Dear Stomach: I'm Sorry (Vancouver Edition)

In this latest edition of Dear Stomach: I'm Sorry, I'd like to start with a conversation from last week, which went like this... My friends: "Hey, why are you going to Vancouver?" Me: "To DRINK ALL THE BEERS and EAT ALL THE FOODS."

Trip report: Mission Accomplished! In just over two days, I consumed an amount of calories that most people would consider excessive, stupid, or possibly even unholy. My liver and stomach are gonna need a vacation for the next few days.

Final tally: 54 hours on the ground, five breweries, a pourhouse, an oyster bar, a ramen joint, a dessert house, a Lebanese brunch spot, a sushi joint, a Hong Kong style noodle house, two hotel lounge breakfasts, and a cheese tart cafe. Sometimes, my stomach impresses even me.

The following photos may induce hunger, or possibly horror. :)


Beer flight from House of Funk Brewing.


Beer flight from Green Leaf Brewing.


Tokyo Iced Milk Tea in a ziploc bag.


Mazesoba. So delicious.


Beers from Beere Brewing Co.




Beer from House of Funk Brewing.




Beer flight from Brassneck Brewing.


Pint from Chewies Oyster Bar.


Happy Hour east and west coast oysters.


Beers from Pourhouse.


Scotch Eggs.


Cocktail to cap off the first 12 hours.


Beer for brunch.


Turkish tea.


Lebanese brunch at JamJar.




Beer flight at Brewhall.






Beer with sushi dinner at Minami.


Aburi sushi.






Duo of uni from Japan and BC.


About the only healthy thing I ate this weekend.


Japanese style cheese tarts.

Dispatches From The Field: St. John's, Newfoundland

For our final trip of the year, we spent four days out in St. John's, NL, to attend our friends' wedding, as well as to eat and drink to excess (as per standard operating procedure). Having never been out to Newfoundland before, I can now confirm that the wind is brutal, the people are friendly, their accents do not require subtitles/ closed captioning (except when extraordinarily thick), the food is strange (moose meat in a glass bottle? 10lb tubes of bologna?!), and the traditions are even stranger... Example: we were 'screeched in', whereby first time visitors are made honourary Newfoundlanders by drinking a shot of Screech (rum), saying a bunch of gibberish, and then kissing a frozen cod on the lips. Just another regular weekend on the rock.

Enjoy a handful of photos from our all too brief stay. We'll definitely be back.


Clear and beautiful late afternoon on the way in to Yellow Belly Brewery and Public House.


45 minutes later, we came out to this garbage snow and wind.


Flight of Yellow Belly brews.


Anita at Cape Spear, the eastern most point of North America.


Sunset at Cape Spear Lighthouse.




Blackhead Bay.


Whelk and Copa (pork) on a Labrador Tea Skewer from Raymond's (the #7 rated restaurant in Canada).


A beer from Dildo Brewing Company. I'se da B'y PA.


Macaroons at the wedding.


We drank a shot of this Screech before kissing the frozen cod.


I drank all of the 'brewed for Newfoundland' crap beers. Like playing Pokemon, gotta catch em all.


Bottled Moose and Bottled Rabbit. Newfoundland, you so weird.


Ross Larkin, the winner of last season's Top Chef Canada, and also the Chef de Cuisine at Raymond's.


Petty Cove.




Tea at Mallard Cottage (#22 restaurant in Canada).


$5 for a plate, and then you select as much desserts as you want/ can fit onto the plate.


Our selections. We ended up packing most of them up for later.


Port Rexton Chasing Sun IPA. Delicious.




Jellybean Row Houses in St. John's.










The view from our hotel room.