B&B 101

Here I am, stuffed to the gills on abfab food and B&B 101, thanks to Pam Rudolph of Carriage Lane B&B, Peterborough.  Not the only things I'm trying to digest though, I've also got a head full of B&B data that I've got to chew through and absorb.

I've had 3 breakfasts today - at brekkie time, late lunch and late supper, because Pam has thoughtfully screwed up meal schedules for her and her inappropriately funny, adorable husband Ben, to give me exposure to her tried and true breakfast recipes for the time I'm spending here, learning at her table.

Pam runs an extremely professionally delivered B&B academy, giving newbies like me a solid footing, practical advice and proven direction, based on her more than a decade experience in bed and breakfasting.  A career that, while maintaining a upper-tier B&B, has expanded beyond, as she put it, "bed & heads", to culinary classes, hosting events, concierging visiting educationals and other professionals and delivery courses in starting a bed and breakfast.

Friday, I left Wheatley and drove along Hwy 3, with a colourful honour guard of changing motorcycles - it was Friday 13th, the traditional excuse for bikers of all bikes and backgrounds to gather at Port Dover - from hogs to scooters... although even if I was an 89 year old female virgin nun, I would not show gripping a scooter at Port Dover..... the laughing would be unbearable even if I still did have my hearing.

I stopped at Courtland, visited Saffire Blue, a small family business, a warehouse for toiletries - shampoos, conditioners, essential oils, etc.  I bought these three things, plus shower gel, facial cream and cleanser, and 8 oz plastic bottles and pump caps.  I'll be making my house blend of bath products, with a blend of lavender, clary sage and rosemary essential oils.  I've bought clear labels and will label the bottles accordingly and fill and refill them for guest use.  The skin care products, I've bought for myself.

Next, a north turn onto Hwy 59, where I stopped at a nameless town because I saw the magic words - "Liquidation".  Grabs my brakes everytime!  I ended up buying a new mini garden hoe, a small I'm-on-my-knees rake and a bottom-loading black and stainless steel water cooler.... and a skirt.  Unbelievably, in this hole-in-the-wall liquidation warehouse, was a teeny boutique of lovely cotton skirts, shirts and tees.  How serendipitious, eh?

Driving then up to merge with the rightfully detested Hwy 401, it took me three lifetimes of bad karma to get through Toronto... what a bumper-to-bumper hellhole that stretch is!  After spasming through that 1.5 hour stretch, Peterborough wasn't far, and Ms GPS had me at Carriage Lane B&B nicely.

Starting last night, after an aromatic Indonesian rice and beef supper, we outlined the course goals, my starting point, the level of preparedness I'm currently at and then viewed pictures of our home, the rooms and the property.

Early this morning we began, as they say, in earnest.  Pam is just a resource to be reckoned with.  I fired off questions and concerns and she's got all the answers.  Leading me back to her well-prepared curriculum when I veered us off track, I was in the enviable position of being her only client this weekend, her only focus.  We broke for a late lunch, worked again until 6 and then reconvened for a delicious breakfast/supper.

Pam and Ben are a wonderful couple, their professional lives multiple and varied, what with the bed and breakfast, her culinary career, his outside work (now retired) and their caring, selfless interest in fostering troubled children, setting aside the B&B at intervals when they see a child they can help.

We've done the majority of the curriculum by now and tomorrow will wind up the course with a few extra items and review.  Pam supplies a certificate, hard copy assist materials, a tax receipt and a lifeline for assistance.  With completion also comes a free year registration with BBCanada, the premier marketing/booking machine for Canadian bed and breakfasts.  That's worth $100, taking the course price down to $350.  Money well spent, I think.  I have more confidence in my strengths and knowledge after this time with Pam.

Maybe a bit of return trip shopping........ home again, home again, jiggity-jig......