GRAND HOTEL of Mackinac Island

My cousin, Sandi and her husband Carl came to visit over Thanksgiving. Both of them work at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island which is right at the tip of the "mitten" of Michigan. Actually, the island is between the two peninsulas. We had a great time with them. Ate dinner at 18 Seaboard and J. Betski's in Raleigh. Two of our favorite restaurants. This was the forth times the they have come to Raleigh to visit and it usually is over the Thanksgiving Holiday. The hotel and actually the whole island close down for the winter.

If you never have been to Mackinac Island, you need to make room on your calendar and go some time. The only mode of transportation on the Island is by bicycle, horse, horse and carriage, or walk. No cars or trucks are allowed on the island, so it sort of brings you back to yesteryear. The only way to get to the island is by ferry or fly. There's a small landing strip in the middle of the island.

There's a lot of interesting history for you history buffs. A lot of small gift stores for you shoppers. And for those with a sweet tooth... well, there are the fudge shops. One on almost every corner. The fudge is good and it comes in all flavors, but honestly, they all taste about the same to me... however, I am not a fudge connoisseur. However, the thing that I do love about the fudge shops is watching them make it. Some of the shops have a little entertainment setup with the fudge makers, who are usually good looking male and female college students, singing a little song and maybe a little dance. Quite entertaining!

Another interesting note about the Grand Hotel (http://www.grandhotel.com/) is that this is where the movie, Somewhere In Time, was filmed. It starred a young Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour in a wonderful love story about a young playwright who goes back in time to meet a woman he met in at his opening night of his play. The Grand Hotel is where he supposedly met this woman back in time... in another life. Beautiful music.

The Hotel boasts having the largest wooden porch in the world. The Hotel is made out of North While Pine native to Michigan. It is a very exclusive place, high end, but very charming and very good food. Your room rate includes breakfast and dinner.

If you have not had a chance to visit Mackinac, you really should. And, of course, don't forget about visiting Raleigh. We may not be the Grand Hotel (although the Oakwood Inn is made almost entirely of wood), and we may have cars drive through our neighborhood, and we may not have fudge shops, but we have the same historical charm and homemade cookies!
Sandi and Carl always have a great time when they come and visit and we certainly enjoy their company. Hope they can make it again next year, and maybe bring her brother (my other cousin) Brennan and his wife Peg.

OAKWOOD CANDLELIGHT TOUR 2009 in RALEIGH

Another Christmas Season!!

Need something to do over the holiday season, well check us out at www.oakwooodinnbb.com.

HISTORIC OAKWOOD CANDLELIGHT TOUR 2009 !!!

Man Oh Man... here we are all ready getting into the Christmas season! Another one coming up quick. What makes it really a fast upcoming holiday for Doris and myself is the fact that the Oakwood Inn B & B is alway involved in the Historic Oakwood Candlelight Tour. This event is a fund raiser for Historic Oakwood which helps us preserve the Victorian nature of our neighborhood and also has provided funding to help save some older homes from the wrecking ball. Here are some of the details:

Oakwood Candlelight TourDecember 12-13 from 1-7 PM
Light up your Christmas season at the 38th Annual. Take a walk through the past this holiday season as this year thirteen properties, that's right THIRTEEN PROPERTIES, in the Historic Oakwood neighborhood open their doors to visitors during the 38th annual Historic Oakwood Candlelight Tour, December 12-13 from 1-7 PM.

Whether you’re interested in getting a glimpse inside the candlelit windows, learning more about Raleigh’s history and architecture, or simply looking for an excuse to spend a little extra time with friends in downtown Raleigh, you’re invited to come celebrate the holidays on the Candlelight Tour. There will be some entertainment like groups singing Christmas Carols, or FREE cookies to munch on, and other activities.

You can purchase your tickets in advance for $15 at a variety of locations.

The Oakwood Inn, 411 N. Bloodworth Street, Raleigh
Calm & Sense, 2603 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh
CyberGraph Advertising, Inc., 610 N. Person Street, Raleigh
Fallon’s Creative Flowers, 700 St. Marys Street, Raleigh
Fallon’s Creative Flowers, 4215 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh
Frances T. King Stationery, The Lassiter at North Hills, Raleigh
Garner Chiropractic Center, Timber Crossings S.C., 205 Timber Drive West, Garner
Logan Trading Company, 707 Semart Drive, Raleigh
NC Museum of History, 5 E. Edenton Street, Raleigh
Quail Ridge Books, 3524 Wade Avenue, Raleigh
Raleigh City Museum, 220 Fayetteville Street Mall, Raleigh Side Street Restaurant, 225 N. Bloodworth Street, Raleigh

Or..Or you can do it the lazy way like I would and just go to Etix.

Tickets are available for advance purchase online or at select locations throughout the Triangle. On the days of the tour, they may be purchased at The Oakwood Inn, 411 North Bloodworth Street. Tickets are not tax deductible or refundable. Tour held rain or shine. In Advance: $15 Tour Day: $20
Online Ticket Purchases - AVAILABLE NOW!

Please bring the printed ticket to The Oakwood Inn, 411 North Bloodworth Street the day of the tour to receive an official Candlelight Tour ticket that includes a list of the homes on the tour and a map.
We are expecting a record crowd of about 2,500 people this year. Remember the Tickets are $15 in advance. ADVANCE SALES END ON FRIDAY, DEC. 11 AT 4PM.

My Next blog will discuss some of the fabulous homes that will be on Tour, and as always... your favorite, The Oakwood Inn Bed & Breakfast will be on tour celebrating its 25th year anniversary as a B & B.

Oakwood Inn Remodels Balcony

For those of you who have stayed with us, and in particular in the Pell room, you know we had a balcony off that room. It was not the prettiest. It was not the grandest. And it was fairly small. But it did offer you a decent view, but more importantly, it gave you access to the outside without having to walk downstairs and out the front door. Many of our guests who were smokers, liked it just for that reason, because you could go outside and smoke.

Well, the old one was a little old and rickety and was razed. We had a new larger one installed with a beautiful backyard porch area for us, the innkeepers. The new balcony can hold four people, not two like the old one, and we hope to put a nice table and chairs up their with a fold out canopy in case the sun is too hot. For now, we are still trying to get the darn thing painted. A little bad weather put us about 10 days behind and the painting still needs to be completed. But you can use it! Come see us and check it out.

Raleigh's Oakwood Inn B & B Economy Special

They are saying the Recession is over. Yeah, right. Unemployment is still high as Mt. Everst, people are holding onto their money because they do not have a lot to spend, and the banks still hold onto what was given to them so they can hand out executive bonuses. I thank all of those guests that have spent some of their hard earned savings with us. I thank them for stimulating the economy. The only way to stimulate the economy is to spend money. Lord only knows the banks are not doing their share.

We appreciate all of you who have done your share and spent a little. To help kick the economy in the buttocks, we at the Oakwood Inn B & B in Raleigh, NC are offering an Economic Special. We have lowered our prices to from November 1, 2009 until a date in 2010 when we see an increase in people traveling. On an aveage we have cut $20-30 per night off of the 2009 rack rate. Check out our prices on our website. The website reservations offer the best discount rate we have to offer. Some rooms are starting at $119. Now that may not seem like a deal, but add a breakfast for two, snacks like sodas, chips, cookies, internet service, and parking, and you got a darn good deal. The hotels downtown, where we are also located, charge a daily fee for internet and you may have to also pay for parking. Heck, you can stay with us, and walk to anywhere you need to go in downtown Raleigh. You can also take a free ride on the R-Line, a free daily bus service. Or if you'd like to pay a little, take a Raleigh Rickshaw ride right to the doorstep of where you are headed to.

Economic special for now is a great deal. If you are coming to Raleigh or the surrounding area, check out our website for some darn good pricing for rooms AND ALL THE AMENITIES included.

Daughter's Wedding in Michigan

My oldest daughter, Erin, got married on Saturday, October 17, 2009. In the photo is my 92 year old father, Lou, who made the drive with me from Raleigh all the way to St. Clair Shores, just east of Detroit. The standard French poodle of ours, Chimay, also drove up with my Dad and myself. The other two individuals in the photo are my cousin, Rick, and his wife Judy. I'm not much of a picture taker so there are none of the bride. Heck, she had a guy taking photos all night long, so I'll see if I can get her to send me some. I left Raleigh on the Sunday before which took us about 12.5 hours of driving. Doris flew up on the Thursday before the wedding. She had to tend to things at the Inn. What else is new, eh? It was a very nice wedding at St. Peter's Catholic Church in downtown Mt. Clemens. Later we had a grand celebration at Gino's Surf Lounge in Mt. Clemens, right on the Lake St. Clair. The weather was a little chilly to be outdoors on the patio/dock, but it was so, so nice to be off the water. Great atmosphere! The food was fantastic, roast beef, breaded chicken cutlets, and breaded pork loin, mashed potatoes, a wonderful bow-tie pasta with a non-meat alfredo sauce, and a huge dessert table! The DJ was really good, playing a variety of music for the young and old. The highlight, at least for me, was dancing to Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie".... I still have some moves in this 56 year old body. I also did a polka with my cousin Sandi, but I couldn't spin her around because she got too dizzy. You'd think I could lose some weight from the dancing... naw... ate too many apple fritters from the Italian bakery by my younger daughter's house.

On Sunday, after the wedding, Doris flew back with her daughter, Donna, and her boyfriend Jeff. My Dad, Chimay, and I left around 12 noon and arrived in Beckley, WV. Stayed over night, and then continued Monday morning at about 6am. Arrived in Raleigh at 10 am. It was a great trip with a lot of memorable moments. I have a few regrets of things I wish I did, but that is typical of me... always hoping for more or doing something different. Overall though, it was a grand time for all of us.

CookWise cookbook by Shirley O. Corriher

Remember when your mother or grandmother told you that you can change things in a recipe when cooking, but do NOT change a thing in a recipe for baking because disaster will be right around the corner! “Baking is a science; the recipe is a formula that can not be changed!” And of course, like most of us, you didn’t listen and you substituted magazine for butter, or used three eggs instead of one, or changed the melted chocolate to powdered chocolate and the results were a total flop. So how did the person who came up with the darn recipe in the first place figuring out the ingredients and correct quantities. Was it a dedicated trial and error process? But if it is science, well then like a scientist who understands the chemistry and physics of transforming a plant resin into rubber; if you understand the chemistry and physics of flour, water, yeast, and salt then it is reasonable to say that you can make bread from your own recipe.

Well, Shirley O. Corriher has written the “chemistry/physics” text book for cooking… “CookWise”. As Ms. Corriher says in her book introduction, “CookWise focuses on how and why things happen in cooking so the roles that ingredients and techniques play are of paramount importance.” This gives you the “rules” of cooking and the reasoning behind them. Once you know the “rules”, then you can understand what can change in a recipe and how it will affect the outcome.

As I said in my other blog entry, Frank Dono, told me about this book. He let me peruse his copy, and it was only after 15 minutes, that I knew I needed this cookbook on my shelf. CookWise covers everything from the rise and fall of cakes, to understanding the mystery of eggs, to how the difference in the protein content of flour affects the final product. Shirley has talked to various scientists and chefs to understand the dynamics of the cooking process. She has not just developed her recipes and published them for us to use, but she has also shared all the knowledge she has gained in the process of putting them together.

Elliot Essman of Style Gourmet reviewed Cookwise and said, ”It will suffice that Shirley Corriher (who, by the way, is a benevolent, cherubic presence who frequently pops up as a guest on Alton Brown’s “Good Eats” television series) has pulled all the science together into a package I can use every day in my own kitchen.” Visit his website at http://www.stylegourmet.com/reviews/006.htm.

And yes, for all of you Alton Brown fans, Shirley not only appears on his Food Channel TV show “Good Eats”, but it is quite evident that Alton as learned quite a bit of what he knows about cooking from Ms. Corriher.

So, if you know someone who loves to cook, this would make a wonderful birthday or Christmas gift. I constantly recommend it to my guests at the Oakwood Inn during breakfast. I tell them how I used Alton Brown’s recipe for the puffy chocolate chip cookies I bake, with some modifications that I added. Alton’s recipe is in Corriher’s book…. Or is it Corriher’s recipe was on Alton’s show. Doesn’t matter, understanding some of the basics of the type of flour and oil to use, help me master the cookie that is wonderful, and the developed a recipe that I can call my own.

You can get CookWise at bookstore or order it online at Amazon.com.

Bon Appetit
Gary

Cooking At The Inn with the book CookWise, by Shirley O. Corriher

I’ve always enjoyed cooking. And eating. As a youngster I used to help my mother in the kitchen when she would be baking… more so at Christmas time. My job was to put the walnut on top of the cookie, or sprinkle the powder sugar on the chruscik (Polish dessert of fried dough covered with a blanket of powdered sugar). I also did the taste testing and also got to lick the beaters and bowel of uncooked cake mix, back when you didn’t worry about uncooked eggs. Back in the 1950’s and 1960’s you just worried about under-cooked pork…. Not like today… chicken, eggs, beef, spinach, peanut butter, hamburger, green onions… wait… is there ANY food that hasn’t been recalled or put on the FDA Alert?

The one thing I always wondered about was, how in the heck did the person who wrote the recipe know to use one cup of sugar and not two, or two eggs instead of three, or why do you use baking soda and not baking powder like the recipe we did last week? Must’ve been the scientist in me. As I got older I once in awhile gave cooking that Why question… why did the recipe call for this or that. Or maybe the How.. How did they know to use a teaspoonful of salt… and then why salt?

Alton Brown’s Good Eats TV show on the Food Channel sort of sparked my interest since he seemed to cover the Why’s and How’s of cooking and not just the “just do this, and mix it with that… and don’t ask questions”. When I started working at a local pharmaceutical company in the Research Triangle, I met Frank Dono, a real foodie!

Now this guy just immerses himself into cooking. I mean he enjoys the heck out of it! He's volunteered to work in a restaurant’s kitchen just to learn more about cooking and not even get paid. One year he grew in his own garden some eggplants…. in the numbers of 40… that’s right 40-some different varieties. He would cook different dishes with them. Now it also helps that he is Italian and learned some of his cooking technique from his grandmother, which explains the eggplant fetish. Over the past year, Frank has been cooking with peppers… all kinds and all varieties. Some of the dishes he comes up with are just fabulous! It also helps that his wife, Leanna, is a master gardener. She gives some brilliant direction on how to properly grow Frank’s fresh ingredients. Between the two of them, they could do a fantastic B & B utilizing fresh home grown garden veggies, fruits and herbs. Frank respects my baking capabilities, but I’ll tell ya, this guy can out cook me any day. I certainly respect his capabilities because he is a Master at the Stove…. and his wife a Master of the Soil!

Anyway, Frank is the one who told me about Shirley O. Corriher’s cookbook entitled CookWise The Hows & Whys of Successful Cooking with over 230 Great-Tasting Recipes. It also has on the cover, “The Secrets of Cooking Revealed”. It also won the James Beard Foundation Award for Excellence. This is a very prestigious cooking award… you can Google it to learn more about it.

This had to be one of the best recommendations I have ever had from Frank. Better than, “Here try this pepper it is only a 3 on the pepper hot scale, 10 being the hottest.” And then I bite into it, and my mouth turns into Hades just as he says, “Wait… oops.. I’m sorry that was a 7!” No kiddin’ my mouth knows it very well by now, Frank. No, really he is a very knowledge cook, chef, and all around foodie. I was just having some fun. He recommended Shirley’s book, and I really have learned a lot about the scientific basis of cooking. This is a fabulous book for anyone who really wants to learn about what happens on the molecular level when cooking. It would make a great Christmas present, or birthday gift for someone you love who just loves to cook.

I promote CookWise by Shirley O. Corriher at the Inn all the time with our guests. It is a cooking reference all good cooks and chefs should have on the book shelf…. and should read it as well.

On my next blog post, I will discuss CookWise in more detail. Until then.. which only should be in a couple of days…. Bon Appetit à l'Auberge!

Oh! One more thing. Frank the "The Little Italian Foodie" (really, I think he is only about 5ft 6 inches) also told me about Penzey Spices... another fantastic recommendation for herbs and spices... another blog post in the near future! Another great Christmas gift.