Northwest Culinary Cuisine & Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes @ The Pfeiffer Cottage Inn

Okay, so I know this is a gorgeous picture of my peony bouquet and pink cupcakes!  I took it this morning after clearing our guests breakfast dishes.  I made vanilla cupcakes and decided to drop a spoon full of cherry jam in between layers of batter.  Topped with cherry frosting and put under glass, this was one of my most wonderful artistic creations.

Yeah, whatever, blah, blah, blah!!!   A box of cake mix, a jar of jam and a plastic can of frosting.  Whoopie!  But hey, they looked so pretty set by my farmer's market bouquet I had to take a picture. 

Being a little creative, relaxing and enjoying ourselves and our guests here in Albany is what makes innkeeping fun.  The last few evenings we have opened bottles of wine, ate Marion Berry Pie (again from the farmer's market), and chatted with our guests and new friends about their day.  

Wineries abundantly grace the Willamette Valley and are sometimes set against a backdrop so breathtaking that you have to have a glass and just sit and gaze.  Our guests from the eastern U.S. checked out our favorite trio of wineries yesterday.  Kings Estate, Sweet Cheeks and Silvan Ridge.  All within an easy drive of each other and all offering a little something different than the other.  Our guests favorite and ours, Sweet Cheeks Winery has the most awesome views of wine country in the area.  You can take a glass and enjoy the Oregon sunshine on the huge patio deck area and just soak it all in.  

Whether our guests take off for the day and leave our sweet town to discover wineries or covered bridges or decide to stay and relax, they always end up downtown for what I call two of the Pacific Northwest's most divine dining digs.  Sybaris and Clemenza's restaurants owned by Matt and Janel Bennett are located on First Avenue, respectively.  Sybaris offers the best of seasonal Willamette Valley faire and is always fresh and local. Clemenza's American Italian restaurant offers a very intimate and simple ambience that makes you feel like you have crossed over to a little bistro in Italy for an hour or so. Offering wines known in the region, a white and a red, their house selections at Clemenza's are as good as they come.  

Cupcakes, peonies, our lovely guests that grace our inn, our yummy picks of local culinary digs and grapes from the valley.  Sweet and ripe, sipped and enjoyed from all that is fertile and good!