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Which is Better the Bed or the Breakfast?

In advance of every one of our adventures, we do a ton of homework on where and what to eat. The Fighting Couple likes food, A LOT.  We peruse all the typical sites: Trip Advisor, Urban Spoon, Yelp etc. We like food so much we’ll walk for hours in a foreign city just to find the restaurant we read about on the internet. True story: once we wandered aimlessly around Amsterdam for two hours because Mike wanted to eat at a certain restaurant, but that’s another fight.

Finding the perfect undiscovered café is always a chore.  Finding a great breakfast is even more difficult.  Sure, you’ve probably been victim to the free hotel breakfasts of Wonder bread and Smuckers Jam. But what if you could stay at a charming place and wake up to a gourmet breakfast that would blow your food budget if you ate it separately?  You can!

Prince Edward IslandWe introduce you to Kindred Spirits located in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.   1000 Fights toured Prince Edward Island this summer to worship at the altar of Anne of Green Gables, oh and to golf.  There’s a lot to like about PEI and really in our experience zero to dislike.

But what we liked most was the food and particularly the food at our bed and breakfast. Kindred Spirits is the kind of place you stay and like so much you come back to stay again and again. And for the Anne followers, who couldn’t like a place named, Kindred Spirits?

When we read the room included breakfast, we imagined the typical fare you get at any standard hotel. Imagine our surprise when for breakfast we walked and found the homemade meal that would make your grandmother envy!  French toast made from French bread with an apple and caramel sauce to slather over it.  Or try the homemade blueberry scones with the lemon blueberry preserves or raspberry champagne jam.  Don’t forget the breakfast casserole that includes cheese, potatoes, and sausage. And that’s just the main entrees. There is also fresh fruit, yogurt and cereal, plus fresh juices. Are you hungry yet?

Breakfast Prince Edward Island is truly a culinary mecca.

Bed and breakfasts have long been the choice of traveling couples who want something that feels like home, but a room they don’t have to clean up.  But a new movement is brewing where the breakfast is becoming just as important as the bed. A quick internet search and you’ll find many of the the B&B’s proudly advertising what guests will eat, not just where they will sleep. There’s also a site dedicated just to recipes at premiere B&Bs.

Thanks to Kindred Spirits, 1000 Fights is pleased to publish the Inn’s signature breakfast dish: Blueberry Cake. I took one bite of this and then another and another and another. It’s embarrassing when a grown woman goes for thirds, not just seconds. But it was that good! So here’s the recipe for you to enjoy! Who knows maybe it will spread like the $250 Neiman Marcus cookie recipe!  You are probably wondering where the Pinterest worthy picture of the cake is?  Yeah, the cake is so good…we kinda forgot about blogging for a few mins….  We hope you have the same experience!

 

Kindred Spirits Blue Berry Crumb Breakfast Cake

Ingredients for cake: 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 2.5 cup flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 2/3 cup milk, 6 tbsp melted butter (or margarine), 2 cups blueberries (small, wild berries preferably), 4 tbsp sugar

– Grease 9 x 13 pan

– In medium bowl, beat eggs with wooden spoon.  Gradually beat in sugar until well combines

– In separate dish, sift together flour, baking powder and salt and then add to the sugar/egg mixture alternately with the milk.  Beat well after each addition

– Add the melted butter and beat thoroughly

– Gently fold in blueberries (fresh or frozen).  Batter should not be blue!

– Pour into the greased pan

– Sprinkle the top with 2 tbsp sugar

– Refrigerate Overnight

The following day, bake in a preheated oven (350 degrees) for approx. 45 minutes (until springs back when poked!)

– When finished, pour a mixture of 1/4 melted butter and 3 tbsp lemon juice and then sprinkle the following topping to cover thecake:

– Topping: 1/2 cup shortening, 8 tbsp flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 cups of brown sugar, 1/4 cup oats (optional).  Mix together with a pastry blender

YUM!

 

 

The Ultimate Hand-made Travel Gift

The weather is starting to turn.  Couple travelers its time to start the dreaded quest for what to get your sweetheart for the holidays.  How do you avoid the dreaded “you don’t love me” fight?  The Fighting Couple is here to save the day.    We have a great idea for you!    Well its really not our idea…this summer we came across a great blogger Brooklyn Limestone.  “Mrs. Limestone” as she calls herself is nothing short of super-human.  She runs a amazing multifaceted blog that includes design tips, home improvement, handiworks, and of course travel.  (We are so glad she has not taken up fighting, or we would be out of a job!)

So lets begin.  We are going to give you an outline of what we gleaned from her blog.  For step by step instructions and more pics, check out her guide for the project.

Supplies needed:

9 pine wood blocks of  6″ x 6″ x1″

1 can of spray adhesive

1 Passport filled with stamps from somewhere warm like your Bahamas holiday!

1 quart of gold enamel paint

Small grain sand paper

Lots of power tools and cords (these are not needed for the project, but makes you look like your are working on something amazing.)

 

Step one:

Take your 6×6 wood blocks, lightly sand the face and four sides.  If you find blocks that are presanded, go eat a sandwich and skip this step.

 Step two:

Take your gold paint, we said gold paint because thats what she used.  Color is really up to you i guess.  But Mrs. Limestone is domestic goddess, and you should probably do what she did.  Paint the face and all four sides.  You dont need to paint the back, unless you are an overachiever.

Step Three:

Take your passport and find the most interesting page of stamps and make a copy of each with high quality paper or photo paper would work even better.  You may need to scan them in and enlarge them to fit your fancy.  You need to end up with 6×6 squares.

Step Quattro (this is a travel blog):

Take your can of spray adhesive and attach the  squares to the blocks.

 


Step Five:

You are nearing the finish line!  Arrange your squares  in a fancy frame like she did.  Isn’t that cool?  You could also line them up in a curio cabinet?

 

 

The wonderful thing about this project and gift is that it is so personalized and it is handmade.  What woman wouldn’t swoon receiving this gift?  So follow our advice and don’t end up in the dreaded “dog house”.

Thanks again to Mrs. Limestone of Brooklyn Limestone for saving relationships everywhere!

Send us a picture of your competed project!  We will post it!

The Goat is Great!

goat

Before reading this review, you must know that i visited the Goat during a U of Tex football game.  I hear their team is ok.  Anyway, this place is an absolute crazytown during afore mentioned festivities.

Do you remember the days when life was simple, people did things without all the flash and fireworks?  Well I don’t either.  But the Goat does a few simple things very well.  Burgers and Tacos.  The prices cant be beat.

Go to the Goat!!!

The Screaming Goat on Urbanspoon

The Oak Room

Oak Room (at the Plaza Hotel) on Urbanspoon

The food highlight of our NYC weekend!!  Brace yourself for the price.  It is a true four star establishment in every sense of the word.  Dinner is served in American dim sum manner: they have a cart that comes around, you pick out the dishes you would like.  For the main course, I went with the New York steak.  Luci had the lobster pot pie.   Waiter makes your salad at your table: Choice of greens, veggies and other interesting toppings.  For dessert I had one of the strangest banana splits.  Pics will be forthcoming.  It looked like a great big wafer…very good!  Beautiful decor.  Waitstaff were knowledgeable and competent.

10 Downing Street

10 Downing on Urbanspoon

We took the Context travel immigrant food tour.  Our guide was an executive chef and is really keyed in on the food scene in NYC.  At the end of the tour I posed the question.   If you had a day to live and were able to goto one restaurant in NYC, which would it be?   She thought hard and long and said 10 Downing.  We took her recommendation for dinner.  It did not disappoint.  I had the balsamic beef, which was extremely tender and very flavorful.  The highlight for me was their house lemonade!  I am a softy for the really sour.  Try it!  Luci had the flounder and it was ok.