Vacation Cooking and Beyond

After vacation I always do a post about what I cooked. Alas, this year the inspiration was not with me. I did do a pretty good curried lobster with coconut milk and fresh vegetables (beets, beet greens and corn) but it was damned ugly visually. I made some piss poor haddock, usually one of my favorite simple things. I did make a nice lobster salad in a basil vinaigrette but overall....eh. I did make good burgers with local ground beef and some chorizo from the organic farm we like up there. Those were pretty great...and some chicken thighs because hell, those are hard to ruin. We ate mind you, and ate fine, but wonderful meals just weren't in the cards this year. It's a shame too because we actually had a heavenly kitchen in our Lubec rental. The woman we rent from there has totally ruined us for other rentals...

I may have eaten the most lobster ever on one of these trips. We went out to breakfast twice and both times I ordered a lobster omelet. The first one was lobster but still lackluster. The second one was a restaurant in Lubec and was much better although I still find it odd to put cheese in a lobster omelet. Is that just me? The best of the three lobster omelets I had however was the one I made. I didn't yet have the hang of the pans and the stove so it did stick, but damn it was good. Just eggs with lobster, parsley and some chopped heirloom tomatoes with a bit of salt and pepper. It may have been the best thing I made the whole trip. 

Omelet 1 from Lobster Cove in York Harbor, Maine.

Omelet 2 from Inn at the Wharf in Lubec.

Omelet 3 from me.

first picture is in process because it fell apart in the end...probably too much filling but what...you're NOT going to use all the leftover lobster?


After Lubec we met up with my sister Debbie who had taken the train up from Boston. We picked her up in Brunswick and hung out in a house on Orr's Island for a few days. My poor sister Debbie usually looks forward to my cooking...this year I just didn't come through for her. Oh well...she loves me anyway (I think)! And she, as she does every time we see her, fixed traditional stuffed and broiled lobster just the way our Grandpa did. And, although of late I tend to prefer mussels over steamers, this year we had the best steamers ever. It was heavenly. Thanks Debbie!

steamers being steamed

dipped in clambroth, then butter, then devoured...reportedly I adored these even as a baby in my highchair....

stuffed and ready for the broiler

and after

Yesterday was our first day back and my birthday as well (thanks for all the birthday wishes!). We had a lovely, lazy day. A birthday drink at Fries and Peanuts, later I felt like cooking for once. Ernie had picked up some salmon and I made an avocado/spinach sauce (just pureed fresh spinach, two avocados, the juice of a lemon, some olive oil, a dash of water and some salt and pepper). Then the salmon, which was smoked (they were out of fresh) we warmed up and set on the bed of avocado/spinach. We added a couple of corn fritters to each plate (just corn off the cob, lots of black pepper, a bit of salt, one egg and some cornstarch) to the plate along with chopped garden tomatoes courtesy Heather and Steve, and topped the whole thing with a spicy basil oil (olive oil, red pepper flakes and thai basil from the garden). It was delicious. I was so pleased with myself. The picture is not great because I was lazy and the flash is too bright but just the same...you get the idea....

In the middle of the night Ernie suddenly shot up from the bed and raced the bathroom. He came back telling me he didn't feel too good. Sigh. Within the half hour I was also miserable. 

I finally end up feeling a little inspired about cooking and we end up with food poisoning? Really?

Sigh.

Well, vacation is truly over now.