Flourless Chocolate Cake

One of our favorite desserts we serve at the Night Swan Intracoastal Bed and Breakfast is the Flourless Chocolate Cake. It's a rich, decadent dessert that will leave you amazed it's completely gluten-free. This recipe, taken from Gourmet Magazine's November 1997 issue, is prepared in 6-ea 6-oz ramekins instead of the 8-inch round pan the original recipe suggests. We like it because it yields a perfect individual portion and freezes incredibly well.

4-oz bittersweet chocolate (60% or more cacao)
1/2c (1 stick) butter
3/4c sugar
3 eggs
1/2c dark cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Grease ramekins well and place a parchment circle in the bottom of the ramekin. Grease the parchment circle as well.
Melt chocolate and butter together in double boiler.
Add sugar and stir well. Allow to cool just slightly.
Whisk in eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.
Add sifted cocoa powder to the batter until it comes together.
Pour equal amounts into the 6 ramekins and place in oven for 15-20 minutes, or until just set. Tops will be cracked.

Allow to cool just a little if you can... The aroma will be calling your name. Eat as is or top with ice cream and chocolate sauce, brandied cherries, or whatever your heart desires. You can't go wrong with these decadent little cakes.

Hope to see you soon! Try some of our desserts!

Martha

Night Swan Intracoastal Bed & Breakfast

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The Garlic Restaurant, New Smyrna Beach

One of our guests' favorite restaurants is The Garlic! Just minutes from the Night Swan B&B, it is a casually sophisticated restaurant with an ambiance and menu reminiscent of the Tuscan countryside.

Walking down a vine covered arbor, surrounded by a walled olde world fireplace garden, lush with lit trees and flowering greenery, your dining experience begins. The Garlic offers one of the more beautiful settings for a delightful and memorable dinner you may ever experience. With great food, live soft jazz nightly, fine wine, Italian beer, and perfect martinis, come experience The Garlic for yourself.

556 East Third Avenue, New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Opens daily at 4 PM. For more info, call 386-424-6660 or visit www.thegarlic.net .

Hope to see you soon!

Martha

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July 8th, Final Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch!

Atlantis is set to liftoff on the final flight of the shuttle program, STS-135, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. Atlantis, the Space Shuttle Orbiter, will carry a crew of four: Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.

Space shuttle Atlantis' 12-day mission to the International Space Station will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module filled with supplies and spare parts to sustain station operations once the shuttles are retired. The mission also will fly the Robotic Refueling Mission(RRM), an experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies and techniques needed to robotically refuel satellites in space, even satellites not designed to be serviced. The crew also will return an ammonia pump that recently failed on the station. Engineers want to understand why the pump failed and improve designs for future spacecraft.

This is the final flight for shuttle Atlantis and the Space Shuttle Program. NASA’s workhorses for the past 30 years have completed their mission to build and supply the orbiting outpost, and the agency is now looking to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit.

The STS-135 patch represents the space shuttle Atlantis embarking on its mission to resupply the International Space Station. Atlantis is centered over elements of the NASA emblem depicting how the space shuttle has been at the heart of NASA for the last 30 years. It also pays tribute to the entire NASA and contractor team that made possible all the incredible accomplishments of the space shuttle. Omega, the last letter in the Greek alphabet, recognizes this mission as the last flight of the Space Shuttle Program.

Atlantis, the fourth orbiter built, flew its maiden voyage on Oct. 3, 1985, on the STS-51-J mission. Later missions included the first docking to the Russian Mir space station on STS-71 in June 1995; delivery of the Destiny Laboratory to the space station on STS- 98 in February 2001; the first launch with a camera mounted to the external tank, which captured the shuttle's ascent to orbit on STS-112 in October 2002; and the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope on STS-125 in May 2009. Atlantis is named after the two-masted, primary research ship for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts from 1930 to 1966.

Hope to see you soon!

Martha

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New Smyrna Beach Bed & Breakfast Recipe

We decided to share a guest favorite for our New Smyrna Beach Bed & Breakfast recipe collection from the Night Swan Intracoastal Bed & Breakfast. This month's selection is our Artichoke & Turkey Ham Strata! We like to serve this with our fresh baked Cottage Cheese Bread and a selection of fresh mixed fruit. We hope you enjoy it as much as our guests do!

Artichoke & Turkey Ham Strata

1 8x8 pan

350 degrees

55 minutes

3 English Muffins, split and quartered

1 Tbs melted butter (or Grill On)

1/2 Cup ground turkey ham (about 4 oz)

1/2 Cup (2 oz) grated fresh Parmesan Cheese

2 Tbs chopped fresh chives

1 (14 - oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 tsp garlic cloves, minced

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1 (12 - oz) can evaporated fat-free milk

3/4 Cup Egg-White

Arrange muffin pieces, crust sides down, in an 8x8 baking dish coated with cooking spray; drizzle with butter. Arrange ham and next 4 ingredients (ham through garlic) over muffin pieces.

Combine nutmeg and remaining ingredients in a bowl; stir well with a whisk. Pour over muffin mixture. Cover; chill 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover strata; bake at 350 for 55 minutes or until set. Let stand 10 minutes.

Hope to see you soon!

Martha

Night Swan Intracoastal Bed & Breakfast

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Take a Boat Ride in New Smyrna Beach!

There are so many unique things for our guests at the Night Swan Intracoastal Bed & Breakfast to do! Many of them involve the amazing outdoor beauty of Florida. The weather is gorgeous this time of year in our quaint city of New Smyrna Beach, and what better way to enjoy it than a ride on the Pastime Princess in the Intracoastal River! If you get there early enough you can dine on fresh seafood at the Dolphin View Seafood Restaurant right next to where the boat docks!



















A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PASTIME PRINCESS
(taken from http://www.pastimeprincess.com)

The Pastime Princess was built in 1972 to be a support vessel for the oil rigs' in the gulf of Mexico. It was purchased some time in the early 80's and converted into a live aboard boat. To the best of their knowledge it changed hands one more time before becoming a fishing boat sailing out of NJ. They purchased the Pastime in the early 90's. They had the deck widened, the overhead cap cut back and the cabin redesigned. They plan in near future to widen the bathrooms and redo all the seating.


FUN FACTS ABOUT THE PASTIME PRINCESS
(taken from http://www.pastimeprincess.com)

* They have sonar and radar and the latest in GPS satellite navigation to get through the most difficult weather

* The original purpose of the vessel was to service oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico therefore it was built to withstand a category 5 hurricane

* Fifty gallons of fresh water onboard

* The Princess is almost 100 feet long from bow to stern and weighs 98 gross tons

* Three 12 cylinder Detroit 1271 diesels with a combined horsepower of 2100

* Two 30,000 watt electrical generators run by 2, 371 Detroit diesel engines

* One thousand six hundred gallons of fuel capacity

* The boat is scrubbed from bow to stern, inside and out every day

* At cruising speed we use 50 gallons of fuel per hour

* 2 Carrier 5 ton air conditioners to keep us cool in the summer

* The whole boat was extended 3 feet all around in 2001 to provide over 350 square feet of additional outside deck space. You can see the weld marks on the deck all around the boat.

The Pastime Princess offers fishing trips, dinner cruises, and you can also just go for a boat ride! We would love to welcome you as our guests here at the Night Swan before or after your adventure so why not make it a weekend? We will be happy to help with your reservations on the Pastime Princess too! Give us a call at 386-423-4940 or visit our site at http://www.nightswan.com

Hope to see you soon!

Martha

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PADDLEBOARDING FUN!

In case you haven't heard the news, we are now renting Paddleboards! They are great to use right off our dock, or in the ocean!

Paddleboards have been around for a long time and the first one is said to have been made in the 1930's by Thomas Edward Blake. While he was restoring boards for a local museum in 1944, he built a replica modeled after olo surfboard ridden by ancient Hawaiian aliʻi (kings).

"He lightened his by drilling it full of holes and then covering them, creating the first ever hollow board as well as introducing the first modern paddleboard. Two years later, using this same board, he won the first ever Mainland surf contest, the Pacific Coast Surfriding Championships, an event integrating both surfing and paddling. Blake then returned to Hawaii to break virtually every established paddling record available, setting half-mile and 100-yard records that stood until 1955, (Wikipedia)".

Paddleboarding regained popularity in the eighties and has been growing ever since! There's no need to be an experienced athlete or surfer to try this great and easy form of exercise! Check out the video below to see how easy it is!



After your paddle, relax on our porch or dock with a homemade dessert and a cappuccino! Give us a call or come by to learn more!

Hope to see you soon!

Martha

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http://www.nightswan.com

New Smyrna Beach Bed and Breakfast Recipe for March!

This month's recipe from the Night Swan Intracoastal Bed & Breakfast is a special request for our homemade Parmesan Peppercorn bread! We hope you'll enjoy it as much as our guests do! To find out about all the exciting events happening in our area each month, make sure to add your name to our newsletter! You can find it on our website at http://www.nightswan.com.





PARMESAN PEPPERCORN BREAD
1c water, 80-90 degrees
3T olive oil
1t salt
3c bread flour
1/2c grated parmesan cheese
1/2t freshly ground black pepper
2 1/4t yeast, active dry

Place the ingredients, in the order listed in a bread machine. Select light or medium crust on the bread machine. Remove paddle when kneading is complete. When finished baking, transfer bread to cool on a wire rack. Bread slices best when allowed to cool.

Bike Week is coming but we still have a few rooms available! Give us a call at 386-423-4940 or visit us on the web at http://www.nightswan.com.

Hope to see you soon!

Martha

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