Apparently in a fit of bravado spoken among LOTS of empty glasses at a table overlooking the water last night, I promised to make someone a cheesecake to take back with them to Portland tomorrow morning. She called first thing today to make sure I didn't forget. My head will never be the same after last night! So, with 90 degree temps coming over us today, I shlepped to the store for cheesecake makings. Greg is going off to Bruswick this afternoon to make dinner for a friend, so he pleaded with me to make him one for tonight. My neighbor has been feeling unwell after a bad car accident and so I thought I should make her one for all her family members to nosh on as well.
But rather than make three batches of cheesecake batter and have to purchase a bulk of cheeses, I just got out my trusty springform pans in medium, small and tiny and divided the batter three ways, thus making three people happy with one batch of batter! I love stuff like this!! Its such and easy way to cheer up three people at once.
I put my mom's New York cheesecake recipe up for challenge against all others. Her secret is the blend of cream cheese, ricotta, and sour cream. True New York cheesecake has no crust, but I personally like crust, so I took about a cup and a half of graham cracker crumbs, about 1/4 cup of Splenda and 1/2 stick of melted butter combined and spread on the bottom of three well greased springform pans in medium, small and tiny.

Then, take 1 lb each of softened cream cheese and ricotta and blend together adding 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar, stirring (I like to hand stir) or beating until combined. Then add 5 eggs, one at a time, beating and blending completely before adding the next egg. 1/4 cup melted cooled butter gets added next and then 3 tablespoons each flour and cornstarch. mix in 2 teaspoons vanilla and then fold in 1 cup sour cream and pour into prepared pans. Cook in a slow (325 degree) oven for 45 minutes and then turn oven off (do not open oven door)and let cheesecake set and dry in the oven for 1-1.5 hours. Cool completely and then chill until firm, best if made a day ahead. **Note if you are going to make one big cheesecake instead, cook for 1 hour and let sit in oven for 2 hours.

Enjoy,
Seth

Last night started our "Rolley-Polley's Guide" to the best chocolate chip cookie in town and I can honestly say that we haven't come close to finding a cookie that should be in the running yet. Well, since we have only tried two entries, that may be where the problem lay. We called it rolley-polley, because thats what we'll be after this poll is taken. Yesterday saw us at Dead River , filling up with gas and getting cookies..which were awful! Whats with not using real chocolate in the cookies? Just some cheap imitation brown wax??? I must say here that Dead River has perhaps the finest muffins I've encountered in town, but forget the cookies! It was this cookie fiasco that prompted the newest Maine Foodie poll for Belfast. I feel like the volunteers from seniour college who took a poll of 140 nessesity household items to see if they could find them in Belfast. If they failed, Belfast was going to welcome Wal-Mart in with open arms (smart, eh?) Luckily, they were able to find Depends at a good price over at the Rite Aid.

Today, I extended our coverage to include Weaver's Bakery on Main Street. This time honored bakery has a wonderful reputation, great raspberry crumbles, but HORRIBLE chocolate chip cookies...they taste like sugar cookies with imitation chocolate chips. Hard, crumbly, not a hint of either vanilla or cinnamon, or butter for that matter. Where oh where will we find that elusive, perfect cookie???

Enjoy,
Seth

We were invited out to dinner at Willy World last night...an idea that sounded great to us on a Sunday night with nothing in the fridge. However, when we got there, we found it was closed! When is this happenin' Northport nightspot open????

We kept going into Belfast, especially after Greg suggested we turn around and have dinner at Hellen's kitchen at the Mobil Station! We decided to try Dockside, a Belfast restaurant in which we have never had the pleasure of dining. Dockside has a new deck on the back the dining rooms that looks out over the public dock and parts of the bay.

We have never been here, mostly because it is so inconspicuous that we forget that its there. The menu is standard fare of "sandwiche's" (that's how its spelled on the menu), fried seafood, and salads. There is also a full bar, but the drinks come in wimpy whiskey sour glasses. I dunno if I would want to eat here in the winter as it seems a bit cramped inside with highbacked booths in mauve and oak surrounding a tiny bar in the center of the space. The layout produces small alley-like passageways between seating areas, bar, and kitchen.

We sat outside and ordered drinks with an appetizer of coconut and macademia nut encrusted shrimp and hand-battered onion rings. The rings were lightly battered and had an nice sweet taste and from what I was told the shrimp, which looked great (lightly broiled with very golden crust) were very good, having a light coconut taste that didn't overwhelm the shrimp. The plate came with six shrimp too, a lot for one order.

Dinner was fried haddock and fries for Greg, which he said was very good (he didn't make his normal mm mMM M! noise while eating, so I figure it wasn't the best fried haddock he's had) I had chicken salad on a croissant grilled with American cheese with sweet potato fries. I had to send the meal back because they used swiss cheese instead of American (which I had asked our server to switch out) My croissant was good but tiny, about two bites worth and my fries were limp and tasteless. I was most impressed with the lobster roll that our host ordered. It was literally spilling over with huge hunks of lobster for $11.50, a great deal. Our host had to order a side a mayo because the lobster salad had only a hint of mayo in it, exactly how it should be served here in Maine.

All in all, a much better meal than I thought we would get at the Dockside. My one regret for the owners is that they didn't make the deck about twice or three times as big as it was because it was very small, only one table deep.

Service: B+
Atmosphere: B-
Food: B

Enjoy,
Seth

We got home last night after the 4th party at 5pm and in no mood to cook. We decided to see what was open for food in town and so fed the beasts, tried to see what was on for movies, and then got back in the car bound for town. We stopped at the end of the street and conned our neighbor into coming with us. She had been at home trying to perfect her mohito recipe and so was ready for a bite to eat at that point!
We tried David's at Willy World but alas, they were closed. Darby's was the next choice up for grabs and so we went there with visons of burgers. We arrived and were asked if we had a reservation! At Darby's? Never heard of such a thing!!! When we said we didn't, we were led to one of the 10 empty tables anyway. All of us had burgers, which arrived with one piece of transparent cheese atop a preformed mass encased in a poof of baked bulky roll. Three burgers, two glasses of wine and a coke for $38 bucks was a bit steep in my view. Needless to say, my burger stayed with me until well into the wee hours of the morning when my indigestion subsided. Thats all I'll say on the subject.

Enjoy,
Seth

We went out to a fourth of July party yesterday where there was probably the most decadent looking lobster salad I had ever seen. It was ordered from the Rumbline in Searsport and had HUGE pieces of lobster meat, celery, and mayo. Greg, our resident seafood expert, said it was indeed delicious, he thought it had just a tad too much mayo. So, if you ever happen to have the occasion to order 10 lbs of lobster salad from the Rumbline, order it light on the mayo. There wasn't a lot for yours truly to eat except for corn salad and a chicken kebob. One of the party guests, who was up from NY for the weekend, asked if I had a sour stomach because I wasn't eating (I really wanted to tell the green and turquoise-colored mumu clad momma that I was pretty full after watching her wolf down chicken wings, lobster salad and three helpings of corn salad!!)
Like a good boy, I brought a dessert for the hostess who obligingly oooed and ahhhed me when I walked in bearing a lemon blueberry tart. And tart it was boys and girls with five, count em, five tablespoons of lemon zest in that sucker. Its a pain to make, but watching the smiles emerge as everyone eats it and tries to cut through the lemon zing is priceless.

Here's the recipe for those of you wanting an impressive summer tart to display (oh...the double entendre there was too good to pass up). Lest I get smacked with plagerism charges, kudos to the ladies from the silver palate for this one

Butter tart crust

1 2/3rds cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup fine granulated sugar (I used confectioners and it was fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks sweet butter chilled
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cold water (I used lemon juice instead and it was great)

Combine and sift dry ingredients and cut in butter using fingertips, combine until resembling coarse meal. Add egg yolks, vanilla and water and combine lightly with a fork. Take dough and shape into ball, wrap in parchment paper and store in fridge for 2-3 hours.
Roll dough out between two pieces of parchment paper until it can easily cover an 8-9" tart pan. Place in pan and trim edges, rolling over excess dough around edge of pan. Chill until ready to bake. Prebake for 8-10 minutes by covering with tinfoil and baking beans for weight and popping in a preheated 425 degree oven.

Filling:
make sure you put oven back down to 400 degrees

wisktogether:
1 cup lemon juice (about five jumbo lemons) **tip: roll lemons around on cutting board with a bit of pressure from the palm of your hand and you will get more juice. Make sure to zest the lemons BEFORE you cut them.
5 tablespoons lemon zest
1 stick melted butter
Beat in:
six eggs
1 cup sugar
and pour into partially baked crust
cook in oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. **tip: Use a cookie sheet on lower rack to catch any stray dripping

remove from oven and sprinkle with blueberries while tart is warm. lightly press down, let cool completely to set. Before serving sprinkle confectioner's sugar over top.

Enjoy,
Seth

I took the chowder out of the fridge at about 5:30 and put it on the stove to heat up. Again, Greg had the power seat. I asked him how it tasted and he said, "fine, great, don't change a thing." I took a bowl and added some sherry and mixed it with the chowder and Greg said, "hmm, yeah, thats better, don't change a thing" Accckkk, what am I supposed to do with that??? So I floated about an 1/8 of a cup of sherry in the middle to the chowder and didn't stir, but rather let it permeate the broth.
All I know is that there were 4 clean bowls at the end of the course, and one guest said "more salt" two guests said "salty already" and Greg who said: "funny, I wouldn't change a thing, its just right." My hero.

Enjoy,
Seth

Spent the morning making crabmeat chowder for dinner tonight. I was able to taste the chowder base until I put the crabmeat in, (for those of you who don't know, I'm allergic to seafood) and I thought it was pretty flavorful. I gave Greg a taste and he said it was good....I said "not great, not wow this is the best chowder ever????" and he said "yeah, its uhhh really good" I asked about what it needed and he said "nothing." How am I supposed to work with that???
Well, this is essentially my clam chowder recipe with crab instead, so I figure it has to be good seeing as most everyone raved about that recipe when I used to make it by the barrel. The only difference is that I didn't use clam broth as the base, but used turkey stock.

I will wait to see how it reheats after I've cooled it in the fridge for 6 hours. Hopefully the flavors will meld well and come out stronger. Here is what I did...with all the chopping and such, it only took about 30 minutes to make.

Sauteed 1/2 an onion in butter and when transparent, added finely chopped fresh sage and thyme and two chopped stalks of celery with salt and pepper to taste, then added two cloves of garlic. Cubed several pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes (they are the creamiest) and added them to the pot to sautee a few minutes before adding about 4 cups of homemade turkey broth made with just a touch of yellow curry. Bring to a boil and then turn to simmer to let the potatoes soften. When soft, take a potato masher and crush some of the potatoes to release their starch into the chowder base (serves to thicken). Added 14 oz of fresh picked Maine crabmeat and simmer before taking off heat. I made this at noon for a 7pm dinner and have placed the pot in the fridge to cool and meld flavors. Will reheat before serving. Might add either heavy cream or Sherry before serving, but perhaps not. This is our appetizer tonight before the rest of dinner.

Enjoy,
Seth

I've had a couple of comments on the roast chicken and the chicken curry salad, which I can't find on the blog either. The roaster we usually use is between a six and eight pounder, so its enough for dinner, at least lunch the next day and then into the pot for a great stock. I wait until the roasters go on sale and get them for about 68 cents a pound. So for 6-7 bucks you get three meals for 2 people or more.
I get the roasters with the pop up thermometers, but my rule of thumb is the average time for cooking is 2 hours. We also do the same thing with turkey breasts, which I'll get and pop in the oven in the morning so there is fresh hot turkey for lunch.

Regarding the curried chicken salad (or turkey salad for that matter) The ingredients really depend on what I have in the house. The base is picked chicken or turkey that I cut into small cubes with a pair of kitchen shears, and I make it in small batches, enough for two sammiches. then adding about a teaspoon or more of yellow madras curry powder, salt and pepper to taste and perhaps a dash of celery seed or celery salt. If I happen to have real celery, then that goes in and grapes taste great in it too. Another favorite would be an addition of toasted pecans. Its pretty simple and fast to make. It makes Greg's day when I make it, and of course thats the most important part!

Having people over tonight for dinner and thinking about doing something with crab for an appetizer. We'll see.

Enjoy,
Seth

Welcome to another episode of "cooking by the seat of your pants!" I found a recipe for pork chops that sounded excellent and tasty too. The recipe called for pan searing and slow cooking the pork in butter and when cooked, making a sauce with chicken broth, cranberry sauce, tawny port, and fresh rosemary. In my infinite wisdom, I thought "well, I don't have any of that, but I bet I can wing it" Call it cook's challenge. So, I marched into the kitchen and found two pork chops, frozen cranberry juice, Orange Cointreau, some fresh curried turkey broth that I just made, and dried rosemary. What the hell, I started out with melting the butter and then searing both sides of the pork for a couple of mintues a piece, then added about a cup of turkey broth, two tablespoons of frozen cranberry juice, about the same for the Orange Cointreau and a handfull of crushed, dried rosemary. I then slow cooked the meat until slightly underdone and then took it out the pan to keep warm on a plate (remember that pork keeps cooking and will be the perfect doneness by the time the sauce is ready) I added a rou to the pan for thickener and then salt and peppered for flavor. I added the chops back in to bathe in the glaze and then served with peas and stove top sauteed steak fries. The result, as Greg noted, was a lightly fruity (great for summer) zesty sauce that worked really well with the meat.

Enjoy,
Seth

My head was in the clouds this weekend as I got rave reviews for the third time from friends who came to dinner about three weeks ago when Greg and I were having "little chicky," or a Hannaford roasting chicken that has been a staple in our weekly menu for a while, mostly because Greg likes my curried chicken salad the next day for lunch (thats another blog post in here somewhere)
Anyway, I have really simplified this roast chicken thing and have it down to a science, so I thought I would post it here again for all of you who have tried it in the past. I used to stuff the bird with citrus fruits and yellow onion but one day found that I had the chicken, but nothing interesting to stuff it with. I wasn't really in the mood to cook, so I drizzled olive oil on the whole thing and then sprinkled liberally with sea salt....into the oven in a roasting pan at 350 for approximately 20 minutes a pound with an average time of about 2 hours to roast.
The meat comes out so tender and flavorful, almost like brining, but without the mess.
One friend repeated tells me its the best chicken she has ever had...at 60 years old, thats quite a compliment!

Enjoy,
Seth

Greg and I took a friend up on her offer of having us up to her house in Winter Harbor where she has a fantastic 19th century house built in the style of a Swiss Chalet. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and we hardly saw through the fog for two days. There is not much to do in wet weather in the middle of nowhere, so we drove around and looked at the fog in different places on the coast. The running commentary went something like this "This is Scoodic Point which has a stunning view of the ocean, too bad about the fog" "This is Winter Harbor, there are some beautiful boats in the harbor, which you could see if it wasn't foggy" "I'm giving the boys the third floor bedroom which has the best view of the water...of course you could see it without the %$#*# fog."
After driving around and around for miles, we came back, changed our clothes and went out to dinner in Gouldsboro at a place called Bunker's Wharf. The interior was really cozy with a big stone fireplace and cathedral ceilings with exposed beams. The menu had a lot of seafood, and just a few choices for us meateaters. Greg split a plate of crabcakes with our hostess and they were marvelling about the taste because it was just all crab and spices, packed together without breadcrumbs or mayo. Apparently the spinach salad is famous, but I had a ceasar salad with homemade crutons and hardly any dressing, it was extremely dry, kind of too bad.
Our dinners arrived and Greg had steamers while our hostess had carmelized scallops. Both said the taste was great but that both the scallops and the steamers were gritty. They need a lesson from David Carlson and his two tank grit remover!
For non seafood, there was either a fillet for $28.00 or a pasta dish with chicken and sausage and a cream cheese sauce both of which sounded too country club buffet for me that night. So, I ordered one of the dinner specials which was a pair of porterhouse pork chops grilled with fresh rosemary, accompanied by roasted potatos and fresh veggies. The dish looked fantastic and smelled terrific, but when I cut into them, both were raw on the inside. Yuck, nothing worse than raw pork! I sent the plate back and the chef apologized, grilled them again, b ut failed to warm up th plate so that the sides were cold. I was also a bit nervous to eat the meat at that point. Oh well.
We ordered their speical dessert when we ordered dinner, so what arrived was homemade ice cream sandwiched between two pieces of frozen flourless chocolate cake. It was good, but would have been better had the cake been a bit less frozen. I think ice cream between two slices of warm chocolate cake would've been better.

So, I give the place a thumbs up for seafood lovers, but a definite thumbs down for landfood lovers.

Enjoy,
Seth

We were invited to a neighbor's house last night for dinner. We'd really never met them, but they wanted us to see their finished house. The wife's family has lived in Saturday Cove for over a hundred years and she inherited an old cape up the street from us. She and her husband spent hundreds of thousands of dollars essentially gutting the house from the inside out, creating gorgeous rock walls and gardens that I just envy for their beauty. So, I wanted to make something special. I've had a hankering for making cheesecake lately and so I decided on a chocolate cheesecake recipe that my mom gave me. She makes the best chessecake around, and I fiddled with the recipe to make it better (modest, huh?). This is probably the best cheesecake I have ever had. There is this great decadent chocolate sour cream tang to it and the addition of ricotta makes it very light. Of course, like all cheesecakes, it gets better with age. Trust me, you'll never find a better tasting cheesecake.

Start out by preheating your oven to 300 degrees and then butter well a 9" springform pan. Combine 1 1/2 cups of chocoate wafer crumbs, 1/2 stick of melted butter and two tablespoons of sugar. (this is where my mouth starts to water) . Spread evenly over the bottom and slightly up the sides of the springform and then set in fridge to chill while you make filling.

Scald 1 cup of heavy cream in a saucepan and then pour over 16 oz of semisweet chocolate broken into bits. stir until melted and then beat with electric beater until light and smooth to get some air into the mixture. Set aside.

Beat 4 egg yolks at room temp.( save the whites for later) with 1/2 cup sugar until the mixture is thick and light yellow and comes off the beater in a ribbon. Add chocolate mixture and beat until well combined.

In a large bowl beat 1 1/2 lbs softened cream cheese, one cup sour cream, one cup ricotta cheese, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, & 1 teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth. Add the chocolate mixture and combine well.

Beat the egg whites in a small bowl with a pinch of cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks form. Add 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold into chocolate mixture and then pour into prepared shell.

Place the springform pan into a baking dish (I used a huge roasting pan) and fill the baking dish with hot water until the level is 1/2 way up the outside of the springform pan. Place in the oven for 1 1/2 hours and then turn the oven off and without opening the door, let the cheesecake set in oven for another hour and a half. Cool completely and then place in fridge to chill through. Best made the day before serving.

Enjoy,
Seth

Quiz: What do you make when a friend invites you for dinner the same night, asks you to bring dessert, and you are hung-over from the night before and don't want to go to the grocery store?
This is another one for WWJD? I took stock of what I had in the kitchen that was kind of dessertish and found a 1/2 a bag of frozen strawberries (make that a 1/3rd of a bag and a lot of freezer burn, two apples past their prime, some frozen puff pastry and a lemon. Hmmm..do I have enough for a tart? Lets hope! I then cooked the strawberries on the stove with water and sugar and then added the apples. When tender, I suddenly remembered that I had a can of yellow papaya in the cupboard that I got at Reny's hoping that I could use it in some Thai dish or some such "exotic" dish involving jasmine rice (these are the dreams I have while surfing the cans in Reny's food aisle....beware, always check the born on date!) I digress.....So I added the papaya and lemon zest and juice from one lemon and let the whole thing boil. My last trick while the concoction was still bubbling away was to add about a tablespoon of cornstarch as a thickener. Took the pot off the heat and put it in the fridge to cool (make sure you have either tempered surfaces or place the mixture in a cool bowl first)
Quick thawed the puff pastry in the wave and then rolled out and draped it over the sides of a buttered cast iron skillet (a cook's best friend ). I then buttered and sugared the bottom of the puff pastry and added the fruit mixture. Fold over corners of puff pastry making sure to leave a "rustic" opening so that your meal mates can oooo and ahhh over what you made. Brush tops with melted butter and then sprinkle sugar over the butter.

Cook in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until golden.

This got total raves. One person looked at me guiltily as she was scooping more onto her plate and said "I never have seconds"

Enjoy,
Seth

We took friends to 3Tides last night for dinner. Including Greg, there were three seafood eaters in the party, so we had a veritable smorgasbord of shellfish on the table including a dozen Pemaquid oysters, Northport rope grown mussels cooked in garlic and wine, fresh crabmeat quesadillas in addition to our usuals. I also added the pear and fresh greens salad. The bonanza of seafood arrived with great fanfare and was promptly gobbled up with lots of lip smacking and laughs and smiles. Our friends were amazed at how tasty the oysters and mussels were and kept saying how they had to spread the word. One of our guests is hosting a rehearsal dinner for her son's wedding on Friday, a clam bake down in Camden, and she lamented the whole night that she hadn't known about 3Tides before. My pear, feta cheese, toasted pine nuts with greens was delightful as was my usual chicken quesadilla. The decadent chocolate cake from "Let Them Eat Cake" in Belfast was the perfect complement to a perfect meal.
It was so refreshing to sit out underneath the huge Moss awning on the deck listening to the rain beating overhead while we gazed at the water.

Excellent evening.

Enjoy,
Seth

I was taken out to dinner on Tuesday night to Francine's in Camden. Its probably been about a year since we ate there last time. I am still very impressed by this small jewelbox of a restaurant. I was amazed at how crowded the restaurant was on a Tuesday night before season. Even the outside tables were taken up. We asked the bartender to make us Mohitos, a dark rum drink made with simple syrup, mint, lime juice and club soda. When I was a kid, these were called Southsides and it was a great way to break intodrinking hard alcohol. Anyway, the mohitos took forever to get from the bar, so we switched after the first one.
For dinner, two of us had the steak frites and our dining companion had crab cakes. Francine's chef changes the menu daily which keeps the place fresh and keeps the clientel coming back for more on a regular basis...something I think more restaurants need to do to keep things interesting. The steak frites was incredible. The steak was tender and very well seasoned and the frites, though not your standard julienned potatoes that you find in France, were wonderfully crispy and tasty with the perfect amount of salt and other spices. Apparently the crab cakes were excellent, though yours truly did not sample them. Dessert for my dining companions was a shared dish of vanilla ice cream with a rhubarb/ cherry coulis that smelled divine and must have been perfect since one of the ladies practically licked the bowl! All in all a very nice dinner and good atmosphere. Make sure to call ahead, as there are very few tables.

Enjoy,
Seth

I've been blogging around recently and came alight to one great blog name called Granny gets a Vibrator www.grannyvibe.blogspot.com Its pretty funny.

Anyway, it was Sunday and we had leftovers last night. I thinly sliced the rest of a London broil that we had over the weekend (marinated in a mix of balsamic vinegar, soy, worcestershire sauce, and garlic), took a cast iron skillet and sauteed some onions, asparagus, and garlic together and then added the beef and the rest of the marinade that I made into gravy using a rou and some red wine. I also made some Mexican style rice with black beans. (London Broil and Mexican Rice---how international can you get???) and made ersatz fajitas with everything rolled up in some flour tortillas with grated pepperjack cheese. MMMMMMM.

Hey, happy Sun! I planted my vegetable garden in the pouring rain last Tuesday and I swear its all grown a foot since then. I planted a strange garden, three types of tomatos, cantelope, butternut and acorn squash, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and strawberries. I mean, we already have mystery zucchinis and squash appear at our back door in bags, so why grow them? Beans too. Once the darn thing gets going, I'll post pics of my postage stamp garden.

Enjoy,
Seth

Got up this morning all bright eyed and bushy tailed and just raring to fire up the Maine Foodie Test Kitchen so that we could try this boiled omelette (see below). It really was quite fun, but no faster than making a regular omelette. I guess it really only would work for a crowd of people who all wanted their own ingredients. I also suppose that if you are inclined to make an omelette in a bag for your guests, you are also inclined to buy precooked sausage and already grated cheese. If you live in Florida where they have packs of pre-diced vegetables and onions, it would make it even more FUN and easy!
We think the whole idea of boiled omelettes in a bag is stupid and figured the eggs would taste like melted plastic, but they were suprisingly good and healthy since you don't cook the eggs in butter (sigh) The omelettes do roll right out of the ziploc bag and onto your plate in a perfect roll. I told a friend about this experiment today and her eyes lit up as she told me its the perfect idea for all these people she is putting up for a wedding next weekend! NOTE *** It is essential that you write your name on the outside of the bag***

Keep sending your outrageous recipes to me and I'll think about trying them in the Maine Foodie Test Kitchen.

Enjoy,
Seth

Apparently, I'm being punished for violating the Google Ad click program. As you will notice, there is an empty white stripe at the top of MY blog where google key words used to be. I had an email a while back from the Internet Violations Department deep in the bowels of Google Central saying that since I had pointed out to my readers that the ad bar existed and that they should click to make me money, I was in serious breach of googlism. I had to edit out the offending sentances in my posts from eight months ago or suffer the consequences. I choose to suffer the loss of income (a whopping average of .98 cents a month)...after all, its a freedom of speech issue.

enjoy,
Seth

A relative who shall remain nameless sent us the following breakfast recipe. Though I prefer my eggs the old fashioned way, thought this might work for the the guests who overstay the three day rule. I am truly impressed that our relative sent pictures as well!

BREAKFAST, ANYONE?
ZIPLOC OMELETTE

(This works great !!! Good for when all your family is together. The best part is that no one has to wait for their special omelet !!!) Have guests write their name on a quart-size Ziploc freezer bag with permanent marker. Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake to combine them. Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc. Each guest adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up. Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water. Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed. Everyone gets involved in the process and a great conversation piece. Imagine having these ready the night before, and putting the bag in boiling water while you get ready. And in 13 minutes, you got a nice omlette for a quick breakfast!!!Try tomatoes, ham, green onions, cheddar cheese and mushrooms. It really works!!!

Enjoy?
Seth

We were in Waterville over the weekend prowling Marden's for small windows for our impending new shed in the backyard. We've been increasingly disappointed at the offerings at the "new and improved" Marden's in Waterville....I kind of liked racing around to the four different locations whenever we went there. We also visited Home-a-Depot to take a look at their sheds and get ideas for building ours. I must say, Waterville has changed a lot in the 17 years since I attended Colby. There are a lot of chain places that weren't there before. Waterville has really become a chore-type destination for central Maine. I digress...we were weak with hunger from shopping and not buying a thing and so decided to cruise into the first place we saw, which happened to be a Quisnos Sub place. I've never been to a Quisnos before and was delighted by the offerings. I can imagine that they do a bang up business when school is in session. I noticed a young man with a Colby class of '09 shirt on and thought of telling him that I graduated in '89, but I noticed what he ordered and figured he must be stoned and would freak out at this intrusion into his personal space, so I held my tongue.
Greg and I split a beef tenderloin sandwich on a whole wheat sub roll with chedder cheese and a peppercorn mayo that was really good. At Quisnos, they broil the sandwiches, so the bread is nice and toasty and the cheese is melted, a very nice touch.
I couldn't believe it when we saw another Quisnos in Waterville on the way out of town. What is this world coming to?

Enjoy,
Seth