Wednesday, July 22, 2009

FODOR'S CHOICE

We are thrilled to have been named a FODOR’S CHOICE 2009 establishment! For over 70 years, FODOR’s has published a range of premium travel guides. Each year their writers choose an exclusive list of restaurants, hotels and attractions. Please visit: www.fodors.com/fodorschoice

Goodbye Charley!


On a sad note, we lost Charley, our English retriever suddenly at the beginning of this week.
He was our friend for the last ten years. We miss him very much and will love him forever.

Congrats Jane and Jeff





































Congratulations to Jane Hamilton and Jeff Eaton who were married at Arowhon Pines on Friday, July 10th. As usual the weather was spot on and provided for an amazing outdoor barbecue lunch followed by an intimate ceremony by the lake with their family and friends.
We liked their idea of lighting the way to the bonfire with small tea lights in paper bags – it worked brilliantly! After the celebrations at Arowhon, the whole group left for Carleton Place for another party! Congratulations and all the best with your new life together. We know that you will stay in touch. We will be posting some of our pictures from the weekend soon.

THINKING OUT LOUD

Sometimes we forget how lucky we are to live and work in the middle of Algonquin Park.

At dinner the other night some guests were lamenting the fact that this was their “last dinner’. Just that afternoon a family was returning to their cabin after their “last sail”. It’s so nice to hear when guests are sad to leave.

So today, instead of having a nap between shifts, I think I’ll take a kayak out on the lake!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

CONGRATS DEIRDRE AND STEVE

Congratulations to Deirdre Crampton and Steve Mitchell who were married at Arowhon Pines this past weekend (June 27-28). They, their lovely family and friends took over the whole resort for the weekend.

Deirdre and Steve met when they represented Canada and the UK as part of their respective country’s sailing team at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Guests flew in for the wedding from Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, the USA and the Isle of Wight to attend the festivities. Despite a gloomy weather forecast, the clouds parted for the whole day on Saturday (keeping alive our “outdoor wedding” streak). Guests sailed, swam in the lake, played tennis, feasted on a barbecue lunch and relaxed on the dock. The sit down ceremony was held by the canoes at the lake, followed by a cocktail party on the verandah, dinner and speeches in the dining room, and a party to the wee hours!

We’ve been talking back and forth to Deirdre and Steve for over a year planning their wedding, and we will miss them! We do wish them all the best in their lives together. A big thank you to Mr & Mrs Crampton and Mr & Mrs Mitchell as well.

Deirdre and Steve have put together a fabulous website that documents everything from their engagement onwards - with lots of photos. They gave us permission to pass it along to you: www.gettinghitchedinthewoods.com.

Chef's Blog July 4th, 2009

We had our first barbecue of the season for Deirdre and Steve’s wedding! The kitchen loves barbecues - although more labour intensive (logistically speaking), we get to spend time in the sun and meet guests!

At last, the local Muskoka strawberries are in! A cool wet spring delayed their arrival until just today. We’ll be making strawberry/rhubarb jam this week! We made a batch of pear jam last week and were delighted with the results. Please note that pears have to be perfectly ripe for the flavour to come through in the jam; if under ripe, you get a sweet paste mess!

The herb garden is starting to look like summer. Everything is sprouting - tatsoi, arugula, our organic lettuces, lemon balm and lemon grass, mint and sorrel. You will find all of these in our summer salads.

The lavender patch is only a few days away from flowering. We use the flowers to make a lovely Muskoka honey and lavender ice cream. They also form part of the apple, rhubarb, and lavender sauce for the pickerel on Monday nights. We’ll have a bumper crop this year.

Our gardens help make it real for our cooks, some of whom have never followed a seasonal progression of products as they grow. This is very exciting for me and our team – to be able to make subtle changes to everything we do that is directly related to what's in the ground at the moment!

That’s it for today!

David Cooke
ALGONQUIN BOUND CANOE GUIDES

We’re happy when guests share their experiences with us. We received a nice letter from a couple recommending Algonquin Bound canoe guides and services.

‘I just wanted to mention that we took a guided canoe trip whilst we were there which was one of the highlights of our holiday and so wanted to recommend it so you could suggest it to others. Arowhon Pines did suggest a couple of other canoe companies before we left the UK but they (the ones that were suggested) were not particularly helpful and took a while to respond to us so I thought other guests may appreciate our recommendation. By contrast the company we selected responded promptly and were able to organise everything over the internet, a bonus as we came from the UK. Algonquin Bound were also able to come to meet us at Arowhon Pines and guide us from your lake, which was imperative for us as we did not have a car and it was also great to tour the area around the resort. Their guide, Jeremy, was excellent with us as complete beginners to canoeing and provided a memorable day, including managing to spot moose from a great distance so that we could paddle up closer!’

Congratulations to Algonquin Bound on a job well done! Check out their website here: www.algonquinbound.com.