After the Fest

How can you top a day of fun and frivolity at the Summerfest? Go to Sue's for "tea on the porch"! Lovely tuna salad sandwiches and several yummy deserts to choose from. Lots more great conversation and good times with really good friends.

7/5/2011 John's Ice Cream in Liberty

I need to do more traveling with Stephanie. She knows so many great places! John makes ice cream using real cream and has this cute little place right on the highway that we were traveling to get back to Farmington. But we probably would've missed it and that would've been too bad 'cuz the ambiance was fun and the ice cream delicious.

That's John himself serving a customer. He hand-dipped our ice cream for us:

7/4/2011 4th of July Concert, Castine, ME

Not sure what this was about. This car was parked at the Town Commons for the Town Band Concert. I'm thankful for the 4th of July, does that count?

Instrumentalists getting ready for the big concert. Look right between the T and the I in the word Castine on the big drum, now go up to the rim of the drum, . . . there's my sister!

The Tarratine Fifes and Drums made a guest performance at the concert. Oh look! There's my sister--second fife from the right.

The Dice's Head (or Dice Head or Dyce Head . . . depends what you read) Lighthouse right on the edge of town.

We had a big barbecue tonight. Mrs. C. and her son and daughter-in-law and 3 grandkids plus 4 family friends plus my sister, me, and my friend Stephanie. We ate barbecued brisket, sausage, and ribs sent from The New Braunfels Smokehouse by Mrs. C's daughter Katy who is my sister's best friend which is how we got here in the first place. Gorgeous evening. We all sat underneath Mrs. C's really big elm tree. Yes, elm tree. Castine's elms didn't get hit by the Dutch Elm Disease blight and in fact, all the trees are carefully cared for and tagged and baby elms are now being planted across the country from cuttings from Castine's elms. Anyway, it was a gorgeous tree to sit under and enjoy our wonderful meal. Then we went inside for dessert of brownies and strawberry-rhubarb pie. What a great 4th of July!!

Next on the agenda was the fireworks display at 9:15. At 9:00, two fireworks went off into the fog and just kinda, sorta set the fog aglow. Not much to look at. At 9:15, the harbor lights went out and one more firework went off and glowed. Even the bang didn't sound right in the fog. Next thing we know, they're announcing that the fireworks are postponed to Friday night. :-( A smart decision, just not the evening we were expecting. (This photo is of the Maine Maritime Academy's big ship at the harbor . . . you can kinda tell that there was a lot of fog.)

We came home to Mrs. C's house with a welcome flag. The US flag flies high and proud on a lighted pole on her rooftop, but this flag hangs proud and welcoming in the front porch.

Dining Out

I'm on the special education search committee that's looking for a new professor to come to UMF to take over the spot that will be available in fall 2011 due to the retirement of Sue. We did phone interviews with all the applicants and we picked our top three to bring to campus. It's actually a lot of work, but one of the perks is getting to go out to eat a nice meal with a candidate. We had three candidates scheduled to come to campus over a three-week period. But the first candidate got iced out of leaving her home town (and would have been here for our snow day), so that candidate was rescheduled for the next week. That meant two candidates in one week. Four nights of dinner with candidates. Good thing we have some really great choices of restaurants in the area. Two dinners at The Homestead, one night at Calzolaio Pasta, and one at The Granary. That's my idea of a good time. :-)

Kingfield Artwalk

http://www.kingfieldusa.com/



Last night at the movie, Stephanie asked me if I wanted to join her and Margaret. I didn't really understand what the adventure was that I was being invited to, but I knew if I went with Margaret and Stephanie, whatever the event was, I would thoroughly enjoy it. So I accepted. I didn't even know what time or where, I just knew it was going to be on Friday.

Stephanie picked me up at school around 4:00, we headed to Margaret's and from there we walked to Sugarwood Gallery in Farmington for a little art gallery opening night. A local art teacher had the works of her students on display (many of which were also for sale). They will stay on display at the gallery for a month until the first Friday of March at which there will be a new display. Apparently, this has been going on for quite a while and I just never knew it. There were some beautiful pieces of art, lively conversation, light refreshments, and a lot of fun.

Then we walked back to Margaret's, got in the car (after helping push the car over the last hump in the snow-covered driveway), and headed to Kingfield. Tonight was their Artwalk. A travel site's article about this event states, "Unlike most Art Walks, which run during the warmer months, leave it to Kingfield, in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain, to schedule its new first Friday of the month Art Walks from December through March."

We ran into Joe and Doris, who both work at UMF, and about a million friends of Margaret's. We went to 3 galleries and an exhibit in the offices of a local real estate agent. The art was wonderful and the amount of people quite surprising. We started at a gallery that has a barn for one gallery and a small room for a second gallery. This was so weird to me, though I started to recollect that I've heard of it, but the barn was really really cold inside. It was colder inside the barn than it was outside in the elements. Each gallery had some kind of refreshments to offer and we met the gallery owners and even some of the artists. It was all so personal and so much fun.

The gallery in the old schoolhouse had beautiful nature photography. The gallery is owned by the Orcutts--the couple that takes the photos--so it's gallery, studio, and living quarters all rolled into one. Their photos were all of winter in Maine. They were spectacular. They had some of the Wire Bridge that I love so much. I've never been to the Wire Bridge in winter but now I'm inspired to do so. The Orcutts created these cool candle holders made out of ice. They were a beautiful way to welcome us to the gallery. As the 3 of us stood admiring them, we started talking about The Ice Hotel in Quebec City. hmmmm sounds like a road trip to me!!

We didn't go to one of the galleries or the Ski Museum or the antique shop. That means we'll have to go back, right? :-) But by now, we were hungry, so we went to Longfellow's, which I had heard of and has been recommended to me many times, but I had never been. I ordered the special-of-the-day pork loin and it was delicious. (This photo doesn't do it justice....bad lighting and not-so-hot photography skills.)

Happy birthday to me

 

Stephanie is one of many UMF faculty and staff who is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church with me. Today I looked out in the congregation and she was there with Margaret. Margaret is NOT a member of St. Joe's and in fact, is a deacon at her church. After mass, I scurried out to the congregation to say Howdy and see what the special occasion was. Margaret and Stephanie had had breakfast with Margaret's daughter who was in town and therefore Margaret had missed her church's morning service, so Stephanie brought her to ours. It was fabulous to have such a great guest at our church!

We chatted about everything and nothing the way that good friends do and Margaret said, "Let's have dinner tonight at my house." And we all agreed to do so. Patti, a fellow choir member, came up to join the conversation as she and Margaret are good friends and she, too, wanted to know what was the special occasion that brought Margaret to our church. In that conversation, Pattie revealed to Margaret and Stephanie that today was my birthday. Suddenly our planned dinner was now a birthday dinner. 

When I arrived at Margaret's, she had made a cake! That was not part of the original menu. I was honored. And the cake was delicious. And the meal shared with dear friends was indeed a special way to celebrate.

Homestead birthday

Andrea (music minister at St. Joe's who organizes our choir and plays keyboard and who teaches ESL and gifted students for the local school district) and Patti (guitarist and lead cantor for our choir who teaches science at the local high school) took me out for brunch at The Homestead for my birthday. :-)

Andrea and I go to The Homestead nearly every Sunday for brunch after church, but today was a special treat in honor of my special day. Paul joined us, which was a delightful treat. He's a lawyer in town but he must be the unofficial town historian. He knows everyone and everything in town. Ask him any question and get ready for a spellbinding story for an answer. Needless to say, the conversation at my birthday brunch was as special and as fun as the friends who created the event for me.

12/5/2010 Chester Greenwood Menu Items

Yesterday was Chester Greenwood Day (with parade et.al.) and today at The Homestead on the Daily Specials menu was this:

Nobody ordered any while we were there and I didn't feel like eating any of it, so I asked. Earmuff pancakes are poured to look like earmuffs--2 regular silver dollar pancakes and a connecting arch of pancake batter across the top. Pretty fun!

I used a great app, Genius Scan for iPhone, to turn my photo of the menu to this, which looks much better than the photo did.

4/12/09 Easter Dinner

Ashley invited me to Easter Dinner at her house. It was a Southern Style Eastern Dinner complete with fried chicken and "extra bacon in everything". (That's what her mother told her to do. However, since she had a vegetarian friend attending, she put the extra bacon in a dish and we could all add as much extra bacon as we desired to anything or everything.) There was Southern-style corn (Ashley personally husked and de-kernelled 16 ears of corn), fried okra, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, biscuits (I had to correct someone who called them rolls), fried cabbage, and I don't know what all else. We overstuffed ourselves and then out came dessert: 7-layer chocolate decadent brownies and a triple berry cobbler a la mode. It was incredibly delicious. And the company was awesome. Such fun people. The conversation and the laughter never stopped. What a glorious way to celebrate.

4/3/09 Salt and Vinegar Chips

Have you ever had a salt and vinegar chip? I had my first one today. They're a little spicier than pier fries with salt and vinegar but it's the same delicious combo: potato, oil, salt, vinegar. I'm guessing it's a New England thing, but I really don't know. I'd love your comments about this!

3/29 More Needhams and More

It's Needham making time again! Only in this photo, we are not making Needhams. This time we added toffee making to the agenda. Here is Karen following Sara's directions for toffee. You can't see the brown paper bag that is critical for successful toffee, but we had it out. We made two batches of toffee before we tackled the Needhams. The toffee turned out perfectly! Thank you Sara for the private tutorial session in Oregon back in January. It paid off!

We didn't do our usual Jackson Polock signature on the Needhams this time. There wasn't time. We did make a triple batch. Karen wanted to take hers to a convention she was going to in Boston. She was going to share a hotel room with 3 other women and she was taking Needhams for the slumber party crowd. I wanted to make some for my Our Cabana buddies who are having a reunion coming up. If I can't be there in person, i can be there in spirit AND in Needhams.

This was our third Needham event. We definitely have this down to a fine science. It's a blast. And now we know how to make yummy toffee, too. Who knows what we'll expand into next.

Karen's a blogger, too. Here's her much more detailed version of the story, including the toffee recipe:
http://thirdfury.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/2009-03-30/

3/18/09 Whoopie Pies make the New York Times!

March 18, 2009

Whoopie! Cookie, Pie or Cake, It's Having Its Moment

By MICHELINE MAYNARD

FOR generations, vacationers in Maine and visitors to Pennsylvania’s Amish country have found a simple black and white snack in restaurants and convenience shops and on nearly every gas station counter: whoopie pies.

They were found in other pockets of the country, too, from New England to Ohio. But in most of the United States, people could be forgiven for not knowing that the whoopie pie is not, in fact, a pie at all. (It is sometimes described as a cookie, but that is not quite right, either. The closest description may be a cake-like sandwich, or perhaps a sandwich-like cake.)

Now whoopie pies are migrating across the country, often appearing in the same specialty shops and grocery aisles that recently made room for cupcakes. Last fall, they even cracked the lineup at Magnolia Bakery in Manhattan, which helped turn cupcakes into a national craze thanks to the bakery’s exposure on “Sex and the City.” Under the name “sweetie pies,” heart-shaped whoopie pies showed up in the February catalog from Williams-Sonoma. Baked in Maine with local butter and organic eggs, they sell for $49 a dozen.

In their traditional round form, whoopie pies can be found at Trader Joe’s supermarkets, at Whole Foods in Manhattan and at small bakeries like Kim’s Kitchen in Evanston, Ill., outside Chicago.

Kim’s Kitchen (soon to be renamed Fraîche) was an early adopter, first offering its hockey-puck-size pies seven years ago. The cakes come in chocolate and pumpkin, which remains a popular flavor long after the autumn leaves are gone, according to the shop’s owner, Susan Friedman.

“If we took them away after it stopped being fall, there would be a riot outside,” Ms. Friedman said.

Whoopie pies have been on the rise for several years, and nobody can pinpoint the reason they finally broke into the national consciousness. But the snacks evoke a more homespun era that seems to provide some comfort amid the economic gloom. “Pure edible nostalgia,” the Williams-Sonoma catalog calls them.

“Especially now, when people are so stressed out, they are going back to whoopie pies,” said Emily Isaac, owner of Trois Pommes Patisserie in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Ms. Isaac had never heard of whoopie pies before she was asked to make them as wedding favors three years ago. Entranced at first taste, she put them on the menu at her bakery when it opened in May 2007.

There are dozens of variations on the shape, flavors and fillings. Trois Pommes serves what seems to be the classic version: two round mounds of chocolate cake, about three inches across, with French vanilla cream filling.

The whoopie pie sold since last fall at Zingerman’s Bakehouse, in Ann Arbor, Mich., sports a chocolate glaze on its dense chocolate cake and is filled with Swiss buttercream filling.

The basic elements of the whoopie pie turn up in many other snacks that might be considered its far-flung relatives. Amy Emberling, a partner at Zingerman’s Bakehouse, grew up in eastern Canada eating a similar cookie called a Jos. Louis. Oreo sells a whoopie pie look-alike called the Oreo Cakester, while the Hostess Suzy Q is a square version that vies for space on some store shelves with whoopie-esque Little Debbie snack cakes.

Food historians believe whoopie pies originated in Pennsylvania, where they were baked by Amish women and put in farmers’ lunchboxes.

Tired from a morning’s work, the farmers purportedly would shout “Whoopie!” if they discovered one of the desserts in their lunch pails, Ms. Emberling said.

In parts of Pennsylvania, whoopie pies remain a celebrated sweet. The annual Whoopie Pie Festival at the Hershey Farm and Inn in Strasburg, Pa., features a whoopie pie eating contest and the coronation of the Whoopie Pie Queen.

The whoopie pie would probably be Maine’s state dessert, if the state had one. The filling is generally of one of two types: a thick, sweet frosting made from Crisco shortening combined with confectioners’ sugar, or, more conveniently, a dollop of Marshmallow Fluff.

The cake itself is typically not especially sweet, and is often on the dry side, since the frosting lends plenty of sugar and a gooey consistency, said Sandra Oliver, a food historian and columnist in Islesboro, Me.

How the cookies traveled to Maine is a mystery, however.

One theory holds that whoopie pies were brought north during the Great Depression through the Yummy Book, a recipe pamphlet first published in 1930 by Durkee-Mower, the Massachusetts company that makes Fluff.

Don Durkee, whose father co-founded the firm, discredits that notion. After checking the company’s collection of pamphlets, the earliest appearance of whoopie pies he found was during the 1970s. “I’m baffled,” he said.

Leslie Land, a Maine writer, said her research showed that the recipe might have been popularized by one of the many local radio programs aimed at housewives during the 1930s.

No matter how they arrived, they have been eaten by Maine residents for at least eight decades, said Ms. Oliver, who publishes Food History News, a monthly newsletter. Labadie’s Bakery, in Lewiston, Me., which sells whoopie pies as big as 16 inches across, claims to have sold them since 1925.

Many of the whoopie pies sold in Maine come sheathed in plastic wrap. Generally sold for less than $2, they can be found stacked next to cash registers, the dry cake growing moister by the hour. “If you peel the Saran off and half the cookie doesn’t come away, it’s not a real whoopie pie,” Ms. Oliver said.

Ms. Friedman, in Evanston, agreed that her whoopie pies have a rustic image rather than a luxury one, although they sell for $3 each.

“They’re not as perfect as a lovely cupcake that has a beautiful swirl of icing on top,” she said. “They’re a little more handmade looking.”

At Magnolia Bakery, maple-cream icing is sandwiched between two brown-sugar cakes. Sina Clark-Murphy, the head baker, said that the whoopie pie’s humble appearance may help it come across as less of a dietary threat than a frosting-piled cupcake or a serving of banana pudding. Unfortunately, they are no less caloric.

At the other end of the simplicity scale are the heart-shaped versions baked by the Cranberry Island Kitchen in Maine, which supplies Williams-Sonoma. The pies wound up in the catalog after a friend of one of the company’s food buyers sampled them at Bob’s Clam Hut in Kittery, Me., and recommended that the catalog stock them, said Carol Ford, one of Cranberry Island’s owners.

Cranberry Island’s whoopie pies, which start at $28.75 for six, are made with chocolate cake or vanilla and are available in shapes like scallop shells and pumpkins. Filling flavors include rum, peppermint, Cointreau, raspberry and espresso.

To Ms. Oliver, the food historian, that upscale approach misses the point.

“It’s like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with almond butter,” she said. “It’s not meant to be fine cuisine.”

retrieved 3/18/09 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/dining/18whoop.html

3/15/09 Countdown to Spring

5 MORE DAYS until Gifford's opens for the 2009 season! A definite sign that spring is on its way (though they've been known to serve their free ice cream on opening night to folks standing next to 3 foot snowbanks). Looks like this year's opening might be wet and cold but not snowy.

1/31/08 Fish fry

Alan and Betty graciously invited me to their home for the big fish fry. Alan cleaned the first fish and I got to clean the remaining 6. It involves cutting (off the head), slicing (open the belly), scooping (out the innards), and washing (out the inside under running water and running some water on the outside, too). Don't remove the bones, though. That is much easier to do after they're cooked.

The rest of our dinner: pork chops ('cuz there weren't enough fish), potatoes, peas, and the skillet on the back right burner has bacon in it 'cuz we're going to fry the fish in bacon grease.

Dip them in egg, then in a corn meal mixture.

Fry 'em up.

Filet them and eat them. Alan and Betty gave me all 7 to eat. They're so small that 7 is a small serving. Oh were they yummy!!

Thank you Alan and Betty for a wonderful day of life in Maine, especially the gracious Maine hospitality!

11/2/08 fresh apples

This is easier than picking your own. This apple orchard owner sets up a booth in the back of his truck in the Gifford's parking lot. Since Gifford's Ice Cream is closed until March, this works out well. I paid $4 for a bag of apples that had at least 14 apples in it. I can't eat that many apples. I made Waldorf Salad and gave some away and I'm eating a lot of fresh apples. I bought Cortlands. Yummy.

10/17/08 Maurer Meal

Maurer Meals are such a cool thing! Local restaurants serve them to "raise money for the Justin A. Maurer Memorial Scholarship at UMF while raising awareness of activities necessary to improve local community health nutritionally, economically, environmentally and spiritually." The meals are made all from local foods. Grace and her husband Tom and I went to The Homestead for Faculty Seminar and then ate dinner there. Tom had prime rib, Grace had a stuffed acorn squash (see photo) and I had blueberry pork marsala. Who would think of putting blueberries in a sauce with cream and mushrooms to cook pork in? Oh my goodness!! It was delicious!!

blueberry pork marsala

10/13/08 Maine Monday part 1

Today was a fabulous wonderful amazing day of Maine traditions. I started the day making Needhams. You've read about them, I've heard about them, but who knew I'd have a chance to make them?! I haven't had time to formulate my own blog entry about it yet (I have tons of photos and so much to say) but my friend Karen who was my hostess for my Needham-making morning wrote a blog entry, so for now, you can go read her blog. :-)

http://thirdfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/2008-10-15-2/

That's how I celebrated our Columbus Day Holiday from 10am to 2pm. Wait 'til you see how I finished out the holiday. :-)

10/12/08 Gifford's last week

JUST as I was taking this photo, they turned the lights out on the sign. So I'll tell you what this is a picture of. ;-) It's the Gifford's ice cream store and the sign says, "7 days until closing". This is one of the last seasonal ice cream stores to close for the season. They get a LOT of busloads of peepers through the autumn leaf-peeping season. Farmington is just a little past peak now, so the buses will stop coming through soon.

Last week the sign said "apple sundae" which means vanilla ice cream with homemade apple pie filling on top. I knew I wanted to stop and have some of that. But I didn't get by last week and tonight when I stopped in, they were out of that. But they did have apple pie ice cream so I got that. Oh yummmm! They ground up apple pie filling and a sweet crust-like crumble and put it in their award-winning ice cream. AND it was the special flavor of the week so I saved 50 cents. I hope I can stop by one more time before the 7 days are up. I'll even pay full price! Supposedly on the weekend (their last 2 days) they offer "buy 1 get 1 free" so I need to find someone to go with me. Of course, there is the alternative. ;-)

And then Gifford's will close and winter won't be far behind. Sometime in March the Gifford's sign will change from "closed for the season" to "opening day [insert date here]". That first Friday night they have free ice cream. I've never been but I hope to make it this time. 2009!

9/28/08 Needhams

Just when I think I'm aware of all things uniquely Maine, I find out about another thing: Needhams. They're a potato candy made with Maine potatoes???? I saw it on FB (of course) 'cuz it was a blog entry imported into FB by my friend Michael Johnson. I went and read his blog:
http://keatsfan.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/rainy-day-needhams/

(Be sure to check out the artwork at the bottom.) After reading about how to make them yourself, I'm pretty sure I'll just be admiring those who make 'em and won't be trying to make 'em myself.

I commented on Michael's blog that I thought I had heard of all things Maine and wouldn't have anything to blog about after a while and he then sent me this link: http://maineneedham.com/site/index.php

I want to go to this shop when I go back to Acadia. I definitely missed this somehow.

So I look forward to trying these out. I love all things potato, so I can't imagine not liking potato candy. Chocolate isn't my favorite, so I'll avoid the dark chocolate ones and look for white chocolate or try the ones covered in almonds. But still! Who would've guessed you could make candy out of mashed potatoes. I can't wait until I "just need a Needham."


photo from: http://maineneedham.com/site/index.php

9/18/08 The Farmington Fair

Last year I attended the Farmington Fair for the first time (thanks, MRM!). I'm an expert at The State Fair of Texas, but this was a whole new world. I considered myself a beginner at Farmington Fair. This year I moved up to Advanced Beginner and actually worked at the fair!

Here I am with Andrea (who leads my church choir) volunteering in the St. Joseph's Food Booth at the fair.

Here are Jeremy and Claire (she's the head of religious education . . . I know her from being an on-call substitute for Sunday School) working in the back, doing all the cooking and most of the food prep.

Right out the window of the food booth, we could see the harness racing (and we don't have that at The State Fair of Texas!).

Every fair has its competitions: animals, cooking, canning, needlework and more. Farmington has its fair share, including cut flowers.

Ultimately, though, for some a fair is all about the Midway or the rides, but for me, it's about the food. Someone's planning on making A LOT of french fries during the one-week event.

MRM taught me last year that King and Queen fries are the best and she is sooooo right. I helped them make a tiny dent in this giant stack of sacks by eating a small order of fries.

They've got it all in this one booth. The cotton candy reminds me of Coney Island.

The Texas State Fair is famous for frying a lot of unique things. Both fairs have fried Oreos for sale.

But I know for certain that The State Fair of Texas doesn't have deep fried whoopie pies!