20 May 2010

We wish to dedicate the Calgary blog entry to Sue, Dan and Olive who hosted us on a gastronomic extravaganza in Calgary and a wondrous exploration of the Canadian Rockies.

After our very early departure from Winters, we returned the car to Sacramento airport and jumped on a very small (60 seater) plane to San Francisco where we got our connection to Calgary. Calgary is approximately 1000m above sea level and is nestled amongst the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The landscape is stunning - snow capped mountains, reaching elevations of 2000-3000m. Summer had arrived in Calgary, sunshine, blue skies and mosquitoes!! It was so wonderful to be met by the gorgeous, smiling Sue at the airport and to be bundled up and taken to Sue and Dan's oasis of a home in the inner suburbs overlooking downtown Calgary.We met their gorgeous cat, Olive, who, although rather shy, was part of all the activities around the home!

Our first evening was spent in the garden, enjoying magnificent sparkling rose, superb Argentinean red wine, sumptuous prawns cooked in butter and Sue's secret herb and spice rub, Alberta fillet steaks ("If it's not Alberta, then it's not steak") and roast veges. Time flew by as we chatted and laughed and eventually moved indoors as the night settled in and the air became a little cooler - what a surpriseit was to see that it was 11pm - the long days of a northern summer!!

After some much needed sleep, we spent the next day exploring the sights of Calgary - the Sky Tower, Downtown, Inglewood, the Bow River and the site of the 1988 (I think the date is right, but it may have been another year - apologies for any errors) Winter Olympics - aerial ski jumps, bobsled run (Made famous in Cool Runnings) and the luge - It was amazing to see these sports structures without snow, they must be stunning when it is snow season. The weather was amazing that afternoon - as we stood on the top of the hill that overlooks Calgary we watched 3 storm fronts approaching from 3 sides - spectacular, but a little scary to be the 3 highest objects in Calgary - commonsense got the better of us and we scooted off that hill before the rain and lightning arrived!

That evening we went to the River café which is located on an island in the middle of the Bow River in downtown - a spectacular location. We have to tell you about this meal - we shared a tasting platter for entrée - finely shaved bison meat, duck foie gras, candied smoked trout, rabbit sausage, salami and olives - yummmmm. We then followed this course with roast lamb fillet and roast duck fillet - washed down with a sensational Okanagan red wine.

The next day Sue took us up to the Rocky Mountains to see Canmore, Lake Bow, Banff and Lake Louise - the photos capture a little of this magnificent beauty of this part of the world. We saw glaciers, walked beside frozen lakes, saw bald eagles, blue jays, gophers and elks - the bears and coyotes avoided us!

Calgary is the home to a restaurant called "Rouge". Rouge won an award in April for being in the top 100 restaurants in the world. We had read about his award when we were in Montreal.Sue, the legend, managed to book us a table there for our last night. So after a wondrous day in the mountains we headed off to dinner at this special restaurant. As it was so difficult to choose our meals, we opted for the chef's 6 course surprise selection. At the risk of boring you or making your mouth water, here is the menu of that night:

·Chicken liver pate

·Freshly shucked oysters with wasabi/coriander and red pepper salsa

·Mushroom tart with a fried quail egg and tempura dandelion

·Foie gras with pork, tomato and herbs in aspic, salsa and currant mayonnaise

·Cold carrot and yoghurt cleanser soup with cucumber and mint slaw

·Alberta fillet of beef, handmade purple potato gnocchi with butternut pumpkin puree, accompanied by a seared scallop in mustard seed dressing

·Goat cheese, toast with strawberry, boysenberry and gooseberry

·Chocolate gateau with berries

Drinks for the evening were French champagne, Napa Valley Caymus Zinfandel and a chilled red dessert wine.

It was unbelievably delicious, delicate, satiating and unforgettable!! What a way to always remember Calgary with our special friends Dan and Sue - thanks so much.

A train trip to Vancouver awaits for the next blog……….Thanks for your lovely and much welcomed messages……..all the best, Rachel and Lynda