Exercise Makes You Fat

Exercise makes you fat!!! <-- a provocative statement, I know. But the logic is fairly simple. Person tries to lose weight by exercising. Does vigorous workout. Feels good about burning calories. Then eats disproportionately large meal, overestimating the actual amount of calories burned. I don't even know why I'm talking about this, as clearly, I haven't seen the inside of a gym since ... ever. But as an analog, Anita and I went to donate blood yesterday, which is pretty much like working out cause you're left feeling drained and tired, but you feel good about yourself afterwards. So to 'replenish', we indulged in a rather calorie dense meal at Re:Grub Burger bar, with AMAZING milk shake concoctions. See photo for yourself.

Rather than stop there, we went out for beers, cocktails, ramen, unagi poutine (eel topped poutine, with bonito), and sea urchin. And then followed that up with more shots and beer, including feeding a prairie fire (tequila shot w/ tabasco) to an unsuspecting colleague.

I feel fat today. Can't quite figure out why.



My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard...




Uni - (really, the guts of a sea urchin). Our absolute favourite type of sushi.




And as a present to myself, I bought a book that will hopefully teach me how to brew my own delicious beer at home.

Donald the Hutt

Happy Black Friday (aka "punch people randomly at Walmart while fighting over a $30 TV" day). Mind you, with an impending Trump presidency, random acts of punching and hate over silly things are likely to happen far more often, regardless of the day/ holiday. So with that in mind, check out these Trump and Hillary papercrafts I put together this morning. The Donald is sporting his signature floppy do, and a rather Jabba the Hutt-like double chin, which I'm sure will make him happy to no end (see article here: "Trump Wants Photo Editors to Drop the Unflattering Double Chin Pics").

You too can build your very own Trump/ Clinton paper crafts - print out the templates from here, grab your scissors and glue stick, and go to town.

Binge eating the sadness away

Anita has declared this hiking season officially over for us, which brings with it a bit of overwhelming grief that can only be muted by binge eating till your stomach has grown 3 sizes. And that we did yesterday, hitting up some new-ish spots in town for some weirdly delicious and/or interesting flavour combinations.

The strangest by far was the Dr. Octo-pi, a pizza topped with heavy cream, corn, seaweed, bonito flakes and braised octopus. If you've never seen what bonito flakes do when they're heated, you should really watch the video below of them pseudo melting/ flapping around.

Funny side note: as I was uploading this story, I could hear Anita in the foyer stepping on the scale and congratulating herself with 'Still good.'


The Doctor Octo-pi, from Full Circle Pizza & Oyster Bar.




Squid ink risotto with grilled calamari, and lightly roasted oysters topped with ham and basil. The roasted oysters / ham combo were amazing!


A selection of East and West coast oysters, ranging from sweet and creamy, to meaty and briny.


Kimchi fried rice, top with fried egg, in a hot stone bowl, from Pure Vietnamese Kitchen+Bar


Pork,chicken and spring rolls vermicelli.


Surf & Turf Sate roll: sushi style presentation of salad rolls with sate beef, topped with prawns and sweet chili sauce.

Miner's Peak, round two

On an uncharacteristically warm mid-November weekend, we headed out to the mountains to work out some 'I still can't believe they elected that turd' stress. We're already in fattened up hibernation mode, so we just went for an easy hike up Miner's Peak again (our first peak this season back in April). The day started out so promising, but as we approached the summit, extreme wind gusts threatened to toss us over the ridge, and razorblade-like snow pellets came out of nowhere to cut short our stay up top. The normally steely nerved Anita sat down a few times, refusing to go further because "We're going to die"... but somehow I sweet talked her into finishing, despite the miserable storm that rolled in. She may look relaxed in the summit photos, but beneath the smiles were a torrent of rage against the weather and a husband who refused to turn back.


You can see the snow and wind coming in from the west. 20 minutes later, we would get hammered by it as we neared the top.






Llamas on her toque.




















The missus admits to doing a little schoolgirl whiney crying earlier at the summit.




To end our day, we hit the Georgetown Inn to claim our Triple Crown of Canmore challenge prizes - free T-shirts and a beer. The Triple Crown Challenge simply involves summiting Ha ling Peak, East End of Rundle, and Mt. Lady MacDonald in one season, which we had completed back in August. Some would question whether a free t-shirt is worth it... to which I reply, "don't forget about the FREE BEER!"

#LoveYYC Day

Happy EXTRA HOUR OF SLEEP DAY! Yesterday for #LoveYYC day, the missus and I hit a bunch of local food and drink venues to take advantage of free tours, free swag, and free samples. Because the only time you should turn down free anything is if it's candy from a creepy old guy in a wood paneled van. But that's neither here nor there. We hit up the Big Rock brewery for free swag and tastings, the Crossroads market for lunch, Fiasco Gelato for a tour and tasting, and ended off at Village Brewery for a couple pints and tour of the production facility. #fatguystuckinaskinnybody


A roasted or chocolate barley malt for brewing stouts or porters.


Tour of Fiasco Gelato.


The Eggnog Gelato is YUM-MY!




Lunch at Crossroads Market, where free gift cards were given out to the first 50 patrons. Being night owls, we were not amongst those 50.


The beautiful copper mash tun and wort tanks at Village Brewery.


Wort tank selfie.


2 row malted barley.


Smaller capacity fermentation tanks for the smaller volume brews.


7000L capacity fermenters for the most popular brews.


The bottling line, equipped to do both 331ml bottles and 22 fl.oz bombers.


Yours truly, patiently waiting for gelato.


We'd finish off the evening gorging ourselves on takeout and blind tasting a few random beers in the fridge.



And you can't hang out with friends drinking beer without snapping a Polaroid or two.



Mike samples the Maiden ISA and Wit Belgian wheat beers.

Xi'an Muslim Quarter - Food and Photos

Tasty street food? Check. Photogenic pedestrian street? Check. Is there any question why we enjoyed the Muslim Quarter in the city of Xi'an, China? Most folks go to Xi'an specifically for the Terracotta Warriors, but the Muslim Quarter is definitely a must visit area for anyone who enjoys great (but not necessarily sanitary) food. Don't let the lack of refrigeration deter you... the open air, unrefrigerated meats cooked over charcoal grills were to die for. And did I mention how photogenic the area was at night? See for yourself.






No meat left behind. These dudes skillfully carve meat off of goat carcasses in the open air of Beiyanmen street.






Delicious charcoal grilled goat skewers.
















Stewed goat's feet. Surprisingly yummy.








Chinese style yogurt, served in porcelain jars.


This guy puts on quite the show while working some sugary goop used to make candy.




After sampling the street food, we sat down at a muslim restaurant where you had to rip up your own dense flatbread, which would then be cooked in broth as part of a noodle dish.