At Kismet Inn bed and breakfast there is no kind of regimentation. I tell my guests, breakfast is served at whatever time they wish to have breakfast .. I just need to know the night before to make sure the breakfast is fresh and warm. I don’t want to make breakfast and have it get cold or have the coffee sitting in a thermostat which incidentally I don’t have one. I make the coffee all fresh for each guest.
The same applies to dinner, guests have a choice of sitting in the dinning room, the tearoom at the table by the window or recently 2 couples chose to have dinner by the fire in a very informal setting. Both spent four hours eating dinner. On Saturday I had Katharine and Kellie from Yarmouth, Maine as my guests. It was Kellie’s birthday so Katharine had treated her to a nights stay, dinner, massage and Kismet Inn bed and breakfast’s signature exfoliation.
They arrived on Saturday around 2:30 .. stayed in Saffron Room where the bed, the armoire and table are custom made. Designed by me, Shadi Towfighi, the owner and made by Mark Donovan a brilliant craftsman from Bowdoinham, Maine. The bathroom is also custom made, designed my me again. It is deep soaking Japanese Style tub or Turkish Hamam style with transom window and radiant heat floor, a separate faucet for the tub and one for the shower. The one for the tub is really interesting, it is Kholer made, the water comes straight from the wall without a long faucet sticking out. It is quite elegant and simple.
They chose this room because of its deep soaking Japanese tub so they could soak in it then get the exfoliation. I showed them their room and explained thoroughly how the exfoliation would work. They came down shortly after for tea and raisin, coconut and rice cookies (I had made them the night before) the tea was Kismet Inn bed and breakfast signature tea brewed with cardamom. They loved both the tea and the cookies. They went up around 5 soaked in the tub for 45 minutes .. I made sure to take up pitcher of ice water to keep them well hydrated. I went up after 45 minutes scrubbed Kellie first, dead skin came rolling off in long inches, then I scrubbed Katharine. They both took showers, washed their hair, oiled their bodies, dressed and came down for dinner.
Actually, they wanted to open up their wine bottle in their room so I took the cheese which they were going to have with dinner up to their room. They decided to have dinner by the fire so I took the vegetables with the plates first. The vegetables were beets, parsnips, salsify steamed over slow heat for couple of hours. The third round was the salad – mixed greens, mustard greens, arugula from Fish Bowl Farm in Bowdoinham, the sauce I make myself, salt, pepper, olive oil, 1/2 fresh lemon squeezed, balsamic vinegar, toasted seeds such as flax, sesame and sunflower. The fourth round was the entree which was Jewel Rice with slivered pistachio, slivered almond, raisins, orange peel, julienne carrots, barberries, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, lots of saffron made with white basmati rice from India served with lamb shanks that had been cooking since 10 a.m. The fifth round, the last round was poached pears with blueberry sauce.
They sat chatting by the fireside while eating their dinner at a very leisurely, slow pace. They loved the fact that there was no push or any sense of rush. Kismet Inn bed and breakfast believes slow food, slow town, slow life style. I hope to serve each one of you.
