Sleigh Ride in the Mad River Valley

A picture postcard Valentine’s Day package awaits you…

A snow covered landscape, a beautiful room with a double Jacuzzi tub in its ensuite bathroom, a sleigh ride to whisk you through the snow, and a delicious dinner at The Common Man restaurant.

We have two all inclusive packages:

• The Logan Suite for any 3 nights including the 14th of February  - just $999 inclusive
• The Mountain Room for any 2 nights including the 14th of February – just $649 inclusive

Your package includes:

The Logan Suite Master Bathroom

• Your beautiful room and a delicious breakfast each morning
• A wondrous sleigh ride with views over the Mad River Valley
• Dinner at The Common Man Restaurant on the 14th
• 6 Roses – that you can take home with you
• A bottle of Champagne and two souvenir Champagne flutes
• Lake Champlain chocolates
• And most of all – a peaceful get-away among the snow covered Green Mountains of Vermont

Homemade Ajver

This past summer we were delighted to get to know Martina and Tanja, university students from Macedonia. While they were here I purchased a jar of Ajver for them. I had no real idea of what it tasted like but it looked good and I wanted to give them a small taste of home while they were so far away. The four of us sat around the table and enjoyed this tasty treat along with hearty bread and cheese while the two girls told us of how Ajver is made and how in the fall, the wonderful aroma of roasting red peppers wafts through the villages.

Having some red peppers on hand, I looked up Ajver recipes on line, chose one and yesterday made some beautiful looking Ajver. While it looked right, it lacked that special taste. Martina and Tanja, what’s the magic ingredient? Help!

2 c. pecans

1 c. butter, softened

1/4 c. icing sugar

2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 t. salt

1 1/2t. vanilla

1 c. icing sugar (for rolling cookies in)

On a baking sheet, bake the pecans at 350° for 7 to 9 minutes, or until fragrant, stirring once. Let cool then chop finely and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar until smooth.

Beat in vanilla.

With a wooden spoon, stir in flour, salt and pecans using your (clean!) hands to finish the mixing and to form the dough into a mound.

Wrap in plastic wrap, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Form dough into 1 inch balls and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 325° for 18 – 20 minutes or until lightly golden.

Remove to racks and let cool for 5 minutes.

Using the 1 cup of icing sugar, roll baked cookie balls in icing sugar then return to rack to cool completely.

Roll once again in icing sugar.

Snowballs can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week or frozen for up to 3 months.

Makes about 40.

Dishing it out! My first Christmas in Texas, my friend Jacquie invited me to a cookie exchange at her home. While I can’t remember the exact number of guests, I believe were each to make 5 dozen cookies of the same recipe, bring them festively wrapped in groups of four,  along with 12 copies of our recipe and a cookie tin for our own collection of cookies. One dozen of the cookies were for refreshments at the party, the others were for sharing,  4 of each variety went into our tins. We visited over glasses of wine and plates of cookies – what a wonderful variety of delights for so little work!. I’m not sure how Jacquie managed to organize it, but after several years there were, I think, upwards of 30 ladies at the cookie exchange. No, we didn’t have to make 30 dozen cookies – Jacquie did some mathematical magic and we each went home with a super selection of our friends’ baking. Thanks, Jacquie, for your recipe for Pecan Snowballs.

A great breakfast starter.

Stirring it up! Here’s a never fail coffee cake which is quick to make and yummy to eat.

• 2 c  all purpose flour
• 3/4 c  butter
• 1 c  white sugar

Rub these three ingredients together to the crumb stage. Put 1 cup of the mixture aside to use as topping

Mix the remaining mixture (from the above) with the following:

• 1 egg
• 1 c. sour milk
• 1/2 t  baking soda
• 2 t  baking powder
• 1 t  ground cloves
• 1 c  raisins, dry cranberries or dry cherries -add these to the dry ingredients before adding the egg and this will help keep the fruit distributed throughout the cake rather than sinking to the bottom.

Pour the mixture into a well greased 9″x13″x2″ (33cmx23cmx5cm) pan and sprinkle the 1 cup of topping over the batter.
Bake at 375• F (190• C) for about 25 minutes. Cool slightly and serve or can be served cold and goes very nicely with an afternoon cup of tea. Freezes well.

Dishing it out! Ever been the new kid in school and hoping to make new friends? In a family that moved numerous times, come the first day of school the big question was, “who will be my friend?”. Starting a new school in grade 7 there was little time to worry about this as I was soon befriended by Maureen. We were in the same class, went to the same church and discovered we liked many of the same things. For three years we were best friends then a new job for my parents took us to a new home across the country . Maureen and I have kept in touch by email and  have only seen each other a couple of times in all these years. All this to say, Maureen sent me this recipe hoping it might be something I could use and every time I make Cinnamon Crumb Cake I silently thank her for making another breakfast enjoyable for both the cook (me) and our guests. Thanks Maureen!

Local produce

Yankee, in the July/August 2011 magazine, ranked the Waitsfield Farmers’ Market as one of the 5 best Farmers’ Markets in New England. Here’s what they say…

Waitsfield Farmers’ Market
It seems that the entire population of the Mad River Valley turns out to partake in a boisterous round of festivities: face painting, arts and crafts, live music, picnicking, and more. More than 60 vendors; space is equally shared among agricultural, craft, and prepared-food booths. Mad River Green, off Main St. (Route 100), Waitsfield. Saturdays 9am-1pm, May-October. waitsfieldfarmersmarket.com

We agree!  This weekend, whether you are here to attend the Vermont Symphony outdoor concert,  the Warren July 4th parade, the air show or the fireworks at Sugarbush be sure you take in the fun and excitement of the Farmers’ Market.  On this July 4th long weekend it will be the place to be if you are in the Mad River Valley on Saturday morning.

The gang's all here.

Quaich Single Malt Bar

A Quaich

Yes, it’s been a month since our last blog post; since then we’ve been in Scotland and France for a short holiday to visit friends and family, and…

…we have been working on getting our Quaich Single Malt Scotch Bar set up. Just in case you are wondering, a Quaich is a traditional Scottish drinking vessel that was used to offer a guest a cup of welcome and also as a farewell drink, usually a dram of whisky. The inspiration for the name came from the gift of a Quaich to Peter, during our visit to Scotland, from his university class mates at the 40th reunion of their graduation, which Peter helped organize.

Our Quaich bar is now open for resident guests after dinner each evening, nominally from 8 till 10 PM. We are featuring a variety of malts from Speyside and the islands, and for those whose preference does not run to a fine single malt we also have a nice selection of liqueurs. All are available at very reasonable prices.

We hope this new feature will be just one more reason why you will want to come and visit us (again) at West Hill House, where we don’t compete with other B&Bs, we simply surpass them with our service, our comfort, our beautiful location, and our unique breakfast desserts!

Quick curried fruit sauce on roast pork.

Stirring it up! Unexpected guests for dinner? This quick curried fruit sauce has come to my rescue more than once. Good on a variety of meats or on rice or quinoa, this sauce is quick and easy to make.

• 1/2 c butter
• 1 c brown sugar
• 2-3 t curry powder (more if you are a curry lover)
• 1/4 t  salt
• 2 – 14oz tins fruit salad (mixed fruit) drained

In a saucepan, heat butter, sugar, curry powder and salt. Stir the mixture while cooking, until the butter bubbles and the sugar and curry powder are blended together. Continue to stir and add the drained fruit and bring it to a boil then turn the heat to low and allow the flavours to meld. If it is too thick, add a bit of the drained juice. Serve hot over your choice of food. Can be made ahead and heated before serving.

Dishing it out! My dear friend Jyo makes the best curried food on the planet! Our families have spent many happy hours together enjoying fellowship and her fantastic cooking. While she would not consider this a very authentic curry sauce, I know she would appreciate that I think of her when I make it and I wish that we lived close enough to each other to once again gather around the table.

Granny's favourite.

When we moved to Texas from Canada, two new friends, knowing of our Canadian & Scottish backgrounds, offered us tea – cups with water heated (not to boiling) in the microwave and presented with a tea bag on the side. YIKES! My mission from then on was to teach them to make a good cup of tea, properly made! Both new friends, who have since become near and dear, were excellent students and can now make a great cuppa’.

Here are a few basic terms that are useful to know when reading about and making tea.

Tea pot -The vessel from which hot tea is poured. Buy a tea pot if you haven’t one. Whether from a simple Brown Betty tea pot or an ornate fine china tea pot, pouring tea from a tea pot makes the experience of having a cuppa’ all the more enjoyable. (don’t use aluminum though it reacts badly with tea).

This small 2-cup tea pot along with its wee cream and sugar was used for many years by Peter’s Granny who lived to be one week short of 100 years old. In the latter years of her life Granny was confined to bed and Peter’s mum brought her tea in this little set each morning. Looking as good as new, sadly its tea cup is missing.

Tea kettle - the vessel in which you bring fresh water to a boil. Can be electric or stove top.

Tea cup – A china tea cup or mug are my favourites – but then, I’ve also drunk tea from a birch bark cup so I’ll take tea no matter!

Infuse or Steep – the process of extracting the flavour of the tea from the leaves to the water.

Loose  leaf or Tea bag - Use good quality loose, leaf is best. Most commonly used are tea bags which contain tea dust which is known for it quick extraction. With a myriad kinds of tea, make a visit your local tea shop for advice on what to purchase. (If you are in the Mad River Valley checkout the tea shop and restaurant called MINT- they have about 50 different teas and tisanes.)

Tisane-Though prepared in the same manner as tea, tisane is a combination of dried flowers, herbs and fruit and does not contain tea leaves.

One-for-the-pot - This refers to how much loose leaf or how many teabags to use. My guideline is 1 bag or one slightly rounded teaspoon of loose leaf per 10 oz of water. You preferences may vary for weaker or stronger tea.

Tea Ball or Tea Infuser  or Tea Egg – A tea ball is not a fancy dress dance, it ‘s a device into which loose tea leave are put for steeping. Once in the tea pot, the hot water poured over it  can seep through the mesh of a tea ball to the leaves.

Ready to make some tea? Stay tuned!

A Ceylon tea set which was purchased by Peter's grandmother when she and her husband lived in Ceylon in the early 1900s.

Over the past few weeks I have attended two conferences, each providing various meals followed by coffee and tea,  but only if you asked for it.

My latest tea challenge came just the other day. I was brought a cup filled with very warm water (not hot enough to have been boiling) and a wooden case from which I could choose from about a dozen types of teas and tisanes. The tea bags were tucked into little cardboard boxes  1.75″ x 1.25″ x .75″ and wrapped with plastic wrap with a pull tab much like the wrapping on a cigarette package. By the time I had chosen my tea, finally removed the plastic from the box, got the box opened and the tea bag into the cup, the water had gone from very warm to warm. While the quality of tea was good, full-leaf tea in a triangular tea bag, I could only imagine what this would have tasted like had it been properly made.

It’s time tea was made and served correctly!

When you visit West Hill House, if you request tea, we will make you a proper cup of tea.Tea as it should be!

Liz enjoys a homemade biscotti and hansels our brand new mugs.

We recently received our beautiful new hand-thrown, signature stoneware mugs from Deneen Pottery of St. Paul, Minnesota. Deneen Pottery is a family owned and operated company and their products are handmade in the USA.

Liz and Joe from Fairbanks, AK were B&B guests the day the box of mugs arrived and Liz was the first to hansel our new mugs (hansel: to use something for the first time). They loved the mugs so much they bought two to take home with them.

We are delighted to offer these marvelous mugs to our guests for their hot beverages as well as to purchase as a reminder of a wonderful time at West Hill House B&B.