Welcome to the blog of the Innkeepers of Main Street Manor Bed & Breakfast. The blog will be written and maintained mostly by me…I’m Donna, the Inn’s owner, full-time Innkeeper, baker & gardener. Contributions will come from part-time Innkeeper & full-time husband Ken, with observations and tidbits from assistant Innkeeper Quincy, our four year old labrador retriever.
We hope you’ll find the information here inn-spirational, inn-teresting and we really hope it will make you want to visit us here at our beautiful Bed & Breakfast in bucolic Hunterdon County. Being an innkeeper is fun and we love meeting new people and showing them whats so special about our quaint, historic town and Main Street Manor Bed & Breakfast Inn. Come for a visit and let us spoil you!
Wedding Celebration on the front veranda
Weddings have really kept us busy at Main Street Manor this year! We have recieved an amazing amount of calls from brides seeking a unique New Jersey venue for a small wedding that is more romantic, intimate and personal. It seems to us like weddings are becoming less of a production to impress, and more of a true celebration between two people and the friends and family members who really mean the most to them. So we thought readers of our blog might enjoy a little behind the scenes peek at what we do here at the Inn to really make things special for our intimate wedding couples… Whether the wedding takes place inside or outside; for two people, five or forty-five, we are totally hands on. Depending on the set-up, we ready things as early as possible to save on stress later on, cause when you’re running an Inn, you never know whats going to happen!
- Ready-ing for the wedd-ing!
Quincy often helps overseeing the arrangement…which works beautifully for us. Then we can count on him being asleep and totally dog-tired for most of the wedding vows and celebration.
Buffet table before food
One of the things we do for our couples getting married here, is to take the work out of the planning. We act as ‘wedding planner’ for our brides so to really be able to understand and deliver their vision. Our Intimate Wedding Package is perfect for brides who want a more ‘hands off’ approach. This all-inclusive package is unbelieviably popular and covers all the important components of the wedding from vows to wedding-night! We offer an ala’carte option for couples to build their wedding for their budget and we work with them in arranging the food and rentals on their behalf so they have little to do in the time leading up to the wedding.
Prepping for the Toast!
In either case, the toast area, food stations, tables & seating are arranged the day before to make sure things are just perfect and looking lovely.
Rose-themed wedding luncheon for 18 guests with random round tables
Flowers and any doorway adornments are readied a little bit before our couples arrive so they can appreciate the impact of these special touches!
Parlour doorway dressing
Occasionally our bridal couples want to enhance the front veranda or outside with tulle or ribbons or some special touches that they have done themselves, and we allow that, within reason…most recently one of our couples wanted to marry on the front steps of the Inn and did a beautiful job decorating the night before!
Dressing up the Doorway!
Tulle-ing the brides path...
We rely on the local florist to make traditional bridal bouquets and boutineers for our couples, but for floral touches throughout the Inn we create unique arrangements with a vintage feel using seasonal garden flowers and fresh herbs in the brides color scheme.
Bridal bouquet of peonies, roses & delphinium
Peonies & Yarrow just arranged awaiting placement!
Great care is taken in placement of the wedding favors and momentos dear to the couple throughout the Inn.
Champagne, sparkling cider & a special poem...
Favors, favors!
Appetizer platters are beautifully prepared and presented by our catering partners! Great flavor and attention to detail is always of paramont importance to us for our couples.
Grilled veggie & cheese platters
Passed wild mushroom appetizers
And last but not least..the CAKES!! All flavors and shapes & sizes of cake depending on the couples choice…BUT, we’ll leave that for another post…cause CAKE deserves a post all its own! If you know someone getting married looking for an intimate venue for anything wedding related…including a bridal shower, bridesmaids weekend or rehersal dinner, please give us a call…We would love the opportunity to work with you on your Celebration!
Congratulations!
- Just picked berries from Honeybrook!
We’re SO EXCITED that Honeybrook Organic Farm is finally open…this Thursday we went picking in the strawberry patch and it was close to a religious experience! As of this Sunday, Dvoor Farmers Market will be open for the season as well. If you don’t already know, we believe in supporting all things local, and we hope this year, you’ll become a believer too. There are dozens of Farmers Markets open all across the State, and if you look, chances are there’s one for you to visit nearby where you live. If you’ve ever plucked a strawberry fresh from the field and eaten it that precise moment…you’ll understand where this is all going. Visit us at the Inn and we’ll direct you to a local Farmers Market, or find one hearby where you live…You’ll be glad you did.
For those who are new to the ‘locavore’ mentality & the whole farmers market thing, you’ll find the hardest part is waiting for the good stuff. Seasonal is key! You can buy a tomato year round…but at your farm market, you can buy them only when they’re hanging on the vine not far from where you live when freshness and flavor is at its peek! But we digress…we promised you some tips for shopping at your nearby Farmers Market…so here they are for all the newbies out there!
1.) Bring your own bags…Take sturdy, reusable shopping bags or a pretty basket that makes you feel good…remember, today you’re amongst the farmers…so Mother Nature rules!
2.) Get an early start when you can…’cause many markets run out of the best produce early…especially when its early in the growing season and shoppers are anxious to snatch up the best stuff!
3.) Take cash…many markets do not take credit cards or checks.
4.) Take a quick tour of the market before you buy anything…oftentimes, several farms will have the same items but it will give you a chance to compare cost and quality… and some farmers will even offer a taste or their wares!
5.) DO NOT SHOP HUNGRY…just like at the grocery store, we’re more likely to buy, buy, buy and make snap decisions without thinking about what we’re really looking to try or purchase.
6.) Take your time! Enjoy the experience and savour your time at the Market… As a friend once said to me…” its like going to church”, and she was so right. Appreciate our farmers and the Source that made the entire process possible. Take your time…and breathe that outside air!
- Spectacular scallions at the Farmers Market!
To Search out a Farmers Market near you (or us) visit this link for Locavores; A Hunterdon County Farm Direct Food Map. Discover the pleasures of locally grown food and wares…Support your local farmers. Leave a comment here about a Market you visited or something new you tried…have fun!
Posted in Ahhh...Mother Nature!, Feed The Need, Food, From The Innkeeper, Local Interest, Our Kitchen & Recipes, Shopping!, Spring Has Sprung!, Uncategorized
Tags: countryside, Dvoor Farm, Eat Local, Farm, farmers, Farmers Markets, festivals, Food, food. local, garden, Jersey, local, Organic, spring
On Sunday, March 28 from 4-6pm, its all about Wine and Chocolate – the perfect combination!
The right chocolate paired with the perfect wine can create a sensational tasting experience… SO move over cheese, learn how to identify the complimentary flavors of wine and chocolate using all the senses and discover a fun new way to enjoy two of your favorite pleasures.
Join us at Main Street Manor Bed & Breakfast for an evening of wine & chocolate tasting as we pair, sip, taste & learn with two of New Jersey’s local treasures, Diane Pinder, artisinal chocolatier& Cameron Stark, award winning winemaker at Unionville Vineyards.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
4pm-6pm…$35.00 per person; pre-paid reservations please… call the Inn at 908-782-4928 to reserve your spot!
Do leave a comment and tell us about YOUR favorite wine OR chocolate!
- Preppin’
Have you ever wondered what innkeepers do on a snowy weekend when a major snowstorm forces guests cancel their reservations and we all-of-a-sudden have a weekend to ourselves with no guests staying at the Inn??? Well, hone our bread-making skills, of course!
On this particular day, we tested 2 recipes for Focaccia…a flat-bread of sorts which is typically dressed with herbs and sometimes roasted vegetables and a little cheese, similar to pizza. One recipe came from a quite renowned so-called ‘Bread Bible’,…a $50.00 hard-bound cookbook with a some inspirational photos; …the other from a thin Focaccia-only paper back book written by Carol Field with tempting photos of simple italian breads throughout. Attempt # 1 for focaccia from the ‘Bread Bible’ was trashed, but we tried the same recipe a second time and blamed the first failure on the yeast. At the same time, we made a basic focaccia from the cookbook of the same name and figured however it went, we would have at least one focaccia for a hearty dinner.
As we combined the yeast and the flour and waited for the ‘RISE’ , we roasted red potatoes, carmelized some onions, and roasted a head of fresh garlic…fresh rosemary from our herb garden(still alive inside!) waited to be plucked and added to the finished product!
Well, the Bread Bible recipe prooved to be the problem…not the yeast…but the Focaccia recipe won out and rose and worked to perfection!
Focaccia in the pan with roasted garlic...
...adding the roasted potatoes...
Yummy focaccia...Almost done!
...from Oven to Table...
We wound up adding a little gorgonzola cheese to half the focaccia and a little freshly-grated parmesan cheese to the other half…It was delish no matter how you slice it! If anyone out there wants the recipe, please e-mail us and we are happy to share the recipe along with our suggestions for additions….or visit Main Street Manor sometime in the future and you may just get some of this special treat to try at tea-time!
In the meantime, bake some cookies, some bread, make a soup or a focaccia in a snowstorm and enjoy the cockle-warming delights while its still winter…This is the time of year to create & savour some real home-made comfort food!
Kenny says Bon Apetit!
Bananas are just one of those things that are always in the kitchen at a Bed & Breakfast. All good innkeepers know it is a cardinal sin to waste ANYTHING at all…so we at Main Street Manor have come up with a fab-o recipe for when our bananas are starting to get really brown and funky… and are no longer use-able with morning yogurt or as a mid-day snack. So here goes…we hope you will enjoy this recipe. Its simple and really tasty!
Here I am... bodaciously mixing my banana bread!
Bodaciously Beautiful Banana Bread
3 or 4 mashed, ripe bananas
¼ c melted butter
1 c sugar
1 ½ c flour
¼ t salt
½ t cinnamon
¼ t freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
1 t baking soda
½-1 c chocolate chips
(can add walnuts if you like!)
Preheat oven to 350. Mash bananas in a bowl. Add all remaining ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon. Bake in buttered loaf pan until toothpick or tester comes out clean…55-60 mins. Slice, serve & enjoy!
Posted in Feed The Need, Food, From The Innkeeper, Our Kitchen & Recipes, Uncategorized, Wintertime
Tags: aroma, Baking, bananas, breads, Eat Local, Farm, Food, food inc, Organic, recipes
If anyone has actually made a New Years Resolution and has had it come to fruition…they will understand my excitement and my extreme need to write this post! For YEARS I have wanted to put together a program for women that will inspire them in every facet of their life. Well, I have finally done it!
Several years ago I attended a class with a group of women given by a friend who was a recent graduate of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in NYC…and it changed my life. Lori expanded our awareness on food and ‘feeding ourselves’ in all aspects of our lives. Through the classes with Lori, I have been better about my life choices & and recognizing the unity of body, mind, and spirit (although sometimes the business of the Inn gets in the way me of practicing what I know) She taught us to empower ourselves and to tune in to our inner wisdom when we need answers.
Well, on March 5-7, 2010, Lori will be here at the Inn along with other gifted teachers for our Woman’s Weekend of Renewal…just in time for Spring! We will be guided through the weekend with gentleness and ease to spur us to live 2010 in total joy! Come join us for a weekend of inspiration and sharing. I am thrilled that a resolution made a few years back has finally come to be. As we all know…sometimes it just takes a while!
Posted in Feed The Need, Food, From The Innkeeper, Local Interest, Uncategorized, Wintertime
Tags: aroma, Food, health, resolutions, wisdom, women
Everyone has their Christmas traditions and my favorite of all is cookie baking! Before we owned the Inn and especially now I spend about one solid week baking dozens of cookies to give as gifts, share with friends and snack on in the evening with a ritual cup of tea at bedtime. Each year I like to add one or two new kinds, but I always have my staple-favorites that I make without question. My all time favorite is a melt-in-your-mouth cookie my mom started baking when I was a little kid…a walnut crescent cookie. The original recipe is from a Woman’s Day magazine from 1963, and I still have the original clipping of the recipe from the magazine! Over the years I have tasted variations of this recipe…but this old original is still the best!
I will share the recipe with you along with some pics from the process we took while baking. Real butter, confectioners sugar & walnuts…now what could be bad about that? So here goes:
Womans Day Walnut Crescents (1963)
- 1 cup soft butter
- 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon water
- 2 teaspoons GOOD vanilla extract
- 2 cups white flour (unsifted)
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Cream butter and confectioners sugar. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Shape in rolls about 1/2 inch in diameter and cut in 1 inch pieces. Put on cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment and pull down ends of cookie slightly to form a crescent shape. Bake in 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes.
warm crescents...just out of the oven
Remove from oven after baking and while cookie is warm, roll in more confectioners sugar. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.
thats me...rolling the warm cookies in more confectioners sugar...
I hope you will make this delicious cookie and if you do, leave a comment about my favorite Christmas cookie recipe…(or maybe share one of YOUR recipes here!) Whatever the cookie…whatever the tradition…we wish you and your loved ones a ‘ deliciously sweet season’ and a very Merry Christmas!
the completed cookie...yum!
We are IN THE SPIRIT with the Inn all ready and decorated for Christmas!
The twinkle of lights, the scent of pine and the magic of Christmas is in the air at Main Street Manor B&B!
Here’s a peek at what we’ve done…my collection of Santa’s were compiled over 30 years and many were gifts from Ken to me over the 20 Christmasses we’ve spent together; others were gifts from close friends and one, hand painted by me. The library bookcases host a collection of antique tin-toys on loan to us from a friend who has been a collector for about 20 years!
I just love setting up the snowbabies each year…the collection belonged to my maternal grandparents and unwrapping the whimsical bisque figures, remind me of the childhood ritual of my mom, aunt & I working together to decorate my grandpa’s house for Christmas.
We really love Christmas and look forward to our tradition of decorating together the week after Thanksgiving and we do it with Christmas music playing, candles glowing, wine flowing and Quincy in his bells.
Is there some Christmas tradition you look forward to each year or a wonderful Christmas momento that makes your heart sing? Leave a comment and tell us about it! …and in the meantime, make the most of this magical season!
Last weekend we took a ride out to preview the trees at our favorite and local Christmas Tree Farm, Cherryville Farms. Picturesque Cherryville Farms is totally storybook and offers about 6 different species of trees from beautiful blue-spruces to the aromatic concolor firs. The farm has a sweet gift shoppe, offers hot cocoa and is family owned and run.
Main Street Manor’s Christmas trees have come from this wonderful Christmas tree farm for the past three years!… This year, a 9 foot blue spruce will grace the Inn’s parlour, decorated in vintage and antique glass ornaments & a smaller tree for the library will be decorated in an old world theme paying tribute to the love we have for the animals in our lives, especially our Labradors!
If you are in search of the perfect tree this Christmas, DO visit Cherryville Farms…AND if you need some Christmas inspiration, come by the Inn on Friday evening, December 18 from 6-9pm when the Inn will be open to visitors for Candlelight tours. The tour will benefit a local non-profit, this year, K9Soldiers is our ‘non-profit of choice’ and will aid in supporting the K9’s and their handlers in all four branches of the service. Join us in celebration of the Season and in support of these heroes that we all owe so much to.
Posted in Ahhh...Mother Nature!, From The Innkeeper, Local Interest, Quincy's View, Uncategorized
Tags: Christmas, ChristmasTree, dog, Farm, K9, labrador, Quincy, retriever
