Minnesota State Fair

Twelve days of tradition! We are counting down the hours until the fair starts. The Minnesota State Fair runs Thursday, August 27th – Labor Day, September 7th. At the Minnesota State Fair you can feast on nearly 450 different foods, revisit the fair’s roots at the CHS Miracle Birth Center, Little Farm Hands or Moo, Baa and Oink Booths, admire thousands of handmade crafts and baked goods, stroll through hundreds of shops, catch one or two of the 75 musical acts on seven stages, watch the daily parade, or hop on your choice of more than 70 rides on the Mighty Midway and Kidway.

I recommend checking out some of the fair’s famous permanent attractions  Ye Old Mill, the Giant Slide, SkyGlider, and River Raft Ride. You can also explore the award-winning Eco Experience and learn about renewable energy, sustainable living, alternative fuels and organics. Find anything you can imagine at the Minnesota State Fair!

For More Information, Please Visit www.mnstatefair.org

Room Highlight: Alfred, Lord Tennyson Suite

Our Tennyson Suite has under gone some changes and re-arranging since this photo was taken. A grand 1870’s hand carved walnut bed has since been added to the room. The bed is adorned with winged cherubs and an entire fishing scene including the sea, volcanoes, cherubs and fishing nets all carved along the foot board. It is truly the centerpiece of this luxurious two-room suite.

The hand-screen trellis wallpaper is covered in green foliage and provides a beautiful garden conservatory-like backdrop for the drapery-enclosed whirlpool tub. The femininity of the wallpaper and the draperies is balanced out by the dark wood furnishings that have been added to the room just recently. An elaborately carved desk now sits in the corner of the room with a Tiffany-style lamp perched upon it and an  inviting antique couch is situated in front of the fireplace.

This lovely suite also features a sunny adjoining sitting parlor that is the ideal place to cozy up on a comfy chair with a glass of wine and a good book. The large needlepoint floor cushions allow you to languish in front of the second fireplace which is surrounded by hand-painted floral tiles. The parlor is also unique in that it features walls upholstered in raspberry Toile fabric. The Alfred, Lord Tennyson Suite is the ultimate in luxury and comfort.

Chef Ray’s Recipe of the Month: Coconut Rice Pudding

Coconut Rice Pudding

This fantastic recipe makes a perfectly sweet dessert and is incredibly simple to make. It has just the right amount of coconut, honey, and maple syrup to make it fun and interesting without being too different. This recipe is also a great dessert for vegans. Try not to judge it by its looks, (it can turn out looking a bit gray) the taste is out of this world delicious!

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Water

1 Cup of Rice

1 and 1/2 Cups of Coconut Milk

1/3 Cup of Raisins

1/3 Cup of Maple Syrup

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp of Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Ground Ginger

1/8 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut

Lime Zest (optional)

Directions:

Bring the water to a boil, then add rice and cook for about 30 minutes or until rice has lost moisture towards the bottom.  Add the coconut milk, maple syrup, vanilla, and seasonings and continue cooking and stirring until the rice is super thick and creamy. Add the raisins and cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Mix in the shredded coconut.

Stillwater Daily Gazette

While visiting her hometown of Vail, IA this past week,  Innkeeper Mary Dieter stumbled upon an old Stillwater Daily Gazette from June 25, 1927 in an antique shop. The newspaper is a commemorative edition featuring the Lowell Inn. All of the articles are tied directly to the much anticipated hotel and its opening with titles such as, “Hotel is Now In Sight; $45,000 in Treasurer’s Hands”,  “Yes, At Last, Oh Lord, We Have A Hotel”, and “Stillwater is Delighted With Its New Lowell Inn”. The newspaper covers every angle of the hotel and its opening with articles about everything from the thirteen pillars on the Lowell Inn portico representing the thirteen original colonies, to the rotary club becoming personally acquainted with the the president of the Roberts Hotel System, which operated Stillwater’s Lowell Inn. You can see the excitement in the people of the city of  Stillwater through the newspaper.

“The Gazette is highly delighted to present this edition which, if printer’s ink can, certainly must express the spirit that has urged Stillwater on to worthy accomplishments.”

“The Lowell Inn, “the pride of Stillwater,” and Stillwater’s Industry provide the subject of this edition. Stillwater is indeed proud of its hotel, and it is enthusiastic when citing its industry.

“You may desire to send copies of this edition to relatives or friends who live out of the city.”

Other articles, unrelated to the hotel, truly help you understand the time period. One article speaks of South Dakota honoring President Coolidge and another talks of Lindbergh becoming the Rockefeller of American commercial aviation. This newspaper has given us a better understanding of what life in this city, and the country was like then.

Mary was delighted to find this rare piece of Stillwater history and to find it so unexpectedly in her hometown in the state of Iowa. We look forward to sharing it with you during our stay with us! In 1925 the paper cost 25 cents, but now this little piece of our city’s history is priceless.

A Splintered History of Wood

Rivertown Inn’s neighbor, Spike Carlsen, is the author of “A Splintered History of Wood: Belt Sander Races, Blind Woodworkers, and Baseball Bats”. Published by HarperCollins, the book comes out in paperback on August 18th. The hard cover edition, released last summer, has already garnered critical praise (it’s a finalist this year for a Great Lakes Book Award) and NPR mentioned it last winter as a bookseller’s pick for a holiday book. Rivertown Inn even hosted a book reading event with Mr. Carlsen last fall. The book was also just recently featured in the St. Croix Valley Press on August 6th.

In the St. Croix Valley Press, Carlsen speaks of his own professional history with wood. He was a carpenter for over 15 years until he tried his hand at freelance writing and got a job with Family Handyman, a magazine with ties to Reader’s Digest. He became its executive editor and remained there until June of 2007. Over the years he developed a true appreciation for wood and all of its uses. In his book, he covers avid woodworkers such as Livio De Marchi, an Italian artist who’s carved pieces like a life-sized wooden Ferrari and Ray “Wild Mountain Man” Murphy who calls himself the first chain-saw sawyer in the U.S.

Spike Carlsen even interviewed President Jimmy Carter, who is a woodworker. “Even as a president, he would do woodworking at Camp David and make small gifts for heads of state. Very nice guy – he has a furniture book he’s working on now,” Carlsen said. Carlsen is also working on his own furniture book, and another “about houses and the different things in them”, he says. For right now,  he is still busy promoting “A Splintered History”. Thanks to a project with his church, for every copy sold a tree will be planted on a farm at a secondary school in Tanzania. They are planting a form of pine, which are quick to grow and harvestable in 12 to 15 years. Planting them provides scholarship money for some of the students, and harvesting them will provide money for the school on an ongoing basis. About 10,000 have been planted so far; details are available at www.asplinteredhistoryofwood.com.

We here at Rivertown Inn which Mr. Carlsen the best of luck in all of his future endeavors!

For More Information, Please Visit www.asplinteredhistoryofwood.com