Is it because of our (wonderful) warm dry spell on the Long Beach Peninsula that lasted almost 100 days without much moisture? Or is it because we are having our Wild Mushroom Celebration this weekend at Boreas that the higher power has halted the handsome King Boletus (porcini) mushroom from peaking up from the soil? Even last year, a very dry summer into fall, we had porcini’s and matsu’s. Veronica Williams, our friendly forager and queen of the woods, has been unable to find any mushrooms in her favorite productive spots. We are sad. Maybe today will be the day, after a week of some moisture, that the beauties will show their domes and emerge from hiding. We can only hope! So it’s out with the dehydrated porcini’s and perhaps at Pelicano Restaurant tonight, we will dine on five courses of mushrooms–they just might not be WILD ONES!
We normally worship the King Boletus this weekend. Alas, the King is in hiding!
The gray whale is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds every year passing by the Long Beach, Washington Peninsula during the southern and northern migrations. Gray whales can reach a length of 52 ft and can weigh about 35 tons and live a very long time, 50–70 years! They are called “Gray” because they have gray patches and white mottling on dark skin and descend from filter-feeding whales that developed over 30 million years ago.
When the arctic ice starts to form, the grays whales start a two- to three-month trip south to the Baja Peninsula and Gulf of Mexico. Around 19,000 whales migrate by the Long Beach Peninsula on their way to warmer waters and then a couple of months later, they cruise by again heading back north. So they really don’t have a lot of vacation time for all that traveling, they say it’s the longest migration of any mammal up to .
The gray whale is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds every year passing by the Long Beach, Washington Peninsula during the southern and northern migrations. Gray whales can reach a length of 52 ft and can weigh about 35 tons and live a very long time, 50–70 years! They are called “Gray” because they have gray patches and white mottling on dark skin and descend from filter-feeding whales that developed over 30 million years ago.
When the arctic ice starts to form, the grays whales start a two- to three-month trip south to the Baja Peninsula and Gulf of Mexico. Around 19,000 whales migrate by the Long Beach Peninsula on their way to warmer waters and then a couple of months later, they cruise by again heading back north. So they really don’t have a lot of vacation time for all that traveling.
This extensive gray whale migration all the way to Baja for such a brief stay reminds me of our several family trips during spring vacation when we would drive from Lake Oswego, near Portland all the way to Ensenada, in Baja California. It’s a long drive in a station wagon with parents and two domineering older brothers for a very brief stay in Baja. Of course, stopping at Disneyland and in San Diego were nice distractions away from the back seat of a Plymouth station wagon. We’d spend a few days in Baja and then turn around and drive back to Portland. Our family migration from Portland to Baja does have a vague but humorous similarity to the gray whales’. The gray whales tend to breed and nurse their youngsters while in the warmer waters which certainly was not our goal while in Baja.
Our favorite place to watch for the gray whales is in Cape Disappointment State Park at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and the North Head Lighthouse. From December until early February, we have seen the grays migrating south and then again in March, April and May when they return to the arctic. That being said, we have seen gray whales in September just off the surf line from the stunning turnout on the Loop 100 in Cape D State Park. There are some “permanent” gray whales living off the Washington Coast. Just over a month ago a half dozen gigantic blue whales were spotted not far off the Long Beach Peninsula, perhaps 30 miles. They were over 100 feet long! Fishermen report in one day of summer fishing, seeing three or four varieties of whales including sperm whales and humpbacks or “humpies” off our coast.
Grays feed mostly on crustaceans which it eats by turning on its side (usually the right, resulting in loss of eyesight in the right eye for many older animals) and it scoops up sediments from the sea floor. They eat by using their baleens which act like a sieve, to capture small sea animals, taken in along with sand, water and other materials they scoop up. They feed in arctic waters during the summer and sometimes feed during its migration but mostly, when heading south, they rely on their fat reserves. We have seen them seemingly rubbing themselves on the North Jetty near our favorite spot in the Cape D State Park. They were feeding by scraping the rocks on the jetty. So cool!
During migration, these giant cruisers average around 75 miles per day at an average speed of 5 mph. The round trip of 9,900–14,000 miles is supposedly the longest annual migration of any mammal. By late December to early January, they begin to arrive in the calving lagoons of Baja. Gestation for grays is 13.5 months so often mothers give birth in the safer waters of Baja and single females are seeking mates. By mid-February to mid-March the whales have arrived in the lagoons and are nursing, calving and mating.
Throughout February and March, the first to leave the lagoons are males and females without new calves. Pregnant females and nursing mothers with their newborns are the last to depart, leaving only when their calves are ready for the journey, which is usually from late March to mid-April. Sometimes the mothers with new calves linger in warm waters into May.
A population of about 200 gray whales stay along the eastern Pacific coast from Canada to California throughout the summer which is why we occasionally see them in non-migration months. They never leave to go to Alaskan waters. This summer resident group is known as the Pacific Coast Feeding Group.
Now that you know all about gray whales, drive to the Long Beach, Washington Peninsula to try to get a glimpse. Right now you might see a few stragglers heading south and in a month or so you will see the gray whales returning from their brief stay in the warmer waters off the Baja Peninsula. At Boreas Inn, we always have binoculars for you to borrow and helpful hints (Bill is great at spotting whales). During the busier times of migration, there are experts at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Cape D. State Park, just 10 minutes from Boreas Inn.
This is a perfect time of year to take your Valentine to the beach to watch for whales and sleep in the Boreas Inn’s lovely beds, dine by the fire on the best three-course B&B breakfast you’ve ever had, breathe the cool ocean breezes, be lulled by the gentle sound of the Pacific Ocean lapping on the beach and to relax. Let your innkeepers, Susie Goldsmith and Bill Verner design your time away with great dinners at The Depot, Pelicano, the 42nd Street Cafe, The Lost Roo and Shelburne’s dining room and maybe an in-room massage! Check our online specials or give us a call at 888-642-8069. We hope to see you soon!
This is Susie’s favorite side-dish. That’s right….there’s more! We often harvest the Porcini (King Boletus) Mushrooms within feet of the inn. When Bill is not out tromping around in the dunes foraging, we have two professional foragers supplying us with our local wild mushrooms in addition to other bounty from the area. Boreas Inn sits in the primary sand dunes next to the Pacific Ocean in historic Long Beach, Washington. Noted for fine breakfast dining, ocean views, the most luxurious beds for a dreamy nights’ sleep and beautiful surroundings, this Long Beach Washington Bed and Breakfast has class without pretense!
Gravy:
Wild Mushroom and Sausage Gravy
1/2 pound bulk pork sausage
3/4 pound wild mushrooms, brushed clean, trimmed and coarsely chopped * (see note)
1/4 cup minced onion
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons fresh minced chive
2 cups half-and-half or milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons sherry (optional)
Biscuits:
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter cut into pieces
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons fresh minced chives
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly butter (or spray) a heavy baking sheet. For the biscuits, combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to blend. Add the butter and pulse until it’s finely chopped and mixture has the consistency of coarse cornmeal. (You can also cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives.). Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the milk and chives and stir until the batter is evenly mixed–or keep the ingredients in the processor and very gently pulse. Don’t over-mix or you will have tough, heavy biscuits!
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Press the dough into a circle about six inches across and one inch thick. Cut the dough into quarters, setting the biscuits on the baking sheet with one inch or so between them. Bake the biscuits until they are puffed and lightly brown on top, 12-15 minutes. Transfer them to a rack to cool.
Cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until cooked through and lightly browned, 12-15 minutes. Stir often and break up the sausage chunks as they cook. Spoon out and discard excess fat. Add the mushrooms and onion; increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are tender and any liquid they give off is evaporated, 5-7 minutes. Add the four and cook for 1-2 minutes longer, stirring so that the flour evenly coats the sausage and mushrooms. Slowly stir in the milk or half and half and cook until the gravy has thickened, 5-7 minutes. Stir in the chives and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the sherry just before serving.
To serve, cut each of the biscuits in half horizontally and set the bottom halves on the individual plates. Generously spoon the mushroom-sausage gravy over, top with the top of the biscuit. Sprinkle with paprika and garnish the plate with fresh herbs or edible flowers. Makes 4 servings.
*I prefer to use 1/2 pound dried porcini mushrooms reconstituted in a cup or so of water. Drain the mushrooms and save the liquid. Make the wild mushroom and sausage gravy the night before and then use the saved liquid to thin the gravy prior to heating and serving. The liquid adds more depth to the wild mushroom flavor of the dish. You can double or triple the recipe and freeze. Freeze extra unbaked biscuits and bake as needed. Delicious!
Bill and I just returned from our brief weekly disappearing act to eat Serious Pizza at Cape Disappointment State Park in Ilwaco on the Long Beach, Washington Peninsula. First of all, this park is NOT a disappointment–it is our favorite Washington State Park. It was named “Cape Disappointment” because in 1788, Captain John Meares, a fur trader, was disappointed because this was not the opening to the river–and is, in fact, is located just north of the infamous Mouth of the Columbia River! Cape Disappointment is also home to the National Park housing Maya Lin’s “Confluence Project” honoring the Indian tribes Lewis and Clark encountered at the confluences of the rivers on their journey west. Captain Clark and 11 of the “Corps of Discovery” hiked all over the land that is now Cape Disappointment State Park and from McKenzie Head, saw their first panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean! Then they proceeded to hike north up the Peninsula, right across the property that is now Boreas Inn, located on the 1805 high water mark. So you get to sleep right on the Lewis and Clark Trail!
Of course, one of the most scenic parts of the Park are the two lighthouses, The North Head Lighthouse and the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. The North Head is easily explored by parking in the lot and walking down to the lighthouse on a road alongside the rock face overlooking the Pacific Ocean and just north of Benson Beach. This is a place to linger. All day. The waves, huge in the winter but omnipresent, are hypnotic. The color of the water seems to change from blue to green to gray in a storm, but always a stunning contrast with the white tips of the peaks of the waves. Whale watching from the North Head is often rewarding. We look for the clumps of kelp offshore and occasionally see the spouts. The pelicans, eagles, many varieties of gulls, terns and a huge array of seabirds make this spot make for some of the best birdwatching in the West. Cape D lighthouse is a hike from the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (in winter and anytime, the best view of the Mouth of the Columbia and the jetties), around Dead Man’s Cove. Our guests come from around the world to see these two lighthouses, within miles of Boreas!
I mentioned Serious Pizza! Well–seriously now, take the combination of a wood-fired pizza oven, burning cherry and apple, the “00 fino” flour imported from Italy, imported cheeses, meats from a great Seattle butcher chop and a location at Waikiki Beach at Cape D (as we call it), and you have not only the recipe for the best wood-fired pizza in Southwest Washington, but a spectacular setting near the amphitheater at Cape D State Park. With eagles flying overhead (perhaps looking hungrily at your pizza-or maybe at your dog) and osprey circling around with crows and gulls harrassing them, you have an experience you will never forget. Our favorite pizza is, you guessed it, “The Boreas”–the vegetarian pizza with garlic olive oil base, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives and pepperoni. How special is it to have a pizza named after Boreas Inn? State Parks built Jim and Chi, the purveyors of this fine pizza, a permanent structure so that visitors to the park, including campers staying in the 240 campsites, can have pizza! We call ahead to avoid waiting perhaps an hour for the most memorable pizza. It’s truly Neopolitano–a thin delectable crust and just the right amount of cheese for a non-guilt producing light meal. They also have wood-fired oysters and mouth-watering wood-fired wings. Homemade ice cream and brownies….oh my! Watch for Jim and Chi’s Serious Pizza to come soon to the town of Long Beach!
I have attached a very fine video about Cape Disappointment State Park to this blog! It stars a few of our favorite State Park employees and some of the best scenery this area has to offer. The Park is located 10 minutes from Boreas Inn. We are soooo lucky to have Cape D State Park in our backyard. So come to Boreas Inn and we will direct you to our favorite park, Cape Disappointment! Enjoy the YouTube about Cape D.!
Boreas Inn still has a couple of really beautiful rooms open for the 4th of July holiday weekend! Since the 4th is on a Monday, a few of our guests coming for the weekend are actually leaving right on the 4th–so we have a couple rooms open on the 4th proper in addition to the 1st and 2nd of July. This is NEXT weekend–wow! We are asking for a three-night minimum over the weekend, but as we approach the holiday, we will compromise on two-night stays, if we must, but three nights is so relaxing at Boreas!
We love the 4th of July in Long Beach, Washington. Well–sort of. It is clearly the most exciting day of the year on the gorgeous Long Beach Peninsula. We would love it more if all the people packed out what they pack in. (Our Boreas guests are always perfect–it’s the other 20,0000 guests on the Peninsula who aren’t so perfect!) The Long Beach Peninsula is truly a place for amateur and professional pyromaniacs!
To address this post-explosive and partying beach clean-up problem on the 4th of July on the Long Beach Peninsula, there are now “Treasure Our Beach” volunteers at all the beach approaches, handing out trash bags and fliers encouraging everyone who comes to the beach to picnic and blow things up, to take their trash home with them! We treasure our Treasure our Beach volunteers. Thank you all! If any of our readers would like to help in this effort, please let us know. Shelly Pollock’s Grass Roots Garbage Gang will have hundreds of volunteers combing the beaches on July 5th to pick up after the 4th of July revelers and we are grateful to those volunteers also! This is a big beach clean-up and we always need more volunteers!
Well first of all, on Saturday, the 2nd of July, to lead off the pyrotechnic displays, there is a stunning and sparkly professional fireworks show on the Port of Ilwaco over the harbor. We like to reserve tables for our guests at Pelicano on Saturday at the Port of Ilwaco, before the 4th so that they have front row seats for the Ilwaco Fireworks display. So in addition to wine pairings at Pelicano that evening, there are fireworks pairings also! If you have dinner at Pelicano, you will also have a place to park right on the harbor for the fireworks. It is truly inspiring to see the glittering on the water and this display just whets the appetite for the total pyrotechnic craziness that is the true 4th of July in Long Beach, WA. We’ve never seen anything quite like Long Beach on the 4th. So there is a method to our madness–we like our guests to dine on the best for breakfast and dinner and watch the celebration of our nation’s independence!
We brag about our 28-mile long beach. Well just about every foot of our very long beach will be filled with cars, families, picnics and We’d estimate–millions of dollars of fireworks that will blow your socks off. This doesn’t include the very fine professional show that happens at dark on the ocean-end of the Bolstad Beach approach five blocks south of Boreas Inn. It’s all FREE and quite insane. Stay on the boardwalk or sit in the back yard of Boreas Inn, (the hot tub has a great view) and stay a safe distance from all the pyromaniacs and you will have a great time in Long Beach, Washington on the 4th of July, 2011. I found a video taken by visitors to the Peninsula last year and you can get a little idea of what it’s like in front of Boreas Inn on the 4th. Hang onto your sparklers, baby!
Grab our last rooms and watch the 2nd and 4th of July shows at Boreas Bed and Breakfast Inn on the lovely Long Beach Peninsula!
Odell Hathaway, our guest/friend/budding videographer likes to take pics and video of me doing the “Food Tour” at breakfast time. You might be able to focus on the food in the video while I am focusing on my ever-drooping face! Both are entertaining. In this video, I have prepared breakfast for a small group of returning guests a couple of weekends ago. Bill was in Eugene for the weekend and I had our guests/friends all to myself! The baked apple french toast I am describing is an adapted recipe originally from The Shelburne Inn, our dear friends, David and Laurie. I love making this dish–something you can put together the night before and bake in the morning. Thanks to Odell for posting this video to YouTube! Come to Boreas Inn–we have availability over Memorial Day weekend—which is NEXT weekend. We promise to make you very happy indeed at our Long Beach Washington Bed and Breakfast. Boreas inn is upscale, but never pretentious!
The Goonies 25th Anniversary Celebration will take place across the River in Astoria from June 4-7, 2010. The Goonies was filmed locally in Astoria, OR and was originally released on June 7, 1985. But did you know that the Goonie’s director, Richard Donner, also directed Superman and The Lethal Weapon series and that it was a Steven Spielberg (E.T., Jaws, Schindler’s List) presentation? The Goonies screenplay was by Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Harry Potter series, Mrs. Doubtfire) from a story by Spielberg. Richard Donner produced the movie with Harvey Bernhard (The Lost Boys) and Spielberg executive produced with Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy (Indiana Jones series, Back to the Future, Curious Case of Benjamin Button). Clearly, The Goonies had a group of young geniuses masterminding a movie that has stood the test of time and is much beloved by fans around the world.
“In 1985 when The Goonies was filmed, we knew the movie would create a lasting impact in Astoria, and its legacy continues 25 years later,” stated Willis Van Dusen, Mayor of Astoria, Oregon. “This celebration is dedicated to the amazing Goonies fans and to the film itself, both of which have become an integral part of the cultural fabric of Astoria.” Well–that can’t be a bad thing, after all, The Goonies has given us pleasure, excitement and giggles for 25 years!
The Goonies is an adventure-comedy film set in Astoria about a group of kids from the “Goon Docks” neighborhood of Astoria (hence the nickname “Goonies) who band together hoping to save their homes from foreclosure and demolition due to the expansion of the Astoria Country Club. The group embarks on an adventure to find the buried treasure of a legendary 17th century pirate, One-Eyed Willy. The kids have an exciting time on their coastal antics featuring spooky caves, old lighthouses, treacherous traps, pirate maps and skeletons, clever script and much beloved characters– Mikey, Chunk, Data, Mouth (Corey Feldman), Brandon (Josh Brolin!) Rosalita and the rest of the nasty Fratelli’s. The ending of The Goonies is classic, perfect and predictable with the jewels from the pirate ship providing more than enough to save everyone’s homes from foreclosure and demolition. The story and its ending could also ring true for homeowners battling their individual crises during our nation’s current “Great Recession”! If only we could plunder a pirate ship and bail out everyone losing their homes–or better yet, bail out those of us running small businesses! Let’s all go search for treasure!
The Goonies 25th Anniversary Celebration has a schedule of events in Astoria and a very cool website. The Astoria-Warrenton Chamber, of which we are proud members, is partnering with Warner Brothers on the event who are assisting in marketing and licensing Goonies souvenirs, which will be sold at the “Goon Docks”, the center of all the Goonies Celebration events. Boreas has rooms available for the celebration weekend so you can be at the beach but be within a half- hour of all the events. Watch a video clip of The Goonies and come to Boreas for the Goonie’s celebration!
I'm trying a new recipe--Pineapple Toasted Macadamia Bundt Cake!
The mini-daffodils are blooming and the banners flying on a sunny day!
The thermometers have been reading in the 70′s in the sun and in the 60′s in the shade and we are ever so grateful to celebrate this precious sunshine in our mild winter season. If we say this too loudly, winter will return, as gentle as it has been this season. So shhhhhh! It has snowed in March the last two years; just when we thought we had sailed through winter into springtime. Long Beach, Washington weather is tough to predict–and always a surprise–but thinking back the 15 seasons we’ve been here, this isn’t all that unusual for February!
I baked a Pineapple Toasted Macadamia Nut coffee cake for one of the pastry courses for our guests for tomorrow’s breakfast. Fine breakfast cuisine is our tradition at Boreas Inn and we hope that we rank with the best in the west at our romantic beach getaway in Long Beach, Washington! I will post the recipe on our website when I get a chance.
The mini-daffodils are so bright and hopeful on the front deck of the inn and the banners are bright against our residence. I have been fighting the urge to buy more spring plants–but know if I do, we will have a freeze. Guests are walking on the beach, exploring the lighthouses and dining at The Depot, Pelicano Restaurant and Jimella’s tonight for dinner. The best dining in the state of Washington is right here on the Peninsula. Lucky us!
The Dunes Suite awaits you!
We have rooms available for next weekend, the 26th and 27th of February–and even the Dunes Suite awaits your escape to the beach. The gray whales are cruising by and the North Head Lighthouse and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center is a great place for spotting them! On occasion, they approach the jetty and scrape off their barnacles. Next weekend at the World Kite Museum, the Asian New Year Celebration continues with the spectacular kites of Malaysia and Singapore. The Kite Museum has the largest private collection of kites in the entire world and is well worth a visit–walking distance from Boreas!
So come dine at the source, sleep in the lap of luxury and play at the prettiest beach in the Northwest. Make each day a cause for celebration and we will be your co-conspirators in planning a quick getaway to Long Beach!
We’re open for Christmas and even cooking prime rib for our guests! We still have rooms open on Christmas and the weather is sunny! None of our favorite restaurants are open for Christmas Day, so we’re inviting “orphans” and our guests to a prime rib potluck. Christmas Eve dinner is royally celebrated at our best dinner houses so you will have a great evening out. Then you can come home to the Inn, so pretty with decorations from our annual guest Holiday Decorating Party. New Years’ Day Crab Cake and Champagne Brunch is included, of course, if you spend a couple of nights over New Years’ with us. Here’s our January 1, 2010 Menu! Reserve now!
Boreas Inn’s 2010 New Years’ Day Crab Cake and Champagne Brunch
Boreas Inn's 2009 Five-Course New Years' Day Brunch
MENU
STARTERS
Chilled fruit soup with five berries and soft cream
&
Boreas Famous Butterscotch Sticky Buns
&
Apricot Tarts with a delicate Cream Cheese and Butter Crust
It was the second weekend of May and we needed comic relief (apparently!). Some folks think we’re sort of picky about what we serve for breakfast at Boreas Bed and Breakfast Inn. This picture tells you everything! I told our guests that weekend about our dear guest, Tosh, who many years ago visited Boreas Inn with her husband for the International Kite Festival week. When confronted with the apparently, ominous, three-course breakfast we were about to serve her, she asked for cereal. (I’m certain that I looked surprised!) Always aiming to please our guests at whatever personal sacrifice, I had a box of Crispix cereal at our house, so I ran over and got it and served her a bowl of cereal with fresh raspberries. The next day, she got the Crispix and one course of our breakfast, and the third day, she tossed in the towel and denied herself the Crispix altogether and ate the entire breakfast with gusto and continued to enjoy the feasts for the balance of the week.
Hearing the story that fun weekend in May, guests Steve and Amy Hughes and returning guest Karen Carpenter(always with a mischievous glint in her eye) and her daughter, Lori Anne, teamed up to prank Bill and me the next morning. We arrived to cook breakfast and on everyone’s plate was a box of cereal. On our cooktop was a box of Crispix. I swear that our laughter woke everyone up that morning. (Not a bad way to wake up!) We have always said that on April Fools Day, we’re going to get a McDonald’s bag and fill it with goodies and serve it as a first course. But, again, we’re just too picky about what we serve for breakfast at Boreas Inn! The morning of the prank, I went to our house and guess what I had for breakfast! That little box of Crispix!
The Hughes and the Carpenters Prank Susie and Bill
