Our B&B’s moment of fame

Posted on by

Life at a bed and breakfast isn’t exactly the celebrity spotlight, though on occasion we are interviewed for stories or rub elbows with those who rub elbows with the rich and famous. When publicity calls, we like to answer.

Go magazine, the in-flight magazine for AirTran Airways, is doing an article for the July edition on Asheville, and wants to give our huge bed and breakfast community some recognition in the article. Their representative called me to see if we had any photos of Inn on Main Street bed and breakfast guests enjoying the atmosphere at a local B&B. I sent out a message to all the members of the Asheville Bed and Breakfast Association to see if they could pitch in, then went looking through my own files. Unfortunately, dozens of photos of happy guests disappeared into the void when our computer crashed earlier this year.

Lucky for us, we had a lovely couple staying with us at the time, Bette and Tom Werlin of Houston. They are great sports and agreed to let us shoot them (they aren’t THAT great of sports; we shot them with a camera) for the article. We’re hoping they and we will share a month of celebrity if the photo appears in the magazine. In the meantime, their looks  are too good to waste, so here’s their photo, taken as Nancy poured their juice:

We are hoping the AirTran article succeeds in bringing more folks from Texas and elsewhere to Weaverville and Asheville. So much of what has been written about our area is so two-dimensional, focusing only on the Biltmore Estate and Grove Park Inn. Both are treasures that help make our area exceptional, of course, but the culture, diversity and natural beauty of our area don’t seem to get their due. And, of course, nether does the fact that the Asheville area is a B&B destination. If you want to understand the complexity of what our region offers, and you want an inside track on the best things to see and do, it helps to stay with someone who is a part of the community.

Many of our guests are good sports, and many have become friends. We look forward to meeting many more as nice as the Werlins.

Bed and breakfast cookbook is on the menu

Posted on by

We at Inn on Main Street in Weaverville and our comrades in the Asheville Bed and Breakfast Association are gathering the final ingredients for our first Asheville Bed and Breakfast Association cookbook. It’s going to have more than 200 recipes, and retail for $15 to $18.

As you might expect, many are breakfast recipes, but we’ve also added several supper entrees and side dishes, salads and appetizers. We’re particularly happy that several recipes address folks with special diets. Though most of our guests are very happy with what we serve and how we serve it, we have a few who are vegan, diabetic, gluten- or lactose-intolerant, or allergic to a common item. In those cases, we try to adapt what everyone else is having to meet that person’s restrictions. Usually it’s a matter of mixing all the muffin batter, for example, except the eggs and buttermilk, then scoop out enough for a couple muffins to be made with soy milk for a vegan. As an example (and one that won’t be in the cookbook), check out our sweet potato muffin recipe below.

Sweet Potato Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup brown sugar

1 medium to large sweet potato, peeled and grated

1 tsp each baking soda, baking powder and vanilla

3 tbsp molasses

1/2 tsp each ground cloves and nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

2-1/2 cups white flour

For vegans, substitute soy milk for buttermilk and an egg. For diabetics, leave out brown sugar and molasses. For gluten free, substitute brown rice flour for white flour.

Mix oil, sugar, egg and buttermilk with grated sweet potato. Add remaining ingredients and mix just enough to reach a uniform consistency, which should be midway between pancake and cookie batter. Overmixing makes the muffins tough. Spray oil into a 12-muffin pan, and spoon batter up to top of cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until tops brown slightly. Makes 12 muffins.