Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate!

The Flavors of Freeport Festival is well under way and I just wanted to share a quick note on the Chef's Signature Series. This is the second year the Flavors of Freeport Festival has been in existence and this year there was a Chocolate Challenge for the local B&B's.

There were 6 entries into the Chocolate Challenge covering all manner of chocolate delights...brownies, heart-shaped cookies, cannolis, truffle tarts and, last but not least, the chocolate raspberry clouds pictured below.

Although we didn't have a contest, it was fun to watch as folks came around the corner and were suddenly faced with an entire 2 tables filled with nothing but chocolate desserts! Amazingly enough, most everyone had 'dinner' first by sampling all of the local restaurants' fare before hitting the 'dessert' aisle.

The Chocolate Challenge table was bookended by Wicked Whoopies and Simply Divine Brownies, so it was pretty much 'death by chocolate' in that aisle!


So, here it is, the White Cedar Inn Chocolate Challenge
'entry': Chocolate Raspberry Clouds

And if you want to make them at home, here's the recipe:

Chocolate cups (make them yourself with melted chocolate and a cup form, or buy them premade at BJ's or the like)
Cannoli Cream
Raspberries or other fruit for topping

Cannoli Cream:

For one box (42 pieces) of chocolate cups, you need the following ingredients:
1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1 cup heavy (whipping cream) + 1/4 c
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 metal mixing bowls, place one in the fridge/freezer before you start.

Mix the ricotta cheese and the 1/4 c of heavy cream in one bowl, put in the fridge to chill.
Whip the 1 cup heavy cream, cinnamon and powdered sugar in the cold bowl until medium-stiff peaks form.
Gently blend in the ricotta cheese mixture.
Cool in fridge for 30 minutes or more.

Pipe the ricotta-whipped cream mixture into the chocolate cups, top with fruit. Chill before serving. If you don't have a piping bag, use a plastic freezer bag with one corner snipped off (small snip or it makes a mess!)

These can be frozen for about 1 week.

If you have any cannoli cream and raspberries leftover, lucky you! Plop that cream on top of the raspberries and enjoy!

Other fruits to try...blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, mandarin oranges

It remains to be seen what next year's 'challenge' will be but we hope to see you there!

Grill Zilla BBQ in Damariscotta

Just met Sarah and Jay of Grill Zilla this weekend. We've got a bottle of their Maine-famous, and hopefully soon to be world-famous, Killa Zilla BBQ sauce sitting here in the kitchen just waiting until we can get the door to the deck open to fire up the grill.

You can find them in-season serving up delicious BBQ in Damariscotta. You can find them online anytime at GrillZillaBBQ.com

Easy Peasy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe of the Month-January

Ok, this one is so easy, it's embarrassing to post it...

Peanut Butter Cookies:

1 cup of peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

1 cup of sugar

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Drop batter by the tablespoon onto cookie sheet. If you used the chunky peanut butter, leave extra room, they spread out a LOT. You can get 16 cookies on a big cookie sheet if you use the creamy peanut butter. Press the tines of a fork into the top of each cookie to flatten them a little.

Bake for 10-12 minutes depending on how hot your oven gets.

Extra special: Don't use the fork to flatten the cookies but, instead, press a Hershey Kiss into the top AFTER they come out of the oven. Don't forget to take the tinfoil wrapper off first!

Yet another idea...make a small thumbprint in the top of each cookie before baking and scoop in a little rounded drop of your favorite jelly. Bake as usual. PB&J cookies! I use seedless raspberry, but if you would use the jelly to make a PB&J sandwich it will probably work.

Printable recipe page.

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

Bowdoin, Bates and Colby College Graduations 2009

It's that time of year! If you haven't made your graduation reservations yet, please do so quickly. Lodging fills up quickly for Memorial Day Weekend (Bowdoin College graduation and Colby College graduation) and May 30 & 31st (Bates College graduation).

We have rooms available for both weekends. Please call today (1-800-853-1269) or book online at our website.

Don't be like me and have to stay in another STATE for your child's graduation!

Storm damage

We had some damage back in December from the ice storm. The large red maple at the corner of the driveway sustained major damage to one large limb, causing it to split in two, although it did not break completely off. As winter progressed and more water got into the split, it got larger and larger and longer and longer. Last week we had the limb removed by Scott Gallant. He also did some work on another tree that was starting to lean a bit.

So, safe in your armchair, have a look at Scott 'hanging around' at our house...

Notice how he blends in chameleon-like as he buzzes his way around that pesky branch! You can really only see his denim-clad legs, if you look closely enough!

They started in working at 7 AM (be glad you weren't here trying to sleep in!) and were all done with the cutting and picking up by 9 AM. That day the temp was around 25 in the early morning and below 0 by dinner time. Brrrr! Scott said that is one of the difficulties in working in the winter...the cold!



It is totally amazing to watch someone take a tree apart limb by limb. You can see the very end of the limb is already on the ground as he works his way closer to the trunk. Until we get used to it, the tree is going to look very 'naked'. That one branch, as you may recall, was substantial. Less overhang in the parking area this year.






This is in the back of the house, where most of you never see. Scott is not standing on the roof, he's standing on the limb he is cutting. This is the 'action' shot as you can see the branch is falling at this point. For anyone who has ever wondered, those windows you see on the corner belong to our kitchen. Yes, we have our own!

When hotels trim amenities, B&B's become a better value

Just read the article in the Wall Street Journal about how high end hotels are putting an end to those B and B amenities they trotted out years ago to lure travelers away from the Bed and Breakfast experience.

There has been no 'trimming of amenities' here at White Cedar Inn! As a matter of fact, in picking up a secondary point in the article-cleanliness-we have just replaced all the carpet in the 4 guestrooms upstairs. (The Bowdoin's carpet was replaced in 2005.) And, so guests know, we don't wash your drinking glasses in the bathroom sink, everything goes into the dishwasher for a sanitize cycle. And the blankets, quilts and mattress pads are washed on a regular basis, in hot water and using bleach. (Sheets, of course, are changed for every guest!)

So, what's free here that the big name hotels are charging you for?

1. Parking
2. WiFi
3. A full, sit down breakfast (no buffet lines here!)
   
4. Coffee and tea whenever you want it
5. Afternoon cookies or cake
6. Concierge services such as boarding pass printing and restaurant reservations
7. Loaner laptop
8. Morning newspaper

And, we've added a microwave in the guest pantry along with the fridge so you can reheat those yummy restaurant leftovers!

The more the hotels trim, the more value there is in staying in a B and B where the owners are on hand to insure you are greeted with a smile and treated like good friends come for a visit. We hope to see you soon...don't forget your complimentary cookies and tea when you check-in!

Down East Blog includes White Cedar Inn

Just passing this along for your edification, delight and a couple of laughs...Meadow and I spoke a few weeks ago about what there is to do in Freeport besides shop. There is so much more than shopping here and we're so close to so many other great places to see and things to do it would be a shame to spend all of your time in the stores! (SOME of your time, of course, but get out and get some sunshine, fresh air and see the ocean while you're here!)

Down East 'Ask A Local' blog...enjoy!

BTW, we just got back from the Corsican. What did I have? The chicken pesto pizza, of course! (And the chocolate raspberry bash...don't miss that, it's reeeeealy good!) Unfortunately, I am going to have to come up with another 'favorite wine' at the Jameson...the one I like is being taken off the menu. Poor Steph, she was so excited when she had it back again for me!