




Scott & Mary Gile
Brewster House Bed & Breakfast, Freeport, Maine
February 8, 2014 by Kelleigh Dulany
Scott & Mary Gile
Brewster House Bed & Breakfast, Freeport, Maine
January 8, 2013 by Kelleigh Dulany
If you enjoy visiting Maine, especially Freeport, and if you love food (and who doesn’t??), you’ll look forward to coming to Freeport in February for the 6th Annual Flavors of Freeport festival.
In the past the Flavors of Freeport festival has featured the Chef’s Signature Series on Friday night, and this year is no different in that respect. The Chef’s Signature Series will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with the venue continuing to be the Freeport Hilton Garden Inn.
Enjoy the flavors from Freeport’s finest chefs and top food artisans, as they present tastes of their best dishes to showcase their culinary skill and style. Attendees vote on their favorite display and “flavor” and are also entered to win fabulous door prizes! Will award winning executive chef Christopher Bassett of Azure Cafe take first place again this year? You be the judge!
In addition, Maine beverage purveyors provide the opportunity to sample local hand crafted beer, wine and spirits.
As in the past, there will be a silent art auction featuring pieces from the Freeport Art & Music Festival during the event to benefit the Freeport Community Services Food Pantry.
During the evening, accompanying the Chef’s Signature Series on Friday (also 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.) will be an Ice Bar. The ice bar will feature a martini luge, ice sculptures, roaring fires to cozy up to, music with other wonderful beverages to sample.
Bundle up in your warmest winter wear and enjoy a night of festivities outside in February with family and friends. One ticket to the ice bar gains the holder (21 years and older) entrance and one beverage – additional beverage tickets can be purchased on site.
Tickets and information can be found at Facebook.com/FlavorsOfFreeport.
Ruth & Scott
Brewster House Bed & Breakfast, Freeport, Maine
March 2, 2011 by Kelleigh Dulany
Not that Maine won’t be watching the NCAA basketball playoffs (New England is filled with great college teams!), but there is another March madness in New England: Maple Syrup!
The sap begins to run, usually in late February and March, with a large maple tree producing as much as 60 gallons of sap! The sap will be quickly processed, boiling it to make it more and more concentrated. When it reaches the correct temperature, it is filtered to make it clear, then packed in sterile containers for distribution world-wide.
To celebrate our Maple March Madness, we’ll be serving something with maple every day in March! We started with Maple-Pecan Sticky Bars (pictured) from Epicurious. Scott says they’re delicious!
Our supplier of pure Maine maple syrup is Maple Valley Farms in Jay, Maine. On Maple Syrup Sunday (March 27, 2011) they, like other Maine maple syrup producers, host a big event at their farm, celebrating the season, and offering tastings, as well as syrup you can take home, fresh from the vat.
The Maine Maple Producers Association has a map of Maine syrup producers by county, so if you visit, you can easily find a producer of pure Maine maple syrup to visit on Maple Syrup Sunday!
If you’re thinking of coming, make plans for the entire weekend – Flavors of Freeport is Friday and Saturday, March 25-26, so you can visit the Chef’s Signature Series on Friday, the Celebrity Waiter Luncheon on Saturday, and top off your visit with Maple Syrup Sunday on March 27! See you then!
February 22, 2011 by Kelleigh Dulany
It’s hard to believe, but the fourth annual Flavors of Freeport is right around the corner!
This year’s event begins Friday, March 25 with the guest favorite, the Chef’s Signature Series. Last year’s event included a silent art auction, plus samples from restaurants, pubs, bed and breakfasts, candy companies, wine distributors, and more!
It is a great exhibit of some of the finest samplings of food you’ll find anywhere – and there is so much of it that you won’t need to go out to dinner!
This year there is a new event on Saturday, March 26, called the Celebrity Waiter Luncheon. A three course luncheon will be prepared and served by the Hilton Garden Inn staff, and service will be provided by local celebrities, who will also keep the diners amused with their humorous back-and-forth banter, pouring water and coffee, and catering to the requests of the guests. Attendees of the luncheon will be encouraged to tip their celebrity waiters based on the level of service and entertainment they are being provided (are they making you laugh so hard you are in tears?). All of this is in good fun, and all celebrity-earned tips will benefit the event’s charities.
Advance tickets are available separately for the Chef’s Signature Series and Celebrity Waiter Luncheon, or buy a combined “Flavors Pack” for a discounted rate. Major credit cards are accepted online. Tickets at the door will be cash only.
Check availability and book now, so you’ll be here for a taste of Freeport!
February 1, 2011 by Kelleigh Dulany
Our Valentine’s Day special has grown over the years from weekend special into a month-long package – so much so that this year our February is for Romance package was named one of the Top Ten Romantic Getaways.
As most of our guests know, our daily breakfast menu, as well as our afternoon refreshment menu, changes from moment-to-moment, so who knows what we’ll be serving while you’re here (reasonable requests may be possible, if received in time). However, it is very likely that, especially in February, we’ll have some chocolate on the menu!
Last year, for our Flavors of Freeport dessert, all the local B&Bs had agreed to serve a Julia Child dessert, in honor of the (then) recently released film, Julie and Julia. As our contribution, Ruth prepared a wonderful Chocolate Almond Cake (yes, that is the cake from the film) from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. For the event, we cut the cake into bite-sized pieces as shown in the photo, but of course you can serve it however you like it!
For all who were not able to be here for the 2010 Flavors of Freeport (by the way, did we mention that the 2011 Flavors of Freeport is March 25-26? It’s not too late to make plans to be here!), below is the recipe from Julia Child, with some minor alterations by Ruth!
Chocolate Almond Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
Icing
Directions:
Cake
Icing
Place the chocolate and rum or coffee in the small pan, cover and set in the larger pan of almost simmering water. Remove pans from heat and let chocolate melt for 5 minutes or so, until perfectly smooth. Lift chocolate pan out of the hot water, and beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time. Then beat over the ice and water until chocolate mixture has cooled to spreading consistency. At once spread it over your cake with spatula or knife, and press a design of almonds over the icing.
Bon appétit!
April 13, 2010 by Kelleigh Dulany
Last weekend’s Third Annual Flavors of Freeport is in the books, and a wonderful time was had by all we could see!
The weekend began with the always-popular Chef’s Signature Series and Libations Gala. Three hours of tasting the food samples, wines, Maine vodkas, beer, desserts, candies, Whoopie Pies, and more, all from local farms, restaurants, beverage distributors, bed and breakfasts, tea rooms, distilleries, candy makers, etc. Betty Reez WhoopieZ took first prize for her display, and Petrillo’s restaurant won the best food, both by votes of the people attending.
Saturday began with Lifestyle Demonstrations throughout the day and a Block Party with music, balloons, etc., in the late afternoon and evening. Both nights also featured music in more intimate settings.
If you missed this year’s event, start making plans now to be here for the Fourth Annual Flavors of Freeport in 2011!
March 10, 2010 by Kelleigh Dulany
As many of our guests and readers know, we’ve been making a number of changes at Brewster House, including redecorating Room Five, painting the hallways and stairways, new carpet on the third floor (the second floor got new carpet last winter), repainting Room Six, and a few other details. We still have some more nice changes in the works, for April/May, but it was also time for a break.
This month (March), we are attending the Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII) conference in Austin, Texas. This annual conference for innkeepers includes keynote speakers on marketing, food presentation and preparation, technology issues, and more, as well as a trade show where we can meet the vendors we work with, meet new vendors, establish (or rekindle) friendships with innkeepers throughout the country (or the world), etc. Scott is also presenting sessions on choosing reservation software and on reputation management.
We drove to Austin, stopping for a few days in Virginia to visit some dear friends, and are currently enjoying the Innkeeping conference. From Austin we drive to Tucson, Arizona, then to the Grand Canyon, and on to San Jose, California, where we’ll visit friends and family. The next stops will be Salem, Oregon, Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, for more family visits. We’ll be turning for home after that, with stops at Mount Rushmore, in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Jackson, Michigan to visit still more family, and finally a return near the end of March.
Once we’re back in Freeport, we’ll be preparing for the Flavors of Freeport festival which takes place April 9-11. If you haven’t booked your rooms for Flavors of Freeport, we still have rooms available (and we do have our reservation book with us!).