The most frequently asked question we hear at the Colonel Williams is “what is the wifi password?” But running a close second is the inevitable: “is the house haunted?” Short answer – yes. We actually live in a 250-year-old haunted house. I wasn’t really a believer in such things, but over the past few years there have been several weird – and frankly unexplainable – goings-on here. Guests tell us stories: some with vivid, terrifying detail and others that are, well, not loquacious and told on their way out the door. In the much-missed (at least in our house) Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmastime, I’d like to tell you about our latest incident. (If you are interested
Confession: I hate breakfast casseroles. The ones made with frozen hash browns are just a big no, and using bread with eggs – no matter how strong that bread is – generally makes my tongue retract back to my tonsils. However. There are weeks where I prepare more than 100 individual breakfasts. When facing my 100th breakfast, the siren song of a breakfast casserole is almost too much to resist. Mix up a bunch of ingredients, stick it in the fridge overnight – then have a semi-relaxing morning? Yes, please. Many thanks to all of our guests who have joined me as I serve experimental breakfast casseroles to you. Like Arthur in pursuit of the Holy Grail, I thought …
I know that I promised Caroline that the Croissant Breakfast casserole would be the next recipe … but I realized that I don’t have a picture of it yet because it is eaten so quickly.
So – today is our semi-famous French Toast:
This is less of a recipe, and more of a technique – you’ll get a feel for the right custard consistency with practice. And no – it isn’t too much cinnamon 🙂
French Toast – 8 pieces
Ingredients:
1 loaf challah bread
6 eggs – break them into a liquid measuring cup first, because you’ll need:
Equal volume of heavy cream
Equal volume of whole milk
1+ tablespoons cinnamon
1-ish tablespoon allspice
Dash of salt
Ground nutmeg …
250 years ago, Colonel William Williams moved his family from Massachusetts to the still-new town of Marlboro Vermont and to the land that houses the Colonel Williams Inn today. The house and barn were constructed from trees felled on the property – which is kind of cool to think about. We have some trees that escaped and are now more than 300 years old. History vibrates through each foundation stone.
So – it’s pretty cool living in such an old structure. I thought that I’d give y’all a peek at (what some people think) is the creepiest part of the house: the basement. In the original section, the field stones – also probably from the property – were simply stacked …
“So how do you like the snow?” is usually the first question our hardy New England neighbors ask when they find out we’re from Texas and inexperienced in the art of winter survival.
“We love it!” is the stock reply. “Texas is just so hot, that the cold and snow are a great change.”
When they express skepticism, we follow up with “Well, we don’t have to commute, so that probably makes a difference,” or some other apologetic phrase. “If we had to drive in it all the time, we’d probably have a different opinion.”
Which is utter BS. I DO love the snow (well, OK, I don’t love driving in it). I love the endless variation of blues when …