Maine

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Chefs rally for Share Our Strength Maine

Posted by spoonandshutter on March 13, 2012
Posted in: Out & About. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

El Camino Restaurant, Brunswick, Maine, owners, (L to R) Paul Comaskey, Eloise Humphrey, and Daphne Comaskey

From Spoon: In a country of so much abundance, it is an outrage that more than 16 million children are at risk for hunger. In Maine, 1 in 4 children is unsure about where their next meal is coming from. We are very proud to be volunteering – me doing publicity, Ted taking photos – with Share Our Strength, Maine, the local chapter of the leading national organization working to end childhood hunger in America. Share Our Strength Maine raises money through chef and restaurant events like Taste of the Nation® and Dine Out For No Kid Hungry®, and with the support of our generous sponsors, administrative costs are kept very low because everything is run by volunteers. Want to get involved, or know more? Visit the Share Our Strength Maine Facebook page.

These photos of chefs and owners were taken by Ted to mimic the national No Kid Hungry campaign with actor Jeff Bridges.

I’ve been met with some skepticism about kids going hungry in Maine because like everywhere else where families live in poverty, we also see children who are obese. Those children may be eating something – $1 meals from McDonald’s, cookies, crackers, chips. Because their bodies are not getting the nutrition they need, they crave more food, so they keep eating whatever is cheap and available – and gaining weight in the process. Share Our Strength helps stock food pantries with nutritious food, but that’s just part of the solution for many families who don’t have cooking knowledge or even access to a full kitchen. Share Our Strength is meeting this vital part of the challenge through the Cooking Matters® program, which teaches families how to prepare healthy meals.

Share Our Strength Maine’s major annual fundraiser is Taste Of The Nation®, scheduled this year for June 24 on at Diamond’s Edge restaurant on Great Diamond Island in Portland Harbor. If you’re planning a trip to Maine this summer, we urge you to schedule it around this spectacular event – you’ll get to experience Maine’s best chefs, restaurants and mixologists in one location, and contribute to a very good cause.

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For all the details on Taste of the Nation® Maine 2012: Continue Reading

Chef Rob Evans for Share Our Strength Maine: Photo of the Week

Posted by spoonandshutter on January 20, 2012
Posted in: Photo of the Week. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

Chef Rob Evans shows his support for Share Our Strength, Southern Maine Chapter

From Shutter:  I am very fortunate to make a living combining two things that I love: photography and food.  I feel very strongly that there is an obligation to give back.  I am blessed in so many way and fortunately in addition to not going hungry, I get to eat and experience some of the best food grown, cooked, served, and enjoyed.  It seems logical to me, since I make my living around food, chefs, and restaurants, that I give back by donating my photography skills to a food-related organization.  What could be more important than making sure no child goes hungry?  My choice of charity is Share our Strength of Maine.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to start photographing a series of Maine chefs that are willing to get involved with Share Our Strength.  The concept is to play off of the National Share our Strength campaign with actor Jeff Bridges.  The first chef is Rob Evans, owner of Hugo’s and Duckfat, both in Portland, Maine.  You would think that being at the helm of two restaurants, the James Beard Award winner and Food Network “Chopped” Champion would be too busy.  But that is not how Rob thinks.

Since 2006 Rob has made it a personal mission to raise funds to feed hungry children across Maine, which despite its beautiful summer homes along the coast, is a very poor state. In addition to having taken the lead of the Taste of the Nation events for the past three years (with fellow chefs Sam Hayward and Larry Matthews), Rob is taking things one step further. He is expanding the Share Our Strength dinner series across the state to raise awareness and money for this important issue. He believes that no child in America should grow up hungry.  And I agree.

Over the coming weeks I will be sharing some of those photos with you.

To find out more about Share our Strength please go to the National site or Share our Strength, Maine. They can also be found on Facebook here.

A Unique Maine Tradition – “The Vegetable Boat”

Posted by spoonandshutter on August 2, 2010
Posted in: Out & About. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 6 comments

Dave Berry on the Beth Alison

From Susan: We’re home in Montclair, New Jersey, now, but we’ve saved this post to drag out our return from Maine to the less-romantic, alternate reality of our life here. On Friday – the day before we packed up two cars with a trunk, suitcases, unopened cans of beans, two dogs, and lobsters to share that night with a friend – we rowed across Cosy Harbor in our old wooden skiff to the Pratt’s Island dock to shop one last time at the “vegetable boat.”

Customers walking down the ramp to the Pratt's Island dock

The Beth Alison at Pratts Island

Beginning 18 years ago, David Berry, proprietor of Merrymeeting Farm, developed a novel way to sell his produce. On “market days” in July and August – now limited to Fridays  – Dave leaves his farm at dawn, headed for the picturesque harbor at South Bristol.  Several hours later, he has fully stocked his wooden sailboat, the Beth Alison, with fresh organic produce, buckets of bright flowers, organic chicken, oysters, goat cheeses, sauces, pestos and chutneys and a variety of baked goods. With a couple of helpers in tow, Berry sets off on his route, providing Southport Island-area residents with a unique summer pleasure – shopping at a floating farmer’s market.

Dave's helper Dana, with her infectious smile, surrounded by fresh produce

The 34-foot-long Beth Alison is wide, flat-bottomed and stable, ideally suited for her current work as a floating market. In her previous life, the two-masted, wooden sailboat, known as a New Haven sharpie, was used to harvest oysters in Long Island Sound.

Unless it’s pouring rain or “pea-soup” fog, the Beth Alison is reliable, and there is always a crowd of eager shoppers at the docks on Pratt’s, at Newagen and on Capitol Island, anticipating her arrival. I always buy too much, unable to say no to treats like garlic scapes, candy-stripe beets, sugar snap peas, perfectly ripe tomatoes, tiny new potatoes and luscious local goat cheese rolled with fresh dill.

The price list

Fresh garlic

Fresh blueberries and blackberries

Fresh squash

Berry, a Bowdoin college alum, and his wife Alison, grow much of the produce sold from the boat on their Bowdoinham farm, named for the large, tidal bay nearby. The farm has been in Berry’s family since the 1930s. Alison Berry also provides the bouquets of garden flowers, puts up the chutneys and jams and makes some of the baked goods, including her famous sticky buns.

Home made jams and chutneys

On Friday, I was envious of my fellow shoppers buying fresh dill, arugula and berries for their cottage kitchens. Knowing we would be on our way home the next morning, I limited myself to a small tub of garlic and herb goat cheese and a jar of rhubarb ginger jam as a gift for Ted’s mom. Hopefully, Dave will keep the Beth Alison running her coastal route next summer!

Dana with produce, cheeses, pestos, and sauces

Produce is weighed on this old-fashioned scale

Maine is more than Lobster – Oysters too

Posted by spoonandshutter on July 14, 2010
Posted in: Kitchen, On The Road, Out & About. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

From Ted: We love oysters.  And lucky for us, one of our favorite oysters are Pemaquids, from Maine. Our Pemaquids of choice come from Glidden Point Oyster Farm in Edgecomb, Maine, along the Damariscotta River.

In 1987 Barb Scully founded this oyster farm.  She, along with her two children run her retail operation, a kiosk along River Road, and a successful wholesale business. Full of flavor, appropriately briny, and quite easy to open, (which as a novice oyster shucker is not to be over looked) make these some of our favorite oysters..  And don’t worry if you don’t have the tools of the trade, you can purchase knives right at the store.  The kiosk, which sits alongside the Scully’s beautiful home is an inviting stop.  The sign on the door says, “honor system”.  If no one is available to help, you simply leave the money in a box.

The Kiosk on the side of River Road

It is Maine afterall

Glidden Point Oysters will always have a special spot in my heart.  It was over shucking oysters in the mud room of my in-laws house, that I had my first “bonding” session with Susan’s brother Andy. We decided we were going to learn to open oysters to start the Thanksgiving meal.  After successfully opening 3 or 4 dozen oysters, in no speed record, and having neither cut nor gauged ourselves, we competed our oyster shucking mission, got to know one another and, created a tradition and good memories.

Last night we decided to introduce our friends Dave and Bridgett to these Pemaquids.  What better way to start off a meal, especially when the rest of the meal would be equally as decadent.  Duck breast with a cherry pan sauce and roasted quail, courtesy of our friends at D’Artagnan foods.

If you are in mid coast Maine, and want to get some great oysters, make the trek down River Road in Edgecomb and get some fresh Glidden Point oysters.  And for those of you not in the area, they ship anywhere via FedEx.  To read even more about Glidden Point and the Maine oyster industry you can go to the New York Times article by clicking here.