Granola Mix Breakfast

My granola mix for breakfast has evolved much since I started Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast Spa in August 2006. At the beginning I would mix the granola mix with yogurt and serve it bowls for each guest, I noticed leftover which had to be thrown out. Then I mixed it the yogurt and the granola mix in bowl had the guests serve themselves out of the mix which there was still extra which I couldn't keep for long thus, had to be thrown out.

It was summer 2008 when Dana Cowin, the chief editor of Food and wine magazine came to stay at the inn with her family for a week that I realized I really shouldn't mix anything, I should simply leave everything in a bowl separate for each guest to serve themselves as much or as little as they want.

Now, I put the oats flakes that I bake with organic, canola oil in a separate bowl, a bowl of mixed dried organic, sulfate free fruit, a bowl of my homemade yogurt, a small bowl of raisins, a small bowl of coconut flakes, a small bowl of seeds which I buy raw and roast. A bowl of wild, organic, MOFGA certified Maine blueberries.

I also never seem to serve the same style. Here are couple of photos of today's granola breakfast for Mala and Sohil who were referred to Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast, Spa by Khyati and Ajay who stayed at the inn Labor Day Weekend 2008.

Some things I purchased from Farmers Market

A few things I purchased at Bath Farmers Market & Crystal Spring Farmers Market in Brunswick... a great Farmers Market.
I also go to Brunswick farmers market. I rarely ever shop at supermarkets. I don't like it when food travels it takes away the freshness of specially produce and I don't like using any kind of ingredients that is processed or canned so I make everything from scratch, bottle them and refrigerate them instead of buying them canned from supermarkets or even Natural food markets. I believe it doesn't matter how hard we try, when anything is canned or bottled by a company we must add certain additives to make it last for a while on the shelves so my Kismet Way of food is to be an natural as possible.

Making Halva

Halva is mostly known in the West made with sesame. This is totally different. The ingredients are flour, ghee, syrup made with saffron, rose water, cardamom, sugar. I become creative and add roasted slivered almonds or coconut or blueberries and always ginger, it all depends on my mood and availability. It is very aromatic and tasty, it is best served with tea. Enjoy the photos.

Lima bean Quinoa Pasta

Kismet Inn Maine Picked some garlic scapes from my garden, i.e., Kismet Inn bed and breakfast spa, fried them with a few garlic cloves that I had put in oil, added lima beans, sumac, turmeric, cumin, curry, my own home made tomato paste (I always make everything from scratch) then cooked it in yogurt whey. You will see photos of the yogurt whey if you scroll down they are in jars. I make my own Greek Style yogurt and preserve the yogurt in jars for a week the most add it to different recipes. Then I Cooked some quinoa pasta in yogurt whey as well, added it to the beans, added broccoli served it with some spicy leaves salad. My oh, my, it is delicious. You should come and try it.

Bath Farmers Market By the Kennebec River

Today, it was a sunny day after days of rain so I thought I should take some photos of the Farmers Market in Bath. It use to have only 7-8 venders in 2004 when I first purchased the house and turned it into Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast, Spa, but now there are over 20 from pig farms to spinning farms. Today, we even had live music, 3 different groups playing on the grass by the water and a solo guitarist on the other side of the street. It was a lovely sunny day with clear blue water, the market felt simply good.

Making Yogurt

Some instructions from Shadi the owner of Kismet Inn bed and breakfast on how to make yogurt.

I love making yogurt from scratch without any gadgets i.e., the yogurt makers. Recently I have been experimenting different kinds of yogurts. The other day I made Greek style yogurt. As Kelli my most recent guest said, my yogurt making is kind of romantic because I don't rely on any gadgets. I simply warm the organic, raw milk in a pot on low heat till it is really hot which takes at least half an hour for a full gallon of milk then I let it cool so that when I put my finger in the milk it feels warm but not hot.. lukewarm toward warmer side than colder. I take a blanket or just couple of winter coats put the pot in the center, mix in 3-4 spoons of yogurt in the milk, wrap the lid around a clean cloth then put it over the pot and cover the pot with the blanket for 7-8 hours. Then put the pot in the fridge over night which will make the yogurt nice and thick then bottle it and it keeps for weeks without the taste changing.

This is the base for making my yogurts as for Greek style what I did was after the yogurt was made, i.e., refrigerated, etc., I put the yogurt in bag and let it hang for several hours till all the juice/whey of the yogurt was drained. It actually took a whole day. The yogurt tasted creamy and delicious and I was able to keep it for couple of weeks without the taste changing.

Today I tried saffron & cardamom yogurt by adding some saffron and cardamom to the starter yogurt. I have to see how it comes out. I hope some day you can come to the Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast Spa to taste my yogurts.



Sheep milk from Ells Farm in Maine


Warming the milk


Notice how low the heat is


Saffron... this is the highest quality saffron from Iran which saffron actually originates from and the saffron is superior to the Spanish saffron. I never use any other saffron but Iranian saffron.


Saffron diluted in hot water.


Cardamom wholes crushed in a pestle & mortar


Diluted saffron mixed with yogurt


Cardamom, saffron mixed with yogurt


The saffron and cardamom completely mixed with yogurt




The milk is covered to form the yogurt.


The yogurt after being refrigerated in the same pot is now poured into the bag to drain the whey and become Greek style yogurt.