Jim and I are just finishing up the last of our holidays for this year. We like to take a week in the fall - it's our favourite time of year.
This year we decided to check out the Rideau Waterway in eastern Ontario - a series of lakes and locks that make up the navigable waterway between Kingston and Ottawa. The waterway has closed for the year, so we didn't see anyone on the water or in the locks, but it was impressive and beautiful nonetheless. There's just something about water that mesmerizes me.
Don't worry - I'm not going to go into a lengthy description of our little getaway. I just want to rave a bit about one of the places we stayed. It's Millisle B&B in Merrickville, about an hour away from Ottawa.
Millisle is owned by Debra and Hugh MacLennan. Debra and Hugh are wonderful hosts and Debra is an extremely talented chef. I had read reviews that suggested arranging dinner at the B&B instead of going out. We were belatedly celebrating our anniversary and it sounded like a good idea, and it turned out to be one of our better ideas.
Debra sent some sample menus ahead of time and we were asked to choose what we wanted - we each had to have the same appetizer and dessert but could have different entrees. We narrowed the choices for appetizers and dessert down to two each and left it to Debra to decide which would better complement the meals we chose (chicken for me, beef for Jim). She made the right choices and made us the most wonderful dinner. I can't say enough about it - it started with an unexpected nibbly in front of the fire while we enjoyed a glass of wine chosen by Hugh and went through three courses of expertly prepared and beautifully presented food. Hmmm ..."food" just doesn't seem to adequately describe what we had - "gourmet delights" might do it. We barely restrained ourselves from licking our plates.
And it wasn't just the food - Hugh chose two quite different red wines to go with our meals and his choices were spot on. We had earlier mentioned that we don't like to spend a fortune on wine, and he came up with mid-priced wines we might just have to add to our wine rack - they were definitely worth the price.
Breakfast the next morning was better than your average B&B breakfast, and gave us a good start to the day.
Our room was very nice - not large, but it did have a sitting area in the "turret" and a huge bathroom (a nice treat after the miniscule bathroom we had in our room in Perth the previous two nights). The common areas were lovely as well, and Hugh encouraged us to make use of them - right after we checked in and settled in, he urged us to come down for a (complimentary) glass of wine or beer. We were joined by the only other guests staying that night, and we spent a lovely hour chatting before heading back to our room to read in our little turret before dinner.
Millisle would be the perfect place for two or three couples to stay and gather for a dinner prepared by Debra and served with such grace by Hugh. With or without other couples, I'm hoping we can get back there reasonably soon.
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