Experience Songbird Prairie Bed and Breakfast in Valparaiso

Indiana’s bed and breakfasts include farmhouse homestay b&bs, charming country inns, inviting 20 reviews romantic, luxury b&b -mini spa, award winning, jacuzzis, fireplaces

Experience Songbird Prairie bed and breakfast in Valparaiso, Indiana. We are an award-winning romantic bed and breakfast in northwest indiana offering romantic weekends away.

www.songbirdprairie.com

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Songbird Heaven in Northwest Indiana at Songbird Prairie B and B

Songbird Heaven! By: Loree B. – The Songbird Prarie B&B is one of the finest (if not THE finest) B&B’s I’ve ever stayed at. Attention to the smallest details was amazing and the entire house and grounds were spotless. My kind of place! iLoveInns Guest from Mokena, IL Make your reservation today! www.songbirdprairie.com

Epicurean Classic-Stay at Songbird

     THE EPICUREAN CLASSIC Migrates to Southwest Michigan

After five successful years in northwest Michigan's Traverse City, the annual Epicurean Classic, a Celebration of Food & Wine Artisanship, is migrating south-- to St. Joseph--where, from August 28 to 30 some of the country's finest chefs, cheese, wine and beer experts, culinary authors and practitioners will join together on St. Joe's Bluff along the Lake Michigan shoreline for a three-day Epicurean bonanza of cooking, demonstrations, wine tastings, receptions, guest/chef restaurant dinners and more.

THE PRESENTERS

Aussie Curtis Stone, host of TLC's Take Home Chef, is author of the new Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone.

Chicago chef Jean Joho(Everest, Brasserie JO and Eiffel Tower Restaurant) was named Best American Chef: Midwest and nominated for Outstanding Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation.  Joho has also been name Bon Appetit's Chef of the Year.

Giuliano Hazan, son of Marcella Hazan, runs a cooking school in Verona.  Hazan won the IACP award for Cooking Teacher of the Year in 2007, and is a contributor to Cooking Light magazine and author of many cookbooks including Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta.

Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, long known as masters of technique, take it up a few notches in their latest effort, Cooking Know-How, one of NPR's 10 Best Summer Cookbooks of 2009.

David Leite is the author of The New Portuguese Table, in which he explores and explains, with recipes and historical anecdotes, the cuisine of Portugal.

Mary Karlin teaches wood-fired cooking at the Ramekins school in Sonoma, California.  In her new book, Wood-Fired cooking, she explores the diverse flavor characteristics of hardwoods and live-fire cooking methods.

Anna Thomas's Love Soup provides delicious recipes for vegetarian soups from the author of The Vegetarian Epicure.  Anna Thomas describes her love affair with the ultimate comfort food.  "From my kitchen to yours,"  Thomas says, "here are the best soups I've ever made."

Jennifer McLagan is the author of Fat, the 2009 James Beard Cookbook of the Year, and also author of the multi-award winning cookbook Bones.  Jennifer will try and win us back to a healthy relaionship with animal fats--fundamental to the flavor of our food.

Takashi Yagihashi gained his following at Chicago's Ambria and at Tribute (in Michigan), and was a James Beard and Food & Wine Best New Chef recipient.  Yagihashi is currently wowing Windy City diners at Takashi and Noodles.

Gale Gand is the executive pastry chef and partner of the renowned Chicago restaurant Tru.  Gand was named Outstanding Pastry Chef by the James Beard Foundation and Pastry Chef of the Year by Bon Appetit magazine.  In 1994 she was featured as one of Food & Wine magazine's Top Ten Best Chefs.

Friday, August 28 at 10 a.m. kicks off a full day of sixteen 60-minute cooking demonstrations augmented by the Tasting Pavilion (open noon to 4 p.m.) with a few hundred wines from around the world as well as plenty of regional wines.  Also in he planning stages for Friday evening are guest chef/local chef dinner at well-known area restaurants.

Saturday, August 29at 10 a.m. brings another day of sixteen cooking demonstrations and noon to 4 p.m. hours in the Tasting Pavilion.  The full day will be capped in the evening by the Grand Reception featuring twenty guest authors.  Over twenty wine tables will be hosted by prestigious wineries, augmented by an array of small plates, and joined by a selection of premium brews and spirits.

Sunday, August 30  at 10 a.m. brings almost a full day of cooking demonstrations (ten total); the Tasting Pavilion will be open from noon to 3 p.m.

Information for this event that is sure to please, can be found at epicureanclassic.com.

Article courtesy of Lake Michigan Shore Magazine.

My Favorite Songbirds Singing

En route, I listened to some of my favorite songbirds singing passionately to attract mates.  Scarlet tanagers belting out their rough, two-syllable "chip-burr" notes, and rose-breasted grosbeaks singing sweetly like robins that had taken voice lessons.  Black-throated green warblers sang a melodious five-syllable phrase that Beethoven would have copied, had he ever had the fortune to walk in an American forest.  The chorus of yellow warblers, redstarts, towhees, veeries and the incomparably beautiful and flute-like wood thrushes produced the music fitting an entry to a magical setting.  And so I entered chest-deep into my favorite pool as a yellow throat flittered out of the bushes to grab a mayfly.

     I took the shortcut, an overgrown trail now used only by deer.  Along the way, like a royal carpet welcoming me, were star flowers, bluet, gay wings, bird's-foot violets, jack-in-the-pulpits, azaleas, geraniums and lilies of the valley.  I realized, as I paused to enjoy fully the spectacle of these wild and temporal beauties, that I was no longer in a rush to pass them by as I used to be many years back.

Where do hummingbirds winter?

Jim Williams, Special to the Star Tribune

Ruby-throated hummingbird, juvenile male, at geranium flower

As ruby-throated hummingbirds are returning to the state, researchers are learning more about where they spend the other half of the year.

By VAL CUNNINGHAM, Contributing Writer

Last update: April 21, 2009 - 12:53 PM

Around the first of May each year, ruby-throated hummingbirds begin returning to Minnesota.

Wonder where they've been all winter?

So do the scientists.

At the end of each summer, some 7 million ruby-throats from across the eastern United States and Canada essentially disappear.

There are indications that they travel to the tropics, going as far south as Panama. But hummingbirds are so common in Central America that few people even notice them, much less track them. These little mountain birds also disperse widely, making it even less likely they'd draw attention. So, much of what we know about ruby-throats outside the United States is based on assumptions.

A South Carolina naturalist and educator is working to change that.

Bill Hilton Jr. has been banding U.S. ruby-throats for decades. Over the years, Hilton and others have slipped tiny aluminum rings on more than 200,000 hummingbirds. Still, none of the banded birds have been reported in Central America.

And the value of banding birds lies in them being reported after being caught by another bander or found dead. It's only when a banded bird is rediscovered that researchers can learn where its band was attached. That, in turn, tells a great deal about a bird's itinerary.

But Hilton isn't giving up. For the past several years, he's been leading groups of volunteers to the other end of the migratory trail. In winter, they head to Costa Rica to study and band hummingbirds there.

The banders found an aloe vera plantation popular with ruby-throats. By banding a few dozen of these birds over several years, Hilton could tell that the same ruby-throats were returning from year to year, a practice called "site fidelity" in ornithological circles.

To date, an estimated 400 ruby-throats have been banded on their tropical wintering grounds. That's a small percentage of the estimated population. But the banding work has already proved its worth: The birds that return each year to the aloe plantation send a strong message about conserving such sites.

"Site fidelity like this gives us pretty powerful evidence when we talk about the need to protect the birds' habitat," said Hilton.

And, in the summer of 2008, Hilton got some exciting news. A bird he'd banded in Costa Rica had turned up in the United States.

This hummingbird, encountered in Georgia, was the first-ever ruby-throat banded in Central America to be captured in the United States. That makes it the first hard evidence that ruby-throats migrate back and forth.

You can help

If you're a hummingbird fan, you can help learn more about these birds. Here's how: If you come across a ruby-throat with a band on its leg, contact the federal Bird Banding Laboratory. Either fill out a form on its web page (www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/) or call 1-800-327-BAND. They'll ask for the band number and where the bird was found, and report this information to the original bander.

If you'd like to join one of those winter bird-banding trips to the tropics, go to www.hiltonpond.org and click on hummingbirds.

Val Cunningham, a St. Paul resident, writes about nature for local and regional newspapers. She's also the author of "The Gardener's Hummingbird Book." She can be reached at valwrites@comcast.net.

The Review Lady visits Songbird Prairie Bed and Breakfast

The Review Lady

Opinions on food and travel from the life of a perfectionist

The Review Lady's Rating Scale:

 

1 - Abysmal
2 - Needs Improvement
3 - Average
4 - Exceeds Expectations
5 - Perfection!

 

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 

 

Songbird Prairie Bed and Breakfast: Valparaiso, Indiana

 

Last month I decided to break up a Wisconsin-to-Kentucky drive by staying at Songbird Prairie in Valparaiso, Indiana for one night. It is only 10-12 minutes off I-65 and provided a welcome retreat from bad weather and a boring drive.

 

 

Tucked in a rural area with large residential lots, the inn’s landscaping looked well-kept even in the dead of winter. I assume the terrain and trees in the backyard are beautiful in the spring and summer.

 

 

Entering the inn feels more like entering a friend’s home than a commercial lodging property. There is a living room past the foyer where guests can relax. A snack and beverage center is off the living room just past the stairs.

 

  

A snack and beverage center is off the living room just past the stairs.

 

The entry to the breakfast room/sunroom is just before the snack area. Too full from dinner, I passed on snacks or drinks and headed up the stairs to my room. There are a total of 5 rooms/suites. With the solo midweek traveler rate, I was booked in the well-appointed Purplefinch Suite. Be sure to check photos online before booking a stay if decor is important to you, since each room has a different style. (Based on what I have seen on their website; I didn’t see any of the other rooms in person.) The Purplefinch Suite is very feminine and if my husband is my traveling companion on a future trip, I'll ask about some of their more masculine rooms. The innkeepers did their homework when designing the property as the lighting is some of the best I have ever experienced. Whenever I needed something like a hook, light, or towel, it was right there in the perfect place. There were even spot reading lights in the ceiling and most (if not all) switches had a dimmer.
The bathroom was very spacious, with a huge two-person air jet tub - my favorite kind. (Air jet tubs are known for being more hygienic than their whirlpool counterparts and I wish more lodging accommodations with whirlpools featured them.)

 

One of the best features of the bathroom was the heated tile floors - talk about being spoiled! I have only seen them on HGTV and they were a pampering touch on a cold night.

 

 

Other notable aspects of the room included your own thermostat controls, satellite television, a reading chair, fireplace, sound machine for sleeping (loved this - first time I have seen one at an inn), and a bedside candy truffle (almost too pretty to eat). Since the inn seems best suited for couples, there was not a work desk in the room. Not a problem since I was passing through, but worth noting if you are a business traveler. You may want to ask about one of the other suites or take your work downstairs to the sunroom since it has plenty of tables and chairs. If you snack while working, you may also want to go downstairs since the in-room information advised not to eat in the room. The only other thing to mention, in case it is important to you, is that there were two scent diffusers in the room - one in the bedroom and one in the bathroom. If you are sensitive to smells you might want to ask the innkeeper to remove them during your stay. They were fine for me, I just moved the bedroom one to the bathroom overnight.

 

The comfortable atmosphere continued the next morning when I went downstairs for breakfast served in their sunroom. The room overlooks the landscape on the back of the property and includes windows on three sides. Thanks to their sound system (piping in sounds from just outside the windows) and a plethora of bird feeders, there is quite a show while you enjoy breakfast. I saw bird species that I had never seen or heard of before that morning. It was a relaxing way to start the day. 

Breakfast was amazing. Barbara, the co-owner/innkeeper, creates fare that is not only delicious but also artistically presented. Ice water is waiting when guests arrive with juice, coffee and hot tea available once you take a seat. The room features individual tables so guests have plenty of privacy while dining if there are other people present. The highlight of the morning was the cranberry-glazed poached pear with fresh fruit on the side. I do not normally like pears, but I would eat this every morning if I could. There was also a sweet bread pastry coated with orange icing on the plate. An omelet stuffed with fresh produce and cheese followed; it was filling and flavorful with a biscuit and bacon on the side. There is normally a third course, which likely would have been equally as delicious as the preceding two, but my stomach was much too full to keep up. I apologized to the expert chef in the kitchen, but let her know so that she did not plate it and waste any food since I was already one satisfied guest.

Unfortunately, after breakfast I had to get back on the road and leave such a lovely sanctuary. Barbara was very kind and I enjoyed chatting with her for a few minutes while I checked out.

I definitely recommend this inn to other travelers. Not only is it clean and comfortable, but breakfast is worth the trip alone if you are in the area. I am actually surprised that it is not included in Select Registry Distinguished Inns of North America. It is on par with other member properties that we have visited and certainly goes above and beyond standard bed and breakfasts. I hope to be back if we are in the area again.
Rating: 4
Songbird Prairie Bed and Breakfast
174 North 600 West

Valparaiso, Indiana 46385
(219) 759-4274
www.songbirdprairie.com

 

Posted by The Review Lady at 11:50 AM