F&B Part 3

And so... after the Sunday morning conference call and obligatory food and beverage report, we headed down to the waterfront to continue our brave quest for relaxation and slobbitude.  (Neither Blogger nor my spell-checker believe that's a word, but I think it should be!)

The front deck and the "Lady Hughes"

I finished my first book, Drew Hayden Taylor's "Motorcycles and Sweetgrass" -- a great book!  Not afraid to tackle difficult issues, but in a humorous and magical fashion.  I loved it.

Alyssa with Drew Haydn Taylor's "Motorcycles and Sweetgrass"

Don is still reading Stephen King's "11/22/63" -- it's about 800 pages, and I think carrying it around might be giving him back problems!

From the front deck to the boat house

After such a difficult early afternoon, we headed to the Spa, for our first couples massage -- Cindy and Sheryl were happy to see us back, and boy, were we happy to see them!!!  An hour of bodies being (lovingly) pummelled into feeling woozledy and wonderful.  They also confirmed our view that we've got the best room in the resort -- lucky us!  (We have yet to take advantage of the jacuzzi in our room -- it's felt too hot so far, but we'll have to jump in at least once.)

With orders to drink lots of water, because they'd really worked through Don's shoulders and my shoulders and arms, we headed back to the deck.

Don, blissed out after our couples massage

Of course, even at 4:30pm, the sun was too much for our pale, Celtic-heritage skin, so after finishing our ice water, and with the humidity rising, we headed to our room to hang out under the ceiling fan and drink beer naked.

This is the only photo you're getting of that part of the day.  You're welcome.  :)

Naked beer under the ceiling fan

When naked beer was finished, Don got dressed (because we care) and went down to the bar for refills.  The following picture shows you why Cindy thought we should have lots of WATER after the massage:

The afternoon after the naked beer before

After his beauty sleep, it was time for dinner!  We lucked out and got the best table in the dining room -- up against the double doors (with screens, because it does get buggy at night!).

Here's the view from our table:

Dinnertime sunset

After the sunset

Here's the menu for Sunday night:

We went Italian for the wine, Terre Avare, Salento Negroamaro (forget the year).  It was our favourite so far this trip, not that any of them have been bad choices:

For appetizers, I had the Peaches & Cream Corn Fritters, garnished with Eggplant Caviar -- our waiter, Deb, gave Don my prosciutto instead.  Because he didn't have nearly enough protein in his appetizer: Scallop Chorizo Sausage Salad with smoked salmon-wrapped asparagus and olive basil vinaigrette.  Both were delicious!

Don opted for the Grilled AAA Beef Tenderloin, with a mantle of goat cheese and olive oil poached roma tomato, served with a rosemary demi-glaze.  When it showed up at the table, it looked like a mile-high burger -- the beef (once again, like butter) was a couple of inches tall, the goat cheese another inch above that, plus the tomato to top it all off.  It looked too huge, but he ate the whole darned thing.  :)

I went for the Pan Seared Rainbow Trout, with a citrus and pernod sauce.  It was actually TWO fillets, stacked on top of roast potatoes, carrots and cauliflower.  I don't think even Don could have finished the whole thing.  I saved about half for lunch today!  Deb was worried I didn't like it because I left so much, but it was absolutely delicious.

This is me saying "that was delicious" -- or something... hard to tell, because it's blurry (too much Amarone?)

Post dinner bliss

For dessert, we BOTH opted for the strawberries with whipped cream, although I asked for less whipped cream than usual, because I'm a good person.  :)

And this is me, realizing I'd actually eaten all my dessert (notice the wee sunburn -- this from 15 minutes in the 4:30pm sun!)

Strawberries and cream?  Where?

Here's one of the least-blurry pictures Don took of our waiter, Deb:

Deb, our fabulous waiter

And then, to get even, she took a picture of us:

Post-dinner bliss

Hmmm... maybe we should start taking these photos BEFORE wine is consumed?!?!?

Exhausted from our busy (!) day, and rubbery from our massages... and perhaps the wine... we headed up to our room (and ceiling fan) for the night.

When we woke up this morning, it was another beautiful day -- and yesterday's humidity seems to have disappeared and been replaced by a lovely breeze.

For breakfast, Don opted for his usual, and I went for the tomato-mushroom-cheddar omelette.  It was the perfect size, and I managed to eat everything but my toast, which Don enjoyed slathered in strawberry jam, because we're on vacation!

Now we're back on the front porch, enjoying some more coffee, reading, and that beautiful breeze.  Once I get the laptop put away, I think I'm going for a swim, too.

Happy Monday, everyone -- hope you don't TOTALLY hate us yet!

Food & Beverage report, part 2

Saturday, oh, what a difficult day...  The innkeeper, Ryan, actually started teasing us, because we staked out our chairs on the front porch around noon, and didn't manage to vacate them until dinner time.  Chris brought us coffee, Claudio brought us water, then Ryan brought us beer (Muskoka Cream Ale), then Chris brought us more beer...  Life is rough!

We each got a lot of reading done.  I also managed to leave the chair a few times to go for a swim in the lake, and again to park myself under the shoulder-massage fountains in the water spa.  That counts as exercise, right?

Here's our porch site, after the first beer was served:

Lazy Saturday!

 And here's Alyssa's view from the porch:

The view from here

And here's a picture of Don's view from the porch:

The view from there

And here's a picture of Henry, who also spent the entire afternoon hanging out on the porch with us:

Henry

And here are some pics from Don's phone, of me looking studious, oblivious, and then laughing:

So... food and beverage report!

The menu was a little blurry, sorry -- probably because we'd already had the beer.  :)  The wine we ordered was Francis Coppola Merlot, Blue Label 2011, and it was delicious!

Saturday menu

Bread with hummus and balsamic to start.  For appetizers, Don selected the Ragout of Bison and Lamb, over a ricotta and basil gnocchi.  He said it was really good.

Ragout of Bison and Lamb

Whereas I had the Almond-Crusted Woolwich Goat Cheese with Sambuca Macerated Strawberries.  Holy mother of God.  If I were only allowed one dish for the rest of my life, this would be it!

Heaven on a Plate

The camera started using flash at this point, so I didn't take photos of the rest of the meal, because even super-geeks like me don't wish to totally annoy their fellow diners.

Main course for Don was a Piccata-style Breast of Free Range Chicken, with Basil Pesto and Balsamic / Lemon Butter.  He says it was really good.  When I roll my eyes, he waxes a bit more poetic, but mostly it was really good and he ate every last scrap of it.  I went off-menu for the vegetarian alternative, Ricotta-Basil Gnocchi with asparagus in a cream sauce, and topped with Parmesan -- low-fat, obviously!  I did my best, because it was really good, but also super-rich, so I have some in our fridge for a snack later today!

Don went wild and crazy and did NOT have strawberries and whipped cream for dessert -- instead, he went for the Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch that our waiter, Deb, said she'd help finish if he couldn't.  :)  I also played the martyr and helped him out with a bite or two.  I had tiramisu with strawberries and caramel drizzle -- which I had all to myself, because Don doesn't like tiramisu.  So sad, too bad...  We were good and just washed it down with a decaf.

We went up to our room, planning to just use the washroom and wash up before heading down to the patio for live music and perhaps a late-night beverage.  But we started back into our books, and someone of the female persuasion might have started snoring after the first page...  So much for being late-night rowdies!  Hey, can you blame me, it was a really long and difficult day!!!  ;)

Breakfast this morning was "the usual" for Don (scrambled eggs, peameal, toast and home fries), and I had Eggs Not-So-Benedict: with smoked salmon instead of peameal.  Delicious!

I had to do a conference call after breakfast for the Katie Project, but now my work is done, and I'm not even going to transcribe the minutes until I get home!  (Sorry, valuable planning committee who I love, but... suck it up.)

The rest of the day promises to be more of the same horrors of yesterday, with the added trauma of a couples massage this afternoon.  It will be good to see Cindy and Sheryl again -- our shoulders and necks are looking forward to them as well!

And, lest you hate us completely, there is a cloud in the sky.  It's a light and fluffy cloud, but we can pretend it's fierce and menacing if it makes you feel better.  :)

Spoiled Rotten, we are!

Anniversary Week!

Yes, we've been silent for a while, but we're back at Sir Sam's Inn for our anniversary week, and have already had requests for the food and beverage reports.  Hate to disappoint!

We managed to get here about 6-ish Friday evening, the sun was shining and the air was warm but not muggy in the least -- perfect weather to greet us!  We went to check in and were warmly welcomed back at the front desk.

Our room is in the main building, which we prefer because you don't have to suit up if it rains.  Doesn't seem to matter this week, as so far the weather forecast looks beautiful, but it's still a consideration!

We got up to our room, and it's the biggest darned room we've ever had here!  They must have given us an upgrade or something.  Not that the other rooms have been tiny, mind you, but we could easily host a party in this one.  Take a look for yourself!

Don checking out the fireplace and sitting area

They'd even left us a complimentary bottle of wine and a plate of chocolate-dipped strawberries, with a "welcome back" card on the dining table!

Welcome back gift -- we're special!

Right above the dining table is this beautiful high window:

Skylight above dining area

Although, as we discovered this morning, it does allow a certain amount of light into Alyssa's eye at 5:30am... and as you know, Alyssa doesn't do 5:30am very well.  Alyssa will adjust.  :)

Here's a better angle of the fireplace and sitting area:

Fireplace -- will likely go unused this week!

A beautiful King-sized bed, so we have room for a football team -- or cheerleaders, depending on who's doing the inviting.

Don testing the bed -- with shoes, naughty man!

And we've got a beautiful view of the lake from our bed:

View from our bed

But... on to the Food and Beverage Report!

In true geek fashion, Alyssa took a picture of the menu for you all.  :)

Friday night dinner menu

Our waiter friend Claudio is back, although Omar has gone to Cancun.  We had a new young woman looking after us, Shelby, and Claudio and Deb also helped out.  No photos, we'll have to break them in gently.  :)

We ordered a bottle of "Burning Kiln" Cabernet Franc -- from St. Williams, ON.  It was very smooth and full-bodied, and we'll hopefully be able to find it again at the LCBO.

They brought out home-made bread with some hummus and balsamic dip.  As Don discovered, putting both on the same piece of bread was delicious, even if not intended...

For starters, Don opted for the Caesar Salad with Grilled Romaine Leaves, prosciutto crisp and tomato bruchetta.  I could smell the garlic coming as Claudio brought it to our table -- I took a forkfull of the dressing, and it was incredible.  (If they offer this salad again this week, I'll ask for it without the prosciutto!)  I went for the House Smoked Atlantic Salmon and East Coast Scallop, with pickled cucumber, onions (skipped the bacon) and asparagus with a white wine butter sauce.  Mmm-mmmm!  The salmon was cold (intentionally!), but had been perfectly smoked, and as buttery as the butter sauce.  As they weren't able to wrap the scallop in bacon for me, they wrapped it in a super-thin (almost like a half lasagne noodle) strip of cucumber.  Score!

Don's main course was Grilled AAA Beef Tenderloin with sunnyside quail eggs and truffle scented béarnaise sauce.  He says it was perfect -- he barely needed a knife to cut it.  I thought the eggs looked cute.  What do I know about beef tenderloin...  I had the Pan Seared Citrus Rubbed Rainbow Trout (yes, many sea creatures gave their life for my dinner) with a fresh tomato and basil salsa.  As one of the waiter's (a new guy whose name I didn't catch yet) said when we asked, the salsa was basically home-made pesto mixed with "tomato guts"-- it was absolutely incredible, and we might have to try pesto-and-tomato-gut sauce ourselves when we get home.  The fish was served over a bed of roast potatoes and some asparagus as well.  I almost at the whole thing, but not quite...  Had to save room for dessert!

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the dessert menu, because Don just ordered for us automatically.  :)  He had his usual strawberries and whipped cream, and ordered what he thought was creme brûlée for me, but was actually creme brûlée cheesecake!  It wasn't a heavy cheesecake, which was good, or I might have died a very happy death, but I still wasn't able to finish it all.  Hopefully Shelby was able to salvage a bite off my leftovers, because she said she had yet to try that dessert.  :)  As it was our first day (any excuse will do), we washed dessert down with a couple of decaf Spanish coffees -- note to self, ask for no whipped cream next time!  I woke up with the sunlight at 5:30am thinking I could still feel the whipped cream, and wondering how I'd ever be able to eat breakfast when I was still so stuffed.

But we are hardy warriors, so managed to get ourselves to breakfast anyhow -- although I was still full from dinner.  We opted for what we thought would be the smaller breakfast -- scrambled eggs with home fries (actually HOME fries) and toast (plus peameal for Don).  Biggest two eggs scrambled I've ever seen -- they must have found some Pterodactyl eggs hiding in the wilderness or something.

The (new?) innkeeper, Ryan, introduced himself at the end of breakfast, welcomed us and said to get in touch if we need anything whatsoever.  Everyone is just so nice and outgoing here.  We were talking with Deb (one of the waiters at dinner) about what a great place it is to work at, and how that really comes across from all the staff... thus making the guests VERY happy campers.  :)

Anyhow, it's another beautiful day in paradise, so we're going to try and get some lakeside reading in, before it's time for our water spa visit and brisk nap.  Life is rough, so much to do...  May even take a little cruise around the lake later.

It's like being back home.  Only with better food.  And people who do everything for you.  And a kick-ass wine cellar.  And a water spa.  And... OK, it has absolutely nothing to do with home.  But we love it.

Happy Saturday!