Great fun and great food

This last weekend (August 21st) we were part of the Alliance of Better Bed and Breakfasts of Eureka Springs August Taste of the Inns Tour. Seven different Bed and Breakfast Inns offered their favorite appetizers and special versions of a non-alcoholic cocktail. We served Tea Smoked Chicken and Tomato Tartletts and a Pear Basil Swizzle for our drink. It was a great success with everyone ending the day with a tummy full of food. If you want a copy of our appetizer recipes just let us know.

Participants also entered a contest to win some prizes, which included gift certificates to Gourmet Eureka, Keels Creek Winery and Cafe Amore. Three people also won a $50 gift certificate to the inn of their choice. Winners have been notified, so hopefully you were one of them.

If you missed this tour we have the Sweet Treats Cookie Tour coming up Saturday, December 11th. Eight bed and breakfasts will be serving some of their favorite cookies and you get all the recipes so you can make your favorites and we have more prizes to give away. It's been written up in Taste of the South magazine so mark your calendars and get in touch with us if you want more information.

5 Ojo Inn Bed and Breakfast

Bluegrass Music Festival in Eureka Springs, AR

Picking, strumming, and singing. A great weekend for just sitting out in Basin Park listening to some bluegrass music. Come on down, ya hear!! The annual Eureka Springs, AR Bluegrass Festival descends on the town and runs the whole weekend (Aug 19-22, 2010)

Here's the current lineup (please take note that most of this is free)....

Thursday August 19
Basin Spring Park
7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Bluegrass Watermelon Social (Free)
Bring a fiddle, banjo, bass, or guitar if you’ve got one, and a healthy appetite!
Free watermelon and bottled water.

Friday, August 20
Basin Spring Park (all shows are free)
11 a.m. The Hobnobbers
12 noon The Cobb Family
1 p.m. The Roving Gamblers
2 p.m. Josh Love Band
3 p.m. Common Tyme
4 p.m. The Williams Family
5 p.m. The HillBenders
6 p.m. Mountain View Friends
7 p.m. The Dragonmasters

Saturday, August 21
Basin Spring Park (all shows are free)
11 a.m. The Hobnobbers
12 noon The Cobb Family
1 p.m. Roving Gamblers
2 p.m. Josh Love Band
3 p.m. Buffalo City Ramblers
4 p.m. Mountain View Friends
5 p.m. Spring Street
6 p.m. Dragonmasters

Saturday, August 21
The Auditorium
Doors open at 6:30pm; General Admission Only: $10
7:30 p.m. Mr. Big, Arkansas Red, and Tim Crouch
8 p.m. Brief Intermission
8:15 p.m. Mike Wilkins, with Retro and Smiling

Sunday August 22
Basin Spring Park (all shows are free)
11 a.m. - 1 p.m. The Williams Family Gospel Show

Throughout the weekend there will be musicians around town playing tunes on the street. Also, they’ll be pickin’ poolside at local lodgings after the shows Friday and Saturday nights. All times and performers are subject to change. Visit Basin Spring Park the day of the shows to verify times and acts.

And if you have a chance, stop by and see us at 5 Ojo Inn Bed and Breakfast, we'd love to say hi.

Honey Harvest at 5 Ojo Inn B&B in Eureka Springs, AR

We continue to enjoy our fascinating hobby of raising honey bees. This is our third year with bee hives and each season brings new lessons. This year one of our hives didn't survive but the other hive flourished. Yesterday we were able to extract almost 2 gallons of honey from the hive while leaving enough honey for the bees to survive on for the winter. Total time from collection to extraction to clean-up......5 hours. Is this a labor of love or what!!

In early fall we will check again to see if they have gathered any fall nectar and created additional honey we can harvest. In the spring we will start two new hives.

When you are here for breakfast, ask us for some honey for your biscuits. We'll be glad to share some. Or let us know you're coming and tell us you'd like our Apples with Honey Poppy Seed Dressing for your fruit course.

See you at the inn.......bee there and bee happy.

5 Ojo Inn Bed and Breakfast, Eureka Springs, AR

Keeping our garden herbs fresh

We use a lot of fresh herbs for our breakfasts at 5 Ojo Inn Bed and Breakfast and for years now have grown our own. When the growing season is over we buy from the produce department of the local grocery stores. Not wanting to waste any herbs we have tried all the tricks to keep the herbs fresh for longer periods and finally found something that really works for us.

While visiting our daughter in Maryland, she showed us a product she bought that she raved about. She had a variety of different sizes of Tupperware FridgeSmart^®. She said she had too many and offered a couple to us to take back to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Intrigued, we took them and have absolutely loved them.

Each container has two vent holes which you open or close depending on whether you are saving herbs, fruit, mushrooms or any number of different things. In the past when buying parsley it would last only a couple of days before wilting, sometimes a little longer. On our first test of the FridgeSmart^® we had parsley which stayed very fresh for over two weeks. We tried a number of different items and have been impressed with how they stay fresher than just putting them in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. While a crisper drawer usually gives you a way to adjust the humidity, the vent holes on the Tupperware seems to work better for us.

Happy growing.....

5 Ojo Inn Bed and Breakfast, Eureka Springs, Arkansas