Monthly Archives: February 2011

Home Sweet Home

On our return from 4 nights in Baltimore we stayed in Portland last night to see our son Fritz and his girlfriend Meghan, and Bruce’s sister Kelly, who owns the wonderful store, Nomads. Fritz and Meg both work in the restaurant business in Portland, where everyone seems to know each other and it is not unusual for a chef to send out something special to someone he knows from another restaurant. Last night, the chef at District sent out some extra goodies for our table. Fois gras, bone marrow, and oysters. I’m not a fan of liver of any kind, so I passed on the fois gras, but the bone marrow was delicious and buttery. Bruce doesn’t eat oysters and neither does Kelly. When I said I didn’t like oysters either, Fritz asked, “Have you ever eaten an oyster?” (How many times did I ask him that kind of question when he was a “picky eater” child?) Busted! I tried the oyster and you know what? I liked it. I didn’t eat another one only because I still had dinner coming and we had already eaten a fair share of appetizers. But I will definitely try them again.

This morning after a delicious breakfast chez Fritz and Meg, we headed north, happy to have seen lots of family, to have eaten (a ton of) really great food, to have gone to the theater and the movies, and to have had safe travel both ways. We made a last stop in Ellsworth for lunch and to get groceries for the week, then drove to Northeast Harbor in time to catch the 3:30 boat back to Islesford.

One of the best parts of a wonderful trip is coming home; where the bed is our own and the nightlight in the bathroom, in the middle of the night, is familiar.

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Airport Zentangle

By now, most people I know have heard of a zentangle. It’s a form of doodling that I saw most of my friends doing when I was in 5th grade (a moderately long time ago). Now it is back with a name, websites, blogs, you name it. It can be commercialized doodling or just plain doodling.  I’ve been wanting to try it , but I never found the time. Well, today, we were an hour early for our flight from BWI to Portland. I thought, hmm…this might be relaxing to try before the flight.

It really was relaxing and there is no wrong way to do it. I mean, it IS just a doodle.

(Relaxing, yes, but I am still an edgy flier so I still took a “preflight valium”)

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Working on Save the Date

Robin and Stephanie are making their own Save the Date cards for their wedding on 9-10-11. After watching the Super Bowl game we came back to their Baltimore house to work on finishing up a pile of cards. Well, actually Bruce and Stephanie worked out a system, and finished them up as a team.

One of the many things I like about Bruce, and Stephanie too, is that they are not above posing for a photo op.

Please do not be offended if you do not receive one. Stephanie has a very large family. (But if you are a member of Stephanie’s family you get to say, “Robin has a very large family.”)

 

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Steps for another satisfying sourdough saga

1. Sneak some sourdough starter from Islesford into carry on luggage. Leave some “health and beauty aids” at home to fit these little jars into the allotted size tiny plastic bag for liquids.

2. Feed starter 2 times with flour and water, showing future daughter-in-law what to do.

3. Show future daughter-in-law how to mix starter with more flour and water to make bread dough.  Add salt and fold dough at 30 minute intervals during the bulk ferment stage. Talk about September wedding plans. Leave dough in Tupperware container while going to the movies.

4. Come home from movies, fold dough one more time then shape into loaves and let rise in bowls lined with flour-covered towels. Go out to grab some pizza at Joe Squared for dinner, making sure to spend time in the art supply store next door while waiting for a table.

5. After eating terrific pizza, come home, turn oven on to 500º and heat up cast iron dutch oven.

6. Place first batch of dough in dutch oven, score with something sharp, cover and cook for 20 minutes at 450º.

7. Take lid off dutch oven, be amazed that the bread actually rose like you wouldn’t believe, and let it cook for another 20 minutes with lid off, so it will brown up and finish baking.

8. Ta Da!

The bread turned out crusty, chewy, and fairly sour. Exactly what Stephanie was hoping to bake.  I love that this strong young woman is going to be my daughter-in-law, that she an my son are so happy together, and that she so thoroughly enjoyed success with her first attempt at sourdough bread.

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Hmmm…post a day from away

What can I say? It’s Baltimore, and we are quiet island homebodies visiting the city. Lots of activity and lots of laughs with our son, his fiancee, Bruce’s sister and her husband: Robin, Stephanie, Karen and Hugh. First Friday activities in Hampden started at 6 pm. Wine tastings, cheese, chocolate, shopping, and then dinner at the Dogwood restaurant. (Those of you who know me well l know that I remained, as always, ready to be the designated driver. All of my tastings were cheese or chocolate.)

Earlier in the day, Karen and I went to Williams Sonoma in search of a bench knife ( for making bread) because I decided not to try to bring one in my carry-on luggage yesterday. I did manage to bring some little containers of sourdough starter, so we could make some bread here over the weekend. I fed the starter last night, then fed it again this morning and now there will be enough for 2 loaves of bread and a “mother” to keep going whenever Robin and Stephanie want to feed it for more bread.

Also, earlier in the day, I scored some excellent new friends for the mischievous kitties. More jewelry photo props perhaps.  Then again, the babies look far too capable of plotting something dangerous when my back is turned, so they may not find employment so easily.

 

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Lobster boat weathers the storm

Yup. That’s my name on Bruce’s boat. We drove through sunny skies to Portland to catch a flight out to Baltimore. Since we had the extra time, we stopped first in Trenton, where Bruce’s boat is hauled out for the winter. He shoveled about 18″from the deck.

We weren’t sure if our flight would be on time. It was full with people who were stranded yesterday. But the Air Tran experience was a good one. They allowed us to change our tickets twice, at no extra charge, due to the storm. Even though the plane was full, we left on time and arrived in Baltimore a few minutes early. Just in time to have Robin and Stephanie pick us up to go straight to the theater. “Jersey Boys” at the Hippodrome. Oh what a night!

 

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So nice, I’m posting it twice…

…no, not another snow photo! I think most of us can see enough of the white stuff through our own windows today. In the interest of the Post a Day challenge, I’m pulling something from my own archives to post before then storm causes us to lose power and our internet connection.

I wanted to look again at this image of the Virgin Mother, painted by Luca di Tommi in 1362 and posted last March by my friend Holly, on her blog. (She had just been to the Yale art gallery.) The colors are so rich. I love the glow inside the Madonna’s head covering, behind her neck. The teal blue behind her is the same color as the ocean here in the winter.

What also struck me on that day last March, was the shocking resemblance to the grilled cheese and tomato sandwich I was about to eat.

(I must say, that sure was one divine lunch.)

 

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What a winter

I’m not complaining about the snow…yet…What would be the point? It seems everyone is getting dumped on this year. We’re just trying to be flexible with travel plans. We were going to fly to Baltimore tomorrow night to stay with our son, Robin, and his fiancee Stephanie for a few days. As we watched the weather reports yesterday, we decided to go with plan B, and try to get out of Portland early tomorrow morning, before the storm started. That would have meant leaving the island at 11:30 today to drive the 3 hours to Portland, to stay in a hotel to catch a 6 a.m. flight. When snow and slick driving were predicted for this afternoon, and the big storm was moved up to arrive tomorrow morning, we found a plan C . We changed flight plans again and we’ll leave from Portland on Thursday at 5.

Plan C gave me time today to add some items to my Etsy page. Tomorrow I’ll add a few more before I pack. Not such a bad deal, though it looks like we might miss out on getting to the theater with Robin and Stephanie on Thursday night. Anyone looking for tickets to the Thursday night show of Jersey Boys at the Hippodrome in Baltimore?  Let me know and I’ll put you in  touch with my son.

Meanwhile, if you’re snowed in tomorrow, you can always go shopping on Etsy!

Tomorrow’s BIG snow has not even started yet.

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