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Admit it, you look forward to these.
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And I thought our cat was spoiled. Geesh!
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New Yorkers are an inventive lot and will try to sell you almost anything. A Pier 17 rooftop? Sure, why not….
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I have never in my life wanted to play golf, until now.
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I should. I really should….
And because I’m thoughtful blogger who always thinks of her friends, you can as well.
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Cheers!
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Buffet buddies.
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Momma chuck and the mallard pair seem perfectly content to share.
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Even if they do bump into each other on occasion.
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Lord knows the birds drop enough seed, nuts and fruit from the feeders they’ll never run out of snacks.
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Getting my husband to a movie theater is a rarity these days. While I’d be happy to see a weekly film on the big screen my other half complains about the concession prices, the endless pre show commercials and God forbid he doesn’t get to sit in the back row. But last night I convinced him.
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And we saw what might turn out to be the largest grossing movie of all time. I’m not a huge Tom Cruise fan, but if you liked Top Gun you’ll love the sequel. The fighter jet aerial sequences are stunning and the movie does a nice job paying homage to the original. Val Kilmer makes a poignant appearance and the story line of Goose’s resentful son is well played. Granted the new beach football isn’t as good as the volleyball scene from decades past… but not much is. Overall Maverick brings it and even my theater cranky spouse was glad he went.
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Sadly we couldn’t say the same for J. R. Maxwells, the restaurant in Bath where we had dinner afterwards.
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I admit their cocktails were potent AF, one Cosmo and one margarita about did me in.
A loaf of homemade bread was a nice way to start.
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But it went downhill from there.
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My minuscule cup of clam chowder contained roughly 4 spoonfuls and my husband’s French Onion soup was weak and flavorless.
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The salad I didn’t photograph had some decent blue cheese dressing but the pan seared scallop carbonara that sounded wonderful turned out to be an anemic platter of bland goop. I often wonder if we’re too critical when it comes to eating out. We’ve added this place to our won’t ever return list… and that list is getting longer by the day.
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Because I live for odd headlines.
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If they’re anything like Twinkies, I’m sure they still tasted fine.
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Yes, in 1945 American GI’s liberated a little girl’s birthday cake along with Italy. She looks quite happy now, so I guess what they say is true… it’s never too late for cake.
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While we welcome all wild visitors for a nosh at Casa River … this makes me glad I don’t live in Florida.
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Is this really a gift? I’m going with no.
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Woke up this morning to an odd light in our front yard.
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The sun was shining through little peaks in the clouds and it was positively eerie.
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This being Sunday, it was my day to cook for the weekly man cave pool tournament… but this time, I took your advice.
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Fresh ham salad and chicken salad sandwiches on flaky croissants.
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With fruit plate accompaniment. Pretty… and so much less time consuming.
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Because I prefer news that makes me laugh.
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This would be my husband’s dream come true… and might very well happen to whoever buys our house when I’m a widow.
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Is this a thing? Damn. I’ve been missing out on extra income for decades.
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This photo makes me realize my beloved Boston Red Sox are slackers who’ve just been phoning it in.
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Joseph Yoon can bite me.
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I love randomly exploring an area we’ve visited often and stumbling on a new place. Last week it was the Boathouse Hotel and Marina in Kennebunkport.
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The perfect location for a leisurely spring afternoon lunch.
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And in true River style I worked my way down the cocktail menu.
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The Watermelon Sugar to start….
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A Walk of Shame with appetizers. Crab cakes for me, lemongrass ginger mussels for the husband.
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White Lemonade Sangria with a chicken Caesar salad for me, sherry baked haddock for my other half. It was a wonderful meal in a pleasant spot made even better by the friendly couple we met at the bar.
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They were visiting from Wisconsin for a college graduation so we happily gave them some local destination suggestions. Turns out they run a pub of their own in Wisconsin with the same town name as one in Maine.
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The Presque Isle Pub. If you’re ever in the area, stop by and tell them the boozy couple from Maine say hello.
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Let me just throw this out there… I love dinosaurs!
Always have, always will. While other little girls were playing with baby dolls and decorating Barbie’s stupid dream house, I was waging a life and death battle with my T Rex and Brontosaur. When other children wanted to go to Madison Square Garden to see the circus, I begged my parents to take me to the Museum of Natural History to see the Stegosaurus skeleton. In a perfect world I would have grown up to be a fossil hunter, endlessly scouring
the Black Hills for remnants of the Cretaceous. The best I can do now? Live vicariously through documentaries my husband thinks are dry as toast. Until this one –
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Tomorrow on Apple TV, the dinosaur documentary to end all dinosaur documentaries will begin. Hosted by David Attenborough…. All Hail Sir David! …it’s the dino version of Planet Earth and I can’t wait.
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*note to self – buy copious amounts of popcorn and butter*
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Now that’s tv worth watching!
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It was a bright and sunny evening at Casa River and after a full day of yard work we decided to drive along the coast of Harpswell and have dinner on the water.
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The closer we got, the thicker the fog. This restaurant is crazy crowded when the summer tourists descend so we’d hoped to beat the swarm and grab an outdoor table to enjoy the view.
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But the view was pea soup fog so we hit the bar instead. A few blueberry lemonades later..
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We ate a very disappointing meal. My $30 fried scallops were tasty but not plentiful and though I ordered a baked potato I received french fries because they had run out. And if that’s not bad enough, it was served in a paper lined wire basket more reminiscent of a lobster shack than fine dining. The husband’s scallop and lobster pasta had 3 scallops and 3 minuscule pieces of lobster for $40. While we never mind paying good money for a good meal, this longtime favorite place might be in danger of being dropped from our list.
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I’m going to give away a secret here so listen up.
For years I couldn’t bake a decent cookie to save my life.. and believe me it wasn’t for lack of trying. No matter what recipe I tried, no matter what miracle pan I used they either came out of the oven a gooey sugar filled mess or something resembling a hockey puck.
And then…
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Then I found them. The absolutely easiest, most perfect, even River can’t screw them up cookies.
Four ingredients. Four minutes prep and viola!
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Sublime every time. Trust me, those are soft baked little circles of heaven right there. And because I live to spread joy…. I’ll share.
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So far I have made lemon, chocolate, strawberry, spice, orange and butter pecan. And they were all fabulous, no hockey stick required. I’ve even started branching out by adding flavor extracts to the plain yellow mix … last night, almond.
Take that Mrs. Fields!
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River's world..... 