With its wide-ranging elevations, North Carolina is a traveler’s dream. You can go from the Outer Banks of the coastal plains to the Piedmont region at the foothills of the spectacular Appalachian Mountains. Within the Appalachians are a few subranges including the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains, named for the bluish tint they give off when viewed from a distance. If you decide to travel there, make sure to take a drive along the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway where you’ll not only find breathtaking views but also village-style towns hosting big-scale events and a few North Carolina bed and breakfasts nearby.

The Village Inn, Blowing Rock, NC

Head over to the mountain town of Blowing Rock, NC, where the annual Blowing Rock Winterfest Celebration is being held from January 26th – 29th. During this four-day festival you can take in a wine auction or taste the winning bowl from the chili cook-off while tapping your toes to the sound of Bluegrass music. If you’re feeling ambitious you can participate in the Frosty 5K run or even take the polar plunge into Chetola Lake. When all of the activities have died down, make your way back to your private cottage at The Village Inn and cozy up next to the wood burning fireplace before calling it a night.

Beaufort House Inn, Asheville, NC

Follow the smooth sounds of the saxophone to Asheville, NC, where one of the premiere jazz festivals is taking place this month. From January 27th – 29th, the All That Jazz Weekend will deliver an array of performances and concerts from some of the biggest names including The John Pizzarelli Quartet and the Jessica Molaskey & Aaron Weinstein Trio. Enjoy some of the region’s best culinary delights at the “Meet the Artists” receptions and sip wine while listening to the sensual sounds of the blue note. If you decide to visit Asheville, check out the Beaufort House Inn, a 11-room bed and breakfast that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Each day you’ll wake up to a candlelit, 2-course gourmet breakfast made with fresh seasonal ingredients.

From the scenic shoreline to the sprawling mountains (and everything in between), it’s hard to find a better getaway for the finicky traveler than North Carolina. If you’d prefer to take a scenic route with something to do, hop into a car a take a ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The towns will be celebrating while the views will be sublime.

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There’s one surefire way to beat the winter chill: Wrapping your hands (and taste buds) around a bowl of warm, savory soup. Sitting down at the table as you take in the smell of herbs and spices wafting from your serving of chicken noodle, beef and vegetable stew or roasted eggplant can make for a satisfying meal.

Do you know where the term “soup” comes from? It was derived from “sop,” a piece of bread that broth was poured over to help create a thick consistency. With the addition of meats, vegetables, potatoes and other ingredients “soup” was born.

New England Clam Chowder

If you’re craving a bowl of rich, flavorful soup, now is the time to serve it up. January is National Soup Month, so throw on your apron and head to the kitchen for a bit of homemade goodness. Here’s a delectable recipe for New England Clam Chowder courtesy of the Blue Bay Inn located in Atlantic Highlands, NJ:

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
3 or 4 cubed potatoes
1 large can or 2 small cans of clam juice
1 ½ cups fat-free Half & Half
1 can of butter-flavored Pam
1/3 to ¼ cup flour
Butter salt

Directions:

Coat the onions and celery with Pam and seat in a pot with a little of the clam juice. (3-5 minutes to translucent). Add clam juice and potatoes and bring to a boil. Spray Pam in bowl (a lot) and add flour to make a rue (base). When the potatoes soften, add Half & Half to a pot and bring almost to a boil. Add some soup to the rue and then add the rue back to the pot. Add butter salt to taste. Serves 5-10.

Looking for some variations? Check out more of our innkeepers’ simmering soup recipes here!

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California Wine Country in the fall is full of good sipping and hearty laughter. It’s the region’s harvest season when the grapes are picked and prepared for fermentation and throngs of revelers head to the wineries to celebrate the season. When winter rolls around, the crowds thin out and the vines go dormant but the festive feeling remains.

Mustard Season gets underway in the Napa Valley beginning in January and ending in March. While the wine is fermenting the vineyards are exploding in a hue of deep yellow as the fields fill up with the blooming mustard flower. Winery tours, tastings and events such as the Napa Valley Mustard Festival, featuring the Mustard, Mud & Music: A Calistoga Jazz Festival, all help to bring Mustard Season to life.

Milliken Creek Inn, Napa Valley, CA

If you’re thinking about a wine country getaway this winter, you might want to check out a Napa Valley bed and breakfast. You can spend the day tasting your way through the local wine trails before heading back to your room for a relaxing massage or cozying up in front of the fireplace with a glass of your newfound varietal. Overlooking the tranquil Napa River and sitting on three acres of lush green, The Milliken Creek Inn has romance on the mind. They combine a luxury wine tour with cave and barrel tastings, not to mention a turn down service that will lavish your room with chocolate-dipped strawberries, rose petals and a split of champagne. Hop on board the Napa Valley Wine Train and take your sipping to go courtesy of the Hennessey House. A gourmet lunch featuring regional selections paired with world-class wines will be served as you take in the breathtaking views along the 25-mile track through Napa Valley.

While fall gets all the attention, winter in Napa Valley holds its own. The long lines and crowded streets give way to a more relaxed, serene setting during the off-season while the vineyards showcase a canopy of rich yellow. This season really cuts the mustard!

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Ten decades…36,500 days (plus a few more thrown in for leap years)…52,594,876 minutes. However you decide to cut it, 100 years is a long time. When this milestone is reached, you just have to say “Well done!”

This year the Gillum House, a bed and breakfast located in Shinnston, WV, reaches the century mark. It was originally built in 1912 and then purchased as a private residence by Troy and Anna Brane Gillum, both business and civic leaders in the area, in 1918 for $2,906.25. The home passed down to their son, Virgil, who sold it to the Harris family in the 1970s where it remained until it was purchased by the current proprietor, Kathleen Panek, in 1994. Gillum House was opened up for stays in 1996.

Gillum House, Shinnston, WV

According to Kathleen, the home had the perfect mix of a sensible floor plan to host guests and a central location close to town and near plenty of activities including the The West Fork River Rail Trail, a 16-mile stretch ideally suited for hiking and bike riding. Over the years they’ve met people new to the area and those who have memories of it as a private residence. “The years the Gillums owned the house they had roomers,” says Kathleen. “A lady in town, who is 96 years old, and her friend Emma shared what is now Rosi’s Room during the war years.”

So what does someone do when their bed and breakfast is celebrating its 100th anniversary? Offer a celebration package, of course. Guests who book a 3-night stay in 2012 will get the third night for $19.12. It’s Kathleen’s way of thanking the many visitors who’ve walked through Gillum House’s front door and shared their own stories with her. “We have hosted many, many wonderful and interesting people, many of whom have become friends,” she said. “Troy’s son, Paul, told us after spending the night in Rosi’s Room in 1996, that he had just spent the night in the room where he was born – in 1919.”

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There’s something about waking up to the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves wafting through the house on a cold winter morning that makes getting up so much easier. You know a hearty bowl of delicious oatmeal topped with apples, cranberries and walnuts is just waiting to warm you up. But, cooking the ground oats into a porridge-style treat isn’t the only way to enjoy it. In fact, the question really should be, “What can’t you do with oatmeal?” Now is the time to find out.

Desert Dove Bed & Breakfast, Tucson, AZ

Take out your steel-cut, crushed or rolled oats and head for the kitchen because January is National Oatmeal Month. If you always sit down with a tried-and-true (but oh-so-tasty) bowl of oatmeal in the morning, try something new. But, maybe you don’t know where to start. That’s okay – let the innkeepers lead the way!

It’s true that oatmeal makes a comforting breakfast companion. So, instead of stirring up a bowl why not grab your griddle? The Prospect Hill Bed & Breakfast located in Mountain City, TN, has a recipe for Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes that will kick your day off sweetly. Or, grease up your baking pan, pre-heat the oven and try The Desert Dove Bed & Breakfast’s recipe for Baked Oatmeal Delight. The Tucson, AZ, inn suggests a side of fresh fruit and a scoop of vanilla yogurt on the side for a healthy measure.

Maybe you’re looking past breakfast towards a decadent midday or evening dessert treat. Sturgeon Bay’s The White Lace Inn offers up a recipe for moist Banana Apple Oatmeal Cookies that might do the trick. If cookies aren’t enough, then you also might want to try the recipe for Oatmeal Butterscotch Blondies courtesy of The Inn at Manchester in Manchester, VT. This gooey goodness will satisfy any sweet tooth!

Whether baked for breakfast or as a post-dinner dessert, oatmeal the ingredient is as versatile as it comes. Sometimes it’s nice to sit down in the morning, though, with just a cup of coffee and a simple bowl of the ground oat cooked with milk or water and mixed with bananas and blueberries. Either way, celebrate National Oatmeal Month by eating some today!

Looking for more oatmeal inspiration? Check out some of the innkeepers’ favorites here.

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Have you ever taken a bite of a warm, just-out-of-the-oven muffin during breakfast at an inn and wished you had baked that deliciousness yourself? Well, thanks to Jim Gunther you just might.

The proprietor of The Inn on First, a bed and breakfast located in Napa, CA, recently released a self-published cooklet (mini-cookbook) called Sweet Beginnings. In it the graduate of the California Culinary Academy dishes out recipes—12 in all—to some of the inn’s most requested breakfast goodies and sweet treats including chocolate chunk cookies, granola and more. He’s even included gluten-free options for most of the recipes.

Cover image of Sweet Beginnings

Here’s a quick Q&A with Jim where he talks about the inspiration behind Sweet Beginnings, his favorite recipe from the cooklet and the importance of having good editors in your corner:

Q. What inspired you to release Sweet Beginnings?

A. I created the cooklet because guests kept asking me for the same recipes over the course of 3 years and I thought I should put them into a collection.

Q. Can you describe your culinary background?

A. I learned much from my mother on how to bake and much of the cooking from the California Culinary Academy (graduated 1994). I only worked in the industry for three-and-a-half years before I left for software (that was where the money was then), and only with a layoff in 2006 did I reconsider how to apply my culinary skills – thus innkeeping.

Q. If you had to pick your favorite recipe from the cooklet, what would it be and why?

A. My favorite recipe is the Date Nut Rolls. I am a nut lover and these are packed with pecans and dates and cinnamon in a cream cheese pastry. Perfect with a cup of joe in the morning for me.

Q. Any funny guest anecdotes related to the release of the cooklet or any of the breakfast pastries?

A. I put the muffin recipe together, published, and 1 year later a guest wrote and said: “You didn’t tell me what to do with the eggs.”  Oh my. There was a line missing.  Somewhere in the cutting and pasting and editing it was deleted. For printed copies, I added labels on the page. Since then I’ve updated [it]. Considering that I had 3 people Q.A. (quality assure) the book specifically on ingredients and usage and order, it was pretty hilarious. And yes, I have found new editors since then.

Moral of the story? Don’t “egg”-nore the details. Thanks Jim!

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