The second part of Celeste's workshop with Island Food Skills this week (see part 1 here!) was a visit to The Inn at Bay Fortune. Chef Michael Smith and his wife Chastity recently became the new owners of the Inn. The Inn is where he started his chef's career in the early 90s. He seems very happy to be back and to give the Inn his special touch.
We met him for a tour of the grounds and the two kitchens, including the new FireWorks kitchen. After the tour, he taught the group how to properly open an oyster, also known as shucking an oyster. These oysters were brought in by Chris and the group from Colville Bay Oyster Co, which we had just visited (if you missed it, check out the story and photos here!).
Chef Michael started our tour outside. We walked along beautiful paths edged by many flowers to the organic farm area. I really loved the little path lined by lobster traps through the wooded area.
Chef Michael Smith has a vision for his Inn that includes growing organic food on the property, using fire to cook it, and offering a feast to share. He explained this in detail and summed it up by three words: farm, fire, feast.
The organic farm area has many different types of vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. He has plans for much more. Celeste and I really enjoyed listening to him talk about growing food, using fresh ingredients in his kitchen, and appreciating it all.
After the farm area, we headed inside to the more traditional kitchen. This is the kitchen where the TV show "The Inn Chef" was hosted in.
We then visited the FireWorks kitchen. The dining room is also in the kitchen, with long tables to really give that kitchen party feel!
I think it would be a wonderful experience to watch the food being cooked over the fire and also share a meal with other guests. There were several chefs in the kitchen, including Justin Myles (see him in Chopped Canada April 2014). They were all busy prepping for that evening's feast.
After an explanation of his FireWorks concept, which has several types of fires for cooking food, Chef Michael did a oyster shucking demonstration for the group.
Each child was given a glove and a knife, along with the very large plate of oysters to practice opening and also to taste the oysters. Celeste didn't want to eat oysters but she absolutely loved shucking them! She was really good at it and opened several and gave them to Chris, our program creator/coordinator, Chef Michael, and to another chef that was also helping everyone.
We finished our time at the Inn with a picnic on the front lawn, enjoying the sunshine and our time together!
This was another amazing experience with the Island Food Skills workshops Celeste is taking part of this summer. I have written about a few of them:
Learning about oysters at the Colville Bay Oyster Company
Digging for clams in Prince Edward Island
Glasgow Glen Farm ~ An Island Gouda Experience
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