Taste of the Lakes Region - Pleasant View B&B's Pennsylvania Dutch background to be on display

Heidi Milbrand, innkeeper at Pleasant View B&B in Bristol, is excited for the chance to share her cooking with a wider audience at the Taste of the Lakes Region on April 9. (Adam Drapcho/Laconia Daily Sun)

By ADAM DRAPCHO, LACONIA DAILY SUN

BRISTOL — When Heidi Milbrand was in college, she had a glimpse of her future life. Her boyfriend told her to pack warm clothes for a weekend away, and several hours later they walked through the front door of a quaint, historic New England bed and breakfast.

“When I walked in, I said, this is what I want to do when I grow up,” she said.

It took about a decade from that moment, but for the past 18 years, Milbrand has been an innkeeper, giving guests a cozy room to relax after a day of travel or exploration, and a delicious breakfast to look forward to in the morning.

Milbrand was born to be an innkeeper, she said, and she loves to cook and bake for her guests. But, with only seven rooms, and with only breakfast to serve, she feels a bit constrained. That’s why she has agreed to join the more than 20 vendors who are volunteering their time and product for the 28th Annual Taste of the Lakes Region, an event hosted by Altrusa of Laconia, that showcases the best local food and beverage producers, which will be held from 4 to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 8, at Church Landing in Meredith.

Milbrand, who grew up in Pennsylvania’s Dutch country, inherited the love of cooking from her mother and grandmother, who, she said, never followed recipes but could whip up great feasts from scratch. Her grandmother’s signature dish was stuffed pig’s stomach, which she swears is much tastier than it sounds.

But Milbrand’s other love is the natural world. “I’m an outdoor girl,” she said, and so she studied outdoor recreation and resource management in college. After graduating, she got a job with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. She got out of that line of work when she was 33 and offered an early retirement. She took a lump payment in lieu of a pension and used that to buy an inn. Then, three years later, her husband – the same guy that took her to a B&B when she was in college – took a job in New Hampshire. That’s how she ended up running the Pleasant View Bed and Breakfast, a stone’s throw from Newfound Lake, 15 years ago.

Since then, she has cultivated a long list of repeat customers – about 80 percent of her guests are familiar faces, she said. Part of what keeps them coming back is her breakfast spread, which includes baked stuffed French toast served with fresh blueberry sauce, white chocolate chip scones, gingered peaches, and “the fluffiest” buttermilk pancakes.

“I have to rein myself in, I would cook all day long if I could,” said Milbrand.

For the Taste, she will bring blueberry muffins, as well as baked macaroni and cheese.

It will be quite a different experience for Milbrand, serving her food to a large crowd, shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the region’s most accomplished chefs. But the innkeeper isn’t intimidated.

“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, I’m going to meet a lot of people. It’s going to be a challenge for me... I don’t scare easily.”

Tickets for the Taste can be purchased online at www.altrusalaconia.org, in Meredith at Hart’s Turkey Farm, or in Laconia at Hector’s Fine Food and Spirits or at Coldwell-Banker Residential Brokerage. The Laconia Altrusa Club uses the proceeds to promote literacy and fund scholarships, among other efforts.