It’s almost Halloween, which means there’s a whole lot of pumpkins hanging around.  No need to let them go to waste, make pumpkin puree and turn that pumpkin into a delicious cake, the perfect harvest-time treat.  Thanks to Chef Rosemary at the Gateways Inn and La Terrezza Restaurant for offering this step-by-step guide to the inn’s version of a delicious fall dessert.

And for a little bit of trivia, cake is not just a dessert at the Gateways Inn.  Guests are often treated to cake in the morning, with different cakes being featured at breakfast time too.

GATEWAYS INN PUMPKIN ROLL CAKE

Ingredients

4Tbsp., plus 2 tsp. Butter, softened

¾ cup plus 1 Tbsp. Flour

2 tsp. ground Cinnamon

½ tsp. ground Nutmeg

Pinch of Salt

3 Eggs

1 Cup Granulated Sugar

2/3 Cup Pumpkin Puree-(preferably fresh, but you can use canned)

1 tsp. Lemon Juice

1 Cup roughly chopped Pecans

1 ¼ Cups Confectioners’ Sugar

6 oz. Cream Cheese, softened

1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Heat Oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 10” x 15” jelly roll pan (or cookie sheet with 1” sides) with 1 tsp. utter and line with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper with 1 tsp
butter & dust with 1 Tbsp. flour. Tap pan to Remove excess flour.

2. Sift the remaining flour,c innamon, nutmeg, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

3. Beat eggs in a bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy and tripled in size, about 5-7 minutes.  Slowly add granulated sugar, and continue beating, about 5 minutes more.  Stir in
the pumpkin and the lemon juice, mixing lightly, until just blended in.  Gently fold in the flour mixture, until just blended in, being careful not to overbeat.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Spread out to edges. Sprinkle pecans over top.  Bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.

5. Lay a clean kitchen towel on a work table & sprinkle with ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar.  Working quickly, flip pan with still-warm cake upside down on to the towel,
to remove cake. Remove pan, and peel away parchment. At the long side, roll the cake in the towel, snugly, like a jelly roll. Set aside, seam side down & let cool, about 1 hour.

6. Meanwhile prepare the  filling-beat together remaining butter, confectioner’s sugar, cream cheese and  vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.

7. Carefully unroll the cake  and spread with the filling. Gently re-roll. Transfer to a platter, and let chill until  set- about 1 hour.   Cut away the jagged edges. Slice and serve.

In our opinion once Labor Day comes and goes we’re on the fast track to Thanksgiving.  While still more than a month away, we all know how quickly the time flies during the holidays. Now is the time to start thinking about your Thanksgiving escapes.

In the last five years, an increasing number of travelers have opted to spend Thanksgiving away from home, leaving the cooking and clean up to someone else. Some have even opted to travel because family gatherings bring out all the “turkeys” in the clan, choosing to avoid the family politics by making other plans.  Whether its a desperately needed relaxing getaway or avoiding your sister’s arguing kids,  Distinctive Inns of New England will welcome guests in search of a second home with harvest hospitality.  Some DINE members offer Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings while others follow up with a “left overs” lunch.  All DINE member inns will offer good recommendations for a fabulous dinner, followed by the chance to sleep off all that turkey and gravy in an exceedingly comfortable bed.

Book your package at any of the nine inns soon or forever hold your gobble.  Some are filling up, and all inns require prior reservations for dinner and overnight stays. A few members of Distinctive Inns of New England are offering Thanksgiving Specials with good old Puritan savings.

Stay at Cliffside Inn over Thanksgiving weekend for three nights including Friday, and you’ll be treated to a 15% savings.  Simply plan a  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday stay or a  Friday, Saturday, Sunday stay to receive your 15% savings.

If your Thanksgiving travel brings you to New Hampshire and the Manor On Golden Pond, book a 3 night stay which includes Thanksgiving night plus Thanksgiving dinner on November 24th and the inn will discount  your Thanksgiving dinner by 50%.  Click here to view the scrumptuous Thanksgiving menu being served in the dining room.

Stay two nights including November 24 plus Nov 23, 25 or 26 at Gateways Inn, enjoy Thanksgiving dinner during the day in La Terrazza Restaurant, and you’ll be treated to a complimentary Turkey Sandwich Supper with a glass of house wine. Enjoy your supper on Thanksgiving or save your turkey sandwich for a “Leftovers Lunch” to power up for shopping on Black Friday! Rates including accommodations, breakfast each morning and the two Thanksgiving dinners are $530 to $610 per couple depending upon room choice.

Let this be the year you leave the stress of meal planning, prep and put-away in the capable hands of the Distinctive Inns of New England. Leave the carving to us and we’ll leave the the cranberry cravings to you.  Just thinking about taking that load off your shoulders will make your November a little brighter plus provide you with the perfect kick-off to the holiday season.

Vacations are no longer an extravagance. They are a necessity.  With layoffs rampant everyone who has a job may be thankful for it, but they’re stretched thinner than ever before.  Add the pressure of maintaining a happy home (extra pressure there if there are kids in that home!), and you know that vacations are one of life’s requisites and the best stress reducers.  The more getaways the better, yet finances are often the biggest reason for passing on the getaway. Don’t let your wallet elude your New England country inn getaway. Here are five great ways to make your next  Distinctive Inns of New England (DINE) getaway more affordable.

1)  LIKE DINE ON FACEBOOK:  Distinctive Inns of New England often post special offers and easy ways to receive promotional codes good for  your next DINE getaway on their Facebook page.  Be sure to visit DINE on Facebook to be the first to get a chance to win everything from $25 coupons to free overnight stays.

2) JOIN THE DINE INSIDER’S CLUB:   All you need to do to enjoy the Innsiders Club benefits is to stay at a new Distinctive Inn of New England where you’ve never visited before.   Upon departure from your next DINE property, the innkeeper will give you a new DINE Innsider wallet card with their stamp on it. When you make reservations at another DINE inn, tell the innkeeper that you have the Innsiders Club card and present it at check-out. The innkeeper will stamp your card and give you an instant $25.00 credit. Then make plans to visit yet another new DINE property and do the same thing.  Stay at all nine inns to save $200! 

3)  SIGN UP FOR THE DINE NEWSLETTER:  The last Distinctive Inns of New England newsletter had offers for $100 in DINE bucks and a secret for how to win a free overnight stay.  Each newsletter comes packed with offers, recipes and ideas on how to save on your next getaway.  Simply visit www.DistinctiveInns.com and enter your email in the sign-up box right below the DINE door on the left side of the website, then be on the lookout for the next DINE newsletter.  They’re sent quarterly, and sometimes even more often.

4)  BOOK A PACKAGE:  Distinctive Inns of New England offers a collection of packages offered by member inns easily organized by theme.  Whether it’s romance, culinary or outdoor adventure escapes you seek, you’ll find something that fits the bill at one of the nine Distinctive Inns of New England.  Simply go to www.distinctiveinns.com/getaways and you’ll find links to each of the DINE member inns’ package pages, plus a complete list of themed packages for easy sorting.  Each package is filled with value, plus saves you the time and effort of planning your itinerary.  If time is money as they say, DINE innkeepers have saved you both by creating interesting packages packed with the kind of fun you seek and just the right amount of relaxation too.

5) TRAVEL OFF SEASON:  Whether you stay at a DINE member inn or another country inn, you can count on higher rates during the peak seasons and holidays.  Most properties offer lower rates during the slower travel times, so plan your getaway around midweek, non-holiday dates, and you’ll not only be likely to find a lower rate, but you’ll certainly find better availability for the room you want.   For those seeking fall foliage getaways, you’ll still find plenty of great color even into November in some part of New England, and the leaf-peeping crowds will be gone too.  How about staying home for New Year’s Eve and doing your celebrating the week after?  It’ll be the perfect time for a post-holiday detox, and you’ll find the rates at most inns will be lower too. 

For getaway ideas, rates, online booking and gorgeous photos of the nine Distinctive Inns of New England, visit www.DistinctiveInns.com.  

The Facebook entry from the Cliffside Inn summed up what we have to look forward to for Columbus Day.  According to forecasters, it’ll be 84 degrees and sunny in Newport this weekend.  “Who’s ready for one last day at the beach?” enticed Nancy and Bill at the Cliffside Inn. Indeed, visit Newport this weekend and take in Oktoberfest fun and beachcombing fun in one trip while staying at this beautifully updated inn.

If ever there’s the perfect week for a leaf-peeping trek, Columbus Day is it! Color is near peak in the Northern reaches of New England and a stretch of great, warm weather is forecast through next week.  Rabbit Hill Inn, Inn at Thorn Hill, Chesterfield Inn and Manor on Golden Pond guests can look for fabulous foliage in Vermont and New Hampshire throughout the weekend and following week, with color in the more southern reaches extending into the third week in October.  Return to any of these four inns after a perfect day of scenic drives, bike rides, covered bridge tours or hikes for a sumptuous choice from the inns’ autumn menus.

Guests of the Camden Maine Stay will find hikes to the top of Mt Battie offer the ideal photo op for capturing Camden Harbor and the Camden Hills beyond in full color.  No need to venture very far, the Camden Maine Stay gardens continue to offer up color throughout the autumn months.

Travel into Massachusetts and you’ll find color throughout the Berkshires turning, with some reporting moderate color, according to the Yankee foliage map, a great leaf-peeper’s resource.  Leaf peeping escapes will continue to offer up fall color though mid to late October. Visit the Gateways Inn & Restaurant and take advantage of the fabulous picnic options offered to guests taking scenic rides and hikes throughout the mountains.  Return to the inn for a wee dram, choosing from the region’s best selection of single malts.  Stay three midweek nights and you’ll be treated to a complimentary dinner from the Fireside Supper Menu at Gateways Inn too. The Deerfield Inn is still under renovation after Hurricane Irene ravaged Historic Deerfield.  Look forward to new guest rooms, a new terrace area for functions, a larger tavern, and a fabulous new bar when the Deerfield Inn reopens (date TBA) and save your fall foliage tour to Deerfield for next year!

Peak foliage is expected this weekend and well into the next two weeks on Cape Cod.  Chatham is another hot spot for fall foliage and beachside excursions. Make Captain’s House Inn your home base for exploring the Cape and don’t forget about the Wellfleet Oyster Festival, October 15-16.

Just to entice you a little further, here are some sneak peaks of the views you have to look forward to on your fall DINE getaway.  Remember, though, book soon or forever hold your peep. The room availability will change as quickly in October as the fall colors, so be sure to get your first choice of dates while you can.

The White Mountains are alive with the colors of fall. Stay at the Inn at Thorn Hill, visit Great Glen Trails and catch scenes like this. Photo by Meg Skidmore.

Fall colors shine on Lower Waterford and Rabbit Hill Inn. Photo taken by Rabbit Hill Inn guest, Joe Ruddy.

When staying at the Chesterfield Inn, take the road less traveled in the 14,000 acre Pisgah Park.New Hampshire's White Mountains are filled with the brilliance of fall colors. Stay at the Inn at Thorn Hill, visit Great Glen Trails and catch scenes like this. Photo by Meg Skidmore.