Innkeeper Notes

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2010-04-29T12:30:00.001-04:00

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"Best Classic B&B in Maine"

2010-04-28T08:50:00.003-04:00

We are doing the spring dance of joy here at the Blue Hill Inn because the latest Yankee Magazine proclaims us the "best classic B&B in Maine"! I blush to report they write, "Innkeeper Sarah Pebworth does everything right at this Federal gem, featuring three-course breakfasts and plentiful insider wisdom." They didn't have room to mention Jeff's cranberry sorbet, Matt's popovers, Jean's amazing lawn care and handy-woman-ness, Bonnie's expert control over the housekeeping, and the able assistance of Sue, Elizabeth, Ellie, Kaiya, Keira, Susan, Kelly, Heather, Emily, Maura, and others, many of whom will be here this season to welcome you back to the Blue Hill Inn. See you soon!

Yes, she's talking about sticky buns, again!

2010-04-14T21:48:00.004-04:00

When I look back over the 2009 season, one of the food highlights has to be discovering a sticky bun recipe. Before finding my own way, I would buy a sticky bun from Millbrook Bakery at the farmer’s market each Saturday. I was hooked, I was dependent, so much so that for my birthday in August, I had Jill (the person wearing the baker’s hat at Millbrook) bring me enough for all the guests and the staff and the birthday girl. Then I discovered the Barefoot Contessa’s recipe. A key ingredient? Frozen puff pastry! Now, with a quick trip to your grocery store, you, too, can dazzle your guests—or just your family—with gooey, heavenly sticky buns. They are so rapturously delicious, two guests created a Facebook photo essay about their experience. Thanks again, Pat and Pam!

Speaking of Facebook, have you become a fan of the inn yet? I have great fun making more frequent updates. I even made a wee video of the beach and fog horn at Barred Island so I could share it with you!

Spring brought magnolia blossoms so early this year--town is gorgeous with forsythia and bulbs and green! Come see for yourself!

Pecan Sticky Buns from the Blue Hill Inn

Makes 12 larger or 14 slightly smaller buns

Topping
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
½ cup pecans (or 24-28 halves)

Filling
2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup pecans, chopped fine (or, if you really like raisins, use raisins, or both)

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, defrosted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet pan with parchment paper. Place standard muffin tin(s) on the paper-lined sheet.
With an electric mixer or food processor, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Divide into muffin tins (approximately one tablespoon in each). Distribute pecans on top of the sugar-butter mixture (place pecan halves upside down so when the sticky buns are right side up the pecans will look lovely).
Mix together the remaining brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans, and set aside.
Place the puff pastry, with the longer side toward you, on a floured surface (or keep the nonstick paper on). Brush the whole top of the sheet with half the melted butter. By paying attention to the edge closest to you, you will ensure the center of the sticky bun is especially heavenly. Distribute half the filling over the entire surface—don’t forget that edge closest to you! Starting with that edge, roll the pastry up snugly like a jellyroll around the filling, ending with the seam side down. Slice the roll into 6 or 7 equal portions. Place each piece, with the flattest spiral side up, into one of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second puff pastry sheet.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. The butter may bubble over the sides of the muffin tin. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes only, then invert the buns on to the parchment paper that you placed under the muffin tin. I do this with a spoon in one hand to ease out any filling that may want to stay behind.
Serve. Prepare for oohs and ahhs!

Adapted from Ina Garten’s recipe

An Early Spring in Blue Hill

2010-03-17T22:20:00.006-04:00

I still have to pinch myself--I get to live here! "Were you born in Maine?" "No, but I got here just as quick as I could."

We had sunshine and temps in the low 40s the other day--a great excuse to head to Brooklin. I hadn't been to the Morning Moon Cafe in ages and I took a friend who hadn't yet been to the Cave.

The Moon is for sale--and if it doesn't sell by May, they say it will close. Here is your chance to own a cafe! It comes with a four-bedroom house--all for $485,000. Brooklin is such a dear town--EB White used to call it home and now his grandson runs one of the local boatyards. The Cave is a new business, filled with decadence. I'm addicted to their caper butter. Laura, the proprietor, puts out too many samples. I could resist the smoked cheddar but did try the chocolate drizzled popcorn--too delicious! Her shop has wine, cheese, sweets, gifts, beautiful cutting boards, artwork, and Caroline Mayher's pottery (the joke is that she and her husband are the "mayors" or Brooklin).

I met another friend at Jonathon Chase's Buck's Harbor Market in Brooksville. The chowder was yummy and the market has all sorts of treats to take home with you. And it's almost kid time--Sunset Acres Farms has an "open farm" during the spring, with three bottle feeding times a day!

Have you become a fan of the Blue Hill Inn on Facebook?! Now you can post a picture or a comment and I can give you more casual notes on the happenings at the inn. A dear guest sent me a photo essay about making our sticky buns--check it out. You can also befriend the Blue Hill Wine Shop, Black Dinah Chocolatiers, El El Frijoles, The Cave, and Table!

Guests have been happily coming in and out and making lots of calls about the summer. If you have been planning on coming but haven't got around to calling--call now! Brides and birthdays and photo shoots--we have many many weekends all booked up.

You know how I love my winter reading. I visited the Maine authors section at the Blue Hill Library (have I mentioned they now sell coffee?! I love our library) and brought home an arm full. I just finished The Dead Cat Bounce by Sarah Graves, which I thoroughly enjoyed. She wrote a series of books: "A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery". As I do a fair amount of Inn repair, I can relate! With all the great weather we've been having, I'll hardly have enough winter to get far into her books. I'm not complaining; no one is. At the post office, at the town hall, at the library, at the cafes, we're all smiles. I hope your spring is wondrous as well!

An early Valentine

2010-01-16T07:12:00.010-05:00

I know it is only January, and mid-month at that but I am, as they say, feeling the love. (And wishing happy birthday to my brother George who took his hospitality inclination to Whitetail Bluff Camp and Resort, a fun campground and bar and grill they started in southwestern Wisconsin).

I had heard that Cullen from Fairwinds Florist, our local flower girl and purveyor of many things gorgeous, had her picture in February's Martha Stewart Living magazine. So I found myself paging through the glossy celebration of red hearts and deliciousness. And, turning corners down on lots of pages, before even getting to the lovely article that focuses on Black Dinah Chocolatiers.
During the season, the inn is a playground for new recipes, pretty flower arrangements, and hospitality adventures. The quiet season brings its charms--snowshoeing, reading books (just finished the Elegance of the Hedgehog; Juliet, Naked; and A Gate at the Stairs); and visiting restaurants (tried Finn's in Ellsworth--get the artichoke appetizer, the Mache Bistro in Bar Harbor--I'm still melting over the beef bourguignon). But I apparently was hungry for some entertainment on entertaining so you might see me whipping up some glittered roses (page 41) or you might find a filigree heart on your waffle (page 39). For certain, though, you will find me praising Black Dinah Chocolatiers all the more.

Kate, the chocolate maker, led a class at the inn during the October Food and Wine Festival last year--the aromas! The oooooos and ahhhhhhhs from the guest-cum-apprentice chocolate makers (and the innkeeper). My tip, though? Don't be so cliche as to get your loved one chocolates for Valentine's Day; you will be dismissed as unoriginal and your amazingly fabulous gift of Black Dinah Chocolates will go under appreciated. Instead, choose to pamper your sweetie on Groundhog's Day, or perhaps the Ides of March, or even April Fool's Day ("Ha! You thought I didn't get you anything for Valentine's Day!"). One last tidbit about the mouthwatering candy Kate produces--the ingredients are so fresh that it makes no sense at all to save the box day after day waiting for the perfect time. They are meant to be savored right away. Mmmmmmm.

Blue Hill for the Holidays

2010-01-02T14:17:00.010-05:00

I can only hope you are having as luscious a holiday season as I am. For me, the highlights are music, people, and food.

Blue Hill is lucky to have the Bagaduce Chorale, with 80-plus voices. They perform two concerts a year at the Congregational Church. Their winter concert included a newly commissioned piece by Anna Dembska. The spring concert, schedule for April 30 and May 1, will include new work by Paul Sullivan.

High school concerts can be scary but not when you have an award winning music department. George Stevens Academy, directly across the street from the inn, has a wonderful array of musicians and their winter concert includes a band, various steel drum combos, a handful of jazz combos, and an acappella vocal ensemble. Guests have asked about George Stevens. The history of who he is and how the school acquired his name can be found at the school's website. One of the great things about living in a small town--the cast of characters is small, even with a history that goes back to the early 1800s.

Ellacappella is another Blue Hill treasure.
They've been out in their bright colors for the tree lighting and at the library for my favorite Christmas event of all--the reading of Dickens' Christmas Carol. As you may know, our library is beautiful, with its central room flanked by fireplaces. In front of one is where three local gents read out the carol, with appropriate chain rattling and hat changing to cover many characters. We laugh, we cry, we eat more cookies.

For me, too, part of the charm of the season in this small town is the proximity. The inn is just around the corner from the Congregational Church and the library and shops on Main Street. We can walk to three bookstores! For me, that describes a great town perfectly. The fact that you can get great espresso in one and fresh bread in another and the third has the best, smartest inventory of a bookstore ten times its size is just like frosting on the cake.

On Last Night, we wander the streets listening to live music and being entertained by an impressive array of locals. This year, Noel Paul Stookey began the evening to a standing room audience. Guests staying at the Cape House, where there are two options of rooms for you, had a great time. One couple ventured to the Arborvine for a fabulous dinner and then walked about town in the snow, to return to the Suite before midnight to enjoy a cozy fire.

If you stayed with us at the inn, you know that we don't have televisions in the rooms in the inn, just in the Cape House next door. But we have books, boy, do we have books. Just in the last month I've added a new one by Rebekah Raye, Bear-ly There. Jonathan Lethem's Chronic City is finally out (I had the pleasure--O so pleasurable!--of hearing him read from an almost final copy with a small group tucked into the East Blue Hill Library). You can borrow it when I'm finished.

Then, too, I've added some art to the inn's collection.
But I'll have to tell you about that another time as the snow is still falling and I'm the snow shoveler today. I do hope you are making snow angels and enjoying the winter wonderland. (Sand angels, for you folks a bit more south, sound painful... You should just visit us and bring your snowsuits).

Happy, happy 2010 to you!
Sarah Pebworth

Big Fall Finale

2009-11-09T12:36:00.002-05:00

I wish you had been able to join us for the fourth Foliage, Food, and Wine Festival. Put it on your calendar for next year right now--it's the third weekend in October, Oct. 14-17, 2010. Each year more fabulous activities have been added. One of the most delicious was a chocolate making workshop held at the inn. Kate from Black Dinah Chocolatiers taught a sold-out crowd everything about chocolate making. Let me tell you--having a vat of warmed chocolate in the kitchen makes the inn smell heavenly! Not only is Kate a wiz in the chocolate kitchen, she writes of chocolate and Isle au Haut living stunningly well. Check out her blog and you will agree with me.

El El Frijoles amazed our guests during the sold-out wine dinner we hosted as part of the festival. Even long time fans of the taqueria were dazzled by the food that kept coming out of the kitchen that night. The queso fundido, the pork loin, the apple tart... this and more paired expertly by Maxx from the Blue Hill Wine Shop made for a smashingly successful evening. El El Frijoles went on to win "Best of the Fest" at the Taste of the Peninsula event on Sunday. Their posole... Mmmm, mmm.
The inn offered browned butter cookies, apple walnut cake, and those graham crackers I keep raving about. I was very very popular with my trays of goodies. Kathy from Blue Hill Hearth had one of the prettiest displays--look at her patchwork pizza.

Guests at the inn attended the wine dinner at the Arborvine, the beer lunch at Table, the lobsterbake at Barncastle, just some of the special events with the festival.

As summer downshifts to fall, we get more excited about books again. Kevin Hawkes stayed with us, lured here by friends who are returning guests (they really like room 2). Their friends presented the inn with a copy of Kevin's book, Library Lion. If you haven't read this before, go get it now--so sweet. You will fall in love with the illustrations immediately.

We continue to grow our library at the inn--I think we have more books than any other inn in Maine! Guests will sometimes end up in the middle of a book when it's time to check out. Trudy, a longtime friend of the inn, checked in this fall with a book in hand she had started last year. She and her husband always stay in room 3.

Speaking of gifts from guests, I had to pull out the tree book Catherine gave us last year (see the blog entry from Sept. 27, 2008) to identify the American Mountain Ash, or Rowan Tree, we have in our yard that produces the most eye-catching orange berries in the fall.

I received an email the other day with the subject line: "Our stay with you was fabulous." Margaret ended her email with, "Can one be homesick for a place visited only for four or five days?" Blue Hill does has a certain magic...

Autumn's Bounty

2009-09-26T15:28:00.006-04:00

October brings us to that time of year when I convince myself that candy corn looks great in a silver dish and can be offered in the parlor and the staff gently insists it doesn't and it can't.

Luckily they agree with me about the glass pumpkin now gracing the mantelpiece. This was a find from the farmer's market, where I also picked up two chevre spreads from Seal Cove--one with cranberry and the other a chili lime--not for the faint of heart!

Autumn also brings pumpkin donuts! Jill at Millbrook Bakery is now forcing us to decide--nutty sticky bun or pumpkin donut? Clever lady that she is, you can get a donut hole, and a sticky bun. And now she's offering soups and sandwiches, too. I tried the potato leek today. Scrumptious.

The Surry Inn will close up for the season soon. I'm hoping to get there for the beef salad one more time. This is the pretty view from their dining room.

I went to the Maine's Office of Tourism site this week after seeing an ad for the art museum trail. You'll find oodles of helpful information here. You can also see information on antiquing throughout the state, and great foliage tours, and food tours...

I had dinner at Fisherman's Friend last week, enjoying their cornbread and a crabmeat and swiss sandwich. Guests raved about the lobster puff--and had plenty for lunch the next day. I also had my favorite caesar salad and onion rings at Marlintini's, here in town. We do eat well in this area of tiny towns and very fresh seafood.

At the inn, guests have been raving about Jeff's sorbet, his cranberry scones, and one of my new favorites, the apple walnut cake, made with apples from our trees!

The inn will close up for the season at the end of the month but the Cape House Suite and Studio are open year round. Let us know if you'll be in the area.

Now go enjoy the season! There are leaves to scuff through, golden afternoons to enjoy, a fall bounty to partake in.

Eagle Island Lighthouse

2009-09-20T13:58:00.003-04:00

September in Maine is amazing. The warm days, cool nights, and hints of autumn make Blue Hill especially lovely.

I took advantage of Maine's first Open Lighthouse Day to get on the Eagle Island mailboat. Guests Bob and Margie from Illinois joined me and we agreed it was a magical day. From Audrey, our mailboat captain, to the Quinns, our hosts for the island tour, we were entertained and well tended to. Bob Quinn gave us the tour across the island to the lighthouse and took us all up inside the lighthouse. The views were spectacular but I also loved the historical feel of the light and the spiral stairway leading to it. Bob and his wife Helene are fifth-generation Eagle Islanders and have great stories to tell. I can't hope to capture his wit and style but he was a delight. One quip about lighthouse tenders, "You have to be able to sleep with the light on." More poignantly, he spoke of when the light became automated and no longer needed someone to tend it: "They took the keepers away from the light."

My Saturdays have a lovely rhythm. I help with breakfast at the inn and then dash to the farmer's market. This week I picked up bread from Jill Smith's Millbrook Bakery, some produce from one of the local farmers, and a goat cheese spread from Sunset Acres Farm. Assistant innkeeper Maura used the cucumber for one of my favorite hors d'oeuvres--Greek grilling cheese with tomato and balsamic reduction with the cucumber slice becoming the cracker. After dropping off the farmer's market purchases, I often stop in other shops about town. This weekend I returned to Handworks Gallery and am now in love with some silver earrings with lots of hoops. They have a truly wonderful selection.

"How is breakfast?" I asked a guest the other morning.
"Just as yummy as the bed."

Summer summer summer

2009-08-18T20:56:00.004-04:00

Going, going, gone... August was a whirlwind of sending guests off to the local swimming areas, doing some research in restaurants and at events, and just enjoying the scrumptious weather.

I volunteered one day at the quarry park in Stonington. Opera House Arts (OHA), in collaboration with local conservation group Island Heritage Trust (IHT), presented a preview of a new “story at the quarry.” “Q2: Habitat” is a multidiscipline performance commissioned by OHA and directed by founding artistic director of Pilobolus Dance Theater, at the historic Settlement Quarry. “Q2” is a theatrical spectacle including professional dancers in aerial performances; community members; steel drum music from a live community band; giant puppets; and heavy equipment operated by Rick Weed of Deer Isle and Charlie Peabody of Stonington. “Q2: Habitat” is in its first of two years of development leading up to a spectacle at the quarry in August 2010.

On the way back to the inn, I stopped for lunch at the Bagaduce Lunch. What a view. I would be hard pressed to know which take out place had the best view. There's the Bagaduce, the Bayview between here and Castine, the Breeze in Castine. In Blue Hill, we have to make our own by getting take out at the Fish Net and heading to the town park. The steel drum band has been playing there the last few Mondays.

And speaking of live music... Had you been able to come to the Innkeeper's Birthday Party, you would have gotten to hear the University of Maine--Machias Ukulele Band! Gary Bushee, aka the singing waiter, has been a friend of mine since 1988. He suggested inviting the ukulele players to the birthday bash. To the delight of guests and party goers, they played all evening, taking requests and ending with a full on dance party!

In the kitchen, I'm loving Jeff's three-pepper biscuits. We offer them at breakfast and with hors d'oeuvres. Matt has been making his fabulous popovers which give guests a vehicle for tasting Nervous Nellie's jams. I continue to make the pecan coffee cake--it's an easy crowd pleaser (the recipe is on the Oct. 4, 2007 blog entry. I will often bake the batter in a pie plate, rather than muffin tins, as I like the wedge shape.)

Guests have been so complimentary about the staff here. I cannot agree more. I must have the nicest, most talented staff of any inn in Maine. And staff are talented in many directions: Elizabeth Sawyer is a painter whose work in being shown in a number of places in the area, including the Castine Historical Handworks. This is one of her pastels. Heather Lyon, a new staff member at the inn but someone I worked with back in the Left Bank Cafe days, has a self portrait in Rockport's Center for Maine Contemporary Arts show, "Just Look at Yourself!" Jon Imber's work can be seen there, too.

More soon, I promise. There's so much to tell you about this fall, including a class in Artisan Chocolate Making to be held here at the inn with Kate from Black Dinah Chocolatiers! during our Foliage, Food and Wine Festival Oct. 16-18. Call the inn for more details.

Check your calendars!

2009-08-06T16:00:00.005-04:00

I have to jump ahead to October for just a minute--not that I want to leave the gorgeous August weather we've been having but you have to know about the October events before they go too public and get filled up.

First, Columbus Day weekend, we are collaborating with Paul Sullivan, OK, collaborate might be too strong a word. We are lodging and feeding guests who will be attending Paul's music workshops and events all weekend long. Paul is hosting three days of music workshops during this "musical getaway weekend." It's your chance to visit one of the most beautiful villages on the coast of Maine, hang around with Paul, and indulge in music to your heart's content. There will be piano master classes, improvisation sessions, some interesting and unusual musical adventures (steel drums and synthesizers, for example) and great meals including a lobster feast. Paul will also perform a solo piano concert for you on Saturday night. You'll be staying with us at the inn and fall foliage will be at its height. We only have room for twenty participants, so be sure to act on this quickly. Paul and his partner Jill will send you a brochure with more details. Contact them at 207/359-8432, or by email: Jill@rivermusic.com.

And then it will be time for the Foliage, Food and Wine Weekend! This year's event will be bigger than ever.
We will again be hosting El El Frijoles for a Latin inspired, wine paired dinner. This will absolutely sell out so if you want to join us, call us now! Maxx, from Blue Hill Wine Shop, will be on hand to pour and educate.

A new event at the inn this year is Kate from Black Dinah Chocolatiers. She will hold a very small chocolate making class at the inn on the festival weekend. Not to sound like a broken record, but this will absolutely sell out--and our kitchen isn't half as big as our dining room--so you must call us immediately if you want to be included. Of course, you can always just go to the Blue Hill Co-op or Fairwinds Florist while you are in town and buy her chocolates. Sexy Mexi might be my favorite. Or lavender... She and her husband Steve run the cafe on Isle au Haut and they do send their chocolates off island.

And then we're hosting Inn Your Dreams! Have you ever wondered about running an inn of your own? My friends thought I was crazy when I first started talking about it. "What if you don't like it?" they wondered. "Can't you try it out?" Here's your opportunity to explore your dream. I took his class in spring 2006 and look at me now! Come to the inn for a few days as part of Don Johnson's Inn Your Dream seminar and learn all about innkeeping. You'll have field trips, sessions with experts in the field and professionals you need to work with, and solid information about innkeeping from a man who has been there, plus you'll have an opportunity to see the behind-the-scene workings of this inn, where we'll let you get as hands-on as you want.

Blue Hill is stunning in the fall. Pick your activity and come see. Of course, if your activity choice is reading a book under a golden canopy of fall leaves, we'll take good care of you.

In the meantime, sunscreen and raspberry iced tea... August in Maine is fresh blueberries, ginger-pear ice cream from Millbrook's little shop, drinks at Table on the patio...

Great food, great guests, fun happenings

2009-07-27T13:50:00.003-04:00

You know as a dedicated innkeeper, I force myself to try new restaurants on your behalf. Last week, I headed out to Stonington and had dinner at the Maritime Cafe. What a great view and pretty dining room. I especially liked the appetizer list--full of fresh seafood with original twists. On nice days they have outdoor seating right on the busy harbor. In the evening, a beautiful night sky makes everythig taste even better.

Last night, I tried the Cafe This Way in Bar Harbor.
While the quiet of Blue Hill is my favorite, the bustle of Bar Harbor is fun to visit from time to time. I had dinner with Jill Smith, baker extraordinaire from Millbrook Company, Bobbie Lynn Hutchins, owner and chef at Cafe Bluefish, my all time favorite Bar Harbor dining experience, and her partner. Julie Harris, one of the three Cafe This Way owners, visited us from time to time. It's Julie who has designed the menu--with so many interesting choices it's hard to decide. Luckily, we were all willing to share. I think the smoked duck wrapped scallops were my favorite, or perhaps the ribeye with bleu cheese...

And on the menu here at the inn--Stonington crabmeat quiche is on the menu for this morning, Jeff made a lemon poppy seed bread the other day that was delicious, and then there are the savory tarts... O, and the pancakes. Guests have been raving: "Especially loved the blueberry pancakes" "Blueberry pancakes to die for!" "Every bite of breakfast was memorable!"

I'll have to tell you about our fall offerings and my gallery hopping another day. Right now, it's off to make some of those pancakes for the guests.

I do hope your July is as delicious.

2009-07-17T20:33:00.004-04:00

And, happy anniversary to the inn and me, again! Today, July 17, it is two years that I've been writing "innkeeper" for my occupation. I still say, just about every day and sometimes many, many times during the day, "This is the best job ever" or "I love my job." People often ask how I came to be an innkeeper. The truth? What Color is Your Parachute, by Richard Nelson Bolles. I highly recommend both the book and questioning what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what makes a good fit for you.

Be happy in your work. If you aren't, I'm sure Nick at Blue Hill Books can have a copy of "Parachute" waiting for you when you arrive in town and I'll chat with you over breakfast (this morning, Jeff made scrambled eggs with sage from our garden and a lovely baby Swiss--guests went wild, and was there even one strawberry turnover left for me to try? No. Not even a crumb.),
or I'll talk with you over a glass of wine and some hors d'oeuvres (tonight I did a similar selection to my very first night--I was so nervous then!--I knew I could handle something with a Mexican flair--everyone likes my guacamole and, Sister Salsa, right here in town, makes a great salsa, and quesadillas are always yummy and have endless varieties. We have a white on the wine list from Willamette Valley, Orgeon, called Borealis--delicious and a nice pairing with the spicy food.)

Two years! I really appreciate all the support from friends, family, and staff, without whom I couldn't do this at all, and from guests, who are the real reason this is the best job ever. Two years of so much laughing and learning. Here's to many more.

See you at breakfast...

2009-07-15T19:42:00.004-04:00

What to do on a stunning July night? Cruise to Deer Isle and have dinner at the Cockatoo. I’ve told you and told you how lovely the view is from the deck. I know more guests stop in for a late lunch, having explored Barred Island first, than venture this far from the inn, on such a gravel road, at night. Still, I arrived about 7:30, in the pinking light, and enjoyed a lovely glass of Vihno Verde. The hostess took great care of me from the first moment. It’s a restaurant that can feel awkward, what door to go in, is it OK to just grab a table on the deck?, is it OK with no reservation but I was warmly greeted and immediately taken care of, seated on the deck, greeted by my waitress, glass of wine in hand at once. And, wireless on the deck!

Mark Island Light foghorn can be heard over most of Deer Isle but it can be seen from the deck of Goose Cove Lodge. You can fool yourself that the lobster buoys in the cove are seals, or, heck, maybe they are seals. This image is by Jeremy D'Entremont.

Speaking of lighthouses, Maine is having a Lighthouse Day! Sept. 12 will be the first ever open house of Maine lighthouses, sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard, the State of Maine and the American Lighthouse Foundation. The largest effort of its kind in the nation, the event is designed to provide access to the public to all participating lighthouses on that one day.

You can see why I am so enthusiastic about this area...

a bit of shopping

2009-07-11T19:03:00.003-04:00

Saturday mornings in Blue Hill, Maine, are the best! Blue Hill has its farmer's market at the fairgrounds and I go to scoop up breads and meats and art. Each week there is a new guest artist. I've gotten handmade purses and glass flowers and admired hooked rugs. This week, the Salty Spinners caught my eye. The hats they make are great.

I got to see Katy Allgeyer's new work, too. You can see some on her website, including a new one of the Opera House in her building series that I am craving.

And I made the mistake of going to the Handworks Gallery, just a block from the inn. I thought I might find a new pair of earrings but instead got this great bracelet which has hardly left my wrist since. I haven't gotten a good photo of it to show you but guests and friends have been admiring it all week. Marcia, at Handworks, has a marvelous collection of art and jewelry and beautiful objects.

Back at the inn, our strawberry plants are still producing, we've loved using the microplaner, and the white gingerbread on this morning's menu was a big hit in the dining room.

From the guest book: "Blue Hill makes me weep with its beauty." "We arrived on a very rainy day, exhausted & weary, & this lovely B&B made us whole. The elegance, the exquisite cuisine & the absolutely delightful staff made this a memorable & restful time." "The atmosphere is enchanting, the service top-notch and the food delightful!" (The last comment was left by kayakers who arrived dripping from rain. I love that even a bit of gray weather can't stop visitors from enjoying their stay.)

If you're craving some pampering, come our way.

"Beautiful place, wonderful people!"

2009-07-04T18:12:00.005-04:00

And so ended the story of your innkeeper making a bit of a fool of herself. See, we had someone famous who I just adore come to stay. I managed to be very professional for most of her stay but when I went to tell her how much I really really like her work, I'm certain I came off as a bumbling idiot. It's just that my mother, who passed away in 2000, was always the Queen of Everything and I was the Princess of Quite A Lot. She and I, and my sister, shared a love of Mary's work so I was just tickled to have her here. And she was gracious enough to sign the guest book, "Beautiful place, wonderful people!" My mother would be thrilled. Mary's website is chock full of great gifts and cards and fun things. And this You Tube interview talks about her very sweet books, too.

Garden peas get the credit for my making new friends at the farmer's market today.

I do like to browse every stall at the farmer’s market but I had made a number of purchases and my bag was heavy and I was planning to head back to the car and back to work when I caught a glimpse of carrot tops and sweet peas. Sweet peas--or garden candy--are my absolute favorites. A couple was running the eclectic stall—there were wooden cutting boards (or serving boards because they're really too pretty to cut on), vegetables, cards, jewelry.

I picked up the bag of peas and asked if she had more. No, she answered, she had picked some for them and this was all that was left. “Well, I’d like these please.”

“Pick a carrot as well. It’s a free carrot with every purchase, for nibbling on while you walk around the market.” The carrot, I will tell you, was a fresh-from-the-garden, giant plume of a tail, bundle of delicious orangeness. You likely know me well enough to know I do appreciate an accessory or two, a bit of craziness with an outfit, a scarf tossed over my shoulder. Enter the carrot plume. So I, while enjoying my carrot, browsed a bit more, and so, by browsing and asking Ann Flewelling, as she turned out to be, dozens of questions, I made an amazing discovery. She and Marnie Reed Crowell collaborated on a book, Beads & String, a Maine island pilgrimage, which they published via their press, Threehalf Press, out of Sunset, Maine (home of my favorite spot in the whole world). There's a sample at this link, or come to the inn and borrow the book, or buy it at the Island Heritage Trust site.

Another book to keep an eye out for is Kathryn Ma's All That Work and Still No Boys, winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award. I always say that we have the nicest guests--and we do--but we certainly have talented, creative ones as well!

Other notes from the guest book this week: "Great beds & wonderful breakfast!" "Thank you for a wonderful stay. We've enjoyed every minute..." I do have to report on a guest comment from June: A young could wrote, "Great place! The baby picture in 5 is totally creepy." I have to say we do agree with you and finally have retired her to the attic. Perhaps our ongoing historical research will reveal who she is and I can find her a less "creepy" place to hang.

And if you had been here this morning, you would have a strawberry-lemon sorbet (with strawberries from Homewood Farm, just outside of town). And then chocolate currant scones, which were out of this world delicious. Egg dishes this morning included scrambled eggs with Stonington crab meat and sauteed leeks. Mmmm, mmm! If you aren't being served three-course breakfasts where you are, come see us!

This last photo is a snapshot I took when I was showing some friends the granite walled cemetery in Sedgwick. The first gravestone dates to 1835, very near the time the inn was built. Let me know if you're interested in seeing it and I'll let you know where to find it.

Our strawberry patch produced a whole pile of berries today! I hope your July is as delicious.

Our newest accommodation

2009-06-12T19:23:00.004-04:00

Our newest space, the Cape House Studio, is ready for guests. All of our rooms are works in progress--there isn't one I don't have some plan for. The Studio, though, is ready for the 2009 season.

The kitchen/sitting area has a sink, stove, microwave, and small refrigerator. There's a table large enough for a good game of cards plus the chair you see here with a good reading lamp. In the bedroom, you'll find the charming spindle beds, either twins or a king, and matching dresser. The bathroom is a bit beige--perhaps to be remodeled in Winter 09/10? The views toward the back catch the trees in our lower garden. The front faces the gorgeous academy across the street but mostly you see azalea bushes, beautifully in bloom right now. You might wonder why we call it the Cape House Studio. We refer to the whole building, adjacent to the inn, as the Cape House. This is the Studio because it has artwork, paintings by my aunt, Ky Wilson, and great grandmother, Arline Wilson, in the bedroom, and photographs by Terrill Lester in the kitchen/sitting area. You'll find an easel in the closet and watercolor pads and paints and books on the shelf. Mention the starving artist discount and we'll take 10% off your Studio stay. Please forgive these snapshots. I used my iPhone, wanting to show you as soon as possible.

We've been seeing old friends come through already this spring. I love the Morrises--they notice and appreciate every single change and are very complimentary about the food here, pushing us to do a cookbook--someday. Pat and Pam from Connecticut came through again. We try hard to spoil everyone but they are always leaving presents for us. You should see the whoopie pies! This doesn't show how adorably they are wrapped, or were wrapped...

From the guest book this week: "Hooray for your excellent bacon." I have to agree. We still get it from Smith's Smokehouse. Tomorrow I'll pick our order up at the farmer's market, while I chat with Dan from Gravelwood Farm about the eggs his chickens have been laying for us and say hello to Dan from the Flower Farm and get one of Jill's sticky buns. She's from Millbrook Bakery, where we got lots of our toasting breads. The farmer's market is great--came through on a Saturday and we'll give you directions. It's not far from the inn. Breakfasts have gotten good reviews from the guest book, too, and it's no wonder with Matt and Jeff whipping up gingerbread with a fresh lemon glace, chocolate scones, Belgian waffles with sauteed apples, omelets with the yummiest fillings. For today's afternoon treat, Jeff made graham crackers--my first homemade graham cracker ever. I'd be happy to share the recipe--once I get it, of course. These are crisp childhood memories, like the graham crackers you remember only so much better.

I hope your June has been as delicious!

Spring Bounty

2009-06-05T18:22:00.004-04:00

Dan, from Dan's Flower Farm, brought in his first bouquet of the season. They truly are so beautiful you could cry. My photographs do not do them justice in the least but I had to show you.

On the menu for hors d'oeuvres tonight? A blueberry sage baked brie, a recipe adapted from one in Brooke Dojny's cookbook, Dishing Up Maine. Lest you think I only cook out of one book, let me tell you about the Maine Mapmaker's Kitchen, newly out. Jane Crosen--of the incredible hand drawn maps of this area--together with Richard Washburn, her husband, has created a Downeast cookbook celebrating creative, healthy recipes "for home, camp, and a float."

It took reading a review of Becky's in Portland in the latest issue of Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors to articulate something I have always felt. "Grilled crab and cheese! Try that and you'll never waste your money on a lobster roll again," wrote Peter Spectre. My first crab and swiss came from the Fisherman's Friend, when it used to be across from the elementary school, when the school was still in Stonington, say 1988. You can still get one at the Friend. Mmmm mmmm.
I hope your spring has been as beautiful and delicious and bountiful. If it hasn't, come see us.

Lupine! And Belted Galloway Cows

2009-06-01T19:26:00.002-04:00

Just as the lilacs bloom in time for the inn's open house, the lupine come along right in time for their very own festival. Deer Isle's Lupine Fest, June 19-21, truly does have something for everyone, and it's all a short drive from Blue Hill.

Recipes, mattress information, recommendations for a tasty lunch--we've been offering it all to guests. "The most charming inn on all five continents, with the most friendly welcome," wrote one guest in our book. It must be Matt's breakfasts that send them into such compliments. He tried a new sauce, blueberry rhubarb, with the waffles. Mmmmm. It's heaven to have rhubarb, chives, mint, sage... right in our garden. Our strawberry plants are coming along well.

Blue Hill Mountain beckons... You can hike right from the inn. We even have backpacks to loan you. This image isn't even from the top but from one of the "catch your breath, catch the view" stops I encourage people to take on their way up. An old homestead at the base of the mountain left its footprint in day lilies and lily-of-the-valley. The apple tree was probably in the dooryard.

Do you know about Aldermere Farm in Rockport? (Thanks to a guest, I now know about it.) The 136-acre farm is one of the world’s premier breeders of Belted Galloway cattle (you know, the Oreo cows) and it's owned and managed by Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a statewide land conservation organization dedicated to protecting the working landscapes of the Maine coast, among other things. The Trust maintains Aldermere as a working farm and educational center, helping visitors deepen their appreciation for land conservation and sustainable agriculture.

I hope you're getting your share of strawberries, and Nervous Nellie's jam filled tea cookies, and Carrabassett free trade coffee. If not, come on along--we've got some for you. Here's to a beautiful June.

Spring in Blue Hill

2009-05-22T20:11:00.004-04:00

It has been such a lovely spring--I can't believe you aren't here. A few lobster boats fish out of the boat landing just a block and a half from the inn. It's a tidal boat launch so you will only find the lobstermen there at high tide. We have tide charts available for guests, thanks to Melone Madix-Jackson of Slaven Realty. This photo of the Brady Caleb is from an early morning walk--can you see why I sometimes have to resist dashing through the halls at the inn, shouting, "Wake up! Wake up! It's a beautiful day"?! One nice advantage to the inn being just up from the water--we don't awake to the diesel engines roaring out to sea before dawn.

The lilacs beside the kitchen door are heavenly and the apple blossoms came out just in time for our guest Meredith's wedding. Much of her party were staying here as well. I was so proud of the inn's garden looking so marvelous, just in time.

We've spruced up the inside of the inn, too, and thrown open the doors just this past weekend. The sun has been streaming in the breakfast room windows.

A guest asked for the recipe for Matt's carrot cake cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting (our first afternoon treat offering). Let me know if you'd like me to send you a copy, too. They work well as muffins without the frosting... Or as muffins with the frosting. Who says a muffin can't be frosted?! We often make mini muffins. I figure, if you like it, you can have another (or two, or three). If you don't care for it, there's very little waste. This is a photo of Matt, working on hors d'oeuvres we served at our open house. We also served Maine shrimp ceviche from the Blue Hill Co-op at the open house. I had their scallop ceviche recently. Both are amazing and just another example of how lucky we are in this gorgeous town--we get great food, too.

There is so much to tell you! Jill Smith, from Millbrook Bakery, is becoming an ice cream lady! She'll be scooping right downtown Blue Hill, near the Chamber of Commerce, across from the post office (where I go every single day. It's a very good thing the inn has a lot of stairs to climb and grass to mow). She'll be opening this very weekend.

Elvers may not show up on our menu but they do get flown to o la la restaurants like the French Laundry and Four Seasons. Folks around here have been fishing for these little eels for generations.

"Had an absolutely wonderful time" wrote some guests, former innkeepers themselves, as they checked out. They were heading through Belfast on the way home, hitting the fun stores and Chase's Daily.

You know we only have the nicest guests here--this week it's been Meredith the bride, Fischer the groom, and all their friends and family. And, John and Vera, guests from last year, called to check in. They wrote a lovely review of their stay on TripAdvisor--very thoughtful! We really appreciate the compliments and kind words. Thank you thank you!

The season blooms this month!

2009-05-05T21:07:00.003-04:00

May finds us deep cleaning the inn and preparing to open the newly-painted red doors to another season. Our Cape House accommodations, the Suite and the Studio, are available year-round but from May to November, the inn's 11 rooms welcome guests.

I have another book to tell you about! I think it must be in the water here--Blue Hill is chock-a-block full of talented folks. Marjorie Kernan might look familiar to you as she is often in her antique store right down the street from the inn (it's the one with the incredible French items). Her novel, the Ballad of West Tenth Street, is all New Yorky, though, and just a great read. In a small town, everything is connected--Marjorie's partner Andre Strong, an amazing cook, used to prepare dinners at the inn.

I'm often suggesting guests stroll through the cemeteries in town. We have the Seaside, which is... on the water, and we have the Early Settlers Cemetery, which is full of... early settlers, and we have the Mountain View, which... ! The photo above is from earlier this spring, at Seaside.

We're still sad about the Oakland House closing--and still worried about the lack of lodging to be found in this area. Please, please, if you know you're coming and will want to stay here, call ahead! We are already sold out for a number of weekends. I hate to say no but we can't make more rooms the way El El Frijoles sometimes has to make more food (I went out there tonight to celebrate Cinco de Mayo only to discover the early worm gets the special chocolate menu. Latecomers didn't leave hungry, though. I had a great quesadilla. With their salsas--the corn and the mango are my favorites--I didn't miss the mole sauce at all).

Another sadness is that the Wescott Forge has closed its doors. We really would be devastated but Cleonice, a favorite restaurant in Ellsworth, has a plan up its sleeve. I believe it will be called Table. More details to come.

I love a silent auction and recently won 15 pounds of lobster at the local elementary school. I bid over Bob Stephens, boat designer extraordinaire, so felt it was only fair to share the goods with him and his family. He did the cooking honors. Lobster is just soooo delicious. And this was for a good cause.

Maine Built Boats has produced a great video about... Maine built boats. You really have to watch it--beautiful boats and great scenery.

I hope you're planning your summer vacations, packing the binoculars and the bike helmets, the beach books and the car snacks. We're getting ready for you.

March has been amazing

2009-03-09T13:51:00.011-04:00

Check out the April issue of Town and Country Magazine! It's their special travel issue and I am thrilled that the inn is included in an article beginning on page 73.

Looking ahead to May, the Wings, Waves, and Woods Festival, May 15-17, has even more great activities this year. You can go on boat trips, join master birders in a variety of locations, and even learn about making bird sculptures from Peter Beerits (most known at the inn for Nervous Nellie's Jams and Jellies).

I bought a field guide, Birds of Maine, from Blue Hill Books, to loan out to guests. While I was there, I bought Bobo and the New Neighbor, by Gail Page, and Underwear--What We Wear Under There, written by Ruth Freeman Swain, both local authors.

I am so lucky to be living in a place that feeds all this creativity. I recently attended A Terrible Beauty, a collaboration between Paul Sullivan, pictured here, and Peter Behrens. As Peter explained, "This project began in January when Paul phoned me and said, 'Let's do a show about Ireland and the Great Hunger!'... We both live in Brooklin. It was snowing. Planning a show for the first day of spring felt like a hopeful, even defiant, gesture." Paul created and played music to accompany Peter's novel, the Law of Dreams. Scenes were read by Amy Grant, of Peninsula Metamorphic, and Rosie Upton, a 13-year-old with an amazing voice, sang. The packed audience left so fulfilled. The very next day the Blue Hill Concert Association's final winter show featured America's Dream Chamber Artists. Ahh. I also had a friend read a bit of E.B. White's Here is New York aloud to me. I've decided that in April, that cruel cruel month, I will challenge myself to find live music or spoken words to listen to every single day. What a treat to have people play and read and recite.

I received a lovely note from guests who recently stayed in the Cape House Suite: "Most comfortable bed in recent memory." They liked the area, Deer Isle and Castine in particular. Even this time of year, when the snow piles can look a bit tired... It's maple syrup time and many restaurants, including Lily's Cafe, celebrate this weekend.
A little something sweet as spring comes along. Enjoy the season!

Happy February to you

2009-02-18T15:27:00.007-05:00

Guests often wonder what innkeepers do during the quiet season. You know I read a lot. I pretend to watch a lot of movies but somehow that doesn't happen often enough. Innkeepers generally travel, update the inn, and socialize, or at least that's what I've been up to.

I got away for a weekend recently to Claybrook Mountain Lodge in North New Portland, Maine. Imagine crosscountry skiing or snowshoeing over deer tracks every day. Imagine getting to see a herd of nine, ten, eleven white tailed deer coming to feed right outside the lodge's window. Imagine finding a pile of moose poop! Our host, Greg Drummond, is an amazing outdoorsman with a perspective I found poignant and wise. Between the wildlife, the scenery, the delicious meals, the fresh air and exercise, and the good company--to say nothing of no computer or cell phone access!--I returned to Blue Hill well rested.

For Valentine's Day, I joined Noel Paul Stookey, of Peter, Paul, and Mary, in giving a valentine to the ocean. He gave a concert to benefit the Marine Environmental Research Institute (located right here in Blue Hill). He sang one love song in particular to his wife of many years, Betty, which had us all swooning.

This month also saw me celebrating International Eat Pie for Breakfast Day (the second Saturday in February). In spite of visions of pecan pie, my favorite, a lack of planning left me honoring the day with a slice of pizza pie, pepperoni, from the Eggemoggin Country Store. And then, still in the mood, I had two slices at Finelli's later in the week. They have a bianca, with spinach and ricotta, that is my favorite slice of all time. Now if only I can get that pecan pie...

February also brought new technology to this innkeeper. I'm now often answering your calls and emails on my new iPhone. And, confession time, I am right this minute flying to Baton Rouge to visit my sister and her family. With an on-plane internet connection, I can update my blog and fly.

If you are thinking of coming to this area and don't have your reservations yet, please call soon. I am very sad to report that the Oakland House, a wonderful inn and resort, family run for generations, won't be open this year. In the last few years, this area has lost many guestrooms, leaving a shortage, especially during holiday weekends or when large events are being held.

I'll be updating our calendar of events for 2009 soon but there's always something going on (Wings, Waves, and Woods festival is May 15-17, World Ocean Day is June 8, and the Lupine Festival is June 19-21).

Happy February!

Mid-Winter Reading

2009-01-27T21:03:00.008-05:00

In the last few weeks, I've been in Western Massachusetts, New York, and Blue Hill. I can authoritatively say, it's coldest here and those of us in Maine can talk about the weather lots longer than those other folks! We've had amazingly cold nights but days filled with sunshine. I finally got out on my snowshoes and will not be annoying about it as I try to get everyone else out on theirs. This lovely scene is just over a mile from the inn.

If it's that cold outside, you know it's time to be reading inside. I adored Ellen Booraem's The Unnameables.She is just such a delightful writer, as you will see in her piece about her messy desk. Kirkus Reviews says, "Booraem's debut is an ever-surprising, genre-defying page-turner." I just sent it home with Matthew, 11, Lorna, 13, and Paige, the mom, and I suspect they will all love it.

As always, Blue Hill Books will have autographed copies of it for you. While I was in there checking out the latest in the Maine section, I came across Days in the Life of a Fisherman's Wife, by Rusty Warren, and More than Petticoats: Remarkable Maine Women, by Kate Kennedy. Remarkable Women has great photographs and description of hard Maine living that leaves me very happy to be getting through the winter with all the various heat sources we have, including heated seats in our cars. Also on my docket is Notes from an Innkeeper's Journal. Has the book everyone keeps telling me to write already been done? I'll let you know.

Although the book pile is plenty deep enough to keep me busy, I do like to keep up with the Sunday papers. In the Globe recently was a column that answered an old, old question for me. "Make a Joyful Noise," written my Sam Allis, suggests "classical audience should loosen up and applaud at will." I came to classical music late in life, having grown up on an unhealthy diet of 70s and 80s rock and roll, Barry Manilow and Ricky Nelson, and, during those most formative years, mariachi music and folk songs played on the accordion. Allis suggests going with our instinct to clap at the end of a movement, rather than staidly waiting until the very end (which neophytes never recognize anyway, and have to wait until others applaud to finally, at long last, get to show their awe).

Although it sometimes feel as though we will never again be able to throw open the windows to the ocean breezes, we have to get out and enjoy the snow now. It really will melt, it always always does.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T20:06:00.006-05:00

How has it been so long since I last posted?! Those pesky holidays.

I had to write tonight to tell you about my dinner. My sister lives in Baton Rouge, LA. When she was up for Thanksgiving, she brought me a packet of BBQ shrimp sauce mix from the Louisiana Fish Fry Company. It's shrimp season here in Maine so I was in luck. This year's season is a bit longer than it was last year. PERC, the Penobscot East Resource Center, is working with local fishermen to offer a community supported fishery, where folks can buy a half share or share and receive pounds of shrimp each week. After my scrumptious dinner tonight, I might just have to sign myself up.

We were full up for New Year's Eve and with good reason. Blue Hill's last night celebration is funfunfun. Free live music starts early, around seven, in almost a dozen venues around town, all within easy walking distance of the inn. I started at the Fire House to catch the Brooklin Band, a community band playing holiday favorites (I had to watch them. I had been at the doctor's earlier in the day and the technician who drew my blood said she was in the band. I love a small town!) I danced a bit to the steel drum band and then headed to the Congregational Church to hear Rob and Becky McCall. They are an amazing couple. Rob is the pastor at the church, has a show on our local radio station, WERU, and writes a column for the Weekly Packet, Awanadjo Almanack. His wife Rebecca is an amazing artist (this is one of the books she has illustrated) and clever lyricist.

While I'm reminding you how absolutely lovely Blue Hill is, let me tell you about Stephanie at the post office. I met Stephanie at a rug braiding class I took in the fall of 2007. I have yet to finish a piece the size of a chair mat. Stephanie has made two room sized rugs! Although that was the last time I spoke with her. By now... She also knits which is how I happened to be up to my elbows in a bag full of pairs of socks the other day. I came to the post office for my mail and had to go to the window to collect some glow-in-the-dark items I had ordered for New Year's Eve. Stephanie asked if I liked socks (not too many people can say no to that). She said I could pick a pair from the myriad she had in the bag. In the end I couldn't decide on just one pair so I offered her some glow trinkets and a trade was made.

A friend sent a link to this Maine humor. You know you're from Maine when... That lead me to a very silly song, the Desert of Maine (which is a real place). A friend actually took me to the desert of Maine, in Freeport, off-season, but I can say I was there.

And speaking of friends sending things, so many guests sent cards and photos. Thank you! I love getting to read the newsletters and seeing the family pictures. As you've heard me say, no doubt, my least favorite part of innkeeping is saying goodbye to you after you've spent a lovely time at the inn being interesting and delightful. Come back soon.

I hope your winter is going well. If you want some snow and some solitude, come on up!