Photo by Minette Layne from Seattle, Washington courtesy of Wiki Commons

On May 5, 2012, the Kent County Bird Club led a bird walk around our Chestertown, MD, bed and breakfast for the second time. The previous birding in Maryland outing was last October: “Birding at Brampton.”  According to Walter Ellison, the leader of the club, “These weekends would give us a good feel for the birding potential of the grounds during fall and spring migration seasons.”  It was nearly a year ago that I started talking to Walter about offering a guided walk to the Brampton Inn bed and breakfast guests as part of a birding themed package. We are still working on it (in part by conducting these walks) and hope to offer it this fall. In the meantime, here is a list of the species seen  during our latest outing:

Mallard  3
Great Blue Heron  1
Black Vulture  2
Turkey Vulture  7
Bald Eagle  3
Cooper's Hawk  2
Solitary Sandpiper  1
Chimney Swift  4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Downy Woodpecker  2
Hairy Woodpecker  2
Red-eyed Vireo  5
American Crow  2
Fish Crow  1
Purple Martin  2
Tree Swallow  5
Barn Swallow  3
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  1
Carolina Wren  8
American Robin  4
Gray Catbird  3
Northern Mockingbird  5
Brown Thrasher  1
European Starling  14
Cedar Waxwing  12
Northern Waterthrush  1
Common Yellowthroat  7
Cape May Warbler  1 (Singing and briefly seen in top of tall balsam fir.)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  2
Yellow-breasted Chat  4
Chipping Sparrow  5
Grasshopper Sparrow  3
Northern Cardinal  10
Blue Grosbeak  9
Indigo Bunting  9
Red-winged Blackbird  12
Common Grackle  20
Baltimore Oriole  3
American Goldfinch  6
House Sparrow  1

The photo at the top of this post is of two Cedar Waxwings,  one of my personal favorite birds. A few days after the Eastern Shore bird walk with Walter and the bird club, I was walking around with my binoculars, and Sidney, the dog, who is a fine birding companion as he is not much of a barker and content to sit while I stare up at the trees; we came upon a flock of Cedar Waxwings that have been hanging around our Chestertown MD Inn and watched for 10 minutes while two birds performed a little courtship dance! They pass a berry back and forth to one another and take little hops to and fro on the branch where they are perched. It was incredible to see.

And it was right there in our very own Chestertown, MD, backyard

We have a saying around here: “If it’s early May, then it must be biker week.”  (Bicyclers, that is.)  Each spring and fall, we have the distinct pleasure of hosting two very fine bicycling vacation groups here at our historic eastern shore bed and breakfast.

Based in North Carolina, Carolina Tailwinds has been visiting with us for the past 5 years. Anne and Greg Fleming run a pretty tight ship (or should that be “bike”) and offer terrific cycling vacations throughout Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, New York  and, of course, the Carolinas where they’re from.

They stay at our Chestertown b&b and bike all over Kent County; then they cycle off to other charming hamlets around the eastern shore: Lewes, Delaware and St. Michaels, Maryland among them. Good food and fine lodging are part of the package all the way through your trip.

They get your bike ready for you, give you maps, feed and entertain you, and even let you ride in the van if you’re tired!

The Tailwinds’ groups always arrive on a Sunday, and often it’s just right after another cycling group leaves our Chestertown b&b:

Bike Vermont obviously started their touring business in their home state of Vermont, but over the 36 years they’ve been in business, it has expanded to a few other states and into Europe. They arrive on Fridays, bike all weekend and leave on Sunday.  When they overlap with Tailwinds, it looks a bit like a cyclist convention is in town!  The same guides have led the Chesapeake Bay tour for the last few years and we’ve gotten to know both Bill and Meg well: not only for their love of cycling and customer service, but for their good humor as well…

And Bill just won’t rest until he’s sure everyone is happy, including Rita’s dog Sidney…

So wherever you live, if you are looking for an active travel adventure, please check out both of these wonderful groups, and tell them the folks from Brampton Inn sent you. Either way, it’s guaranteed fun!!

Historic High Street, Chestertown, MD

See a play. Watch a movie. Hear the chorale. View an old silent film. Dance to a swing band. Go to an open-mic night. All answers to the most frequently asked question: ”If I come to Brampton Bed and Breakfast Inn, what is there to do?”

Here are the Top 5 Entertainment Venues in Chestertown, MD:

1. The Garfield Center for the Performing Arts, formerly known as the Prince Theater, in downtown Chestertown, MD, only 1½ miles from our historic eastern shore bed and breakfast. A wide range of local, regional, and international acts perform in this beautifully restored old theater, so on any given night it could range from local open-mic  night to  ”Short Attention Span Theater” to the world’s greatest harmonica player.

2. The Mainstay, a music venue on the main street named Rock Hall, is yet another place to see locals as well as international musicians. Brampton Bed and Breakfast Inn employees (the locals) are looking forward to seeing Ramblin’ Jack Elliot in May 2012. This place only has 120 seats, so tickets will go fast!

3. About 7 miles from Chestertown, MD, is the city of Church Hill, which houses the historic Church Hill Theater and offers several plays each year. It’s simply good, old-fashioned community theater.

4. A bit further afield, just under an hour from our eastern shore bed and breakfast, is the Avalon Theater in Easton, MD, and is known as the “Showplace of the Eastern Shore.” A beautifully restored Art Deco theater, the Avalon hosts concerts, theater, and even opera from the Met via HD feed!  It’s also the main theater for screenings at the Chesapeake Film Festival.

5. And if you’re in the mood for the latest blockbuster, The Chester 5, our local Chestertown movie theater is about 5 minutes from here. Aptly named with 5 theaters, it is a bit time-worn, but tickets are only $7.50 and $5.50 for a matinee on the weekends.

There you have it. Not bad, huh? And that’s not even including the free summer music series in Fountain Park or the many free lectures and films over at Washington College.

So this summer, if you’re in our area and it’s a rainy day, have no fear. At Brampton Bed and Breakfast Inn, we’ll find something enjoyable for you to do!

It’s another great example of the unique entertainment to be had in Kent County.

And . . . it just so happens that when Chaplin chose to live in exile in Switzerland it was in the town Corsier sur Vevey, which is where Danielle’s mom lives! She runs into his daughter, Geraldine, at the farmer’s market all the time!! It certainly is a small world, isn’t it?

The only downside to being around all these great cookies all day long is, well, you can guess it: the downside = our backsides! We have to taste test them, don’t we?? All that butter and sugar and those lovely, local eggs…if only it was good for us.

Well, perhaps this recipe will save us. This is a vegan recipe that’s for everyone; at least everyone I know who has tasted these doesn’t care if the cookies are vegan or not, they just want more!

The original recipe came from Vegetarian Times. I tried it at home and made just a few adjustments to the procedure and added extra salt (because we all know how I feel about chocolate and salt!) I encourage you all to try these; it’s a chance to reduce the amount of animal fat in your diet and still enjoy a tasty, sweet treat! The comments after the recipe on the Vegetarian Times website are very interesting, with a lot of good ideas for tweaking this cookie. The recipe was first posted in 2009 and people are still commenting on it!

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons healthy oil of your choice (light olive oil, canola, corn, safflower, etc.)

2 cups walnuts (or a combination of your choice of nuts)

1 cup light brown sugar

½ cup water

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 ½ cup oat flour (simply grind oats in food processor until very fine if you don’t have oat flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons quality sea salt (or less if you’re not crazy about salt and chocolate together, as you will definitely taste the salt)

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups rolled oats

1 ½ cups quality dark chocolate chips (we love Ghiradelli!)

Directions:

Whisk together the oat flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

Mix light brown sugar and water in a small pan and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Set aside.

In a food processor, grind the nuts fine. Add the oil and grind until it is the consistency of peanut butter. You will have to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times. Add vanilla extract. With machine running, pour in the brown sugar mixture and blend until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl.

When this mixture is cool to the touch, stir in the flour mixture, then the oats and finally the chocolate chips. Scoop out 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake in a pre-heated 350-degree oven for 10 -13 minutes. Let cool completely on tray before attempting to remove. They will be very soft, but firm up as they cool.

These are cholesterol free, wheat free, vegan goodies. Enjoy!!

We’ve talked about eating local foods before, and it’s time to do it again.

The weekend of March 30, April 1-2, Washington College’s Center for Environment & Society will host their 2nd Locavore Literary Festival with regional and national writers speaking about food, foraging and fermentation. There will be demonstrations and even an opportunity to learn how to forage for food in the wild!

Friday night, meet the author of Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods, Sandor Ellis Katz. (I am particularly interested in this because I have been brewing my own Kombucha at home since last November!)

On Saturday, three different writers will speak on wild foods and foraging:

Mick Blackistone, editor of the Maryland Watermen’s Gazette, will speak about the bay and watermen. Jean Hegland, a novelist, will talk about edible landscapes; and Peter Bauer (aka Urban Scout), will discuss his radical ideas about “rewilding” and lead a “skill share” afterwards.

On Sunday, at 1pm and again at 3pm, try your hand at foraging for spring edibles over at Adkins Arboretum near our Chestertown B&B. There is a fee for this event, but all the other lectures are free!

We hope to see you out in the wild!!

Airy Hill Stables is less that 2 miles from the inn and offers trail rides, lessons, and an indoor ring.

Kent Equestrian Center, a little over 4 miles from our Chestertown B&B, also offers lessons and rides.

Either one is an excellent choice for horseback riding in Chestertown, and would make a great day’s outing near Brampton.

CC Image courtesy of Alex_brollo on wikipedia

As winter settles in, we turn more and more to the simple kitchen staples like onions, potatoes and other root vegetables for sustenance. When asked what their favorite winter comfort food was, both Danielle and Carole said RED CABBAGE! They each have a recipe for braised cabbage and they are not that different, yet just different enough.

Both start similarly:

Sauté some chopped onion in olive oil (Danielle) or butter (Carole). Add shredded cabbage and stir; let the cabbage cook down, stirring frequently.

Here Danielle adds some chopped apples and some apple cider, while Carole adds cider vinegar and brown sugar. Lower the heat and let simmer until the cabbage is soft.

At the end of cooking, Danielle adds a splash of balsamic vinegar and salt & pepper. Carole goes with salt, pepper and raisins. Both have fruit, vinegar and something sweet, but different versions of each. And both are delicious, pretty to look at and good for you!

Another favorite of Danielle’s is Carrot and Turnip soup. This one is so easy there is simply no reason not to try it.

Peel and roughly chop a pound each of carrots and turnips. Toss them in a pot and add one quart of vegetable stock and about 1/2 inch of freshly grated ginger. Bring to a boil and cook until vegetables are tender. Puree in a blender or food processor, add salt and pepper to taste. Toss a salad and warm up a baguette: your dinner is ready!

…So many clever phrases come from the film Casablanca: “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid”, ”Play it again, Sam” (although, I don’t think Bogart actually ever says that. He says, “Play it” and “Sam”, but history gets re-written all the time) and my favorite: “Round up the usual suspects”.

But why Casablanca?  Because,

“We’ll always have Paris…”

Not only is it another memorable line from the classic film, but it’s also the theme of another one of the special event weekends at our Chestertown bed and breakfast, March 9 and 10. Perfect for Francophiles, this weekend includes a Saturday evening of French food and wine accompanied by French conversation. Practice your accent with Danielle and Manick, both native French speakers, while enjoying the music of Edith Piaf, Dalida, and other French singers.

Dinner is from 6 to 8 and includes French onion soup, mixed salad, beef bourguinon, gratin aux pommes de terre, veggies and creme brulee.

Both breakfast and afternoon tea will have a touch of la francaise as well: think crepes, croissants and tarte tartin.

It is sure to be a fun and delicious evening at our romantic Maryland bed and breakfast; don’t forget to bring your beret!

Wednesday February 1, 2012. A work still in progress.

Saturday, February 4, 2012. Finally two comfy love seats, long over due.

A bit of change in colors but not too much. The drapes are not finished but it won’t be long.