This has been a pretty good week at Historic Maplethorpe Inn and café.

Milestone #1: I no longer have any children.

Celebrating Adulthood!

My last reached age 19 yesterday, legal adult age in Canada. Now all my offspring are adults. Doesn’t necessarily mean that they are off the payroll, but it does mean that Mommie can’t easily bail them out when they do something stupid. I bought her a drink, which she said tasted like Kool Aid mixed with gasoline. Good so far.

Milestone #2: Maplethorpe Café recommended in “Where to Eat in Canada 2011”

Great news! You can’t buy your way into this club—it is a mystery shopper sort-of thing. It is always nice to be recognized. We’re still spending most of our free time sourcing real food, grown right here on Prince Edward Island, and cooking it up in innovative and healthful ways. We work hard to price our meals reasonably so that working folks, groups of friends and extended families can actually eat out at Maplethorpe. It is a tough way to make a living but we are still having fun trying. We’ve got some changes coming in the near future, including a new chef (!) to help me out, but that will have to wait for another post.

Miilestone #3: My spices from Steenbergs arrived!

Steenbergs is a UK seller of spices, teas and bakery ingredients, all organic and top quality. It is hard to find good organic ingredients, so I was thrilled to view their product line at www.steenbergs.co.uk The Steenbergs site provides lots of information on the product sourcing, offers interesting recipes, andhave great blog posts—a totally class act.

Problem is, they don’t ship to Canada. Last December my pal Tina was on her way to visit family in England and happily she agreed to bring a shipment back for me. My plan was defeated by the rotten weather that gripped England and the package arrived at her daughter’s house a few days after Tina returned home to PEI. Lucky for me, she and her hubby are frequent fliers and her daughter held on to my treasure trove until they could retrieve it last week. Now that I have them, I can’t wait to start cooking so exotic dishes.

So, those are my milestones for the week. The weather is still cold and wet here on the Island. I am going to bundle up tomorrow morning and go looking for fiddleheads in my secret spot.

We started last week with Prom–always a big deal. There was some extra drama because the dress that was purchased many, many months ago no longer quite fit. Because it had been altered by the previous owner, there were no seam allowances available to expand the narrow spots. Our options included some kind of spa wrap guaranteed to temporarily squeeze all the liquid out of the offending body tissue or perhaps wearing a big sweater all night to hide the unzipped back zipper. Hmmm…

Mayor of Bedeque Karen McLenithan to the rescue! Her expert and swift tailoring skills saved the day and Caitlin looked beautiful. No sweater or torso shrinking necessary.

Dressed for Prom!

Last week of school for the graduating class included a Grad Breakfast at Maplethorpe for the 44 students and a dozen staff.

The weather cooperated and we were able to set up outside and host a lovely final morning for the kids and their teachers. Thanks to the many volunteer moms, the kids feasted (quickly) on pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs and some awesome fresh fruit salad. Then they all sped away to graduation practice leaving us parents to tidy up the mess.

Been doing that for 18 years…why stop now?

Kinkora High Grad Breakfast 2010

Graduation was excellent!

Gym not too hot, speeches not too long, no one streaked the stage naked and all the grads were shined up and smiling. Parents were visibly relieved. Can’t really ask for more than that. Our little graduate is looking forward to a lazy summer before heading off to Halifax in September.

Got the diploma...NOW RUN!

Our herd of relatives visiting for the graduation are on the move back to the States. It was great to have so many of the people we care about visit and enjoy Prince Edward Island. We took in 2 shows in the Small Halls festival, fed everyone lobsters, fresh scallops and mussels and took everyone to the beach. Everyone went home (I hope) feeling like they really experienced Island life.

I have to go get ready to serve lunch! More to come…