Today we want to take the time to tell you a little bit about what’s in the hearts of each Distinctive Inns of New England innkeeper throughout the year, yet from our hearts to our lips doesn’t pass often enough.  Each DINE innkeeper pauses at Thanksgiving to be grateful for  every guest who’s visited their inns this year.  Brian and Leslie Mulcahy from Rabbit Hill Inn so eloquently expressed the feelings shared by all DINE innkeepers when they said “Without you, this is just a really nice, big house.  Your presence helps make it the warm, fun-filled place that it is!”

Thank you to our guests who’ve filled our inns with smiles and joy.  Each DINE innkeeper celebrates “guest gratitude” not just at Thanksgiving but every day of the year.

Since Thanksgiving is a time of food festivities, we thought we’d share this recipe from Judy Heuber at the Chesterfield Inn for Maple Pecans, the perfect accompaniment to champagne to start the Thanksgiving feast.

Maple Pecans from Chesterfield Inn

Ingredients

4 cups pecans1/2 cup maple syrup

2 T. melted butter

1/2 t. kosher salt

1/2 t. cayenne

1/4 t. fresh ground black pepper

1 egg white, at room temp.

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Spread pecans on a baking pan in one layer and toast for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Turn oven down to 250. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

In a large bowl, toss the pecans and all remaining ingredients except egg white. Whisk egg white until frothy, mix into pecans. Toss well.

Spread pecans in one layer on the baking sheets. Bake 40 minutes.

Loosen pecans from parchment and cool completely. Can keep in an airtight container up to a week.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Tis the season for great food and recipe planning.  If you’re still looking for ideas for Thanksgiving, Distinctive Inns of New England will come to the rescue this week with some creative ideas.

How about serving a traditional dessert with a twist?  Pecan Pie Bars from the Captain’s House Inn are perfect for leftovers (if there are any left!) .  Simply split them among guests and send them home in plastic baggies.  Better yet, save them for yourself to enjoy with your turkey sandwich on Black Friday!  Either way, enjoy!

Pecan Pie Bars from Captain’s House Inn

Oven Temperature:   350° – 300°

Yield: 24 Bars

Cake Pan size: 13” x 9” x 2” glass pan

Ingredients (Shortbread base)

1 ½ Sticks (¾ Cup) Butter

2 Cups  All Purpose Flour

½ Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar

 Ingredients (topping)

8oz  Pecans

1 stick (½ Cup) Unsalted Butter

1 Cup  Packed Light Brown Sugar

1/3 Cup Honey

2 Tbsps Heavy Cream

Method (Shortbread Base)

1.       Preheat the oven to 350°.

2.      Cut the butter into ½ inch pieces. In a food processor, process all ingredients together until mixture begins to form small lumps.

3.      Sprinkle mixture into 13’x9”x2” baking pan with a metal spoon, press evenly onto the bottom. Bake shortbread in the middle of the oven until golden – about 20 minutes.

4.      While the shortbread is baking, prepare the pecan topping.

Method ( Pecan Topping)

1.      In a food processor, coarsely chop the pecans. In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter and stir in brown sugar, honey and cream. Simmer mixture, stirring occasionally for 1 minute and then stir in pecans.

2.      Pour the pecan mixture over the hot shortbread and spread evenly. Reduce the oven temperature to 300°.

3.      Bake in the middle of the oven until bubbling, about 20 minutes. Cool completely in the pan and cut into 24 bars.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving from all the Distinctive Inns of New England.

Just last week the Distinctive Inns of New England met at the Gateways Inn and Restaurant for their semi-annual meeting.  No sooner did the meeting end when 20 wedding planners arrived in Lenox, MA to learn more about this distinctive Berkshires town and its wedding venues, including The Gateways.  One of the many activities the wedding planners engaged (sorry, no pun intended) in was a  Table Design Challenge. All event planners were assigned to one of the participating Lenox venues and their assignment was to design a wedding table based on their creative interpertation of the Crane &Co invitation they were given.

Tricia McCormack, a very talented local wedding photographer, captured the contest at The Gateways Inn with gorgeous photos of the designs from beginning to end. Two talented designers went to work at the Gateways creating tables themed with the sample wedding invitation. One created a beach theme while the other created a woods theme.

With the holidays approaching, we thought that many of these photos might inspire your own tables with some elegant ideas.  Check out the photos of start to finish which Tricia McCormack has captured so beautifully for ideas for your themed holiday tables.

An article appearing recently in the Wall Street Journal outlines two very different accounts of innkeeping. Barry Werner of Scarborough Fair B&B in Baltimore, MD outlines how while others played cowboys and Indians when they were young, he played B&B with his grandmother. For him, owning a B&B is a dream come true. This story is contrasted by another account of a former innkeeper who found the job drudgery and difficult. She sold her Clearwater, FL inn which is now a private home after just a few years of attempts at innkeeping.

There’s more to owning and managing an inn than meets the eye. So many of us still imagine the bucolic career of mild mannered Bob Newhart, the Vermont innkeeper and owner of the Stratford Inn whose staff – Larry, Darryl and Darryl – kept us all in hysterics. While Bob occasionally shoveled snow, the majority of his time was spent behind the front desk greeting guests and keeping his crew in line.

Today’s innkeepers still go out and shovel snow – sometimes for days on end – while they also juggle everything from restaurant management to social networking, something good ol’ Bob Newhart hadn’t even conceived of yet.  From time to time, they’re up all night holding court with older guests regaling stories of their younger years on aircraft carriers or taking guests who fell out of bed to the hospital.  Ask a Distinctive Inns of New England member about the highlights of their job and they’ll all unanimously tell you the best part about the job is the people who enter as guests and leave as friends.  Ask them about the “lows” of the job, and they’ll each have a story or two to tell about the six weeks during foliage season when they never leave the inn, or the despair they’ve felt  after someone who never stayed at the inn posted a false review on TripAdvisor.

The innkeepers of Distinctive Inns of New England all love their careers and are dedicated to the finest in hospitality.  They’ve perfected the art of creating relaxing, restorative destinations, and they’ve also perfected the art of making it all look so easy, giving our old friend Bob Newhart a run for his money.  Ask a member of Distinctive Inns of New England, and he or she will tell you it’s the incredible people that drive them into this 24-7 career. Each and every guest expands that innkeepers’ horizon and leaves a lasting mark.  Ask a DINE guest and I think they’ll tell you that the innkeepers do the same for them.

Whether it’s front of the house or behind the scenes, the DINE innkeepers have discovered a career that brings fulfillment both to themselves and others.  Hats off to the hardworking DINE innkeepers and to their guests who make their jobs possible.

In our last blog post, we offered some great ideas for  pre-holiday getaways from Distinctive Inns of New England.  We’re following up with another idea for your pre-Christmas escape. This time, how about a coastal Maine getaway, where the Camden Maine Stay joins a whole community in welcoming in the holidays.  Here in Camden, Maine Santa substitutes the sleigh for a boat, stores open their doors with special sales and tastings  for those looking for just the right thing for hard-to-shop-for Aunt Harriett, and it’s all rolled up with a distinctive inn stay at the Camden Maine Stay Inn.

Christmas By The Sea is Camden, Maine’s weekend celebration of the holiday season held December 2-4, 2011.  Shopping, musical entertainment, a parade, community tree-lighting ceremony, horse-drawn wagon rides, and fireworks are all part of the holiday excitement. Holiday sales,  and dining specials and Santa arriving by boat make this an action-filled weekend.

Camden Maine Stay’s Christmas by the Sea package includes two nights lodging, gourmet breakfasts each morning and plenty of holiday fun for the Christmas by the Sea weekend. This package is specially priced at $200 for Smith-Robson and Topper rooms; $240 Tierney and Dogwood rooms and $300 Mayflower suite or Amelia Huse suite.

When booking, online or by phone, mention the code CHRISBY to get the offer. The package must be booked by November 30, 2011.  Call 207-236-9636 or email innkeeper@camdenmainestay.com to book your reservation. To check availability and request a reservation online, click here.

Tis the season to sneak away before the dizzying rush of the holidays set in.  Early November is one of those times when fares are lower, rates are lower and crowds are lower too.  Yet, there’s still plenty of outdoor adventure and indoor R&R awaiting.  Whether your idea is getting a jump on holiday shopping in tax-free New Hampshire or a walk along the sea in Newport or Cape Cod, this is a great time to get away.  The Distinctive Inns of New England have created a number of weekend escapes offering the ideal getaway for an impromptu mini-vacation.  Why not steal a little time together this weekend before the holidays begin?

Here are a few ideas from Distinctive Inns of New England for the perfect weekend getaway, all within an easy drive from Boston and other parts of New England.

2-Night Spa Package at the Inn at Thorn Hill:

Available all year around, you can take your honey for an ultimate spa treatment. Included is your choice of going out to eat or a picnic lunch, afternoon tea, and finally on to your full hour spa treatment. This package can be a great weekend relaxation or even a midweek rest from the working world. Package pricing: $235.

Midweek Package at The Gateways Inn & Restaurant:

Play hookie midweek, and enjoy a free fireside supper with your three night stay at The Gateways Inn.

Details:
– Special valid through November 30th
– Midweek bookings are Monday – Thursday only
– For dinner menu see Fireside Supper Menu

Price varies depending on the room/suite of your choice.

For a complete list of packages offered by DINE members, click here. You’ll find everything from high adventure to quiet romance all packaged up by members of the Distinctive Inns of New England, making getaways easy, more affordable and fun.

George Hobica is one smart guy.  He’s not only one of the wisest wizards in the travel industry, he’s also an expert on airfares and how to save.  His website, www.airfarewatchdog.com, part of the SmarterTravel.com group, stalks all markets for the lowest fares.  There’s also a great tool on this site which has saved me thousands of dollars.  Simply input the markets where you travel often, and bingo! a list of the lowest fares shows up.  Be sure to sign up for alerts from your home-airports.  You’ll receive regular emails with info on deals to different citiesto which you travel  from your home town.

 Are high airfares grounding you this holiday season?  George offers a few tips that might help.

According to George, altering the days you fly can help save on airfares.  Fly on Thanksgiving Day and return on Friday or Saturday, and your fare can be cut in half.  By not traveling on the busiest days of the season (Wednesday before Thanksgiving and Sunday or Monday afterward) you not only avoid the throngs, but you can see some significant savings. He offered a great example of how a of $960 airfare  from New York to Charleston  leaving the day before Thanksgiving and returning the Sunday after suddenly becomes $482 if you depart on Thanksgiving day at 6.30 a.m. (arriving in plenty of time for turkey) and returning the Saturday after the holiday. That’s a 50 percent savings.

Alternately, by choosing a smaller airport, travelers can also see a significant savings.  In the article, George explained by driving just two hours to a smaller airport, one can save nearly $150 per ticket.

Will the high Thanksgiving rates go down right before Thanksgiving? George says the jury is out on that one, but explains that it has happenned before and could happen again this year.  If I listen to anyone about airfares, I’d listen to George Hobica.  The best way to save on airfares is to sign up for Airfare Watchdog Alerts, and then book quickly when you see the fare you want.

Bottom line: adjusting your dates of travel and the airport from which you fly can save money that can be put toward your Thanksgiving getaway.  Nothing beats a New England escape for Thanksgiving, especially to a Distinctive Inn of New England.  Whether you enjoy dinner at one of the DINE member inns with restaurants or a nearby restaurant, you can be sure you’ll have your turkey and pie too…along with the perfect place to give thanks for a holiday getaway.