First Snowfall at Garden Gables Inn - Dec. 5, 2009

Its a Winter Wonderland!

All our best wishes to one and all for a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

It doesn’t get any better than this, Fall in the Berkshires!!

But before I go on about the wonders of this season and our enthusiasm for all we have planned for the winter, my husband John and I want to first extend a heart-felt thank you to all the repeat and new guests of Garden Gables Inn who made us feel so welcome. We feel we have made some wonderful friends this summer and look forward to all of you returning.

There was definitely music in the air this summer! The Inn was filled with tales of lovely evenings at Tanglewood, Shakespeare Theatre, and all our other exciting area venues. Our chef, Bob Luhmann, outdid himself with dinners, even causing one former Washingtonian Magazine food critic to note, “This is the best meal I have had in the Berkshires in over twenty-five years!!”

Truth be told, we didn’t have the best weather this summer, but our guests were not to be deterred…they hiked, picnicked, shopped and dined, and even went swimming in our outdoor pool!

The Fall season is starting off beautifully with sunny days and cool evenings. The crimson, red and yellow leaves shimmer in the sunlight. John Vittori and family are experiencing their busiest season ever. The apples are crisp and delicious, and guests are enjoying the hiking trails, apple picking, hay rides and, of course, the complimentary wine tasting. Did I forget to mention the cider donuts and delectable pies? Thank goodness for the hiking trails to work off some of those calories!

Trails are being worked on now for the winter cross-country skiing. Snow-shoeing will also be available. John and I can’t wait!

And, last but not least, we hope you will consider joining us for our New Year’s Weekend Gala Celebration! It promises to be our best one ever. Settle in with us for a weekend filled with all the warmth and ambience that our lovely Inn can provide. Surround yourself with laughter and good cheer, close friends, amazingly good food, and the warmth and gratitude of the Roethel and Vittori families!

Till then, be well, and please drop us a line!

Warmest Regards,
Peggy and John

Welcome our new innkeepers...

Readers of this blog know that Brande and Dan Neyhard were our innkeepers over the slower winter/spring months. They made some nice contributions while they were here (we'll miss Brande's biscotti and her enthusiasm for continuing with our green initiatives).

We are thrilled to announce that Peggy & John Roethel have recently joined us as resident innkeepers and are in full swing with the influx of summer guests. They have impressive credentials in the hospitality industry, having provided high levels of service and accommodation to renowned chefs, authors, award-winning musicians, stage and film stars and members of the Royal Family of Monaco. They are excellent cooks, wine enthusiasts and experts in planning extraordinary weddings and receptions. They were most recently managers at the Lighthouse Bay Resort in Barbuda and prior to that at Ivivi Lake & Mountain Lodge in Lake Lure, N.C. and Sweetwater Farm Bed & Breakfast in Glen Mills, Pa. From 1991-1998, the couple owned and managed The Spooner House Bed and Breakfast, a historic 18th century property in Fredericksburg, Va.

I have enjoyed introducing Peggy and John to our wonderful summer guests. You can contact them by phone at 888-243-0193 or by email at innkeepers@gardengablesinn.com. Look for future posts from them...

Warm regards,
John Vittori & family

Adieu, Adieu, Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Dan and I will soon be leaving our position as the Innkeepers here at The Garden Gables Inn. While we wish we could stay here forever, immersed in the magic of The Berkshires and this beautiful Inn, we have decided to move back home and spend more time with our families.

Thank you so much to everyone who took a moment out of their day to read my silly ramblings and stories. Thank you everyone who stayed here and helped make it such a great place. Thank you to everyone who had such kind words about Dan and I and the Inn, and voiced them either in person, or on Trip Advisor, or in emails. Thank you so much for making this the experience that it has been!

While I'm sad to leave my little blog, I'm very pleased with all the positive comments that I have received from you, my readers, and that there are plans for the Innkeepers Blog to continue. There will be a whole new set of ramblings and discoveries and recommendations that I think you're going to love.

Again, thank you so much readers, guests, and friends. It's been a great ride!

With Much, Much Love,
~Brande N.

Let's Get Crackin'

I've mentioned before that Dan and I were on the quest for local and organic meats and animal products like eggs, cheese and yogurt. While we've struck out so far on meats and cheeses, but hit gold with Sidehill Farm's yogurt. Now, we've struck gold again with Pete & Gerry's organic eggs.


I am thrilled to pieces to eat these eggs. In fact, I've eaten perhaps a few too many for my own good! They taste great, they're versatile, they're affordable, and they're good for people and the environment. What's not to love? What's else could possibly make them better?

Toast!

With (hungry) Love,
~Brande N.

Delicious looking soft-boiled egg photo credit goes to: Askliu via Flickr.

It's Full at Last!

Finally the pool is sandblasted, mended, painted, dried, and full! We're in the process of filtering and chlorinating it now. In just a few short days it will be ready for swimmers. Whew!



I can't wait to be able to take advantage of it!

With Love,
~Brande N.

Thank You!

Lately both my laptop and my camera have been incredibly cantankerous and uncooperative, which explains the lack of posts. However, I would like to take a moment to announce the following:

We're #1 on TripAdvisor!

Woo-hoo! What a great way to start the morning!

With very excited love, especially to everyone who is kind enough to take the time to review us,
~Brande N.

PS: If you'd like to see the rating live (and not squished into a screenshot) click here.

Swelter, Shiver, Smile

Do you remember awhile back when I wrote a post about the snow in my hometown? Well, I was browsing Flickr today, looking at pictures of said hometown, when I stumbled on this:


And this:
And this:

(just for clarity's sake: that's a Jeep under there...)

You might ask me why am I showing you a picture of snow today? Why am I showing you a picture of snow on on this lovely day in May? Why would I bring up cold, wet, windy, yucky winter on such a beautiful spring day?

The answer is because it's hot out, and looking at snow makes me shiver. It's like mental air conditioning.

Really, give it a try! Take a look at one of the pictures, close your eyes, and picture standing where the photographer is.

...Brrrrrrr!


There, don't you feel better?

With Love,
~Brande N.

PS: My apologies to any readers who may be visiting from Siberia, Alaska, Iceland, or anywhere that is currently experiencing a cold front. Look away, look away!

Spring in the Berkshires

I know I've been gabbing a lot about summer coming up, but truthfully I'm getting way ahead of myself. It's still spring! Why jump ahead when there are all kinds of lovely springy things around me to enjoy?

While pondering on this fact, I was browsing the Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary website and I noticed that they're hosting the sanctuary's 80th Anniversary celebration on June 6th. My first thought was, "Holy Tulips! That sanctuary has been around for 80 years!?" Then I continued reading and realized what a great event it is.

The celebration (which is FREE!) will feature musicians, food, native plants for sale (Scarlet Bee Balm, anyone?), live birds of prey, and guided walks. The 1,314 acre sanctuary also offers picnicing, which makes me start dreaming of fancy cheeses, fresh baked breads, wine, and picnic blankets. Mmmm!

That same weekend Hilltop Orchards is hosting their 7th Annual Apple Blossom Bash. There will be hors d'oeuvres, live music, hiking, wine tastings, and as the name implies, the apple trees will be in full bloom.

Very much like this.

Forgive me for being a silly romantic, but how sweet would it be to have a wedding proposal on a sunny spring day in the middle of an apple orchard in full bloom? It's no wonder so many people get married in June, Mother Nature sets the romance up for them!

If you'd like more information on Pleasant Valley's 80th Anniversary bash, give them a call at (413) 637-0320. And for more information on the Apple Blossom Bash, feel free to call us at the Inn [(413)637-0193] or at Hilltop Orchards at (800)833-6274.

Hope to see you this spring!

With Love,
~Brande N.

No Pain, No Cane

Dan and I were recently given the assignment to recane a few of our chairs. You have no idea what I'm talking about, huh? That's ok, when we were given the assignment we didn't know what it meant either.

In short, that lattice-like wooden screen that you often see on chairs is called "cane" or "caning". It's actually not wood at all, but the skin of the nonporous rattan vine. Its impermeability makes it ideal for furniture because it won't stain or react to humidity.

Behold the odd and strangely useful things you learn as an innkeeper...

We have a few chairs that feature a lovely woven cane backing. They had unfortunately taken a bit of a beating over the years though, and two out of three chairs had holes ripped through the cane. Rather than replace the whole chair, John opted for Dan and I to re-cane it ourselves. One benefit being that it's significantly less expensive, but another being that it's the greener decision because fixing an old chair instead of buying a brand new one means less resources are used. It's a win-win!

Anyway, this is how the process looks currently:
Kind of a mess. You'd think that throwing a screen into a panel would be easy, right? Not so much... First off, the directions are really vague and don't have any pictures.

Through process of elimination [and some pieces being kind of obvious] we determined that these two pieces are the spline and the cane.


See how they fit into the finished product? (By the way, that's an old, unbroken chair, not one that we've finished.)

Aside from the spline and cane, the wedge, chisel, and hammer were pretty easy to identify...

One line in the directions mentions using "4 wedges to hold the spline in place, and the fifth to pound it into the groove". How do I hold 4 wedges in one place, a fifth in another, AND somehow manage to hammer at the same time? And why in the world do I need 4 wedges to do what two of my fingers are doing in the photo above?? What kind of crazy person invented this process???

As much of a pain as this is, it's going to be neat to be able to proudly say when it's done, "Hey Bob. I caned a chair once. Did you know that?" And he'll be confused and have no idea what I'm talking about. Then I'll be able to rant on about rattan vines and permeability and spline chisels and prewoven cane and...

...I'm doing that right now, aren't I?


With Love,
~Brande N.

Regarding my love for Technology

Please, dear readers, forgive me for my unexcused absence. It's been a whirlwind of craziness here at the Inn. Summer preparation is in full swing and BOY is there a lot to do! In addition to all the usual summer prep, miscellaneous this-and-thats [broken lamps, clogged showerheads, order placements and pick-ups, new bed deliveries and set-ups, power outages, and the pool situation, just to name a few] keep coming up here and there that need to be attended to. So unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of time for blogging in between all the chaos!

But I haven't forgot about you, I promise. In fact, for the last week or so, I've been working on a neat little slideshow about the aforementioned pool. As we've been repairing and painting it, we've also been setting out the pool furniture and putting in an entirely brand new fence. In short, we're getting it prepped for the big opening this weekend. Each day there's a bit more paint, a few more chairs, and a couple feet more fence. It's fun to watch the transformation. The pool is still on schedule to open this weekend (knock on wood!), so as of this morning I was almost done with my photo set and it was going to be a great post.

Also on the camera with the pool pictures were photos of the aforementioned dining guide, and photos of my birthday and the day that Dan and I spent with friends and family who visited us from NY. I wanted to upload the pictures of the dining guide so that I could [finally] blog about it, so I put the memory card in my computer and get ready to start the post. Then I realized that I had only taken pictures of the construction of the book and not the final product. So I took the memory card out of my computer (being very certain to use the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature), and put it back in my camera. I went out to the Guest Pantry, took a few pictures of the Dining Guide and a few more of the pool, and went back to my computer.

When I put the memory card in, however, all of the photos had somehow been corrupted. Everything was lost. The pool photos, the making-of-the-dining-guide photos, all of the pictures from my birthday, everything. It was all gone. Ugh.

I'll still do a post about both the pool and the dining guide, but unfortunately they won't be as complete.

Isn't Technology just grand?

With Love,
~Brande N.

Local Intelligence

I'm a chronic Google-er. I'll admit it.


"I can't get this jar open!"...Google it!

"I need new shoes." ...Google it!

"What does 'eidetic' mean?" ...Google it!*


From my habit of over-Googling I've found that the answers I'm looking for often come from the same source again and again and again.

Example?

Rural Intelligence.

Time and again as I'm researching events and attractions in the Berkshires, Rural Intelligence ends up on my Google Radar, providing me with the answers I need. For example, when I was looking up photos and additional info on Rubiner's Cheesemongers in Great Barrington, I found this article, which talks about Rubiner's "Oysters and Champagne Fridays". Another time I was doing a bit of research on The Mount, and found this article which, in addition to offering a spectacularly beautiful photo of the estate in winter, highlights an interesting event happening on-location. Oh, and this article too, which speculates on The Mount's reputation for being haunted, and mentions its recent filming for the Sci-Fi Channel's show Ghost Hunters. Spooky!

Why exactly does Rural Intelligence keep coming up on my radar? The answer is simple: it's a website focused on only 4 counties in the New England area, one of which is Berkshire county. That means that of all the articles on the website, there is a 1 in 4 chance of an attraction relevent to me being featured.

Needless to say, I've become more and more convinced that this is an excellent local resource. I've even bookmarked it, and now browse it periodically looking for updates and insights. (I won't lie, it helps that Rural Intelligence hosts 3 different blogs, too. We all remember my blog addiction, right?)

Anyway, I think that you [as a reader of my blog and apparent lover of the Berkshires] should head over to Rural Intelligence and do some poking around. Whether your coming to the Berkshires for a special event, food, nature, culture, or even just to visit family, I'm sure you'll find something helpful. Have fun!

With Love,
~Brande N.

*Ok, so "Let Me Google That For You" might be a little harsh, but I can't help but find it hilarious that someone actually created that website. An odd and cranky form of genius, I think.

Prepping for Summer

The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the grass is green and lush, and the air is warm. What does that all mean? It means summer is coming up on our heels and we're working on a million little projects to get ready for it.

The biggest project right now is our pool. It didn't start out as a big project, though. It needed to be repainted and have a bit of masonry work done, but nothing too major.

Wrong! It turns out that the three layers of paint on it right now are all different varieties; two layers are epoxy, one layer is water-based, and the paint we bought is low VOC rubber-based! In an effort to prevent the paint from chipping (which would mean draining, repainting, refilling, and retreating all the water), we're in the process of sandblasting off all of the paint so we can start with a blank slate.

Therefore, our pool, which looked like this last summer:

Currently looks like this:


"AHHHH!!!"

That's what you were thinking, right? Have no fear, however, because regardless of how scary the pool looks now, we're still on schedule to be up and running by Memorial Weekend.

Whew!

With Love,
~Brande N.


PS: Since I'm a history nerd and I like sharing these things, I think you should check out our History page if you're curious to know more about our pool. For example, did you know that it's almost 100 years old?

Robin's and Rubiner's

[Technically, this post was intended to go up yesterday. But somewhere between the power being turned off for half the day to replace a transformer and Blogger refusing to download these pictures for who-knows-what-reason while the power was on, I had some trouble making that happen. Better late than never, right?]

Last week, while Dan's mom was visiting for Mother's Day (Hi, Mom!) we took a little trek to Great Barrington, about 15 minutes away. Even though we had heard a lot baout it, Dan and I had yet to really explore that nook of the Berkshires. We figured the warm spring day, heavy with the scent of blossoming fruit trees, was perfect for taking a walk through town.

We discovered quickly that Main Street is, in fact, the main street. It's lined with unique shops, ranging from artsy clothing stores to trendy cafes to a handmade furniture store to a natural foods co-op and more. We'll definitely be back to do a bit more intensive exploring, but for now I'd like to tell you about two of the most memorable places we went.

First is Rubiner's Cheesemongers, located in the old bank building on Main Street.

This gourmet foods store is just plain brimming with imported candies, artisanal cured meats. fancy mustards and chutneys...


and as the name implies--cheese. Oodles and oodles of beautiful, wonderful, heavenly cheese...




Not only do they have an incredible selection of cheeses (runny and hard and stinky and blue and aged and fresh and sheep and goat and cow, oh my!) but the staff is knowledgeable and helpful. Not that you'd really need a helpful staff member when you can help yourelf to one of the seven or eight varieties of cheese set out to sample each day. That's right seven or eight different cheese samples. While there I tried a young asiago, an aged piave, a waxy jack, parmigiano reggiano, and....

...this odd and intriguing cheese whose name I didn't catch. It was something like an aged cheddar, to say the least. Its scent was of a robust beer, which turned into a sweet, caramelly, cheddar-like taste when it hit the tongue. As the sweetness faded, the saltiness came, followed by a bit of tart sharpness reminiscent of a swiss. Complex doesn't even begin to cover it.

If I were going to Tanglewood and needed a some fancy cheeses, fresh breads, and high quality meats for my picnic on the lawn, I'd go to Rubiner's.

And walk out with 17 kinds of cheese and an empty wallet.

Is that such a bad thing?



After going to Rubiner's we took a few steps down the street and stumbled on this:

Robin's Candy Shop has struck the perfect balance between nostalgia, whimsy, and fun. How can you not love a store with a warning sign that says, "unattended children will be given espresso and a free kitten"? How could you not love a store that sells imported licorice, cotton candy scented perfume, Zagnut bars, and lolipops with real crickets inside?

There's something magical about walking into this place. You can't help but feel a little bit like Charlie walking into the Chocolate Factory. Or maybe it's more like Augustus Gloop when he first sees the chocolate river. I fear that I might be more Augustus than Charlie.

No matter how you feel (awed, nostalgic, gluttonous) there's bound to be something here for you. A box of cupcake shaped bandaids? A pair of cartoonishly large cat-eye glasses? Maybe a gumball shaped like Frankenstein?


At the very least, you're sure to find dessert for your Tanglewood picnic. Let's just hope your empty wallet from Rubiner's has a credit card in it on which you can charge all this candy.

Also, You might want to pack some insulin too. Just to cover the sugar rush.


With Love,
~Brande N.

April Showers Bring....

Last week we had a beautiful heat wave, and this week has been primarily rainy. What does that mean? Flowers!

Enjoy!



Much Love,
~Brande N.

Busy Bees Don't Blog

Hello Readers,
Forgive me for neglecting to update today! I'm up to my elbows in scrapbooking paper, double stick tape, and paper trimmings as I update and expand our dining guide. You never realize how many incredible restaurants there are in the Berkshires until you have all of their menus in front of you! Dan thinks I should post a slide show of the book's progress, so hopefully I'll have it up tomorrow. I also revisited Baba Louie's Pizza in Great Barrington recently and I'll be doing a dining review of them as well. I'll be back up to speed soon, I promise.

I hope your enjoying this lovely spring day!

With Love,
~Brande N.

Memorial Weekend!

Have you seen our Special Offers page yet?

We just posted a fantastic deal for Memorial Weekend, and it highlights an event called the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival. I'm very excited about it. According to the event's website, it's the largest environmental film festival in the country. It also happens to be a touring festival, and on May 24th, it's coming to Lenox. The three hour presentation will feature literally dozens of films ranging in length from 2 minutes to just under an hour and covering various topics from the American Grasslands to Foraging to Climate Change and White Water Kayaking. Certainly an eclectic mix! There's even a list of all the movies that will be coming on tour available here. You can also watch trailers of all the movies on this page.

The Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival happens to be coming to town during Memorial Weekend, which is great news for anyone visiting the Berkshires. Why? Because there are a ton of events going on that weekend. For example:

Romeo & Juliet at Shakespeare & Company
Dickey Betts at The Colonial Theatre
The Berkshire Extreme Green Festival at the Lenox Town Hall
Poolside at the Hotel Bel Air at the Barrington Stage Company
Gather Up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection at Hancock Shaker Village (free admission on Tuesday!)
Project Sprout Fundraiser and Four-Course Meal at Route 7 Grill
The Berkshire International Fiml Festival at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center

Gourmet food, theatre, history, music, ecology, film, and community. Sounds like a great weekend! If you haven't made a reservation yet, feel free to give us a call and we'd be happy to help you plan your trip. It's what we're here for!

With Love,
~Brande N.

The Holy Grail of Yogurt

What could possibly be better than yogurt that is:

-Delicious and...
-Locally made...
-By hand...
-With no artificial sweeteners, flavorings, or additives...
-Using milk from ethically and humanely raised cows...
-Who are 100% grass-fed...
-On certified organic pastures?

The answer?

Nothing. Nothing could possibly be better! This is the holy grail of yogurt.

Introducing:

Sidehill Farms yogurt! I can't even tell you how good this stuff is. So good, in fact, that John ate two bowls of it over the course of a 4 hour meeting. So good that we went through almost 2 quarts over the last two days.

And it's good for you too! Pasture-raised cows produce milk that is higher in essential fatty acids such as Omega-3 and CLA. These fatty acids are linked to everything from healthy skin and nails to a decreased ricks of stroke and cancer to reduced depression. Super foods, indeed.

We're making great progress on converting our foods to local and/or organic varieties. Our coffee is locally roasted, fair trade and sustainably grown; our teas are all organic and/or fair trade; our honey is local; most of our produce is organic (soon to be local, come summertime!); our bread is local and organic; our apples are locally grown and residue free; our preserves are all locally made; even our instant oatmeal is organic!

The next and most difficult step is sourcing local and organic meats. We tried this winter and struck out, but we're hoping for better luck this time. I'll keep you posted, but in the meantime; wish us luck!

With Love,
~Brande N.

Grid Locked

My fifth grade teacher was a very meticulous man. His bookshelves were alphabetized, his chalk sorted by color, and his shoes always perfectly shined. Each of his students had his or her own desk that we were assigned to for the whole year. The desk would over time become a catch-all for outdated study guides, candy wrappers, broken pencils, and the like. But our teacher, being as orderly as he was, couldn't stand any sort of clutter. If he spotted you taking a moment too long to unearth a text book he would promptly come to your desk, ask you to step away, and would proceed to dump the entire contents on the floor at your feet. The rest of the class would cheer and holler at your misfortune, and you'd be forced to clean up the mess while attempting to simultaneously take notes on the French and Indian War. I was by far his most frequent victim.

To call me "organized" is to call a porcupine cuddly. Even my handwriting is chicken-scratch. I've gotten better over the years (my socks are now washed in pairs!), but I'm certainly not perfect (the pairs of socks are often mismatched). The few organizational skills I have mastered, though, have become invaluable to me.

My favorite newfound hyper-organized habit is this one:

Making a spreadsheet of destinations and attractions? Yeah, it doesn't get too much more meticulous than that. But I can't even express to you how helpful this was to us when we were on vacation. If we were running behind schedule and needed to know a restaurant's hours, I had their phone number. If we changed plans and decided to go to Rao's before the Farmer's Market instead of after, I had an address to navigate us to.

Dan and I have a bad habit, too, of planning our trips almost solely around food (mmm.... food!). While it's all well and good to explore the local food scene, it is not good to go from sandwich shop to cafe to candy store to bakery with nothing in between. That causes what Dan and I call "vacation belly". Ugh.

I categorized our stops into Food, Brande-things (like pottery), Dan-things (like hiking), Cafes, Shopping, and Grocery (we're odd and love getting groceries. It's at least as much fun as dinner and a movie to us). Seeing those little coded bullets next to each place name helped me make sure that we had a balanced trip planned.

Making the grid was super easy too. I just made a table in Microsoft Word, titled each column, and threw in the information. Easy peasy.

I hope you'll give this a try the next time you're out and about. Be sure to create one for each of the little townships around your destination as well! The one above is for Amherst, MA, but we had spreadsheets made for Turner's Falls, Deerfield, Northampton, Greenfield, and Shelburne Falls, too. We never ran out of stuff to do (or food to eat) and the whole trip was mishap free.

With Love,
~Brande N.

Haut Couture, Eggs, and Whimsy

It's a documented and confessed fact that I love reading blogs. When my blog addiction began, it was with blogs focused on environmental awareness. I would read each of these 10 or so blogs every day. And while the messages were inspiring and enlightening, the fact of the matter is that the truth in those messages was heavy, startling, and often depressing.

I went through a burn-out for a month or so when, after realizing that everything I do has an impact on the world around me, I just gave up. I bought useless plastic gadgets, I quit recycling, I ate Mcdonald's, and I couldn't care less if my carrots were organic. I was exhausted. Dan recommended that I take a break from reading all those blogs in an effort to let my brain recuperate, and read something else instead. "What else could be worth reading?" I thought.

So I spent sometime skimming various blogs and eventually started bookmarking some about cooking, photography, fashion, comedy, and even parenting. Of these, the topic that became most absorbing was fashion. I, the t-shirt-and-jeans-girl who asks for the wash-and-wear hair cut, was reading fashion blogs. Over time, I realized that I like fashion because it is expressive, artistic, and dramatic. Very much like Theatre which has always been my first love.

One of the blogs I read covers everything from reality-TV shows about fashion (Like Project Runway) to critiques of celebrity red carpet ensembles, to reviews of the latest collections being debuted by various designers.

Today's post on said blog covered the Fall 2009 collection by Agatha de la Ruiz Prada, who is known for her whimsical and dramatic (though not exactly wearable) designs. This particular collection made me laugh and I knew I had to share it with you.

I would have called this the Bed and Breakfast Collection.

Although, I'm still trying to figure out that last one. The first is a picnic blanket or tablecloth, the second an entire egg, but what is she? An oddly shaped raspberry? A strawberry?

As I said, these dresses are certainly not wearable. But if I did procure one, I'd style it with a charm bracelet. Not just any charm bracelet...

...but this one. Which I actually own.

And now I'm hungry.

With Love,
~Brande N.

Critters in the Garden

I'm sorry these photos aren't better quality! I was having so much fun watching the animals that I decided to take the pictures through the glass rather than opening the door and scaring them away. Unfortunately, I eventually did open the door and did scare both the bunny and the squirrel away. The bunny was nibbling on what appeared to be an ornamental plant, though, so I suppose it's not entirely a bad thing that they haven't been back in that part of the garden since.

It's getting to be the perfect time of year to lounge on our grounds, have a picnic, read a book, and watch the adorable and highly animated critters go about their lives. Though I personally would have a hard time reading much of anything if there was a squirrel nearby. Those bushy, hyperactive little things steal my heart every time I see them.

Hope you're all enjoying the good weather as much as I am!

With Love,
~Brande N.

Regarding the Grandeur of French Toast

Breakfast has always been my favorite meal. On the rare occasions that my family went out to eat, it was well known that if breakfast was available, that's what I was getting. To heck with chicken tenders--I want a waffle! During high school, one of my first jobs was even as a the "Sunday Morning Waffle Girl" at a local restaurant. My younger brother loves breakfast just as much. From the time he was two until seven, it's not an exaggeration to say that about a quarter of his calories came from pancakes and frozen french toast sticks.

"Yolk-Eggs" (what we called eggs over-easy before we knew their name), was a quick, tasty, and easy meal that I'd make about once a week. Scrambles were even easier. Once I learned how to make omelets, they too became central to my diet. Though, the omelets of my youth were very different from those I eat today, as my family didn't exactly partake in "vegetables", which I now love.

One of the "bad" foods that has been the hardest for me to give up as an adult is the joyous, glorious, artery-clogging Pillsbury Toaster Strudel. The strawberry one with the nuclear blue frosting was a dietary staple for about two years... until the trans fat craze swept the nation and I realized that not all foods are created equal. Since then I haven't been able to justify buying a box.

Despite my almost genetic love for breakfast foods, it wasn't until recently that I made the acquaintance of French Toast. I attribute this delayed fondness to the fact that my mother only ever bought Wonder bread. How many ways can you jazz up Wonder bread? Fake syrup today, maple tomorrow! Cinnamon today, plain the next! The options are rather limited.

As I grew older (and found my inner foodie) I discovered that Pepperidge Farm Whole Wheat, SunMaid Cinnamon Swirl, and WonderBread are not the only choices available in the bread world. Suddenly, French Toast had the credentials to become a part of my life. Ciabatta, challah, brioche, baguette, croissant! Apple-Cardamom Swirl, Honey-Almond, Spiced Pumpkin, Blueberry Strudel, Ginger-Molasses! Oh, the possibilities! And beyond the bread you can even jazz up the egg batter: a dash of vanilla, a splash of buttermilk, a bit of nutmeg, a shot of espresso, the zest of an orange... Factor in toppings (simmered raspberries and fresh ginger... shaved chocolate and caramel sauce... fresh apples and maple-sweetened yogurt...) and you've got an endless world of options.

Sadly, a pancake will always be a pancake, whether you add a sweet, a nut, or a fruit to the batter. But French toast is like people. Every recipe, every variety is an individual. Unique.

With that in mind, I'd like to share with you a recipe that Dan and I concocted in San Francisco. The town we stayed in had a beautiful market just brimming with locally made and grown goodies and our cottage had a full kitchen. We saw it as a calling to make breakfast.




Espresso-Cinnamon French Toast (a.k.a. Mill Valley French Toast)
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1/4 cup cream, half and half, or whole milk
1 shot of espresso (or scant 1/4 cup very strong black coffee, or 1 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 6 tbs water)
2 tbs butter
4 slices soft cinnamon swirl bread, cut about 3/4" thick*

Crack eggs into shallow dish, and whisk until uniform in color. Add coffee first to the milk (to cool it) and then add the milk and espresso (if you can resist drinking it) to the eggs . Whisk to combine. Set aside.

Heat a frying pan or griddle on medium heat and add the butter. When butter starts to froth slightly, the pan is hot enough.

Dip bread in batter, pressing gently with fingertips to help it absorb the goodness and be optimally delicious. Place egg soaked bread on hot pan and cook until surface is a bit darker than "golden"


NOTES:
-It is better to cook a thick-cut french toast at a lower heat for longer period than it is to flash fry it. This is because the mixture of egg and cream in the bread needs time to "set" very much like a custard. If the temperature is too high the egg cooks too quickly and will impart a very strong "egg" taste instead of the delicate "custardy" flavor we're looking for.
-It's better to slightly overcook french toast than to slightly undercook it, as undercooking can result in a mouthful of soggy, raw, eggy mush. Bleh.
-Lastly, The bread Dan and I bought at Mill Valley Market had a slight glaze on it, so we served it with nothing more than a bit of whipped cream. If yours need a bit of sweetness, I recommend maple syrup.

Enjoy!
~Brande N.


*Brownie points (and better flavor) if you use a locally baked variety!

(photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/asstrogirl/3013387404/)

Ashes to Ashes, Eggshells to Dust

How serendipitous and grand that we should start composting on Earth Day! A local woman recently responded to our Craigslist ad advertising free compost, and let us know that she'll be picking her first batch up during the first week of May. That makes today the perfect day to start separating our eggshells and coffee grounds from saran wrap and burnt bacon bits. Even the ashes from our fireplaces can be composted.

It's so encouraging to see what a difference these changes are making! When Dan and I started only 6 months ago every bit of waste went to the dumpster. All of our food scraps; every can, bottle, carton, box, and wrapper; all of these ash and soot from the fireplaces; everything. Now it's ALL getting a second life through either recycling or composting. Really, I wouldn't feel I was exaggerating if I said we've reduced our waste by 60% or more.

I love, too, that these changes we're so easy to make. To begin recycling we just gave our waste management company a call, found out which days are recycling days, and signed up (at a slight extra cost). To compost, I spent about 5 minutes making a Craigslist ad and then waited for a call. Add a few separating bins to the mix and that's it!

I think the biggest challenge that hindered me from composting was the fact that I have no idea how to make compost. There's turning and mulching and carbon and nitrogen and this-is-good and this-is-bad--it's overwhelming! Collecting it is easy. Once I realized that I could find someone else to take it and use their expertise to turn it into rich fertilizer, there were no more hindrances.

So If you're thinking about composting but are too scared, or your yard is too small, or your green thumb turns things black; try Craigslist or even Freecycle. You know what they say: "One person's trash is another's treasure!"

Good luck and Happy Earth Day!
~Brande N.

Celebrating Earth Day

Did you know that Earth Day is coming up? Yeah, I didn't either. Unlike Easter, Christmas, or even Columbus Day, Earth Day isn't a holiday that's etched into our culture in such a way that our lives revolve around it. Thus, it's easy to forget. Honestly, I've never even celebrated it. I'm a bad tree hugger.

This year, I decided to change that. I won't be throwing an Earth Day Extravaganza, organizing a protest, or even just turning off the lights; but I will be going outside.

Gasp!

I'll admit it, I spend about 85% of my life indoors. Growing up in Upstate NY, you learn rapidly that "spring" is synonymous with "punkie season" and "summer" is synonymous with "deerfly and mosquito season". (the other seasons are "everything dies" and "it's too cold to move") Now, I'm all for holding ladybugs, watching butterflies, and even feeding ants, but I am not so fond of the bugs that bite, thankyouverymuch. I'll just stay inside and read a book. Or read blogs. Or bake. Or scrub the toilet. Anything but be chased and bothered and bitten by an insect. Yuckola, man.

As I've gotten older though, I've become a bit more tolerant of the parts of nature that, well, aren't exactly ideal in my book. The truth is, everything in nature is ideal. I might see a blood-sucking malaria machine, but the daisy next to me sees a pollinator. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

I don't think I'll ever see a punkie with eyes that deem it beautiful, but I do see it's place in the world, and I've come to appreciate it.

So, to celebrate the spirit of appreciating nature I'll be spending Wednesday outside. All day hopefully. Maybe I'll be reading, maybe having a little picnic, who knows. It's true that the buggies will probably find me*, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. I feel like the most profound thing I can do on the day that we honor the Earth is spend some time enjoying it. Even if I end up all itchy because of it.

With Love,
~Brande N.


*DISCLAIMER: This personal goal was made significantly easier by the fact that the biting insect population in The Berkshires is practically nonexistent compared to that of Upstate. Seriously, if you were to walk outside in my hometown right now, you'd be swarmed in minutes. I have yet to see any biting-bugs this year. (knock on wood!)

WHOA! Not even kidding, I just typed "knock on wood" and a mosquito flew into the computer screen and then flew away. Maybe I should have actually knocked on a piece of wood?

Because It Was Built in 1780

Recently I've been having some fun poking around the web, doing research on the Inn's history. My most recent focus has been on Miss Caroline Katherine Carey, who purchased the Inn (then called The Butternut Cottage) in 1905.

While I wouldn't go so far as to call Ms. Carey famous, she certainly wasn't obscure. In fact, if you search the New York Times Archives she is mentioned several times, often in conjunction with horse shows or social events. Kate Carey was very well known for her passion for horses expertise in all things equestrian. After reading through a few articles, it's easy to see that there was even a bit of equestrian rivalry between Ms. Carey and Mr. William Sloane (I'm proud to say that it looks like Ms. Carey had the upper hand).

Interestingly, Kate Carey never married. In fact, one NYT article mentions how (aside from her brother) she had never even had a man on the leading seat of her four-in-hand. She and her mother were in the real estate business together and the two earned their fortune that way.

I assume it was because of her love and devotion to her mother (and perhaps a bit of a feminist streak) that she helped establish the Old Ladies' Home in Lenox and the Berkshire County Home for Aged Women in Pittsfield. During her lifetime, Ms. Carey donated $500,000 to the Berkshire County Home for Aged Women. Adjusted for inflation, that's over 10 million dollars! Talk about philanthropy! Amazingly, the Berkshire County Home for Aged Women is still in operation today and is one of the longest-running nursing homes in American history.

As a nerdy history buff (who considered careers in dramaturge and history education), I absolutely love how saturated this house is with history. The next step in my nerdy quest for information is to visit the Lenox Public Library where I hope to find something incredible like a record of Ms. Carey's building permits (were they needed back then?), or maybe even some newspaper clippings from the time. So, [unless you're terribly bored by this sort of thing] stick around for updates!

With Love,
~Brande N.

Lessons Learned

1) When visiting a new city (especially a large one) get to know the different "neighborhoods" and their reputations. Heaven knows you don't want to be lost in The Tenderloin after dark.

1a) On that note, when you find a street that has a good reputation: walk it! Some of the cutest shops and best dining don't come up on any Google search.

2) If you are renting a car, be sure to coincide the drop-off time with the time of your flight. Dan and I overlooked this fact and had over 5 hours between drop off and take off. Because we didn't want to spend most of our last day at the airport, we ended up paying an unspeakable cost for two cabs to take us back into San Fran after we dropped off the car and then to the airport later on.

3) When using a cellular navigation program like VZ Navigator (which I highly recommend) be sure to take it off "Pedestrian" mode when you begin driving again. Pedestrian mode does not honor one way roads which San Francisco has A LOT of.

4) Don't feed a pigeon just to see it up close.* In reality there is no such thing as "a pigeon" and once you feed "a pigeon" you will be swarmed by dozens of his buddies that were hiding on a nearby statue, waiting for a careless country girl to toss a piece of bread. Because pigeons know there is no such thing as "a piece" of bread.

5) Never pass up a bakery. Even if it's on the wrong side of the road. While on vacation, an indefinite number of cupcakes, cookies, and miscellaneous pastries are permitted. Did you know that calories become irrelevant once you cross times zones?

Other than these few minor mishaps, our trip was great! We had loads of fun, ate far too many cupcakes, and made some great memories. But I must say, its good to be back at the Inn and back to my blog. Pictures and more Berkshire-related posts coming soon!

With Love,
~Brande N.

*I know this one might be dead obvious to some of you, but I grew up in the country. Pigeons are still a novelty to me. Well, they were until we got attacked by a dozen hungry ones in Union Square.

Note Self: Flowers in Hair

We're off to San Francisco! How exciting!

Our flight leaves at about 5am, but we have to get there early because we're first-time fliers (eek!) which means we'll arrive at about 3am. BUT to get all the way to Albany in time we have to leave Lenox at about 2am. To remedy this freakishly bizarre schedule, Dan and I slept most of the day Sunday and woke up around 9 or 10pm to finish packing.

I'm anticipating some serious jet lag.

Unfortunately, I'll only have sporadic internet access while I'm out there so I won't be posting again until Tuesday the 14th.

Thanks for sticking around while I'm gone, I'll be back soon!

With Love,
~Brande N.

Discovery!

Have you ever had a photo that is years and years old? Maybe it hangs on the wall or is in a frame on your desk. You look at it almost everyday and after a time you almost don't see it anymore, it just fades into the background.

That's kind of how I feel about our website. I've used it so much that I practically have most of it memorized. There have been times when Dan and I have been out to lunch and a guest will call (we forward the calls to our cell) and without having a computer in front of me I'm able to navigate them to almost any page.

Going back to the photo analogy: Have you ever one day glanced at one of those photos and suddenly noticed something you had never seen before? An untied shoelace, a lizard on a tree, a hilariously posed person in the background? Sometimes finding that new something reminds you of a moment you had forgotten. Maybe your shoelaces were untied because you had just tripped in the middle of Times Square (so much for repressing that memory!).

Well, today I found something new and nifty and useful on our website. It takes a few clicks to get to, but check this out:

(Location, Click to Enlarge)

How neat is that! If you're planning in coming to visit us, this is a great way to determine what attractions, events, and restaurants are within a reasonable driving distance. It's certainly faster than Mapquest!

Other than that today has been delightfully uneventful. I just though I'd share that little tidbit with the world. Now go look at your favorite photos and try to find something silly!

With Love,
~Brande N.

Flying Greener

I've never flown before. Never ever. And I'll admit that our upcoming flight to San Francisco might terrify me a bit. Alright, I'm lying. It terrifies me a lot.

Because of my fear of flying I really wanted to take a train or drive or hang-glide or be transported by UFO to California. However, for entirely logical reasons (takes too long, don't know how to hang-glide, the aliens didn't return our phone calls) Dan shot down all of those ideas. So we booked the flight.

As soon as the confirmation arrived in our inbox I felt a stab of terror in my gut and a jab of guilt in my heart. Flying is not good for the environment. Oftentimes it's inevitable (as in this case) but shouldn't we still do something to offset our impact?

Yes! We found the following resources:

TerraPass

Carbonfund

Sustainable Travel International

All of these offer a small "quiz" of sorts that details either your personal or your business's carbon footprint [Carbon Footprint: a measure of the amount of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is produced by a person, organization, or location at a given time].

Once you know your footprint, you pay a monetary "offset" that is donated to various green organizations and environmental projects that work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from other sources.

For example (via TerraPass):

(Click to enlarge)

You can see here that our flight emits almost 5,000lbs of CO2. Bleh.

That's equivalent to driving a 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid 10,000 miles. In other words, in the 12 or so hours we spend on a plane, we'll create as much atmosphere warming gas as a hybrid car might in a year.

The good news is that this is very easy to remedy. Just click the "skip to results" button and you'll see something like this:

For only $30 we can feel better about flying and know that our offset is going towards helpful projects like these.

It's that easy! And it's such an affordable thing that Dan and I are even considering adding the miles we put on our rental car to the tally.

For now, though, I'm off to do some more trip research. I just found out from my handy-dandy Time Out*** guide that parking is something of an art in San Francisco. I guess on-street parking is quite rare, so it looks like we'll be relying on parking garages on most days. I'd hate to be without one when we're running late for a show, so my next project is to plot them all on a map. Believe it or not, I'm excited to do this. I am weird.

With Love,
~Brande N.

***Side Note: I am slowly but surely falling in love with my Time Out guide. Maps, events, attractions, prices, address, phone numbers, hours, and some very frank reviews make for fun an informative reading. I'd absolutely recommend it if you're looking for a great pocket-sized guide to any city!

So, about that new post...

Dan and I have spent the last two days visiting family and friends back in NY (where we still are). I had every intention of blogging, I promise!

But here's a little mathemtical formula that explains why I haven't.

1) Dan x the square root of (zeal to get to NY as early as possible) plus Brande's [insomnia] = going to bed at 1:30am and waking up at 5:15am.

2) Brande finishing her packing at 5:20am x brain fog (+ fatigue) = this conversation with self:

"Hmm... should I bring my laptop?
Nah, it's really heavy.
But I might need it.
You won't need it.
Are you sure?
Yeah! Afterall, this trip is about spending time with family. If you bring that you'll just end up sitting at the kitchen table surfing the web and ignoring your family. You don't want to do that, do you?
No.
Exactly. Besides, it's really heavy."

So I left the laptop at home. Not a good decision. All of my photos and settings and bookmarks and everything useful for life is on it. Ugh! I even brought my camera with me thinking I might take a few pictures to share. Then I realized that I left the uploading cable at home. And it's been nothing but rainy and dreary since we got here.

So I hope you'll forgive me for neglecting you! I'll be back to posting very soon and I believe it's about time that I give you another edition of Traveler's Resources, no?

With (neglectful) Love,
~Brande N.

A Spring in My Step!

Alright, I'll admit it. I am SICK of winter. I know, I know. I should be ashamed. I posted awhile back about how I could possibly even come to love snow, but truth be told I don't think I'll ever love it.

It's sort of like spinach. You detest it as a child and then as you grow older it becomes bearable. Maybe not likable, but should it find its way into your sandwich or soup it's not entirely unpleasant. And you eat it because it's good for you. Builds character. That's how I feel about winter. Unpleasant, but bearable and it builds character (just ask anyone from Arizona who has tried to drive in a snowstorm).

Spring on the otherhand... Oh sweet spring! I love the first chirping of the chickadees; the smell of soggy, muddy, rain-soaked earth; the way the sun makes it feel so warm even when it's only 50 degrees; the way the trees look when the buds very first come out; I love spring.

You can imagine my utter elation when I went outside yesterday (a beautiful, warm and sunny day) and found little pokes of green here and there, sticking out of the gray-brown soil.

The joy! I grabbed my camera and went utterly shutter-happy. I had over 30 photos that I wanted to share, but I knew I had to cut down. So here are a few of my absolute favorites:



Want to know the best part? It rained today! Which means that by Tuesday (another sunny day!) the buds will have become flowers, the sprouts will have become leaves, and even more green things will have popped up.

I'm so excited!

With Love,
~Brande N.

What VOCs?

Approximately three weeks ago, this is what our Sherry Room looked like:

(Please forgive the terrible photography. The lighting was bad! I couldn't find the right angle! My batteries were almost dead! I hadn't slept in a month! ...Alright, I have no excuse.)

It's a little tough to see in this photograph, but the wallpaper had a very fine, pink floral print on it. (click to enlarge, if you please)


Here is the Sherry Room now:

(Yup, photography is still bad. Told you I didn't have an excuse.)

What a difference! The red is striking, vibrant, lively, and absolutely gorgeous. And you know what else?


That's right, it's totally VOC*** free. In fact, after the paint was applied I asked our painting crew how they liked it. You can't even imagine how excited I was when they said that not only did it go on well, but it dried quickly and it didn't make them loopy at all. Hooray!

The funniest and most memorable thing about this paint (in my opinion) was how instead of the room having that "paint" smell for days afterward, it only had the slightest scent of vinegar for about 24 hours. Vinegar! How odd is that?

So because the paint is good for the environment, worked well, looks great, and didn't stink up the Inn for a month, we'll be using No-VOC paints for all of our paint projects from now on. Hooray!


With Love,
~Brande N.


***As much as I hate to use Wikipedia as a source, in this case it's the best choice because it's the most concise and it's references are pretty reputable. Here are a few more useful links:

About VOCs and Indoor Air Quality - Via Treehugger

About Indoor Air Quality - Via the Environmental Protection Agency

Where to find affordable low or no VOC paint - Via Treehugger

Feel free to Google "Volatile Organic Compounds" if you want to know more.

On Loving Love

This past weekend was spent in a flurry of romance. We hosted two small weddings here at the Inn, and while they were completely exhausting, they were also so much fun.


This is the table I mentioned that we [meaning myself and our excellent housekeeper, Za] decorated using only swirly silvery things and streamers. See the cute little white carnations? Nothing but streamers. No tape, no glue, just paper. Pretty neat, huh?

The wedding cake. This was for the larger of the two ceremonies (only 11 people, the other was just the bride and groom). They were kind enough to share a bit of this cake with Dan and I and it was so very, very good. Wedding cake has a reputation for being dense and flavorless. This was exactly the opposite--fluffy, moist, flavorful. I tried my hardest, but I couldn't stop eating it. I had two pieces. Forgive me, dieting gods, for I have sinned!

Romance! Possibly my favorite thing about being an innkeeper is that I get to be a part of weddings, engagements, elopements, anniversaries, Valentine's Day, and all of those other occasions that involve love. It makes my heart go all a-flutter...


These weddings rings are from the second couple (the elopement). I love how atypical and unique they are. Is that hematite? I'm not sure exactly, but whatever metal it is, it's lovely.

My favorite element of the second ceremony was that the bride performed a song at the end. What could be more romantic than singing for your sweetie? I wish I had been that brave at my wedding!


This weekend was, as I said: exhausting. More than that, though, it was fulfilling and fun. And you know, if you're thinking about doing something special for your beloved, don't hesitate to give us a call! I'd be more than happy--ecstatic even-- to help you plan!

I'm like cupid without the wings or arrows...

With Love,
~Brande N.

This is Why I Make the Pancakes

I am not athletic. Or coordinated. I never have been. In fact, when I was 10 years old, my two-year old little brother could whoop my butt at Super Mario. That's how bad my hand-eye coordination is.

While many of my high-school friends were twirling and tossing banners in Winterguard, teaching the cast of the musical how to tap dance, or playing marimba in state-level band competitions I was reading Shakespeare, doing research papers, and performing in non-musical plays.

(Notice how these are activities that have minimal risk of tripping.)

In the grand scheme of things, I'm perfectly happy so long as I'm coordinated enough to pick up a book, turn a page and type a sentence. I might not be able to kick a soccer ball [without falling] but I can speak in Elizabethan dialect. And for me, that's far more fun that scoring a goal (yup, I'm weird).

On that note: When Dan and I started here it was sort of an accepted fact that I was going to be the cook. After all, I've always been the one to cook during our marriage and I've whipped up some pretty mean recipes, so it only makes sense, right?

It did, until I found out that this is how we make omelets:



If I had done that, the omelet would have landed about two-and-a-half feet to the left of the pan instead of inside it.

That's why he's the egg guy and I'm the pancake girl. We're a great team.

With Love,
~Brande N.