I’ve been taking photos for many years, but usually of people, buildings or places I’ve traveled. However, I started taking photos of food a while back. I got inspired to take photos of what I eat. I managed to photography everything I ate for a full calendar year – 2009.
Initially, I wasn’t sure what to do with the photos – over 2000 of them. However, time lapse and some music make it bearable and give it some justification for my effort.
countless fruits including pears, strawberries, blueberries, mangoes, oranges, grapefruit, blackberries, peaches, plums, nectarines and cherries
pounds of trail mix and corn nuts
I can’t recall what was my favorite thing – but I would have to assume it was the chocolate smoothie since I consumed almost two per day! Smoothies were probably a good thing because of the weather – it was hotter than normal in August.
I do know what the worst thing I ate – it was the instant noodles pictured above. I bought it because it was on sale for an unbelievable $0.88. I was also intrigued by the ingredients – even the beef, chicken and seafood flavours did not contain any animal products. However, they contained lots of ingredients that I could not identify or pronounce. After eating it, I felt a bit nauseous – it wasn’t tasteless, but I found most of the taste came from salt – a bit empty in terms of real taste and probably nutrition too. I won’t be eating this again too soon in the future. It was a one-meal stand.
Here’s the set of food that I ate in August. Click on the larger image to advance to the next image. If you’re on a mobile device, click here to go to my flickr set.
I’ve just crowned popcorn as the undisputed champ of the snack world. I’ve made it a few times in the last week or two and it’s been a highlight of my food consumption recently. It’s fun to make, tastes great and is good for you!
If you’ve never made it on the stove-top before you must try it! In a 3 liter pot, add two tablespoons of oil, enough popcorn kernels to cover the bottom of the pot and heat on medium with the lid on. Wait for the first kernel to pop and then turn down heat to low-medium. Move the pot back and forth with the lid slightly ajar to let steam escape – but not too much or the kernels will escape. When the popping slows, turn heat off and continue to move the pot back and forth. When popping slows considerably, remove from heat – pour into a bowl and add toppings.
The above 3l pot has about 280 calories. Most of the calories (240) are from the olive oil and the rest from the popcorn. If you’re worried about fat – don’t. I use olive oil which is pretty good for you and you also need fat to absorb some of the vitamins in corn. Plus it’s much tastier than hot air popcorn; less greasy, chemicals and wasted packaging than microwave popcorn. It requires less than 5 minutes to make this. Not much more time than microwave popcorn. The ingredients cost only about 25 cents.
Making popcorn on the stove is like cooking – but more immediate gratification; add any topping you like – ever tried curry powder? It’s also relatively healthy! That’s why popcorn is the champ!
If you have a pot with a glass lid – you’re in for a treat! I made it recently in one and it was pretty cool. I’ll have to make it again and film it!
I always find it funny when I see bags of potato chips in a town that is at a high elevation. Whistler isn’t that high at 670 m/2,198 ft but when the chips are packed at near sea level and then brought to a higher elevation, it’s a bit puffed up – enough to be used as a pillow in a pinch. But I wouldn’t take my food to bed with me.
It’s simple science and great entertainment as explained by this science teacher in Mussoorie, India (elevation 1,826 m/5,991 ft). I wonder how puffed up the bag would be if I took it to the top of Blackcomb Mountain (elevation 2240 m/7349 ft). Maybe this has to be done.
The original goal was to hike/climb 7th Heaven on Blackcomb mountain – which we did. However, on the way up we started collecting garbage. We found the usual objects including water bottles, beer bottles, cans, goggles, clothing, skis, ski poles, two-way radios and the best of all, $125 (US) and a money clip. Maybe that was some good karma for picking up garbage and lost objects.
During the winter season, similar objects are found every day – especially cell phones and wallets. Whistler is a fairly good place to lose thing and have them returned. I recently left my credit card in a restaurant. I didn’t discover it missing until a few days later. When I did realise where I left it, I called and they did indeed have it. I retrieved it shortly after that without any hassle of getting it replaced.
I normally don’t carry cash with me – maybe for fear of losing it? However, banking is different that what it used to be. With ATMs and credit cards, cash is almost unnecessary in large cities and popular resorts. I can’t think of any place in Whistler that does not accept credit cards; and I think every merchant does because Visa is a worldwide sponsor of the Olympics. Even my lift pass is connected to my credit card so I don’t even need to carry a credit card with me when I’m on the mountain. Replacing a lift pass is easier than replacing a credit card or wallet. I’m not sure why people still carry cash.
The set from the day is below; click on the larger image to advance to the next one. If you’re on your iPhone or can’t see it, click here.
After hiking to Rainbow Lake in Whistler, I started to think about where our drinking water comes from and how we use it.
In 1988 when I traveled to Europe for the first time, it seemed a bit odd to drink bottled water. However, everyone seemed to do there and it was the norm for Europeans. Growing up in Canada, I drank unfiltered tap water. As the population grew, so did the strain on the system. Water treatment facilities started to add (more?) chlorine to the tap water and I could really smell it in tap water. In the summertime when it got really warm, the Toronto tap water smelled like algae. This was really unpalatable to me and I started drinking bottled water – like the Europeans. However, this was costly and also created a lot of waste. I moved to an in-home water filter system, however, this removed the bad things (chlorine, algae, eliminated plastic bottles, etc.) but also removed the good things like minerals. This was a no-win situation.
When I look at where the water supply comes from, it makes me shudder. In Toronto, the tap water comes from Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario is also one of the most polluted lakes of the great lakes and dare I say it – in the world. There have been instances when periods of heavy rainfall caused sewers to overflow and have raw sewage run into Lake Ontario. Toronto, Kingston and other Canadian cites are have had similar instances. This happens worldwide and there are probably worse instances than these, but it doesn’t make it acceptable.
The treatment and necessary measures to ensure a safe water supply are required by the large concentrations of population in large cites. Even our food supply is similarly concentrated in factory farms and agriculture that also pollute our environment. I’m not sure what kinds of long term effects that this environment could cause to our health and economy, but the possibilities are frightening.
It is tough to find a healthy balance between our health, lifestyle and food choices. However, after moving to a smaller town, I have one less thing to worry about and drink unfiltered tap water with peace of mind.
My main meals today were smoothies, a chocolate one for breakfast, blueberry for lunch and a green (kale) smoothie for dinner. In addition, I had some bananas, oranges, a nectarine and some trail mix. This is probably the best I’ve eaten in quite a while. Nutritious, but not as many calories as I probably need considering I went on six-hour hike today. I may supplement my diet with some potato chips (only half kidding).
Several people have asked me for the recipe of my chocolate smoothie and the nutrition of it. I was unsure of the nutrition because I’ve made several changes to it recently. I’m not sure if it’s better or worse than the previous version. The new smoothie include less avocado, more hemp, less Vega and I also added some mango. According to Nutridiary, it’s about the same as before (685 calories now vs 660 before, 36g vs 39g fat and 79g vs 63g carbs). I updated it and the recipe and nutrition is below. It still tastes just as good, if not better and it might cause you to have your best day ever!
Ingredients
1 ripe pear
handful of frozen strawberries
handful of frozen mango
handful of soaked almonds
1/2 frozen banana
1/6 avocado
3 raw cacao beans (grind in coffee grinder before)
Blend fruit, almonds and avocado with water until a smooth consistency. Add water as needed or to desired consistency.
Gradually add cacao powder, ground cacao beans and protein powder. For a more chocolately flavour, add some raw cacao powder.
After adding water, it’s about 1.5 litres of smoothie! I usually have it all for breakfast, but most people can only drink half because it’s pretty filling. But it’s all good.
Me in my vintage ski jacket (circa 1986) on Blackcomb Mountain
It took a little over five months, but I reached the goal that I set out to achieve in November – to ski 100 days in a season. Previously, the most that I have ever skied in a season is about 30 days. Doing 100 was a personal challenge. First I needed the time, second I needed my health and third, I needed snow.
Time wasn’t an issue – I put most of my other pursuits on hold – I’ve got thousands (literally) of photos that I haven’t gone through; I’ve been delinquent in returning emails to my friends and family because all I’ve been doing is eating, sleeping and skiing. Luckily for me, my friends are understanding and patient.
Health wasn’t too much of an issue. Since moving here, I’ve cut down on my consumption of alcohol, eat better and get more sleep. In the city, I tended to stay up way too late and I wasn’t the fittest sitting behind a desk most of the time. When in Whistler, I get up on the mountain daily. I’m not sure what drives me, but I think it’s a combination of the fresh air, sport and the spectacular view. Even today, I mentioned to a friend that I still am in awe of the view from the mountains.
Weather was probably the biggest challenge. This is something that nobody had any control over. December was quite dismal. It was cold and there wasn’t much snow – Vancouver received more snow than Whistler in December. The season started slowly and it wasn’t really winter until late February. It all came together in March and it’s been pretty steady since. However, I think the season will end on the Victoria Day weekend when Blackcomb Mountain closes. Whistler Mountain is set to open, but I’m not sure how the can as the snowpack is less than prior years and there seems to be a general disinterest for skiing this spring.
If this is true, there is 12 days of skiing left in the season. My friends will be glad that I won’t be constantly talking about skiing any longer. However, if Whistler reopens, then this will be continued.
Stats:
First day of skiing: December 3, 2008
100th day of skiing: May 5, 2009
Days on Whistler Mountain: 19
Days on Blackcomb Mountain: 67
Days on both mountains: 12
Days at Revelstoke: 2
I don’t have green smoothies that often as I prefer to eat my greens. After making my first one last year, they’ve grown on me and now I have them on a regular basis.
They aren’t always as bright as the one pictured above, sometimes they come out a murky green colour. The bright green one reminds me of kyrptonite – but it has the opposite effect! The colour is affected by the type of vegetable and other ingredients I use. Regardless of the colour they usually are pretty tasty (to me).
Here’s how I made the one listed above.
Ingredients
1 apple, cut into chunks (or other fruit)
handful of frozen cranberries
1/2 bunch of green kale
2 tablespoons ground flax
lemon juice
cayenne pepper (another one of those secret ingredients)
water
Instructions
Put everything but the flax in a blender and blend on the highest speed.
When well blended, add the flax.
Add more water to the desired consistency.
If you want your smoothie to be a bright green colour, substitute the flax with 1/6 of an avocado. I also sometimes add dulse too – this will change the colour to a muddy brown-green colour. Red kale does the same thing. If you want a bright green smoothie, don’t use these ingredients.
Edit [August 15, 2010]: Here is the nutritional information…
30-Day Raw Challenge, Culture, Environment, Food, Photography, Vegetarian, Video | Garry June 19, 2010 | 
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