The Life of Pizza John

Each year I do a hike with Mike around the summer solstice where we try to pick something people do in 2-3 days and we do it in 1 day.  This year was a little different.  Due to lots of rain and flash flood warning (and hiking up and down rivers), we had to bail.  It was raining so hard you couldn't see more than 20 feet ahead and it didn't help that it was dark.  We decided to start at sunset and hike through the night and the next day due to the complexity of this hike and so we could get home at a decent hour the next day.  Needless to say, we started at sunset and finished around sunrise since we had to cut it short.  It was still pretty hard, especially due to the rain, darkness and terrain. Even though it was out of our control, I'm bummed we were not able to finish the hike, but we will be back next year to check it off the list.  We are even going to have a backup in a different area in case the weather in the Adirondacks is looking bad. W...

As usual, not a ton of great places locally for 'foreign' types of food so I get to create my own!  I originally learned about Pho when working at Sorenson in SLC with Ryan, Mike and Miranda and it has stuck.  Definitely one of my favorite meals. Soak Pho Noodles in water for at least 30 minutes.  Use as much as you want since they will not be added to the whole mixture below and can be used for days. Fill a medium sized pot with about 6-8 cups of chicken stock.  I use water and 'Better Than Bouillon' because it is easy and tasty.  Then add the following: 1 inch minced ginger 2 tablespoons brown sugar 2 tablespoons fish sauce 5 star anise 1 cinnamon stick 2 tablespoons minced garlic Once that has sat for a while (anywhere from 10 minutes to many, many hours), take 3 chicken breasts cubed and add to the mix and cook till done. To serve this, you can put noodles in a bowl, then pour the hot soup over them.  Let sit a few minutes before eat...

Fun weekend visit with Dad and Daria.  Check out the video below! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj0-93irZ7I

I've always tried to live somewhat of a minimalist lifestyle, but since we have started boat shopping I have really started to think about this idea more and really embrace it.  If you walked into our bedroom you would see a bed and two free-floating night stands where we charge our phones and keep a couple books.  You won't see anything else in the room.  It feels open and nice.  This is how I like my life.  I'm not a huge fan of clutter and 'stuff'. Since I've been downsizing even more I've had to make some decisions as to what to keep and throw away/donate/sell. In the process of this cleanup, I've come across some things that I didn't exactly want to get rid of but they serve no purpose other than taking up some space so I thought I would share some stories here about the items.  Some of these items I got rid of a long time ago, but came across pictures and thought it would be fun to remember some old times! I love the story behind my old Po...

While I don't buy into the whole Paleo thing, these are delicious and gluten free! Mix the following in a big bowl, I start with the wet ingredients, then add the dry at the end. 4 bananas (either ripe or brown) 4 eggs 1/2 cup peanut butter or almond butter (I usually use a mix of both) 4 TBS coconut oil 2 TBS honey 2 tsp vanilla 1/2 C coconut flour 3/4 C oats 1 TBS cinnamon 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt Line muffin pan with muffin liners and divide the mix in 12.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 

Enjoy the show!

10 small flour tortillas 20oz Green Chile Enchilada sauce 3 chicken breasts 8oz sour cream salt, pepper, cumin  16 oz cheese (I prefer half Colby and half Jack) Boil chicken until cooked through, then cool and shred. Turn oven to broil and put the tortillas on the top shelf. Once the top side browns, flip and take out once the other side it slightly browned. Then rip them in quarters. Grab a 9x11 glass baking dish. Divide the tortillas, chicken, sour cream, and cheese in thirds. Proceed with the first third of ingredients: Dip the pieces of tortilla into the enchilada sauce and line the bottom of the dish (more sauce is better) Place chicken on top, evenly spaced Spread out Sour Cream as much as possible Sprinkle with cheese Scatter with salt, pepper and cumin Repeat twice. If you have any enchilada sauce left, drizzle it all over the top. Bake at 425 on middle rack for 35 minutes or until top is slightly brown and crispy.

A lifelong dream has been in the making as learning to sail (and hopefully owning a boat) is becoming a reality.  Six friends decided to take a sailing course through the Virgin Islands on a 44' catamaran.  We started in St Thomas and navigated all through the American and British Virgin Islands. We started the trip by flying into St Thomas, then taking the ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay on St John's. We had a friend there who we wanted to see so it was a perfect way to start the trip!  We ended up camping in a 'permanent tent' at Cinnamon Bay which was pretty cool. As we walked out the front of our tent, the beach was 20 feet away!  The snorkeling right out front was very mediocre, but as we learned later in the week, if we went out another 100 meters, it got much better.  We saw turtles, small sharks, big grouper and lots of other sea life.  After walking/hitchhiking back to Cruz Bay, we hopped on our ferry back to St Thomas to get on our boat...

There have been lots of big changes in my life lately and I have decided to put my focus into something(s) other than triathlons.  This 'blog' was originally meant as somewhat of a personal journal.  I like to document my adventures and the fun things I do in life. I also like to keep track of the things I cook often so I don't have to write them down and keep track of them. I originally never gave out this address, but after a while decided to share it with a couple family members, then it kinda spread from there. Now, plenty of people are following it so maybe I'll work on writing a little more clearly and having more fun pictures! Alia will be documenting our new adventures so we went to the beach the other day to take some practice shots with the GoPro.  They are below. So with all that being said, onto more adventures!!!! Funny story about these sandals... They come from Hawaii and are bought in the grocery stores for pretty inexpensive and they last ...