You can smell the vinegar & red pepper before you enter
the door of the Skylight Inn in Ayden, North Carolina

Since 1947, Pete Jones and family have been serving this tasty eastern North Carolina style barbecue (always pork) to locals and folks who are willing to travel long distances. They cook whole hogs, over oak. To BBQ enthusiasts, this is essential.

Tap, tap, tap . . . that is the sound of the Skylight Inn. You can see the meat as it is being chopped, right there in front of you . . . tap, tap, tap.

As I stood there trying to see what was on the menu, a local fellow leaned in and said to me, “If you want something other than Barbecue, you have to come on Thursdays . . . they have chicken on Thursday.”

The menu let me know that today I could get a small barbecue or a large barbecue. That was fine with me. I had driven to Ayden to eat barbecue. Lots of folks come to Ayden for the barbecue – George W. Bush, Daisy Duke, Ronald Reagan. According to the N.C Barbecue Society, the North Carolina Barbecue Trail starts in Ayden at the Skylight Inn.

In 2003, they received the James Beard award, have had stories written about them in the Saveur Magazine and the Roadfood series by Jan & Michael Stern.

Saveur Magazine calls it “North Carolina’s finest pulled pork.” And Southern Living lists the Skylight Inn as one of the “South’s 20 Best BBQ Joints.”

Yum, that is the taste of the Skylight Inn Barbecue – ’tis great roadfood. And, that same cute fellow who leaned in to tell me the menu, bought me lunch.

P.S. We don’t care if Rick Perry doesn’t like eastern North Carolina barbecue. Bet he is sorry he made that barbecue remark!

*You are welcome to use these Skylight Inn photos, just let me know and give me, Chloe’s Blog and Big Mill Bed & Breakfast credit. Thanks!

Skylight Inn 4618 S Lee St, Ayden, NC 28513
(252) 746-4113

Distances From:

• Raleigh 86 miles

• Greenville 13 miles

• Big Mill Bed & Breakfast 39 miles (In Williamston, NC) 252-792-8787

View Skylight Inn Barbecue in Ayden, NC in a larger map

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast 252-792-8787

It’s Christmas on the farm at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast
and what a pretty time to be in the country.

(Photo of Emily & Claire Fowler and Viola Music Video
by Guy Livesay of Livesay Photography)

We have lighted trees, even under the grapevine. Guests can see a tree from every room.

This year we decorated the whole Pack House Barn with a live tree in the breezeway, candles in all the windows, greenery in the Radio Flyer and glittering lights everywhere.

On Sunday, Big Mill B&B was part of the annual Williamston Woman’s Club Christmas Tour of Homes — the “Ramble,” as they call it. All the rooms in the Pack House were thrown in suite (don’t you just love that old phrase – small town newspapers used that expression in years past to let you know the whole place was open for viewing).

We had a great turnout – a hundred and fifty folks attended.

Violists Emily & Claire Fowler played beautiful Christmas music by the roaring fire – it was a wonderful day at Big Mill. Be sure to click below to view the video of Emily and Claire’s music at Big Mill Inn. It is sure to put you in the holiday spirit.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year and Season’s Greetings to all our friends and guests, and those who will become friends and guests in the New Year.

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast 252-792-8787

I LOVE cranberries and I try to use them any way I can – I even float them in my kitchen sink on Christmas Day. I knew that Cranberry Liqueur just had to be wonderful – and it is. This liqueur is my original recipe and it is a gorgeous, clear-red libation.

Print Recipe

Homemade Cranberry Liqueur Recipe

‘tis the season to make, give & enjoy homemade spirits with this easy-to-follow recipe for festive Cranberry Liqueur

Prep Time45 minutes mins

Course: beverage, Drinks

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cranberry Liqueur, liqueur, after dinner drink

Servings: 16

Author: Chloe Tuttle

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups fresh cranberries washed & picked through, discarding bad berries
• 1 tablespoon grated orange rind
• 1 tablespoon frozen orange juice concentrate
• 2 cups quality vodka

Instructions

• Combine water and sugar in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer sugar syrup for five minutes, making sure the sugar is completely dissolved.
• Stir in the cranberries, grated orange rind and orange juice concentrate. Remove syrup mixture from heat and cool enough so that the mixture can be safely poured into a blender or food processor. Using the chop setting, pulse so that the berries are just slightly chopped.
  
• Allow the mixture to cool.
• Add vodka and stir.
• Pour into a large glass jar, cover and store in a cool, dark place for three weeks, stirring every few days. If this is made during the winter it can be stored in a cool, dark place. If it is made in warm weather, store in the refrigerator.
• After steeping for three weeks, strain the mixture several times using a mesh strainer or cheesecloth until the liquid appears clear red with no berry residue. Reserve the vodka-soaked cranberries for another use.
• Pour liqueur into glass jars. Cover and store both the liqueur and the reserved pulp in the refrigerator. (This reserved pulp is great for other things such as topping ice cream and sorbet)!

Notes

This recipe takes three weeks to age.  (For a stronger alcoholic mixture, swap some of the water with vodka, to taste).

Since it takes 3 weeks of steeping before being ready to bottle & serve, early December is the time to start prepping your very own batch of homemade Cranberry Liqueur so you’ll have plenty on hand for entertaining, seasonal gift-giving and ringing in the New Year!

Click to learn more about Chloe’s Cranberry Liqueur

Getting married on the farm, surrounded by nature has a calming effect.
What a great way to start your new life together, away from the crowd.

I have friends who love their motorcycles, old trucks and all their grown-up “toys.” So why not be married beside your Harley or in your vintage Corvette?

Big weddings can be stressful, but Elopements are fun. And we wouldn’t do this if it weren’t fun. Just a quiet, private ceremony with no stress.

It has to be easy, it has to be special, it has to be romantic … an elopement on the farm at Big Mill will be a time to remember.

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast 252-792-8787

Molasses — that dark, sweet liquid that tastes so good on a hot biscuit — was once a staple on every farm in eastern North Carolina

Melvin Price and Lucy making molasses

My dad’s family made molasses and to him molasses on a sweet potato was a meal. He told me all about how they grew the cane and made the molasses. I can almost see it.

Melvin Price and his brother William Earl still make molasses like my dad did. It is magic.  Melvin pushes the stalks between two rollers and it is mashed until the liquid comes out into a pail.

Mind you, he can’t do it without Lucy, his mule. While Melvin is pushing the cane into the extractor, Lucy is walking in a circle around Melvin. She is actually the power behind this mechanism. Every once in awhile Lucy stops to chew on some of the cane – it is so good!  Then Melvin will cluck and Lucy starts up again.

Lucy the Mule

Each time Lucy and the pole come by, Melvin ducks – it’s just the natural thing to do.

When Melvin and Lucy get a bucket of the sweet juice, William Earl pours it into a big container with a fire under it. This cooks off some of the water.

He opens a faucet and allows a certain amount of this steamy liquid to pour into a flat copper cooking pan with divisions in it and he stirs and stirs and stirs. This whole process takes about 8 hours. When it is thick and syrupy, the golden nectar is ready.

William Earl stirs his Molasses

Melvin and William Earl got about 15 gallons this day – it took all day. Molasses recipes are coming, I promise.

PS – Big thanks to North Carolina’s own, Molasses Creek, for providing the soundtrack to the video. The song’s called “Still Love Fridays.” They are a wonderful band!

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast 252-792-8787

It’s late summer and figs are ripe… so gorgeous and
luscious, they hardly look real. Each one is a work of art.

After I take many photos of these just-picked figs, I make Chloe’s Fig Preserves.

One of my favorite ways to eat these preserves is with warm, creamy brie. This dish makes a great presentation, it is fast and easy – guaranteed to be a hit at the party.

Print Recipe

Creamy Brie with Fig Preserves

It’s late summer and figs are ripe… so gorgeous and luscious, they hardly look real. Each one is a work of art.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Total Time10 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Keyword: creamy brie with fig preserves, creamy brie with fig preserves recipe

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 232kcal

Author: Chloe Tuttle

Ingredients

• 1 wedge of Brie cheese about 16 ounces
• 2 tablespoons slivered almonds optional
• 1/2 pint warm fig preserves 1 cup
• 1 box 4 & 1/2 ounces Carr’s Table Water Crackers or similar plain crackers

Instructions

• Unwrap Brie and let stand at room temperature for several hours before serving; place in a warm spot so that cheese will be soft.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spread slivered almonds on a small rimmed baking sheet and toast for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring often. Remove from oven, cool and reserve.
• To serve, place Brie on a serving plate and pour preserves over the cheese. Preserves will run over the sides and onto the serving dish. Sprinkle toasted almonds on top and serve with plain water crackers like Carr’s.

Nutrition

Calories: 232kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 37mg | Sodium: 244mg | Potassium: 96mg | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 225IU | Vitamin C: 1.7mg | Calcium: 79mg | Iron: 0.7mg

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast 252-792-8787

In summer, folks flock to farmer’s markets to get all those fresh fruits and vegetables. In small towns we grow our own and go to roadside stands.

My favorite Watermelon will sell only Melons from Rock Hock

And in very small towns, we count on the farmer who sits by the road in the back of his pickup truck loaded with things from his large garden – and if we are very lucky, there are watermelons from Rocky Hock.

Melons grown in Rock Hock, NC are just the BEST

Folks around here want watermelons from Rocky Hock, NC, an area near the Albemarle Sound, where we say the watermelons and cantaloupes just taste better. By the way, the Albemarle Sound area also produced author Inglis Fletcher.

So — if you see a man sitting in the parking lot of the ABC store or even the Piggly Wiggly parking lot – stop and buy something from him. They move around, and I have to go from parking lot to parking lot to find them. But it is worth it !

For Big Mill B&B, I buy three watermelons every time I see a watermelon truck. We serve our guests watermelon, we eat watermelon and we make Watermelon Punch. What are some of your favorite things to do with watermelon?

Bon appetite from Innkeeper at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast 252-792-8787

Just settle into the hammock or in a swing on the farm at Big Mill and wait …. but not for very long.

Yes, you’ll have to wind down and be still and quiet – but you will be well-rewarded. Soon, right before your eyes, the birds start singing and hop out of their hiding places, finding bugs and seeds for dinner.

It is magic.

Big Mill B&B is a bird lover’s paradise and a photographer’s dream. A few days ago I set up my video camera, nodded to the hummingbirds and then sat back and watched as they performed just for me. Thanks to the internet, you have a birds-eye view too. Be sure to turn up your speakers — you can actually hear the hummers’ wings flapping!

At one point, there are so many birds flying in and out of the frame, it’s hard to keep count!  Here’s a fun challenge – in the comments below — tell me the highest number of birds you can spot in a single frame?  <Hint: Not just hummers!>

Want hummers in your yard? Get a feeder. I really like these Best 1 Hummingbird Feeders – I’ve used mine for years. Then make up a sugar syrup Hummingbird Nectar Recipe and have fun.

Here’s the edited version of the hummingbirds (about 3 /2 minutes long)

And here’s the Extended Play version, perfect for a 10-minute retreat

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast 252-792-8787

Vollis Simpson, called the
Junkyard Poet of Whirligigs and Windmills
by the New York Times

Volis Simpson at Work in his Shop

Vollis Simpson is a craftsman of brightly painted metal art –
giant creations he calls windmills and we call whirligigs.

Driving through eastern North Carolina looking for Lucama and Vollis Simpson’s Whirligig Farm, you begin to wonder if you are lost. And then around the corner, there they are – colorful, folksy whirligigs erected atop tall poles, all spinning and creaking and shining in the sun. With reflector tape on the spinning blades, they shine in the moonlight too.

I met Mr. Simpson last summer. He was working in his shop – I was kinda hanging around and he invited me in. His workshop is stuffed … really stuffed with his metal creations, all made from objects he has collected. I saw a slight grin when he told me about the 85- foot whirligig he made for the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore; I think he used a toaster in that one.

One of Volis Simpson’s Folk Art Pieces Taken Near his Shop

Just this week we had fun mom and daughter guests Anna and Kate, who drove all the way from Philadelphia to see Vollis Simpson’s art work and to stay at Big Mill B&B.  Kate wants one of his creations and I bet she gets one.

This is American Folk Art, sometimes called Outsider Art. Whatever the name, it is worth a trip to the small eastern North Carolina community of Lucama.  But go now, you might be able to sit and talk to Vollis Simpson, still working at 92.

And buy something. I did and my wonderful helicopter whirligig loves living on the farm at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast.

Helicopter Whirligig in Volis Simpson’s Shop

Try to go on a windy day or a windy night with a full moon.

Update: the city of Wilson, NC, has purchased Mr. Simpson’s whirligig collection and they are now in the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park that will open November, 2013. The General Assembly of North Carolina voted in June of 2013 to honor Mr. Simpson and to make the Whirligig the North Carolina’s folk art symbol.

Sadly, Vollis Simpson died on June 1, 2013 at the age of 94. I am so glad I met this fascinating man.

‘hope you will stay with us at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast in Williamston, NC, while you visit the Whirligig Park

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast 252-792-8787