Maple Scones,Coffee, Gifts, Happy New Year!

I've mentioned these delectable delights before but it must me mentioned again. There's nothing like a freshly baked maple scone and a cup of St. Lawrence Valley Roasters coffee for breakfast. The coffee site is still under construction. It's a long story....but if you see something you'd like or need a list of what's available you can call or email. Tim will be happy to help you out. We've prepared and mailed several gift baskets and many pounds of coffee over the holiday season. Soon there will be a brand new upgraded, updated, website so that our customers can buy our coffee any time, anywhere! So, be looking for that.


North Fork Gifts is also becoming busier and busier. As the gift basket maker and crafter, Lisa has been making many hand made soy wax candles, soaps, lotions, scrubs and such. Her website is also a work in progress but you can purchase via http://www.northforkgifts.com/ or on etsy or art fire where she also has shops. The same goes....if there's something you'd like that you can't seem get the website to help you with, send an email and Lisa will be happy to help you out. Don't forget that I do custom orders too. http://www.northforkgifts.etsy.com/ http://www.northforkgifts.artfire.com/ As things progress I will be updating everyone so please do come back and check us out.

I will also take this time to thank everyone who has stayed at North Fork B&B, purchased our coffee and or gifts. We look forward to an even more productive year in 2011. Happy New Year!



http://www.northforkbandb.net/ " The place where everyone feels at home."



Maple Sugar Scones

3 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup granulated maple sugar

8 tablespoons very cold butter

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1 large egg

2 Tbls. maple syrup to spread on scones before baking

Maple crunchies OR granulated maple sugar (either may be sprinkled on scones before baking)

Combine all the dry ingredients and wisk together. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, maple syrup and buttermilk and mix together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until the dough is shaggy. Place shaggy dough on a lightly floured board and knead 5-6 times. Form into a ball and flatten to about 1 inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Place the wedges on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush each with maple syrup and then sprinkle each with maple crunchies.Bake at 400 degrees on center rack of oven for 18 min. or until a toothpick

North Fork Bed and Breakfast

North Fork B&B has been busy! We have had wonderful guests. It's always fun to meet new people. We've had people from Washington State, Minnesota and Mass. In addition to the B&B the gift shop has had orders as well. All very exciting! With all of this, I have also started back to work which is the reason why my blog has been neglected. I apologize! I am going to try to get back to writing. I can't believe it's October! The time has gone by so fast that I can hardly believe it. All of this being said, I'm going to have some new products to post very shortly. I'm going to be making large wood wick and regular wick candles. I'm showing some of the candles I have. These new candles will be right in time for the gift giving season. Some fall fragrances....and some winter and Christmas.....take a look at some of the ones that are currently available.

This is a 16 oz. Peppermint Soy                                   This is  Christmas Cookie
Wax Wood Wick Candle                                              16 oz. Soy Wax Wood Wick
                                                                                 Candle

                                

Hot Apple Pie Soy wax candle in a tin just posted on www.northforkgifts.com Ask us about our candle fund raisers

www.northforkgifts.com has new products! Dried flower wreath, pressed flower candles, hand painted candle...

Beautiful Dried Flower Wreath just posted on www.northforkgifts.com check the products page under the dried flower category.

Just listed 3 new lip balms under bath and body category on www.northforkgifts.com you can find them on the porducts pg.

Maple Scones Recipe

A while back I had said that I was going to post my maple scones recipe. I have yet to do it. Between the crash of my computer some weeks ago and the current weather situation, completion of projects has been slow. The internet connection keeps coming and going and I'm not able to find my B&B website anywhere so I haven't been able to post the recipe. I'm going to put my maple sugar scone recipe right here so everyone can see it and hopefully try making them. If you need granulated maple sugar you can get it from the Orebed Maple Sugar Shack. These scones are delicious! Enjoy.....

Maple Sugar Scones
3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated maple sugar
8 tablespoons very cold butter
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 large egg
2 Tbls. maple syrup to spread on scones before baking
Maple crunchies OR granulated maple sugar (either may be sprinkled on scones before baking)
Combine all the dry ingredients and wisk together. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, maple syrup and buttermilk and mix together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until the dough is shaggy.  Place shaggy dough on a lightly floured board and knead 5-6 times. Form into a ball and flatten to about 1 inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Place the wedges on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush each with maple syrup and then sprinkle each with maple crunchies.Bake at 400 degrees on center rack of oven for 18 min. or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

New Recipe posted on the recipe page. You can find it at northforkbandb.wordpress.com french breakfast muffins. Check them out!

Just put the blueberry scone recipe on the recipe page of our blog. Check it out at www.northforkbandb.wordpress.com They are very tasty!

Just put the new bird feeder and lighthouse bird houses on www.northforkgifts.com blog Check them out!

Maple Sugar Scones

North Fork Bed and Breakfast has been serving Maple Sugar Scones for breakfast on occasion and they are delicious! We're lucky to be able to get our Maple products locally from the Orebed Maple Sugar Shack. This week we've been serving Costa Rican L'Amastad and Dark Star Blend coffees to our guests. Yesterday Tim gave our guests a tour of the coffee roastery. This morning's breakfast is our very famous strata which can be found soon on our website recipe page.

The Re-enactment in Ogdensburg,NY

We had a very busy weekend during the re-enactment which took place at Fort La Presentation on Lighthouse Point in Ogdensburg, NY. We had guests that were re-enactors, re-enactment watchers and even a family attending to be part of the weekend but not actual re-enactors.  It was great fun to hear all about the weekend.

While all of that was going on Tim and I were at the market. Many of the re-enactors came by in the morning to purchase goods to take back to camp and prepare meals over an open fire. Many bought coffee and were very happy to be going back to prepare coffee made from freshly roasted beans from St. Lawrence Valley Roasters.

When we go to the market, I usually bring baked goods from Baker Road Bakery to have on hand and occasionally I bring some things from North Fork Gifts. This time I did bring some of the new bird houses and bird feeders. I'm very excited about them and the lighthouse theme was completely appropriate for this weekend in particular. Here are some of the baked goods. The red and white Lighthouse is sold.

Here's a picture of a couple of the Lighthouse bird houses and feeders. I love the stone one myself. They all have their own personality and are each uniquely created to be one of a kind.

This morning I'm going to be working on messenger bags made from the burlap coffee bags. When I have some done, I'll share them so you can see what they look like. I hope to also get the bird feeders and houses uploaded to North Fork Gifts, Etsy and Art Fire. So please do check back later to see what has developed. Right now I'm off to work!

Baking and creating.....

Yesterday I made maple scones, blueberry muffins,chocolate chip squares and shortbread cookies for the SLU cafe. They were delivered this morning. I have an order for a dozen muffins for Saturday when we go to the farmer's market. It's been warm, really warm here but I'm not complaining. After 3 summers in a row where all it did was rain AND it was really chilly, I'm happy to have a summer that's more "normal" if there is such a thing. Everything is running about a month ahead. The golden rod is already out and so are the black-eyed susans and the queen ann's lace. Very unusual, kinda makes one wonder what the winter will be like. Here are some pictures of those baked goods. Enjoy.....

 Now it's off to tackle the front porch. Wish me luck!

Check out my upcycled coffee totes made from burlap coffee bags! http://ping.fm/54P0k Fork Gifts

Coffee Totes! Check them out. One up and more to follow. Upcycled large totes made from coffee bags. www.northforkgifts.etsy.com

Introducing some really awesome new products!

I have been very busy and I'm very excited to introduce some new products for the gift shop and my etsy shop. I've been making upcycled tote bags from the burlap coffee bags. It's great fun and I think people will enjoy using them. Each bag is lined. Some have coffee themed material, some have calico,some canvas. All are uniquely designed. These bags can be used for the farmer's market, grocery shopping, the beach, the boat, for your knitting, as a diaper bag or for anything you need to take from one place to another. I was able to carry most of my display for the market last week in one bag. Each bag has a set of woven handles. I'm in the process of designing handles from the bags as well. These should be on the gift shop web site soon. They should be on etsy today so check them out! I'm putting one in here so you can see what they look like. More will follow...

Just made ooey gooey amazing brownies for the farmer's market tomorrow! Baker Road Bakery brownies are yummy!!

A very special thank you to Rebecca! Thank you, thank you!!!

I'm having huge computer difficulties so please be patient with me as I struggle to figure things out! Thank you!

Just put new soaps in my etsy shop http://ping.fm/Podip check it out!

Ah...the aroma! tasty chocolate chip cookies yum!

Just about to begin a batch of cookies www.northforkbandb.wordpress.com

Heuvelton Marching Band

The Heuvelton Marching Band is trying to secure a grant for new uniforms. If you could vote daily for them that would be great! I have included a voting icon on the sidebar of this blog. You can just click on that and then use your facebook account or create an account to sign in with. To vote just go to www.refresheverything.com/heuveltonmarchingband  this will allow you to place your vote daily. We need to be in the top ten to win. Thanks so much!! Every vote helps!!

The Green Market Ogdensburg,NY

Yesterday Tim and I went to the Green Market in Ogdensburg for the first time. It was a lot of fun. It's so nice to be overlooking the river. The weather held out for us too. Although it was cloudy most of the time, it never rained more than a few drops. I brought bread, blueberry mufffins and chocolate chip cookies. I sold almost everything upon arrival! I will be baking for next week for sure. We won't be at the market on June 19th as we have a workshop we're attending. North Fork Bed and Breakfast will be using locally produced foods in our breakfasts and Baker Road Bakery will be using them as much as possible in all baked goods. It's amazing how much one can find at the market. I am really looking forward to next week and hoping that we have good weather. It's raining today. Hopefully, we won't have a repeat performance of the last 3 summers of nothing but rain!

North Fork Bed and Breakfast Sourdough Bread

Well, I’m back and as promised, I have some photos from this morning when I prepared the sourdough loaves to rise. With my bread, you have to feed the base. The base is a potato base sourdough. After 12 hours, you make the dough. The dough rises for 12 hours and then you punch it down and make it into loaves. I took some photos so that I could show the process. It is a sweet tasting bread, contrary to it’s name. I make white and cinnamon swirl. I’ve been making this bread for 30 years now. It’s very popular at the farmer’s market. I will be going this Saturday to the Green Market in Ogdensburg. My husband Tim, will be going to the farmer’s market in Canton Friday to sell coffee. St. Lawrence Valley Roasters roasts the best coffee. You can go to his website and purchase or email him, calls are fine too.



North Fork Bed and Breakfast Sourdough bread after being punched down

This is being prepared as a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread.

This is what the bread dough looks like when it's being rolled out to make it into a loaf. After it's completely rolled out, starting at one end, you roll it up into a log.

This is what the dough looks like after it's rolled

Preparing the bread loaf



After crimping the ends you place it in the loaf pan to rise. In the warm summer months sometimes you can make an entire batch in a day as long as the base has been fed ahead of time. Otherwise, it takes about 36 hours to make the bread. As I’m writing right now, I have the first 3 loaves of white bread baking in the oven. I’m not sure I will be able to stay awake long enough to bake all of them but I’m going to try. I will take some shots of the finished bread as well to share. It certainly is tasty!! There’s nothing like it. After a while one becomes very spoiled by this bread. Guests at the B&B love it as toast and they love the french toast I make as well.

Pressing Flowers Today

Today my plan has been to press flowers. Also, I am going to be blogging in both places. So, if you look for me here, you'll still find me but you'll also find me at the new address. I'm too attached to this blog to leave it. Some of my blogs are on the other site too. So, you get to pick and choose I guess. At any rate, I'm off to the shop and the front porch to finish putting the shop back together after a long stretch of having everything that could freeze in the house. The front porch still has my wreath making things on it and I really need to get all of those put away as well. As soon as I have the batteries, I'll be posting the pictures from the day and the bread making that has been taking place. I hope everyone is having a very enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.

My blog address has changed....please follow me.....

Hi, after much work, my blog address is changed. You can find me at http://www.northforkbandb.wordpress.com/  Please save this address and come and sign up to follow me there. You can also see the latest blog postings as well as lots of new and exciting links. I will keep this up until I see all of you there as followers. I look forward to seeing you there!

Today I planted the window boxes and a couple of the planters. The yard is shaping up nicely. I was excited to find that a wren has moved into my new bird house which is located in the memory garden. Come and see me at the new address and let me know what you think!!

We've had a very busy weekend here at North Fork B&B

This past weekend was incredibly busy here at North Fork B&B getting ready for SLU graduation. Congratulations to all the graduates. We had wonderful guests and they loved their breakfasts! Tonight we'll be doing the spotlight on the business for the Chamber of Commerce and going to Kyle's place to see his stuff. It should be both fun and interesting. Right now it's a bit overwhelming. Too many things and not enough time as we head toward the end of the school year and the start of summer.

I'm pretty sure that I've lost everything on my computer. I'm working really hard to get the laptop up and working so that I can continue with my blog and get some pictures going. It has been very frustrating and very time consuming. Hopefully, somehow they can retreive the data from my computer. If not, eventhough I have a lot of it backed up, I'm still going to have lost a lot.

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather. Wish me luck as I work to replace the lost information and search for someone to repair my computer, if that's even possible.

Snow and Lilacs?!? on Mother's Day!!

Yup, that's correct. It's been snowing most of the day here and this morning when I got up there was some snow on the ground! Very weird weather indeed. Had to wear a hat and mittens to walk today. We've been very busy here at the B&B. This weekend we had the pleasure of having guests for the Clarkson Graduation. They are from Clevland, Ohio. Always fun to meet new people.

Congratulations to my nephew for graduating from Clarkson yesterday!! We had a wonderful time celebrating this accomplishment last night.

Lots going on just now. It makes it tough to keep up here. Our Spring Concert is Wednesday with a dress rehearsal Monday, another Tuesday and then, finally the concert. I'm sure it will be wonderful. This time of the year is bitter sweet as I'll miss the students that are graduating. I've had them since kindergarten. Wonderful people. I'm very lucky to be their teacher.

I haven't had a chance to do much in the way of creating lately. Hopefully, I'll have more time soon.

The Antique and Artisan Show

It's hard to believe that it's been a week since the show. It was a wonderful show and it was even better because my cousin came up from CT and we were able to go to the show together. It was great! The lunch was fabulous and dessert was to die for. I was able to get a new hand crafted mirror for the Adirondack room and I'm very excited about it! It's done in birch bark with twigs around the sides. Just perfect for that room.

Getting ready for the show was both work and fun. I created some new soaps and made some lotions which sold well.

This is Patchouli made from goat's milk soap. It was a popular purchase at the show as was the lotion.

This is actually lavender vanilla but I'm going to make some the same color in chocolate.

These are some brand new pressed flower soaps with baby powder fragrance. My cousin says if blue had a smell this would be it. These were also a hit at the show.

A new soap that can be used to clean your hands after gardening or for your feet. It's an exfoliating soap made from shea butter with pumice for that extra scrubbing. The shea butter makes your skin soft.

This soap has a wonderful smell. Goat's milk with a lemongrass essential oil fragrance. Wonderful!

All in all, the show was a great experience. Making all of these new soaps was a lot of fun. There are more to come. For those of you that check the website, please be patient with me. School is extremely busy at this time and my time to upload things to the website is limited. You can always shoot me an email if there's something you'd like that you see here. northforkbandb@hughes.net  I'm working on the spa bags and gardening gift baskets for mother's day gift giving as well. Hopefully, I'll get these onto the site very soon.

Spring has sprung!

Spring is here for sure! It always amazes me how flowers and green grass can just suddenly appear and appear they did! Usually I'm checking daily for bulbs to be popping out of the ground. This year spring surprised me. Before I knew it, crocus were blooming and the daffodils were out. My flowering crab trees are in full bud and ready to burst forth with flowers.

You can see that these first flowers have come up through all the dead leaves left over the winter to blossom. It always takes my breath away to see the first new spring blossoms. Amazing!

These daffodils are on the south side of the house so they open early.

These are on the east side of the house and are out in the open along a fence. They usually open a few days to a week later but last for a couple of weeks and are quite spectacular. We have many photos of  this spring display which grows each year as the bulbs multiply. My plan is to get a few photos of this to share so check back and see these fabulous flowers!

It's Been Way Too Long...

I can't believe that it's been almost 2 weeks since I've written. I have to say, though, that it's been due to being incredibly busy. I took my chorus students to River Dance. Planning and executing the trip took a lot of time and energy but it was all very well worth the effort. My students had the experience of a life time. I would do it all again in a heart beat! The show was more than amazing. Every student said thank you to me and the other adults that went on the trip. We had dinner and then went to the show. The bus trip down was great! We had a brand new bus and the kids were as wonderful as always. Everyone enjoyed dinner at Babe's and then we walked to Friendly's for dessert. Everyone was amazed with the Stanley Theater and it's beauty. It was completely renovated a few years ago and it is not only beautiful but charming too.

Today, I'm baking. I have a couple of large orders I need to fill and I'm getting ready for the craft fair April 24th. I think it will be fun! I'm especially excited because my cousin may be coming up to go with me. As long as things go along as usual, we're hoping she can come up a couple of days before the craft fair and go along. We did craft fairs together years ago but since I moved to New York we haven't had the opportunity. I'm looking forward to it. Well that's all for now. I'm getting back to the baking but I still have a lot to share so I'll get back to it in a bit.

Oh the Baking....

I know it's been a few days since you've heard from me but believe me, it's been for good reason. I opened another shop on Etsy. I debated about it for a while and then took the plunge. I'm not sure I want to keep the gift shop on Etsy open as it doesn't seem that I've been selling enough to suit me. I'm not sure about this one either but I'm doing it anyway. My new shop is called Baker Road Bakery. Since I'm baking for 2 coffee shops and people love my baked goods, I thought it would be a good idea to put them on Etsy as well. I can reach more people that way. If the baked goods don't begin to sell then I will know it's not the right thing to do. I certainly have put my time in on the gift shop part. I figure, you don't know if you don't try. I can't afford the time though if it isn't going to pan out. I've been at it a year and I'm about to give up on it.

Anyway I wanted to share some of my latest creations. These are Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopee Pies.

They are very yummy indeed. When I delivered more baked goods tonight, I was so surprised to see how many things were left from my original order. This was the first batch and I took another one tonight.

My chocolate chip scones were a hit as well. These delicious scones have buttermilk in them which gives them a most wonderful taste.  I'm pleased that they are a hit and can't wait to make more.

These raspberry squares went really fast!

And last but certainly not least, sour cream coffee cake. I hope you enjoy seeing some of the things I've been baking. Every day I am planning on making soap and then another order comes in. It's OK. I don't mind! Well that's about all for today. 7AM rehearsal so I'm done for the day.Hopefully, I'll be able to write again tomorrow.

It's Official...

Yup, Baker Road Bakery. That's what we're called,well, for the baking part anyway. Our baked goods will be part of what we offer at the upcoming craft show on April 24th in Canton. This morning has been crazy! For whatever reason, even though I need to go to work, I decided to change the look of the blog. I don't like it as much as what was here before but I can't seem to find my way back to what I had originally. Rather than miss being able to post, I decided to just go with this and work on it another time. I really wanted to say more about Baker Road Bakery but time does not permit. I'm hoping to be on Etsy, we'll see....At any rate, the clock it ticking and I need to go to work. More will follow regarding Baker Road Bakery, North Fork B&B and the gift shop. It's Friday!! Gotta love that! Check back for updates.

More Baking....and more thoughts of Jane

I've been doing more baking. Molasses cookies, chocolate chip, sour cream coffee cake, raspberry squares. It has been keeping me busy. I find myself wondering, how many of us do what we have to do and not what we want to do? I know, we all have things we have to do. That's a given but what about the things we want to do? How do we fit that in? Our recent loss of my sister-in-law Jane has had a profound affect. She was very strong and had her opinions about things. She has made a lasting impression on so many people. I am one of those people. I think about her every day. I think about how much she loves her children and her husband and family. She ate good food, bought locally as much as possible. That applied to food and products. She wanted to support local businesses as much as possible. She cared about the earth and recycled. She loved to grow flowers and vegetables. She loved to preserve food for winter and make jams and jellies and canned pickles. I think that love and joy is what hit me the most. Jane loved each new day. Even when she was very sick, she made the most of that day how ever she could. So, I find myself thinking, quite often, about making the most of each day and being happy going through it. Not every day can be happy. We all have things. The way that I want to proceed in life is with joy. I want to be doing things because I want to do them not because I feel I have to. And, I think a less stressful existence would be a good idea. When I find myself really stressed, I long to get rid of it by doing something enjoyable. Sometimes there is too much work. Even when the work is what you love and it's something you don't mind, it can be stressful. Maybe you have to do too much or do that task so many times that the joy is lost. My goal is to go for the joy! I guess this has little to do with baking or the bed and breakfast or the gift shop. That really doesn't matter to me today. I have found joy in sharing these thoughts and that's good enough for me.

Upcoming Craft Fair

I'm hoping to be working on new products and making soap after work today. Yesterday I spent my time baking. I got another pretty large order for a coffee shop so my time was spent filling that. My plan for today is get cracking on getting ready for the annual craft fair and Antique Show in Canton on April 24th. All week I've been designing this new soap in my mind and I can't wait to put it together. Here's hoping it'll be today. I have some awesome new molds and fabulous colors. I'm also planning to put together some new spa bags too. As soon as I can manage to get these things going I'll be taking photos to share. Check back and hopefully, I'll have some brand new products for you to see. That's the plan...

Baking,Baking and more Baking....

If there's one thing that I have always loved to do, it's bake! I'm not sure exactly how it all started but I remember wanting to make special cookies at Christmas time for family and guests. Each year I would begin baking cookies in the fall a couple of times a week. Sometimes I would just practice and other times I would freeze some. By the time the holidays arrived, I had enough cookies for gifts and for family and guests. This past summer I baked and sold bread and cookies at the local farmer's market. Now I'm baking for a couple of local coffee shops. This weekend I made some cookies and muffins. I also made a cake and a couple of different kinds of scones but neglected to take pictures to share. This has kept me quite busy! Music teacher by day and weekend baking warrior!

This is a chocolate chip muffin. Looks pretty tastey even if I do say so myself. I'm very lucky, my husband taste tests for me!

This is an Apple Cinnamon Muffin and the topping has walnuts in it. Wonderfully delicious!

Chocolate chip cookies that go really well with coffee!! The perfect combination....

The last but not least.....my shortbreads. My sister-in-law loves these cookies! I usually make them bite size but decided to try making some rather large ones to see how it would go. They came out well and tasted fine even in the larger size. My experiment proved to be a success.