Friday, October 25, 2013

a Blackberry Breakfast



  Here is the Welcome Witch at the
                                   Inn at Blackberry Creek .
Isn't she sweet? We work at this B&B in Walla Walla a couple of times each year and just love it.

    Yes, there is a creek and yes, there are lots of blackberries that grow back there. I am lucky in that the owner, Barbara,  freezes a big bag for me to use when I am cooking breakfast.

   I have a great recipe for Blackberry Cobbler but you need fresh blackberries so you will have to wait for that recipe.


                       



      But one of my favorite things to do with frozen blackberries is to make these cute little tartlets. Here's the recipe for them:

     Make a pastry dough pocket
     Insert one or two frozen blackberries
     Sprinkle with sugar
     Bake in small muffin tins for 15 min at 375

And........
   

SO YUMMY! and SO EASY!!

Try it and let me know what you think.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Wild Road Trip


 One of the best parts about being an innsitter is that you get to take road trips all the time! [Well, I think that is a great thing but Kirk might like to be "home" more]. Fortunately he does love to drive across the american west.
On our last road trip from Colorado to Oregon we stopped in
Yellowstone Park to meet a couple of our best friends - Ruth and Glen - for a few days of wildlife viewing.


And we saw lots of amazing animals:




 Of course we saw bison but we got to watch this big guy take a nap and then wake up for a snack. We are smart enough not to get to close but he seemed really unconcerned about all the humans watching him eat lunch so we got some good photos.






This elk was in a large heard early in the morning as the light was rising on the mountains - so beautiful! He was contentedly grazing until he heard two other elk "bugling" across the valley and then he raised his head to add his two cents worth. Such a majestic sight!



 But the best wildlife that we saw was this grizzly bear. Isn't she a beauty? OK, we were not sure about the gender but she looked like a mama to me. Glen had set up a spotting scope so that we could get a really close look at her. We spent almost an hour just watching her amble across the meadow. There were special rangers patrolling the area so that no one got too close. It did give you chills to see how calm she was but how large and powerful.  Wow!

   On the last day of our WILD ROAD TRIP we also saw a moose but I did not get any photos so you will have to take my word for that!


Wednesday, October 2, 2013

a Nutty Breakfast



   Most of our guests are not small, furry, round and cute and most do not just eat nuts for breakfast.

  But here at the Dove Inn we have three squirrels that we have named "Hughie" "Louie" and "Dewie" who come for breakfast every morning!

   
 They know just what time we are serving and they have their favorite entrees. H, L, & D had been so hungry that they had chewed a hole right through the garbage can lid and when the new lid proved to tough for them Kirk started leaving them leftovers. Their favorites are my Pecan/Strusel coffee cake or my Banana/Peanutbutter muffins. But when those are not offered, Kirk just leaves them nuts which they love.


As you can see, Hughie is brave enough to eat right out of Kirk's hand.
I call him the "squirrel whisperer" and I will not be surprised if one is in our car when we head off to our next job!



Well, naughty Hughie- as soon as we left we found out he was NOT in our car. The B&B owner called to say that Hughie had broken into one of the guest rooms and scared the guests!! She accused Kirk of training him to do that but I think he was just hungry!