As we're officially now in spring, I'm doing some spring cleaning. You know how you pack away your winter boots and clothes? Yeah, I'm trying to pack away my winter belly until next year. But it's not going so well. My month long drinking fest known as Febrewery really did a number on my gut, and age related metabolic slowdown means I actually have to work at losing the flab. Boo urns. So when we were presented with a chance to climb the 802 stairs up the Calgary Tower this week, we jumped at the opportunity. It surprisingly only took 10 minutes to do, and probably could have been faster had I known it was only 51 flights of steps. Even so, at this pace, it was the equivalent of scrambling up a mountain in an hour. I hadn't been up the Tower in 20 years, so seeing these views of the city were a different perspective.
The glass floor of the Calgary Tower, looking back down to 9th Ave, nearly 200m below.
A different view of Calgary... this is Centre Street heading north, between the Telus Sky and Bow buildings.
The multi-tiered building on the right is City Hall.
It appears that I need to pen a letter to my stomach anytime Kris and Nicole come down to visit. It's a short letter that basically reads, "Dear Stomach: I'm sorry!" Because, while we always go out and enjoy a day of sensory delights for our palates, the punishment to our stomachs afterwards is inexcusable. After our 8 hour food and drink odyssey yesterday, I went to bed and experienced what it must be like to try sleeping while 7 months pregnant, as I had incubated a rather active food baby in my tummy.
If you think I speak in hyperbole, here's what our itinerary between noon and 8pm looked like: 1) Brunch at Ten Foot Henry -> 2) Shakes and fries at Re:Grub -> 3) Beer Flights from the Cold Garden taproom -> 4) Hot Chocolates and 'pork wings' at PZA Parlour -> 5) Beer Flights from Banded Peak Brewing -> 6) All you can eat hot pot at Regency Palace. Aside from making our way from place to place, the only downtime we had in between was spent buying beer at Oak and Vine, and sodas and potato chips at Bite Groceteria.
Just the lead off photo to entice you.
Kris and Nicole at Ten Foot Henry - the very reason my palate feels enriched, but my stomach feels destroyed this morning.
Immediately upon finishing brunch, we walked here.
For some delicious milkshakes.
And some asiago truffle fries.
Next up: Cold Garden taproom.
Flights served with old sawed off skis.
Pool noodle decor. It's eclectic, to say the least.
The beautiful wooden bar, burned by electricity.
PZA Parlour's signature concoction for YYC Hot Chocolate Fest. Nutella infused, pop rock rimmed glass, marshmallow foam, and topped with an Italian donut.
The only appropriate thing to do with delicious pop rocks stuck on your glass.
Delightful Pork 'wings' at PZA.
The taproom at Banded Peak Brewing.
More beer flights. Fun side note: You can get 1 litre cans of the craft brews here!
And to cap off the glutton fest, we finished with some all you can eat hot pot at Regency Palace. I regret nothing.
While not food related, we went out for a stroll to walk off a calorie or two from the day's events. This was the 'Nibbles' installation for the Glow Downtown Winter Lights Festival.
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.
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.
