Tag Archives: food

I love my town… Part 3.

 

 

 

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For once, our small town’s Facebook page rose above the petty gossip and backstabbing and actually came in handy. Last night, along with the usual lost pig notices… there was a report of a dump truck flipping over, taking out a power line and closing the main road. This was helpful since my husband’s car had overheated and left him stranded on I-295. Knowing about the closure in advance saved me taking the out of the way detour.

Of course the page also had some other gems.

 

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Rent a goat! There’s a start up sure to make a fortune.

Heck, they love to eat…

 

 

Are easy to transport….

 

 

And give great back massages.

 

 

How could you lose?

Then there was this:

 

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Someone wants to cook pie for me?

That can’t be bad.

 

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And finally, there was this heartfelt thank you note…

 

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Moral of that story?

If you live in the country, always carry carrots and apples.

 

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Okay, well….

There’s no correct amount of produce for that.

 

Things I like today… Part 7

 

I like…

This tee shirt I picked up at Goodwill the other day.

 

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If my husband would just follow this one simple rule, life would be so much more pleasant.

I like…

The new yellow kiwi fruit.

 

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Have you tried them?

 

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Yum!

I like….

The Annual Damariscotta PumpkinFest Regatta.

(And you thought we only raced zucchini in Maine. Pfft!)

 

 

 

But this year, I really like the pumpkin they’re using to advertise it.

 

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I like…

Finding multiple praying mantises (manti?) on the baby barn we’re remodeling.

Did you know the female praying mantis bites off her partner’s head after sex?

Clearly she’s a woman who doesn’t like to cuddle.

 

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I like…

Apple season.

 

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Our trees are loaded with juicy fruit…

And soon my belly will be full of juicy pie and fritters.

 

actual video of me after eating juicy pie and fritters

Oops.

 

I learned a lesson the other day… the hard way.  (If there’s any other way, I’ve yet to find it.)

In April I received a recall notice for Ethel. (Yes, my car’s name is Ethel)

No big deal, it was something about a brake light switch. I stuck the notice in the drawer thinking, yeah…I’ll have to make an appointment at the dealership sometime.

Which means I promptly forgot all about it.

Then two months ago, we were leaving our friend’s place at camp. They have the driveway from Hell… steep and unpaved. We were backing out, hit some loose gravel and bing! bam! boom! all my warning lights started flashing on the dash. ABS, Vehicle Dynamics Control, Hill Assist.

You name it, it was flashing.

 

 

I thought, oh hell… we knocked some silly computer module out of whack.

But the car drove perfectly fine and by the time we got home all the lights were out…. so I didn’t give it a second thought. Until this Monday when I went grocery shopping, pulled into the parking lot and shifted into park. Bing! Bam! Boom! all the warning lights flashed again.

Warning lights. What do I know about warning lights?

 

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I mean heck, if they had useful ones….. it would make sense.

 

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But these things were going off for absolutely no reason. Again, my only thought was… stupid computers.

Until I loaded all my groceries in the car, started it and couldn’t shift.

Nada. Nothing. Frozen in park.

Of course it was a hot day…. and of course ice cream was on sale so I’d bought 4 containers. As everything melted into soup, I fiddled and faddled and cursed and finally managed to get it in gear to drive home.

Where it froze in park again.

Moral of the story?

 

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When the manufacturer sends you a recall notice? There’s a reason…. go have it taken care of.

It may just be a brake light switch, and they may assure you “only a small handful of vehicles have had serious issues”….. but if it’s one in three million?

It’s going to be me.

I’m lucky that way.

Damn…..

 

Living in Maine affords it’s residents numerous opportunities to attend fabulous competitive events. There are lobster trap runs, belt sander races, frying pan hurls, skiing Santa races, rubber duckie races and pumpkin drops. We even host the North American Wife Carrying contest.

But this year I missed a new one.

 

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I missed it!

The social event of the season…. and I missed it.

 

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Who knew you could have so much fun with a zucchini?

 

 

Besides that guy.

 

 

And okay, maybe her.

But either way, I missed a stellar event and will have to be sure and mark my calendar for next year.

Zucchini racing.

Coming to a track near you.

Did you know… a challenge.

 

So the last time I did one of these quite a few people knew what I know, and that’s disappointing.

So I’m upping my game, reaching deep into the grey matter to find some heretofore unknown tidbits because….

 

 

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Did you know….

Hedgehogs were called urchins in medieval times?

The first recorded use of the word “hedgehog” wasn’t until the 15th century.

 

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Did you know…

In France you can marry a dead person?

Article 171 of the French civil code states, “The President of the Republic may, for grave reasons, authorize the celebration of the marriage where one of the future spouses is dead.”

Maybe it’s just me, but is that really cause for celebration?

 

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Did you know….

Pope Adrian VI died after a fly got stuck in his throat as he was drinking from a fountain?

That couldn’t have been pretty.

 

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Did you know…

Robert E. Lee wore a size 4 1/2 shoe?

That doesn’t speak well for the size of his….

Oh, never mind.

 

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Did you know…

Endurance training that involves alternating between high and low intensity is called fartlek? It comes from the Swedish word fart, meaning speed and lek, meaning play.

Oh, those silly Swedes.

 

 

 

Did you know….

The amount of potato chips Americans eat each year weighs 6 times more than the Titanic.

Damn. That’s a lot of spuds.

 

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The only truth in advertising you’re ever apt to see.

 

So, maybe.

 

Just maybe…

I should clean out my cupboards a bit more often.

We have a tall skinny cabinet in our kitchen. It’s not very wide, which constantly leads to items being pushed to the back to make room for new.

Sometimes they get pushed really far back. Really, really far back…

Like a solid mile and a half back.

For example, this container of chicken broth…

 

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Fat free!

Kudos to me for being healthy, right?

Well, I should have realized this wasn’t going to be good when I saw the label. The last time I bought fat free was when I was dieting……

 

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In 2014.

 

Because you never know what you’ll see…

 

I woke up this morning to fog.

 

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Hanging over everything like a gentle blanket of white…

 

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In some places there was a sharp delineation.

 

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As if it cut by a knife.

 

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But as it started to lift…

 

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I looked way out into the back yard by the woods and saw…

 

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A piner!!

 

 

I did!

 

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And in the 17 years we’ve lived here?

Not one single porcupine sighting… until now.

There’s elusive creatures, solitary by nature. Shy, quiet and slow… but apparently willing to high five in Philly.

 

 

 

 

(I totally need to visit Philly now, damn it.)

Sadly, while we see plenty of them dead on the side of the road…. we’ve never seen one at our house since the majority of our property is open lawn or field and they prefer the wooded areas.

So… a piner!!

 

 

I was thrilled… and attempted to creep across the back lawn to get a better picture. Naturally, I don’t creep well and he spotted me….. and shimmied down the tree before I could get close.

 

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But I saw a piner on our property and have blurry photos to prove it.

Yay me!

 

 

Here’s a piner eating corn on the cob.

 

 

Note to self – buy corn on the cob.

 

 

I think this has to be a new series.

 

I read an article the other day that was so good it might need to become a blog series.

It’s about words.

 

 

Stop that.

It’s going to be great, I promise.

English is a funny language and apparently if it’s not your mother tongue, can be quite difficult to learn. So naturally it stands to reason there would be a large collection of foreign words with no direct English equivalent.

Let’s explore that.

 

  1. Kummerspeck (German)

Excess weight gained from emotional overeating.

Literally, grief bacon.

Grief bacon!

It’s official.

Kummerspeck is now my new favorite word.

 

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Do I like bacon?

 

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Indeed I do.

Do I care that it’s bad for you?

 

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No. I do not.

 

2. Mencolek (Indonesian)

The old trick where you tap someone lightly on the opposite shoulder from behind to fool them.

 

Where was this word when I was young?

I totally slayed  Mencolek in the 3rd grade.

 

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3. Seigneur-terraces (French)

Coffee shop dwellers who sit at tables a long time, but spend very little money.

 

Funny….

In English we just call them cheap.

 

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4. Slampadato (Italian)

Someone addicted to the UV glow of tanning salons.

I think we all know one of those.

 

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And finally..

5.  Pana Po’o (Hawaiian)

To scratch your head in order to help you remember something you’ve forgotten.

This is not a technique I’m familiar with, but then I’ve never been to Hawaii so what do I know?

 

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But to hell with remembering where the keys are …

This is pure brilliance.

Hurricane humor….

 

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve experienced many terrible storms over the years. When we lived down south we had trees come through the windows and parts of our roof ripped off. The destruction is real and nothing to be taken lightly…..

That being said, we also had a sense of humor.

 

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We had to.

And while my heart breaks for the people of the Bahamas suffering the devastation of Dorian, I’m twisted enough to laugh along with my friends in Florida who were spared the worst of her.

Their FB page had this the other day…

 

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A very useful thing when you’re living on canned goods and snacks because there’s no electricity.

They also posted this pic of their local grocery store.

 

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Now really…  how bad does your bread have to be to be the only brand left on the shelf during a hurricane?

And finally, this news blurb I saw on my phone.

Phil? I have two words for you –

Spell check.

 

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Pepper’s Landing

 

A restaurant review in which we make cocks out of mocks.

 

 

I’ll explain later…

Pepper’s Landing is a new seafood place we’d been wanting to try.

 

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It follows the latest trend of slightly industrial looking spaces, with exposed duct work and open rafters.

 

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Being Maine, naturally there’s a live lobster tank.

And being allergic, naturally they sat me right next to it. Cruel and unusual punishment to be sure.

There was also this handy technical breakdown for the lobsterly challenged among us.

 

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I got a huge kick out of this as no Mainer worth their salt would ever eat the body (carapace).  Of course no Mainer would ever call it a carapace either.

Though  “Do not eat head” is always sound advice in a restaurant.

 

 

But call me crazy, I don’t think advertising your lobster as “stringy” and “gamey” is going to win many converts.

Moving on…

 

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I opted for a blueberry martini, which was delightfully potent… but my girlfriend chose the Blue Atlantic mocktail….

 

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And then added two shots of Grey Goose.

Putting the cock in her mock.

Fresh blueberries, fresh basil…. it was fabulous! And what we drank from then on.

 

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We saw some massive bar pretzels going by, but opted for blueberry bbq wings…

 

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And crab quesadillas instead.

 

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Wings? Quite good.

Quesadillas? Not nearly enough crab.

Perhaps they fought back in the kitchen…

 

 

I chose the seafood pasta, which was basically scampi…

 

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And though it looked bland…. it was fresh, perfectly cooked and with just the right amount of garlic.

Husband went with baked haddock in sherried butter and lobster cream sauce with asparagus.

 

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Pardon the blurred photo, I think the Grey Goose was kicking in.

 

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Dessert was cheesecake for the husband.

 

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And a traditional Maine Whoopie Pie for me.

Slightly disappointing as it had been frozen and hadn’t thawed out properly. One should not risk breaking a tooth when one eats a Whoopie.

Rating?

B – ,  but worth trying again.