...one of the highlights of our trip...

What a heavenly summer we're having!

New on the dinner menu this week are lamb tacos in chive tortillas with a mint sauce from our garden. We have lobster cakes with Stonington lobster and a baked haddock with a crabmeat crown and the most delicious lemon beurre blanc. The chilled borscht with Four Season Farm beets has been a perfect option for these warm summer nights but I'm still hooked on the Bagaduce River oysters.

Josh Dunbar, our oysterer, took me out to show me the farm. I was amazed how much like farming it felt like--I do claim to be a farm girl from Wisconsin after all. As it turns out, our oysters come from the river at the foot of Sunset Acres Farm, where we get the delicious chevre we adore. The Working Waterfront, a newspaper about the water published each month by the Island Institute, explored their farming relationship in a 2009 article that makes great reading. (For more fun reading on the seafood in this area, try this NYT article which also talks about Bagaduce River oysters.)

Guests and neighbors alike have raved about dinners here. From a TripAdvisor review: We highly recommend dining at the inn if you can. The meal was one of the highlights of our trip over two weeks... Breakfast is terrific too. This [area] is a great alternative to the more commercial Bar Harbor area, yet close enough to access Acadia National Park and other attractions of the area.

Although the New York Times just spent "36 Hours in Bar Harbor", we find that most of our guests prefer to stay a bit further out and take day trips to Acadia National Park, into the fray of Bar Harbor, and out to explore the beauty of Stonington and Castine. Although this area has something for everyone, a guest summed it up perfectly for me when he said he loved it here because there were no people but great food.

If you head to dinner on Deer Isle, as we did the other night, to the Whale's Rib, you have to leave plenty of time for sightseeing on the way. Stopping at Caterpillar Hill is a must and a stroll along the main street of Deer Isle at sunset yielded this view. Tony, the owner of Pilgrim's Inn, recently installed a boules court. You'll have to try really hard to not fill up on the bread basket--delicious! Guests have enjoyed scallops at the Surry Inn, vegetarian sandwiches at 66, burritos from El El Frijoles, lobster at the Boat Yard Grill... No one is going hungry! And at breakfast this morning--cinnamon pecan scones, amaretto french toast, Four Season Farm eggs with dill from our garden... If you aren't eating this well, come see us!