Inside the Bronze Antler Bed and Breakfast

Bill sends:

How early do those innkeepers have to get up to create those fancy dishes? 

One of the secrets at the Bronze Antler Bed and Breakfast is a cookbook called Sleep on It by Carol Gordon.  She was the innkeeper of Nantucket House.  It's a wonderful collection of all sorts of recipes from appetizers to desserts you can make the evening before and pop it in the oven the next morning.

You don't even have to be awake--just bright enough to turn the oven on to the right temperature.

A couple of my favorites:

• Sunday Breakfast Casserole (page 48)
• Never-Fail Hash Browns (page 115)

As any cook does, you always make a variation on the printed recipe--stronger, sweeter or whatever.  She puts out hearty breakfasts with stick-to-the-ribs food--great for someone hiking in the Wallowa Mountains or just up to Wallowa Lake.

These are great recipes to anchor your breakfast meal.  Another thing I like about her cookbook is that the ingredients are pretty much standard--important when you own a bed and breakfast in small, rural Joseph Oregon.

I met Carol Gordon at the 2006 PAII conference and she autographed my now-well-used copy of her cookbook.  When we go to the PAII Innkeeping Show this year in Atlanta I'll be on the lookout for a sequel to this great innkeeper breakfast helper.

And, besides, the cookbook is a great gift for newlyweds, large families, people who like to entertain, and other bed and breakfast owners!