| "What are you doing for New Year’s Eve?" asks the smug friend who is already invited to a cabin party of someone unknown to you. "Dunno," you say. Another buddy makes haste for a big New Year’s Eve event in Banff, the one he suggested in the Nashville North line-up last Stampede. Sadly, you declined. This was for reasons and relationships that now escape you. It’s Dec. 30 and your social procrastination is showing; its current manifestation is your lack of plans for New Year’s Eve. Still, you remain uninspired by last-minute tickets to restaurant parties offering finger food bearing no resemblance to the menu, noise-makers, shouting numbers backward in public and the awkward management of midnight kissing bandits. Perhaps this year you would like to make noise, kiss, or countdown the New Year at home. Here are some food suggestions that will deliciously compliment your choice of venue.
Sunterra Market is cooking you dinner (individual or family style) for $19.95 per person. The menu offers starters of tomato-gin bisque garnished with fresh basil and Asian shrimp cocktail accompanied by a wasabi-infused seafood sauce. Your main course is a choice between herb-crusted beef tenderloin with blueberry-port sauce, potatoes and asparagus or fresh salmon with baby shrimp and champagne cream sauce served with garlic risotto and asparagus. Even dessert is provided: molten chocolate soufflé served with vanilla crème sauce. Orders are accepted until 3:00 p.m. Dec. 30 for pick up Dec. 31. All you have to do is reheat, serve, and take all the credit. Order in-store or at www.sunterramarket.com or call 263-9759.
You and your guest(s) might prefer something more leisurely such as a fondue by Janice Beaton Fine Cheese (now two locations: 1708 - 8 Street S.W. and 1249 Kensington Road N.W.). This fondue is a blend of three of the finest cheeses of Switzerland (note: do not confuse ‘cheeses of Switzerland’ with ‘Swiss cheese’ as the latter is merely North American cheese with holes in it). The shop mixes fresh Gruyère, Emmental & Vacherin Fribourgeois in handy fondue-for-two containers ($12.00 each). A fool-proof recipe is provided – precisely followed, the result will be a delicious success. Co-owner Ryan Rivard explains that fondues were invented as a solution to leftover cheese ends before the time of refrigeration. Janice Beaton fondue cheeses of Switzerland are mixed fresh, unlike the industrial fondue mixes made of rinds. Cheese ends? Rinds? This cheese is the gourmet superior to that melted-plastic orange stuff, served to the tangle of bell-bottomed appendages found at only the grooviest Twister parties in the ’70s. Brighter is not better.
Fondue means "melt" in French and has come to be understood as food cooked in a pot in the centre of the table. This is part of the communal appeal, says Rivard, who suggests dipping lightly-steamed vegetables and cubes of fresh-baked bread. A crisp green salad balances the richness of the cheese fondue. If you haven’t a fondue pot in your cupboard, you can make an on-site purchase of the cast-iron variety, so well made it will be passed down through generations of family fonduers. A little pricey this; alternatively all Urban Barn locations are selling stainless steel fondue pots for around $26.00.
JBFC Fondue is also available at Second to None meats (2100 - 4 Street S.W.) where you can pick up wild jumbo prawns and scallops, Alaska king crab legs, lobster tails and the necessary entertainment hors d’oeuvres and condiments ranging from antipasto and pâté to all good things herbed and pickled.
Easier still are the following take-out options confirmed open and available New Year’s Eve. Aida’s Mediterranean Bistro offers a consistently delicious Falafel Sandwich ($4.95), Grape Leaves ($4.75), and Baba Ghannouj ($5.25), and is located at 2208 - 4 Street S.W. (call 541-1189). One block north is Towa Sushi, the neighbourhood Japanese favourite. The sashimi of your choice will be fresh and generously portioned so don’t order too much. Check with the take-out servers; they know! I strongly recommend the wave roll of shrimp and scallop tempura, red pepper, kani salad, corn, green pea and spicy mayonnaise ($12.00). Call 245-8585.
So what if you’re not hollering numbers in Banff or getting more wear out of your back-of-the-closet wedding attire? Go ahead – twist and shout at home. You can choose what and when you’ll eat as well as when and who you’ll kiss. This is simply procrastination with purpose. |
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