The Grand RE-Opening of Quark’s Qantina
March 10, 2012
************************

This is a private party.
We are not affiliated in any way with CBS Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures, the Star Trek franchise, or any other entity associated with the TV series or movies.
All Star Trek trademarks, logos, names and images belong to CBS Studios, Inc and are used here under fair-use guidelines.
Recipes and images from our parties may not be copied without written permission from me, Barbara Healy. Copyright © 2009 QuarksBarb.

THE INVITATION
As usual, costumes are REQUIRED!

The idea behind the party is that when Star Trek The Experience in Las Vegas closed its doors (in September 2009) Quark entered into an arrangement with the Wookie Chalmun (of Chalmun’s Cantina in the city of Mos Eisley on Tatoine (of Star Wars fame)) to open a new establishment. It is called Quark’s Qantina and is located on the Healy Space Station.

This is a private party.
We are not affiliated in any way with CBS Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures, the Star Trek franchise, or any other entity associated with the TV series or movies.
All Star Trek trademarks, logos, names and images belong to CBS Studios, Inc and are used here under fair-use guidelines.
Recipes and images from our parties may not be copied without written permission from me, Barbara Healy. Copyright © 2009 QuarksBarb.
Our goal as proprietors is to create a science-fiction themed gathering place where creatures from ALL galaxies, star systems, planets, and fantasies can imagine, for one night, that they are in a bar on a far-away space station. As such we do not feel bound to recreate exactly what was seen on screen. Rather, we incorporate, as much as possible, the props ( found objects ), lingo, and relationships as is practical given the limitations of our budget and 21st-century home.

The Qantina opened for the first time in February of 2009 and was such a success it is now a yearly event! Our most recent re-opening day was Saturday, March 10, 2012. We expected 42 guests and 37 showed up.

Although we purchased a new camera for this year’s event, one that got excellent reviews for low-light photography, the photos it took were not stellar. Neither were the ones taken by our guests. The low-light ones, that is. The ones taken with a flash ‘came out’ but I prefer not to use them because they destroy the ambiance we work so hard to create.

So, what follows are the best of the slightly out-of-focus holo-images from this year’s event.

Before I go any further, I must say that this year's event would not have been possible without the help of several key people:

Emilia Soroko, our Number One;
John Harrington , our primary graphic artist;
Sonya Soroko , our secondary graphic artist and Number Two;
Our KP krew, Ari, Dani and CJ;
Yurko Mikels, our Klingon advisor.

Please see the "kudos" section at the end for details on what they contributed.

Press here to see pictures from 2011. Press here to see pictures from 2010. Press here to see pictures from 2009.

QUARK’s QANTINA 2012

The entrance
(FINALLY, after 4 years, we have a decent image of this sign. Thank you Marok!):

This door sign, the interior signs, and all the graphics in our SopwI'pa' tlhIngan were created by
John Harrington of Cedar Street Studio , aka Unkle Kahn,
a VERY talented professional graphic artist , who is also Line Lord of House Klag.

The Foyer

Just inside the entryway, was an elaborate menu holder constructed by our prop department.

Our mixed drinks are all unique to Quark’s Qantina, developed by our staff using rare and unusual ingredients like housemade habanero-tequila, imported milk-vodka and kiwi liqueur, and freshly made cucumber juice. They are designed to appeal to a variety of palates and, in many cases, the alco-null version is better than the alcoholic one. As much as possible, we use ingredients featured on the show(s), like Kanar, Vulcan port, traggle juice, and schplict. We also use as many organic ingredients as we can.

There are now so many drinks, we had to redesign our menu. This year we had it professionally printed.
John Harrington did the original design. Sonya refined it, made everything fit, and corrected all my mistakes.

Directly opposite the menu holder, on the doors of the garment lockers, was a large poster with holo-images of all the beverages we offer. Many of our potables are available as alco-null, gluten-free, and/or low-glycemic all of which are indicated on this poster.

This sign was made for us by
John Harrington of Cedar Street Studio , aka Unkle Kahn,
a VERY talented professional graphic artist , who is also Line Lord of House Klag.

Some of our guests, perusing the menu:

The BAR

Earlier this year, we replaced the countertops in the bar area with granite, making the island bigger, to facilitate this event. We also replaced the overhead lights, cooktop and downdraft. Then, because our old bottle support no longer fit, our prop department redesigned it and added additional lighting. We love the way it looks!

The bartender, our resident shapeshifter, making his entrance as a bionic cat:

Tending the bar:

Close-up of some of the ingredients used in our mixed drinks.
Every one of these bottles has a custom-designed label on it.
The labels were formatted by Sonya and produced by John Harrington:

Guests, waiting in line to place their beverage order:

Our INVALUABLE KP crew:

The DRINKS
In addition to our large selection of mixed drinks,
we serve beer, wine, soda, juice and water.

This year, our specials were Jabba’s Revenge, Leeloo’s Perfect Cocktail, and alco-null Kanar Kitten.

We would like to add a special thank you here to all our guests who sampled our mixed drinks, both the alco-null (especially the alco-null) and the alcoholic versions. We work very hard to bring these to you and appreciate your willingness to try something new and different.

Some of our offerings are detailed below.
We will be adding to this section continuously so please check back later if you’re interested in the details.

Red Torian
A strong, bitter-sweet, citrus and spicy black rekja concoction
served with chuch and a bioluminescent cube.

Jabba’s Revenge
Housemade hot-as-hell silverstar spirit and a long curly tentacle.
Only two of our guests dared consume it.

Mmmmmm…..good.

Battlestar Bladeblaster and Klingon Martini.

Archer’s Comet
Amarula, cinnamon liqueur, and pyrotechnics:

Bajoran Firecave Margarita
a super-spicy organic libation
made with house-infused habanero syrup and blood orange liqueur:

Trixian Bubble Juice
a fruity alco-null beverage reminiscent of mango bubble tea

Cardassian Sunset
a breathtaking combination of cherry liqueur, parfait amour, and cream:

Klingon bloodwine martini
made with house-infused rokeg blood vodka:

Kanar Kitten
Quark’s Qantina has tamed the notorious Kanar
by mixing it with Kurrant Liqueur and Schplict,
a combination that ISN’T an acquired taste:

Rocket Fuel served with chuch (dry ice)
house–infused gingerbread syrup mixed with a rare Colorado whiskey.

Sampling the self-serve kanar:

The WELCOME PACKET

As guests arrived they were given a welcome packet containing a voting card and pencil for the costume contest, seed latinum to enable them to play Dabo, and an allergy-information sheet listing those beverages which contained common allergens (nuts, dairy, and gluten). A food allergen sheet was available for anyone who needed one.

The Voting Card and Pencil:
This card was designed for us by
John Harrington of Cedar Street Studio , aka Unkle Kahn,
a VERY talented professional graphic artist , who is also Line Lord of House Klag.
When I asked John to design a simple voting card, he suggested we make it look like a PADD. I loved the idea and worked with him to make it happen. John created the PDF, Em printed them, and she and Sonya cut them out. It looks even better than I imagined it would! John also found an online store where I could have the pencils printed. John’s help has truly been invaluable.

The Allergy-Info Sheet:
Compiled by QuarksBarB, formatted and produced by our Number One, Em.

Guests reading the welcome packet:

SopwI'pa' tlhIngan (aka the Klingon b’Harr)
under Worf’s watchful eye
the Klingon b’Harr is much cooler than the rest of the Qantina,
for our heavily-costumed guests.

We have been upgrading this room for the past year and our efforts were richly rewarded:
the b’Harr was used extensively this year by both Klingons and other races!

We need to make special mention of the help extended by Toq la'Hom, pItS puqloD, in decorating this room. Not only did he spend the Saturday before the event helping us create the ambiance that made it so realistic; he also loaned us the weapons lining the walls, the Klingon skull, and the Cardassian trophy head. The room would not have been nearly as impressive without his assistance.

All the graphics in our SopwI'pa' tlhIngan were created by
John Harrington of Cedar Street Studio , aka Unkle Kahn,
a VERY talented professional graphic artist , who is also Line Lord of House Klag.

Starfleet security inspecting the weapons he might have to defend against:

Wawar looking for trouble:

The beer cooler:

After the event, one of our guests sent us this comment:

"I sat there with an appropriate beverage
and listened to several Klingons debating
the relative quality and manufacturing of their disruptors;
coupled with all the artifacts adorning the room and the correct lighting
it was truly a memorable experience. "

(This comment is the embodiment of all we are trying to accomplish – creating a place where we feel like we’re a part of the Trek universe, not just on the outside looking in. So, thank you, George, for sharing that experience with us and for allowing me to post it here.)

Fortunately, someone captured an image of the experience for us
(except for the lighting, which is destroyed by flash):

Some of our Klingon guests:

Toq la'Hom, pItS puqloD

Mektor

Marok and Emira of the IKV Emperor’s Hand

Toq and Marok

Toq and Mektor

Door to decontamination chamber near entrance to the b’harr
(you can see the scratch marks on the right
from some poor soul on the other side,
trying to claw their way out):

Location relative to b’Harr entrance:

The TEN FORWARD LOUNGE

For those guests who prefer a more subdued venue, our Ten Forward lounge is always an option.

A Klingon, inspecting Ten Forward:

Starfleet officer ambushed by his mate’s headgear:

GAMING ROOM

As usual, though, our guest’s favorite is the DABO ROOM.

THE FOOD

When our doors opened there were finger foods available for snacking:

Cured Targh Shank with Baldoxic Vinegar
Hanonian Eel Egg Salad
(prosciutto and balsamic vinegar, ostrich egg salad)

Gorn Dip
Bajoran Shrimp with Yamok Sauce and Cold Fettran Sauce
Selection of tlhIngan cheese and crackers.
(Giant shrimp, lemon-habanero sauce, cocktail sauce, cheese and crackers)

Bajoran Shrimp with Yamok Sauce and Cold Fettran Sauce
(Giant shrimp, lemon-habanero sauce, cocktail sauce, cheese and crackers)

Gramilian Sand Peas
Owon Eggs w Grapok Sauce (provided by Keiko)
Tatoine Sandmagggot Spread with H'Kak Bean Garnish (provided by Padme’s handmaiden)
Redbat Sausage (provided by Keiko)
Python Sausage
(Giant corn, 1000-year-old duck eggs, salmon cream cheese with almonds, Chinese red sausage, python sausage)

Hlaka soup
(raw vegan cauliflower, cashew, and yellow pepper soup)

This year, the dining room table was decorated with bioluminescent balls and tubes:

Setting up the food.

Palamarian Tartok Salad with Humat Pod Dressing
Aunt Adah’s Giant Corn and Tomato Salad
Hasparat
(Arugula salad with fennel caper dressing, corn and tomato salad with garlic dressing, Hasparat)

Torgud Gagh
Pipius Claw Bites
(Baby eel in red pepper olive oil sauce, spicy chicken tenders)

Torgud Gagh with Rekja Ghevl
(Baby eel in red pepper olive oil sauce)

Petrified Slug Larvae
Torgud Gagh
Pipius Claw Bites
(Sugar snap peas, baby eel in red pepper olive oil sauce, spicy chicken tenders)

Targh Throat Stew
(Coddled pork shoulder)

Cardassian Fish Pie
Rattlefish Nipples
Risan Beans in Targh Throat Stew Drippings
(Russian fish pie, black rice, tarbais beans)

Alfarian Hair Pasta
Bajoran Ratamba Casserole
(Latini pasta with garlic, basil and olive oil; veal meatballs in mushroom cream sauce)

Alfarian Hair Pasta
Stuffed Calbreean Lungs
Pandoran Puffer Fungus
(Latini pasta with garlic, basil and olive oil; pierogi with sautéed onion; mushrooms with black garlic and yellow peppers)

You can see one of the food-ID cards below, describing the dish and listing the ingredients.

Our guests, serving themselves:

Quark’s Qantina seats 38 so no one has to eat standing up:

Our dessert offerings:
Yigrish Cream Pie (provided by Padme’s handmaiden)
Vulcan Mint Candies

Star Wars Cookies (provided by Sonya )
Targh Caramels (provided by our Number One)

Bolian Balls (alcoholic and alco-null; provided by our Number One)

Lwaxna Troi's Petit Fours

Jumja Sticks
Jimbalian Fudge Cake (gluten, dairy and soy free)

After-dinner Raktajino (organic Kona, ground and brewed to order by our barrista)

DABO!

After dinner, we opened the Dabo table.

Unfortunately, our Dabo operator was not able to join us this year, so our bartender, who helped develop the game, trained a few of our guests to act as operators:

Playing Dabo:

TONGO!

This year, the rules for the game were changed to make it possible to win latinum.
Unlike the onscreen game, ours is designed to be easy to learn and easy to play.

THE HOSTS

Klingon a’Noi N’gurl (Starfleet Ensign, Crew Services Officer assigned to the USS Black Hawk )
and her shape-shifter mate, Mithril.

Mithril’s costume is intentionally ‘out there’ to encourage our guests to be creative.

THE GUESTS
QuarksBarb would like to thank all our guests, current and previous,
for the time, money and effort put into their costumes.
If they weren’t willing to participate in that manner,
the event would not be nearly as interesting.

Some of this year’s guests
Wawar of the Jonquediger

Hogwarts’ Witch

Klingon and targh (dinner?):

Keiko

Luke Skywalker

Scotty, Padme’s handmaiden, Admiral Forrest

Toq, Deanna Troi, q’Idar

Orion slave girl and Ambassador from ‘The People’

Marok of the IKV Emperor’s Hand

Starfleet officers Linda and Dani

Miss Piggy

Wawar and Padme’s Handmaiden

PRIZES!
At 22:00:00 hours (10:00 p.m. CST) guests were asked to return their Costume Contest Voting Cards.

Some of this year’s prizes (more were added after this image was captured):

FANCY DRESS aka COSTUMES
Our guests voted on who received the costume prizes in the following categories:

1) best overall costume
2) most creative costume
3) most screen accurate costume
4) most screen accurate Star Fleet Officer
5) did the most with the least

We tallied the votes and awarded the prizes
QuarksBarB describing all the prizes available:

Our guests waiting expectantly to know who the winners are:

The WINNERS

1) BEST OVERALL: Toq, Wawar, Piggy
2) MOST CREATIVE: Wawar, Na’vi, Mektor
3) MOST SCREEN ACCURATE: Toq, Piggy, q’Idar
4) most screen accurate STAR FLEET OFFICER: Deanna Troi, Scotty, Toq
5) DID the MOST with the LEAST: Wawar, Padme Handmaiden, Piggy

First place in the Best Overall category and the Most Screen Accurate category, Toq

First place in the Most Creative category and the Did the Most with the Least category, Wawar of the Jonquediger

First place in the Most Screen Accurate Star Fleet Officer, Deanna Troi

The other prize winners:

The individual who actually “won” the most, q’Idar.
Not only did she win for her costume, but she made the costumes worn by three of the other winners:
Toq, Deanna Troi, and Mektor.

All the prize winners:

Although the above mentioned individuals were singled out by their peers for their creative talents, we feel that ALL our guests were ‘winners’ just for making an effort. We greatly appreciate it!

LATINUM
We had intended to give prizes to the four people with the most latinum; but, because our Dabo table was not operational for long enough, and most of our guests only had the seed latinum they received in their welcome packets, we didn’t give out those prizes this year.

Signing our guestbook:

THANK YOU FOR VISITING
sign on the inside of the front door!

Once again, the door signs were created by
John Harrington of Cedar Street Studio , aka Unkle Kahn,
a VERY talented professional graphic artist , who is also Line Lord of House Klag.

KUDOS

I am continuously updating this section as I remember all the things we received help with. Obviously, there is no way we could do this alone, but so many people help us that I sometimes forget to mention it, and then I feel terrible because I NEVER, EVER, take credit for someone else’s contribution! If I missed mentioning you, please let me know!
Our Number One, EM

We could not have this party without the help of my BFF Em, our NUMBER ONE! Once again, she loaned me her printer, which does a much better job than mine with the colors I need. She re-did the silver panels to fit the new cabinets and hung them so they would be easier to put up and take down. She made and laminated all the cocktail recipe cards, she printed and cut the voting cards, she printed the allergy-information cards and the food-ID cards. She cooked the bubble tea pearls, the pierogi, the Bolian balls, and the targh caramels. At the last minute, when we were all overwhelmed, she managed to put together a few Hasparat while simultaneously cooking the pierogi so no dish would be empty.

In addition to the physical things she does, she also makes decisions when I’m overwhelmed and takes care of things I’ve forgotten to do. She figures out how to do things when I’m stumped and suggests new things I’d never think of (like replacing the wentlian condor snake with snap peas when I couldn’t find long beans and was about to rearrange the table setting).

She is not only the best friend I’ve ever had but the best friend anyone could ever wish for and we could not have had this party without her help. She is truly A NUMBER ONE!

Honorable Mention: Em’s husband, who drove Em to our house repeatedly, so that she could stay after dark, and who picked up the pizza (which we didn’t serve but which came in handy anyway).

Em’s neice, SONYA , aka Miss Piggy

I don’t know if there is such a thing as a “Number Two” but, if there is, Sonya is ours. A talented Graphic Artist, Sonya stepped in at the last minute, when our ‘primary’ graphic artist was unable to help due to a personal medical crisis, and she made sure our graphics were ready on time. She reformatted our menu and tweaked it hundreds of times until it looked exactly as I wanted it to. She worked round the clock formatting our bottle labels – almost a thousand of them – and then worked with John to make sure the colors were accurate. When the labels arrived she helped attach them to the bottles, reformatting and reprinting the ones I’d forgotten and/or messed up.

In addition to all this, she pitched in wherever needed – cooking the octopus for Jabba’s Revenge, hanging posters, applying those fiddly little decals to the cocktail picks, adding the red tails to the banshee picks, setting up the outside lights, filling the thermoses, and every other little thing we asked of her.

Once we got into crunch mode, on Friday morning, Sonya started taking pictures. She recorded all our prep activities as well as everything that happened during the party. I wish I had a better quality camera to give her but I cannot find an SLR that will take good low-light images without a tripod.

Thank you Sonya , you are an invaluable member of the team!

John Harrington, our primary graphic artist

John Harrington of Cedar Street Studio, whom I met through The Empire , a Klingon forum I joined in 2009 while looking for help with my costume, provided invaluable assistance with many of the graphics.

John designed our tongo cards and dice, he designed and created all the room and door signs and ALL the graphics for the Klingon b’Harr. He designed our voting cards – making them look like PADDs –, did the initial design on the menu, and created some incredible decals for our bottles, both the alcohol bottles and the beers and sodas. Unfortunately, they arrived at the last minute and we were too busy to use most of them this year but they will definitely be used next year (and, for once, I’ll be ahead of the game!).

John also printed all the labels for the bottles used to create our mixed drinks.

PLUS, at the last minute, when I know he was dead tired, John created the drink picture poster and some other artwork for the Klingon b’Harr.

And, he did all this while dealing with the fact that his mother was in the hospital with a serious illness and his wife had just discovered she was pregnant. You’re incredible, John. There aren’t many people who could have done that.

Thank you John. You make a HUGE DIFFERENCE in how things look EVERY year!

Toq la'Hom, pItS puqloD, aka Yurko Mikels

Thank you TOQ, for ALL your help – you’re the best PR officer we could have asked for, and we didn’t ask, you did it without prompting! Thank you also for everything you did in connection with the Klingon Room – loaning us your props, helping us hang them and the ceiling, and setting up the table – and for your help with Klingon spelling.

My sister, LINDA

Thank you LINDA, for providing our KP crew (her daughters and her neighbor’s son) and a fourth pair of hands. Linda also helped with many other things – picking up the menus from the printers, getting the dry ice, mixing the ostrich egg salad, and helping with last minute clean-up. Thank you, also, for storing the b’Harr chairs over the winter so they don’t rust.

CJ, Dani, (Aunt Pat), Ari

Thank you Ari, Dani and CJ for helping with the set-up, washing all those glasses and other things, running errands, and keeping on top of the trash! (And thank you for looking so good while you’re doing it.)

Dave and Roberta Hahn
Thank you Dave and Roberta, for helping refine the Tongo rules at the last minute, taping down cords so our guests wouldn’t trip, for helping with last minute prep AND, Roberta, for helping us get the food on the table. There are no pictures of Roberta this year because she was so busy working!

Carol Meyer and Pat Jen
Thank you, Carol and Pat for providing some of our comestibles. And, Pat, for helping serve the Hlaka and for running the Dabo table.

Marc Malnekoff, Rosemarie Knutson, and Betsy Schutte
Thank you for sharing your holo-images with me. You captured some aspects that no one else did and I used more than one of them on this web-page.

My Husband, KC
It might seem weird that I am mentioning my husband here but this event is really my obsession not his. I’m the one who conceived the idea, collected all the things we needed and did the research necessary to ‘pull it off’. I hoped he would help but would have done it without him if I had to.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to! He came up with some of the best parts of the event – the lights, the shelving in the kitchen, the Dabo Table and the Tongo Wheel -- and took care of those aspects with almost no input from me.

He works on Quark’s all year long, with no prodding. He built the menu holder and decontamination porthole, improved the bar set-up, and managed to come up with another unique costume. Every one of the things he does adds IMMEASURABLY to the ambience and effectiveness of the party. Many of our guests said they didn’t think we could top last year’s party but KC’s contributions managed to do just that!

I also have to mention his sense of humor. Even Em commented on how much fun he is to work with, keeping the atmosphere light even when everyone is stressed.

I am truly the luckiest woman in the world….
Press here to see pictures from 2011. Press here to see pictures from 2010. Press here to see pictures from 2009.
Press here to contact QuarksBarb .

I am not affiliated in any way with CBS Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures, the Star Trek franchise, or any other entity associated with the TV series or movies.
All Star Trek trademarks, logos, names and images belong to CBS Studios, Inc and are used here under fair-use guidelines.
Recipes and images from our parties may not be copied without written permission from me, Barbara Healy. Copyright © 2009 QuarksBarb.
Last Revised: March 22, 2012
Site Questions? Press Tech Support to send email.

The Grand RE-Opening of Quark’s Qantina March 10, 2012 ************************

THE INVITATION As usual, costumes are REQUIRED!

QUARK’s QANTINA 2012

The Foyer

The BAR

The DRINKS In addition to our large selection of mixed drinks, we serve beer, wine, soda, juice and water. This year, our specials were Jabba’s Revenge, Leeloo’s Perfect Cocktail, and alco-null Kanar Kitten.

We would like to add a special thank you here to all our guests who sampled our mixed drinks, both the alco-null (especially the alco-null) and the alcoholic versions. We work very hard to bring these to you and appreciate your willingness to try something new and different.

The WELCOME PACKET

SopwI'pa' tlhIngan (aka the Klingon b’Harr) under Worf’s watchful eye the Klingon b’Harr is much cooler than the rest of the Qantina, for our heavily-costumed guests.