Monday, October 22, 2007

Wine Fest, Stuffed Dates, and Friends


What a time! So much has happened.

I can’t believe you aren’t here—enjoying the sunshine, the orange and scarlet trees, the apple pie Charlotte baked… I was Ms. Cook this morning and almost everyone ordered the omlette with avocado and boursin cheese. And Smith’s Smokehouse bacon is still getting raves.


My dear friends Ms. Dorothy and Karen (Dorothy’s daughter) from Western Massachusetts came to visit last weekend. They both play the piano and organ so I got them to try the melodeon, which I believe to be from 1857. If I have the story right (and I generally get about 50% of any story right), the previous owners bought it at an auction in Deer Isle, during a storm, rescuing it from standing in many inches of water.

The second annual Foliage, Food and Wine Festival—fabulousy fun!—started with me getting to be on TV (WABI-5, a local station). They showed a clip of me saying that climbing Blue Hill Mountain legitimizes dessert—how many of you have heard me say that?! Thursday night I snuck away from the inn and went to the Arborvine’s wine dinner with my friend Paige Lilly. I loved the tuna that night—one of those dishes that demand closed eyes and rapt attention. Their regular menu includes Bagaduce River Oysters—on the half shell—with a frozen sake mignonette, an amazing combination.


Friday night we offered a six-course, nine wine dinner at the inn as part of the festival. I was nervous—Mary and Don, the previous innkeepers here, left big shoes to fill— but fun was had by all. The crispy bacon wrapped dates (recipe below) won best food offering—and they were masterfully paired with a 2005 Californian syrah, Neyers by Steve Tartaglia, our fabulous wine guy from Maine Distributors.

On Sunday I brought pecan muffins (see Oct. 4’s entry for the recipe), chocolate chip cookies, and the crazy Lake Champlain Aztec chocolates to the town park where live jazz and food vendors filled a big white tent. The best part for me—well, there were so many. I got to meet Margaret Whalen, the artist who did the great poster image for the festival (which my photo doesn’t show well at all) and Barbara Martin, owner of Gallery 66 where Margaret’s work is shown. I also got reacquainted with Steve Schaffer, who with his wife Kate, have started Black Dinah Chocolates out on Isle au Haut. I’m already planning for next year’s event. Book now for a great weekend.

Another friend came to visit me this month—Mo Ringey. The tagline to my blog could be “inspired by Mo” as reading hers over the years has definitely given me help getting started. Visiting her website or reading her blog is like a creativity outing, and we should all go on more of those.

I have the nicest guests—just the nicest guests--Angela and Jess Correll made a fabulously generous donation to the Emmaus Homeless Shelter on behalf of the inn. The shelter is one of the nonprofit organizations we support. Blue Hill Heritage Trust is another. They own and maintain property on Blue Hill Mountain, including the summit. I managed to get out and climb it again recently--stunning--and I so regretted not having my camera. The autumn colors against the blue blue sky—scrumptious.

Long-time guests “Mea Culpa Morris” from Old Greenwich, Connecticut, got a laugh from me the other morning at the post office. They had departed with a key to their room (not their regular room, 10, which was already booked by the Whitakers from Laguna Beach, California—what could I do? If a guest calls months ahead of time to book a room, I can’t kick them out…). So the Morrises dashed off with their key but had a change of heart and mailed it in to the “Key Dept.” at the Blue Hill Inn. The key department is located in the same corner of the kitchen as the innkeeper’s office, the reservations desk, the concierge stand, the kitchen manager’s office, personnel department…

The inn is a member of the Select Registry, which assures guests that we undergo a thorough inspection on a regular basis. The Courts, guests from California, just left but not before noting that the inn passed a very important criterion not included on too many inspection lists: there are no stuffed animals. Rest assured, we aren’t a stuffed animal, Raggedy Ann doll sort of inn. The rooms aren’t too fussy and we’re friendly and approachable, never arrogant. (We have been known to leave an extra pillow chocolate for the teddy bear a guest brought--keep that in mind if you like the Lake Champlain candies.)

Here’s the recipe I promised you from the wine dinner. Serve them with a big bold red wine.

Crispy Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Dates


Serves 8
16 large Medjool dates, pitted
16 roasted almonds, slivered
Scant ¼ cup mild goat cheese, crumbled
8 slices of bacon (about 7 ounces), halved crosswise

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut a lengthwise slit in each date. Stuff with one slivered almond and about ½ teaspoon of the cheese. Pinch closed. Wrap each date securely in a slice of bacon and arrange, seam side down, on a wire rack set on a baking sheet. Bake, turning once after ten minutes, for about 20 minutes or until the bacon is browned and crisp. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

The fawn

The other morning I got wrapped up in paperwork and the post office had closed before I realized it and the store I needed to get to in Ellsworth was only open until noon and here it was 10 after. So I made the best of this gorgeous day and went up Blue Hill Mountain.

As I was coming down the meadow side, I heard a noise ahead on the path and thought I'd be coming across a dog. Instead, a small fawn crashed about and then stopped to nibble on acorns. I froze and watched it; it nibbled and watched me, its tail impossibly white and ears impossibly big. Its huge brown eyes took me in. I stood so still, ignoring the mosquito that was also nibbling. Just this morning, in the few moments I stole before coming into the inn, I had read a part in Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert, where she is meditating outside of an ashram and getting bitten by mosquitoes but is so determined to be still and allow the sensations to pass, a Vipassana-type meditation, that she ends up with more than 20 bites. I suffered much less, and still the fawn watched me as I watched it. Some other hikers came behind me--guests at the inn as it turned out--and I gestured them to come ahead quietly, which they did. We all watched for a bit longer and then I yielded to the call of my errands and the inn and headed down the path. (I once spent 10 days at a Vipassana retreat center in silent mediation. Really. Ten days.)
Seeing the fawn made me miss my brother who stills live in Wisconsin where we all grew up. So I called from my cell phone as I was hiking down the hill. Sister-in-law Angie answered the phone but they were all crazy busy so I couldn't ask him my deer questions (how big should a fawn be if it's away from its mom? Did I really see it spitting out acorn tops? Why didn't it have spots?) George, my brother, would know. He's lived in Wisconsin almost his whole life and he loves the woods and nature and hunting. And he and his wife and their son Chase started Whitetail Bluff Camp and Resort in Cassville, Wisconsin, on the bluffs of the Mississippi. As is often the case, who we are as kids is who we become as adults. I was never too crazy about camping and he was never too keen on hotels. At his place, I stay in a cabin. The list of reasons to rent a cabin instead of sleeping in a tent are funny and exactly right. If you've stayed here with me and then go to Whitetail Bluff, tell George and Angie and your first drink will be on me. George might even throw in a crappie jig, or pair of earrings. He makes them right there at the bar so you can design them with him.

I certainly have met the most interesting guests. Sue and Annette, spontaneously in from Chicago as Annette's husband is a pilot and she can hop aboard flights, started their New England tour in Bangor, touring a cemetery and driving by Stephen King's home. Their description of Mount Hope Cemetery got me curious. It's the second oldest garden cemetery in the United States.

On my way into work the other morning, I had to stop and pick up leaves--so gorgeous! The mugs are from Rackliffe Pottery. Denny Rackliffe and his wife Margaret are amazing. Whenever I stop in, I get a tour and they have some new product to show me--or to offer to make for us (our syrup pitchers are fabulous).

I've been looking for a dictionary stand for the small parlor. I am the sort who loves to have reference books around and will often dash out of the room at a party to grab the Oxford English Dictionary, or just Miriam-Webster, to check on the meaning or etymology of a word. Last night, a couple from California and I were chatting at cocktail hour (sundried tomato tartlettes, saga cheese with fresh pear and glazed pecans, corn salsa stuffed tiny tomatoes) and we got onto geometry--Alan used to teach math--and writing, Alys was an English major as was I. No dictionary stand as yet, and the reference books haven't gotten unpacked yet so I grabbed the laptop and took advantage of the wireless. "Participle" was one we were wondering about. Now the inn has truly been inaugurated.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Those pecan mini muffins!

My friend Prof. John visited me and as I was driving us to Deer Isle by way of Brooklin, boat building capital of the world, we saw an Eric Dow dingy for sale on the side of the road. One thing lead to another and soon we were rowing in Center Harbor! I haven't made a final decision yet on whether to get a fiberglass or wooden peapod but next year a little rowboat will be added to the list of amenities at the inn.

Please, please, please plan to get on a boat when you’re here. The coastline is best appreciated from the water, whether in a kayak, a dingy, a sailboat, or a handsome lobster boat. We know some great captains who can show you a thing or two.

A guest from Virginia had me learning about skipjack boats this morning. He's completely rebuilt one! What crazy looking boats.

Cap’n Don Radovich, head of the kitchen right now, discovered the best muffin recipe ever. Ever. As in, you must try these now. Now. Stop reading and start baking.

Pecan Mini Muffins

1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup light or dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
more butter for preparing pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients. Fill greased mini muffin tin ¾ full and bake for 10-15 minutes. Makes about 30 mini muffins.

This is Don's variation of a recipe from the Borgman’s Bed and Breakfast in Arrow Rock, Missouri.