Trip to Maine - Three Pines B & B

What a glorious feeling to leave one's beloved home to discover new captivating places. Acadia National Park became one of them for me and Alex, when in June we endeavored so anticipated trip to Maine. It took us about 6 hours to get there, and at first I was a little disappointed by the shabbiness of the environment. Tiny worn-out huts, typical of Maine near Acadia area, popped up everywhere on our way. I couldn't figure out how an average person could manage to fit in a space like that... What a dreary place are we going to, I thought... Here and there we saw peculiar buildings and also spotted a few restaurants on the way to our sleeping quarters -  Three Pines Bed & Breakfast, where our impressions changed immediately.

A long mysterious wooded driveway, with gardens in the beginning, brought us to Three Pines B & B. that is nestled right on the shore of Sullivan Harbor that leads to Frenchman Bay.

This remarkable place is owned by Karen and Ed, who left their careers as aerospace engineers and decided to retreat to nature. The property and farm are solar-powered and environmentally friendly as much as possible to achieve comfort.  Vegetarians, they grow sheep for wool and chickens for eggs, they never kill their animals and let the oldest decently live their last days on their farm.. They have five cats and adorable Ms. McGoo (not sure if I spelled it right), a 6-month puppy of some Japanese breed - all of them rescued from a local shelter.
They grow organic vegetables, pick wild blueberries right on their acres, do some crafts, and enjoy their solitude.
Karen was most kind and accommodating, she skillfully balanced service and respect to our privacy.
Our hostess cooked us breakfast every morning, and I am thrilled to share what we had . Our first morning was rainy and foggy, so the breakfast was served inside the house in Karen's dining room.

We had most tender rhubarb tart/cake followed by organic eggs (scrambled for me and soft-boiled for Alex), fresh juice and coffee. I didn't ask for the recipe (let it remain Karen's in-house secret), but I will definitely try to experiment with rhubarb as a cake filling - the contrast of sweet and tangy is very pleasing.

Wild blueberry pancakes were offered on the second day's morning, blueberries picked on the property, mind you.  Made from scratch, pancakes were served with  maple syrup, butter, juice and coffee. What an invigorating beginning of the day full of adventures!

The last morning at Three Pines began with clear skies and pink sunrise that I  watched from our room's window. Breakfast was served on sunny deck where we could watch low tide and distant islands of the harbor. Karen decided to treat us to yet another baking delight - her blueberry muffins. What you see on the picture was the final accord of our food experiences at this wonderful place - broccoli chantrelle scrambled eggs. How does it sound? Broccoli is certainly organic and eggs, oh eggs... Those eggs were not that crappy stuff one gets at regular grocery store, those eggs are real, with bright yellow yokes, loaded with vitamin D, eggs laid by real country chickens that nibble on fresh grass, eat insects and wander all day in the sun.

As for mushrooms, we couldn't help but pick them in nearby forest the day before and asked Karen to incorporate them into our breakfast. She did great, and a new recipe was born.

SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH CHANTRELLES

What you need:

4 organic free range eggs (2 per portion)

1/3 cup filtered water

1 cup organic broccoli (cut in bite-size pieces)

1 cup(or less) fresh chanterelle (cut in small pieces or left whole, if mushrooms are small)

Butter, 1 tb sp or more

Salt

Pepper (optional)

Greens to garnish

Method:

Whisk eggs and water to even consistency. Heat a skillet on a medium heat, melt butter and saute broccoli for 2 minutes, pour eggs over, sprinkle with salt, and simmer until done. While eggs are cooking, saute mushrooms on a rather high heat until slightly browned, sprinkle with salt.

When serving eggs, arrange mushrooms on top and garnish with greens.

Free range eggs and chantrelles each have their own distinctive flavor, but together they make an unbelievable duet. M-m-m-m-m-m-m!

We thanked Karen for her kindness and with regret departed from this welcoming place, keeping in mind the possibility of coming back soon...