Text 3854, 91 rader
Skriven 2006-07-26 21:50:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: Wedding Daze 2
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After the ceremony there was more champagne and then we were off to
L'Heritage, the French restaurant I have spoken so highly of on past
occasions. We had a simple light three course meal of intriguing mesclun
salad full of odd bits and garnished with wild flowers followed by a
fondue of ostrich, bison, muskox, caribou and elk together with mushroom
and vegetable platters in an oniony beef broth. Dessert was a fruit and
chocolate platter and for once I admired rather than sneered at the
painted plates; they were quite well done.... long, slender, diamond
platters painted with a soft, runny chocolate sauce, a perfect circle of
six cherries (6 varieties) surrounding a lone strawberry with a
trapezoid of pineapple at the top and a flourless brownie at the bottom,
cut so that the sides were perfectly parallel to the plate's edges. Then
squirts of hard glossy chocolate on the diagonal to give some dynamic
tension to the perfect symmetry. Very artful.

After dinner, we retired to the house for the reception which was
catered by The Bistro which is run by the same guy as L'Heritage. The
food is simpler but of equal quality and tastiness. We had tons of
canape sandwiches, cheeses, hors d'oeuvres and other tasty nibbles for
90. (We had people dropping in all night.) Interestingly one of the
choices was samosas, a case of the best place in town imitating the
second best as samosas are a staple at the otherwise staid, old
fashioned steak house (the current owner is a Sikh and it was his only
addition to the 25 year old menu) which Neekha loves so much and which I
have written about before. I think the highlight had to be marinated
arctic char grilled on skewers although it would be hard to choose.
Michelle's son Sebastian tended bar and quickly learned how to make a
perfect, classic martini. A lot of younger people had their first
martini that night; most liked them.... Raine had at least four and was
quite mellow by midnight.

The reception was officially over at 10 but that was only so that
Chloe's 15th birthday party could begin. A dozen of her friends came by
about then. An interesting note: the kids were allowed to drink IF they
had written consent from the parents (confirmed by telephone to avoid
forgeries); they all had and they all did. For most of them it was their
first drink, for the others their first civilized drink as opposed to
swilling coolers over a bon fire in the bush. With Seb controlling the
pours and various adults discretely supervising the consumption there
were no obvious excesses. Chloe had requested a key lime pie rather than
a cake and Roslind whipped up four of them (with Mexican limes). Things
didn't wind down until four although Roslind and I retired at 12:30
taking Neekha and Natasha home with us.

Sunday the various families gathered in smaller groups. Ray Senior, who
had hauled his boat up, took the Eskelsons fishing and did up a shore
lunch with supper at Raine's. We took the Roslind's parents to a hotel
brunch and Roslind's sister threw a barbecue supper for the Minault clan.
The Letourneaus went sightseeing and had lunch at a funky little fish and
chip place.  They suppered on reception leftovers. Roslind and I dropped
in on all three dinners with drinks at Raine's, appetizers at Sandra's
(a grilled pork chop and potato salad.... some appetizer!) and
sandwiches etc with the Letourneaus at Ray and Michelle's.

The fish and chip joint is worth a mention. All the fish is fresh caught
and Native harvested from Great Slave Lake. The only meal on the menu is
catch of the day, choice of battered and deep fried, floured and
pan fried or grilled, accompanied by chips or bannock and Caesar or house
Salad. The cook is rude and insulting, not unlike a few places in NYC
who made their reputation on the nastiness of their waiters. When things
get busy (which is almost all the time)  the waitress helps cook and you
pick up your meal from the counter when they holler at you rather than
receiving table service. When the waitress is cooking you are expected
to get your own beer and wine from the cooler and pay up at the end of
the meal on the honour system. It was recently rated the best fish and
chip restaurant in Canada... by Reader's Digest mind you, not Zagat or
Michelin, still an honour of sorts.

The buffet brunch had some interesting items besides the usual Eggs
Benedict and Baron of Beef. I found and enjoyed both an oyster bar and a
sushi/sashimi station (the hotel is closely tied in with the Japanese
winter Aurora watching tour companies and now has quite a few Japanese
staff).

On Monday Roslind and I returned to work but the others partied on in
various combinations. Most of the visitors left Tuesday although Ray
Senior is still here fishing, drinking lots of scotch and enjoying the
company Neekha and Alex.


Cheers

Jim, in Yellowknife




... We spend billions on games of chance, not including weddings.
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