The Brown Knowser

It would seem that I'm drinking beer from bigger bottles these days. Some of the beers that I've reviewed have come in 600- and 750-mL bottles, and over the past month I've tasted some new brews from growlers—64 fluid ounces. And now here's a third: Dark Horse Stout Broadhead Brewing Company Ottawa, ON $10.00 + $5.00 deposit, 64 fl. oz. I first learned about this beer from one of my foodie Twitter friends; last week, one of my Thursday Pints buddies told me that I had to go to the brewery and pick up some of this oatmeal stout. Because the brewery is only 10 minutes away from my house, that wasn't a tall order. Broadhead Brewery has only been around since last summer and already it's making an impression in Ottawa. With a half-dozen choices available and growing, the brewery is in a good position to compete with other local breweries. And being a fan of stouts, I was more than anxious to try Dark Horse. Dark Horse has a dark b...

Almost there! Chŏnju Gaeksa, courtesy Wikipedia I was in touch with my publisher yesterday. There has never been a deadline for my book, Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary . When I was finished writing it, I was to let them know, to send it along. They would have an editor look at it and provide me with feedback. With the feedback returned, I read the comments and was encouraged. I took the suggestions to heart, and in many ways I implemented changes. It took me all summer and into the fall, but I was under no deadline. I submitted my second draft, and after more discussions I made a few final changes. And then I was done. I was satisfied with the results. Over the Christmas holidays, I was presented with the proofs for my book. It was great to see the cover that the publisher had chosen, to read the synopsis and my bio, and to see how the pages were formatted. I reviewed the proofs, suggested changes, and sent the book back. In January, I received the second proof, but because I was...

North Berwick, Scotland: 1988

Attention, Ottawa bloggers: I know that there are plenty of tweetups all over the world, let alone Ottawa, but I am cordially inviting you to another opportunity to meet fellow twits and enjoy some fabulous food and beer too. The date: Tuesday, March 6, 2012 The place: Mill St. Brew Pub , 555 Wellington Avenue (in the old mill at the Portage Bridge) The time: from 6:00 pm, on If you already follow me on Twitter, you've already read my tweets about this event. You can also follow news about the event and join in any discussion by using the hashtag #MillStTweetup . Thanks to those of you who have already responded and have helped spread the word. I've already met some wonderful people through Thursday Pints West and I'm looking forward to meeting more Ottawa peeps. So, who's in?

I've been missing my wife over the past week, as she's away on business in Taiwan. She left before Valentine's Day, so we didn't spend that romantic day together. Instead, I watched our kids eat chocolate. I miss my wife's home cooking. She's a great cook with a wonderful repertoire of dishes, yet loves to experiment and try new things as well. She loves to get us to be adventurous with her. When my wife cooks a new meal and I dig in, she'll ask, "how is it?" Unless I really don't like the meal she's prepared, I'll give a non-committal response: "It's not bad." She's used to this response. She hears it a lot. When she does, she knows me. She knows that I didn't hate the dish but she doesn't know if I like it (if I love it, I state it loud and clear). So, with my ambiguous answer, she'll follow up with another question. "Would you eat it again?" She knows that I'll answer...

I love discovering new photo programs on my smartphone. They let me improve my photos, get artsy with them, and share them out to the world. The other week, I discovered a couple of new apps and decided to play with them. I took one photo from my Camera Roll on my smartphone, processed the photo through one app to get a special effect, added another image with a second app, and then put the photo through one final process with a third application before sending it out through Instagram. Here's the original photo. Though I have it on my phone, it was actually shot with my D-SLR. It's a photo of the beach in North Berwick, Scotland, just a short walk from Roland Axam's fictional home. The first app I ran this photo through is called PerfectPhoto. It allows you to enhance a photo or apply special effects. For fun, I applied the Invert special effect, which turns your positive image into a negative. The result was quite dramatic. I then enhanced the b...

It's kind of like this: If you go downtown in Ottawa on July 1 st to take in the entertainment on Parliament Hill and watch the fireworks until they are completely done and the crowds start to work their way home, do you get upset because you can't simply hop on the first bus that is heading out of the core? Or the third one? Or the tenth one? Are you ticked off when you finally get on a bus but can't find a seat? Of course not. You know what to expect. You know that everybody else has the same idea, is doing exactly what you're doing. To get upset would be stupid, right? When you use public transit to get out of the downtown core on the biggest day in Canada, you just relax and go with the flow. So when a much-anticipated brew pub opens in Ottawa, after it is touted in the media and, yes, even talked about in The Brown Knowser , why would you get upset when you show up, without a reservation (if you could get one—and you can't), only to find...

I've got nothing to say about this photo, other than I came across it while I was scanning slides, and I like it. This photo was shot in spring, 1991, in Snowdonia, in Northern Wales. The dying light waned behind Mount Snowdon, where we camped on the slopes, amongst a field of sheep and goats. The landscape was nothing short of majestic. Happy Friday!

Well, it's done. Two years ago, when I first called upon my followers for suggestions of what to read over the coming year, I received lots of suggestions. Last year, when I had more followers, I received so many suggestions that I couldn't possibly get through all of the books. And if you read my post last week , you know that I didn't get through that reading list. This year, I expected to be swamped with suggestions, but I promised myself that I would do my best to pick out some really good reads. I received only one response. One comment with two suggestions. But to tell you the truth, I'm a little relieved. There will be no weeding out great reads, no making lists that I can't complete. This year's list is short and sweet. Thank you, Finola. You provided the two recommendations, and because you're the only one who gave me something to read, I'm picking both books. I'll hit the local Indigo this weekend and take a look for them or will...

Cancun, Mexico: 1989

Each weekend for the past three months or so, I've made a trip to my local LCBO , where I've been checking out the beer section at the back of the store, away from the wines and spirits, and there I've scanned the shelves, hoping that my eye would catch a label or bottle that would draw me near. This weekend, I had a specific beer in mind, and instead of heading to my neighbourhood liquor store, I went on a road trip to the brewery itself, in search of its latest offering. That brewery was Beau's All Natural Brewery , out in Vankleek Hill —between Ottawa and Montréal. This February, Beau's is celebrating winter's typically coldest, bleakest month by offering five new releases in four weeks ( FeBREWary is their word). The first release was this past Saturday in their brewery, and the beer was their Beaver River I.P.Eh? , an incredible mouthful of hops. I was lucky enough to sample this brew directly from a keg, as well as from a chilled tap, and was...

It's that time of the month: one of my favourite times, where I get you to wrack your brain and test your familiarity with Canada's capital. It's time for Where In Ottawa . If you're new to this contest, here are the rules. The photo in this post was shot somewhere in Ottawa. Your job: identify the location. The first person to leave the correct answer in the Comments section for this post wins. I know that many of you who follow me on Twitter have tried to send me your guess by tweet, and I haven't accepted your answer, even if you've been right. The reason that I insist that you place your answer on this blog is because your response is date-stamped, so there's no ambiguity about who is first with a response. Also, some of the players only follow me through The Brown Knowser through LinkedIn, or through Facebook, and they never see the tweets. I want to be fair. The winner of Where In Ottawa will receive a PDF copy of my novel, Songsaengnim: A Kor...