Friday, June 15, 2012

Maine part I... eating

 Eating with my family can be a challenge. I will eat most anything you put in front of me, except red meat, which I get sick from. Gerry won't eat white stuff, like cream sauces, mayonnaise, dressings, etc. Wesley, the same, and she doesn't do anything related to eating a living thing, although I pointed out to her that carrots were once a beautiful growing living thing, and then she left the room. Gerry and I would have eaten a lobster roll at every meal, Wesley would eat bean burritos three times a day. So we did a little of both. Pancho Villa in Brunswick Maine was great. We don't do fine dining (because they have "sauces"). I mean, look at these two, do they look like they belong with white table cloths and candlelight, haha! The best food we have had on our travels was usually a dive, and more than not, there were picnic tables and sitting outside involved.
Doug's Seafood in Port Clyde was no exception. Without a doubt, the best lobster roll I had on the trip. The lady at the lighthouse gift shop, Joanne, who became my best friend while I tried to take some photos (you will notice I have very few photos from the lighthouse, thanks to chatty Joanne) suggested Doug's, even called over there to make sure they were open. She was so right and we were happy for the suggestion.
 They even serve your food on pretty decorative trays, she said with a note of kindly humor....
and they are the nicest people, so friendly and smiling!

 Doug's is a tiny building on the side of the road that we passed on our way in to Port Clyde and didn't even see. You order at the window and get some of the best seafood you will have if you visit this tiny island. Locals eating there was a good sign of things to come.
 As I mentioned, Wes doesn't eat seafood, so we always have a back up plan. While Gerry and I gorged on lobster and fried scallops, she had a bagel with peanut butter, fresh blueberries, Maine blueberry honey, Maine blueberry jelly, some sliced apple and some other snacks we brought along. Since the day Wesley was born, if we got in the car to go somewhere, I had a bag of food packed for back up. Nothing has changed.....
 This is one of my favorite places to eat in Maine. We found it last year in Boothbay Harbor. Again, take out window, picnic tables, see a theme here?.....
Look at Wesley giving me the evil stinky eye as we order more lobster, haha! Thank God they had veggie burgers. But, WTF, Maine and a veggie burger?!?! This place is amazing and all the local working men stop here, so you know it's good. We ate in a sort of ok place the night before and our waitress from that restaurant showed up while we were waiting on our order here.
 We also found this little jewel on Harpswell Island. OMG!

 I had the lobster stew, look at the chunks of lobster!! and the butter toasted biscuit!!! Wesley actually tried this but as she chewed the lobster, she had time to think about the life it once had, and that was the last of the lobster for her. Lobster is sort of chewy and it does give you time to think about it floating around out there happy in the Atlantic.....  but it's sooooo good!
 This was the view from our table. So the dude on the right comes chugging up in his lobster boat, dude in the middle owns the place, goes out to meet him, they drag up a big container full of lobster, dude on the left holds out his hand, dude in the middle pulls out a wad of cash from his pocket, gives it to dude on the left and off they go in their boat. Then the lobster comes in to the boiling pot of water and we eat it! YUM!
 The restaurant was charming, it was a cold rainy day and all was right with the world. Our waitress was adorable, just out of school and going off to teach her first year of high school in the fall. She was born and raised in Maine, had already been swimming in the ocean (no thank you!) and told us about  lots of great things to see and good places to eat. One of our favorite meals while in Maine, without a doubt.
 We did not eat here, but Gerry enjoyed the view, haha!
 We drank lots of chai and coffee. The Little Dog in Brunswick was great. They had an art exhibit up on the walls featuring some local artists, great collages and really good chai. My little girl is looking quite cosmopolitan in this photo :)
I think I shot some of the funniest vacation photos I have ever taken on this trip. We laughed almost constantly. These two are nuts :)

14 comments:

Hollis Engley said...

Hmmmm ... we should hit Brunswick on our trip next week. Dee's got a Little Dog t-shirt from three or four years ago. Great coffee shop. Nice travel piece, Trace.

Dennis Allen said...

Now I want lobster. Might go to the creek and look for crawdads.(inland lobsters) but it wouldn't be the same.When I was in college I worked with a farmer who was a sweet corn lover. Put the pot on the stove, bring water to a boil, THEN go to the garden and get your corn.Your lobster boat story seemed to be on the same track. Yum

Michèle Hastings said...

now i am dying to get back to the northeast for some lobster, clams, and scallops... i will have to wait for August :-(

Lori Buff said...

One of the best parts about traveling is sampling the local cuisine, even if you get it from a walk-up window. I never understood why people would travel to an interesting place to eat at a chain restaurant. Especially when the food & the people are usually better even at the local dives. The fresh lobster sounds so good right now.

Debbie said...

Tracey, I'm one of your silent regular readers, and I have a problem. I remembered that you recently build a studio. We are moving and I need to put my 3 ft wide, 4 ft. tall Paragon electric kiln in a large 7x12 closet with 9' ceilngs. Is this safe? Should it be vented. Can I put my wheel diagonally across from kiln? Suggestions from any of your potter readers would be soooo helpful. We're about to get a divorce over this!!! Thank you MUCH. Debbie

Tracey Broome said...

Hey Hollis, there is a really good Thai restaurant in Brunswick that I forgot to mention called Sweet Angel Thai, it is soooo good and the staff is so cute and very sweet. The seafood Tom Yum was amazing.
Dennis, I like that corn idea, farmer's market tomorrow, I may put on a pot of water before I go!
I know Michele, we are trying to figure out how to live there :)
Lori, definitely better to do a walk up window any day than hitting the chains, even though it is sometimes unavoidable when you are really hungry:)

Debbie re: kiln... I am certainly no expert here and maybe some readers could chime in, but, I knew a potter here in Chapel Hill, Noah Riedel, that had his wheel and kiln in a tiny 10X10 shed sort of like mine. He used cement backer board all around his kiln, which is what I put up on the roof of my outdoor shed. Noah is in Seattle now, but I bet you could google his name and get a contact, he did have a blog, not sure if he still does...When I asked about the roof clearance for my kiln I was told I needed 8 ft. clearance. I think if your kiln was vented and you didn't have to be in the space while the kiln was it's hottest, it would probably be ok. But I would check with someone that knows more than me. Maybe you could call paragon and ask them what they think. good luck! I think the backer board would work though....

Anna M. Branner said...

I don't eat much seafood either...unless we are on the coast and see it come in on the boat! :)

And Debbie...I am in the process of building a studio as well, I'm lucky that I will have an old garage all my own. My kiln manual gives the safety specks for clearance around the kiln. Your space will definitley get hot when the kiln is firing, even in my 2 car garage (my old studio used 1/2 of it) I rarely worked while my kiln was firing. And since the kiln is in your workspace DEFINITELY get in vented. It is not 100% but is much safer and does take out SOME of the heat as well. Let me know if there is anything else I can help with! Yay for studio space all your own! No matter the size. :)

Dennis Allen said...

Debbie, I think you are at bare minimum for clearances.Check with Paragon but you probably need 2 ft all around and I would put a non flammable covering on the floor and walls as well.I would definitely vent the kiln and if this is in the house (not the best place) add an exhaust fan for the room air as well.Otherwise, I can imagine the room air getting to 150 maybe more if it is an insulated space.

Debbie said...

Thank you all for taking the time to address this problem. I truly appreciate it.

cookingwithgas said...

Tb- yum, yum,yum and chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.
What a great trip and those two are a stitch.
I want me a lobster roll right now!

cookingwithgas said...

Debbie- check with your homeowners as well.

Michèle Hastings said...

Maine is slightly more affordable than NH but we have found it WAY more affordable to live here NC than in NH... our housing costs in NC are more than HALF less than they were in NH...
but Vodka is more expensive here :-)
and lobster too.

Judi Tavill said...

Getting really excited for OUR family trip to Deer Isle, Maine in August! I love lobster! BUT FIRST we are eaded tobthe outer banks thursday!

Laura Farrow said...

enjoyed that. xo