Monday, February 15, 2010

Cancer Patients

I have set up the inn with a full purpose in mind which is to offer a place of peace for people to come to restore and do away with the pollution of life. During the years I have opened the inn which has been since August of 2006, I have had many different kinds of guests who have come to stay at the inn for different reasons. I have made friends and kept in touch with almost all of them.

However, I never imagined losing any of them through death. I have lost two, one who was quite healthy during his visit with his wife and in-laws. He passed away suddenly in November 2009 which I was very sad to hear of the news. The other was a cancer patient whose sister wanted to take her to a spa or yoga center so after googling she found Kismet Inn and decided to stay at the inn in October 2008. They stayed for 3 nights, One stayed in Room 1 called Saffron, she was the one with cancer and the other sister who was taking care of her stayed in Room 3 called Safari. They enjoyed yoga and massage with dinner at the inn.

Here is a note I received from her sister today.
Dear Shadi, It is good to hear from you. Sadly I must tell you that Barbara passed away on November 24, 2009. She lived to see her daughter marry on September 26, but seemed to lose her purpose after that. We were sorry to see her pass on but knew that she would have peace in her journey. There was a bald eagle flying over her house the day she left us and an owl followed me out of her driveway hours later. She will be with me forever. I will always remember our visit to your Inn and how much better she felt when she left. Your company and your hospitality helped restore her energy and kept her going for a while longer.

I was honored and happy that I was able to offer the hospitality and care that I did. I miss Barbara and Bill ... I know they are both resting in peace... they were both good people.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

3 Squash Rice Pie


Couple of weeks ago I bought Spaghetti, delicata and butternut squashes from the farmers market in Brunswick. I cooked the spaghetti squash first in the oven with cheese and onion but it tasted so bland that I decided to mix it with delicata and butternut squashes to make a paste or soup. So I baked the other two in the oven once cooked I peeled the skin and put them in the pot to cook with coconut flakes, curry powder, salt and pepper. Once they were cooked I decided to put it in the mixer but when I was removing the mixer to pour out the mix into the pot to put the other batch in, it spilled because I removed the wrong part of the mixer. I was discouraged by the incident and had to go to a meeting so I left the remaining part in the pot.

Once I got back from the meeting I decided to make it into a lima bean squash dish so I added some dried organic lima bean I had and let it cook. Once it was cooked I decided to add some white basmati rice to give it some thickness but this turned out to be a bit too mooshy for my taste. I was also taking it to a potluck which I didn't want to represent Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast with a mooshy rice so I decided to make a pie out of it and call it 'Three Squash Rice Pie'

I fried onions in ghee, covered the pie with it, sprinkled some cinnamon on top then put it in the oven for 45 minutes. It turned out excellent.