Lobster Season In Newfoundland

All of a sudden the restaurants on Water Street have been boasting lobster dinners, some as cheap as $22 bucks for a full meal. The local fish stores as well as the grocery stores are selling them live or cooked fresh at rock bottom prices. Not great for the fishermen – this season prices are lowest they’ve been for lobster in 25 years — around $3 a pound (about $6.60 per kg). But great for the consumer.

Though lobster Season In Newfoundland is a short season, it’s well celebrated. My roommate is invited to a lobster boil and I am green with jealousy.

A few times I have been regaled with stories of friends remembering that lobster was a poor man’s food when they were growing up…a by catch that was unsellable. It has only been in recent times that the crustacean has developed it’s upper crusty ways around here. How fascinant.

Newfoundland’s lobsters are bigger than Nova Scotia’s and some say tastier. Most are headed for the States.

Lobster season is over in June or July, depending on the lobster fishing area, so hurry on up.

PS. Don’t let the sign fool you, that’s one of the city’s finest fish stores advertising its wares. Fresh fish comes in daily at The Fish Depot and they will gladly package your lobster or other purchases up for you for traveling. The Fish Depot is located on Duckworth, just above the big bronze statue on George street.

As for the flippers, I have only had seal flipper pie once. It was a pie from Bidgood’s, and though the pie itself was tasty, the meat is really strong tasting – in fact it tasted like an Omega 3 fish oil pill. I think it might take time for me to acquire a taste for it. A mighty long time.

Crystal Head Vodka Available In Newfoundland Now

There she be – proof of Crystal Head Vodka on the shelf in the stores. I snapped this shot at the Merrymeeting store near Sobey’s in downtown St. John’s.

And at $49.99 Canadian, the vodka is a steal here in Canada now that our dollar has dropped.

Check out this earlier post to learn more about Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka.

And you can check the availability of the premium vodka in stores at the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation.

Walmart To Stay Open for 24 Hours

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In the true spirit of Christmas Shopping, Walmart stores across Canada have decided to offer 24 hour service to customers. Select stores will be open 24 hours everyday of the week, offering more opportunities for us to buy cheap goods for our loved ones.

Here in Newfoundland, the select stores that will be offering extended hours during the Christmas Season are:
Carbonear – GOFF AVE & COLUMBUS DRIVE
Clarenville - MANITOBA DRIVE & BALBO DRIVE
Gander – COOPER BOULEVARD & ROE AVENUE
Grand Falls-Windsor – CROMER AVE. & HARRIS AVE.
St. John’s - KENMOUNT RD & BIFURCATION RD

Find other Canadian non-stop Walmart 24 shopping stores locations here.

Hopefully the increased hours will decrease congestion at doors and entrances.

(Ok. Was that last sentence distasteful? Too soon?)

Newfoundland Is on the “Have” Team

It’s official. This past Monday it was announced that Newfoundland and Labrador is now a “have” province – the first time this has ever happened since the equalization program was introduced 51 years ago.

Stay tuned for a province wide party….

“We do plan to mark this momentous occasion,” Premier Danny Williams’s spokeswoman, Elizabeth Matthews, said.

Newfoundland actually came off equalization last April 1, a year earlier than expected.

The sad part is that we still have have-not provinces, with my former province Ontario now joining the have nots. I feel like I skipped out on friend just when they were down on their luck. But it’s not so Ontario, so don’t be so glum chum. I skipped out on you not because of the economy but because I needed to heed the call of the puffins…and because Newfoundlanders are the nicest people in the world.

Ok. For that you CAN feel a bit glum.

Weird thing is Canada has more have-not provinces than have provinces. The have-nots are Ontario, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and even Quebec (ouch – I didn’t know that.)  That means only Alberta, British Columbia,  Saskatchewan and Newfoundland are the “haves.”

Doesn’t seem right.

Here’s more fascinating info re: the equalization program.

The federal government will funnel $347 million in equalization payments to Ontario next year. Of course, as the premier noted, that’s mostly its own money that the province funnels to the feds, that gets reshuffled back.

Quebec will receive the most in equalization payments, collecting $8.3 billion, while Manitoba will get $2.1 billion, New Brunswick will get $1.7 billion, Nova Scotia $1.6 billion and Prince Edward Island $340 million.

As for Newfoundland’s term in the  “have” group is forecasted to continue to 2009-10, according to figures issued by the federal Department of Finance.

Remember people, the list isn’t forever. Like everything else in the world, it changes. Let’s all get together and try and make it a world where there is no have-not column, ok? And where everyone is the nicest the people in the world.

Rent-A-Goalie Star Loves Newfoundland

Christopher Bolton, creator and star of Rent-A-Goalie loves Newfoundland. Specifically Deer Lake, Newfoundland.

He has been out on a cross-country hockey tour to promote the third season of Rent-A-Goalie and has
has been keeping a diary this week in The National Post. His appreciation for Red Deer appeared October 29th, where he writes about how amazed he was at the 500 plus turnout that showed up for a hockey game between the Rent-A-Goalie team and the Deer Lake Red Wings. He also mentions Deer Lake on the 28th and 30th.

Rent-A-Goalie airs Mondays at 9:30 p. m. on Showcase. The second season of the show received six Gemini award nominations, including one for best comedy series.

Read Christopher Bolton’s diary here.

Crystal Head Vodka From Newfoundland

Crystal Head Vodka is a new luxury vodka in a very cool bottle that has been getting a bit of buzz thanks to a weird Youtube video starring Dan Aykroyd. And thanks to the comment left below by Andrew of Crystal Head, it’s available right now in the NL liquor stores! Check out my pic of a Crystal Skull Vodka bottle on the shelf at the store for $49.99.

The video at first was believed to be a promotional video for Ghostbusters 3 or the Indiana Jones DVD release as it opens up with Aykroyd talking about his fascination with

“the invisible world – a world which can help us get through life if we know how to draw upon its power. A world serving positive projections wherein you use your own personal mental and spiritual abilities to believe and subsequently make true the things that you want to happen for yourself. Also, healing, miracles, the presences of spirits and being once living and now gone in to another life, but who continue to intrude into our waking consciousness by for instance haunting people or places…”

Yup – it’ s not your typical commercial, or viral video. It’s not even funny.

You have to wait to get about half way through the video to hear Dan start talking about this joy – this vodka made in pure and clean Newfoundland and bottled in a clear skull.

But it’s for real and Dan Aykroyd who has recently been making some fine wines in the Niagara region, has now expanded to spirits, and he has chosen to make his first in Newfoundland.

What makes Crystal Head vodka so special is that it is quadrupled distilled and filtered three times through charcoal followed by triple filtration over Herkimer crystals – or diamonds – as they say in the video.

Designed by John Alexander and manufactured by Bruni Glass of Italy, the design of the bottle celebrates the mysterious legend of the 13 Crystal Heads found around the world and mentioned in the last Indiana Jones Movie. The 13 Crystal Heads are believed to be of ancient powerful origin by some, or a Victorian archeaological hoax by others. In the video Aykroyd claims they contain vast knowledge and even “enlightenment” and are believed to house radiant psychic energy, which has magical powers and healing properties.

“We now have a replica to connect us to the message of the crystal heads purpose on earth – the enlightnment of human kind to the spiritual awakening. “

Man, I wish I had heard of this before I started all that meditation stuff.

The vodka ain’t cheap – it’s being sold for about $50 US a head. There are some web sites allowing you to buy it in the States, though they don’t ship to all of them.

I can’t find out where to get then in Canada or here on the rock. The Crystal Head Vodka website is pretty slim for content at the moment. It has the Dan Aykroyd 8 min video on it – no Contact us, No info other than the video. Nothin.

Still – the video is a pretty nice ad for Newfoundland.