Friday, February 13, 2009

A star is born!


I have had one of the busiest weeks ever! As an innkeeper our weeks are a little different I consider my Monday and Tuesday or Tuesday and Wednesday as my weekend since we work on Saturday and Sunday.
There are many advantages to this. First of all there are never any lines at the stores or the theater and Tuesday is always half price at the cinema! Restaurants are never very busy and the Chef is usually in the kitchen on Tuesday's and Wednesday's and since we are so close to Montreal, the produce, fish and meat are always fresh.
So let me tell you about my crazy week as the Mad Innkeeper!
Last Wednesday I had a photo shoot at the Inn that started at 7h00 am and finished at 7h00 pm. We did food, the stables and horses, the maple sugar shack, the deer and last but not least me the Innkeeper. This was for a magazine called VITA which is the french version of MORE magazine. I was selected as one of the featured women. They usually have a local and an international women that they interview. I was the Local face of the month of April which means the magazine will be on the stands in March.
This first hand experience certainly made me realise what a tough job modeling is. I had a great Australian photographer named Angus McRitchie who made me feel sooo comfortable. He was so good he did not even spook the horses when he did his close ups. The only thing I refused him was his idea of getting me on one of them. Our horses are Percheron's and used for sleigh or carriage rides.
Thursday I was busy taking orders from grocery stores for our maple syrup. Since Maple syrup is produced in the spring time the inventories are low everywhere. The Federation of maple producers used to have an inventory of one years worth of syrup in a warehouse but last year everything was sold due a much smaller crop than usual. Now there are only a very few producers that have syrup for sale. We are one of them since we decided to keep last years crop of 1,600 gallons (4 liters). A can of maple syrup sells for 7$ now and at the grocery store in Quebec it sells for 9$ or more. I also tried and tested a maple syrup recipe that I posted on my blog.
Friday was errand day, running around, getting the spa water (we have an outdoor heated spa and even in -20 weather our Quebec clients love to go sit in it and watch the deer feed) tested and treated.
Saturday I was booked solid with potential wedding customers from 9h00 to 5h00 and booked 4 weddings.
Sunday we had a very busy brunch with a sleigh ride and more wedding customers. I ran out of the inn at 6h15 pm since I had a dinner planned at 7h00 in Montreal with my fellow innkeepers. I am president of Quebec Resorts and Country inns which makes me a very busy innkeeper in more ways than one!
I stayed at the Hilton Bonaventure Sunday and Monday night so I could attend the Hotel suppliers show as well as all kinds of other events. My fellow innkeepers and myself met for breakfast, had a marketing meeting Monday morning and visited the show in the afternoon. Monday evening we had the Quebec Hotel Association's yearly Gala where I had dinner with the Tourism minister and the president of the Canadian Hotel association as well the Provincial president who is a good friend of mine. Tuesday we had meetings all day. I decided to call it quits at 3h30 to avoid the Montreal Traffic and found myself searching for my car in the underground parking lot for over half an hour! After three days I could no longer remember where I had parked!!!
Wednesday I had organised a birthday party at the Inn for one of my dear Yaya's and then a meeting with my staff to prepare for one of the biggest weekends of the year for Innkeepers...Valentines day!
So have you noticed that we are now Friday 10 days later and I did not mention anything about the actual inn and Innkeeping??? After 27 years and all the paper work, I can go weeks without being present and greeting the guests. It is kind of sad when you think of it.

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Saturday, February 7, 2009

Ou trouver le sirop de l'Érable des Gallant...

Il semble que les épiceries soient en rupture de stock de sirop d'érable. J'ai eu plusieurs demandes pour savoir ou on peut se procurer le sirop d'érable de la Sucrerie des Gallant. Voici le nom des épiciers qui vendent notre sirop d'érable.

Marché Poirier IGA à Hudson et St Lazare

Metro Cloutier à Rigaud

Metro Fordham à St-Zotique

Marché IGA Pilon sur la rue Mgr Langlois à Valleyfield

Auberge des Gallant à Ste-Marthe

Nous avons encore environs 500 gallons de sirop d'érable disponibles et nous devrions être en production pour le sirop de l'année dans 4 à 6 semaines.

L'ouverture de notre cabane à sucre se fera le 28 février prochain et ce jusqu'au 26 avril. Je vous suggère de faire vos réservations de groupes bientôt!

Au plaisir de vous revoir!

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Friday, February 6, 2009

Tarte au sirop d'érable des Gallant



J'ai eu la visite de Jean Airoldie il y a deux semaines. Il est venu acheter quatre tartes au sucre.
Il a gouté à nos tartes lorsque je fut invité à Salut Bonjour l'an passé et encore lorsque je suis passé à l'émission de Clodine. Depuis il dit que nos tartes sont les meilleurs!

Eh bien, après plusieurs demande des spectateurs et de nos clients, je suis prête à vous laisser être juges. je vous met au défi de faire une tarte au sucre aussi bonne que la notre.

Voici notre recette qui est très simple à faire.
Tarte au sirop d'érable des Gallant
Ingrédients pour une tarte
  • une tasse de sirop d'érable médium ou ambré(bien sur si vous avez du sirop de la Sucrerie des Gallant vous ne manquerez pas votre coup!)
  • 1/2 tasse de sucre brun
  • 3/4 tasse de lait carnation 2%
  • 2 oeufs

Méthode

  • chauffez le four à 350 degrés
  • mélangez le tout à la main avec un fouet car vous aurez beaucoup de mousse si vous utilisez un malexeur.
  • versez le liquide dans une pâte à tarte non cuite
  • cuire au four 45 minutes
  • retirez du four mais faite attention car la tarte sera encore liquide au centre. elle continura à cuire tout doucement et vous donnera une texture de velour.

servir avec un filet de sirop d'érable et de la crème fouettée ou glacée. Un vrai délice!

le secret du chef; bien mélanger les ingrédients pour ne pas avoir de grumeaux et pas trop de mousse. bien remplir votre pâte à tarte le plus possible. respecter le temp de cuisson de 45 minutes même si vous avez des doutes sur la cuisson. Vous ne voulez pas que le sirop tourne en sucre!

J'attend vos commentaires!

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What a vacation!


You may not be able to see this very well but believe it or not twice during our vacation at the Valentine Imperial in the Riviera Maya, Mexico, the security guards were called to our hotel to remove an alligator. I do not know about you but I stayed out of the pool!
This vacation was one to remember and this is not always a "good thing". First of all you heard about my crazy flight to catch the plane one day before I thought we were leaving (if not check out my previous blog), then it rained for two days...it never rains in Mexico...well then there was this problem of an alligator who figured there was more to eat in the pool than in the lagoon, then I became ill with Tourista or whatever you want to call it and to top it all off I thought we were leaving on Thursday but it was the Wednesday!
About the hotel...It was OK but nothing like the Grand Vélas. They brag about being a five star which is a bit of a stretch. a good 4 star maybe. They have a few kinks to fix even after one full year of operations. It is the typical 425 room Spanish run hotel where you have to get up before sunrise to reserve a palapas for shade on the beach. I am still trying to figure out why only 48 of them for 425 rooms??? People were actually fighting and laying claim to the shade between the huts!
About our return trip home...
Once home we found out that Steven our youngest son had been in a motorcycle accident in the Dominican Republic and had suffered a fractured skull, clavicle and compound fracture of the hand. He returned to Montreal the day after we left on vacation.
Everyone decided to keep the information from us since we would probably have cancelled our trip. Since he was not in any danger and everything was under control...(we are fortunate to have had friends who winter where the boys were vacationing and who took care of all the details for Steven) it was the best thing for us since we were having enough stress already just trying to enjoy our own vacation!
well now we are back and I think I need another vacation some time soon. I am wondering if age has anything to do with how I feel but I am finding vacations are alot of work!

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