Come Hell or High Water
2024 Classes, Workshops, Private Parties, Wood-fired Dinners
When I decided to move to Maine from Massachusetts thirty-six years ago, I wanted to live as close to the sea as possible. Homes, even in a picturesque fishing village called Cape Porpoise were not that expensive. I came close to buying a rickety, uninsulated summer cottage at the end of Langsford Road…just a stones throw from the water. The realtor didn’t need to say a word. The place sold itself. I stood in the living room, staring out the huge picture window, watching the magnificent tide roll away. Sadly, I got into a bidding war with another seller and I lost the house. My father was overjoyed.
"What will you do when the tide rises?” he asked me. “You know insurance costs are prohibitive when you live in a flood zone!” In 1988, I was a practical public school teacher and I couldn’t get my father’s voice out of my head. So I settled for a modest, open concept house situated at the top of a long dirt driveway, surrounded by tall oak trees. I’m close enough to the water that I can still hear the fog horn blow from the upstairs bedroom on foggy summer nights. Our cherry tree showers us with pink petals in the spring and the leaves of our Japanese maples turn burnt orange and bright red in the fall, but I’ve always missed waking up to that mesmerizing, inspiring, view of the beautiful blue sea.
Last week, as you probably know, the East Coast was slammed with back to back storms and coastal communities like mine experienced unprecedented flooding. It was shocking for many of us to realize just how powerful and destructive water can be. (Yes, Dad…sigh… You were right.) Businesses in our town are now busy mopping up and, with the help of our proactive Chamber of Commerce and brave first responders we have been pulling together and putting our lives back in order.
Thank you to everyone who has contacted those of us who have posted pictures of the havoc on Facebook and Instagram. We are all amazed and humbled by the furies of mother nature this winter, but we are a resilient lot and I know we will recover in time for your arrival this spring. Although our backyard is littered with fallen boughs and some small trees, our house was not damaged and we will be ready to open in May. I have spent the past crazy days tweaking my best recipes and creating new curriculum and my media team and I have been collaborating steadily. So happy to announce that our 2024 website is now up and running!
This year we have expanded our offerings a bit. In addition to our classic four hour semi-private Wood-fired Neapolitan Pizza Intensive, I have added a four hour semi-private Home Oven Detroit Pan Pizza Intensive. This new workshop is designed for those aficianados who do not have a high temperature oven and want to make the most delicious pizza right in the home, electric oven. The Detroit pan pizza that we will be making together from scratch is so delicious (crispy on the bottom and the edges, fluffy in the center) that many of my taste testers prefer it to the wood-fired pizza! Also included in that menu are the best homemade meatballs. I know you will love them.
If you enjoy grilled pizza, I will be demonstrating how to cook this oblong dough during our new Wood-fired Seafood Dinner. The menu includes our freshest local lobster and clams and the best shrimp money can buy. There are two other special Wood-fired Dinners scheduled for this year: One features Spatchcocked, Brined Chicken and the other features Beef Tenderloin. These three wood-fired dinners are limited to 8 people so if you are considering coming and want to make it a very special occasion for your family or friends, I suggest you sign up real soon.
The Hands-On Pasta Party features two of my favorite stuffed pastas: tortellini and tortelli. One will be rolled thin and stuffed with mortadella and prosciutto and served in the richest chicken broth.The other will be stuffed with butternut squash and ricotta and served in a brown butter sauce with toasted sage. I learned to make these pasta shapes while I was in Umbria this past fall and I will be sharing stories about my trip and the wonderful folks in Umbria, Tuscany and Florence who helped make this trip so meaningful for me. If you want to know more about this trip and discuss the possibility of taking one together, do sign up!
The Hanukkah Prelude Party is a brand new offering this year. I wanted to share with you my best latke and pink applesauce recipes along with a brisket recipe that delighted viewers when I prepared it several years ago on WCSH-TV. This dinner will also feature one of my favorite Jewish holiday desserts: rugelach. We won’t be making this time consuming sweet together, but I’ll share the recipe and tips for making it while we munch on them.
As usual, we will be offering Private Wood-fired Pizza Parties (5 person minimum, 12 people maximum). I will provide the rested, fermented dough and a myriad of condiments. You and your friends and family will provide the creativity. You can decorate your pizzas according to your tastes and I will pop them in the wonderful wood-fired oven. Since this pizza cooks in 90 seconds, you won’t have to wait long to devour your masterpiece. This party does not include recipes, but if you take the Neapolitan workshop with me, you will learn how to make this special dough from scratch!
One of the reasons the food tastes so great at Jillyanna’s is that we won’t skimp on ingredients. Some produce and herbs come straight from our garden, meats are organic and when possible come from local Maine farms. Many of our cheeses, our olive oil and vinegars are the best and come straight from Italy. We have tried not to raise our prices, though the cost of everything is, as you know, going up. For this reason all classes this year are for two or more. If you received a gift certificate and the cost of the gift certificate is not equal to the cost of the class, call us at 207-967-4960 and we will happily apply the gift certificate to the cost of your tickets. Please read our FAQ page if you have any other questions about our policies or call us.
Val and I hope you have a happy winter. I will be traveling again, but Val will be here in Maine holding down the fort. I will have access to my computer and Val will be in touch with me by phone so feel free to stay in touch with us.
Kind regards,
Jill