It's a glamorous life, this food thingy.  It's all champagne and unexpected phone calls from editors at Bon Appetit magazine and offers from the Food Network and everything you cook is perfect every single time. 

Not.  The reality is quite different from the fantasy.  Not bad, just different.

Truth be told, creating new recipes or even putting a fresh spin on an old favorite requires, at times, a considerable amount of experimentation to get to a flawless result.

Like anything else in life, be it art or love or music or sport; to get really good at something requires practice, a measure of trial and error and learning from our mistakes.

Yesterday I began a cake.   This is a cake I spent the entire summer of 2008 perfecting, jigging and rejigging. 

Past staff members at the Dragonfly Inn can attest to the many stages of its development;  from dry and pale, to overly moist and too sweet, to too gooey (with added chocolate bits) until finally I found a balance that is a rich, moist cake, so dense that it crumbles under your fork  and a smooth, under-sweet frosting, that thrills the sweet tooth of a mature palate.

That was before a bit of culinary EDU and now I look at my recipe and think:

"Knowing what I know now, how can I take it up a notch?" 

Which means moving back to the 'great ideas in desserts' file and shifting the recipe once again.

Like all good things... this takes a bit of time.  I truly LOVE to bake, it is the science of the culinary arts.  Unlike cuisine, pastry is exact and one little error can create disaster in the kitchen.

Sugar is a much more demanding mistress than salt.

Salt will forgive, salt will dilute, salt has much more flexible boundaries.  Not sugar.  Her properties are exact and rigid. Know them and work within them and you can create a masterpiece. Ignore them, and --- catastrophe.

Let us not cast dispersions on salt, for with salt there is FIRE.   Salt & I have had our share of disasters.  Some you hear about and some you don't, or haven't, yet.

Case in point: the rib recipe that I've been perfecting since February, not just in favour but in technique, for 'wow' results.  I've batched the sauce six times, alternately steamed, boiled, and brined the ribs to prep for the grill.

They have been (at various stages); tough, tasteless, too salty and good but not great.  The notes run on to six pages, now I think I have it.  We will know for sure next week if they pass the Chef B test.

They don't call me "Princess Rib-Curry" for nothing!

Gypsy Ribs - Version III. Good but not great; meat was dry and the sauce lacked brightness. Back to the kitchen it goes.

Or the apricot chutney recipe, which (despite proportions being correct) was far too acidic. One may have been a bit heavy handed with the currents, rustling in a condiment that was too strong on the 'pucker power' and whose aesthetic resembled a beautiful amber base, with addition of mouse turds.

Not really what I was going for.  So --- adjust and re-test and until it is JUST RIGHT --- keep it in the kitchen.

Indian Pork & Apricot Chutney Sandwich - Version 1. Close by no cigar... back to the kitchen it goes.

Salt demands immediacy and response.  Sugar demands patience and timing.

Thus the reason I never rush a cake.  Sugar does not like to be rushed.  She likes to take her time.  She commands respect and discipline and in exchange she brings divine pleasure to your life.

It is worth acknowledging that we are half-way to where we want to be.  It keeps us moving forward to our final destination.

The final results will be ready this afternoon, appropriately adjudicated by a willing test subject, then lovingly transcribed for readers.  Prepare yourselves for Double Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cake, tomorrow. 

Pure pleasure in chocolate form, from the Gypsy Kitchen.  Unless of course --- I get spanked by sugar.

Double Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cake - just the cake. Sugar, you Divine Goddess you...

Craving fiber. No idea why.

Surely a diet consisting mainly of butter and salt attached to protein molecules and combined in a favorable way with the occasional carbohydrate is very, very good for one’s colon (welcome to classical French cooking)!

But… just in case. We have a secret weapon.  Nutty-Buddy Bran Muffins.

The first time I read the recipe that lead to the one you see here, I turned my nose up and walked away. The first ingredient is ‘Raisin Bran Cereal’. Who does that? Rachel Ray maybe, but not me.  I also do not start a sauce with ketchup.  It’s the principle of the thing.

One can be very high on one’s principles, until one day in the midst of service for a full house at the Dragonfly Inn – one runs out of bran.

So letting go of the food snobbery for a teeny-tiny moment I said “just this once…” and made ‘Raisin Bran’ muffins.  Huge hit with guests and soon I made it my own.

Packed with yummy deliciousness: Pumpkin seeds.  Flax.  Pecans . Almonds.  Dried apricots.  Dates. They are my ‘power muffins’, even kids love them.

By special request for a certain past guest (Hey Miss Sarah)… almost hate to tell you how easy they are because for years now I’ve had you thinking I was SLAVING away for HOURS.  When really I whip them up in minutes and spend the other hour and a half on Facebook.

There, I’ve outed myself. I take short cuts… and love Facebook.

Here you go.  Be regular!

The basics... take it easy, don't work so hard.

Nutty-Buddy Bran Muffins

INGREDIENTS:
• 2 Cups Raisin Bran Cereal
• 1 Cup Milk
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 Cup Melted Butter
• 1 TeaspoonVanilla
• 1 Cup Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Baking Power
• 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• ½ Teaspoon Salt

EXTRAS… Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, nuts, coconut, dates, dried cranberries or apricots… whatever you like.

METHOD:

• Mix raisin bran and milk in large bowl.
• Add egg, vanilla & melted butter, fold in.
• Add dry ingredients – fold into wet until just mixed.  Batter should be lumpy and moist.

• Bake at 400* for 20 – 25 minutes.  Until golden brown.
• Makes 6 – 12 muffins

• Do not over mix – makes for tough muffins.
• Hiking or traveling? Omit baking power for ‘power muffins’… dense little cakes that hold together well and can take a beating!

Gypsy Note: Had some buttermilk that needed some respect in the fridge.  Love the tang it gives baked goods.  If you modify to include buttermilk increase the measurement  to 1 & 1/3 cups.

Today's version... removed the raisins from the raisin bran (by request) and added dried cranberries & apricots, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and flax. Now, that... is love.

May in Nova Scotia, a welcome relief from the heat of Mexico, the Yucatan was baking in 35*, arriving at the  Halifax airport, at 15* there was a very decided need for a sweater.  A month ago the Annapolis Valley was grey and dry and now it is a thousand shades of green.  Spring has arrived without me.   

Back.  Back to dogs and items of business, both old and new and solutions to effect for equipment and stuff... what to do with one’s stuff?  Decisions.   

Let it never be said that being a grown up is all fun and games.  With the responsibilities we take on there come times when we must make very uncomfortable choices.    We know they are the ‘right’ choices... but there lingers for a time a deep sadness and doubt before moving on to acceptance.  

Business to close.  Facts and figures and sums and payments.  Business to open.  Design and layout and hosting and format.  Experts do their job, you do yours.  All very cut and dried.  Easy. What is the right time to say goodbye to a good and trusted, loyal friend?  That is hard.  Where is there advice on that?  

How do you choose a day for them to depart knowing that they are in pain?   A question every pet owner knows they may face someday.   For the last seven years I have been the leader of a pack of three; a sassy bulldog, Magnus (Mags), and my sweet little girl, a West Highland Terrier named Zoë.  At the Dragonfly we all had jobs, including the dogs, Magnus our concierge and Zoë , head of security.  Now, we must all find new vocations.  

Mags arrived seven years ago, when he was three.  He had horrible manners.   He bacame mine by defalut when the man who brought him into my life, left abruptly. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with Magnus” he said and I said “Oh, I don’t think you understand what’s going on here....”   I love that dog.  Now he runs the joint, cries for gravy, loves a good shoe.  He’s all boy.  

My little dog, 16 years old, was with me from a pup.  We’ve been through a lot together.  Roommates.  Boyfriends.  Jobs.  No jobs.  Moves.  Sha has been my constant companion and champion and every night at 5o’clock we walked.  Every night.  Until recently.   

Liver cancer.   

It wasn’t fast.  In fact, it was very slow.  She would have long periods of remission, being bouncy and happy but each time  it returned the pain got more intense and this winter we began a pain journal for Miss Zoza.  The bad days far outnumbered the good by spring.  It was time to let her go.   

We spent a week making it the very best week we could, there were countless bowls of ice cream and sherbet and a little puppy party with all of her favorite people and dogs and then I had to hold true to one of the most heart wrenching decisions I have ever had to make --- and put my dog down.      

I know it was right but it still hurts like hell.  I miss her little face.  

There was this space in my life previously filled, now, suddenly empty.  Her little bed beside my desk, which he now thinks is his.  

The best thing about dogs - the reason so many of us seek them as companions in life - they live in the moment.  So while I grieved a loss of the white fur-ball that slept on the foot of the bed for 16 years, the bulldog moved on and to keep up, so did I.   

We kept only or memories and the most precious things about her and let everything else go.  

Now we are a pack of two and this leader has no idea where home is next; so it’s off to Camp Grandma’s for the boy... where there’s a big garden to run in and puppy pools to paddle in and bouncing big dogs to run with and snacks in the shade.   

While I go off in search of 'home'... wherever that may be.

Whoever looked at the cave floor and thought "dang, we should set this thing on a box off the floor, make it soft and warm, with 600 thread count sheets and down duvets (and many pillows), this sleeping on the floor thing is not for me" - is my hero.  They were on to something. 

I love a good bed.  Comfortable and sufficiently decadent.  A place to slip into one’s jammies and snuggle under the covers with a guilty read, until your eyes cross & blur.

There is a time, as you are drifting off, between this world and the world of your dreams; it’s my favorite part of a good night’s sleep.  The feeling of floating… water… air… stillness… breath.

Over my years at the Dragonfly Inn I became something of an expert on beds.  The soundness of a mattress, the loft of a feather bed and the art of lulling strangers to sleep.  It’s surprising how many people don’t get a good night’s sleep, there is a sense of ‘well-being’ that you can only get from real sleep.  Deep sleep.  The kind of sleep where you dream.   Everyone needs to dream.

In my first year as an Innkeeper I began a tradition that became the hallmark of the bed & breakfast – bedside cookies.  While guests were out enjoying the evening, I would slip into their room with a plate of warm oatmeal cookies, straight from the oven.

Those cookies filled the room with warmth… soft brown sugar, fragrant vanilla, sweet raisins, buttery pine nuts,  semi-sweet chocolate, and real butter.  It was my final touch to a setting created for the "soul"  purpose of dreaming. 

Worked like a charm.  My most requested recipe from the files of the Dragonfly Inn, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia (and my signature cookie).  Dragonfly Oatmeal Cookies.

Sleep well and may your dreams be… sweet.

Dragonfly Oatmeal Cookies - Recipe

¾ cup butter

¾ cup brown sugar

½ cup sugar

¼ cup plain, unsweetened yogart

2 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups oatmeal

½ cup raisins

¼ cup pine nuts

½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350° F (180°C)

Prep a cookie sheet, greased or non-stick

• In a large bowl, cream together butter & sugars until smooth.
• Add egg, water & vanilla and beat until light & fluffy.
• Add flour, baking soda & cinnamon, beat until blended.
• Stir in oatmeal, 1 cup at a time until mixed.  Add raisins, pine nuts & chocolate chips

Drop by (large) spoonful onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350* for 12 – 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

• Do not over bake.  Cookies should still be soft when removed from the oven.

Makes about 18 “Dragonfly” sized cookies.

Consume warm, with milk.  Dream Big.

This is perhaps my most frequently used recipe.  It’s easy, versatile, and provided you don’t forget anything (it can happen to the best of us) they’ll be picture perfect every time.

In this recipe we use blueberries and cranberries but you can substitute any fruit you wish.  The addition of the yogurt makes it moist and lends a slightly sharper flavor with a generous dusting of sugar and nutmeg it is – simply - my favorite muffin.

There are very few ‘original’ muffin recipes.  Each one is a shade of another and as a baked item they’re far from complicated.

There are rules however…

Mix muffins in a metal bowl.  It helps the leavening agent to activate.

Mix dry indigents (flour, baking powder, sugar, salt) first, then add your wet ingredients (butter, milk, eggs).  This will ensure all the ingredients mix well with little effort.

Mix less.  Muffins are not bread, there’s no need to knead, beat or whip them.  They prefer a lighter touch.  Mix until just moist.  It’s not necessary to bash every last lump out of the batter.  In fact, you want the batter lumpy.

The best baking tip I’ve ever received “a lumpy batter makes a smooth cake”.  Muffins are essentially small cakes.

A tender hand makes a tender muffin.  Gosh, that sounds so Zen.

Dragonfly Double Berry Muffin Recipe 

2 Cups  Flour

1/4 Cup Sugar

2 Tablespoons Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup Milk

½ Cup Plain Yogurt

2 Eggs

1/4 Cup Melted Butter

1/3 Cup Blueberries

1/3 Cup Cranberries

Sprinkle light dusting of course sugar mixed with nutmeg on top, before baking.

Preheat oven to 400° F (200°C)

Prep 12- cup muffin tin, greased or lined with paper

Method:

1. Mix the dry ingredients together, add milk, eggs and butter.
2. Mix lightly (fold 3 or 4 times), with batter still slightly dry, add fruit.
3. Turn lightly to combine until moist.  DO NOT OVER MIX (this makes for tough muffins).

Fill muffin tins/cups 3/4 full; finish with sugar or herbs (makes 8 - 12 muffins depending on size).

Place rack in one notch higher than center in oven.  Bake in a preheated 400* oven for 15 - 20 minutes.

Or... skip the cranberries and double the blueberries and… Blueberry Muffins!  Enjoy.

I once had a house… a big red house.  Something simple… ten bedrooms… twelve bathrooms.  Perfect… for well, just little ol’ me.  

I once had a house… pretty much painted the whole thing… in four months (I had help).   80% I’d say.  It was a loooong way up. 

 I once had a house… to sleep 26.  Perfect for dinner parties.  

 I once had a house… and it once had me.  Now it moves on and I am  reminded… of my title: “innKEEPER”.  Mine for a time.  Loved by me, greatly.  Made better by sweat. 

 I once had a house… it made me better too.  Better cook.  Better gardener.  Better life.  

 I once had a house…  I called home.  Also called “Dragonfly Inn”.  One last look around at empty rooms… the echo of friends around the dining room table… laughter in the kitchen… before being filled (once again) with the lives of others.  

I once had a house… and will have one again, soon,  a fresh start.  Home again. (Of course the new place will have its own yoga studio too, I have my standards!) 

Let the journey begin.