Sneak peek

We had all new photos taken of the inn and the breakfasts with Rock doing a marathon breakfast-cooking for the photographer. You have no idea how hard it is to pour syrup slowly from that height with your arm straight out across the table!

Here's a sneak peek...

White Cedar Inn Bed and Breakfast 178 Main St Freeport, Maine 04032

Irish Scrambled Eggs

Irish Scrambled Eggs

Pretty much the number one question we're asked about the Irish scrambled eggs is what makes them Irish? That would be the emphasis on heavy cream and butter given that was how my Nana used to make them when I was a kid. From there, we diverge. You'll notice there are tomatoes and scallions in the recipe. I don't think my Nana ever met a tomato she liked and she surely never put them in eggs. Sorry, Nana.

A little story and then I'll get on with the recipe. My younger brother was born in January. While my mother was in the hospital 'recuperating' (back then they didn't kick you out in 24 hours!) I stayed with Nana. Other than getting a stinky brother out of the deal, the one thing I remember most was that she hung my school uniform over the stove (remember having a drying rack in the kitchen all you city people?) to warm it up for me before I put it on to go off to school. Thanks, Nana! (And, to my brother- you stopped being stinky a long time ago...love you!)

Without further ado...the recipe:

Makes enough for 2

6 eggs
2+ tbsps of heavy cream
butter for the pan

12 cherry tomatoes (grape tomatoes also work), sliced in half
2 scallions, chopped (save greens for topping)
pinch of thyme
2 tbsps olive oil

shaved parmesan cheese for topping

Add butter to fry pan, enough to cook eggs. Heat, but do not brown butter. While heating, whisk eggs. When fry pan is ready, pour eggs in and let set up slightly. Then, gently fold eggs over and over, scraping bottom of fry pan to cook through. (Like you would usually cook scrambled eggs.) When eggs are just about done, pour in 2 or more tablespoons of heavy cream, turn off heat and fold the cream gently into the eggs. The eggs will immediately get creamy. (Don't add the cream at the beginning, it doesn't come out the same way.)

In a second fry pan, at the same time, heat the olive oil and add the tomatoes, scallions (reserving the green tops) and thyme. What you are doing here is merely warming, not cooking the tomatoes and scallions.

When the eggs are done, plate and immediately top with tomatoes and scallions. Add the green, chopped tops of the scallions and shaved parmesan to the top of the eggs. Serve with your favorite breakfast meat and toast or biscuits. (Or Irish soda bread!)

Printable recipe page. (We've renamed this dish 'Tuscan Scrambled Eggs'.)

White Cedar Inn Bed and Breakfast 178 Main Street Freeport, Maine 04032

Recalculating...

I was talking to a friend the other day about GPS units. She owns a B&B in Rocky Mount, VA (Claiborne House) and she regularly has guests who call saying they are lost. She provides directions right to her parking area and can never figure out why guests are calling from towns miles away.

Well, in conversation it came to us...GPS units are making people stupid. Geographically inept. Yeah, yeah, I know we all said that about calculators and how kids can't do math in their heads anymore (well, they can't, can they?) but how they could do so much more advanced math now that they had calculators.

Give this some time to sink in. Kids who can't do math in their heads but can do advanced calculus because they have calculators. Could you do advanced calculus without a calculator? I bet you could in high school and college. With the calculator, you just plug in the right formula and away you go. Sure, you have to know the right formula but do you 'check your math' to be sure the answer is probable when you use a calculator?

So, if that analogy holds true, it means GPS users can find their way to the North Pole but they won't have a clue how they got there. And, if they totally rely on the GPS, they won't realize they are actually in the wrong location when an Emperor penguin sidles up to the car. Penguins MUST be at the North Pole because that's where the GPS says I am.

I'm an old school map gal myself. (Oh, you guessed that already, didn't you?) I like to see the lay of the land. Like to know my options. If I wander aimlessly off, I want to be able to wander aimlessly back again. It helps that I was born with the 'geographic' gene. The one that allows you to land pretty much anywhere and, with map in hand, find your way to pretty much anywhere else. And, once found, allows you to wander back to point A by a completely different route.

I'm a 'landmarker.' A person who studies landmarks. And not necessarily important ones. I look at houses, mailboxes, trees, garden gnomes, odd signs, shops, restaurants, etc. And I remember them. Sometimes, I even turn around to see what everything looks like from the other direction.

When your GPS unit is telling you, 'You have arrived at your destination,' and you're in the middle of a bridge when you wanted a movie theater, keep in mind that you probably drove right past the movie theater but you weren't paying attention. Because the GPS would get you there.

Construction traffic got a road blocked off and the GPS insists you turn into a crater in the road? Get out a map. Learn how to 'landmark.' You may think the GPS is helping you arrive unfrazzled at your destination, but you're missing the point. The point is to look around, get to know where you are. What's your position in space? If you remember passing a wonderful (fill in the blank) how will you find it again with a GPS if you don't know exactly where/what it is so you can tell the GPS where to take you?

Let's spend more time wandering aimlessly instead of just 'getting there.' We're all going to the same place in the end anyway, it's the journey there that's the adventure.

White Cedar Inn Bed and Breakfast 178 Main St Freeport, Maine 04032

(By the way, a lot of GPS units don't know there is a 'Lower Main St' and a 'Main St' here in town. So, if you find yourself sitting in front of Wilburs Chocolates when you meant to be here, don't say I didn't warn you. OTOH, if meant to find Wilburs and you find us instead, I'll give you a map and directions. And I won't say, 'Recalculating,' when I do so.

Life, The Universe and Everything.

Venus, located in Presque Isle

'Mostly Harmless' is the sole description of Earth given in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 'Mostly Fun' is what this Earth-bound tour of the Universe is. If you're heading 'up north' this summer (Houlton and beyond on Rt 1) you'll want to keep a lookout for the largest 3 dimensional, scale model depiction of the Universe in, well, the Universe.

You can start with Pluto in Houlton at the Visitor Information Center. Yes, according to the good folks in Maine, Pluto is still a planet! (See our take on Pluto-as-planet.) If you're more of a sun-centric tourist, start at the University of Maine at Presque Isle where the whole project began.

The entire interplanetary tour will take you 40 miles along Rt 1 in Aroostock County. The majority of the planets are visible from the car. The exception being Pluto which is inside the info center in Houlton. (Who knew it was THAT small!) The sun is inside Folsom Hall at the university.

The route passes through several Maine towns and if you stop in Houlton first, you'll be able to get information as to the best places to stop and eat, stay and play. If you were planning to just go through Houlton into Canada, this is an easy, fun side trip even if you only see a couple of the planets! When friends and family ask what you did on vacation, you can casually comment that you had lunch under the rings of Saturn.

For more information on how the solar system model was built, check out the Maine Solar System Model page at the University of Maine at Presque Isle website.

White Cedar Inn Bed and Breakfast 178 Main Street Freeport, Maine 04032

The Ice Cream Truck

Did you grow up in a place that had an ice cream truck that went around your neighborhood? If ever there was a Pied Piper sound, it was the ding-ding of the ice cream truck. To this day, I still turn my head when I hear that sound.

It's not one I'm likely to hear where we live now, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to stand in line and get all excited about picking out my favorite ice cream when summertime hits! You might think that without the ice cream truck coming around, it could be hard to find ice cream in Freeport unless we went to the grocery store. Right there you would be wrong!

Without further ado, I suggest you bring your ice cream taste buds to Freeport and sample our local favorites as well as some national brands. Who really does have the best ice cream on Main Street?

We've got the spot where all the Little Leaguers go after games. The spot where the ice cream cognescenti gather. The spot that comes complete with classic cars. The spot that's so well hidden you might miss it.

Here then, in no particular order, is a mostly walkable list of ice cream highlights in Freeport, Maine where you can indulge your ice cream passion:

• Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop - in Discovery Park (LL Bean)
• Hershey's Ice Cream- Main St, at Derosier's Market (where the Little Leaguers hang out)
• Gifford Ice Cream- Main St, lower level of the 9 West building (local favorite, well-hidden)
• Classic Custard- Rt 1 South, at Classic Cook Out, next door to Classic Convertibles (Flavor of the Day regularly sells out, so get there early!)
• McDonald's- Main St, near Friendly's
• Gelato Fiasco at Derosier
• Gelato at Fresh Batch

So, you decide...Moose Tracks? New York Super Fudge Chunk? Blueberry? Maine Lobster Trap? We've got them all right here in Freeport!

White Cedar Inn Bed and Breakfast 178 Main Street Freeport, Maine 04032