Our culinary team is fortunate to meet many extraordinary chefs throughout the world. Many of these chefs who appeared in our first culinary book, Our Love Affairs with Food & Travel, remain in our memories years after we have sampled their creative cooking.

Enclosed is a video link, just in case the video does not show up.


Terence Sheehan, Executive Chef at the Old Mill Room at the Boar’s Head Inn is one of those outstanding chefs who combine their passion for food with the ease of personal interaction with people. To top off these qualities, we enjoyed one of the best meals ever tasted, and this includes our recent journey to Bocuse D’Or in Lyon, France.

Sheehan’s original creation of smoked salmon parfait with seasoned bagel chips met with ooh’s and ahh’s from our media group of, International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA). It was beautiful, light and delectable. Each delicious morsel, from butter to berries, prepared by Chef Sheehan was from a local Virgina farm. The organic eggs were as fresh as the ones we used to gather daily, warm from the nest. We had them perfectly poached with fresh buttermilk biscuits and cheesy stone ground grits. We nearly skipped the oatmeal until we learned that it was beyond oatmeal. Sheehan baked his steel cut Irish style oats, from Virginia, with cinnamon-brown sugar streusel, warm vanilla cream and wild flower honey. We can still smell the aromas of apple wood smoked bacon and salt cured Virgina ham. Even the organic orange juice was fresh squeezed.

We have many more places to visit, yet we can hardly wait to return to The Boar’s Head Inn. We would leave today, but there is no room at the inn. We both have always enjoyed cooking our traditional Thanksgiving dinner. This year, we thought, why not return to the Boar’s Head Inn for what is sure to be an extraordinary feast? It is also the time of annual turkey trot. This is their 27TH year of bringing local residents together for Thanksgiving Day. They have been been booked for months. Last year they raised over $30,000 to benefit the Virginia Children’s Hospital.

The historic village of Charlottsville and The Boar’s Head Inn have always been a unique destination, known for old world charm and delicious food. Long before either of us became travel writers, we had a recipe published in a Connecticut newspaper from the Boar’s Head Inn. It was thick and crunchy french toast laced with bourbon in the syrup. We were so intrigued that we asked if we could meet the chef. What fun to return decades later and meet the new chef, Terence Sheehan. Sheehan learned his craft from the best. Donald Trump hired him as an apprentice to work in his casinos along with some of the finest European chefs.

Click here for the recipe for the smoked salmon parfait that we just published on the Big Blend Magazine. Look for more recipes from Chef Sheehan soon.

The Boar’s Head Inn
200 Ednam Drive
Charlottesville, VA 22903
800 476 1988
434 296 2181




Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association
Books By Hills
Success Log Global Log

Finalist in the Writing and Publishing category of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, “$uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book”

Brenda Hill
Author: Brenda Hill

As a longtime food writer for Where Magazine New York City, Brenda Hill, along with her writing partner, Maralyn Hill (no relation), writes and publishes books about chefs, food and international travel. They co-authored "Our Love Affairs with Food & Travel" and joined French Master Chef Herve Laurent in writing "Cooking Secrets: The Why and How" Brenda has been active in the California Writer's Club, IFWTWA, and the Santa Barbara's Writers Conference. Brenda Hill and her partner Maralyn Hill conduct marketing and writing seminars. Maralyn and I will be heading back to Rancho La Puerta in July to give our presentation on writing and marketing your book, as well as bringing back some freshly picked off the farm nutritious and tasty recipes.