Wow.

Again. Wow.

Nine years have passed by since I last updated this website. I may have stopped writing posts here but I didn't stop being a vegan and I didn't stop being an athlete.

Sure, there were troubled times. I became a fat vegan, topping out at times near 220 lbs. From time to time, I let cheese into my diet, technically dropping me out of vegan status. I full on stopped running. I was unable to play hockey for the better part of a season due to a pretty severe ankle/foot injury.

But, in October, 2020, the next revolution began. Just after my 52nd birthday, I realized that there was something more. Sure, I was active and I felt I had a pretty robust immune system. Still, I was overweight. I had FLS syndrome (feel like shit). Anything close to a brisk walk seemed to bring on some sort of pulled muscle or tendon in my lower legs. I was seeing signs of rapid aging.

Things had to change and they had to change fast.

So, I went full vegan, without exception. I eliminated the white devils (sugar, grains, potatoes). I ate just twice per day, at around 10am and 3pm. I made sure I was getting exercise DAILY. I continued with cold showering. I began Wim Hof style breathwork. 

It worked. And, it worked fast. By the end of 2020, I had lost almost 40 lbs. By mid-March, I was down to my current and optimal weight of 155 lbs., a drop of around 65 lbs from my 2020 max weight.

But wait, that's not all! I was running again. I started in January and by May was putting in well over 100km in monthly running miles. The best part, I have remained injury free throughout the process.

I have started posting to a new website, Optimum Health. Optimum Travel. This site is about my journey to superhuman health and fitness. However, it is not focused on a vegan lifestyle. I'm not promising anything but I do have a strong desire to resurrect this site to discuss all that surrounds being a vegan and being an athlete.

After all, we are going through some interesting times in the world at the moment. Yet, world leaders and world governments seem to be avoiding the obvious - that to fight an enemy to our health and well-being, we need to be in the most optimum physical (and mental) shape possible. In fact, I believe that these world leaders don't want us in optimum physical health. There is simply no money in it and it would collapse the economy if we were all in optimum physical health.

I hope to see you soon. For now, stay healthy friends!

In less than one month, it will be five years since I quit eating meat. For a while, I slipped into a too often habit of cheating on veganism with diary product - specifically cheese. I have paid the toll and learned the lesson and have once again gone cold turkey on that.

One thing I really did not get into until recently was tofu. When I first went veg, I didn't want to be pegged as a 'hippie granola lover'. I wanted to do it all by simple eating fruits and vegetables. Tofu was something stuffy, boring poop analyzing nerds took a liking to. Not me.

Sure, it was a great part of so many Thai and Vietnamese meals that I had. Those folks from the Far East sure can make Tofu taste and look like just about anything. But, I did not dare cook the stuff at home.

Then, my personal economic meltdown arose and suddenly, the benefits of Tofu started to shine through. I started by adding it to slow cooked curried pasta dishes. Yet, even with all the ingredients like curry powder, garlic, coconut, tomato - a bitter taste would be prevalent.

I was doing it all wrong!

Tofu, when packaged in those nice one pound cubes, is packaged in a watery brine. It seems the Tofu soaks this stuff up and you have to remove it before eating the stuff can be enjoyable. Tofu cannot soak up and take on the flavours you're cooking with if it's already saturated with 'enbalming fluid'.

It turns out, the process of draining the brine is quite simple. It can take a little bit of time but nothing too serious. Here's how it goes (Don't worry, there's a video below):

1. Unleash the tofu from its plastic prison (the packaging). It's best to use firm tofu.
2. Drain as much of the fluid into the sink before pulling the tofu out of the packaging.
3. Grab two plates and some paper towel. Oh, and a heavy item - I use one of my wife's nursing text books.
4. Place one plate flat. Take about three feet (3 sheets) of paper towel, fold it and place it on the plate. You need to be careful during this process to tuck in any paper towel that might hang over the plate. Why? As the paper towel soaks up the fluid, if it is hanging over the edge of the plate, a drip will begin and a puddle will form...
5. Place the tofu in the centre of the paper towel on the plate.
6. Take another two or so sheets of paper towel and, placing on top of the tofu chunk, tuck around the sides and underneath. It does not matter if all the tofu is covered. You're really just trying to cover the top.
7. Place the second plate upside down on top of the tofu.
8. Put your heavy weight (text book) on top of the plate.

This process is dubbed a 'Tofu Press' and should be sustained for at least thirty minutes. When you pull off the weight and top plate, your paper towel should be soaked - more so, depending on the brand. I find the stuff out of Quebec that we buy at Costco is really well vacuum sealed and doesn't contain much brine.

At this point, it is time for your creative juices to emerge. You need to carve the tofu up into the pieces you want to eventually cook with. Many make triangles because they claim they are easier to work with. I have done triangles, big cubes, tiny cubes, thin slices, big slabs - it doesn't matter.

Once your tofu is carved up, the next step may begin. This is called the 'Dry Fry'. Place a non-stick pan on the stovetop at medium heat. It is important that it is a non-stick pan because you cannot use oil or margarine at this stage.

Place your pieces onto the pan. What your goal is essentially at this stage is to eliminate the rest of the fluid. You want a dried up, wrinkly piece of tofu, in the end, that is ready to soak up all that you have to offer during the final cooking stage.

What is really helpful in this process is a solid and stiff spatula. You want to press down on the tofu pieces fairly hard while they're cooking to force out the liquid so it will burn and evaporate. You also want to keep flipping the pieces fairly often so they don't burn. Your goal is tofu pieces, golden brown on all sides. You want to press down with your spatula hard enough to hear sizzling (when the tufu whistles, you're really doing it right) but not so hard to split or break up the pieces.

And, you're done. You've got golden brown. You hear no more, or very little, sizzling when you press on your pieces. Now, remove from stove and let cool. This is where your own personal creativity needs to flourish. What I often do is put the pieces in a sealable container with some sort of marinating concoction (don't ask - it changes every time), seal it up, shake it like crazy (tofu won't bruise) and let sit for a few hours or even overnight. When ready, you can re-fry these babies back up and do with them as you please.

The following video shows the press and dry fry process is fairly comprehensive detail.

Our first vacation outside the country with Edward is in the books. We spent nearly two weeks mixed between South Florida and an Eastern Caribbean cruise aboard the Ruby Princess. Edward spent nearly half of his eighth month outside of Canada.

On the vegan end of things, it went pretty smooth. One night on the cruise ship, I actually had a personally prepared meal by the chef at the Crown Grill restaurant. Normally, the Crown Grill is a restaurant not included in the meal plan and requires an additional $25 a head. However, as part of a wedding party, our dinner for one night was at this fine restaurant.

My only issue came before the cruise at a Taco Bell near our hotel in Hollywood, Florida. The Comfort Inn had enough issues which will be discussed at a later date. The Taco Bell next door had the issue of a counter person unfamiliar with the product he was selling. I wouldn't normally eat at Taco Bell anyway, but when travelling in a group... Anyhow, it turns out the potato burrito that I ate in fact contained ground beef. I have the comfort in knowing that there probably was minimal actual meat included in the burrito.

Anyhow - this article wasn't meant to be a bitch session about Taco Bell and the Comfort Inn. I just wanted to share the videos that I've edited and posted to YouTube so far.



The title is a bit dramatic on this one. True, the alligator did seemingly cross a decent sized pond in the Florida Everglades just to maybe find a meal in Edward. In the background, you can hear Eddie babbling. There are many other people along the boardwalk but this gator came right to where Eddie was sitting in the stroller. Of course, the gator wouldn't be able to get at Eddie as the boardwalk was raised above the water. However, it was pretty spooky.

And - if it was Yahoo, the headline would read something like 'Hungry Gator Hunts Down Defenseless Child'.



Princess Cays was our first stop on the cruise, after leaving Port Everglades, Florida. Contrary to what Princess Cruise Lines says, this is not a private island. Princess Cays is a private beach owned by Princess Cruise Lines located at the southern tip of Eleuthera Island. Eleuthera is part of the Bahamas and is a long (180km) and thin (2-4km) island with very few permanent inhabitants.



Somewhere out in the Atlantic Ocean, I took this video from the back end of the Ruby Princess. It's just a short video showing the sides of the ship and the back end. The video is taken from the Star Deck (Deck 19). This floor of the boat is little more than a running track, basketball court and mini-putt. The wind, as it was on this day, can be quite hurricane-like from this position.



The first 'real' port of call was Philipsburg, Sint Maarten. This quick video is from the Sun Deck aboard the Ruby Princess with views of the other docked cruise ships and the beach across Great Bay.