Far too often New Year’s Eve is anticlimactic.
You plan for weeks and then when you go out the meal is meh and often rushed, you pay too much, you wait for hours in the cold for a cab or an Uber, and you wake up the next day to feelings of disappointment and regret.
Only to do it again next year.
Here’s an idea: Skip the eve, take a two-hour trip into the mountains to celebrate the morning or afternoon of the last day of the year, and maybe wake up in 2018 to something a little more inspiring and satisfying.
On Dec. 31, the folks at Mount Engadine Lodge in Spray Valley Provincial Park — the lodge has been named one this nation’s Top 10 Hidden Gems by TripAdvisor — are hosting a special New Year’s Eve brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The menu for the nosh-up includes such sensational fare made from locally sourced ingredients as Huevos Rancheros, eggs bennies and homemade salmon lox, and a special cocktail selection, including orange raspberry mimosas made with mulled raspberries, OJ and bubbly.
The brunch will also be something of a coming out for Mandy Leighton, who was recently named the executive chef at the lodge, which has also over the years earned a reputation as a culinary destination in a gorgeous wilderness setting.
Leighton, who graduated from the elite Culinary Institute of Canada in P.E.I., has also been certified by the Canadian School of Holistic Nutrition, so you know what she’ll serve you on this Sunday is going to taste fantastic and your body will thank you for the goodness you give it.
Should you find yourself feeling rejuvenated or perhaps even a little fuzzy from the effects of the champagne or any of their boozy concoctions — there’s also Baileys and coffee available for those who need a more spirited wake-up call in the a.m. — make time for a backcountry hike around the area.
And if you really want to kick the New Year off right, stick around, book one of their amazing rooms, sample what Chef Leighton has on the menu for the evening, and wake up the next day to a fresh calendar, fresher Rocky Mountain air and the wonders of the wilds of Southern Alberta.
No waiting for cabs, no meh meals, no regrets.
Tickets for Mount Engadine’s New Year’s Eve brunch are $25 per adult, $17.50 for kids, with the grown-ups in the group getting one of those featured cocktails included in the cost.
To make a reservation or for more details, please contact them at mountengadine@castleavery.ca, by calling 403-678-4080 or by checking out their website mountengadine.com.
(Photo courtesy Sebastian Buzzalino.)
