Lots of company, lots of good food. Then a few days on our sailboat to Roque Island and back again to spend a couple of days with friends on Great Cranberry Island. Packing and planning meals for this combination was fun and challenging. It's not that we spent a great deal of time out of reach of good markets. The challenge is to pack a few good food "tools" so that whatever comes your way can be turned into dinner for two or twelve on a moment's notice! So I baked before going to SW - lemon yogurt poundcake, an apple pie for Miss Amelia even though apples are not in season, piles of chocolate chip cookies and a Maine blueberry pie from the last of the frozen organic blueberries. Those went pretty quickly! I made a batch of barbecue sauce with my own frozen passata
(unherbed thick tomato puree), mustard, brown sugar, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar and bit of peach preserves to be used on baby back ribs and chicken wings. I froze small containers of "pate pas raffinee" for cousin Eike, carrot-cashew pate and provencal tapenade to stave off hunger while dinner was being prepared. I went to Sawyer's Market and Little Notch bakery for good greens, vegies and ciabatta. Add some great prosecco from State Street Wine, a couple of batches of gin punch
and some homemade strawberry lemonade and everybody seemed pretty happy. We didn't dine out too often. However, if you are in SW and headed on 102A towards Bernard and West Tremont (the really quiet side of the Quietside) do not fail to stop at the food truck called Keenan's Kitchen. Best fried clams ever as well as incredible fish tacos and a Greek-street-worthy gyro. Prices are extremely reasonable and the food is worth waiting for the owner/chef to make everything to order. Fish tacos were crispy bites of fish deep-fried with homemade salsa, guacamole and sour cream along with a portion of smoky rice and beans and crunchy coleslaw - all for $8.95. We also snuck in for a late dinner at the bar at XYZ. Janet and Tom have been serving authentic Mexican (forget chips and salsa) for years in Manset and on the night we went they were incredibly busy. The margaritas are legendary. Entrees come with warm soft tortillas, an array of hot sauces and a Triple Chick Farm lettuce mix with olive oil and lime to add yourself. I had my customary chiles rellenos - anchos filled with corn and cheese and cooked in cream and The Captain chose chicken mole. Watch out for the dot of red sauce on your plate - this is the real thing! Thanks for squeezing us in. There is a Farmer's Market in SW on Friday mornings and one in NE Harbor on Thursday morning. Naturally, I went to both. We saw old friends (Farmer Bob and Schartner's). Young Mr. Will is partial to chocolate along with little cousins Adam and Garland. I bought some North Star sour cherries from Schartner's and made them into a quick sauce with turbinado sugar and a bit of lemon rind. I had made chocolate sauce to bring and baked up two my-mix chocolate cake layers. Cutting each layer in two, I put a slather of chocolate sauce on the top and bottom of each layer and filled the middle with the cherry sauce. Chilled the whole thing for a couple of hours and added a dollop of whipped cream for serving and there's dessert for 12 that encourages children to each their vegetables. At NE I picked up merquez sausage and Farmer Bob's lamb chops to cook on the boat grill. Roque is a private island off of Roque Bluffs State Park - between Jonesport and Machiasport. The owners are protective of their environmentally fragile island but allow boaters to visit the unbelievable powdered sugar beach on the outer shore of the island. I thought I was in the Caribbean and so did the dog who breaded himself in sand every time we went ashore and then wanted to sleep in my berth! Sailed back to Great Cranberry to stay with friends and cooked up some wonderful meal thanks to the Great Cranberry General Store. Home on Friday and I was off to the Orono FM today!
We'll talk about that tomorrow. Let me know if you ever have questions
or comments - especially the person who is reading from Indonesia!
No comments:
Post a Comment