Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Flower of the Day: Tulips

I have always loved tulips.

Growing up in Pennsylvania, weary from shoveling snow and carrying water to the calves in the back barns, my brother and I anxiously looked for the crocuses first, then the daffodils, and then the tulips. I loved the tulips the best--those big boldly colored cups, the strong stamens inside. Besides, once the tulips unfolded their petals, it was pretty likely that our snow shoveling days were behind us. At least for another year.

Of course, as I got older, and had to buy my own flowers in my own yard, I began to like the daffodils more. They multiplied each year, while the tulips thinned out a little bit each Spring, eventually disappearing altogether.

But I still love tulips today--although Florida winters aren't really cold enough to plant them. But they're a great cut flower right now, available at all the florists in town, and I think they're a wonderfully versatile flower for weddings. They can be sweet, in pink and blushed hues, or they can be bold, in reds and purples. And the fact that they sound like "two lips"--well, that just makes them perfect for a springtime bride!!

This bouquet was done by our preferred floral vendor--Flowers by Krissy. She put them together for Kristin and Cordez, who tied the knot yesterday in the gazebo.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Secrets of the Locals: Best Ice Cream

You may remember that the hub is an ice cream snob.

Other men may talk about wine at dinner parties--going on about the nose of this wine or the head of that one or the blush of berries or whatever it is that they think they taste. It's like a foreign language to me.

In the same fashion, the hub can wax on and on about his favorite frozen treat--the mouth feel of the cream content, the ratio of ice cream to addition, the combination of additions at all.

Hey, I'm not complaining. You'll never find a $200 gallon of ice cream, so I'm a big supporter of his enjoying the icy treat over anything fermented.

But he can't make ice cream every day. True, he does make it for inn guests on Wednesdays in the summer. But that's a special treat.

If he wants great ice cream any other time, he drives all the way down Route 1 to beyond Wal-Mart (real St. Augustine residents *never* drive past Wal-Mart unless they're going to Orlando. The fear is that Route 1 is flat and you will fall off of it if you try to go too far). He drives to Cold Cow (http://www.coldcow.net/), a little ice cream shop owned by Jason Welty. Jason is an ice cream lover too--and he comes up with weird flavors like Mike does, too (like Trash Can, which is vanilla ice cream with 7 kinds of candy bars).

It's a great place, but going there really does feel like Columbus heading off for unknown and possibly dangerous horizons.

So imagine our surprise--our delight!--when we went to Lee & Cates, a glass cutter on Anastasia Island, right across the bridge, and saw a little ice cream truck parked in the corner of their oddly-shaped parking lot. The sign said "Cold Cow has had a Baby...Meet Cold Calf".

The sun shone down, angels sang, and the hub skipped towards it like a little girl. Yup, it was our old friend Cold Cow, in a cool moveable trailer. They had 29 flavors of ice cream yesterday; the hub and I shared a scoop of toasted coconut (which was exactly what it sounded like) and red velvet cake (which was an icing flavored batter with chunks of red velvet cake). Our friends (who are visiting from Atlanta) got a butterscotch bomb (vanilla ice cream with butterscotch and fudge) and peanut butter cookie.

We all left there very, very happy.

You will be happy if you go there too...unless you go on Monday, when they're closed. Otherwise, check them out Tuesday through Sunday, from 3 - 9 pm.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Looks *Do* Matter

Sometimes, the best recipe in the world won't impress people if it just doesn't look good (case in point: trifles are awesome for the first three of four people who dive in; anyone coming later than that is going to think twice before plopping that goop on their plate).


That's why I love a good table as much (well, maybe not quite as much) as a great meal.


Here's a great example from one of our recent weddings. Check out the pineapple in the middle--it's a great way to serve fruit salad. Just cut a variety of fruits (we use pineapples, berries, grapes, and melons) into bite sized pieces, then skewer them onto a pineapple (you can cut the bottom off to make it stable). Add some fern fronds at the top to make it a little more dramatic.

Other tips I love: the dip in the front, served in a hollow pepper. Pretty dishes served at different heights (if you don't have pedestals like ours, use a cake plate, or even just a plate puttied on top of a water goblet). Cilantro or parsley sprinkled on everything.


A good bridal buffet is a little like the bride herself: it should look like what it is, beautiful as always, but a little more special than usual.


Best wishes!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Let's Paws for a Moment on March 31

Do you feel guilty when you drop your dog off at the kennel? Don't you cringe when you see your pup wag his tail, even as you're sneaking out for a nice vacation? Don't you grimace when you hear her bark optimistically as you walk away, as if she expects you to turn around and just say "Kidding!"

You don't have to leave your four legged friend at home. The Bayfront Marin House is pet friendly. So pet friendly, we serve organic puppy biscuits for happy hour! (Separate from the people food, of course).

And Saint Augustine is pretty pet friendly, as well. In fact, we have a whole list of restaurants that are happy to serve Fido, beaches that love fur bikinis, and activities that welcome your little four-legged friend.

So, if your pup will be in town on Saturday, March 31, there's an event just for the two of you. The dog walk at Butler Beach Park East is a family friendly event that will include music, food, prizes, and a cool demo by the K-9 division of the sheriff department.

You can register online and read all the details at www.360fundraiser.com/124. Or call the Humane Society at 904.829.2737.

The event goes from 10:00 to 1:00 pm. Bring your dog; look how happy *this* little guy is:

Friday, March 23, 2012

Francis Dunnery in the House!!

We sent this email out to a bunch of press-type folks tonight. Just wanted to make sure that you all know first!!

English Musician to Play Intimate House Concert at Local Bed and Breakfast
Saint Augustine, FL—March 23, 2012—Francis Dunnery, an English musician, singer-songwriter, record producer and record label owner, will be performing a house concert on Sunday, April 22, at the Bayfront Marin House in Saint Augustine, Florida.

Dunnery is best  known as a solo performer, and for fronting the original lineup of the band It Bites between 1982 and 1990. His credits include co-writing and singing the #6 UK hit single, "Calling All the Heroes", in 1986.

“My wife and I have been fans of Francis Dunnery since we saw him perform in Philadelphia several years ago,” says Mike Wieber, owner of the Bayfront Marin House on Avenida Menendez. “When we heard that he was interested in performing in very small venues in the United States, we contacted him to see if he’d be interested in playing in America’s oldest city.”

Concert promoters contacted the Wiebers in early March to tell them that their inn had been chosen as a concert venue. The concert will be held in the bed and breakfast’s dining room at 7:30 pm until 9:00 pm. Dunnery will be playing from his “Tall Blonde Helicopter” tour.

Dunnery served as a sideman and musical contributor for artists as diverse as Robert Plant, Ian Brown, Lauryn Hill, Santana and Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe. He has worked as producer and/or collaborator with David Sancious, Chris Difford (of Squeeze), James Sonefeld (Hootie and the Blowfish), Erin Moran (better known as A Girl Called Eddy), and Steven Harris (ex-The Cult, Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction). In addition, Dunnery owns the Aquarian Nation record label.

For more information, or to order tickets, please contact the Bayfront Marin House at 904.824.4301 or info@bayfrontmarinhouse.com. Tickets are $30 for the general public, and $18 for bed and breakfast guests.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Flowers of the Day: Hydrangeas and Dyed Roses

Everybody knows that the hub convinced me to move to Florida with the lure of year-round gardening.


Yes, the ability to see color--rich, saturated and healthy color--throughout the year was a wonderful draw.


So it's not surprising that I check out the flowers before I look at the wedding dress during our weddings. We work with a local florist, who combines colors in fresh, inventive ways. She also will fit in any color a bride wants--like the Christmas bride who wanted black and red roses. Instead of getting black roses, Chrissy used black silk ribbon and twisted it into a tiny flower to go in the center of every rose. It was beautiful.


Today's flowers are brought to you by the cool color family--green, blue and purple. I promise I'll feature the embellished roses next, but in the meantime, enjoy this happy spring-time bouquet!

5 Tips to Make Your Night-time Wedding WOW

The hub and I have been married for a long time now--this year will be our 19th anniversary.

We got married at night, partly because I have always thought that night-time weddings are so romantic and intimate, and partly because my brother and my father have to milk 200 cows every day, so I was either going to get married at noon, in between the milkings, or at night, when all the cows were back in their stalls and eating hay quietly.

I suppose my other option was to get married *in* the barn, during milking. But since I had spent 10 years trying to get away from milking duties, I certainly didn't want to suggest that. Besides, I had never seen a pair of barn boots cute enough to wear with a dress.

Anyway.

We've had a couple of night time weddings at the inn recently, and I am always blown away by how beautiful they are. Don't get me wrong--daytime weddings, with the sparkling Matanzas Bay in the background, and some of the most beautiful skies you will ever see, are pretty breath-taking too. But we do a lot less night weddings, and I forget how pretty they are in the months between events.

We've figured out a couple of tricks to make night-time weddings really pop, too. Here are some of my favorite:

1. Lots of candles. Well, duh, right? But we do lots of different kinds of candles. We do candles in lanterns, candles on trays (assuming it's not so windy that it blows them out immediately), candles around the cake. Recently, one of our couples brought about a million luminaries and lined the sidewalks and stairs with them. They were simply stunning. Another cool trick is to put tea lights in wine glasses and cover them with inexpensive cellophane shades. Or give everyone a small thin candle, stuck through a circle of paper so the wax doesn't melt on their hands, and ask them to light them right before the vows.

2. Lots of lights. We make sure we use warm lights, not cool ones, so that everyone looks like a supermodel, and not like an alien smurf when we get the photos back. And we bundle up strings of lights and put them underneath the tablecloths so that they glow in the pictures (the tables have a cut-out design, and that looks beautiful lit up too). If we're using an arbor, we string it with lights and vines, so that the lights are softer looking in the photos and they don't blind anyone looking at them for the whole ceremony.


3.  And more lights. Don't forget a reading light for the minister--those ceremonial words can seem pretty tiny when you're trying to read in the dark. We use a small flashlight for this, and it works pretty well. Put lights next to any stairs, too, so no one falls and ruins their pedicure (and maybe more than that!) And you might want to give your guests sparklers--they're fun after the vows, and they make for some pretty awesome photos too. (Careful giving them to young guests--they will burn you if you hold them too high!)

3. Plan for photos in the room. Yes, the shots outside can be beautiful and moody, but the bride has usually spent about an hour on her hair and makeup and that deserves some gorgeous lighting. They don't have to be inside for long, but a couple of staged photos in one of our antique chairs, or sitting on a chaise lounge together, or next to one of our fireplaces can be one of the best shots of the day (uhhh...night).


4. Turn the music to half the level it's normally at. Sometimes, we put the music directly in the gazebo, so that it's very subtle as the bride makes her entrance. Part of the beauty of getting married at night is the stillness, and the music should be a nice accompaniment to that, not the center concert stage.

5. Consider the weather. If it's warm, you want to spray for mosquitoes before the event (we tie white ribbons around small cans of spray and put them at the end of each aisle). If it's cool, you might want gas heaters, or a small firepit, to warm things up. And don't feel like you have to have a champagne toast--mulled wine or cider is perfectly appropriate and festive feeling too!


Have fun!!

1268 Days Til Our 450th!!!

Man, I better start thinking about what to wear!!! :)

I'll probably be able to figure something out between now and then, but a new website--www.staugustine-450.com--is proof that it's not too early to start thinking about our town's 450th anniversary in 2015.

The website is already starting to post some pretty cool stuff about the festivities. Here's an excerpt from their blog:


The Right Story

Two centuries before our Founding Fathers penned the Constitution, St. Augustine was already a bustling colonial town in a country that would become the United States. America’s most Ancient City, St. Augustine, has been settled continuously since explorer Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles planted his Spanish flag on the shores of the Matanzas River in 1565.

Incredibly, when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, St. Augustine already had a fort, church, hospital, seminary, fish market and some 120 houses and shops. In a Town Plan established by the Spanish Crown in 1573, the oldest streets in America were laid down. While Jamestown settlement, founded in 1607, and Plymouth are widely attributed as the beginnings of our nation, it was instead the Spanish colonial settlement of St. Augustine and the vast territory of Spain’s La Florida that shaped colonial America. This was indeed the very foundation for the cultural and historical development of the nation…


St. Augustine is First America

To celebrate St. Augustine as First America and the integral role it played in shaping our nation throughout the last 450 years, a four-year commemoration will take place from 2012 to 2015.

2012
200th Anniversary of the Spanish Constitution

2013
500th Anniversary of the Founding of Florida

2014
50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act

2015
    450th Anniversary of the Founding of St. Augustine

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Groovin' Reuben Dip: St. Paddy's Happy Hour

Last night, as we were walking home from the inn, the town was lit up with glow-in-the-dark necklaces and headware. You know what they say...everyone is Irish on March 17.

I may not be Irish, but I know a good Irish meal when I see one (for the record, you can get a mean corned beef and cabbage at Meehan's any day of the year). And I know that a great Irish lunch is a nice, messy Reuben.

We don't serve sandwiches at the inn, but I thought a reuben dip might be nice. We had some leftover from happy hour, and we served it to the wedding party last night (they were hanging out a while since the someone forgot the marriage license and they had to drive back to Ponte Vedra to get it!!) Now, the guests were pretty hungry by this time, but still...they raved about the recipe. Which makes me think it might be good enough to put on the rotation any time of year.

Try it for yourself, and let me know if you like it.

Reuben Dip

1/2 pound corned beef
1 cup swiss cheese (I couldn't find any shredded, so we just sliced it into thin strips so it would melt)
1 block cream cheese, softened
1 cup sauerkraut, drained
1/2 cup sour cream
1 T ketchup
1 T spicy brown mustard

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Spoon into a lightly greased 1-quart glass dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until cheese bubbles and top browns slightly.

Serve with rye crackers or rye bread. All our rye crackers were eaten at happy hour, so I served it with a Ritz-style cracker at the wedding, and everyone loved it just as much!!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Just breathe...

I have a ton of things to do this weekend...three weddings, 7 pots to replant, 2 palm trees to buy and then plant, 4 billion loads of laundry to do (the most fun part of traveling), a whole house to clean, a fence to paint....

Ugh. I'm getting cranky just thinking about it.

That's when I stop, slow down, and picture myself sitting on the porch, watching the sun come up over the Matanzas.

Aaaah. Breathe.

And try not to think about how bad those hanging baskets look.

Do You Like to Sea Food?

You remember that joke, right?

Your best friend (or worst enemy) in second grade asks if you like seafood. When you say yes, they open their mouth and show you all the chewed up food they could shove in there.

I'm embarrassed to say that the hub still sometimes asks me the same thing. I always say "No".

But I won't say no this weekend...not with the annual seafood festival taking place on Francis Field.

The festivities begin Friday at 3:00. I plan on heading over there around 6 for the first of many crab cakes I will try this weekend.

More info at www.lionsfestival.com.

Erin Go Bragh!!!

Happy St. Paddy's Day, lassies!! (And lads!)


A bit of leprechaun magic overtook me last night and I made what I now call Leprechaun bark. It was a big hit at happy hour.

If you want to make your own, here's how:




Leprechaun Bark

1 bag dark chocolate chips
1 bag white chocolate chips
shortening, as needed
peppermint extract
15 peppermint candies
green food coloring

Temper the dark chocolate. I do this in a glass bowl over boiling water. Bring the water to a boil (make sure it doesn't touch the bowl), then dump in the chips. Stir until they melt. Add 1/2 T. of shortening to chocolate and stir in (it will make it smooth and shiny).

Pour melted chocolate on a wax-paper lined cookie tray. Spread over entire tray.

Put tray in refrigerator.

Crush peppermint candies in food processor. Add green food coloring, if desired. Note that food coloring will make the peppermint much harder to remove from processor, so be prepared to use this seconds after you whirl it up.

Temper white chocolate, using same method as above. Add shortening, and two drops of peppermint oil. If you add too much, and the chocolate begins to seize (happened to me twice last night--out of my six batches!!), add more shortening until smooth.

Pour white chocolate onto hardened dark chocolate. If you want a pure white layer, do not mix too much. Otherwise, spread liberally over dark chocolate. This will mix the two colors together and you will have more of a mottled milk chocolate color on top (my preference).

Crumble the peppermint crumbs over the top, pressing lightly to adhere.

Refrigerate until hard.

Break into pieces and serve. Do a leprechaun jig if you think it's really, really good.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Menorcan Madness

Our neighbor is a Menorcan (meaning that her family is one of the town originals from the Spanish island of Menorca).

I don't know a whole lot about the group, but I know that they make an amazing clam chowder and I am a big fan of their pilau as well. Pilau (at least the way I've had it) is a single pot dish with rice and meat and onions and probably anything else sitting on your countertop.

I mention this because tomorrow is the Menorcan Festival. It's held right down the street at the Llambias House and admission is FREE. They're going to have pilau (the flyer says "various kinds"), clam chowder, and baked goods.

I plan on checking it out--it's open from 11 til 2.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Hide Your Women and Groceries!!

On Saturday, March 3, our lovely city was attacked. Invaded. Plundered.

Yup, folks, its historic reenactment at its best (if by best you mean bloodiest!) It's Searle's Attack on Saint Augustine, reenacted St. Augustine, Florida, that “noble and loyal city” is the oldest inhabited European settlement in North America.  Founded by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1565, it was a valuable outpost of the Spanish Empire, serving as a haven for the imperial treasure fleets sailing from the New World to Spain.  For over a century and a half, beginning with Sir Francis Drake’s raid in 1586 and ending with General James Oglethorpe’s attack in 1743, English troops and buccaneers repeatedly tried to wrest this strategic port from the Spaniards.
In 1655, Oliver Cromwell’s “Western Design” resulted in the capture of Spanish Jamaica, thus providing English freebooters with a safe base from which to plunder the Spanish Main.  The “Golden Age of Piracy” had begun! 
In 1668, Captain Robert Searle and his privateers sailed from Jamaica to loot the silver ingots held in the royal coffers at St. Augustine.  Under the cover of night, they slipped into the harbor and attacked the sleeping town, killing sixty people and pillaging government buildings, churches and homes.  The devastation wrought by these bloodthirsty pirates prompted Spain’s Council of the Indies to issue money to build a massive stone fortress on Matanzas Bay to protect the city.  The Castillo de San Marcos still stands as an enduring reminder of Florida’s exciting heritage...if by exciting, you mean bloody.

The canons were going off all day...and there were even more people in costume than usual. Every weekend is a fun one here in St. Augustine!!

For you theatre lovers...

The following press release was in our inbox this morning. I don't have a lot more information on it, but since it's starting in three days, I thought I should get it out there so everyone could see it!! (The show starts March 8!!)



A CLASSIC THEATRE
CAST ANNOUNCED FOR “IS LIFE WORTH LIVING?”

Directed by Deborah Dickey, this delightful farce
By Lennox Robinson opens at The Pioneer Barn on March 8th


St. Augustine, Florida – A Classic Theatre announced the cast for its next production Is Life Worth Living? by Irish playwright Lennox Robinson and presented in association with the Romanza 2012 Celtic Music & Heritage Festival.  Directed by veteran director Deborah Dickey, Is Life Worth Living? will have performances in the Pioneer Barn  at Fort Menendez, 259 San Marco Ave, St. Augustine, starting March 8 and running Thursday, Friday & Saturdays at 7:30 through March 17th.  There is one Sunday matinee at 2:00pm on March 11th.  Tickets are $20 + tax.  All tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 904-824-8874 or at the museum 259 San Marco Avenue. www.fortmenendez.com. For production information email aclassictheatre@hotmail.com.
Set in the quaint seaside village of Inish, this delightful farce from Dublin’s Abbey Theatre is a joyous “love letter” to the theatrical profession as the lives of the residents of the Irish village are transformed by the arrival of the De La Mare Repertory Company which is dedicated to the serious classics of the theater!
The Classic Theatre production of Is Life Worth Living? features the following actors: Wes as Hector De La Mare; Jessica Ferris as Constance Constantia; Margaret Kaler as Lizzie Twohig; Vanessa Warner as Annie Twohig; Jim Wells as John Twohig;  Ashley Carter as Eddie Twohig; Chelsye Ginn as Christine Lambert; Maggie Thierrien as Dolly Hegarty; Daisye Tudor as Helena; Stan Weintraub as Peter Hurley; Jared Heeren as Michael and Aaron Liggett as Tom Mooney.