Mushrooms, mushrooms everywhere!

Drew and I have been doing shrooms -- not the psychedelic kind that get you high, but the ordinary kinds that anyone can find when walking around in the forest. Some edible (we only trust ourselves with a few species), some highly poisonous, and a lot we don't know.

We went on a couple of mushroom walks last week, one in Surry sponsored by the Blue Hill Heritage Trust and the other on Deer Isle by Island Heritage Trust, both led by David Porter, a local expert on mushrooms who retired several years ago from the University of Georgia at Athens. David knows his shrooms.

David said you can't go five feet without seeing plenty of mushrooms, and with about fifty sets of eyes helping out, he was right. The "walk" was more like "take a few steps and then stand around looking at what people found." It was great fun.

I seemed to have an eye for yellow -- here's what turned out to be yellow earth tongues:

And an unknown one:

Here's David with a clump of honey mushrooms, a new variety for me, edible, and Drew and I found plenty of them on our own land later:

And I found "the catch of the day" on the Deer Isle walk, a lovely patch of chanterelles. As David said, "Now we are talking!" Chanterelles are edible and choice. This was the biggest and best one I had ever found, and I got to take it home. We had it with pasta that night for dinner:

I found out about these walks in the Island Ad-Vantages, in the "Coming Events" section. It can be a nuisance to read through all the notices, but that's where the best info is. I also found out, via the "Coming Events" section, about a cider pressing that I will write about in the next post ... stay tuned!

Homage to Maine Drive In Restaurants

It's hard to imagine, but life used to exist before McDonald's. The precursor to the golden arches were the drive-in hamburger and hot dog stands. In Presque Isle, where I grew up, Keegan's was THE place to be. Never mind that it was essentially the ONLY place to be for young people. If you had a few dollars, you could go there and get something yummy (i. e. full of sugar, salt, and fat) for a reasonable price. Maybe you would see your friends. "Lights on for service" meant you didn't even need to get out of your car.

If you didn't have any money, or even a car to drive around in, you were in rough shape. The other activity was "tooling Main Street," which meant driving from one end to the other, turning around, and then doing it again. Yeesh. No wonder I was desperate to get out.

Keegan's closed years ago, but the other favorite was Winnie's which I loved because of their great onion rings:

Sadly, according to the web, Winnie's has closed in the past year, but not before the owner made a bundle with her lobster stew recipe. (How hard is lobster stew, anyway? Maybe I can make a bundle too...)

Back in 1967 when I was dating my first husband, he took me to the Mcdonalds on Broadway in Bangor, one of the first in Maine and certainly the first I had ever been to. I could not believe how fast he was in and out with a bag of fifteen cent hamburgers, and the fries and milkshakes that set the standard from then on, probably for not much more than a dollar or two for us both.

Thank goodness that the drive in restaurant is alive and well here in Hancock County. Maybe because we haven't got the population to support a Mcdonalds or Burger King, though the appearance of a Dunkin' Donut in Blue Hill this summer is sobering.

So here are the three drive-in treasures on the Blue Hill Peninsula: The Bagaduce Lunch, the Fish Net, and Madeline's. Both the Bagaduce and the Fish Net have been around for years.

Bagaduce Lunch gets the "Stunning Location" award hands down. Located right beside the reversing falls of the Bagaduce, in good weather, chomping down on a fish sandwich at the Bagduce Lunch's picnic tables cannot be beat. And how many times will you dine at a place that won an American Classic James Beard Award (2008)? Click here to see a video about the Bagaduce and their award.

The Bagaduce is pure business, closing ASAP right after Labor Day. Whew.

The Fish Net in Blue Hill is lowest on the totem pole location-wise (on the inside corner of where the very busy Maine Street heads up a steep steep hill), but it fits perfectly with menu and style. Here's the Fish Net's menu, posted outside, which could be for each of these three fine establishments:

The Fish Net closes around October 1.

Madeline's on Deer Isle popped up a few years ago. Madeline's is not on the water, but has a woodsy location on the main road north of the village and the High School that the owners have spruced up with picnic tables and a play area. Old timers on Deer Isle remember another Madeline's across the road, the remains of which are still visible. The new Madeline's is really Madeline's 2.

For us, Madeline's wins out, unless we are in Blue Hill and hungry, or want to make a special trip to the Bagaduce. Even though the Bagaduce has the reputation (I mean, James Beard must know what he is talking about, right? -- Yeah, I know, he is dead...), the food at the three places is pretty much the same. Hamburgers, crab and lobster rolls, fried clams or scallops, french fries and onion rings. And ice cream.  Who could ask for more?

Madline's closed for the season the last week of September. Now there is no place to go on a sunny day for a greasy hamburger, until next spring. Sigh.

Downeast brevity: A sign that is to the point

Today we are so used to going online for everything, with infinite choice, pictures, reviews, that it is hard to remember just a short time ago when things like ads for summer rentals appeared in the classifieds in the paper, just a few lines, no photos. Even more rudimentary is a sign beside the road. Here's one I noticed in Deer Isle just the other day:

Basic. To the point. But where was this illusive cottage? How special was it? My imagination ran wild.  Maybe it was that romantic little cottage from the 50's, overlooking Eggemoggin Reach and the bridge. I've always wanted to know just how to rent that one. So I inquired, at the garage:

Basic. To the point. Pure function. Many times I've used that pay phone that you care barely see to the left of the garage doors.

Where was this cottage, were there pictures, a website?

Basic again. No photos, some vague directions, and a phone number I could call for someone who did have pictures. $600 a week, on the water in Sunshine, a few weeks left at the end of September.

If you are interested, inquire at the garage. That's the best I can do.

The John Steinbeck Connection

I've lived on and visited Deer Isle for many years and only recently discovered that John Steinbeck visited here in 1960. He stayed on Dunham's Point just a short walk from my house, and his time on Deer Isle sounds magical -- as Deer Isle can be. He described it early on in "Travels with Charley": "One doesn't have to be sensitive to feel the strangeness of Deer Isle. ... It is an island that nestles like a suckling against the breast of Maine ... The sheltered darkling water seems to suck up the light ... The pine woods rustle and the wind cries over open country that is like Dartmoor."  And later: "This Isle is like Avalon: it must disappear when you are not there."

So if he visited on Eleanor Brace on Dunham's Point, then where is the exact place? Well, the Internet being what it is, it didn't take a lot of sleuthing to find that the house is now owned and lived in by her niece Brenda Gilchrist. Now, I wouldn't violate Brenda's privacy by writing about her here if she hadn't been writing about the house and the Steinbeck connection herself. Brenda is an author of a newish book (2012) about her move to the lovely old house. I ordered up the book from Amazon and just finished it: "Waltzing with Bracey," available on Amazon and mailed right to your house.

I LOVED this book. It is so Maine, so Deer Isle. While my house can't compete with hers as far as age and family history (I designed and built my house myself, the history is mine alone), I do have friends who have similar old family connections to local gorgeous places and world-wide travel and orientation, just as the author does. The book is full of photos of the older times: I've seen the pictures before, in the baskets and albums in other houses, of the women dressed head to toe in white, the men in bow ties while on a picnic, the boats and the sailing.

If you want a taste of what summering on the Maine coast used to be like, and what year around living is like now, take a look at "Waltzing with Bracey."

We go to the Deer Isle Farmers' Market

Just last year, or maybe two years ago, the Deer Isle Farmers' Market was a pretty pitiful operation with just two or three lonely vendors. My, how things have changed!

Wednesday mornings 9:30 - 11:30am, in the old elementary school parking lot next to the Town Offices, there are now close to 20 booths. The Stonington Farmers' Market, one of the largest in the state, probably has at least twice, maybe three times the booths, but it feels ten times as crowded and crazy. Give me the Deer Isle Market any day of the week. Well, Wednesday morning anyway.

We went last week, and there was such a nice feel, easy and pleasant to browse and shop. The only real line -- and probably the biggest reason for the sudden growth and success -- was for Elliott Coleman's Four Season Farm booth (that's me on the left talking to my friend Christine who really knows quality and value):

Anyone who has been around the area for very long knows about the Four Seasons Farm. I will probably write about them soon, but suffice it to say, Elliott has a very long and interesting history in the area and grows the best produce imaginable -- year around. A story in itself. The Four Seasons farm wagon  goes only to two other Farmers' Markets, so Deer Isle is fortunate indeed to be one of them.

Using the task of buying a meal to organize our trip to this market, here is what we bought:

 From the center, the half slab of BBQ ribs from Nostrano:

Owner Frank Pendola comes over from Town Hill on Mount Desert, pulling that very impressive smoker. I love it that the smoke is puffing out the chimney and there is something intgeresting to see as well as buy, a stylish operation. The ribs were absolutely delicious, very juicy (too dry can be a problem with ribs) and the sauce, well, I had never tasted anything like it. I asked Frank what made the mysterious vanilla or sweet grass under taste. Other than suggestion I read the ingredients on the label, he would not say. A full slab of ribs is $20. We buy a lot of ribs when we are in the south, so I know the price is reasonable, and the taste, well, perfect.

Cucumbers were from Four Seasons, $2.50. Anything from the Four Season cart would be the best, and these were. A little high, but always worth it.

The bag of Sesame Wheat Crackers and the loaf of focaccia were from the Bread Box Bakery:

This lady comes down from Orland with a slew of delicious baked stuff:

Her prices seemed very reasonable, particularly the crackers. In an earlier post, I wrote about some WAY overpriced crackers that would have been $30 for a pound. These crackers at $5 for 8 ounces were one third the price.

The curly green things at the top of "what we bought" photo are garlic scapes, a bag of them  for $3 from the lovely couple at Living Roots Farm (also at the Brooksville market):

I had a nice discussion with co-owner Travis about prices. He and his partner Arika try to keep prices reasonable, and they seemed to be. Seems like I remember last year seeing scapes selling for $1 EACH. At that price, I got about $15 worth of scapes for $3.

For dessert, I bought a quart of strawberries for $5 from the Long Cove Farm stand. They were delish and I have not seen any cheaper than $5. $5.50 - $5.99 is more usual.

Total spent: $33.50. We had the results for dinner, and since there were leftovers of everything, let's say the real price of the meal was half the total: $16.75. All local, all fabulous. And the experience of the whole market, very nice. Can't beat the commute: it is the closest one to where we live in Sunset.