Fowey Hotel Blooms!!

Some good news was again received here at The Fowey Hotel on Saturday. We have won third prize for Fowey in Bloom (Hotels, Pubs and Inns category)! Considering the size of the hotels’ grounds and the amount of work required to keep it looking tidy (carried out by our fantastic gardener Tim, on a part time basis I hasten to add) I thought we did very well! Collecting our certificate was a delightful experience, which included a cup of Tea and a delicious piece of homemade chocolate cake!!!

I think it is very important for the hotel to remain involved with the community and it was one of the hotels’ regular visitors that suggested to me last year that we should participate, so thank you Mr and Mrs Anson – we have now been spurred on to achieve the second or even first prize next year! No pressure or anything Tim!!!

Still remaining on the “green fingered” topic, I had a new experience this morning which involved me donning wellington boots, gardening gloves and marching with a very heavy spade with my mum, through my parents orchard. You would think we were digging for rare truffles with all the excitement that was being had however we were hunting for artichokes and we found a fair few. Well, mum was pleased, as apparently they are very expensive in the supermarkets, looks like its artichoke soup followed by artichoke stew followed by artichoke crumble for dad for a few nights now then…….

Chocolate Heaven!

For those of you who know me, you will know two facts 1) I always read a menu from back to front, ensuring that I know the dessert I will be ordering and therefore what starter and main course I will need to order to compliment this and 2) 9 times out of 10 I will order a “chocolate” themed desert.

My friends and colleagues know this only too well, and whilst a group of us were visiting the champagne region of Reims back at the beginning of the year I was placed quite literally in heaven with a full 3 course “chocolate” menu. Yes you’ve got it, a chocolate themed starter, chocolate for the main course and a beautifully rich chocolate torte for dessert. As chocolate is the theme of my Sunday evening this evening (yes I am eating a little chocolate at the moment!) I thought I would share one of the hotel’s famous Chocolate Fondant recipes with you – do let me know if you had a go at making it. TIP; if you get it right, it looks just like the M and S commercial!!! Enjoy!

Hot Chocolate Fondant with Cornish Clotted Cream and Caramel Sauce Serves 4

4oz unsalted butter plus extra to grease 4tsp cocoa powder to dust 4oz quality dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids) 2 eggs 1 egg yolk 5oz caster sugar 4oz plain flour 4oz Cornish clotted cream Sauce 3oz sugar 1floz water ½ pint double cream

1 Prepare the sauce by placing the sugar and water in a pan and place on heat to melt. 2 Once melted, raise the temperature until the sugar boils and turns to an amber colour. 3 Remove from heat; add a little more water to make a syrup. Allow to cool slightly, and then add the cream. 4 Prepare the ramekins by slightly creaming greasing with butter and dust with the cocoa powder. 5 Slowly melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of boiling water, take off heart and stir until smooth; leave to cool for 10 minutes. 6 Whisk the whole egg, egg yolk and sugar until pale (best with an electric whisk), and then fold in the chocolate mixture. 7 Sift the flour over the mixture and fold in with a spatula. Divide mixture into the 4 ramekins and cook for 12 minutes at 160°c. 8 To serve – turn each out on to a plate and serve with a scroll of Cornish clotted cream and caramel sauce.

Our 12th Anniversary as a Richardson Hotel!!!

The Richardson Family has owned The Fowey Hotel for 12 years today! I have just spoken with Jane our Head Housekeeper and we can both remember the day that Mr and Mrs Stobbs left and Mr and Mrs Richardson arrived, it is really amazing to think that it was so long ago however so much has happened here and that is why we have stayed for as long as we have.

The Fowey Hotel has thankfully been a thriving business and after the initial work that was carried out in the late 90’s guest continued to return realising what an “undiscovered gem” it was. On a morning like this morning you appreciate what our guests mean, the sky is beautifully blue and although it is cold it is one of those “healthy sunny” days, yipeee!!! Note to self: only 2 cups of coffee in the morning.

Being the first day of the month it’s a little hectic on the admin front today, as well as that I have been helping out in the restaurant to ensure that breakfast runs smoothly as all 77 guests came down in the space of 50 minutes this morning! Oh joy! However it all ran smoothly…… I think!

An interesting tale for you regarding the “travels” that our room keys takes on a frequent basis. This morning I have opened a small package (holding 1 hotel room key) with a letter stating that a lady had found one of our room keys in the car park in Tintagel! Thankfully it has made its way back to us (via our Manchester office) in one piece. The record to date, is Canada! A few years ago now I remember a guest accidentally taking the key with them all the way home to Ontario! It made its way back to us eventually, only took 10 days – quite impressive I thought!