My 15 Minutes

Right now when you google "blueberry shortbread", my recipe shows up on the first page of results!  I think it's even the number one entry under "blueberry shortbread cookie."  Why would you be googling such a thing?  Well, you probably wouldn't, but I hope you enjoy the recipe anyway :)

Though the picture looks a bit crummy--no pun intended--I think it's just because the nice food writer who recently visited us couldn't resist squirreling some away in her pockets for later snacking.   And crummy cookies are plenty delicious.

Enjoy: Our Honest Cooking Spotlight

The List of Left-Behinds

With all of the experiences we've had here, I think sometimes a list will give a better impression of the innkeeper's lot than anything else.  I'm giving it a try today.


As you may know, the lodging industry standard is to NOT contact people about found items in guest rooms.  Lawsuits related to extramarital affairs and other "I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole" situations are to blame.  Sometimes that's a fun thing--look what we get if they don't call! Others it's just something we have to deal with.  Here's our current top ten list of things left in people's rooms after checkout:


10) large bottle of expensive cologne (airline regulations, perhaps?)


9) freshly pressed XXXL men's shirt from a room that housed two petite ladies


8) pens and comparable "gimmes" from other hotels


7) collection of seashells from the beach


6) gallon-sized ziplock bag full of makeup


5) tightie whities (The answer is briefs, folks. Unless people are abandoning them here and switching to boxers...)


4) garment bag full of dresses


3) unopened bottle of champagne


2) daily devotional book in our housekeeping tip envelope


     and the All-Time Champ?


1) a fist-sized rock with a piece of checkered fabric carefully glued to the surface

Fauna

A discovery that has reminded me of all our animal encounters in Maine inspired me to write today.  Yes, seeing a moose is right up there with visiting the Grand Canyon our bucket list.  No, it wasn't a moose (though one of our guests recently reported a sighting).

Just outside our bedroom window is an occupied robin's nest!  The fuzziest little guys are getting fattened up in there.  While we have seen robins at our erstwhile homes, we've had plenty of first encounters here, too.  Even ignoring marine life, we'll certainly never forget the group of wild turkeys that crossed the road and disappeared into the woods without a trace.  In our own yard we've seen a beautiful red fox as well as a frequent visitor we call the "attack duck".  He really likes to hang out in our bushes but gets scared when you come close.  The first attack duck sighting was really an unidentified object flying straight at my head.

We've even found the oreo cows in Kennebunkport!  I often see Belted Galloways on my way to the grocery store, just past the shipbuilding school.  Because there's obviously a shipbuilding school in my neighborhood.  I enjoy passing the pastoral scene.  Oh, look, ponies!  What a sweet vegetable garden!  Hey, it's a goat!  What a cute goat.  And it's standing right next to a man with an axe...  I almost craned my neck beyond safe driving limits to see what happened next, but some will be happy to learn that I discovered the goat safe and sound the next week.

To New Englanders this all may sound silly--just as being excited about kangaroos makes little sense to those Aussies who routinely shoot at them--but encountering wildlife or even domesticated animals outside of our personal norm is a great perk of moving to another region.  

Still Here

We realize we've gone a bit underground these past few months, and we keep getting pokes and prods from folks who would like to see a new post.  First of all, thanks for caring!

Here's a quick overall update on the experiment, and we promise to get back to the 'fun stuff' post-haste.

Well, we're still here and still feeling like we're on the busiest and best vacation of our lives.  Southern Maine is blooming.  It's really waking up for the season, and we've loved witnessing it.  We've met some awesome people from all over the states as well as foreign cities including Montreal, Edinburgh, and Perth.  We've met all kinds of area business people, too:  cab drivers, shop owners, restaurateurs, housekeepers, fishing charter... ers?, and other innkeepers.  In addition to new friends, we've played host to a couple of old ones.  And we're about to have the official first parent visit, so stay tuned ;)

So far the 24/7 job hasn't pulled us under, though the summer will be the true test.  Our favorite tasks have probably been renovating our new Tasting Room (you can glimpse some of the original hardwood floors below!) and developing new recipes for breakfast dishes and afternoon cookies.  

Day Trip

We were actually expelled from the inn this week for remodeling purposes.  The hardwood floors in the guest pantry and soon-to-be tasting room are being refinished. We cannot wait to get back to see the result.  Until then, we've been forced to take a trip up the Maine coast (so we can better recommend vacation spots to our guests, of course).  The town where we stayed is Camden, "where the mountains meet the sea."  As the above picture of rocky coast helps to demonstrate, the tagline fits.

It has been a lovely visit.  We field-tested highly rated restaurants--one worthy, another not so much.  If you ever make it to Camden, by the way, try Francine Bistro.  Its intriguing flavor combinations and service reminded us of one of our favorite restaurants in Lawrence, 715. Plus, Jed and I literally had a 15 minute laugh session after just visiting Francine's website.  Click on the link and you'll hear why ;)

We hiked, lounged (read: knitted), and even got plenty of work done.  We are also excited to hit the Farnsworth Art Museum on our way out of town.  And, though it might seem strange, one of my favorite things to do in a historic town is visit the cemetery.  There is something awesome about the connection between people born centuries apart.  This person was a Civil War vet, that person was a WWII vet, etc. This mother died when she was 29.  This plot memorializes three hundred years of family members.  Even if you are not a graveyard geek like me, it is usually a beautiful walk.

Given weeks with no days off (and no 8-hour days at that), we expected an intense desire for rest when the opportunity presented itself.  After being on our feet all day as innkeepers, though, we started to get antsy after a few hours of sedentary vacationing.  I'm glad we did, or we might have missed the quiet woods and coastline, or even the unexpected regional icon: the oreo cow.  Like most adventures, we did not get what we expected.  But so far, the reality is even better.

 

Throwback

There are some jobs that existed long before the Industrial Revolution.  These iconic roles are so embedded in human consciousness that everyone has a sense of what they mean.  We can picture the work of a soldier or priest without difficulty.  Say a person is a farmer or carpenter, and your listener will understand. Physicians, musicians, politicians--all familiar.  Cultural connections surrounding this work have solidified.

For the first time in my life I hold such a position.  What I do every day has been done by others for hundreds and even thousands of years.  The incidentals have changed, of course.  Most of my predecessors did not deal with social media marketing or flat screen TVs, but they probably did encounter unanticipated requests or demands as well as a combined environment for business and personal affairs.  This has generated an unforeseen perk to the job.  No more quizzical looks or ten minute explanations that bear little fruit.  What do I do?  I am an innkeeper.

Think Drinks

We need your help!  Jed and I are developing a cocktail menu for the inn. While we will offer Bloody Marys, we're trying to create a range of early morning offerings. We want to find the right balance between recognizable and unusual, all delicious.  The kicker is that they must be prepped at light speed.  If you were staying with us and having breakfast, what would you order?

Just vote for one or more beverages from the below menu in our poll to the right.  We can't wait to hear what you think :)

Refreshing – Light & Fruity Drinks

House Sangria                               

     -with fresh fruit & paired quality liqueur

Kir Royale                                      

     -crème de cassis (blackcurrant) & bubbly

Sanguine Mimosa                                 

     -our adaptation with blood orange

                                                                 

Greyhound                                                              

     -classic vodka cocktail with grapefruit

                                                    

Raspberry-Lime Rickey                   

     -sparkling drink with rum & fruit puree

Gin Fizz                                          

     -effervescent gin beverage with lemon

Rich – Coffee & Chocolate Drinks

Spiked Hot Chocolate                     

     -choice of hazelnut, mint, or orange

Cognaccino                                     

     -cognac, Kahlúa, & amaretto; served cold

Irish Coffee                                      

     -traditional whiskey cocktail; served hot

Coffee Sambuca                              

     -digestif or aperitif with coffee beans

Mocha-tini                                      

     -layered chocolate & coffee martini

Café Romano                                  

    -coffee with limoncello; served hot or cold

Backstory

By popular demand, here is a brief history of what led us to Maine and innkeeping.

We knew we wanted to move somewhere striking with an obvious connection to nature.  And Jed always wanted to run an entire hospitality related business.  Shortly after we got together, the idea of a bed and breakfast came up. Other options were certainly on the table--food truck, brew pub, or café on the moon--but we kept circling back to the B&B.   We decided that one of these days we'd give the lodging industry a try. We started looking into the details of such work, both getting it and performing it.  Then came the whirlwind.

Almost immediately after we started researching, the perfect want ad came up for an Innkeeper/Manager gig in (you guessed it) Maine.  We felt the description of the ideal applicants fit us completely.  Our only thought about the eccentric, nine room, historic home by the coast? I want to go to there! 

We decided to give it our all, including but not limited to sitting on the Wishing Bench in East Lawrence. A while after throwing our hat in the ring we thought we were unsuccessful.  We settled into our then jobs/home a little further, content that we'd at least acted.  Then entered mischievous fate. Jed's father, an acclaimed vocational consultant, taught him to approach the application process in a certain way. Jed sent one last 'thank you for considering us...' follow-up e-mail. We got a response, interview, and job offer within the next three days.  Apparently we passed the sample menu test with the below:

Summer

Local blueberry salad | baby greens | almonds | honey sherry reduction

Citrus madeleines

Buttermilk waffles | caramelized rhubarb | local sausage

Bruschetta | crispy prosciutto | poached egg | mornay sauce

Autumn

Baked apple | cranberry chestnut stuffing | salted caramel drizzle

Homemade sesame bagels | black cerignola olive cream cheese

Pumpkin rabanada | cranberry maple coulis | local bacon

Egg white omelet | local kale | porcini mushrooms | gruyere

Winter

Roasted root vegetables | fig sauce

Ginger cinnamon rolls | coconut icing

Crepes | spiced apple cider chutney | local sausage

Goat cheese quiche | leek | pancetta 

As much fun as we're enjoying playing with food like this, I'll admit that both of us cried when we left Lawrence.  When it comes down to it, we have stopped missing the work and the house we left behind.  We miss the people... the relationships.  We face that a little bit each day, but still believe we made the right decision. Every move has introduced us to amazing individuals we would otherwise never have known.  And even when we stay put, we end up missing our friends who leave to chase family, education, duty, or bliss.  So, I suppose it's just our turn.

Coastal Eats

Since moving to Kennebunkport, we've had access to a lot of great food.  And we are all about food.  We've indulged in everything from duck prosciutto (house cured at Old Vines wine bar) to fresh fried artichoke hearts (at Joshua's, a restaurant run by a local family with an organic farm). Lobster rolls and mac & cheese are seemingly on every menu, and they're totally different at each place. Our favorite might be Bandaloop, which somehow manages to makes dishes as diverse as egg rolls, beef carpaccio, and quesadillas into a something both compatible and delicious. And, of course, it has to be said that the heaps of beautiful seafood available to us could make any recent Midwesterner weep.  We've tried so many restaurants now, even we have almost hit our limit.

What we aren't getting tired of yet are our own experiments in the kitchen.  We've been working on updating and expanding the offerings at our inn from breakfast to cheese boards, and we're just warming up.  That's the great part about running an inn:  no matter how many variations on eggs Benedict or coffee cake you can create, there's always someone to share it with. 

In honor of our ongoing "test kitchen", here's one of the recipes!  Jed researched and tried out a few different procedures, eventually settling on the following simple instructions for mascarpone.  Personally, I love the stuff.  We can make it on short notice in house, feature it on small plates with wine, and incorporate it into savory or sweet breakfast dishes.  Win - win- win.  

Hope you enjoy the spreadable goodness :)

Homemade Mascarpone

Tools:
Double Boiler
Cheesecloth
Metal Strainer
Bowl
Thermometer

Ingredients:
2 Cups Heavy Cream (not ultra-pasteurized)
1 Lime

Heat heavy cream in double boiler till it reaches 190 F
takes about 15 minutes
Add juice of lime and stir until fully incorporated
it should start to thicken and look custard-like
Remove from heat and let cool 15 minutes
While cooling, prepare the cheesecloth and strainer by dampening the cheesecloth and lining the strainer with the cheesecloth.
Once cooled, slowly pour cream through strainer over bowl
Cover the strainer (still inside the bowl) with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to sit for at least 12 hours.
You should be left with cheese in your cheese cloth!

Open for Business

Well, we've done it.  Two errant foodies packed up everything from our madeleine pan to our trusty santoku and drove it all the way from Kansas to Maine.  It was a long and tedious journey--through snow, ice, and crazy New York drivers--but it was completely worth it.

We've been on the coast for over a week now and can hardly believe our luck.  In such a short time we've already gotten a lot of innkeeping practice.  When we are not exploring the area and trying the local cuisine (probably the most grueling job requirement to date), we are cooking, cleaning, planning menus, managing the office, and generally taking care of our guests' needs.  It might not seem glamorous, but this is the stuff we love to do and it all seems like an adventure to us.

Through this blog we hope to chronicle our experience and conduct the biggest experiment of our lives:  can a dream job stay a dream when you've got it in real life?