Vitamin Daily

We aspire to throw fancy dinner parties, complete with canapés and creative cocktails, but without a team of elves to craft hundreds of tiny vol-au-vents, we usually end up offering our guests take-out and beer.

We’re no longer a second rate hostess now that we’ve discovered Cool & Simple gourmet frozen food. We stopped by their efficient store to pick up everything we needed for our upcoming intimate soirée, starting with scrumptious Asian-style salmon tartare ($19.95), followed by a dinner of duck magret ($28.95) and ending the night with some lovely macarons de Paris ($9.95). We crossed our fingers and picked up some thaw-and-serve brioche ($5.95) in case our little dinner party for two lasted until the next morning.

We hear men love women who can cook. —JN

Cool & Simple, 333 Richmond Rd., Montreal, 514-281-9883, www.cool-simple.com