Grand Manan Island

We took a day trip to Grand Manan Island. It is only about an hour from St Andrews. The island is only accessible by a 90 minute ferry ride.

Beautiful, rugged scenery.........but the fog was crazy! And it was so windy that we could not find a place to picnic that we could keep the BBQ lit!

On the way over to the island we saw 3 porpoises and on the way back a seal. It was a fun day.

Room Drops

At the hotel when a special person arrives or someone is celebrating a special day the pastry shop does room drops. It might be a fruit plate, or a dessert plate or this horrific chocolate lobster! LOL Seriously, would you want to get this delivered to your room!?

Nothing says tacky like a hollow chocolate lobster. Well at least it is not dipped in red!!

I assume it looks a little better when they add some fruit and treats to the plate but still......a chocolate lobster???

We also have a white chocolate whale that they use as a room drop. And people love it! I will try to get a picture of it to post.

Table d'hote

Table d'hote: n
A full-course meal offering a limited number of choices and served at a fixed price in a restaurant or hotel.

As part of our contract with the Hotel we are receiving coaching on menu writing. Particularly on writing a table d'hote.

Yesterday we had a test shift. Chef got us to cook our entire 5 course meal and present it to him. NERVE WRACKING! to say the least. It went fairly well though.

First course: bacon wrapped cherries with red pepper jam and balsamic reduction. As you can tell the table was not level and the reduction ran! lol Chef loves this dish, and is good to go as is.


Second course: Duck and roasted peach risotto in a sea salt and truffle tuille with a mango salsa.
Chef loves the presentation of this but I need to lose the peach and just go with the mango. I am also going to smoke the duck next time.

Third Course: Cucumber ginger sorbet shooter. Chef would like to see julienned pickled ginger added to this. He doesn't feel the ginger flavor is strong enough.

Fourth Course: This was a mess! I was running out of time and just threw this on the plate, and it looks it! lol It kinda looks like the halibut threw up the sprouts! lol

Flavors are perfect but needs to be re-plated. I need more negative space. Chef got a larger plate, placed the brussels sprouts in a ring on the bottom then the halibut on top, the parsnips, carrots, mushrooms were placed around the ring. I need to a have a buerre blanc sauce of some kind added to the plate. With orange, basil and coriander in it.

Fifth Course: Chocolate tart with caramel and chocolate ganache. I did not have time to make all three mini desserts so my dessert was incomplete. Which is fine because Chef loves the tart and wants me to make it bigger and just focus on it. The white chocolate cup with caramel mousse was gross anyways! ha!

All in all it was a great learning day! Chef was very supportive in critiquing the food so that helped a lot! Next time the food will be perfect! lol

Chef Michael Smith

On July 13th our Junior Chefs group had the privilege to visit with Chef Michael Smith. I expected that we would tour the Inn at Bay Fortune, have Chef talk to us a bit and then we would be on our merry way. I could not have been farther from the truth! I had the most amazing 6 hours!

Our day started with arriving at Chefs house. Beautiful but modest looking, with a small yard. He told us what he had planned for us for the day. A trip to the Inn, a visit to his organic gardener and then back to his house to cook dinner! WHAT?? Cook at his house? Yup that's right we were invited back to prepare our meal.


So we all pile into our vehicles and head over to the Inn at Bay Fortune. It is beautiful! We started with a tour of the kitchen. The Chef showed us his walk in fridge where he stores all the homemade prosciutto, salami, bacon and smoked salmon. Crazy!



Then we headed out back to the herb garden.





Then on to the vegetable garden. In past years they grew more of their own produce and herbs but now they have a local organic farmer that can consistently provide them with what they need.



Chef Michael picking fresh pea shoots for our salad.

Then we headed over to the organic gardener. For a quick read on Becky Townsend check out this article in the Guardian.

We dug in and weeded a few rows of corn in exchange for some fresh greens and some new potatoes. There were close to 25 of us so it only took us 5 minutes but it saved her hours of work!

We then headed back to Chefs house. Rachel, his wife met us inside with a bucket of beer! Unexpected but welcome! lol

Here is a shot of Chefs spice rack! Isn't it crazy!? He has spices from all over the world! I could not help taking a picture!

Chef broke us up into teams and we started preparing supper. Here is a shot of one of our instructors, Chef Hans Andregg and Chef Michael Smith cooking our steaks!

It was an amazing day and an incredible opportunity! Chef is so passionate about supporting local farmers and really stressed that to us. So that when we run our own kitchens we will think about what is available close to home!

Biking trip

We went for a daytrip on the 4 wheeler to a spot called 4 Mile Lake. Not sure why it is named that cause it was a lot more than 4 miles to get there! Very peaceful though.



I cooked lunch on the firepit. We had steaks, fiddleheads, corn on the cob and some fried potatoes.

I wonder why food cooked outside is much more enjoyable to eat?! Is it the fact that you are outside in all that fresh air or that you are starving by the time you get to eat it?!

Roadtrip to Eastport, Maine

We went for a little drive and ended up in Eastport, Maine one weekend in June! It was great, nice sunny weather and not too busy on the roads.

Lots of beautiful lupins along the way.

We went to the grocery store and this is the house that was right beside it! Is this not the ugliest color? Seriously, who would paint their house this color? lol

At the grocery store Syd told me he found some BBQ sauce and wanted me to take a picture. So I did......all the while wondering what he was giggling about....

Guess this explains the giggles eh?! lol It is a wonder they could sell it with a name like that! HA


We stayed at a little campground that had some cabins. Rustic, but it was a comfy bed and a great view! Our cabin was the one on the far right.

Right in front of the cabin was a picnic table and fire pit. This was our view from the table! We sat there for hours watching the water and the fire. It was so relaxing! This is one place we will definitely go back to!

The Algonquin

This is the Algonquin Hotel. Well part of it! lol It has a very unique shape to it.

In this view you can see the Van Horne Building, tennis court and the pool is to the right of the courts.

This is right behind the tennis court. It will be the cutting garden for the hotel. On the other side of the fence in the back is the herb garden.





This is the backview from the parking lot.



The water tower, the tallest piece on the right hand side is the only original piece. The hotel was built in 1889, and was destroyed by fire in 1914. They rebuilt the hotel in one year! Quite a feat I'd say! The water tower is said to be haunted! lol Actually lots of rooms are too. But more on that later.