WorldWideWaterCooler

We’re moving into the tough haul now.

I normally crash out in front of the TV around 9:00pm (yes, even on weekends, if I have no plans).

So if you have any tips or tricks (or want to fedex some RedBull over to the Whistler Hilton), while I try to stay up and keep blogging until 6:00am, now’s the time to share!

I’m blogging for 24 hours straight to support the BC SPCA

Pledge through the Blogathon Site
or
Directly through the SPCA Paws for a Cause donation portal.

A shoutout to the sponsors!

I wanted to take a moment to give props to everyone who has sponsored me in the blogathon so far:

Chris & Mel Simmons
Kimli Lulubelle Wangzilla
Alex Skov
Chrissy Giesbrecht
Glenn Gaetz
Laura Smart
Dixon Tam
Jennifer Closs
Tanya Davis
Darren Barefoot

Thanks to all of them, I’ve managed to raise a whopping $300 so far! So I’ve upped my goal to $400 – will you help me make it?

For my next fundraising feat, thanks to some prodding by my dear Dad, I’ll be shoving as many grapes into my mouth as I can, without choking or chewing (I did this once on a family camping trip when I was younger. This is what happens when kids are stuck places with no TV).

He’s going to donate $1 for every grape. I believe on the family trip I maxed out somewhere around 20 grapes.

Anyone care to match him?

Photos and final grape-count later tonight, once I find the fruits!

Gifts from Nestea!

Speaking of recipes, now seems like a good time to highlight how the BC SPCA is involved in your dinner.

When people think of animal protection in BC they usually think of dogs and cats. But the BC SPCA also promotes the welfare of BC’s 20 million farm animals through livestock inspections, lobbying for improved codes of practice, educational farm tours for students, and SPCA Certified, a labeling program that identify food products which have been raised according high animal welfare standards established by the BC SPCA.

You certainly do not need to be a vegan to support animal rights, but I believe that any person who eats or otherwise consumes animal products has a responsibility to ensure that the animals they are eating or using are being treated humanely, and allowed to live out their lives in a way that supports their natural behaviors.

The SPCA is working hard to ensure that happens.

I am of the belief that “you can’t just do one thing” – every action you take has repercussions that ripple outward from them. A higher tide lifts all the boats, and insisting animals be treated humanely in every instance, but especially agriculturally, will ensure the health of our population and our planet.

My favourite example of the inability to “do one thing” is asking lacto-ovo vegetarians whether they think about where the boys go.

Because our modern industrial animal production environments have led to specialized breeding for certain traits (high milk/egg production, in the instance of cows & chickens), the non-producing members of that species are essentially useless for anything else.

Baby dairy cows are not designed to grow efficiently into beef. They become veal. Baby boy laying chickens are not designed to grow efficiently into broilers. They become dogfood.

If you drink milk and eat eggs, you necessarily support the veal and omnivorous pet-food industries.

This is not a bad thing.

It does mean that if you drink milk and eat eggs, you are probably wise to ensure that your dairy cows and laying hens are being treated well, because it means that the veal and chicks you don’t eat (or feed your pet) “out of protest” are being treated equally humanely.

Over 95% of the animals people own in BC are farm animals. They deserve to have the happiest, piggiest, chickeniest, horsiest and cowiest lives they can! They do a great service to us, please do a great service to them and donate.

I’m blogging for 24 hours straight to support the BC SPCA

Pledge through the Blogathon Site
or
Directly through the SPCA Paws for a Cause donation portal.

Another of the recipes I really enjoyed (we had it for lunch) was the Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Black Tea reduction.

2 pork tenderloins, roughly 12 oz (350 g) each or substitute with 6 chicken breasts, roughly 4.5 oz (125-130 g) each

Rub Mixture:
4 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp ancho chile powder (or regular chili powder)
2 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground cumin

Black Tea Glaze:
4 cups NESTEA Iced Tea Natural Lemon Flavour
1 cup fresh orange juice

1. In a glass pie plate, combine all the spices, salt and pepper.

2. Rinse and pat the meat dry. Roll and pat meat in the spice mixture until well covered. Place tenderloins in a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

3. In a medium saucepan, bring black tea to a strong simmer and reduce to 1 cup (around 1 1/2 hours) stirring occasionally. Once tea has reduced, add orange juice and remove 1/2 cup to reserve for brushing. Reduce remaining tea mixture until slightly thickened.

4. Oil bbq grill and then set one side to high heat and the other to moderate. Sear meat over high heat for 3 min. Then move to moderate heat and grill for additional 10 min. Repeat on flip side. Grill on moderate side until meat thermometer reads 285° – 300° F. Lightly brush with the black tea mixture reserved for basting, during final stages of cooking.

5. Transfer pork to carving board and loosely tent with aluminum foil for 10 min before cutting.

6. Cut into 3/4″ slices and drizzle with black tea and orange reduction.

Serves 6

Usually I scoff at recipes put together by large brands. They often consist only of “assembling” dinner by just opening a bunch of packages and combining the contents. But this was good. And I do not take my BBQ lightly. So snaps to the test kitchen that put this recipe together!

You can find this, and other recipes at www.mynestea.ca

Speaking of Nestea recipes, they were also giving out recipe booklets with all sorts of delicious snacks and bevvies. How do I know they’re delicious? We tried them, of course!

If you’re quick, you can still find blueberries at most of the markets around town, and make Blueberry Tea Mojitos for six.

1 1/2 cups of blueberries (reserve 1/2 c. for garnish)
1/4 cup mint leaves
1 lime, cut into 6 wedges
12 ice cubes for muddling (I’m impressed with the precise level of detail on these instructions!)
9 tsp sugar (if using Nestea Zero, omit the sugar)
1 1/4 cups Nestea Lemon Ice Tea or Nestea Zero Lemon Ice Tea

Extra ice for filling the glasses
Mint for garnish
Club soda or sparkling water

Again, this was a nice drink on its own, and could only be improved with the addition of some light rum or vodka!

Halfway through the Blogathon! Huzzah!

Having been a guest of Nestea all day, and consuming a vast amount of iced tea, I’m reminded of my favourite party punch recipe. I get compliments every time I make it, and nobody believes it’s really this easy:

Mix 1/2 cup of Nestea Lemon Ice Tea powder with
3 cups Cranberry Juice &
1 cup Orange Juice

Just before serving, add 2 cups sparkling water & garnish with slices of whatever citrus strikes your fancy.

Make a double batch, cuz this stuff goes quick!

I also find if you’re making many batches, you can either rinse your pitcher between top-ups, or go light on further rounds of the ice tea powder, otherwise it gets super sweet.

This is a really nice non-alcoholic punch, though if you feel like something with a little more kick, it’s excellent with bourbon!

Looks like the benefactor of my blogathon efforts, the BC SPCA, visited Workspace to cheer on the rest of the Vancouver Blogathon-ers.

Check out Rebecca’s photos of the entire event, including the visit from the pups & peeps.

I’m blogging for 24 hours straight to support the BC SPCA

Pledge through the Blogathon Site
or
Directly through the SPCA Paws for a Cause donation portal.

Bye peak o’ whistler! Thanks Nestea!

Beautiful BC. The Best place on Earth.

The Stills!

Peak 2 Peak gondola. Super awesome! I didn’t expect the ear popping.

It’s time to get all Bob Barker on y’all – PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR ANIMALS!

The BC SPCA Hospital in Vancouver provides quality veterinary care for thousands of sick and injured stray animals in the Lower Mainland. It offers low-cost spaying and neutering as well as a wide range of veterinary services to the public.

Puppies and kittens are super cute. Things become rapidly less-cute when you think of the thousands of animals abandoned and surrendered every year because of unexpected pet breeding.

The SPCA believes (rightly) that cost shouldn’t prevent anyone from doing the responsible thing with their pet, so they offer low-cost spay and neuter clinics throughout the province for people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford the procedure.

In fact, every adoption fee includes a certificate for spaying or neutering your new pet at one of the SPCA’s clinics and the procedure is a condition of adoption.

Of course your pet is wonderful, and who wouldn’t want a tiny, baby version of it.

But there are too many animals out there who already need homes. Please help the SPCA so they can continue to ensure no new, unwanted animals are brought into the world!

I’m blogging for 24 hours straight to support the BC SPCA

Pledge through the Blogathon Site
or
Directly through the SPCA Paws for a Cause donation portal.

For Luke. Hopefully these are as good as gumboots?

So what’s up with this whole “Chill on the Hill” thing I’m at?

It’s sponsored by Nestea to bring a little bit extra awesome to mountains across Canada this summer.

The Whistler Itinerary is:

10 am : Chill on the Hill Whistler starts!
10am-4pm : Volleyball Courts Open
10am-4pm : SnowPark Open
10am-4pm : InteractiviTEA Tent Open
11am-11:30am : Meet & Greet with Olympic Snowboarders (Tent)
12pm-12:45pm : Protest the Hero play (Mainstage)
1:30pm-2:30pm : Tricks Competition (SnowPark)
3pm-4pm : The Stills play (Mainstage)
4pm : Chill on the Hill Whistler closes

So far we’ve checked out the volleyball courts and snowboard park, and tried a bunch of Nestea drinks and mocktails.

And then we found the open bar!

Thanks to the fine folks at Nestea for hosting us, and a few other bloggers, at this fantastic event – and if you missed it this year, I’m sure with the success of this year’s event (everyone’s having an amazing time here!) it’ll be back again next summer.

Of course, I’m a teensy bit sad (okay, it’s awesome here, so not really) that I’m missing out on the great local camaraderie going on at Workspace with the other Vancouver Bloggers doing the blogathon – there are lots of great causes to sponsor, so don’t worry if the SPCA isn’t your bag (though it really should be), check out the other participating bloggers.

And if the SPCA is your bag, don’t forget to donate!

I’m blogging for 24 hours straight to support the BC SPCA

Pledge through the Blogathon Site
or
Directly through the SPCA Paws for a Cause donation portal.