Our 100th Post

What does 2009 have in store for you? I'm beaming with pride this New Year's Eve while reflecting back over our accomplishments (including this ... our 100th post!) and I have hopeful expectation of the new year.

Here are my top 10 favorite posts for Innside Story 2008 ...

1) Featured Inn: The Grandview Bed & Breakfast
“It is not just opening a door,
or standing when someone is being seated.
Being a true gentleman, truly chivalrous,
is more than any one act or deed.
It is a way of life based on consideration.”

In continuing my quest to be a backyard tourist, I packed my overnight bag and makeup case and rode down to a meandering driveway only four blocks away from my home ... but a world away. With a large wrap around porch enveloping the main house, swaying palm trees and a windmill cottage the Grandview Bed & Breakfast is a classic small Southern estate. Read More ...


2) Inn The Kitchen: Making Pumpkin Bread
I luuuuv to bake. And I'm not a chef at all (like other Innkeepers) but I can bake up a storm. Must be my sweet tooth calling. I think subconsciously I burn dinner just so that I can skip straight to dessert. I'll have to learn how to develop my savory side. Anyway, this week, I took Christopher's Inn Pumpkin Bread recipe and had a go at it in my kitchen. Take a look below for some hints, tips and photographic evidence of my first Inn The Kitchen experiment. Read More ...

3) Inn The Kitchen: Making Tourtiere
I recently posted a recipe for Tourtiere, a French-Canadian meat pie recipe that my Grandmother makes around the holidays. I invited her over to my home so we could have a little family time in my kitchen while she helped me create a visual to the recipe. I learned a couple more tips and also some things to do differently next time. Read More ...

4) Last Minute Holiday Kiss
So ... your dog ate the dessert ... or perhaps while carrying a bunch of packages, food, etc. your holiday party dish ended up face down in the driveway. Don't despair! Here's a QUICK and easy recipe idea for you that only involves 3 ingredients that you can buy at any 24 hour large-chain pharmacy or convenience store. Read More ...

5) Going Green Saving Blue
So, what does it take to "go green?" While a lot of things that are labeled "green" or "organic" have inflated prices, there are many things you can do that still save you some green in your wallet as well. It is possible to conserve and save on your electric and water without spending a fortune. Read More ...

6) Featured Inn: Farnsworth House Bed & Breakfast
Sometimes, when you are traveling, you just want to have the comforts of home. A soft bed, a hot shower, a warm cup of tea and a friendly smile. A place where you can let your hair down, kick off your shoes, relax and just be yourself. That’s what you’ll find at the Farnsworth House Bed & Breakfast. Read More ...

7) Confessions of a Wino
How did your wine journey begin? Mine started in college with a fruity, fizzy, wine "cooler" that actually had no wine in it at all. But I thought I was cool. I then graduated to a Blue Nun Riesling. (That makes me wince and grit my teeth just thinking about it.) I tried to impress a boy in my class by telling him my favorite wine was a "Riesling." Yeah. He was a wine rep. Not cool. But what did my young inexperienced pallet know? Read More ...


8) The Grandview Hotel
Ever wonder what it was like 100 years ago? People were certainly not worried about the price of gas since the main form of transportation was by horse or train. Eggs were 14 cents a dozen. Sugar was 4 cents a pound. Coffee was 14 cents a pound. And the cost to spend a night at an Inn in Mount Dora was $2.50 if you wanted a bath. Read More ...

9) Featured Inn: The Heron Cay Bed & Breakfast
How am I ever going to keep my trim girlish figure while getting to know all the local Innkeepers and tasting their breakfast specialties! I LOVE it! I guess I'll just have to jog more. This past weekend we were invited to Sunday Brunch at the Heron Cay Bed & Breakfast, a Victorian gem with Island-style that sits on a hillside overlooking Lake Dora. Read More ...

10) Back Pain & Bourbon
Innkeepers are always looking for a reason to celebrate. That's just the entertainer in us. Every week we all get together to clank wine glasses, break bread, make sure everyone has heads in beds, and exchange funny stories of our hospitality experiences and our Guest-zillas. Yes, I said guest-zillas. Anyone that works in some sort of Customer Service roll knows exactly what I'm talking about. But I won't be sharing those stories today. Read More ...

See you next year!

--Rachelle

Ring In The New Year At The Adora Inn

Still looking for plans this New Year's Eve? The Adora Inn is offering a fabulous evening package including ... a candle lit "Dinner at the Inn" and one night stay so you don't have to drive home after midnight! I like the idea of just crawling into bed after a night of new year celebrations!

The menu includes:

Appetizer: Tomato Basil Risotto
Entree: Filet Mignon topped with a wild mushroom ragout
Dessert: Flourless Chocolate Volcano's with raspberry coulee
Complimentary Beverages

Rooms are limited, so contact John & Arthur at the Adora Inn soon to reserve your spot!

--Rachelle

Video Featuring Mount Dora Historic Inn

Okay, so the diet will start January 1st. But, until then I've been enjoying the tasty treats of my fellow innkeepers while making videos and also snacking on all the sweets left over in my house over the holidays. What's a holiday without a few extra calories?

Anyway, here's a link to a video I made for the Mount Dora Historic Inn: Click Here To See Video

Also, there is a fabulous recipe I found on PW for what to do with left over sweets and cookies. (In case you have any of those.) I know that sweets don't last long enough in our household to make leftovers out of them.

Does anyone have any good January-first-stick-to-your-resolutions diet plan they can recommend? Just checking.

Hope you enjoy the video ...

Rachelle

Last Minute Holiday Kiss

So ... your dog ate the dessert ... or perhaps while carrying a bunch of packages, food, etc. your holiday party dish ended up face down in the driveway. Don't despair! Here's a QUICK and easy recipe idea for you that only involves 3 ingredients that you can buy at any 24 hour large-chain pharmacy or convenience store.

Ingredients ...

1) a bag of square pretzels
2) a bag of Hershey Kisses,
3) a bag of red & green peanut M&Ms (or other hard candy)



The hardest part of this whole recipe will be unwrapping the Hershey kisses ... and not eating them along the way ...


Cut a piece of parchment paper to line the inside of a cookie sheet. Then, place your square pretzels in a row with the Hershey Kiss on top. I used the dark chocolate kisses.


Next, bake at 250 degrees for 10 minutes. This is just long enough to soften the chocolate without melting it into a blob. Let them cool for one minute, and then press your M&M's in the middle of each kiss. The only holiday M&M's that were left at my local grocer were the almond kind. A little big. So, I also used some other red & green candy I found.


After pressing in all the M&Ms ... cool in your refrigerator until the chocolate is hardened. I put some trivets down on a shelf and just placed the entire cookie sheet of treats in the refrigerator. Don't try to pick them up until they're completely cooled. Trust me. You'll get a thumb full of scalding hot chocolate. After about 30 minutes, they'll be ready to go! Enjoy!




--Rachelle
Tremain Street Cottages

Making Chocolate Raspberry Crumb Bars

Nothing like being only 3 days away from Christmas to inspire some late-night baking. Something about stress and chocolate morsels that just really go well together.

Someone had made some chocolate raspberry dessert bars awhile back that were just yummy. I liked the idea of the red raspberry adding a holidayish color to a simple dessert. So I googled "chocolate raspberry crumb bars" and printed a few recipes to take back to my kitchen to experiment with.

Here are the players ...

A little flour, a little sugar, a little butter, and a bag of chocolate.
Everything that is good in the world.

Whoops! I've spilled a few tasty morsels. Well, I can't let good chocolate go to waste!
Guess I'll just have to sample a few while I'm baking.
You'll notice all my photos have a certain "dark" quality to them. Yeah. That's what I get for baking at night and depending on the lights from the Christmas tree in my living room.

Now, the recipe instructions said to let butter soften to room temperature and then blend until creamy. Yup. I was a little impatient with that ... so I melted the butter a tinsy bit on the stove first and then blended the softened bits with the liquid bits.
I now know the true meaning of splatter.

There goes that late-night-orange-colored photo again. I did try the flash. Flash doesn't do well with stainless steel bowls. I blinded myself for a couple of minutes. But I digress ... Anyway ... the next step in the recipe was to blend the dry ingredients into the creamy butter. Flour, sugar, and a pinch of salt. (I forgot to include the salt in the family photo above.)

Now it's starting to look like something good!

Powdering up my hands with flower and pressing the crumb mixture into the pan was pure therapy. I doubled up the recipe so I could use a cookie sheet instead of a 13x9 baking pan. What's strange is the original recipe called for one 13x9 baking pan yielding 3 dozen bars ... yeah, I don't think so! Maybe a dozen?! Someone else was doing some late-night recipe writing for sure.

While the crust is baking, I had to put the chocolatey morsels to better use than snacking. Melting them into a can of sweetened condensed milk.

Like my cartoon-dog shaped chocolate blob? The next step in the recipe called for spreading the gooey chocolate mixture "over a hot crust." This is why I disagree ...


Ever worked with hot melted chocolate before? It's sticky! And it was messing up the crust! Here's a recipe modification ... let crust cool and THEN add the chocolate. At least it's a "crumb" bar, so a few crust nibbles on the top will blend in.


After making what looks like a chocolate pizza ... I added the toppings by mixing a 1/2 cup of chopped pecans with the remaining crumb mixture and sprinkling that on top. Then I dolloped on spoonfuls of raspberry jam and popped it into the oven at 350 for 35 minutes. The raspberry jam popped and danced all over the place. Thought it was kind of cool (or at least it was last night) so I experimented with a little point-and-shoot video below.

After letting it cool overnight in the refrigerator, this is what I woke up to in the morning ...

Much better lighting in the daytime, don't you think?

For the complete recipe, click here: Chocolate Raspberry Crumb Bars

--Rachelle
www.TremainStreetCottages.com

Chocolate Raspberry Crumb Bars

Here's the recipe for the Inn The Kitchen: Making Chocolate Raspberry Crumb Bars

Ingredients

2 Sticks of Butter (softened to room temperature)
2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup of Light Brown Sugar
Pinch of Salt (1/4 tsp)
2 Cups of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk (14 ounce)
1 Cup Seedless Raspberry Jam
1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans (optional)

Recipe

1) Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 13x9 baking pan. (I used parchment paper and doubled the recipe for a cookie sheet)

2) Beat butter until creamy. Then add in flour, sugar and salt until you have a crumb mixture. Set aside 3/4 cup of crumb mixture for topping.

3) Powder up your hands and fingers with flour (to prevent sticking) then press crumb mixture into bottom of your prepared baking pan.

4) Bake crumb crust for 10 to 12 minutes.

5) While crust is baking, mix 1 Cup of chocolate morsels and sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until smooth and then spread over a COOLED room-temperature crust.

6) Combine chopped nuts with remaining crumb mixture and sprinkle over chocolate topping. Sprinkle on remaining chocolate morsels and then dollop spoonfuls of raspberry jam.

7) Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes.

8) Cool on a wire rack, cut and then serve!

###

Don't Be A Scrooge ... Answeres from the Magnolia Inn

Holiday favorites from Betty at Magnolia Inn ...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real Tree

3. When do you put up the tree and when do you take it down? After Thanksgiving, then "Down when Brown!"

4. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Egg Nog

5. Favorite gift received as a child? Sled

6. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail Cards

7. Favorite Christmas Movie? Tis A Wonderful Life

8. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Turkey

9. Favorite Christmas song? Anything by Elvis (I wonder if Betty & Gary know their shared love for Elvis at Christmas?)

10. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel

11. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Christmas Morning

12. Favorite ornament theme or color(s)? White Lights