johnnyd

On a quick trip into town for supplies now. The feijoada is bubbling gently away back at the "cabin" (thank you Mr. GRider!). Last night I added some meats to the beans that had cooked for two hours. This is my all purpose utility knife that does the dirty work I wouldn't let near my Wusthof 10" Chef's blade. It cost $3.99. When I worked Back Of the House a while back, the line crew sharpened their knives with a zen-like passion, so I picked it up too. I just can't afford a proper stone right now. So for $3.50 I picked up this CRYSTALON tool at a yard sale! Here are the smoked chops (I thought the end piece would flavor the beans nicely) A few more hours now... Farofa is definitely on the menu, which I toast for a few minutes and then add butter to brown slightly. I'm in town to track down choriço from Maurice and Mark, the sausage guys I met upthread but traffic downtown is pretty mad on a beautiful Saturday like today.

In Brasil, saturdays is feijoada day. Basically, whatever is leftover from the pig, like snouts, ears, etc. is thrown into a pot with black beans. It cooks for a lo-o-ong time and around noon, everyone tucks in. I totally enjoyed this ritual when I was a kid in Brasil and as a result, make it regularly as an adult... (many friends would question this apparent status about me but we'll move on, shall we?!) I make a bunch of it and freeze what's left for the month. It so happens we are out and it's time to go for it. Happily, this coincides with the mysterious arrival of a bottle of cachaça in the mail. cachaça is a sugar-cane liquor made in many villages in Brasil and when combined with lime and sugar, it's called a caipirinha. It's one rockin' cocktail. Feijoada takes two days to make. I put two pounds of black beans to soak this morning, then went to Pat's Meat Market for some ingredients. They have lots of produce and make great sandwiches but I'm here for some meat... The helpful staff is happy to oblige! I pick up 1&1/2lb stew top round, 2 x smoked pork chop, three smoked ham hocks and about a pound of slab bacon. Mrs. johnnyd put the kibosh on snouts, ears and feet so this will have to do! I still need chorizo, but I'll pick that up tomorrow along with some farmer's bounty out on the cape. Tonight, we start cooking the beans and a couple hours later, add the meats. This cooks another couple hours then we let it sit to meld. It will still be warm when we make our coffee tomorrow, so we put the heat back on then. By mid-day, it'll be ready. Feijoada is served with plain white rice, collard greens, orange segments, sometimes coconut pieces, and an excellent hot sauce made with lime, chilis and garlic which I made just last week. Oh, and lots of caipirinhas and beer.

zilla! Ya killin' me!!! Well we aren't underwater yet and all my peeps aren't calling me back so we'll just have to see what happens folks. The corn is going nuts here. Corn (something) is definitely on the menu!

The Gulf of Maine is a gigantic toiletbowl. It flushes twice a day. The tides are huge, huge, HUGE. I have a couple old photos from urchining that display at least twelve feet displacement which, if I find them, would offer a perspective. This guarantees fresh seawater on a dependable basis regardless of what is floating around. For this reason, the sealife is incredibly lush and healthy. As far as mankind's impact is concerned, there exists a certain symbosis that has been standard since, well, humans came around. In a modern context, see this post above and know that more has been done lately to further preserve the health of Casco Bay, probably the busiest maritime area on the maine coast. Just last week, Governer Baldacci was at Portland Head Light to call for a no-discharge status for Casco Bay. It's a big area, with 3000 islands, and people throw stuff overboard whether it's a big or small vessel. I am not concerned about the mussels off Whaleback Rock. When I was in Portugal, we used to go to our favorite beach with a big pot, an onion, a bottle of local white, a cutting board and a knife, a loaf of bread, then go at the rocks for lunch. Some things just stick, you know?

Wolfe's Neck in Freeport recently handed off (or maybe created) their retail unit to a separate entity. Their website has a list of maine stores that carry their excellent product. In Portland, Pat's Meat Market, 484 Stevens Avenue Portland, ME. 04103 Tel:207-874-0706 is a great spot with a knowledgable staff.

Lexy, you are totally right these are Rugosa and those are indeed rose hip fruit. When I was small we used to get a cottage on chappy island off Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard. Way back then there was no Black Dog and you could dig clams in Katama bay with your toes. Rugosa was/is everywhere and my parents called the rose hip fruit "beach plums" in an effort to get me to eat them which would make my face curl. I remember jars of jam showing up on the breakfast table and when I asked what it was made from they would point outside to the rugosa and say "Beach plum!" In all that time I never distinguished between the two, prefering to live with that open synapse as a tribute to my parents sometimes twisted sense of humor. So that was pretty embarrassing! Doh! I'm such a knucklehead!! Here is a downright superb website on real beach plums. ...and for the record, you can make jam out of either fruit.

I really had to dig around to find out what part of the country this station broadcasted from. Just sayin' is all.

This morning we went down to the beach to see what's going on. That's Whaleback Rock out on the point there. You can see the rockweed is everywhere. There are some mussels under that stuff that would do well in my chowder. There are some beach plums that the local ladies haven't picked for their jam yet. The scent of this plant is everywhere during a New England Summer. I see that Dr. Readie's grandson has taken his boat out to lobster as there are usually three boats moored in a channel just off the beach. Coffee and more papaya and we are outta here for the day.

One thing I've learned since moving to maine is you steam your lobster. It's extra good when you steam them in a pile of rockweed. After dinner I threw the debris into the pot with most of the steaming liquid and made stock. Mrs. johnnyd forbids the roasting or searing of lobster bodies within five miles, and I don't care for it much either unless I'm attempting a serious bisque. This will be the liquid for the chowder I'm making later in the week. For dessert, we had a "drumstick".

So last night I made it out to the camp at dusk. I stopped by the beach to tear a little rockweed off the rocks at low tide. This is a seaweed that grows prolifically along the surf zone. Rockweed is handy for packing shellfish as it provides a recognizable environment that keeps clams and lobsters from freaking out too much. This is the extent of our cook top here at the camp. There is no oven either. In this enamel pot we put in an inch and a smidge of water and my rockweed, enough so it makes a bed about three inches high. Here's looking at you kid... A few ears of freshly-picked corn from the farm down the road... ... and I'd say we have a Downeast Dinnah he-ah!

In the distance, you can see Portland Head Light on Cape Elizabeth. Our camp is on the other side of that point, about a mile. Portland has a happy mix of busy maritime industry, serious commercial fishing and fun recreational activities. This tanker is sitting next to a marina/condo complex that is at peace with the fact that the nice view will have to have a freighter of some sort included at times. Another example of nature and mankind working together: The post off the jetty sports an osprey nest. By State law they are not to be disturbed. In case anyone is concerned about pollution here, this stencil is next to every drain in the city of South Portland and Cape Elizabeth. Portland has it's own processing area. Pollution was quite a concern but historically, the odds were good that if you were tempted to throw some nasty bilgewater overboard or down a drain, you could seriously mess up a cousin's lobster season. So no one does it.

Do you think you can snag a recipe for those? Or does anyone have one? These things are killer.... ← They are killer! The nice counter person offered me one to try which, naturally, I accepted. She peeled back the plastic and picked one out with her tongs. The top of the liquid had a film of mustard resembling pond scum. That pickle was crisp and delicious. The first thing I had since my papaya. Woke me right up!

It's 17,000sq feet of floor space including walk-ins and storage. The douglas fir beams are 45 feet long. A bit about the market's history here. The blueberry is indigenous to northern Maine where about 60,000 acres are covered with 'em. When I drove downeast in october to urchin-dive, the blueberry barrens were a riot of reds and orange, a spectacular foliage effect on millions of little leaves. They are harvested by locals and migrant workers, a lot of jamaicans, who do the apple circuit in Vermont as well. Excellent page on Maine's blueberries here from the University.

No, silly! Aurora's closes at around 5pm, so when Abby opens for dinner, her customers use the same lot.

Uh oh! Someone in this bunch?! Look out folks! So I went downtown at lunch and got lost at the Portland Public Market, There are lots of tasty things here. This is some local produce. Cheese from around the world, Cheese from here in Maine, too. Some crazy sour mustard pickles from Waldoboro... Wonderful smoked seafood, ...and a guy who makes sausage. This is Mark who works for Maurice Bonneau's Sausage Kitchen. We got to talking and they pulled me in the back to check out some of their gear. This is Maurice and their super-fast link maker. This thing winds up a pound a second... This handsome grinder unit handles 50 pounds of sausage a whack... ...and this is their industrial smoker! I know a couple people here are drooling... Finally the oyster bar at Scales, way down at the end of the market. So the deal this week is that Mrs. Johnnyd and I are living in two places. We rented a summer "camp" or cottage in Cape Elizabeth this month so my 84yr old mom can get the hell out of Florida for a bit. Maybe escape a hurricane or two. Turns out she had to return last week for health reasons and just in time for a storm to bear down on her town. It's crazy how things go sometimes, eh? Now this camp was built in 1909 way out by a point of rocks called whaleback rock. There are a couple other houses there inhabited by people who used to go there as kids in the summer. They all have grand kids now so you can guess this little bit of paradise has been in the same hands for decades. There is no phone, TV or internet access so if I am away from the blog for a bit, that's the reason. Another good point is that those grandkids do a lot of lobstering off whaleback rock so we'll be sure to check in with them to see how things are going!

fifi, dahling! You flatter me so, That was a great shot I must admit, finestkind as they say around he-ah. Took a few this AM but only a couple made the cut. I had originally hoped to capture a scallop snapping along just above the seabottom (they are hysterical when they swim) but I realized that a really expensive underwater camera case would be the only way to do it. Scallops live in water 35 feet or deeper so the el cheapo underwater disposable camera I bought instead will get crushed down there. Therefore I'll have to stay relatively shallow. The in-shore lobstering is still quite active so a string of traps, up close and personal, might have to do.

Plenty of Blueberries, Ludja. Saw a quart of small wild ones for $5 this weekend and a colleague brought in a bucketfull he and the kids picked themselves over the weekend. These were larger berries that grow on tall bushes, not the short, scrubby, heather-like plants that are on acres of land way Downeast. We ate way too many, if that's possible, they were scrumptious. If things work out, you're going to see what's going on UNDER this particular large body of water! Those who know a bit about me might remember I was a diver for sea urchins a few years ago (see bio) here in the Gulf of Maine. I still keep in touch with old dive pals and every so often we get together and jump in the water for old times sake. I thought it would be fun to take a few pics underwater this week, assuming the conditions stay stable weather-wise, boat details are ironed out and I find something down there I can eat.

Yes, indeedy. Maine has about ten weeks to grow things, then pffft!, it's all about snow, ice and mud. The season was a bit late to start but I've been watching the local Farmer's Markets and there is a lot of tasty stuff being harvested now. The corn finally appeared just last week and is delicious. No heirloom tomatos yet but I haven't checked all the spots that sell them yet. This decidedly un-Mainey bit of produce was actually grown on my Mom's porch in Florida. One day she threw a few papaya seeds into an idle flowerpot and before you know it, she's got five gigantic fruit which were about to get ripe before her trip here. She picked the biggest one and dragged it on the plane, through security, the works. I squirt some fresh lime on it and call it breakfast.

Hi Gang! Most mornings I ride my bike over to Spring Point to get a lungful of sea air and see what's going on in the channel. Spring Point juts into Casco Bay on it's western side, just outside the mouth of the Fore River where the city of Portland sits on a peninsula. Around the bend from the point is Willard Beach, a typical New England seaside neighborhood with a mix of summertime folk and year-round dwellers who make the short commute over the bridge into Portland for work. At the little town square there is a bakery called One Fifty Eight owned and operated by eGullet's KeysToVt where I like to stop in and get a peach muffin or some local cheese, but today I didn't have time. We'll catch her later this week. Welcome to Maine, everyone!

Went to Katahdin the other night. There were three of us. Soup of the day was a tomato/artichoke with fontina. Nicely balanced, sublime. Damariscotta Oysters w/mignonette Halibut on a garlic smashed potato island topped with a cherry tomato salsa was melt in your mouth. Seared scallops on beet green and lobster/nectarine reduction: phenomenal. Roast duck in blackberry sauce was perfect. Mondavi Pinot Grigio won the vote but there were other nice choices. They serve the best martinis in town. Barkeep has been at it for over ten years there. About $200 with tip but truly the best meal all summer. Worth every penny... except the oysters at $20 per half dozen bugged me a little. It was Mom's last night in town so what-the-hey?

A handy arrangement, that: when Aurora's closes, Abbey opens so parking is neatly shared. Looking forward to it.

Went in to "Honey's Place" Thursday afternoon and instantly fell in love with the place. Sharon Moore is the tireless, cheery owner/chef with, I suspect, her two daughters tending the front counter. Sharon said it was a mess when she signed on the place. She clearly has an eye for composition as her choices of paintings and african sculpture which adorn the walls and shop-front window augment the simple pine wainscotting and VCT flooring. Great music too. The menu, as Siren said, has daily specials including pig's feet and ample BBQ choices. I had a lunch size portion of (what else?) fried chicken with corn bread for $6.95 and a mound of perfect collard greens for an additional $2.95. It was crisp, hot, not over-spiced, just right. Sharon opened July 29th and says business is good. "No one does this food in Portland," she said. No one can touch this place if they dare try.

dredge these in a coarse mustard and brown sugar blend. Broil 'til bubbly. You'll love 'em.

The blueberries are in. I bought a pound of wild ones for $5 last weekend.

I hate it when THAT happens...