A White Christmas

We woke Christmas morning to a pretty dusting of snow, just in time for the holidays.  As you see from the picture taken from the back step, the Digby Pines in the background.

The snow is melting today.  The temperature is to rise to about 10c by Wednesday.  This is our first Christmas in Digby.  It has been nice to be with family and friends.  We had Christmas dinner at my parents home, out in Smith's Cove, about 10min from the town of Digby.  Today, I have been helping Aralee with her dog training.  It is coming along quite nicely.  Her dog becomes quite destructive when left alone.  We have left her alone two times today, with good results.  We set up the camera so we can watch what she does when no one is home.  So far, so good.

Back to Mag Pyes tomorrow.  We only have 5 working days left, then off to Florida to see Tony's folks.  It's hard to believe that it has been almost one year since we left Toronto.  We are very pleased with all our efforts to do with Mag Pyes, and the Holdsworth House.  Mag Pyes is still rated #1 on TripAdvisor.  The Holdsworth House has slipped into 2nd place, but we are still very please with all the positive reviews that we have received from all our guests.  We still do not have any bookings for our New Year's Eve dinner at Mag Pyes, there is still time to book.  We need a minimum of 6 people to hold the dinner.

A Victorian Christmas

On Sunday, December 18th, we held a Charles Dickens Christmas at the HOLDSWORTH HOUSE.  We had 8 children come for the afternoon.  The tree in the gentlemen's parlour was decorated, cookies we made, and strories were told.  We had a very enjoyable afternoon with the children, after all, that is what Christmas is all about.  Later that evening, I went out to Smith's Cove Baptist Church for their Christmas Cantata.  It was very nice to be part of a small congregation listening to Christmas music in an old country church.

Tony and I loaded some supplies in the RV.  Our trip to Florida is getting closer.  We will be closing Mag Pyes on the 31st of December.  It's hard to believe that in a couple of weeks we will be on our own schedule for almost three months. 

We are finding the house quite cozy, considering that the temperature has been a couple degrees below zero the last few days.  We have a wood fire in both the gentlemens parlour and in the kitchen.  Between them, we heat the whole house.

Our neighbours have given us a bounty of cookies and homemade candy.  Yummy!!  Something to eat, that I didn't have to cook.

If I don't get a chance to add to the blog before Christmas, I wish you all a Merry one, and the best in the Holiday Season.

Party Time at Mag Pyes

Mag Pyes hosted the King Fisher Coastal Inn Christmas staff party on Friday, December 9th.  The guests had a great time, and we did also.  They were a fun group, and we look forward to having them again.

We still have room for our New Year's Eve Dinner.  We will be offering a four course meal starting at 8pm.  This will be our first New Year's Eve living in Digby.

Today I went to St. Patrick's Church to watch Aralee and Adele in the Christmas Pageant.  I really enjoyed it, and it is nice to be part of the community and participating in their celebrations.

We took the dogs out for a stroll through town.  What a beautiful sight to see such a clear sky, and the moon hung over the harbour cascading a moonbeam across the water.  Everytime I am witness to such beauty, I am very content on my decision to live here.  I am going to try to remember my camera, so I can take some photos to share with you the beauty of this area.

December Already?!

Where does the time go?  It is now December and Christmas is just around the corner.  At Mag Pyes we have hosted 2 Christmas parties so far, and we have another one booked for Friday, December 9th.  We are able to do the parties in either a menu or a buffet style.  We also have a large order for homemade bread.  So, if you folks would like some bread, just call us, 378.7937 and we will custom make your order for you.  For those of you that don't have plans for New Years Eve, we have a special dinner planned at Mag Pyes.  Give us a call for more details.  Don't forget, you can bring you own wine ore Champagne.  Dinner will start around 9pm and will go through to mid-night.

At the Holdsworth House be have some young children coming over for an old fashioned Christmas afternoon.  We will be making cookies and decorating the tree.  Tony and I will be dressed in our Christmas finery in celebration of the season.

Now, a little bit of bragging.  It was brought to my attention by a previous guest of the Holdsworth House, that the Bed and Breakfast and Mag Pyes is currently in 1st place on the TripAdvisor website.  We are quite proud of ourselves achieving this in less that one year.

Tony and I took the RV out for a little burn today.  We drove down the French Shore to Mavilette Beach.  Was is ever gorgeous there today.  The temperature was around 13c.  Quite balmy for the first of December.  We only have 4 weeks to go before we head south to visit with Tony's parents in Florida.

Wine Taste Testing

We had a good turn out for the wine tasting evening.  Annapolis Highlands Vineyard supplied the wine for the event.  We had 9 tasters for the dinner.  We supped on the likes of roasted quails, seared beef, and bbq ribs.  There were 5 courses all together.  Stuart MacDonald entertained us with a couple of numbers played on the pipes.  I hope to have him come back to Mag Pyes some time and play for us again.

We had a bit of a storm go through on Wednesday.  All the snow is gone now.  It has been quite warm the last couple of days, even warmer weather coming for the first part of the week.

Tony and I went down to the tree lighting ceremony on Friday night.  The tree looks quite nice.  The had fireworks after the lighting of the tree.  These were to be set off after the vote for the new seven wonders of the world, in hopes that the Bay of Fundy would have been chosen.  I guess it's hard to compete with a large rock in the middle of a flat field.  Not sour grapes, I assure you.  Most of the new chosen "wonders" just happen to be in parts of Asia and other areas with the population to out vote us.  What's 33million against 3 billion?  Oh well, we here that live on the coast of the Bay of Fundy get to watch a phenomenal spectacle every day.

Naw'lins Night a big hit

Louisiana night was a big hit at Mag Pyes on the weekend.  We had a really good turn out and all the diners seemed to enjoy the cuisine.  My favorite had to be the Chicken Etouffee.  We had a pretty busy week at the cafe.  This week we have a guest staying at the Holdsworth House on Tuesday, and we have an American Thanksgiving Dinner booked at the house too.  Tony and I will be dressed in our period costumes and we will prepare the meal on the open hearth in the kitchen.

Tony's parents made it safely to Florida.  We will join them in early January.  The weather has been warm for this time of year, no snow as of yet.  It is suppose get a little cooler by mid-week.  I will keep my fingers crossed for no snow.

We will be attending the Digby Area Board of Trade awards dinner on Tuesday.  We were not nominated, but it is good for PR to attend such things.  The guest speaker will be Percy Paris, he is in charge of Tourism and Economical Developement for the province.  We can only hope that maybe he will see Digby fit for the site of the Fundy Tidal Service Center.  Also, we are waiting to hear about another tidal project in the works for the Digby area.

I guess the time has come to start thinking about decorating for Christmas.  We will have to go over to Aralee's to find our Christmas boxes stored in her basement.  A good project for me while Tony is watching NFL, allllllll day.

What a Great Day

What a fabulous day, here in Digby, Nova Scotia.  Check out the Digby Webcam, http://www.novascotiawebcams.com/bay-of-fundy/digby-harbour.html and have a look for yourselves.  It's hard to believe we are in the second week of November, and people are walking around without jackets.  Saw a guy at the bank with shorts on today!!

We have been pretty steady, here at Mag Pyes.  It is fairly slow this morning, but lunches seem to be quite busy.  I just finished cooking up some brownies, and now I am waiting for the pumpkin tarts. 

It will be interesting to see how The Bay of Fundy places in the vote for the seven natural wonders of the world.  If you haven't voted yet, shame on you.  You still have time, just google Bay of Fundy Vote, and you will be directed to the website, or try  http://www.votemyfundy.com/ 

The Holdsworth House is still in the process of having a facelift.  All the broken and cracked windows have been replaced, and the storm windows put back on.  The paint job will be completed in the spring.  It's just an ugly grey colour(primer) right now.  As soon as it is finished, I will post some of the pics.  Just took out the pumpkin tarts, they look yummy, if you want one you will have to come to Mag Pyes!!!, quickly now, they're going fast.

New Orleans it is

It is decided, our next cuisine night will be celebrating New Orleans, Louisianna.  We will be offering Gumbo, Crab cakes, Blackened Shrimp and Chicken, all kinds of goodies.  Don't be scared off if you are heat sensitive with your food, we will be offering several different hot sauces for you to try at your table, so you can heat up your dinner to your own liking.  Don't forget, you can bring your own wine, and we will serve it for you.  We only have four places left for our wine taste testing on the 26th of November.  Give me a call, and we can hold your spot for you, 378-7937.  
The last few days have been great weather wise.  Also business wise too.  We have been quite busy.  We have a couple of Christmas parties booked and a luncheon for 18 booked on the 18th of November(off site).  We offer free delivery within Digby for any order.

Just to let you know, the Chocolate Pye that I made, is more than yummy!!!

Who Turned the Lights Out

Holy wind blowing!!  Wind gust up to 110km/hr.  We lost our electricity around 2pm.  The wind was so strong that the house shook.  We had leaves plastered to the side of the house and windows.  No trees down on our property, just a few  few branches.  Tony was a little frustrated, no NFL football.  We cooked hot dogs on the fireplace, oh the good old days.  The hydro finally came back on around 1pm.  We did some yard work and put some of the summer stuff away.  It's suppose to be quite warm for the next few days.  The is our first Halloween in Digby.  We wonder how many little gobelins we will get? 

Italian Night is a Success

Italian night(s) went very well.  We had 6 diners on Friday, and 16 on Saturday.  It's great to serve guests that really enjoy their food and appreciate the effort that goes into preparing an authentic meal.  We got home around 10:30pm.  We woke up to wind blowing so hard it was shaking the house.  I got down to Mag Pyes and noticed the large sign at the front of the building flipping all over the place.  I call Tony and said that he would have to come down and help to stablize the sign.  Too late.....one of the brackets broke before he arrived.  Now we have a sign thrashing around on one chain, beating into the side of the building.  Off came one of the plant hangers, and the sign went wild hitting the hydro wires.  We finally got a rope around the sign to try and hold it down.  The ladder blew up the sidewalk.  About 3 minutes later, the wind caught the sign and tore it from it's last hold, and sent the 4'X3' plywood like a missle up the road, and finally touched down in front of the Post Office.  Good thing there were no cars or people around, or it could have been really messy.  For the record, the winds are gusting at 100km/hr.  Great day for flying a kite, or a sign for that matter.  So, after all that, I decided that it would be good to settle our closed days for the off season, Sunday and Monday it is.

I tawt I taw a snow flake

Yup, that's right.  A snow flake!!!  Help!  Weather change, the sun is out.   That is how fast the conditions change here.  We still have not had any temps below 0.  It's suppose to be around 14c mid week.  I guess that the time has come to think about winterizing things.  If we decide to start taking one day off a week, I will do some yard work on Monday. 

We are getting ready for our Italian night at Mag Pyes.  I am quite happy with how everything has come together.  We will see what the paying customer has to say.  The phone just rang, another booked for tomorrows dinner.  Yaaaaaaaaa!!

Our First RV Trip

We did it!  Our first RV mini-trip.  We went out to Kedji for two nights.  All went well.  It was discovered that we forgot to bring untensils, pillows and the food in the fridge at home.  Before forks were invented, we had fingers to eat with, after all.  Aralee and Adele came out for the day on Sunday.  The weather was quite agreeable, a little chilly at night, but that is to be expected for this time of year.

Tony with the 4 "babies"

We are getting ready at Mag Pyes for our second international cuisine night.  We have 14 bookings so far.  There may be some last minute bookings yet.  There are still quite a few tourist around town.  We had some guests at Mag Pyes from Italy, Calgary and Boston.  We had another great review posted on trip advisor for Mag Pyes.  We are rated #3 for places to eat in Digby, and our bed and breakfast, Holdsworth House, is ranked #2.  We are quite pleased with these placings, as we have only been open for 4 months for the cafe, and 7 months for the bed and breakfast.

A couple of days off for Mag Pyes

We have taken a couple of days off for some R&R.  We are going to take our motorhome for an experimental trip out to Kedji, the national park about 1 hour from Digby.  I'll let you know how that goes.

We had a pretty good week at Mag Pyes.  Saturday was really busy.  We had a breakfast group in for breakfast.  There are still a few tourist around the area.  Meet some folks from NWT and Alberta.  Earlier in the week we had guests for lunch from the area.   They seemed to enjoy their meal, as the plates were pretty much licked clean.  The husband asked me to have a seat, then preceded to lean in and tell me of all my wrongs.  Not very pleasant.  There is no point in me going into all the details of this one way conversation.  I apologized and informed him that there would be no charge for the stew and sandwich(one of each)that he and his wife shared.  His wife, obviously upset with his unjustified rant, got up and left him sitting there by himself.  He gathered his coat and followed her out the door.  The other table, that heard the whole conversation, couldn't believe it.  This was their third day in a row at Mag Pyes for lunch.  They were very supportive, and took him for the Jerk that he is.  If he is like that in public, one has to wonder what he is like in the privacy of his own home!?

Last night, we held a 1700's cooking class for a couple from Granville Ferry(Annapolis area).  We had a great evening.  Tony and I were dressed in our 1780's garb, and the guest prepared an evening meal on the open hearth in the restored kitchen of the Holdsworth House.  It all went well.  We will be doing an American Thanksgiving in November for 5 people.  You can book a 1700's cooking class or cooking demonstration at the Holdsworth House, the rates start at $28/person, minimum of four people for the cooking demo's, for the cooking class the rate is $55/person, this includes the instruction and all the necessary provisions for the meal.  Call to reserve 902.245.5252.  You can check out the Holdsworth House at www.holdsworthhousebandb.com

Finally....we got our motorhome back

Finally, after 5 weeks of being at the mechanics, we have our motorhome back.  We purchased a used mortorhome on September 12th.  I won't bore you with the details, but it took 5 weeks to get it repaired and road worthy for our trip to Florida to visit with Tony's family for a couple of months.  We are still trying to plan our route down.  I am sure we will have it all figured out by the time January rolls around.  It was a pretty good day at Mag Pyes.  We had a slow morning, but things picked up for the afternoon.

We had dinner at a local restaurant, "Captain's Cabin".  Herbie and Victor treat some of the local merchants for their support.  Good PR.  We eat there often during their open season, and send all our bed and breakfast guest for evening meals.

We are looking forward to the weekend.  We are going to close for a couple of days to take the RV for a test run.  We are going to spend a couple of nights at the national park-"Kedji".  Hopefully we can get all the kinks out before our trip south.

First blog for Mag Pyes

Well, here I go.  Writing a blog about life in small town Digby, Nova Scotia.  We moved back to my home town in February 2011.  Our aspirations at the time were to finish our B&B project, Holdsworth House.  The home was built in 1783 by Empire Loyalist, James Addington Holdsworth.  We purchased the home in 1998, and have spent the last 12 years restoring it back to its former glory.  Then, in May, we were presented with an opportunity to lease a space and open our own little bakery shop and cafe--"Mag Pyes"

MY BEST FRIEND, ARALEE in front of Mag Pyes on opening day

It has been a good summer for us.  Other business owners commented that this year was exceptionally slow.  As I have nothing to base either businesses on, we were quite happy with what we have achieved this year, so far.

When I say "we", this includes my husband of 12 years, Tony Nadeau.  I could not have achieved my goals with out him by my side.  Don't get me wrong, there have been days when things did get a little intense.  It is a good thing that there is not a barber shop(Sweeny Todd's maybe)close by, then I could have been making the best meat pyes in all of Digby.

We had our largest group last night for an evening dinner.  The Digby Pines Ladies Golf Club held their season closing dinner at Mag Pyes.  All went well.  I believe the ladies enjoyed their meal.

In the summer, we were usually open from 8-6.  Now that things have slowed down for the season, we are offering international cuisine nights.  Our first country of food celebration was Greece.  It was well recieved, and our dining guest enjoyed the flavour of Greece.  Our next country of culinary celebration is Italy.  We will be offering a 4 course meal with two sitting each night, on the 28th and 29th of October.  If anyone reading this  would like to attend, please give Mag Pyes a call, 902-378-7937.  We are located at 9 Water Street, Digby, Nova Scotia.