From Susan: We’re in Portland, Maine at the third annual Harvest on the Harbor food and wine festival and boy, life is GOOD! We arrived Thursday afternoon and checked into the Hilton Garden Inn; not only does our room have a glorious harbor view, we found two Seabags (cool tote bags made from old sails) stuffed with fabulous Maine stuff on the coffee table. Cookbooks, calendars, whoopie pies, jams, sauces, chocolates – wow what gift bags! Thank you Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau!

The view from our room at the Hilton Garden Inn

The fabulous gift bag!

Thursday night’s kick off event was the Grand Tasting on the Harbor, a sold-out extravaganza featuring 17 area restaurants, dozens of wines, beers and spirits.   The venue was the Oceanview Room at the new welcome center, Ocean Gateway, a stunning contemporary building at the end of a pier with two soaring walls of glass to offer fabulous views of Portland Harbor. We muscled our way through the crowd to taste and sip, as Ted reconnected with several of the chefs he recently photographed for Oakhurst Dairy’s Salute to Sous project – highlighting the work of Portland’s sous chefs.

A capacity crowd at the Grand Tasting

Tuna from The White Barn Inn

An offering from Chef Mitchell Kaldrovich at Inn by the Sea

A creative taste from Walter's

Maple whiskey ... if I had a bottle of this at home it could be dangerous.

Brothers Dan and Dave Kleban, brewers of Maine Spring Peeper Ale, with distributor Jeremy Buch (center)

Yesterday was one of those classic Maine days, sunny and clear, with a distinct chill in the stiff breeze. We watched a Norwegian Cruise lines ship slowly make its way into the harbor – it was berthed just across the street from our hotel, but was gone by this morning. We hope its passengers made Portland’s merchants happy.

Our day started at our favorite coffee place, Bard, where we ran into Jen Beltz from Frontburner PR, who has been such a champion for Ted’s photography work here. I was delighted to finally meet Jen, her husband Thom Householder and their adorable Jack Russell, Flyer, at the Frontburner offices.

Later that morning, we headed back to the Oceanview Room for the Maine Lobster Chef of the Year competition. The field had been narrowed down through earlier judging to three finalists: Chef Bill Clifford of Eve’s First Garden Restaurant in the Portland Harbor Hotel; Chef Clifford Pickett of DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant in Portland and Chef Kelly Patrick Farrin of Azure Cafe in Freeport (a Boothbay Harbor native who taught my son to sail at the Southport Yacht Club!)

Our favorite Champagne - Veuve Clicquot

The chefs each had to demonstrate their dish live as cameras from a local TV station rolled and a legion of photographers snapped away. There was even a camera crew from France, oddly enough, but it was easy to tell the French guys from the Americans because the Frenchmen all sported scarves (really!) The audience of 200+ was served tasting portions of each dish and we were asked to vote for the winner. Wines from Moet Hennessy were paired with each course.

Bill Clifford was up first and was the most charismatic and comfortable in front of the cameras. His Rustic Maine Lobster and Butternut Squash Ravioli with Toasted Walnuts, Sage and Maple Bacon was simple and good, paired with Big Claw White Wine, which was created to go with lobster.

Clifford Pickett’s Steamed Maine Lobster and Sweet Corn Tamale with Creamy Chilies and Leeks was a creative tribute to his upbringing in Arizona. It was matched nicely with Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label Brut Champagne (which I could have sipped all afternoon!).

Finally, Kelly Farrin stepped up to prepare his Herb Grilled Maine Lobster Tail on Arugula with Chive Ricotta Gnocchi and Corn Milk. This was more complex than the previous dishes, but the flavors all melded together beautifully. Each element was treated with care: the lobster tail basted with herb butter as it was grilled, the soft gnocchi enriched with brown butter and the arugula gently wilted in olive oil with grape tomatoes. For the corn milk, Kelly explained that he used late-harvest corn – it has more starch – scraped the kernels off the fresh ears, pureed the corn in a blender, strained the result, then cooked it down to make a sauce that was the essence of corn.

While all three dishes were delicious, it was no surprise that Kelly’s innovative preparation won the day. And I of course was proud to know that someone I have known since he was a kid has become such a culinary success! Congratulations Kelly!

Dane Somers, executive director of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council, presents the prize check to a very happy Kelly Farrin.

Later in the day, it was a surprise, and a very nice one, to be seated next to star pastry chef Zac Young – currently appearing on “Top Chef – Just Desserts” – at the demonstration/tasting event,  The Perfect Pairing, featuring Maine’s James Beard Award Winners. Zac, a Portland native, is the executive pastry chef at Flex Mussels in NYC and clearly, someone who likes to have a good time. After snagging him as a judge for The Record‘s Holiday Cookie Contest, we gossiped while watching chefs Sam Hayward of Fore Street in Portland, Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier of Arrows in Ogunquit and Melissa Kelly of Primo demonstrate simple fall dishes featuring local ingredients, matched with Chilean wines from Errazuriz.

An amuse bouche from Vervacious

Sam Hayward's Maine Sea Scallops with Trumpet Mushrooms and Hasty Pudding

We actually missed Melissa, because we had to leave early for dinner at Vignola with Jen and Thom but Ted managed to catch her “backstage” for this fun picture.