Pets of the Hawthorne Hotel at the Holidays

This is Josie from Lebanon, NH. It is her Christmas Holiday tradition to come to stay at the Hawthorne Hotel.

This is Bohdi, who is a Bernese Mountain Dog. She was so polite, and so beautiful, we had to take her photo and she happily obliged us.


Here is Bohdi again, this time she is trying to make friends with Nikita, another dog who travels to the Hawthorne Hotel for every holiday season.

We love being a pet-friendly hotel, and our guests seem to love it too.

I hope you enjoy getting to know some of the holiday pets of the Hawthorne Hotel.

Juli

New Year's Eve Menu at the Hawthorne Hotel

On New Year's Eve we have what is the most elegant menu of the entire year for our guests to enjoy. Here it is for you to see for yourself. This is $75 plus tax and gratuity for all of these courses -- an outstanding value. We have a piano player playing to entertain you (although there will not be dancing.) Reservations are VERY STRONGLY recommended, and you can still obtain yours, by quickly calling us at 978-825-4311.

First Course

Foie Gras Terrine
onion-fig jam, toasted brioche

Seared Scallops
fennel-apple slaw, lemon vinaigrette

Sliced Chilled Beef Salad
avocado, radish, orange vinaigrette

Truffle-Chanterelle Mushroom Risotto

Second Course

Baby Iceberg
Vine-ripened tomatoes, creamy Gorgonzola dressing

Classic Caesar Salad
Parmesan cheese, garlic croutons and white anchovies or apple-smoked bacon

Baby Arugula Salad
pistachios, sliced apples, supreme oranges,
cranberry-Wensleydale cheese, mimosa vinaigrette

Mixed Greens Salad
Sliced pears ,walnuts, goat cheese, lemon-basil vinaigrette

Intermezzo

Champagne Sorbet


Fourth Course


Grilled Tenderloin of Beef
Truffled merlot demi-glaze, Yukon gold au gratin potatoes,
grilled white asparagus


Pan-Roasted Halibut
grilled Japanese eggplant, herbed risotto, lobster-tomato concassé


Butter-Poached Lobster
three citrus beurre blanc, Peruvian purple potatoes, sautéed mustard greens


Shrimp and Scallops Sophia
“Our Signature dish, Named for Sophia Peabody Hawthorne”
sautéed shrimp, scallops, grilled asparagus, steamed spinach,
herbed risotto, béarnaise sauce


Grilled Veal Rib Chop
mixed wild mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, goat cheese-scallion polenta,
merlot demi-glaze


Sesame Seed-Hoisin Sauce Pan-Roasted Duck Breast
duck confit spring roll, baby bok choy-shiitake mushroom stir-fry


Vegetarian Trio
zucchini stuffed with duxelles, eggplant stuffed with scallion polenta,
spinach-goat cheese-stuffed portabella mushroom, green and white asparagus,
purple Peruvian potatoes

Dessert

Chocolate Sushi
assortment of handmade dessert sushi,

Cherry Cake
mascarpone mousse between layers of
dense spice cake topped with cherry compote

Chestnut Crème Brûlée
aged Trebbiano grape must

Raspberry-Champagne Chocolate Dome
chocolate mousse with a raspberry center,
gold leaf, gold dust

I hope to see you here.

Juli

Julie Doherty Caroling Event on Christmas Eve

Every year on Christmas Eve we host an event that is free of charge to the general public. We call it "Caroling with Julie Doherty" and it always fills the Ballroom with families who come to listen to and sing along with Julie and her band. Santa comes, too, and plays the fiddle, and you can see by these photos that the children really enjoy this part.

We do 'pass the hat' for a local charity every year, and this year it was for the Food Pantry at the Salem Mission. We raised nearly $500 on the two nights of this event, and are happy to help the Salem community in this way.

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel's Flags of the Week ~~ December 29, 2008 through January 4, 2009

Monday , December 29 ~~ Poland and Delaware
Tuesday , December 30 ~~ Portugal and Florida
Wednesday , December 31 ~~ Qatar and Georgia
Thursday , January 1 ~~ Republic of Korea and Guam
Friday , January 2 ~~ Romania and Hawaii
Saturday , January 3 ~~ Russian Federation and Idaho
Sunday , January 4 ~~ Rwanda and Illinois

According to our records, we are without special requests for this week. We will endeavor to adhere to this schedule. However, when there are very high winds, and/or freezing rains, these unsafe conditions may warrant that we do not change the flags. We do have a very active safety committee at the Hawthorne Hotel, and we take the safety of our associates very seriously.

I hope you will understand, and I hope to see you here.

Juli

The Current Economy and the Hawthorne Hotel

Lately, many friends and associates ask me how the hotel is faring, given the economics present in the country right now. By a number of measures, things don't look so bleak for us, and that makes us hopeful for the coming year. For example, both Thanksgiving and Christmas special event brunches saw numbers which were up over 2007, and reservations for New Year's Eve are good as well. We are sold out in the hotel for that night, so if you are thinking of coming to stay that night, please consider an alternative stay.

The winter in Salem is always a slow period, and so we reflect that in our rates. In fact we often offer Internet-only rates for this time, so if you have not already signed up to be on our e-mail list, now might be a really good time to do that. Right here on our blog is a good place to sign up, so simply enter your email address in the subscribe box to the left of this post. That way, not only will you receive emails of this blog as they are published each day, but you will learn about all of our specials as we release them.

If you have been thinking about a trip to the Hawthorne, now is the perfect time.

I hope to see you here.

Juli

Christmas Day at the Hawthorne Hotel, 2008

Here are some more photos that I took yesterday. The first is a shot of one of our dining areas, this one is called Sophia's. It looked so festive for the holiday that I had to include the photo in this blog.

The photos of the girls opening gifts are of Sarah and Rachael who were here visiting from Denver, Colorado. I gave them the award for being the guests who came from farthest away to join us for Christmas Day brunch. They were pleased to learn about being blogged, and I hope you enjoy sharing a bit of Christmas with us by seeing some of the details of our event yesterday.

If you are looking for your photo, go to http://tinyurl.com/5r32tl which should take you directly to the Christmas Album. There were a lot of people here yesterday, so just keep scrolling until you find your photo. I hope you enjoy receiving the gift of your photo-memory, and that you enjoyed your time with us.

I look forward to seeing you again, soon.

Juli

Merry Christmas from the Hawthorne Hotel

As usual, I took photos of everyone who attended our Christmas Day Buffet today. As I was making my rounds, Nathaniel and Mayra, from Swampscott, and their Mom and Dad, were being seated. Nathaniel was immediately interested in our teaspoons, and demonstrated that interest by balancing his on his nose. Not to be outdone, his sister, Mayra did the same trick for my camera.

I thought they looked so cute I offered to blog them, and here they are. Cute!
 
 
 

I hope you and you family have as much fun today as Nathaniel and Mayra did here at the Hawthorne Hotel. Merry Christmas!

Juli

A Busy Night on the Line

Anthony

This is Anthony. He is the son of staff members Tim and Beth, here at the Hawthorne Hotel. As you can see, he is a big ham, and when I was in the lobby with my camera for another purpose, he asked me to take his photo. Then he proceeded to pose like crazy. I thought the results were cute, and thus am sharing them with you here.

Having photos taken in front of our poinsettia tree has become a tradition since we started doing this 'tree' in place of an artificial tree. Unfortunately, by law we can't have a live, cut evergreen for a Christmas tree because it is considered a fire hazard. However, this arrangement of live plants is perfectly safe, and we switched over to it about eight years ago when I discovered the stand advertised in an industry magazine.

Now that we have this tradition, and such a colorful one at that, we see many people coming in to have their photos taken in front of our tree.

I hope you enjoy this look at what is going on at the Hawthorne Hotel during this beautiful season.

Juli

 
 

Our First Snowstorm of the Winter

On Friday afternoon the snow started falling here in Salem, MA, and it didn't really stop until very late Sunday night. Here are some photos I took on Friday evening. It was quite a snowstorm, and when it was all over, Salem had accumulated 17 inches of snow, although some rain and sleet mixed in with it on Sunday afternoon, so it was not as measurable as what the weather people said had fallen.

I hope you enjoy this look at our Hawthorne Hotel, and Salem, in a snowstorm.

Juli
 
 
 
 

Pet-Friendly Hawthorne Hotel

This is Maddie, with her owner, Lynette of Sparks, Nevada, visiting here this past weekend. Maddie was just the cutest dog ever, so we had to take her photo for our blog. She was even dressed for the holidays!

 
 

I hope to see you here,

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel's Flags of the Week ~~ December 22 through 28, 2008

Monday , December 22 ~~ Pakistan and American Samoa
Tuesday , December 23 ~~ Palau and Arizona
Wednesday , December 24 ~~ Panama and Arkansas
Thursday , December 25 ~~ Papua New Guinea and California
Friday , December 26 ~~ Paraguay and Colorado
Saturday , December 27 ~~ Peru and Connecticut
Sunday , December 28 ~~ Philippines and District of Columbia

There were no special requests for this week, so we continue in our normal alphabetical order by country and state.

I hope to see you here soon,

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel Childrens' Holiday Party

Every year we host a holiday party for all the children of our staff members. We invite Santa to come, and we have entertainment, food, and fun for all of the children. Here are some of the photos of our staff members' children, including a couple of 'First Christmas' photos.

http://tinyurl.com/4vt8tq


I hope you enjoy this inside look at what we do here at the Hawthorne Hotel.

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel Supports Local Good Work

The Salem Rotary Club produces a raffle calendar every year which chronicles some aspect of Salem's history. This year's calendars are here, and the Salem Gazette wrote this nice article in support of this year's version.

Support Salem education: Rotary raffle calendars on sale

Salem - The Salem Rotary club has announced that sales of the annual Salem Rotary Club Raffle calendar have started. The theme of this year’s calendar is “Salem, Then & Now,” and the calendar includes many exciting and surprising images of Salem. The calendar costs $20, and is a full-color production showcasing different areas in Salem.
Did you know that the Salem Common was established in 1713 as “a training field forever”? Or that the Naumkeag Street Railway company built the Salem Willows Pavilion in 1880 to attract traffic for their horse car line? The photo’s in this year’s calendar will surprise many Salemites and give a wonderful impression of Salem then and now.

All proceeds of the sale of the calendar are used to fund scholarships for Salem students, and everyone buying one of the calendars has a chance to win $100 every week during 2009.
The calendar is for sale at the Salem Chamber of Commerce, 265 Essex St. (978-744-0004), at the Hawthorne Hotel, or at the House of the Seven Gables, 54 Turner St.

I hope to see you here.

Juli

A "Green" Thing We Do Supports a Local School, Too!

Life in Salem, as in many other small cities and towns, is very interconnected. We have a Rotary Club here in Salem, and I am a member. The Club has its lunch meetings here every Tuesday at 12:15.

Rotary Clubs worldwide are local service clubs, dedicated to giving back to their communities. Our Club raises a significant amount of money every year, and we give it all away. Another aspect of our club is education. We are involved with the schools on many levels, from giving a dictionary to every third-grade student in Salem every year, to giving scholarships and sponsoring exchange students. We also sponsor a high school version of Rotary called Rotaract, and an elementary school version called Early Act.

The Early Act Club at the Phoenix school takes its role as junior service organization to heart, and you can certainly get the point in the thank you note you see scanned above. The Early Act Club collects toner cartridges for recycling, and they use the money for their good works. The Hawthorne Hotel participates in this 'green' endeavor by saving the cartridges for the students to collect and get recycled.

You see, we are all interconnected here in Salem.

I thought you would enjoy knowing a little background information to help put this heartfelt thank you note in perspective. If you want to see it more clearly, just click on it.

I hope to see you here.

Juli

Christmas Day Brunch Buffet Menu

If you are already planning to come to brunch here on Christmas Day, here is the menu. If you have not yet made reservations, we do have a few seatings available, but you should call as soon as possible so we can fit you in.

Christmas Day Brunch at the Hawthorne Hotel
Monday, December 25, 2008 11am-3pm

For Reservations Phone (978) 825-4311

$40.95 per person; Children 12 and under $14.95


Buffet
Baked Christmas Brie, Dried Fruits, Nuts and Crackers
Smoked Salmon, Ipswich Ale Mustard Dill Sauce and assorted breads
Fresh Seasonal Fruit Display
Cranberry and Pumpkin Breads, Freshly Baked Muffins,
Cinnamon Rolls and Assorted Dinner Rolls
Tossed Green Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette and Creamy Peppercorn Dressings
“We Three Things of Orient Are”

Salad of lo mein noodles, sesame chicken,
water chestnuts
“Nuttin’ for Christmas Salad”
“Coal” slaw with carrots and raisins

“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”
Tuscan White bean salad with
prosciutto and olives
“Jingle Bell Salad”
Waldorf salad with whole grains
and dried cherries
“These Are a Few of My Favorite Things” Salad
Marinated Tomatoes, Artichokes, and Mushrooms

Hot Buffet
Scrambled Eggs
Spinach, Swiss and tomato Strata
Crisp Bacon and Sausage
Waffles with Real Maple Syrup, Whipped Cream and Fruit Compotes
Cheese Blintzes with Strawberry Sauce
Coastal seafood, basil cream sauce, steamed white rice
Buttered Mashed Potatoes,
Maple Butternut Squash
Peas and Pearl Onions,
Glazed Carrots
Lyonnais Potatoes

Carving Station
Roast Turkey Breast with Stuffing, Gravy and Cranberry
Baked Ham with Honey Mustard Sauce
Slow-Roasted Prime Rib of Beef with Horseradish Cream

Desserts
Warm Apple Crisp
Cherry Clafouti with Whipped Cream
Apple, Shortbread cookies
Blueberry, and Pumpkin Pies

English Trifle ~~ Gingerbread People Cookies
Assorted mini pastries
Carrot cake
Chocolate Layer Cake
Bûche de Noel

(Christmas Yule Log)
Cheese cake

I hope to see you here.

Juli

Do you LOVE Nathaniel's? How about the Tavern?

Then why not tell the world (or at least a good part of the cyber-world about us? Simply go to http://www.urbanspoon.com/ and vote for us. That is a great way to let everyone else know about how good our restaurants here at the Hawthorne Hotel are. You can even write a review.

If you have an iPhone, you can download UrbanSpoon from the App Store. It's a free application for your iPhone that is quite a bit of fun, and informational too. Have you ever been in a location and didn't know one restaurant from another? UrbanSpoon can help you find just what you are looking for.

Even if you don't have an iPhone, you can access UrbanSpoon from any computer with Internet access.

I look forward to reading your reviews of our two fabulous restaurants, The Tavern at the Hawthorne Hotel, and Nathaniel's at the Hawthorne Hotel.

And I look forward to seeing you here.

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel Names Full-Time Employee of the Month for November 2008

Here you see us honoring Megan Campbell, front desk agent for the Hawthorne Hotel, as our full-time employee of the month for November 2008. For us, Halloween fell in the first week of our fiscal November, so it was very appropriate for us to honor Megan for her work during that month.

Figuring out the logistics of our Halloween events, and especially our Halloween weekend package, is a yeoman's job, and Megan handled it with aplomb. Not only that, but she handled all of the reservation confirmations for next Halloween as well.


Lucie Ogeron, Night Manager; Megan Campbell; Juli Lederhaus

Congratulations and thank you so much for all your work, Megan!

Juli and the Team of the Hawthorne Hotel

A Weekend Full of Children's Events

This past weekend was a busy one for our Dining Services Department. On Saturday we had our Teddy Bear Tea which includes a toy drive for Toys For Tots. We accept new, unwrapped toys for the Marines to give out to needy families, in exchange for a child's entrance to our Teddy Bear Tea.

Here are some darling photos. You can see the rest of the photos taken that day by going to http://tinyurl.com/6jzchf .

Don't you love the facial expressions and interest that some children have in checking out Teddy?




Then on Sunday we had a second Brunch with Santa, since it is such a popular event, we need to do it twice. Again, the expressions on some of the children's faces are simply darling. No other words can fit. This young man was obviously skeptical at first, but was clearly won over by the jolly guy from the North Pole.



We still have several more holiday events to come, and we hope to see you here.

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel's Flags of the Week ~~ December 15, 2008 through December 21, 2008

Monday , December 15 ~~ Netherlands and Virgin Islands
Tuesday , December 16 ~~ New Zealand and Washington
Wednesday , December 17 ~~ Nicaragua and West Virginia
Thursday , December 18 ~~ Niger and Wisconsin
Friday , December 19 ~~ Nigeria and Wyoming
Saturday , December 20 ~~ Norway and Alabama
Sunday , December 21 ~~ Oman and Alaska

Here are this week's flags. There were no special requests made for this week.

Juli

Local Crafts Gallery You Should Visit

Sample of homemade paper.


Bowl I made out of paper that I made from scraps of leftover pink copy paper.

Just about two blocks from the Hawthorne Hotel there is a place called the Pickle Pot. It is a gallery dedicated to local crafts and art from local artisans. It is run by an extraordinary woman named Jeff Bowie (shown at right in photo directly above.)

In addition to selling cool things, Jeff also likes to host classes on different arts and crafts. Last weekend she had Donna come and teach paper-making, as well as how to use handmade paper to make decorative things like the bowl you see her making here.

I had wanted to learn to make paper for about 10 years. My husband even had a friend make me a frame, and he bought me a book, but they have been languishing in the attic ever since -- the book make it look pretty intimidating. However, Jeff's friendly email notice of the class make it sound much simpler, and so I signed up and went.

It was great fun and I actually learned to do it. Donna's technique focused on using discarded paper, so it was a very 'green' class.

Now I know you are wondering what this has to do with the Hawthorne Hotel, so I'll connect the dots a bit for you. First, and most importantly, we know that when guests are on holiday, the number one activity they enjoy is shopping. The Pickle Pot is one place to shop that I love to recommend, because each and every thing in the shop is locally produced, and unique. Those are the kinds of things I like to find when I'm on visiting someplace away from home.

The other connection is that this paper making now gives me a way to use up some of the paper that we set aside for recycling. We know a lot of hotel's are going 'green', but how much more 'green' can you get than having the General Manager make something useful out of something that would otherwise be thrown away?

I hope you get a chance to visit the Pickle Pot, and be sure to say hello to Jeff from Juli at the Hawthorne Hotel. The shop is located at Pickering Wharf, across from Capt.'s Waterfront Grille.

Juli