. I love taking photos of sunsets and there were some really nice sunsets while we were there. 

• Lots of cups of coffee and lots of Ketchup. My staples. Even on vacation I am %99 made of coffee and ketchup. 

Everything is better when you are in vacation mode. The whole trip was one big party. Cant wait to go back. I already miss swimming in the pool every day, hanging out at the beach, eating 50 pounds of junk food, taking rockin photos of turtles, the bars and the funny drunk people, and lastly the heat. Soon Maui I will be back. 

Find Your Fit Fridays

Hey friends! Its that time of year when it's easy to wrap up in blankets, with lots of snacks and hibernate till spring. DON’T DO IT! Get out there and stay on top of your fitness. Keep moving to stay warm. 

I like to ramp up my workouts and times I go to the gym in the winter. Push myself further and harder or else I won't do it. It's easy to be lazy. 

 My favourite way to sweat is going to the gym. I like using weights. So I go to the gym two times a week and do 30 minutes of cardio to finish (or start depending on my mood) and 30 minutes of weights. 

If gyms are not your thing try another way to keep your fit. I also like to lane swim and play underwater hockey to mix things up a bit. Maybe I will try yoga or something next to really mix it up. Give anything a try that makes you move and sweat! 

f you need a push to get moving check out Orange Theory or Body by Bennet. Or just get your mom or friend to yell at you to work harder and do more. You need to find out what’s your effective motivator. 

Tips and tricks

• Remember to drink bucks loads of water. Water is your best friend. 

• Find a cute girl or guy at the gym that you want to look strong and cool in front of so you will work harder

• Keep a routine. Try and stick to the same work out habits and eating habits. Habits help get the job done. The more you do the more your body with be ready to work harder and longer. Also you will actually get off the couch and do it. 

• Have cheat days or days to look forward to but don’t go crazy and totally mess up your habits. 

• Have fun equipment or fun work out clothing that will be just that more exciting for you to put on/use. More motivation. 

If all of this sounds like hell to you and you would rather be doing pretty much anything else biggest tip= START SMALL

Work your way up. Maybe start with just going for a walk once a week, or bowling, or eating well. Key it dont push yourself too far to the point of hating your life and time. It should be something you look forward to in your week (even if its just deep deep down excitement). 

Also have goals. I have weight goals but more importantly focus on being strong and healthy. Being unhealthy with your diets and work outs in dangerous. Dont go too far too fast. I like to heat healthy but have cheat days. Looking good is for you and how you like your body. Be active and healthy for you. Feel comfortable and have fun with it!

Dont believe me? I talked to a pro and here is what he had to say…

1. Why are you a personal trainer?

“Because I like the fitness career, and I did my study in Kinesiology, and I love to help people to have a healthy life styles.”

2. What’s one highlight of your job?

“My favourite part of my job is that it offers me great opportunities to meet various people with  different backgrounds. I really enjoy the way that I help them to get a healthier life.”

3. What are three common mistakes people make during workouts? 

“The first one is a lot people want to lose some weight by only doing cardio without any strength trainings.

The second one is a huge part of population don’t have scientific diets plans along with trainings.

The third one is that when doing strength trainings,  some people don’t know how to manage a proper skill of breathing, sometimes even doing a wrong way of breathing.”

4. What are your favourite ways to sweat?

“I like sweating when doing whole body strength training or high interval cardio mixed exercises”

5. Whats one tip or trick for people that are just getting started with working out? 

“The tip I can give them is, always start slow and step by step, but never give up!”

Thanks Steve for answering my questions! If you want a pro like Steve to help you out his email is sportshongxi@gmail.com. 

Cool thanks for checking out my post. Let me know if any of my tips and tricks helped you. Or share what you like to do for fitness and health. I like learning and trying new ways to keep active so tell me if you have a good system. Happy sweating!

Hohoho and Merry Christmas

Welcome back to my website! Happy Holidays! I hope all of you that are checking out this new post are drinking eggnog (with something fun in it) sitting by the fire and listening to Christmas music. It’s the best time of the year!! Here is why it’s the best.... 

First my brothers are home! A year is too long to wait. Dylan my brother and his husband Jayden are in Edmonton for Christmas this year. Last year we were in Australia (where they live) this year we swapped white sand beaches for snow. It is so good to see them and have them home. I counted down to the last minute until I got to see them again. We are going to do all the bro stuff while they are in town. Hot tubs every night, workout at the gym (working on those big buff guns), go out for dinner at the Keg (eat lots of alberta steaks), play games, watch movies and all the other good stuff. Mostly I am excited to just have good chats about all the things that happened since we last were together.  

Then we got all the usual fun Christmas stuff. Still so exciting every year even though not much is different from last. Like decorating the tree, singing loudly (off key) to Christmas music, and doing advent calendars. Anyone buy/make cool or strange advent calendars or just the typical chocolate? I wonder if they have a ketchup advent calendar... different brands of ketchup every day.  

One of my favourite things to do with my family is go sledding. Nothing better then getting all the warm clothing you own on your body and sitting on some plastic/wood and going down a hill. I could do without the having to walk back up to the top of the hill part. Just sled back up the hill in reverse would be nice.  

Christmas is the best time mostly because the people. Doing all the fun activities like making ginger bread houses wouldn’t be nearly as fun without family and friends. Everyone is excited to do fun activities together and make time to see people. I love watching Christmas movies all together as a family then running right into the hot tub. Very chill evening. My forever favourite Christmas movie is Elf. It cracks me up every time. Never gets old. I cant wait for Christmas morning when we open stockings and gifts. Everyone is half asleep and no one talks until coffee is in their hand. Everyone gathered around the tree loving each other and loving coffee. The best.  

Some of my favourite things to do with family are...  

1. Help my mom make her world famous chocolate turtles. Nothing is quite like her home made turtles. I love giving them to people and seeing their reaction to eating them. Everyone who has had them before also knows what's coming at Christmas time and they are excited when I bring the tins. They know how addicting they are 

1. Game nights with my family. That is if we don’t fight and I still have a family at the end of game night. Just kidding. We do get competitive though. Some of my favourite games are dominos, play nine, Sequence, sorry, Pass the A’s, monopoly and spoons 

1. Love it when everyone is cooking together for the big Christmas feast. Well mostly my mom cooking and the rest of us getting in the way or eating bits of the food.  

Every good holiday has to have lots of hockey. Forget family and friends what you really need during Christmas time is Connor McDavid scoring goals and bring home the win for the oilers every game. I want a clean sweep all the way to play offs for Christmas. Santa can bring me that on Christmas morning and every single game.  

Songs on Replay

Hey friends! Here is a few songs that I have on replay. These are some of my favourite. Hope you enjoy!

Country

1 Brantley Gilbert - one hell of an amen

2 Tim hicks -  New Tattoo 

3 Dan and Shay - TeQuila 

4 Emerson Drive - The Road 

5 Keith Urban - Female

6 Luke Bryan - Sunrise Sunburn Sunset

7 Eric Church - Drink in my hand

8 Brett young - Mercy 

9 Luke Bryan - Most people are good 

10 Luke Bryan - Light It Up 

11 Luke Bryan - Play It Again 

12 Luke Bryan - Kick the dust up 

 ROCK

1 Godsmack - Bulletproof 

2 Journey  - Faithfully 

3 AC/DC - Black and Black 

4 Guns and Roses - Welcome to the Jungle

5 Caleb Johnson - Fighting  Gravity 

6 Caleb Johnson - I don't wanna miss a thing 

7 Stone Sour - 82 

8 Simple Plan - This song saved my life 

9 David Cook - The time of my life 

10 David Cook - Light On 

Heavy Metal

1 Ozzy Osborne - Crazy Train

2 Blood Spot - Volcanos 

Bye, Bye Summer

Hey cool people. Ryan here with another blog post! It is officially the end of summer. Summer has felt like its been over for a month now but now its officially official. So I thought I would start my summer reminiscing now. This blog is all about summer 2018 and what I got up to. 

Summer is a time for sports, activities, and getting your body moving. When its sunny everyone is more willing to get outside and get active (if you are working on your beach bod you are even more willing). 

This summer I played outdoor Pickle Ball. Very underrated sport. I had so much fun playing. My team mates and I would always make a game within the game and tell jokes/poke fun at each other. I played pickle ball back in University at MacEwan but completely forgot about it until this past summer. 

Something pretty awesome things happened this summer. Awesome thing number one is….We got a puppy! If you haven’t seen my many photos on my instagram or facebook I will post lots below so you don’t feel like you are missing out (you’re welcome). Its been so nice to have dog around the house again. I love everything about her. Her little nose and her smile. I can’t get enough of her cuteness. She has grown so much already. She is still a pup though and loves to do what puppies do best….Chew. Thankfully she is in love with mom’s bath robe and hasn’t taken a liking to any of my things to chew on. 

Awesome thing number two is trips! I went on a couple of different adventures. Adventure number one was heading to Calgary for a few days of quality time with my girl friend. We went to the stampede, out for dinner, to the zoo, to the movies and all that jazz. But the best part of that trip was just spending time with Sarah (my girlfriend) talking. 
Another adventure spot was Seattle, Washington. We did all the mandatory touristy things like pikes place, a walk on edge water, a visit to the needle but what we were really there for was Baseball. We watched four back to back games. 

Summer wouldn’t be summer without a little camping. Nothing says summer like sleeping outside under the stairs and making your own food on a fire. I went camping a few times to Slave Lake. I brought my girlfriend to Slave Lake camping with my family one of the weekends and showed her around the town I was born. Eating smores by the fire is nice but it was even better to show Sarah my old stomping ground. Next summer I want to camp even more and check out Banff’s camping spots. 

Lastly here is a quick list of my favourite summer songs that I am still going to play and keep on playing them into the winter. 

1. Luke Bryan - Sunrise Sunburn Sunset 

2. Brantley Gilbert- One Hell of an Amen 

3. Flordia Georgia Line - Simple

4. Keith Urban - Parallel Line 

5. Luke Combs - She got the best of me 

6. Kenny Chesney - Get Along

Well thats it thanks for checking out this weeks blog post! Another summer in the bag. I hope everyones fall is rocking and school/work treat ya well. Who else can’t wait for next summer?