Mainely Food…

We are a family that enjoys food…especially on vacation.  Some things we enjoy on every trip to Maine.

Young’s Lobster Pound in Belfast, Maine is a place we usually stop both on the trip up and the trip back.

We now know where to stop for Geary’s Summer Ale before we get to the pound.

…and we know the steamers and lobsters are fresh because we watch them being delivered…

…and we can sit and watch the sunset.

It is amazing how many people can be squeezed at  our friends’ table…

 

Communal meals here at Rocky Pond happen more than once each trip…

Hot popovers and iced cappuccino at the Jordan Pond House is a tradition for us after hiking up Mt Penobscot…

Blueberry pancakes are made at least once during the week…

…thanks to my son-in-law.

Lobster at the Union River Lobster Pot restaurant happens annually…

…It’s one of the few places that will seat 14 without any hesitation.

Crab rolls and onion rings…

…at Jordan’s Snack Bar can’t be skipped either…

 

…especially with children old enough to enjoy the playground there.

Maine is for enjoying food together…

Onions…

 

Ode To The Onion by Pablo Neruda

Onion,
luminous flask,
your beauty formed
petal by petal,
crystal scales expanded you
and in the secrecy of the dark earth
your belly grew round with dew.
Under the earth
the miracle
happened
and when your clumsy
green stem appeared,
and your leaves were born
like swords
in the garden,
the earth heaped up her power
showing your naked transparency,
and as the remote sea
in lifting the breasts of Aphrodite
duplicating the magnolia,
so did the earth
make you,
onion
clear as a planet
and destined
to shine,
constant constellation,
round rose of water,
upon
the table
of the poor.
You make us cry without hurting us.
I have praised everything that exists,
but to me, onion, you are
more beautiful than a bird
of dazzling feathers,
heavenly globe, platinum goblet,
unmoving dance
of the snowy anemone
and the fragrance of the earth lives
in your crystalline nature.

Oh my how I love this poem!  A poem of beauty in the mundane….

The word prompt for day three of CBC was multilayered.  Although I certainly wasn’t creative with my choice of onions, I wanted to try to photograph a still life in a more formal manner than I have before.  I had a lot of fun gathering as many types of onions as I could find in the market…I forgot the leeks…And I had fun trying to set up the black background I envisioned…  I used an old black velvet shirt…I then went all around the house looking for the right light…

 

I did take a lot of pictures…and it was fun…

 

Now I need to look up some onions dishes…maybe onion soup?

Maine 1…

We know our Maine vacation has started when we stop at Young’s Lobster Pound in Belfast for steamers and lobster rolls…We have learned to stop beforehand to stock up on Shipyard Ale…


Every year we debate why steamers and lobsters are so much sweeter in Maine than they are in RI…

Maybe it’s because of the colder water…maybe it’s because it is cooked in salt water….maybe it’s because we are on vacation…

…so yummy they didn’t need that melted butter…


 








…

The last few years Young’s has been an annual stop…both coming and going if possible.

Farmer’s Market…

Radishes from a local farmer’s market…just dipped in salt and eaten plain…

…and just picked local strawberries for dessert…

…I love a trip to the farmer’s market…and hopefully have found a local CSA to join.

Butternut Squash...

I received a gift from my daughter of a basket full of butternut squash...locally grown by her husband's grandfather...and needing to be used soon. I found this recipe for Warm Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad on Orangette a long time ago and wanted to try it out...Now I can vouch for how well all these different flavors meld together...

I really want to buy her new cookbook soon...

Clam Cakes and Chowder...

It was a cloudy, chilly, windy, day at Galilee...

...a fishing village..

...with many seafood restaurants...

...you always know the fish is fresh...

...on nice days you can sit outside...

...but today was a day to stay inside...

...with hot soup.

The Leftover Vegetables...

In honor of Theme Thursday today's blog is all about the leftover vegetables from our St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner...

...in my opinion the best part of the dinner...

The leftover potatoes, carrots, turnips, and corned beef are chopped up and cooked with onion and garlic and red pepper flakes...
...eggs are then poached on top of the hash...

...the hash and eggs are served with leftover cabbage sliced, and sauted with a sprinkle of sugar, and salt, and lots of freshly ground pepper...

A Low Cal Dinner...

Tonight I needed something lighter for supper...First I sauteed 1 pound sliced mushrooms and a Tbsp of chopped garlic in a little bit of olive oil...

While the mushrooms cooked I sliced a container of grape tomatoes and about a half cup of pitted olives in half...

...then added them to the mushrooms with some dried thyme and sauteed a little longer...


While that cooked I seasoned some fish fillets - I used tilapia...
...the cooked vegetables came out of the pan and the fish went in...sauteed on both sides...

...some fresh basil was chopped and added to the cooked fish...

along with the cooked vegetables...

It was all served with whole wheat penne pasta...

...and yummy olive bread from a bakery.

...well I guess the bread wasn't low cal!