Great Food in ME

Curt and I keep reminiscing over some of the amazing things we tasted while in ME. I don't have any photos as Curt thinks it is strange to take photos of food. It must have been something I have done before. When we were dating and getting together with any of my family members, he would always point out that we would pose for a photo just before digging into a meal. The photo would include all of us and the table covered with food. Maybe it's a symptom of being a child of refugees - we are always grateful for the food on our table and want to remember a special meal(s).

Anyhow, in my last blog post I mentioned some of the amazing eateries in Bar Harbor, Maine but here are a few others:

Fresh - AAAMMMAZING fresh oysters. We are huge fans of oysters and these were so local and so fresh that I could have eaten 100s. They were perfectly cleaned and delish! The part that really stuck out was the cucumber mignonette. Instead of shallots, they added the diced cucumbers to the vinegar mignonette and it gave it even a more summery fresh taste.

Then, when in Maine, one must try their famous lobster rolls. We, unfortunately drove by one of the best hot spots and only realized it later... We will return to the very famous Red's. Instead, we managed to have a delicious lobster roll in Kennebunkport at the incredibly popular roadside shack (taken from their name): The Clam Shack. Others have reviewed the Clam Shack as favorably as we had on that gorgeous, warm summer day in New England when we had the pleasure of experiencing our first lobster roll a la Clam Shack.

I also had some amazing lobster in Kennebunkport at the famous White Barn Inn's restaurant. We nearly stayed at the White Barn Inn but instead stayed in a cute cabin on the Kennebunkport river. This restaurant is quite old and famous. When we walked in they asked Curt his size in order to get him a jacket. It's quite old school even though their website doesn't indicate a dress code. Curt didn't mind as every other man went through the same exercise. Who takes a suit jacket on vacation to the beach (especially in casual America)?

Our meal was really nice but the highlight was their lobster. Described as follows:

Steamed Maine Lobster Nestled on a Bed of Homemade Fettuccine with Carrot, Ginger, Snow Peas and Cognac Coral Butter Sauce 

 When I asked our server if he recommended this dish, he responded, "Madam, it's only been on our menu for 40 years". I took that as a 'yes' and was happy that I did. It was divine and this is what it looked like.

Lasly, probably our most memorable meal was at our favorite Inn: the Camden Harbour Inn. Their restaurant Natalie's was amazing!! We had an incredible Tasting Menu paired with delicious wines and loved every minute / bite of it. I'll post a photo later (when Curt wakes up) as they are on his phone...

Bar Harbor - our stay and activites

 

Above was our sweet little suite in Bar Harbor at The West Street Hotel.

Below is from the outside.

These next shots I took as I loved the local maps on the wall...

 

 All in all, we enjoyed Bar Harbor. I think the special thing here is Acadia National Park and Whale Watching tours. Due to the poor weather we had on our 1 full day, we didn't get to go out on the sunset tour that I had booked. We also skipped the national park as it's someplace we'd prefer to visit with our kids. 

Instead we hit the gym, walked, shopped, ate and chilled. 

I loved this restaurant where we had dinner on our first night: Fathom.

 

Our 2nd night we enjoyed some oysters and a pizza at a restaurant called Blaze. Both nights we ate at the bar... because we could!

We also tried lobster ice cream - yuck. But followed it up with some crazy good local ice cream on Main Street! Yum! 

Then, I bought some of these awesome, locally made (out of wooden buoys) Santas. I collect Santas and loved these! So nice to buy locally made cool things... We found great things in ME which I'll blog about later as I have a big(ger) wish list.

Stop 1 - BAR HARBOR

Curt and I had some meetings planned in the US while the kids were at camp but first I decided to plan a (some what) surprise visit to Maine. Neither of us had been and it was a place I always wanted to visit. It was great to have some 'us' time and not revolving around work or a conference.

The first stop on our trip was Bar Harbor, ME. It was a longer drive (just over 4 hours) from the kids' camp than I had expected. The drive was boring and, as much as we tried looking for wildlife, we saw none.

Our entire vacation throughout Maine was thinking about or talking about the kids and how much they would like so many of the things we were experiencing. To try and ease this frustration, I tried to book hotels and restaurants that we would never take our children to...

 

crossing the sand bar to bar island - only at low tide can you do this and it was very cool.

It was chilly for us... The rain felt great - I have missed that in Dubai...

I took this photo from our room the next morning (during high tide) to try and show the water covering the sand bar connecting us to Bar Island... It's hard to see due to the building across the way.

I found this photo (below) on the Internet that may give a better idea to what exactly this sand bar looks like during low tide. Really, one of the coolest things I have seen...

This is us on our terrace the day we checked out. It was a gorgeous sunny day. Too bad the previous day wasn't as that was the day we were booked for whale watching and unfortunately (or fortunately) due to bad weather, the tour company canceled our trip and reimbursed us.

 

I'm back

I am officially returning to my long lost friend: our family blog. Blogging is like putting your photos into an album. If you take a break, it starts to pile up and suddenly seems like an overwhelming project that you don't know where or how to (re)start. This morning, while running on the treadmill (something I rarely do in the gym but seem to enjoy while on vacation), I thought that I am just going to s.t.a.r.t. Today I am going to begin blogging and I am not going to stress about picking up where I left off but I would start t.o.d.a.y.

It is tuesday, july 30th at 9:28pm in boston, ma. It is 5:28am (on the 31st) in dubai, uae.

Curt is in Cleveland for a meeting and our 3 children, Terence (12), Emilia (10) and Alexandra (7) are all at Camp Quinebarge in Moultonborough, NH.

It's been so hard being apart from ALL of them. They are at camp for 2 weeks. The camp is wonderful and everything you can dream of in an American camp. The setting is beautiful with sweet little cabins, on the lake, amongst the trees with horses and land and an old fashioned camp feel (no electronics, no phones, etc). We were lucky as our friends, Eric and Lesley, have just purchased the camp in late 2012. So, we know the kids are in good hands.

We were lucky to have spent one night at the camp and I nearly didn't leave. Not only did I not want to leave our little ones but I loved being a part of the camp atmosphere and making a difference in all these kids lives and memories...