Text 31551, 96 rader
Skriven 2009-11-29 02:33:06 av Dale Shipp (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: Canada tour 2
=====================
The Jasper Park Lodge is a resort lodge in the National Park, also run
by Fairmont.  For years they have run a event called Christmas in
November.  This was the 21st offering.  Apparently, it is very popular
and has many repeat visitors.  Edmonton is about four hours away, and
Calgary is about six hours away.  I'd guess that most of the 300+ guests
were from one of those two cities.  Our tour group of 25 Americans was a
small portion of the crowd.  This hotel was a good step above the
locations we have visited on other tours -- perhaps a four star hotel
and four+ star food.

The first evening was the official reception.  Food and drinks were
being served from multiple stations around the Great Room.  I did not
make a list of all the things that they had -- but everything was
exceptional in taste and appearance.  Each station had a member of the
kitchen staff preparing and serving the food for that station.  

Some of my favorite selections were: egg nog martinis made with an egg
nog mix and vodka. oysters -- very fresh and briny tasting.  They were
kept on an ice bed with an ice sculpture background.  The guy shucking
them was hard pressed to keep up with the demand. roast beef -- nicely
red and freshly carved.

There were many other really good things to choose from, from appetizers
through main dish items and on to desserts. A few of the things I can
recall were a freshly prepared seafood bouillabaisse, a chocolate
fondue, peel & eat shrimp, a multitude of canapes, three types of pates,
sausages that had been made and smoked on premises, lamb shanks, bison
stew, a customized salad station with chef made dressings, individual
creme brulees, cheese selections, beef tenderloin medallions in a wine
sauce, and much much more.

A major attraction of this event were sessions with visiting chefs and
other experts.  The schedule for the next two days was breakfast, a
morning session, lunch, two afternoon sessions, a reception, and then
dinner.  Each breakfast was far better than one normally expects of a
breakfast buffet.  Even though there were many steam table items, they
seemed fresher than the usual.  This was in part due to the crowd
devouring them before they could go stale and the kitchen staff who kept
them fresh continuously.  In addition to the normal offerings of
sausage, bacon, ham, fresh fruit and scrambled eggs there were eggs
Benedict and an omelet station.  The poached eggs on the eggs Benedict
had yolks that were a deeper orange color than we have ever seen.

Lunch and dinner were set menus, served fresh and hot at the table.  It
is amazing how the kitchen could serve that many people and have it come
out so well.  

Our first lunch on the second day at the lodge started with a pumpkin
and chestnut soup, with preserved fig.  Next came a plate of three
wraps, blue crab and watercress with lemon dill aioli, Alberta braised
short ribs with horseradish mayonnaise, and garden grilled vegetables
with truffle vinaigrette.  There was also a wild mushroom and sweet
onion salad.  Dessert was peach clafoutis with fresh vanilla coulis.

Dinner that evening started with a sweet potato carrot bisque with
crispy red onions.  Each time they served a soup, they had a garnish
already in the bowl and then poured the hot soup from pitchers.  Very
effective presentation.  The entree was Alberta chicken supreme stuffed
with fairwind goat cheese.  Side dishes of braised fingerling potato and
sauteed baby vegetables finished the plate.  Dessert was a parfait of
white chocolate mousse and strawberry.

The third day's lunch started with an organic oak leaf lettuce salad
which had truffle oil, sauteed pine nuts and mandarin segments.  The
entree was veal blanquette in a buttered papadella and accompanied by a
medley of vegetables.  Dessert was maple creme caramel with Saskatoon
berry compote.

Dinner that night was a gala affair -- i.e. more dress up than the usual
causal attire.  The menu was upscale to fit.  It started with what they
called an asparagus shooter Canadian prosciutto salsa.  The soup was
celeriac veloute with a garnish of "a la creme" morel, chanterelle and
blue benedictin.  One of our party was allergic to some types of wild
mushroom and they served her a potato and leek soup.  Next came an
appetizer of hot smoked salmon, served with cilantro couscous salad and
pear lemon compote.  This was a decent size piece of salmon, perhaps 3-4
ounces.  After this substantial appetizer, they served what they called
a "Trou Normand", or Norman break -- traditionally calvados, a variety
of apple brandy.  We have also had this called an "Intermezzo" at
another restaurant.  For this meal they served an apple brandy granite
with tarragon crisp.  The granite is essentially a sorbet made from
cider and calvados.  It would have been ok if the meal had stopped
there, but they continued with an excellent entree of chateaubriand,
market vegetables and potatoes scalloped using 10-year aged cheddar.
Dessert was a maple Christmas log, served with a cranberry macaroon.

                               Dale Shipp
                  fido_261_1466 (at) comcast (dot) net
                              (1:261/1466)


... Shipwrecked on Hesperus in Columbia, Maryland. 00:22:27, 29 Nov 2009
___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30

--- Maximus/NT 3.01
 * Origin: Owl's Anchor (1:261/1466)