6 minute read
“Being taken care of”
A pampering weekend in St. Peter’s Bay
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DARCY RHYNO
The air is so steamy, I can’t see across the sauna at Mysa Nordic Spa on St. Peter’s Bay, Prince Edward Island. Rubber-legged, I step outside where I pull a rope that pours a bucket of icy water over my head. At the plunge pool, I force myself into the frigid water for 30 seconds. This process is on the advice of Pippa, an attendant at Mysa.
“The Nordic spa works on the premise of heat, cold, rest, repeat cycles,” says Pippa. “We get our bodies really hot and sweaty in our sauna or steam room, which activates our muscles, then we need to cool down and stop our muscles from working, so we do a shock of cold.”
Recovering from my heat-induced stupor, I seek out the chairs overlooking the bay where a cormorant dives, then resurfaces with its catch. Reclining here in a plush bathrobe, I let out a sigh that gives voice to the state of relaxation I’ve reached on my St. Peter’s weekender.
I’ve booked a night in one of Mysa’s on-site cottages, so dinner comes with the package. At the restaurant reserved for spa and cottage guests, Chef Seth Shaw carefully builds dishes that highlight local ingredients, including those he grows in the Mysa greenhouse. Intrigued by the name, I order the lion’s mane mushroom steak finished with harissa and chimichurri sauce. A celery root hot pot topped with cheddar is the side. The flavours are so surprising and pleasantly rich, I slow myself down, enjoying every savoury mouthful.
Slowing down and savouring the moment becomes the weekend theme. After a sound sleep, I drive around the bay where Nature Space Eco Resort’s Heather Gunn McQuillan, co-owner with husband Jerrod, is holding a 90-minute morning yoga and meditation session. She instructs me and the other dozen participants to hold each posture for three to five minutes. “The goal of yin yoga is not to engage the muscles,” she says.
“It’s actually to stretch the connective tissue. You’ll hear me cue things like release, relax, feel into your body. You’ll hear a lot of ‘let it go’ language.”
Her preferred practice is yin yoga, a combination of Chinese medicine and Indian yoga. Arranging our mats on the floor of the Mongolian yurt where Gunn McQuillan hosts her sessions, we begin.
“Last week, we were looking at coming to stillness in the busyness, heat, and energy of summer,” she says. “Today, I want us to think about tuning into the nature around us and getting our energy from it.” As she speaks, a blend of harmonic tones and music fill the space. She asks us to settle into a connection with the Earth beneath us and to breathe deeply.
Nearly two hours later, Gunn McQuillan finishes with, “I hope you have a wonderful sunny Sunday,” and invites us back for her Wednesday sessions on the beach. Folks slowly pack up their mats and depart, some reluctantly. I stick around to chat.
“I came into yoga mostly for the mental healing,” says Gunn McQuillan, a veterinarian who endured postpartum depression. “When I suffered from that, I integrated mindfulness and yoga together, and it was like a door opened,” she says. After experiencing such significant benefits, she decided to train as a yoga and mindfulness instructor. Even now, she combines her occupations by integrating mindfulness into the curriculum at the vet school where she teaches.
Retracing my steps through St. Peter’s, I arrive at my last stop, the 45 Steps Inn. Swiss couple Barbara Hansenbohler and Thomas Range fulfilled a lifetime dream in 2021 when they bought this big house 45 steps from the beach and opened their culinary beachside inn. “A lot of people come just to relax,” says Hansenbohler, who interned at a European Michelin Star restaurant. I too am here to relax, but also to participate in her Kitchen Club experience.
In the kitchen, I work at an unhurried pace, helping prepare my own evening meal. I cut ingredients for a melon cucumber salad to go with the salmon and asparagus main dish. Dessert is cake from her grandmother’s recipe. “My family is big,” she says. “My mom has three siblings, and they each have three kids. Everybody was often at our house, so eating and spending time together has always been important. My recipes are basic, so everybody who likes cooking can do it.”
Back in my turret room, I enjoy the sunset over the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the panoramic views over the beach. Something Gunn McQuillan told me comes to mind. “There’s a wellness story happening here in Eastern P.E.I.,” she said. “Nature Space, 45 Steps, and Mysa are really well aligned. All three of us are dedicated to well-being through the food that nourishes, the sensations around us, and the activities. It’s about being taken care of.”
Grandmother’s Pound Cake
From Barbara Hansenbohler of 45 Steps.
Ingredients
9 oz (250 g) flour
9 oz (250 g) butter
9 oz (250 g) sugar
5 free-range eggs
1 tbsp (15 mL) baking powder
9 oz (250 g) yogurt
9 oz (250 g) ground nuts (coconut, almonds, or hazelnuts)
9 oz (250 g) or more of fruits, but 18 oz (500 g) maximum
Directions
Beat eggs with sugar and butter until frothy. Mix flour with baking powder, and stir into foamy mixture. Add yogurt. Add nuts and stir. Add flavouring ingredients as desired. Examples include cocoa, rum, lemon zest. Depending on preference and season, you can also add fruit combinations like apple with hazelnut and cinnamon, cherry with almond and kirsch, pineapple with coconut and rum. Be creative. The cake is called equal-weight cake because all the ingredients are equally heavy. You can reduce or increase the batter accordingly. Pour cake batter into a baking tray or small tins or muffins. Bake in a cake pan at 350F/180C for about one hour. Or on a tray, bake at 350F/180C for about 30 minutes, or as muffins for about 25 minutes.
