It's officially Mushroom Season in Mendocino...

This giant grew in our meadow

 
November is the beginning of mushroom season. We LOVE mushroom season! The mushroom festival is only one part of the fun.

La Petite Rive is having a winemaker's dinner with Shed Horn Cellars here on November 13th in honor of the festival.

Not that we would know. I'm not going to take up any more room here on the blog complaining about the lack of donkey seatings at our on-site restaurant, a fabulous spot that features French homestyle cooking (which means delicious), married to local Northern California ingredients and techniques (which means wholesome and mostly organic).

I'm simply going to enjoy the mushrooms popping up in the meadows all around us and bask in the reflected glory of their savory little wonderfulness. Here in Mendocino we have mushrooms that won't grow anywhere else on earth, including the sweet candy cap which tastes like maple sugar. They are so sweet and fragrant, people up here make ice cream with them!

Pacific Tapas coming in NOVEMBER!

That's next month.

Just in time for mushroom season. YUM!

The chipmunks are a twitter with the news. They are polishing up their mushroom tapas recipes. You'd be surprised how many ways chipmunks can cook mushrooms -- all of them delicious.

I have to say, I love this time of year, even if Heidi has convinced me to go as "donkeys" again for Halloween.

She's right, we do rock the outfits...See for yourself.

Interview with an Innkeeper

Now I'm not saying Claire is our favorite, but she DOES have a French name, like me, spelled the correct, French way (like me -- naturellement!).

We love her a lot. And so we are allowing her some of our precious space so that you, our beloved readers, can share the love.

Q. & A. with Claire

M:  How long have you been at the Inn? 

C: I have been here a little over 2 years, since July 2008. I was born and raised in Mendocino, left for about 6 years but decided to return home to the beautiful Mendocino Coast!

M: What do you love best about Mendocino? 

C: The sense of community, farmer’s markets, rain storms, huckleberries, and of course the ocean!

M: What's your favorite thing to eat at La Petite Rive? 
C: The garlic and onion soup. YUM! You may smell like it for the next couple of days but SO worth it!

M: Are you French?  

C: Not French…..Mostly Irish and Scottish with a wee bit of German and English thrown in there.

(Note: I am not French either. -- Monique)

M: What's your favorite thing about us? Is it our beauty or our personalities? 

C: I would say both. :) You are both so different and that’s what makes you you. And yes, you are both quite beautiful and elegant. Oh yeah, and my other favorite thing is that you both have freckles like me!!

Heidi's Right

I hate to say it, but Heidi is absolutely correct.


We ARE donkeys of love and peace.

Our very presence can change your life -- for the better.

Stop by our cottage when you are in the area and see if we don't change your life with our sweetness.

It's even labeled as such. In case you couldn't guess from the straw in front and the poop discreetly located right on the edge of the fence. We like our pen clean. Don't you?

Donkeys of peace and love...

Hi!

Heidi here!

I have said we are donkeys of peace and love but I can actually prove it.

I have written proof that at least one couple has gotten engaged...well...not exactly because of us, but certainly after spending time with us.

You can read all about it on this man's engagement blog:

http://allthingszilla.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/our-engagement-story-part-ii-of-ii/


And then remember to come visit us soon.

It might just help you come to the point in your relationship. At the very least it will be a fun time petting some very cute mini donkeys.

Here's a nice picture the blogger took of the meadow by our cottage when he got engaged.

Gotta love it right? OK. Stay sweet.

Heidi out.

I give

OK. I give. Even though there is no "donkey-seating" at La Petite Rive (just two seatings a night at 5:30 and 8 p.m.) even I have to concede that it's an awfully nice place.

And now that the weather is chilly at night, it's positively delicious in front of the fireplace in the farmhouse where they are located.

Five complete courses for under $40...wonderful local wines, homey, friendly, unpretentious ambiance...All set in this romantic, old farmhouse that dates back to the 1800s...

Not that Heidi and I would know anything about it! Not only don't we patronize the place (although we can smell it -- yum!) all we ever hear from the chipmunks lately is Pacific Tapas this, Pacific Tapas that.

Pacific Tapas. That's the name of the new place -- yet to be opened, yet to select a chipmunk sous-chef...Don't try to Google it. No website yet.

At least that's what those dizzy chipmunks tell me, between arguing with each other about the best way to braise!

They should be winding down, storing nuts for the coming cooler weather, and not fighting over sauces and reductions. Here's Chunk on a rare break. He's the favorite for the sous-chef slot at the new place, but don't tell him that.

Who's Tired of Chipmunk Wars?

 With the new restaurant opening merely weeks away, all of the chipmunks are getting into it.

Chunk is stress snacking AGAIN and Punk is picking fights with everyone and anyone (see below).

Heidi raves about our fabulous fall weather -- and it is -- but everyone is obsessing about food, food, food and I thought I'd share these photos so you could see what we're putting up with.

Mouths are watering

It can't be helped.

With the smell of the kitchen at  La Petite Rive simmering succulent sauces wafting over on the soft Autumn breezes, the excitement building about the new restaurant, and those two crazy chipmunks cooking themselves silly over the sous-chef job,  is it any wonder Heidi and I are thinking about food all the time?

I'm not one to plump up for the winter -- in fact until we pick Halloween outfits I'm positively watching my weight -- but all of this frenzy about food is making it hard.

Chunk and Punk are all a-twitter because they think that the new restaurant will be opening soon and plans are afoot for dishes planned around mushroom season, which is huge here on the Mendocino Coast.  We have mushrooms you simply can't find any place else, what with our misty Marine layer and ancient redwoods surrounded by loamy soil. Even the sound of loamy soil makes me hungry!

And Chunk isn't helping things any by bringing over this photo of La Petite Rive's rack of lamb!

Rack of lamb with baked goat cheese and a Marsala reduction

We do love dogs!

Hi from Heidi!

Remy Martin Wildavsky

We just received this wonderful picture of a guest dog who will be joining us around the holidays. We love to get correspondence from our canine fans -- and we are so excited to meet this puppy, Remy Martin.

Like the French cognac he is named for, we know he will get even better with age, which is fortunate, since by the time he comes to us he will be about three months older than he is here.

Apparently, he likes to do laundry, and while all of our accommodations have coffee makers, fridges, and microwaves, and many even have full kitchens, only one house has a washer and dryer. Since he's not staying at that house, he's going to have to make due with romping in the meadow and off leash on the beach to entertain himself and keep his laundry fetish pent up until he gets home!

But Enough About That!

Let's get back to me!

I mean really. How much chipmunk can anyone take?

Heidi thinks I'm crazy but I'm seriously considering our Halloween costume alternatives. Obviously, it has to be a duel costume. Not a costume to be worn together per se, but a costume with two parts.

Like Sonny and Cher, Captain and Tennille, Bush and Cheney...

Although those are all HORRIBLE costume ideas for mini donkeys. I'd better get back to work on my ideas.

And for the record, Chunk wants you to know that sous vide is NOT the kind of thing you would be eating if he gets the sous chef job. He shares the cooking style of La Petite Rive -- everything fresh and delicious and deceptively simple.

Oh good lord! Chipmunks again!!!??

Chipmunk Conflict!

Chunk spies on Punk

Things are getting out of control up here! Chunk and Punk need to take a break and enjoy the most incredible weather ever.

Cool and fresh in the morning and evening, wonderful, bright sunshine all day long.

But are those two sunning themselves like we are? No, they are not.

They are wasting these beautiful autumn days battling over who has the best recipes and techniques and when they're not sauteing, braising, chopping, and reducing, they're spying on each other!

I have to say, it's very silly. Chipmunks are not "higher" life forms like donkeys, but still...I do expect more from the boys.

Punk macerates leaves for a garnish!

Chipmunk Fall Madness

Punk contemplates pumpkin sous-vide

 Apparently, the cool, crisp weather makes chipmunks go a little bit nutty -- or at least chipmunk chefs. The chef wars have heated up between Punk and Chunk ever since they found out that a new restaurant was opening up around here.

Do they think about the fact that nobody is going to want what is basically a rodent as their sous-chef?

No, they do not.

What they think about is the best way to prepare some of that fresh pumpkin that is all over the place at this time of year. Punk, of course, is all about sous-viding it -- if that's a verb.

Chunk contemplates a snack

Chunk, as you can see from the photo below, is keeping up his strength while he thinks about a killer recipe to reveal fall's harvest in all of its glories.

I blame La Petite Rive. Ever since that place opened up here and started cooking breakfast for those chipmunks, they have gone plain, cuisine-crazy.

Where will it end?

At last!

Heidi here!

I'm thrilled to report our crispy Fall weather is here which is to say the weather is finally back to normal. We love this time of year -- the scent of woodsmoke in the evening, the mist off of the Pacific in the morning.

Of course autumn makes me think of delicious fall dishes and gets me excited that mushroom season is just around the corner...

October is the perfect time to visit the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. I have read that it's the only coastal garden of its kind in the Continental US and I know from guest dogs that it's also the rare dog-friendly botanical garden. Because of our balmy climate, lots of things are still in bloom over there.

Lovely!

Gotta run. Monique wants to talk Halloween costumes. Someone needs to remind her that we are already wearing donkey suits!

--Heidi