New Breakfast Dishes at the Carolina Bed & Breakfast

I have often thought that January is the Monday of the year. After the long holiday weekend of November and December, one has to get back into the swing of working while slogging through the winter weather. Well, yesterday Sara (our assistant innkeeper) and I decided to lighten up our month by experimenting with a few new recipes for breakfast.

We had been discussing how difficult it is to offer a "three course" gourmet breakfast without overwhelming our guests with food when I remembered a dish I had tried in Chicago: Frushi, or Fruit Sushi. For those of you familiar with Thai cuisine, it's a type of coconut sticky rice topped with fresh fruit and presented in sushi form.

We tried two variations, one in a roll form and one in a traditional oval. It's really lovely, very fresh with a strong taste of fruit sweetened by the rice. We will be trying it out on our guests in the next few weeks and I think it will be a hit.

Then we moved on to a more traditional offering: Fruit Medley Bread Pudding. Bread pudding is usually served as a dessert, topped with custard. It has all of the ingredients used in french toast so we were didn't see why it couldn't work as a breakfast dish. We added a lot of fresh berries to the mix: blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and some peaches and then topped it with some more before serving it. The recipe called for a lemon sauce which was nice but a little too sweet and sugary for breakfast. ( I know that seems odd when one considers that maple syrup is integral part of french toast, but to my way of thinking real maple syrup is a relatively light tasting sweetener.) Anyway, we are going to experiment with some other sauces, perhaps something yogurt-based.

I think this is one of my favorite parts about owning the Carolina Bed & Breakfast: I love to cook and experiment with new dishes and now I have people to cook for!

Renovating the Carolina Bed & Breakfast: The Dining Room

The Dining Room before painting










The Dining Room with its new color!








Many years ago (about 25 to be exact) James and I moved out of a small semi-furnished apartment in Paris and arrived in Hong Kong with a tired old couch and a few pictures to our name and not much else in the way of furnishing. James had taken over the lease on a beautiful spacious apartment on the Peak overlooking the harbor, and I remember standing in the empty living room, looking into the empty dining room, before walking into the empty master bedroom next to the empty guest room which was next to the empty room for Sarah, and thinking: "Help!" I never forgotten what the interior decorator we hired told me when I confessed how overwhelmed I was. She told me that the most difficult thing to do was to get started, but that once we had even one piece to work with it would all come together.

I have to admit, I had been feeling a little bit that way about the Carolina. It's such a lovely house, I am excited to make it even better than it is. As a part of the kitchen renovation we will be redoing the guests' pantry which is just off t dining room. The pantry is so close to the dining room that it is almost an alcove to it and I thought they should be coordinated. So I took a deep breath and dived into the project. It wasn't much, just repairing and repainting the ceiling, a new color for the walls and new shutters and shades, but the result is so wonderful that it has inspired me to move on into the living room.

One of the words our guests repeatedly use when reviewing the inn is "cozy" and I am trying to keep that in the forefront as I look for ideas. Although the house was built in 1901, she is in the Arts and Crafts style rather than the Victorian. It's a cleaner look, more suited to the mountains, less fussy and cluttered than the Victorian style. This makes the Carolina Bed & Breakfast stand out from its peers here in Asheville and I am hoping to keep the distinction clear. I think we have achieved this in the dining room, now watch this space for the parlors!

Facelift for the Carolina Bed & Breakfast

I have been waiting for a sunny day to take and picture and show you the new face of the Carolina Bed & Breakfast, but whenever the sun is out, the painters are scrambling all over the roof and sides trying to work while conditions are good! So, in spite of the gray skies and the sad winter landscape I am posting this picture for you to see.

January and February are traditionally when the innkeepers in Asheville refurbish tired rooms and make major repairs and the Carolina Bed & Breakfast is getting a lot of work this year. In addition to a new roof and exterior painting, we will be redoing the kitchen and guest pantry and painting the downstairs common areas. Plans are also underway for new window treatments and recovering some of the couches and chairs.

Don't worry, we appreciate our customers' comments about how they like the "cozy home-like atmoshpere" of the Carolina and we will not be making any "fussy" changes. The two front parlors will continue to be favorite locations for a glass of wine and a small snack in the evening and the rooms will still be comfortable and gracious without too many flounces and furbelows!
Guests are already commenting on how they enjoy the artwork from around the world and how the addition of some old family pieces have added to the atmosphere of the inn. This what James and I were hoping for, a chance to share with our guests some of the unique and beautiful items we were able to collect as we moved from Europe to Asia and back again. We both hope that the changes we make will highlight the wonderful qualities of this old house and look forward to your visiting us and enjoying them too.

January at the Carolina Bed & Breakfast

It's January in Asheville and things are slow at the Carolina Bed & Breakfast. After the excesses of the past month, people seem to rest at home instead of venturing out to explore new places or revisit old favorites. It's a shame, really. This is a wonderful time to see Western North Carolina. Thanks to this year's winter weather, the mountains are covered with snow and the ski slopes are going strong. Inside the Carolina, our house is warm and cozy. The restaurants are offering special deals in hopes to lure you in and, if you don't mind the cold, the walk home from the city to our Bed & Breakfast, is a romantic stroll down winter streets with the lights of the houses shining out on snow-covered lawns.

As innkeepers, we use the slow winter days and nights to refresh our rooms and ready them for the busier days of spring and summer. We try to be unobtrusive about this so the occasional guest is not inconvenienced. (And the Carolina needs some loving care. She is an old house with beautiful bones and the winter facelift is important for her!)

Consider a visit to Asheville in January or February. We might surprise you!