The Adventures of Bob and Shan…
It all started with a hashtag.
It’s how @shanannigans first stumbled into the virtual life of @bobdeutscher. The fateful hashtagging of #YXE on a picture of a yellow, snow covered wagon wheel got the attention of this mysterious, beautiful blonde. A seemingly insignificant event which proved to be quite significant later on…
Fast forward a year later to yet another Instagram photo. Was it me? Was it my salad? Perhaps she just had a penchant for #winter and yellow things? Well, whatever it was, I hoped the elusive @shannanigans wouldn’t wait another year to spread her “likes” all over my little Instagram world. My prayers were answered when a few more likes later, she committed and hit that follow button. Having recently jumped back into the single life, I recalled this “Shanannigans” character from her previous likes, and feeling bold, I followed back. Using Instagram’s latest feature – Direct Message – I sent her a beautiful picture of nothing, and said “Thanks for following me”.
I literally sent her a picture of nothing.
It was just a black square.
But somehow, I intrigued her enough for a response, and so our adventure began.
Fast forward about four messages later, when I responded to a beautiful photo of this scarved Shanannigins with my own scarf selfie. Surely this well dressed, bearded winter man, providing for himself as he ventured to the grocery store, would intrigue a young Shanannigins! Surely it did not. That was the last I heard from her. I resigned myself to a fate of Instagram-less love.
But wait!
As time passed, I managed to capture her attention with my constant food photos, and she kept clicking that like button. There was hope!
Then I posted the magical picture that would change it all… It was a glorious photo of my room-mates weiner, yes that’s right, his weiner. Now this wasn’t just any old weiner, and my room-mate isn’t just any old room-mate, he is the one and only Nathan Guggenheimer. A.k.a @chefgoogs – co-owner, executive chef, and butcher of Ayden Kitchen & Bar. The creator of this delicious made-from-scratch “Hot Dog Sammie”. Well let me tell you, the ladies were clamouring over this beautiful thing, but only one girl could truly grab my attention. Thankfully, she presented me with the perfect opportunity to rekindle our online romance (okay there was no romance, but she was reeeeally beautiful, and I wanted to meet this wonderful looking girl). Finally going beyond just a like, @shanannigins commented “I want to go there. 🙁“.
I knew I had to seize this opportunity! Taking it upon myself to show her all the wonders of Ayden, I tapped back into my Instagram messages, and hastily sent her another picture of the hot dog, putting out the offer “You need to try out Ayden! If you just need someone to take you there, I would be happy to treat you to a lunch or dinner :)”. I gave her my cell number, and told her to text me if she was interested. I had hope, thanks to Nathan’s assurance that sending girls a picture of his weiner “works every time ;)”. Sure enough, it did! A day later, I received the fateful text message from Shannon (a.k.a Shanannigins from Instagram). We started chatting and set a dinner date for two weeks down the road.
We continued to text, getting to know each other, until the day finally came for our first date! I picked her up, and we made our way over to Ayden for our 8pm reservation. Before we knew it, it was nearly midnight and we were still talking about who knows what, while fawning over our shared love for coffee, only to realize the restaurant was closing! Not quite ready to end the night there, we walked across the alley for some wine at Flint, continuing our conversation for another 2 hours before realizing it was probably time to head home. After a wonderful evening, I dropped her back at home, and we parted ways with a simple “I had a really good time tonight”. It was a wonderful evening that would mark the beginning of our shared love for food, coffee, and conversation.
Fast forward nearly a year later, and here we are starting a blog! We talked about it for some time, but it wasn’t until a recent trip to Tofino, BC, that we came up with the perfect name, and realized it would be a fitting blog title.
The Adventures of Bob & Shan.
It started as #theadventuresofbobandshan, a hashtag to document our adventures to the west coast. Upon coming back home, we realized it would be great to continue our adventures. Whether that’s driving to Tofino, going snowshoeing in Saskatoon, or just making delicious food at home, we wanted a place where we could document everything as we continue adventuring!
So it begins, The Adventures of Bob and Shan!
Bob