Amuse Bouche

Route 119 Windy Roads and Farm Stands - Oh My!

Another gorgeous Saturday morning in New England and I packed the ice packs in the cooler bag.  Grabbed my Gran's harvest basket and sprayed on the sun screen.  I packed everything in the convertible trunk and set the ipod to a favorite playlist and headed out.

First stop was the Waltham farmers market.  I will admit to being disappointed this year, perhaps it is still early, but there are only two vendors selling produce, okay three, if you count the ladies with the greens.  There is no way I can get to the two other newton farmers markets during the week because of the hours they run, not to mention they don't even start until after the 4th of July, so I rely on Saturday markets to stock up. Oh you crazy California kids who have year round farmer's markets go ahead laugh as you watch the East coast brethren suffer with just a few measly months a year. Wipe that smug look off your face right now, I can see you. Waltham market is great if you want baked goods, eggs, photography, purses, soap or music, not so great for vegetables.  I'm going to hope more vendors add on later in the season.  I did manage to get a very large zucchini for $1.00.  That will get sliced in rings, dredged in spiced flower and sautéed up with some haloumi for dinner next week.  You can keep all your tiny zucchini, give me the giant-seed-filled-hidden-under-the-leaves-until-it's-a-baseball-bat-size zucchini any day.  The red leaf lettuce looked gorgeous so I grabbed one for salads and a nice punnet of red gooseberries will make a lovely fool later in the week the gooseberries lightly poached, cooled and then mixed with crushed up meringues and whipped cream.  When husband heard the plan he said, why bother, you married one - those silly Brits.

I left the market and headed out West on route 20 through Weston and Lincoln to Concord and picked up rte 2.  At the rotary I headed off the 2nd spoke towards Acton and route 119.  I lived in Acton for a few years so this strip of the road is quite familiar, just a few malls and plazas with grocery stores and clothing stores, but I did notice a big Brazilian presence with flags on the roadside and a shop in one plaza called Popular Brazil.  I'll have to go back and check that out on another trip. I decided I would head all the way out to Ashby mentally marking all the places I would stop on the ride back.  Why Ashby? Ashby has the finest stretch of 119 a stretch that is absolute heaven to drive. It winds though Willard Brook State forest on a freshly paved piece of tarmac with gorgeous curves, shaded tree canopy over head, streams on the side, places to pull over and picnic, oh, and did I mention the curves?  Panther really, really likes curvy roads.  I drove it to the end of the stretch, turned around and wound my way back down again with a very happy grin on my face.  Now it was time to start hitting the farm stands.

First stop was the Spaulding Cooperage.  The building hangs right over the falls and the sound is just gorgeous. 

Inside is an antique co-op filled with old and new doodads, gee gaws, shappy chic and grandma's closet.  I poked around for old tea towels and kitchenalia and headed out again.

My first farm stand stop was Greg's Farm in Pepperell a stand who tempted me with a sign that said Butter and Sugar corn.  In June?  In Massachusetts? The ears were very small, but the corn perfectly formed.  I am guessing they must have a field further south near Connecticut and they move it up here.  None of the corn fields I passed are high enough to be producing anything yet.  But I succumbed and bought a few ears.  They had local peas and strawberries and the first summer squash and zucchini, but I knew I had more stops so the corn would have to do. 

Off to the next stop R. Wilkin's Farm.  The outside is loaded with plants and herbs to buy and I noticed the sign as I walked in that sad florist and the inside looks like just that, an old florist shop.  I am guessing that they grew over time from a florist to a garden center and as an afterthought added some produce.  They had a few local cherries and strawberries and local grown hothouse tomatoes, but everything else was bought from a produce wholesaler.

Coming into Groton I stopped to take a picture of this house.  I'd love to know the history behind the house.  I love the imposing gates and the stone walls all locally found I'm sure.  Since it is in the town center and the center is pretty old I am guessing the house is old as well.  If anyone knows the story behind the house drop me a line.

My next stop was Spring Brook Farm.  A combination garden center and farm store they also raise and sell their own beef. 

I hopped out of the car and wandered over to visit the cows. 

Very curious about this crazy lady with the camera they wandered over and eyed me suspiciously.  I did get one nose rub in though for good measure. The store is small and quaint with a freezer case full of their own meats and some local cheeses and half gallons and pints of their own milk.  They had local peas, so I filled up a bag and they had early zucchini. The corn said it was from Connecticut but the hothouse grown tomatoes here smelled right so I picked up a few.  A jar of their rhubarb jam leapt into my hands and an interesting barbecue sauce.  I've been craving barbecued chicken for awhile now so I'll report back on how it is later.  The sauce is Kansas city style if any one cares to know.  Across the street from Spring Brook is yet ANOTHER farm stand, but I will save that one for another day. 

Out the lot and left again I would my way to Springdell Farm the last stop on my trip today.  It wasn't the produce I was after here, but they have grass fed beef and they carry local farm raised pork products and I was looking for some country style ribs for my SD's retirement party next weekend.  Sadly they were out of pork, but I spied a little sign next to some half pints of cherries.  The sign said they came from one of their uncle's cherry trees and I couldn't resist.  I'd show you a picture, but they didn't last the ride home on the passenger seat.  I left a trail of cherry stems from Littleton to Newton.

All this and more on Route 119 and I didn't even get to tell you about the ice cream stands, The Herb Lyceum, Meat market, small shops and antique shops I passed on my journey.  This road is going to be getting a lot of time over the summer and I can't wait to drive it in the fall!

A brief Mid Coast Maine Roadtrip

My Freedom Fridays will be ending soon with the arrival of Summer Camp at Create a Cook.  Classes all day 5 days a week.  34 new faces will parade through the door every week through September.  Add to that corporate events and date night weekends and a few other things we have up our sleeve and it looks to be a very busy summer.

Mom and SD are driving to Canada next weekend for a family reunion with SD's family so I took a last chance drive up to visit Mom before the insanity begins.  Mom took the day off working from home and we hopped in her Jeep and headed out 17 to the coast, mid coast Maine, Rockland area to be precise.  We had a few missions from some research I did and @mainelife told me not to miss Beth's Farm Market so a plan was hatched.

Mom had been seeing ads for Moose Crossing garden center in Woldoboro so we mosied over there first using the good old iphone as GPS.  We passed the infamous Moody's diner crowded with lunchtime patrons and tooled a bit further up rte 1 to Moose Crossing.  I'm sorry to the locals who adore it but no garden center in Maine that I have seen will ever beat Longfellow's in Manchester.  We had the obligatory walk around the greenhouses and picked up some herbs and a few black eyed susan vine to replace the bunny snacks.  Mom picked up a sweet autumn clematis to replace the one she lost two winters ago and replete with our purchases we re-configured the GPS to get us to Beth's Farm Market. 

Beth's is decidedly off the beaten track but the occasional hand painted sign stuck to a pole or a tree with BETH'S and an arrow kept us on track which is good because AT&T has zero signal in that hood.  We turned a corner in the road and admired the fields being worked and on the left was a flower filled adorable barn. Inside? Holy mother of yumminess! They had some of the most perfect freshly picked still damp peas which I immediately stuffed in a bag, my finger is still tinted green from all the shucking but those were the sweetest happiest popping bursts of pea flavor I've had since Grandma's garden.  It's so important o have peas as close to when they were picked as possible.  They had their own greenhouse grown cucumbers, yes, 1 please.  Then I stood and read the sign above the tomatoes.  They grew them locally in their greenhouses.  I thought oh yea sure, another greenhouse grown tomato how good can it be?  I picked up a choice one and sniffed it.  Damn, it actually smelled like a tomato.  Mom wandered over and expressed her doubts about hothouse tomatoes, but we decided based on the smell to pick up 3 anyway.  Let me not keep you in suspense.  That tomato was so DAMN good Mom and I stood over the sink with the kosher salt and ate it all while occasionally moaning and exclaiming how we could not believe we were eating something that tasted like a REAL TOMATO in early June in cool and cloudy Maine. We picked up a jar of their house made spicy dill pickles and pickled hot peppers for my stepdad's Bloody Mary's.  I picked up bread and butter pickled fiddleheads (I KNOW!) and something labeled grape juice.  Grapes are put up in a syrup at their peak and left to steep.  The liquid is a gorgeous reddish purple and the little grapes are floating around inside just WAITING to go on a spear for a grape martini later.

Then I noticed those shore greens.  I've never heard of them before so I grabbed one of them, rather like a blade of grass and bit in.  Instantly you get a nice salty bite with a green background.  Delicious.  I asked what you would do with them and the girl said some people cook them like fiddleheads and others just cut them up and add them to a salad.  A really unique sensation.  I didn't buy any here but later at the fish market we found in Rockland I had to grab a bag. The last grab were some punnets of fresh dug red potatoes. 

We left Beth's and headed to Rockland proper to track down a fish market to finish our now formed dinner of garden peas, fresh dug potatoes with garden chives and a salad with those heavenly tomatoes. A quick iphone google and we found Jess's fish market right on South Main Street in Rockland.  Small, clean and well stocked with beer, wine, and fish, they even pack to ship.  They had smoked Alewife, soft shell crabs, local oysters, house smoked Finnan Haddie and loads of other tempting items.  We picked up some swordfish for dinner at Moms request and then I bought the most gorgeous halibut steak I have seen in ages to take home for husband on Saturday night and a Finnan Haddie for chowder later.  They graciously packed it all in a styrofoam box for us with some ice because not only had I not brought my camera (all photos are iphone) but I also forgot to pack a cooler and ice packs.  I'm obviously out of practice. Jess's market is highly recommended I wish I had a local market like this in Newton. 

On our drive home I chewed on goose grass and drank a local ginger beer and we lamented the fact that we didn't live closer to Beth's Farm market because that place could be seriously addictive, but an hour and a half drive for produce probably isn't going to happen all that often.  We wound our way home and feasted on a dinner that all came from the borders of our favourite state. Maine.  The way life should be.

Sasquatch Smokehouse, Nigel Slater & Smoked Haddock with Butter Beans

The beginning of this story goes back to our 10-year anniversary last may when we went back to England to stay in the castle where were married and to travel a bit.  One of the places I had always wanted to stay was at the Inn at Whitewell on the edge of the forest of Bowland.

Not only is the quirky inn gorgeous, with a divine dining room, but they also have a great selection of wines and cookbooks that they sell.  It was there that I picked up a copy of Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries.  It languished on my shelves for the last year or so and recently, after many had suggested his writing when I asked for cookbook selections, I moved it to the top of the stack for a read. The premise, for those not familiar, is a diary of what he cooked and ate over the course of a year.  This is not a rote recitation along the lines of, 'had a sandwich and a glass of milk', but a gorgeously written account of a year in his kitchen and garden.  Each entry is brief and each recipe is written more like you were chatting with your friend on how they made the scrumptious soup.  In other words, more 'tip in some' and 'roast until sticky' over Thomas Keller like technique.  I was smitten immediately.  The book begins in January and since Britain is obviously a bit more temperate than New England some of the ingredients he can get are well off our calendar dates, but no matter.  Somewhere around February 8 -  A Smoked Fish Supper' I became obsessed.

Sorry Nigel, but I have to quote the paragraph preceding the recipe here.

"There is something old-fashioned about a supper of smoked haddock, something redolent of the 1950's when women wore an apron when they cooked and would get a meal on the table at the same time each day, year in, year out.  I like my smoked haddock baked with a little cream as I do almost anything smoked, but until recently was never sure what to eat with it.  Mash never seemed right, buttered toast never substantial enough, rice too reminiscent of kedgeree.  It was out of curiosity that I turned to beans, pale ones from a can, their texture a pleasing contrast.  Now this is one of my favourite teas, though not the prettiest."

Now I have always loved anything smoked.  Mussels, fish, meat, even nuts, which I really don't like at all normally, add some smoke to it and I can't resist.  I had seen many recipes with smoked haddock before in Delia, Two Fat Ladies, Sophie Grigson and living, as I do, in New England, specifically not far from Gloucester the oldest seaport in the US I just ASSUMED, and you all know what happens when we assume don't you, that I could find smoked haddock. Ha! Smoked salmon, bluefish, trout, mackerel, salmon cured with tea and spices, mackerel coated in cracked black pepper and smoked but no, not one SINGLE piece of smoked haddock and let's just say I don't lack sources for ingredients given my line of work.  After a week or two of searching I popped over to my Google window and "smoked haddock, MA", and up popped a chowhound thread.  They mentioned loads of the usual suspects, but about halfway down one caught my eye.  They mentioned Sasquatch Smokehouse in Gloucester.

"My suggestion is Sasquatch Smokehouse: 44 Whittemore St., Gloucester, MA
Phone #: 978-282-7721. It's run by a Gloucester fisherman named Paul Cohan. He's an amazing seafood cook (I've tried his monkfish piccata and seafood soup.) He's also well-informed about the New England fishing community and he's an hilariously funny storyteller and bluegrass guitarist. He can tell you everything you want to know about smoking fish.  Since haddock is a local species, I bet he'd make a special order if necessary. It's a trip worth making. But call first."

So call I did.  I told him I needed some smoked Haddock and some smoked trout for work.  He told me he was putting some stuff in the smoker this weekend and to give him a call the following week.  Tuesday we made plans and Friday I took the long drive up 128 to pick up my fish. 

Paul's place is tucked away in a corner that you will never find without calling him for directions, trust me on this.  He is not far from the first Gloucester rotary, or roundabout for you Brits following along, in a corrugated steel building overlooking a river outlet. 

If you want to talk about fish, or the fishing industry, or CSF's, NOAA, NMFS or any other acronym associated with the fishing industry, smoking foods, or pickled kielbasa or bluegrass music plan on spending some time. 

Paul is a man of many interests and a word smith with many an opinion and I might add, rather hilarious.  We stood and chatted for a couple hours about the state of things and I picked his brain about the setup he had built. I have a feeling Paul is the guy you want at the end of your dinner table to keep the conversation moving.

Our conversation was punctuated by his popping into the walk in to remove tasty morsels like the Kielbasa he had smoked and pickled himself some smoked mussels and he even passed along some dog treats he makes.  Dog treats, which are most amusingly made from dog fish, dehydrated slices of dog fish.  Trust me,your dog wants some NOW.

I took home a load of smoked haddock (all the smoked fish freezes well) and the trout I needed for the class.  I had Paul point me in the direction of a good place to pick up some fresh fish and he pointed me down to the next rotary to the waterfront and Steve Connolly.  Bring cash because that is all they take, but I picked up cod for class that night for $6.49 a pound.  Cod I might add that Whole Foods was selling for $14.00 per pound.  The very same Whole Foods that had a truck parked out back of Paul Connolly's docks.  Need I say more?

Now if you have made it this far, what you see below is what you want to make for dinner.  You really WISH you had SMELL-O-VISION for the picture you see here.  I cannot accurately describe in words how this smelled when it came out of the oven.  This is also the kind of dinner you can have on the table any night in 30 or so minutes.  Come in, turn the oven on, spend 5 minutes mixing things and pop it in the oven.  Go and sort your mail, change into your jammies, pour a cocktail, set the table and before you know it that smell will begin to waft from the oven.  The most heavenly smokey, seductive smell.  I may have seriously underestimated my haddock purchase quantity.  Paul does not hard smoke his fish, rather they are still moist and supple so I skipped a step in Nigel's recipe for basically poaching the fish in milk and water that you discard once the fish flakes.  There is NO NEED to do this with Paul's fish.  It is also not as salty as a lot of smoked fish, so do season a bit if you are following along using Nigel's recipe.  My adaptation is listed below.  And if you go and visit Paul at Sasquatch Smokehouse, and believe me, you should, ask him to play you his Sarah Palin ditty, it's a hoot.

Smoked Haddock and Butter Beans

All the ingredients here are estimates because this is one of those meals.  WING IT PEOPLE, you really can't go wrong.

• 1 smoked haddock  - skin removed
• 1 gratin dish or shallow dish lightly buttered
• Some heavy cream, oh say 3/4 cup
• A few tablespoons milk
• Some nice freshly minced flat leaf parsley, minced (don't skip this)
• A few tablespoons of whole grain mustard
• 1 bay leaf
• Freshly ground pepper
• Kosher or sea salt
• 1 tin of Butter Beans, rinsed.  I always find these in the Goya section and they are the best beans for this recipe in my opinion since they are soft and absorb all the flavours of the smoke and cream.

Oven 350F, butter dish, break fish up into a few chunks.  In a bowl mix chopped parsley, cream, milk, whole grain mustard and then tip in the rinsed beans.  Stir, season with some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Lay the pieces of fish in the gratin dish.  Tip the contents of the bowl over the fish, nestle things around a bit leaving some of the beans to stick up and get a crust. Tuck in the bay leaf and pop it in the oven.

Bake 30 - 35 minutes or until nice and bubbly.

The 420 mile Locavore or MA to ME and back in 24hrs

My Mom is now ensconced in her summer house for a month.  She and the 3 cats drove up from VA last Friday and of course as is her luck on vacation the weather has been poo.  I needed a break from the grind so Renee pushed me out the door of Create a Cook and demanded I take a few days off.  The pooper had a vet appointment Friday and her latest round of old age induced incontinence meant that husband stayed home and I hit the road for a road trip.

I called Mom Thursday morning and reported that I was hitting the road, but informed her that there would be a few stops along the way, I'd get there, I reported, when I got there.  My favourite kind of trip. A quick stop at the NH state liquor store for some wine meant that I would hit Kittery right around 11:00. 

Why does 11:00 matter you ask?  The well seasoned Maine traveler and the fried clam junkies will know that 11:00 on the dot is when Bob's clam shack opens and I, having not had fried clams a single time yet this "summer", was not going to pass on the opportunity.  Surprisingly on a gray and might i add cold July afternoon, rte 1 was dead as a doornail.  I pulled into Bob's stood second in the queue and ordered up my clams. No fries, no onion rings, no sides, just the clams please. I hopped back in the truck and opened up the $26.00 dollar of clams.  Yes TWENTY SIX DOLLARS worth of clams and this is what greeted me.

$26.00, you would shriek, for that?  Not only was it a paltry sum, but they were teeny tiny nickel sized clams that any clam aficionado would lament had ZERO bellies. Sigh.  Oh well, at least they were fried clams.  I snapped the pic above with my iphone and sent husband the picture with a note that read "I think you can guess where I am".

I pulled out of Bob's parking lot barely looking left or right since there was no traffic to speak of and headed left on route 1.  I like to meander around and up and down until around Ogunquit and then hit 95 again to head towards 295N. I saw far too many vacancy signs on the B&B path and any tourists that I did see out and about walking were wearing thick and heavy sweatshirts likely purchased at the local tourist shop.  In fact sweatshirts are probably the biggest tourist item this summer.  At least someone is making money in this cold and rain.

Around Wells I pulled in to a DD's to get some iced caffeine to keep me going for the 2 hours I still had on the road.

I veered off at 295 in Portland and swung through the bay on my way North.  My next stop, Hannaford's in Augusta.  Mom's friend Lizzie was up staying with her and they already had dinner planned so I had to stop in and pick up some extra supplies.  Of course I never, EVER leave Maine without a Whoopie pie.

This photo was snapped via the iphone and sent to husband along with a note that read..."And of course I had to buy some of these".

I had a lovely chat with a gentleman and his wife in the parking lot about the new restaurant being built on the hill in the adjacent plaza.  The one offering, "a nice view", commented the husband.  Sure, I guess if you like to watch the parking lot of Hannaford's and the Maine turnpike. Believe me in this part of town a new place to dine is BIG news.  He lamented the closing of Rustler a few years ago and informed me the place was "some Texas chain". I hopped in the truck and I took a left again and headed down some of my favourite roads to see my egg lady.  Her husband was out on his ATV in the driveway as I pulled in.  He saw me and turned off the ATV.  "Got any eggs?" I shouted.  He turned it back on and drove over to his porch and I hopped out of the truck and rambled onto his farmer's porch.  "How many?", "Two dozen please".  I took my eggs and we chatted about the weather, like you do, and I asked if he was having a hard time getting his hay in.  He said he only had 1 lot done and by now he should have 5.  I asked him what the forecast was for the next couple days and in his dry drawl he said "Rain, and then rain the next day and then some more rain, and I think rain later."  I chuckled and as I turned around to leave the porch I noticed the 2 freshly hatched kittens on the rocking chair and of course I squealed.  He said "Take one." I looked back at him and he said, 'No, really take one". I gave each kitten a scratch behind the ears and he hopped back on his ATV, "Got to go catch a cow that escaped this morning" and off he went.

I turned right and headed down to Puddledock road to head over to Ballard's my favourite local meat market. 

My buddy here is always waiting around on the other side of the door for a generous offering of bones or sometimes hot dogs. Another iphone snap I sent off to husband to keep him updated.  I picked up 5 pounds of bacon that I just finished sealing up and freezing courtesy this lovely machine.

 

Ballard's will also cold smoke anything you want!  In house that day they had house made smoked sausages and two smoked cheeses.  One was a smoked blue (4 hours in hickory smoke!) and they buy a whole Cabot cheddar wheel and sell enormous chunks of it.  I bought one plain and one smoked.  Mac & Cheese might never be the same, but right now a piece of smoked cheese and some Laphroaig is a pretty good summer evening nosh and tipple.  Especially when summer means 62F. I grabbed a few other lovely things and then headed back on the road to Mom.  I passed a few private roadside grab and pay stands that didn't have enough goodies worth stopping for.

When I got enough bars on the phone, I rang Mom to ask whether I took a right at the old church or stayed straight on to head over to the organic farm. I pulled up on the gravel drive and heard the DING DING of an old gas station air hose bell.  Instantly two barking and wagging Australian cattle dogs were at the truck door to greet me and little Sage popped her head out from the farm stand offering to take me on a farm tour.

I pulled this local yogurt out of the fridge(don't worry about the date, it's still quite lovely) while her mom came around the corner to tell me what had just been baked. 

I took her up on the blueberry pie to bring home to husband.  As I was leaving I snapped this picture and emailed it off saying "Your 3 favourite words!"

I took a left and headed off to Mom's.  On the camp road I scoped out the mushroom situation.  From the truck I could see Chanterelle and a few lobster mushroom, but I'm going to wait until I go the 1st week of August because I think just a few days of warm could make those woods pop!  I pulled down the driveway towards the lake, margaritas and some kittie love.

Thursday night the rains began in earnst.  By Friday mid-morning it was apparent that it wasn't going to let up so I packed up the truck and Mom followed me to Longfellow's to pick up a hanging plant to replace the one that drowned earlier this summer.  I tucked it safely on the floor of the passenger seat, set my iphone up as my GPS system, waved to mom who was heading to ballard's for lobster for her and SD who would arrive that night and headed off to find the Whole Foods in Portland to pick up the few items we would need around for the weekend.

 

I hit the highway around Augusta and followed this poor couple who were obviously on a road trip holiday.  the Harley itself was doing fine, but the trailer they were towing behind was hydroplaning like mad.  I followed him slowly for a few miles to stop the 18 wheelers carrying Wide Loads from riding up his ass and then passing him at 80.  Eventually he waved me on and pulled over under an overpass to wait it out.

Rte295 southbound is still closed so the North bound traffic can use it while their side is being paved.  You could see them working hard on my drive up.

The detour on that stretch of 295 takes you on a lovely 2 lane stretch of road called 201.  The road in fact passes by the dirt that Mom and SD bought last year to build on and retire to. It's close enough to be at the summer house more, yet not so far away they can't come mow the lawn and take in the mail.  Sadly the economic nose dive has put a damper on all that for now, but I told Mom I would scope out her new hood for good food finds on the way home.

My first stop was the nostalgic and soooo adorable Rocky Ridge Orchard.  I took a quick snap of the outside because I didn't want to be *that* food blogger snapping away at everything.  Of course there was already a woman inside with her video camera, *sigh*.  This little slice of perfect nostalgia has a wonderful old pie safe, 5 maybe six shelves high all covered in screen. 

I picked up husband a peach and raspberry pie.  As you can see upon my arrival home, he didn't even bother to wait for me to take a picture. He gave it his "Oh my" followed by food silence approval rating. This little gem of a place has homemade donuts, bismarks, cream horns, cider vinegar, local maple syrup, homemade rhubarb strawberry soda(!), sandwiches, crab rolls and soups set out in crock pots atop the vintage 1920's stove for self service. The creaking, slamming screen door just sealed the deal for me.  I will be back!

I pulled out, took a right and headed further south on 201.  A few miles down the road a pickup truck in front of me had his right directional on, as I slowed to wait for him to turn, I realised it was a farm stand and quickly pulled in after him.

It was the farmer making a delivery form the fields and he nodded and said hello.  His daughter came out to tend the stand and I picked up some of the finest strawberries I have smelled or tasted all year.  A container of just picked potatoes, some green beans and a zucchini polished off my order.  The sign inside the little stand said they grew everything they sold.  I asked the girl if the detour had been good for their business and she smiled and said "oh yea" with a nod. Another notch on my soon-to-return belt!

I knew that L.P. Bisson wasn't far from the farm stand so I turned right and headed for Meadow Road. I was here last year and learned all about this abattoir/butcher shop so I had to come back for more.  Ideas for dinner had been forming in my head as I was picking up items along the way. I bought a gorgeous local chicken, some pork butt for freezing, a pork tenderloin that is brining in the fridge as we speak.  A pint of unpasteurized chocolate milk for husband and I inquired about buying a roast with the skin on for crackling.  I spoke to the gentleman and he said he always keeps some pork shoulder with skin on from their pigs in the freezer.  Since my cooler was already full, I told him I'd be back in a week or so to pick that up!

I set my iphone GPS for Whole Foods in Portland, or course I had to explain no, not Oregon, Maine please, and took a right back on to 295S.  Holy cow, what a Whole Foods!  Ginormous! They have a granola bar to make your own, a macrobiotic and vegan bar, a sweet coffee bar, a rather decent beer and wine selection and parking lot CHOCK full.  I had to circle for space along with every other kayak covered, Mt. bike strapped car heading for their weekend away. One volvo in the lot was loaded nose to gill with interesting looking drum equipment made of gourds and skins and interesting things.

Back onto 295S, coffee in hand and another 2 hours ahead of me.  Everything was lovely until I hit 128S and ground to a halt around Lexington where we c-r-a-w-l-e-d until the Mass Pike exit.  When the truck was finally unloaded and a cocktail was in hand I began to cook a dinner from all the things that I gathered.  I called Mom and reported on my findings giving my seal of approval to her new neighborhood.

Can it be called Locavore or eating local when the goods came from 200 miles away? I think so but only if it involves a visit to see Mom.

Dinner

LP Bisson & Sons Meat ,Topsham ME

When I was up in Maine with Mom last she told me about this new meat market they discovered in Topsham.  They are looking for land to build a house and finally relocate from VA to Maine permanently to be near the summer house and closer to all of us.
Since rte 295 was still closed I took the detour on 201 and decided to stop in to check out LP Bisson.
Take Meadow Road which is right off 201 in Topsham and just look for the power lines and the cows and you will be close. 

It was a bit odd to see the cows out grazing near the power lines, but they seemed perfectly content and barely gave me a second glance when I wandered over to take their picture.

On the opposite side of the street is a much larger field and enormous birds swooping around overhead in the thermals that I believe were turkey buzzards.

The shop is clean and quaint and gives off a real old fashioned vibe. The room is lined with cases of meat all raised, slaughtered and butchered on site. 

There are pictures of the family from the 1940's and an aerial view of the farm arranged around the tops of the cases. 

Bisson raises their own cows, but they also raise pigs but can't produce enough pork to keep up with demand so they do bring in some pork from Canada. 
I was tempted by the cases and I bought some of their house made kielbasa, bacon and I almost came home with one or their whole smoked chickens.  Just as i wsa headed out the door I spotted a case with their own raw milk so I brought husband home a pint of their raw chocolate milk.
You can choose what you want out of the case or make a special request and watch them prepare it in the room off to the side.

I happened to arrive just as he was breaking down a section and I watched him work for awhile while we chatted.

Not only is Bisson a meat market but they are also the local abattoir.  I asked when their busy season was and he said there were a couple times a year when things really got busy.  People were already starting to book for their home reared animals to be brought in for the fall.  There is a sign on the wall explaining all the costs for breaking down the animal along with an admonishment that if you don't pick up your meat when you say you will storage fees will be charged!

If you're in this neck of the woods, stop by Bisson some time, and don't worry Ballards, I'm never going to leave you, but I may stop by here once in awhile.

LP Bisson and Sons
112 Meadow Road
Topsham, ME

Blueberry Pie Anyone

I don't think that you need three guesses to figure out what I am making right now with these beauties.

Usually my Mom is Queen blueberry picker.  My SD ties her canoe to the zodiac and tows her down to one of the island and she spends several hours paddling around the perimeter of the island picking the berries that overhang the lake into a giant coffee can.  She did have 7 or 8 cups in the freezer for his pie when he comes up this weekend, but since I arrived in a deluge of water, I bought these raked low bush blueberries at a local farm stand.  It took about 30 minutes to clean out all the bits of stem and leaves and mushed berries, but now they look gorgeous, not too mention my lovely blue fingertips.

I am back home now with tales to tell of a fabulous farmer's market in downtown Waterville ME, a case of my favourite wine from Riverside Cafe in Winslow ME and a fabulous new butcher shop in Topsham ME.
Right now though I am waiting for the smells in the oven to waft my way, cocktails will be made after a shower and I'll start dinner in awhile.  I love Saturday nights in the summer don't you?

He:  Halibut steak dredged in seasoned flour, quick fried on each side for colour and finished in the oven with mushy peas, there is no accounting for taste - I tried to tempt him with corn on the cob or cucumber salad or something summery....nuh uh, Brit through and through that one.  Can opener please!

She:  That scallop salad again with the fresh dug fingerlings I picked up at the farmer's market and diver scallops from Captain Marden's.

Fungus Amongus - Mushrooms in Maine

Sod it. 

It's raining at home, it's raining in Maine...so I said screw it and headed up to hang with Mom again for a few days.  Sadly, Mom and I managed to choose some real crap weeks for vacation.
But there is a bright side to all this rain.

MUSHROOMS!

Oh the mushrooms.

I'd tell you where I find em, but then I'd have to kill ya.

In all my years I have never seen the woods so full!

Lobster Mushrooms, really a mold not a fungus, but still yummy!

What you see above is again my stash from our local spot.  I only pick the ones I know, Chanterelle and Lobster.

I did pick one that I really, really think is a Trumpet Chanterelle OR a Pig's Ear Gomphus, but I need a good mycologist to help me out, and my favourite one passed away last year.

But sadly, it has a rather nasty guest.

Right now though, I'm making pickles.

Oh and dinner...Some lovely mussels with wine and scallions and garlic and all kinds of good stuff.  Yum.

Chanterelle

I drove up to Maine this week to hang up with my mom for a few days.  I had the week off and she is staying up there for a month. Our menfolk had to work.  I'm not sure if you have heard but it has been raining.  A lot.  That is not an understatement.

However I would like to show you the rewards of all this rain.

I picked these in about 15 minutes around our house and if the road verges weren't like small rivers when I left this morning I'd have at least a half a pound more and some lobster mushrooms. 

Since our little holiday was a washout Mom took me on the local gourmet tour of Maine.  I'll show you a few of my finds later.

Meanwhile, what should I do with those lovely chanterelle mushrooms?

Baza Gourmet Foods and Rhubarb Soda

This week at create a cook I had the pleasure of having one of my favourite students all week for Summer Harvest class.  Alasdair is home from boarding school in England and since he lives in my neighbourhood, I told his Mom I would drive him home a few days.  One day we hit the Cold Springs Park farmer's market and another day we decided to check out the new store off of Needham Street called Baza Gourmet Food.  The store is located behind the Filene's basement on Tower Road.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love going in new grocery stores.  Poor husband has been dragged up and down many an aisle both here and abroad so I can look  and ooh and aah at things I may have never seen before and hopefully find some new treasure.  Thankfully, Alasdair feels the same way I do.  We grabbed our reusable shopping bags and found a cart.

I didn't have my camera with me for stealth photos so i am sorry to report that you will just have to go yourself to get the visual, but I can tell you some of the wild things they had.
The place feels like an upscale Trader Joe's in layout or maybe the Whole Foods in Brighton.  The ad I saw in the TAB mentioned Russian, Israeli, and world foods, but this place has a distinctly Eastern European feel. 

The produce was all very nice and fresh, but there weren't any surprises here.  Alasdair was thrilled to find both black and red currants and bought his mum a pint each to make a summer pudding.  The next section is dairy and we stood and stared at all the cheeses trying to determine what each would be used for.  There were quite a few fresh farmer's cheeses and one that we think could be grilled like a haloumi, but we had no way to know.  I have to nip back with my moleskine and get the name of it so I can look it up.  The meat section is mostly wrapped and packaged by the store with a few interesting things you don't see every day like cow feet, cut into sections, whole tongue and pork belly with skin in small 4 X 4 squares. 

The next case is an amazing assortment of smoked fish, most whole and it is like hitting the fish counter at Whole Foods with a staff member behind to help you select.  The coolest thing here were these shrink wrapped packs of sliced smoked fish arranged to look like crabs, sailboats, and fish so you could put them out at a party or function.

Further along is a cheese case with a nice selection, but many were the usual suspects like St Michelin, Parmiggiano-Reggiano, Emmenthaler, etc.

The wildest section is next.  It is absolutely hands down the largest charcuterie counter I have ever laid eyes on.  Salami and sausages form all over the world, pork head cheese, chicken head cheese, smoked, cured, dried, A-MAZING.  Follow this down and take a left and there is a prepared food section with a whole counter of pickled or soured items (Ah HELLO my FAVOURITE THING), they even had sour watermelon slices.  They have a large set up of prepared hot foods like stuffed cabbages, stroganoff, meatballs, etc.  Again, next trip I promise to write down more details.

Then came another incredible section of sausages that would make a mean choucroute this winter.  Alasdair was thrilled to find slab bacon as he was making a fish pie recently and couldn't find any. 

They have a nice bakery with a few counters full of confections.  None had signs so I wouldn't be able to tell you what they were and many of the staff didn't speak very good English.  Hey, I'm used to shopping at Super 88 so this should be no problem for me, but I can see it being a problem for some.

On the way to the registers we noticed a case of cold drinks and that is where we spied the rhubarb soda, of course we both snagged a bottle since we LOVE rhubarb.  Made by a company called Dry Soda out of Seattle I had high hopes.  Only 60 calories a bottle with very little sugar, which is what I like.  I hate sickly sweet drinks.  Unfortunately,  it didn't taste a thing like rhubarb, it rather tasted sock like. Of course I haven't eaten many socks in my day, but I just can't describe it any other way.  Next time I'll try the lemongrass.  I'll have to find out what Alasdair thought on Monday.  We scoped out all the aisles of jams and preserves, canned and jarred and pickled things and headed home.  Alasdair was getting a beehive oven delivered that day and he couldn't wait to get home and start making dough. 

Yea, he's 11. How can you not love him?

Pasties and a G string**...oops, not that kind

Pasties. 

A loaded word if you don't know how to pronounce it.  Past-eez never Paste-eez, Got it?  And never Paste-eez in front of a room of 9-11 year olds who will thusly repeat it to their parents. 

"What did you make today honey?"  "Pasties!"   You know who are.

Making pasties in a shop window on the road to Tintagel Castle, Tintagel, Cornwall.

I never thought he would be able to enclose all that filling.

Traditional Cornish pasties are meat, potato and onion, sometimes a swede or turnip is added.  No more, No less.  An easy lunch to take with you down to the mines, and when eaten with dirty hands it could be held by the edge of the crust which was then discarded.  Just don't take them out fishing with you.

In the next room there was a pastry sheeter rolling out the dough into long sheets and then a die press came down and cut the perfect circles.  It was mesmerizing to watch.

Tintagel is, according to legend, the birthplace of King Arthur.

Many of the walls in this area were built in this beautiful chevron pattern.  Don't you love the flowers?

**You know where those lyrics in the title come from don't you?