johnnyd

Adam, your pictures were wonderful, thank you. What a spread! What camera were you using?

One day you say: "Wouldn't it be fun if we had a blog that was dedicated to food?" and before you know it you have over 12,000 registered members...

Article about Farmed Mussels off Clapboard Island in Casco Bay (with pix)

Stovetop smoker??? whoa! that's a plan that's gotta happen. I could smoke some of this shrimp too! I hate shelling out big bucks for Ducktrap product too, but you can't deny they do a great job.

Absolutely. On-deck stock pot chilling is the best. Lately, however, it's been a little toooo chilly: minus 10 will freeze the nose on your face... but that's not news to you folks, eh snowangel?! (We're getting your snow tonight: about a foot they say. We'll be cooking all night and day!)

Funny you should mention it: I actually did use Great Easterns this weekend. Unfortunately I had to discard about 10 or 12 of 'em as they were dead, but that's about normal. I prefer to use my pals, Craig and Tolof rope-grown from their raft off Clapboard Island ("the Far Side of the Foreside") since I urchined with Craig about ten years ago. He invited me out for a days work in May (it was raining and about 45º) so I got to witness the whole operation, right down to the delivery of a big load of 2lb bags to the dock behind Harbor Fish Market. You can't get 'em fresher. They gave me 14lbs that day! I made a shitload of oil-packed jars with pimentos and capers that night. I saw a local TV piece on Chip's operation and it looks like a terrific idea. It's getting pretty popular downeast among some of the guys I used to dive with. The product is excellent and it's not hurting anything. Some sailors get bent out of shape because of the raft moorings being "too close" to the lanes and some summer people complained about compressors going "all day", but that's life on the coast, people!

Ahem... Valentine's Day is my Birthday... I finally learned back somewhere in my twenties never, never, never go out for dinner on my damn birthday. That year my date had a birthday on February thirteenth so we went out both nights. Her birthday rocked and mine sucked: over-booked restaurant, kitchen in the weeds, surly waitstaff that refused to let me order dessert! Basically everything Lreda et al warned us about. So I just don't do it. I plan a really good dinner at home. One year, I had nothing planned and had no date. I went downtown and hit a couple of bars. I met this terrific lady with whom I seemed to have a lot in common with. About an hour or two into our gabfest, it turns out Valentines Day is her birthday too! I didn't believe it and demanded to see her drivers license. Sure enough, it was. We decided to go out for dinner and had a fantastic time! I drove her home and never saw her again. Fast forward 20-odd years and, well... um... as of last year, Valentine's day is now my wedding anniversary too.

F*cking Bullocks... F*cking Bullocks!!! Lost the round to Mrs. Johnnyd so we had to watch American F*cking Idol!!! Curses! The Walnut Inn isn't scheduled again this season!!! Grrrrrrr !!! mmeggghhhrrrummhh !!!!!! Oh well, *sigh* it will come around again I hope!

Last night's Auction was only 2781 pounds and sold out: Low $0.80 Average 0.81 High 0.84 Prices locally seem to rise a bit day by day. This weekend I made Frutos do Mar na Cataplana, with fresh maine shrimp, local mussels and some cod fillet. It is a tomato based dish that I spent about a half hour detailing here, then Firefox crashed so that's that. If I ever do a foodblog, I'll do it again - a really amazing dish.

Andy, you are returning with some fresh fish this AM if I recall. Does Brighton-Hove have an organized fishing fleet of any kind? I notice a small marina on-line map of Brighton. What's the local specialty?

I suppose this could spawn a retro "Horns and Hardhats"...

I 'n I expectin' a righteous soundtrack wit I-ficially crucial riddims, seen?

Katie, your posts reveal that you are thrilled to be in your new post, congratulations! I had to weigh in here, never mind that I am three or so states away, to say I support the Fruits de mer idea. At this time of year, Maine has superlative seafood and they are not expensive. Whole, Fresh Maine shrimp are auctioning for around a dollar or less. Rope-grown mussels are run through a clever thingie that de-beards them before shipping and run about a buck and change per pound. Scallops are in season now and... well, you know, they just absolutely rock! I'm sure you could adda few of the oysters too. Anyway, have fun at SSOH and if we're in the area, we'll stop in for a few cold ones. johnnyd

Maine Shrimp Update: The shrimp auction on the 10th had an interesting spike in prices for only 2364lbs of harvest: Low bid: $1.20 Average: 1.22 High bid: 1.36 This is the first time I have seen the wholesale prices over a buck this season, and confirmed the rumour I'd heard on the waterfront that prices were rising because of a variety of reasons, all suspect: interruption in supply, tsunami effect, bigtime marketing effort, etc. Of course, I know better than to believe much of what you hear on any waterfront, and true to form, the prices were pretty sad the next night: Low bid: $0.30 Average: 0.592 High bid: 0.75 ... but for 3 times the volume of product sold. We are having some snotty weathah up heeyah. Seas are running about eight feet with accumulating ice, so no boats in their right minds would be out to sea in this. When freezing rain hits decks and rigging and freezes, the weight of the vessel rises very quickly, and if allowed to accumulate, creates a top-heavy condition that will cause it to capsize (tip over and probably sink). This is why you see guys on deck in slickers hitting everything topside with baseball bats, then shoveling chunks of ice overboard... as fast as they possibly can. Any further shrimping will have to wait until this clears up. On the recipe front, we made an amazing pad-thai this week using, of course, Mamster and Pims EGCI Cooking Course on Thai Cooking at Home, and since this batch had been sitting a day or three, decided to immerse them, peeled, in a lime (little susies minis), fish sauce and minced bird chile marinade for a enough time it took to prep the dish - maybe fifteen minutes. The miniature fresh shrimp cooked in seconds, then removed to stand while everything else was made, then added for the final toss. Truly delicious and their wee size seemed more suitable to the spirit of this dish too. Next up: we're going for a seafood stew/bouillabaise/fruit de mer, thingie with scallops, local rope-grown mussels and whole maine shrimp. Wish I had a camera!

Found out on the other thread that Claire and Iian were invited to Angela Hartnett's brigade at the Connaught hotel I also see that all four shows have been commented upon at length 2 months ago when it aired on FN. Sigh.... always the last to know!

Here's their Website. The Pomegranate Risotto is off the menu! It appears Richard was a bit bull-headed and it was a relief to let Claire, Ian and the rest tighten things up in his absence. I wonder if it was true about Claire's bookstore having problems as an excuse for her absence?

I was floored by the layout and the exterior of the Glass House. I thought the kitchen, although not perfect, workable considering the age of that beautiful building, but there was no excuse for that place being as grubby as it was under Richard's reign. I found myself thinking his experience was a collage of other kitchens, the bad habits of chef's he had worked under and a veiled degree of laziness. To his credit, he was there every day, did his best to rally the team with his hackneyed, but sincere, "we're a family" piffle, and seemed to really like kitchen life. His Pom-risotto was an original attempt at envigorating the menu, something Gordo hoped would occur with or without Richard. When I saw that and the plastic thingies back on the mise, I could just taste the irony when Ramsay walked away in the snow muttering to himself. Fucking great stuff! More!

Up for no good reason this morning at 3am and caught "Glass House". What a show! Slate's Sara had it right with that feeling of terror when things fall apart. It's about time someone did a show like this! Only four episodes? That's criminal! Think of all the dodgy eateries who could use a makeover, US, UK et al! The messes Richard plated the day Gordo got there was awful. The teamwork that gelled when Richard and Neil took the night off was moving. The near-disaster on the "big" night, the fight over the caeser salad, and the incredulous discovery of that freakin' risotto w/pom-seeds three months later all made for the best food-tv I've seen yet. Bravo! Now let's get cracking and get started on more episodes....

Mrs. Johnnyd has chimed in with an automat style affair: Dahmerama ...put in your quarters and reach in the cooler...

Porcaria! sorry! edit to add: this is a brasilian term for "garbage, shiite, everythings gone to hell... " you get the idea...

Don't forget to have a couple Caipirinhas, a drink made with Cachaça,a sugar cane liquor brewed in Brasil. Do NOT, under any circumstances make the "OK" sign (your thumb and index finger forms an "O"). This means "you're an assh*le". Look for it in traffic arguments...

Yeah, Fat Guy is right on and his recipe definitely falls in line with classical stock preperations. Use everything you can to get the most flavor! Just be cautious to cook the proper time. When roasting, you dont have to roast them that long to stimulate that toasty flavor, and if you are not careful you can actually make them taste "smokey" and that is not good as you can never rid your dish of the flavor. Think Delicate! ← One time, my brother, who has years more experience than I in commercial kitchens, roasted lobster bodies for stock and rendered the house uninhabitable. The chowder I made was a lot stronger than usual, my wife didn't like it. I think he may have over-roasted them. What do I look for when I do this, or is there a time-limit to allow in the oven?

So.... those three would be Martin, Davis jr. and ol' blue eyes?

Adeline’s Grill is actually at the Eastland Park Hotel. It appears Mr. Rider missed the bar and lounge on the top floor, "Top of the East"? The view is fantastic. The halibut at Katahdin is incredible. I order it almost every time I visit. I happen to know a chef at Adeline's. He would agree with your remarks! The Xmas decor is indeed a product of the industrious Maine School of Art. Their campus dots the downtown so they are really integrated in the town landscape. This write-up was a pleasure to read. One of my favorite things about eG are the intimate descriptions of places near and far, written by erudite society members who share a common passion in food. Thanks for talking up our town(s) Ghostrider, just don't everyone come at once...

We bought six mini bundts (5 inch? Miniminibundt?) this summer and made chocolate cakes. Then we used a melon baller to put tiny vanilla ice cream scoops in the hole in the middle!