You're wondering about the chickens, aren't you?

I thought I posted this yesterday, but the magic monkey seems to have deleted it.  I will try to replicate satisfactorily. 

We didn't see one live chicken the whole three weeks.  Not one.  So I had to make up for it with reasonable facsimiles.

Ottawa:

Trinity, Nfld.:

Fogo Island:

Halifax:

Annapolis Royal:

The Creepy Inn in Sackville -- jackpot:

Shhhhh...sleeping. 

In town:

Whoops. 

Charlottetown:

Bay Fortune, PEI:

My fave, in the Inn's kitchen.  Turns out Chef Michael and I are kindred spirits. 

Where's Michael?

Celebrities seen on the trip:

Peter Mansbridge

Justin Trudeau

Gwyneth Paltrow

Chef Michael Smith

Celebrities touched on the trip:

Chef Michael Smith

2 meters tall and lovely as all get out. 

He was at his friend's wedding on the weekend, so he wasn't at our Feast, but he's usually there cooking and serving at night. He's a down home innkeeper -- he even let us do a load of laundry!

I think I'm in love. Don't tell Scott. 

The Feast

Our 23rd anniversary dinner. Proper livin'. 

Oh man. 65 people come every night for it. The incredible team of chefs, sous chefs, and servers, is called The Fire Brigade, and they work most of the day preparing everything.  Talk about a well-oiled machine. 

It starts in the yard with drink stations set up around The Altar. Scott had g & t with PEI gin, I had a Caesar with PEI vodka, and the girls had some ginger beer. Local beer and select wines (one from the Okanagan, I believe) were also available. 

G & t station on the right, Altar on the left, serving yummy beef and pickled onion appetizers.  

Drink in hand, you wander the property to various tasting stations. Out back, by the impressive and vast herb garden, were the sausages, made in-house and cooked on a fire.  DELICIOUS. 

The young girl is Olivia, the farmer couple's daughter, thus a junior farmer. She named every herb for us. They have 8 different basils growing!

Come back inside to the kitchen where Chef Michael Smith began his culinary career and then his first TV show, The Inn Chef. 

It's oyster city, to Scott's delight, and I even had two, persuaded by the enthusiastic team shucking like mad. I recommend raw oysters on Bloody Mary Ice. The tall lad with glasses is Michael's son Gabe, now 14 and a member of the Junior Fire Brigade.  He was working every night we were there. 

My favourite part of the pre-dinner ambling was meeting Patrick, the Inn's dishwasher. Without him, it all falls apart. 

Restaurant kitchens have strict routines to keep everything moving. I got a demo from Patrick, and he even let me turn on the dishwasher. IT TAKES ONLY 1 MINUTE TO WASH AND SANITIZE A TRAY OF DISHES. Even though the soap costs $150 and is used up within two days, I STILL WANT ONE OF THESE. It may even have surpassed my desire for one of those huge institutional clamping irons to make pressing sheets a breeze. 

Time to sit down and eat. Scott and I had the tasting wines, so we enjoyed 5 different pairings for each course. And water water water. Guests staying at the Inn get plum seats right in front of the prep hub.  That was an exciting show in itself, but we also really loved meeting others at our table. 

That's Norm in the pink shirt, and his wife Marion was beside me. My teacher radar never fails -- I just knew they were educators. Yes, indeed, they're retired principals who live in Ontario and have a cottage on PEI, where they spend summer. They also have a daughter who teaches Grade 3 and is a Type 1 diabetic. The invisible hand was at work, I tell you. 

Every course was divine. My favourite was the halibut. I ate mine before I remembered to photograph it.  Here's the dessert, which had perfectly glorious homemade mint ice cream.

Edible flowers are part of every dish, too. 

The Fire Brigade.  They are never still, and they clearly love what they do. 

This was truly a peak experience. 

A Tender Moment, if you please

Where would we be without Dreamy?  No sooner had we agreed upon a trip to the Maritimes, he had found this string of exceptional accommodations and things to see and do.  While the girls were not always keen

Scott and I were. 

Cheers to my beloved on our 23rd anniversary. He arranged the trip so that we could celebrate at the beautiful Inn at Bay Fortune. 

What about Anne?

Everyone: "You're going to PEI?  Are you going to Green Gables?!"

Us: "Uh, we've never read it."

Everyone: "What?!"

Me: Revert to semi-chronic state of guilt and bring the uncracked copy Grandma Maudie gave the girls in 2008. 

The best part was reading it at the Inn with some PEI beer. Isn't that what you're supposed to do?

Turns out I love the book, and how can I not when it's part Little House on the Prairie, part Sarah, Plain and Tall, and part Waltons?

We went to lovely Cavendish and the national site there. It was as special for lifelong Anne fans as going to the Walton Mountain Museum in Virginia will be for me one day. 

There are pretty trails on the property, as well as places to sit and drink raspberry cordial. 

Another wonderful surprise came in the form of the Anne of Green Gables musical we saw that night in Charlottetown. It was SO GOOD and very high quality. Most entertaining.  And now we know the plot of this famous Canadian story written in 1908, and we see why it's so popular. 

And I promise I will finish the book.