Central America! Here we come!

Global Youth Initiative for Disarmament and Shared Security Conference in Costa Rica


Ralph and Spencer were both very fortunate to have been chosen by H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to attend The Global Youth Initiative for Disarmament and Shared Security Conference in Costa Rica. The Conference brought together youth representing the worlds religions to work together for an arms free world and a shared future. Here are some of our experiences.


Thursday, November 5th and Friday November 6th, 2009


Day 1: Depart Montreal for Costa Rica!

We were off to Costa Rica and the excitement was building. What adventures awaited us? Who would we meet? What would we learn? It all awaited us at the equator. Ralph was stuck in a meeting and ended up running late. After hoping in a taxi and arriving at the airport, he realized he had forgotten his wallet at home. After some swift taxi driving and a hefty fare, he made the departure with enough time for us to speak with his brother, Chris, a full time teacher in Jordan. After a live tour of the newly established Jordan Center, courtesy of Chris's Mac book, it was time to board the plane.

Ralph used his ingenuity on the plane and found innovative way of making new friends by exploding ceaser salad dressing not all over himself or the passenger next to him but by sending a Tsunami of sauce on a Mexican gentleman sitting directly behind him. I still have no idea how the physics of that work but something told me the gentleman had other things on his mind. After the laughter stopped Ralph smoothed things over. He gave him his salad. Ha, kidding. That being said, the food was good, and the decent was impressive. Mexico city seems to never end at night. White and yellow lights cover the landscape straight to the mountains. Even some mountains have not been able to escape this overflowing city, as the city creeps over their peaks.

Upon our arrival in Costa Rica we were treated like kings. Ricardo from the Arias Foundation greeted us, sped us past the line through customs, and chauffeured us to the hotel, it was time to end the day and get some rest.

Day 2: Exploring the Rich Coast

Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast”, constitutionally abolished its army permanently in 1949. Costa Rica has consistently been among the top Latin American countries in terms of the Human Development Index. The country is ranked 5th in the world, and 1st among the Americas, in terms of the 2008 Environmental Performance Index. In 2007 the Costa Rican government announced plans for Costa Rica to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021. According to the New Economics Foundation, Costa Rica ranks first in the Happy Planet Index and is the greenest country in the world. [sources from wikipedia].

How should we spend our first day before the conference begins Spencer and I wondered at the 1^st hour of Friday morning? After careful research and detailed planning in the hotel lobby, juggling between Spanish and English with the front desk clerks, we decided that the best way for us to explore this rich coast was by renting a car and driving to the Pacific Ocean. And that's how we were on our way to Jaco Beach 10 am Friday morning.

The seasons in Costa Rica are quite interesting. Winter is the green season where it usually rains every day in the evening or night and is very sunny and hot during the day. The temperatures vary between 13 and 27 deg C.

We got ourselves a Diesel Toyota Corolla, apparently all cars in Costa Rica run on Diesel. The drive was magical. Never had I expected to see such beautiful, vibrant, lush and diverse exposition of mother nature. Spencer practiced his Spanish by asking Costa Ricans on the side of the roads how to get to “Plaja Jaco”, or “Placo Jaco”, or “placa Cajo”. To his surprise people could not always interpret this mysterious lingo. To our luck there was no high way to take us from San Jose to Jaco Beach, so we had to drive through the mountains and the narrow roads through farm villages and numerous waterfalls. Up to the top of a misty mountain then again down the valley, then again up to the top of another. We were awe stuck and the only 3 words coming out were WOOW, AMAZING and I’M HUNGRY. So we stopped many many times to the side of the road to buy fresh tropical fruits and ate along the way, or should I say Spencer ate along the way while I was rally driving this stick shift Toyota across the Costa Rican Mountains.

Although the ride to the beach was a phenomenal adventure, our final destination was even better. Jaco beach is the most popular surf town in Costa Rica. Since San Jose is quite far from the beach, time had only allowed us to stay at the beach for 1 hour. Spencer went and got his Surf Board! And there he goes to ride the waves! As for me I enjoyed swimming in the crystal clear ocean watching surfers riding the waves. I even got my first surfing lesson that day!

Day 3: Good morning Mr. President

The ARMS DOWN Conference opened with an address from the President of Costa Rica, Mr. Arias. A former Nobel Peace Laureate, and one of the creators of Disarmament for Development, President Arias’s words were touching as he told a story of Budha and his experience of a world of suffering and poverty outside of his palace. President Arias related Budha’s experience to our responsibility to take action to improve our world. Later we spoke with his secretary, and arranged a short meeting with President Arias before his motorcade’s departure. During our meeting, President Arias was encouraging and interested in what we shared with him regarding The Art of Living and the opportunities for a partnership in his country to work on social projects. He advised us to set up a meeting with the Director of his Foundation to discuss the details. The president complimented us many times on how much he loved Montreal, in particular its cuisine. We are definitely men cut from the same cloth! After a quick presidential photo op we were back in the conference, focusing on the topic of the day, Nuclear weapons. What is their status in the world? What are the reprocusions of their use? Most importantly, what can we do? As we broke into our afternoon sessions, ready to learn more, my body let me know that there was a less important but much more urgent priority. The water in Costa Rica was not as friendly as I had hoped.

Day 4: Meet the Twin Bulls and explore Costa Rican Coffee

Day 4 was the 2^nd day of the conference. We learnt about the 2^nd Goal which is to “Stop the proliferation and misuse of conventional weapons”. I was fighting a cold that morning and did not make the entire morning session. However all the speakers were excellent in illustrating the realities that the world faces with the presence of conventional weapons all around us.

Lunch was held at the beautiful residence of Daniela Torre which is in the middle of coffee plantation fields. Her family grows their own coffee beans and uses that property as a way to attract crowds and inform them about Costa Rica’s Coffea making tradition. Fresh Strawberry juice and a pair of Bulls were waiting for us as we arrived. Apparently Bulls were the first mode of transportation in Costa Rica.

During the afternoon sessions were learnt about Lobbying and Advocacy and brainstormed with our respective teams (North America for myself and Europe for Spence

Day 5: Last Day!

Suddenly the last day of the conference was upon us. The conference session opened with summaries of our plenary sessions, that detailed various strategies for making impactfull change in society. Ralph and I prepared a summary of our groups advocacy session. I told my chocolate bunny joke. You could hear a pin drop. I’m lucky the guy with the cane took the day off. Luckily the presentation went very well with great participation and interest from the audience.

The presentations for our Regional Groups Action Plans were next. The detail and professionalism of the groups was very impressive. Ralph took North American, and I’ll be talking Europe. It was a pleasure to address the entire conference especially the time I took to speak about faith.

The evening finished with a surprise trip to the National Center for Biodiversity. It was pretty late so they might have just taken us to someone’s back yard for all we know. All jokes aside it was gorgeous. Take a look at this swiss cheese plant. I always though Cheese came from milk. Who knew?

The Costa Rican Minister of Peace wrapped up the conference with a heartfelt story from his child hood and his dreams that the children of the future be as fortunate as he was. Then it was party time! We were treated to a traditional Costa Rican dance and music, followed by a performance from a Youth Symphony Orchestra. The finaly was an incredible medley of Michael Jackson hits, absolutely unreal. As the hour approached 10pm and Ralph and my stomachs had nearly digested themselves it was time for a sumptuous dinner, followed by the premier of the disarmament campaign video. And if you can believe it even more entertainment. The night ended early for some and did not end for others, regardless a night to remember for all.

Day 6 Back to Montreal

The sounds of “Where is Spencer?” echoed in the hotel lobby at 6am in the morning as the airport shuttle was getting ready to leave. Spencer decided to take a nap early in the morning but his body failed him and he slept in. Luckily he made the bus shuttle and we were all on our way back to Montreal.

We spent the last few hours in Costa Rica and Mexico with the company of two great individuals who attended the conference: Lawrence from Singapore and Areti from New Zeeland. We discussed everything from religion to human values to politics, sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to board. We were surprised by the fact that the flight clerk was looking for us and came to invite us to board the aircraft. We landed in Mexico City, again amazing view as the plane delicately lands in between the thousands of buildings.

Since the 4 of us had plenty of waiting time in Mexico City Airport, we decided to venture out and visit the area. So we did. With our hand luggage we got out of the airport and landed right into the middle of the city. We found a nice restaurant and decided to have brunch there. No one knew we were from out of town, especially that we had our luggage with us, were talking to the waiters and waitresses in broken Spanish and took photos with the owner of the restaurant who kindly prepared for Spencer and I a vegetarian plate, very rare in Mexico. Our last moments in Mexico City ended up sitting on the sidewalk of a café and talking about life.

The flight back to Montreal was smooth and quick. We watched a movie and talked about the conference and its key learnings. We got back to Montreal at 7:30pm, one hour and a half after the YES!+ course had started. Antoine was teaching and Spencer joined him the next day.

Vegetarian Sushi!

One of the most misunderstood foods in the world - sushi. I don't claim to understand it or know all of the types. But this I know - knowing how to make it makes you cool. And another thing - its really really easy.

The fillings are endless, the steps are simple and once you've gotten over a little bit of a learning curve, you'll be literally ... rolling right along! ( I couldn't resist that one).



Sushi is traditionally expensive and making it at home allows us to put that money to good use ( read as YES!++) and also use whatever filling we like.. The tofu-shiitake-carrot-avocado blend below is a common staple and looks good because of the colors. There's the teriyaki-eggplant filling, which only requires a few minutes in a sauté pan before its ready to roll (again.. couldn't resist). But seriously - I've done sauteed paneer, mango pickle, kimchi, tom yum paste, shittake mushrooms, tempura asparagus, cheerios..well..not the cheerios..but you get the idea...throw it in.

Let me know what you guys end up using.

Shiitake-Tofu Rolls

For the Rice:

2 cups water
1 cup sushi or short grain white rice
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

•Add the water and rice to a medium saucepan and cover with a tight lid. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes.

•Combine the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Heat in the microwave for 15 seconds.

•Add the vinegar mixture to the rice until well combined. Let the rice cool to room temperature before using.

For the Filling:

1/2 block firm tofu, thinly sliced into strips
3 medium shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
Oil for frying
Soy sauce
1 carrot, sliced thin length wise or for snobs - julienned.
1/2 avocado, thinly sliced

•Add the tofu and shiitakes to the oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. To prevent the tofu from breaking apart, let cook completely on one side, about 2 minutes, before turning. Turn and cook for an additional 2 minutes, or until light golden in color and the mushrooms are just softened.

•Add a small splash of soy sauce, then remove from the heat and set aside.

•When cooled, add the carrots and avocado.

To Assemble:

5 sheets nori - any asian food store will have them. They are seaweed sheets.
Prepared wasabi paste

•Lay out the first nori sheet. Place a handful of the cooled rice in the center of the sheet, moisten your hands with water, and gently but firmly press the rice to the edges of the sheet so that there is a thin layer of rice in a line on the sheet. Spread a bit of wasabi paste on top of the rice, approximately 1 1/2 inches from one edge of the nori sheet. Lay the vegetable filling parallel to the wasabi in a width of approximately 1 inch along the wasabi line.

•Carefully wrap the closest edge over the filling, then roll the nori delicately but tightly. Seal by moistening the edge of the nori. Once the nori sheet is completely rolled, slice the roll into 6 pieces and arrange on a platter. Repeat with the remaining nori sheets.

Again..i usually end up snacking on the rolls while making them ( notice a trend here) so I have no idea how many people this feeds. But keep making them. They last in the fridge and make a great snack. And with each roll made differently - you never know what your going to get next.

Ja mata ne!

Pictures stolen from : http://blog.vegcooking.com/2008/04/vegetarian_sushi.php . More great stuff on there.

Vegetarian Stir Fry!!

Stir fry's are a YES!+ students best friend. It involves opening up the fridge, finding what we need to use (before their colors change) and making it work.


My recipes for stir-fry are approximations for no two stir-fries are ever the same. But somehow they taste reasonable similar.

I start with putting some rice ( around 2 cups of brown/short grain rice) in the rice cooker. I like adding salt, and some lime juice into my rice cooker. You could throw in a bit of oil to keep the grains from sticking to each other too.


For the stir-fry:

2 tablespoons seasme seed oil. (The key to asian tasting food) Other light oils work too.

1/2 teaspoon seasme seeds
1 teaspoon each: cumin & ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or better yet one fresh green chilly - finely diced.
1 red onion, sliced or diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped

Now this part is up to you - you can use these veggies - or throw in whatever else you've got - green peppers, spring onions, etc..

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
3-4 medium carrots, cut as matchstick-like as possible.
1 large zucchini , sliced into half moons
2 heaping cups shredded cabbage (if thats too much work - slice 'em thin)


For the sauce:

2/3 cup vegetable broth, heated
1 handful fresh cilantro, loosely chopped


Heat the oil in a large deep skillet or wok and add the seeds, then the spices; stir for a minute to infuse the oil. Throw in the onion, garlic and veggies and stir-fry until almost tender-crisp- about 4-5 minutes. When the veggies are just about to reach that lovely tender-crisp stage, add the sauce and cilantro, and stir well. Continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring the veggies to coat.

Add in just enough cooked rice for serving, and stir to combine. I keep the ratio heavy on the veggie side, and use the rice more as a condiment.

I like to garnish with cilantro leaves on top, lime juice squeezed on top, some sesame seeds strewn on top too. But thats just me. Usually I've already devoured half the meal before I'm done cooking. So things might no reach that stage.

Should feed 4 normal people or around 1 and a half hungry YES!+ warriors.

And remember Stir Fry's are all about experimentation - add protein in whatever form floats your boat - tofu, soy protein, paneer etc...

More vegetarian recipes at this link: (i stole the picture from the site)
Read more: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2006/02/stir-fry-bliss.html#ixzz0OawogoUb

Sweet and Sour Soup!

* From Mary Shorten's blog (Cinnamon and Nutmeg). She's from Ottawa and is a wonderful friend. Check her blog out at the links to the side.



Sweet and Sour Soup

There's nothing quite like a hot bowl of sweet and sour soup - it's one of those dishes that seem to enliven taste buds I forgot I had. Craving such an experience this morning I whipped up what soon proved to be a perfect bowl of soup.

This recipe is packed with protein and nutrients. The tofu and the seaweed provide lots of easily absorbable, complete proteins - one bowl will give you about 1/3 the daily recommended intake. Nori is also the most nutritious of all the seaweeds, and is packed with vitamins and minerals (more so than the same amount of any vegetable!), especially A, B, C, calcium, and precious trace minerals. Cabbage is also a nutritional powerhouse, with tons of great stuff including massive amounts of vit. K and C and a fair amount of those elusive omega 3 fatty acids.

2 C vegetable broth or water
1t tamari
2 slices ginger (about half a centimetre wide)
1/4 C Japanese rice
1/2 C shredded cabbage (red or green)
1/2 C cubed medium tofu (silken tofu would also be great in this soup)
1 sheet nori, cut into strips (use scissors, and make the strips about 1 by 4 centimetres)
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 t corn starch mixed with 1T water
2 T maple syrup
1 T rice vinegar
juice from 1/4 of a lemon

garnish: seaweed and sesame seeds


I keep a tin of vegetable bouillon powder around for times like these, and added 2t of it to the water to make an instant broth. If you don't have any, and are in too much of a rush to make a broth from scratch, water will work fine. Put the broth on high heat, and add above ingredients down to and including the cayenne. Bring the soup to a boil, then turn it down to low heat and let it simmer. Cover, and stir from time to time for 15 mins.

At this point add a touch more water if it looks more like vegetables than soup, but if it was covered during cooking this shouldn't be necessary. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and allow it to simmer for 3-4 more mins while stirring.

Take it off the heat and add the remaining ingredients. If you've used red cabbage the soup will be a beautiful deep purple; with green cabbage it will be a nice light brown. Remove ginger pieces and garnish with seaweed and sesame seeds.

Makes 2 bowls of soup, which I thought would be a meal for one, but I was amazed to discover how filling it is - one bowl and I was stuffed!

YES!+ in amsterdam!

Guruji's Message for the Youth!

A new look!

Hey guys!

Soooo...carrying through with our idea of making a yes plus canada blog, I've tinkered with the blog that we are already part of and added links to great YES!+ blogs and some other gadgets on the side. We could post our TTC pictures/videos, and other news/updates/recipes/musings...and random nonsense here. Lets see where this takes us...

From all three of Anand.