This past weekend we were able to get an overnight sitter and we were off to points unknown, well at least to Tom.Tracy surprised me for my birthday with an overnight adventure and I had no idea, where, what only the when.
We pack a duffel and headed about 2 hours north and west of Toronto. There is this very special place where all foodies and food enthusiasts must visit, however there are couple of caveat's, 1: photos are very personal use only not to be published on the Internet and 2, no vegetarians, pretty simple. So in keeping with tradition I am only going to break one of the rules, and since this blog is our personal space I will claim writers privilege/prerogative and post a couple of pics :).
The place is known as Eigensinn Farm and it is own and farmed by a world renown and very nice guy named Michael Standlander.The place has pigs, ducks, turkey's and other assorted farm animals wandering around. The path to the dining areas was paved with wine bottles from past diners and the trees were full of inspirational signs, overall a very interesting place! we were greeted by the farm dog, a very friendly herding kind of a fellow who knew his way to the food!
The setting was a picturesque valley with sunflowers planted in a circle around the valley, a tee pee, and three log pole type structures with tin roofs and no walls, no electricity and no running water which added to the overall serenity of the place. The menu for the diner was;Oysters, amuse, beef consomme with braised oxtail ravioli, white fish, lobster broth, farm duck, sorbet, fresh farm pork and garden vegetables, cheese dessert and petite fours.
The directions from the kitchen were: the event is outdoors but we have a roof. Good walking shoes and please dress according to the weather.
So with all that in mind off we went. We arrived at 3:55 checked in to the Pretty River Valley Inn and at 4:00 were in the shuttle to the diner, it started promptly at 4:15 and if are were late you missed out simple as that, Germans are a punctual lot! You may be wondering, as we were, with no running water what if one needed to use the washroom? The answer was a one seater composting outhouse complete with wood chips and a shovel, along with hand sanitizer and the coldest water out of a bucket ever, lights you ask, that's what the flashlight app on your smart phone is for!
After dinner we were then picked up by the shuttle and returned to the Pretty River Valley Inn, to find a warm wood fire waiting for us our room and we watched a silly Indian film about cooking to keep things in line with the night!
There were several cool aspects to the PRI, the fireplace in the room, Reindeer, yes real Reindeer hanging out waiting for the snow so they could get back to work!
We had a nice breakfast at the PRI accompanied by there two little dogs both of which made sure there was no need for a vacuum!
There were about 16 of us lucky diners and we had an incredible meal full of interesting conversation and eclectic food presentations.it was an awesome surprise that Tracy found this and we were able to go it was a very Happy Birthday!Thanks Tracy, I love you!!!
