Thursday, May 29, 2014

B.F. Hiestand House and The Accomac Inn {reviews}

Recently two of my favorite, local, farm-to-fork restaurants closed (The Green Room in Carlisle and Juliana's in the Village in Shrewsbury). This prompted me to search for other restaurants that could fill in the gap. I'm so excited to have found The Accomac Inn! Just take a look here to see where they get their ingredients from, all local farms!  But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning :)

My husband and I had the pleasure of staying at the B.F. Hiestand House bed and breakfast a few months ago for our anniversary (they had a BOGO special!). Many rooms are dog-friendly and we decided to take our English bulldog along with us for the first night and then take him to a friend's house the next afternoon. You could say he enjoyed himself!

We stayed in the adjoining cottage since we weren't sure if Gunther would bark or not. As it was, we were glad to be separated from the main house since he did take a little time to settle down and if either of us left the room he got a bit worried.

Breakfast the first morning was delivered to us so Big G wouldn't be left alone. It was an egg casserole, zucchini muffin (mine was gluten free!), tomatoes and sausage. Everything was wonderful!
 The fruit course was boiled blueberries. This can be eaten hot or cold (ours was cold) and as a huge blueberry lover, it was delicious! Gunther has a few blueberries every morning when I make my smoothie so he was very glad to have a few leftover blueberries as well, and the brown sugar on them meant he liked them that much more!
 After dropping Gunther off at a friend's house later that afternoon, we changed and went to the Accomac. The innkeepers were able to give us a complimentary $20 gift card to the Accomac. We were planning on eating at a restaurant in Hershey but they were booked and we've never been to pleasantly disappointed before!It is in a very old inn right on the bank of the Susquehanna. We went for an early dinner (5:30) and the dining room was fairly empty when we arrived but was filling up by the time we left (7:30).

Unfortunately since the dining room was so empty I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of our dinner. We shared a salad (with a chia yogurt dressing- amazing!). They were extremely accommodating with the need to eat gluten free and even had my own basked of gf dinner rolls. There were at least 2-3 varieties! I ordered a seafood platter (with skate wing- talk about unique and yummy) and my husband ordered Biftec Diane, which was flambeed table-side- what fun! For dessert we shared creme brulee (This was probably the only thing in which I felt a little disappointed. It just didn't seem to have as rich of a flavor as I have come to expect from this dessert) and received two free chocolate covered strawberries in honor of celebrating our anniversary.

Thankfully we were able to get back to the Accomac on our anniversary (nothing like taking a day off mid-week to spend with your spouse) and enjoyed these dishes:

This is what's left of the fruit, nut and cheese plate with restaurant-made gluten free crackers and apple chutney

I can't remember the exact name but this was some kind of slow-roasted beef with restaurant-made spicy mayo that was beyond wonderful with sweet potato fries. Again, they were very accommodating with gluten free rolls.
Randy's burger with fries on restaurant-made potato bun
Our second morning's breakfast we enjoyed in the main house dining room. French toast with bacon and assorted fruit. They were very nice and made mine with gluten free cinnamon raisin bread which I loved and also shared the recipes for the boiled blueberries and egg casserole.

I highly recommend both the bed and breakfast and restaurant to anyone that lives in the York/Lancaster area or when you are visiting!

You can also take advantage of Chickies Rock County Park (literally right across the river from the restaurant and just down the road from the B&B) and go for a stroll after your meal. When we went for lunch it was a beautiful early spring day and we were ready for some outdoor time after the winter we have had. Anyone know what "chickies" stands for?

Enjoying the sunshine in an accidental-but-pretty-cool selfie :)
 

*Disclaimer- I was not in any way solicited or compensated for these reviews. My opinions are my own and purely to share some great local places to visit!

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Why I Started Using My Microwave Again {Product Review}

Well, I never thought I would see the day when I would start using my microwave again, but it has happened. Not to worry, I am not eating any microwaved food but it does come in handy to heat up these herbal heating pads from Pinch of Comfort!

I have known Sarah as an employee at my chiropractor's office for a few years now and she always was one of those women that I wished I would be able to hang out with outside of a work situation. She was always so pleasant and has a nice "granola" side to her as well, haha!

Much to my surprise I ran into her at a local artisan fair a few weeks ago.




Although I love the idea of using herbs and essential oils to help heal naturally, I haven't had the opportunity to actually use them and learn about them yet.

Sarah provides various blends of herbs and can also create blends just for your needs. I was looking for something to help me relax and she recommended lavender. She and I made a deal and I walked away with a soothing lavender eye pad and an everything (contains lavender, rosemary, peppermint, yarrow, sage, eucalyptus, chamomile and lemon balm) neck/shoulder pad.

I have definitely fallen in love! I have been dealing with swelling ankles/feet lately (not exactly sure why...) and the neck pad does wonders for them! I just spritz with water and microwave for 2 minutes. The pads also contain rice and flax seeds to hold the heat. I have also used it on my back, moving the pad to a different spot every few minutes. The heat lasts about an hour for my back and a little less for my feet (they are usually very cold to begin with!).

I have not used the small eye pad yet. I have it in the freezer just waiting for a day when I have a need for it.

She also has large pads to cover your whole back at once and small "boo boo" pads for when the little ones get hurt!

I love being able to support a local up and coming business. Sarah makes all the pads herself with organic herbs she has either grown in her own garden or purchased from an organic farm near Gettysburg.

Thank you, Sarah, for sharing your wonderful products with me! Check out Sarah's web site or Facebook page!

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