Author: rickohikes

Avid hiker, mountain lover and fitness enthusiast with insatiable wanderlust. Usually battling with an injury and my mental health, but I always persevere!

Island Pork Tenderloin- YUM!

Browning the pork: Island Pork Tenderloin

Yesterday, I found myself weak. Blame it on lack of sleep, hardcore P90X-ing, or the changes in Calgary’s weather. Whatever the case or cause, I was left with a bit of a migraine headache. Woe is me. So I came home, napped, and decided to take it easy by not working out. However, I’m awful when it comes to remaining still and relaxing, so instead, I decided to try a new recipe and cook up a storm-of-a-meal for myself.

Waiting for my meal to cook. The anticipation was almost too much.

I’ve been doing P90X for quite some time, but I’ve never been great with following the nutrition guide. There are many recipes in the guide that I’ve been wanting to try. First up on the list- Island Pork Tenderloin. The verdict- DELISH! I love the combination of cinnamon with the Tabasco sauce, which at first glance, seemed a bit interesting. And since I love cumin, the hint of that along with the chile powder give it a nice flavour. It tasted so good, and it’s quite easy to prepare. When it comes to food and cooking, I like easy, so this will definitely be added to my repertoire of recipes.

Teriyaki sautéed vegetables 

Here’s the recipe for Island Pork Tenderloin, taken from the P90X Nutrition Guide. You know you want to try it!

Island pork tenderloin, sweet potato fries, veggies and cottage cheese 🙂

*****

Ingredients:

16 ounces pork tenderloin, lean (that’s about 0.45 kg)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tablespoon fresh garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

Serves: 4 (I ate half in one sitting. Oops!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder, and cinnamon, then coat pork with the spice rub.

Salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder, and cinnamon.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch skillet over moderately high heat and brown pork, turning, about 4 minutes.

After coating the pork in the spice rub, brown the pork in a skillet.

4. Stir together brown sugar, garlic, and Tabasco and pat onto top of tenderloin. Place pork in a roasting pan and cook in the oven for 20 minutes. (I left mine in for almost 40 minutes. I like pork to be really cooked, and my oven is a bit funny with the temperature and the times…)


Brown sugar, garlic, and Tabasco sauce.
The pork is ready for roasting. Yay!

*****

Retro Horror Movie Night: Child’s Play (1988)

Child’s Play: 20th Anniversary Edition
Last night was fantastic. Friends Paul and Vanessa invited me over to their place for a movie night. And this was not just any movie night. You see, Paul and I had been reminiscing about the movie Child’s Play for quite some time. We both remember watching it during our youthful years, and it scared us both quite a bit. Child’s Play was released in November 1988, which, assuming I saw the movie shortly after its release, I would have been 7 or 8 years old at the time. That’s right folks, Child’s Play was released about 23 years ago *sigh*. Anyway… surely a ‘horror’ movie that frightened us as kids would still be totally freaky, right? And since Vanessa hadn’t seen it, surely she would be scared by a doll who comes to life and kills, right?? Well…. let’s just say we weren’t scared at all, and there were a ton of laughs throughout the night! The movie was amazing…
Original Poster: “Child’s Play: You’ll wish it was only make-believe.”
Just so I don’t completely ruin the complex plot, the brief synopsis is that a criminal (Charles Lee Ray), trained in some kind of dark ‘voodoo’ arts, transfers his soul into a Good Guy doll. A boy, Andy, wants this doll for his birthday… but when he gets it, little does he know it’s alive! The story begins with the typical doll pleasantries: “Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna play?” But soon things take a turn for the worse. Chucky wants revenge. And he wants to kill. 
Andy is so excited about the new Good Guy doll! Lucky for him, he gets Chucky.
“Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna play?” Dolls should not be alive. Crazy freaky.
But he wasn’t excited for very long. Especially since Chucky started killing people.
There’s something about horror movies from the 80’s and early 90’s that I love. They’re all quite cheesy. They usually have some weird supernatural element to them. And when you watch them years later, you realize how bad the acting was. And yet, there’s a special place in your heart for these movie gems :).
Chucky’s signature roll in the movie. Only dolls who are alive can drop and roll.
This movie is so fake.
Chucky tries to transfer his soul into Andy’s. Well naturally.
He doesn’t want to be a doll forever!
Andy’s mother, Karen, really is the rock in this movie. She will do anything to protect her son. She will also try her best to protect the useless cop, Mike. Here’s one of my favourite scenes:
Beat-down! Chucky is about to totally club Mike with a  baseball bat.
Karen will do whatever it takes to protect her son and Mike.
So Karen shoots Chucky in the leg…
And he goes flying…
And flying…
And flying.
But he’s persistent, and gets right back up for more killing.
One of my favourite lines in the movie occurs when Andy is about to torch Chucky in the fireplace:
Chucky: “Andy, nooo. Please. We’re friends ’till the end, remember?”
Andy: “This IS the end…. friend.”
Brilliant. Whoever wrote the script deserved an Oscar. Something tells me, though, that the writer never received an Oscar for this movie.
“Andy, nooo. Please. We’re friends ’till the end, remember?”
“This IS the end… friend.”
But is it really the end? *suspenseful music*
As great and amazing as this movie was to watch, the acting was sub-par. I know he’s just a kid, but Andy’s acting was hilarious! Out of curiosity, I wondered what ever became of the actor who played Andy in the movie. The all-knowing Google came to my rescue. Turns out that after Child’s Play 2 and some other movie, he quit acting. But like all child stars, they resurface at some point. Also, I found out that the actor who played the terrible cop, Mike, is Chris Sarandon, whose first wife was Susan Sarandon, which is how she got her last name (born Susan Tomalin). Who knew?
From TMZ. Alex Vincent as Andy in Child’s Play, 20 years or so later.
So what’s next on the retro horror movie list? Maybe Pet Cemetery (1989). Or if we’re looking for something legitimately scary… A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Last I remember, that movie was SCARY!
A Nightmare on Elm Street. CLASSIC!

It’s All About the Running!

These shoes haven’t seen a lot of action lately 😦

So first and foremost, congrats to everyone back home who just ran the 30K Around the Bay in Hamilton! That’s crazy talk! The thought of running 30K makes me shiver, but these amazing people keep me motivated: Dan, Kelly, Carolyn, and my humble machine of a brother, Ry, who despite his supposed lack of training, crossed the finish line at 2:32. Impressive! All of them had very impressive times. Great job folks! I hope you have a relaxing afternoon :).

Congrats folks!

But alas, you have made me realize that I need to step up my game. In order to join the ranks of machine-like superstardom that you four have achieved, it’s time for me to hit the ground running. Even though Calgary’s weather hasn’t be the greatest (I HATE running in the cold), that’s no excuse.

Route for the MEC 10K Bow River Run. Fun!

To help me stay focused, I have now signed up for two more runs. First up, the MEC 10K Bow River Run on April 21st, which will be MEC Calgary’s first running event. I figure with a $10 registration fee and a route with which I’m quite familiar, this race will force me to get up on a Saturday morning and do a  fairly painless run. Plus, there’s nothing like the pre-race atmosphere to get the adrenaline going. It should be fun times.

The Vancouver Half Marathon. Fun!

Then, of course, there’s the BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon on May 6th, which I wrote about before. To say I’m not prepared is an understatement, but I will be by that date. And I’ve now signed up for the Scotiabank Calgary Half-Marathon on May 27th. Eek! My goal is to smash last year’s time of 1:55:23. There’s a new course route that starts at Stampede Park, so I’m looking forward to it. Last year’s run was pretty lovely and scenic too, and I expect this one to be the same. 

The new route for the Calgary Half-Marathon. Fun!

Oh, and shortly after that, there’s the Bread and Honey 5K run in Mississauga. I’m doing that one with my family. Family fun day!

The Bread & Honey 5K. Fun!

It’ll all be quite exciting- two half marathons in May and I’m sure many others to follow. I’m feeling nervous about it already :S. But in typical Rick fashion, I’ll shelve the nerves, tell myself to stop being a baby, pull up my socks and, like the aforementioned superstars, just dooooo itttt!!!

Skiing in the Rockies. Finally.

I finally went skiing in the Rockies. Yay! (At Lake Louise)

I’ve had the question many times since moving to Alberta: 
Person: “Do you ski or snowboard?”
Me: “No, I don’t.”
Person: “But you’re so close to the Rockies!”
Me: “Yes. Yes I am. What’s your point?” *punch to the face*
Okay, so I never punched anyone in the face. And I never did say “What’s your point?”. If I did, their point would be that I’ve lived almost three years in Calgary without taking advantage of the world-class skiing and snowboarding just outside of the city. In general, I’ve had a bit of fear when it comes to downhill skiing, since my previous experiences have usually resulted in almost breaking a limb. So I was hesitant. But should that stop me from ever trying skiing again?? That ish is cray talk!

A bit nervous before ascending the gondola at Sunshine

So now I can finally say that I’ve tried skiing in the Rockies. Twice this season, to be exact.
The first was at Sunshine Village at the beginning of February. The weather conditions were incredible! It was about -1 degrees and completely sunny. Of course, after skiing there I wondered: Why did it take me so long to do this! It was a very pleasant experience. I had a few falls, but nothing to cry about. The second was this past Friday at Lake Louise, which was also fantastic and so enjoyable. One bigger fall, but it was all in good fun. Pinecone Way was definitely my favourite :). (Well, it was my favourite out of the green runs, since I’m a newb and didn’t attempt any runs above the green circle.)

Sunshine Village
A snowboarder at Sunshine

So I’ve realized that as long as I’m living in Alberta, I need to take advantage of those ski hills! I may be all over the mountains in the summer with hiking and such, but since winter feels like 8 months of the year here, I may as well occupy my time with winter-like activities. Yes, I know… this makes sense. Next season, I look forward to attempting snowboarding. Thankfully my bro lent me his snowboard and bindings, so once I get some boots, I’ll be good to go. Whoohoo!

At Sunshine. The weather was incredible!
At Lake Louise. There’s always time for a mid-ski photo-op!
Robbie is all cl-ass! (He was posing. His form is much better than this :D)

Thanks Robbie for helping me cross off an item from my list. Well, sorta. Number 9 on the 31 before 31 is to “Try cross-country skiing”, which was added so that I do SOMETHING this winter. While this is still do-able, the craziness of life these days makes it difficult to fit this in, so I’ve changed it to “Go skiing in the Rockies”. And that I gone done did right there…

Sunshine Village