Eating In Maine: A Book Review w/ A Touch Of Homesickness

Right about now I am feeling pretty homesick for Maine. Maybe it is the fact that it has been two years since I made a brief summer visit to the town where I grew up. Perhaps it is because we have another, much longer Maine trip looming on the horizon. Or perhaps it is the decidedly non- summer weather we have been experiencing here in Belgium that makes me crave a warm Maine summer day--the type that is cool and crisp in the morning and evening with just the right amount of heat in the middle of the day. Actually, I think it is the combination of all of the above. Add in the recent arrival of my long awaited Eating In Maine book by Maine food bloggers Jillian and Malcolm Bedell and I just can't wait to "go home." But that trip is still weeks away so in the meantime I've been fulfilling my Maine cravings with their book and enjoying every minute of it.

Now this isn't your ordinary cookbook; part travel guide and part restaurant reviews with 115 recipes (hence the cookbook part) and lots of personal commentary, it is everything I would expect from these two great bloggers. The unknowing might be surprised to learn that Maine has a burgeoning foodie scene but it does. I remember spending a considerable amount of time in Portland a few years ago and being surprised myself at the number of great, innovative restaurants that were available. (Hot Suppa was my go to lunch option during the month Sidney was in the hospital there). And the options aren't just limited to Portland. The Bedells capture these places in their book but also focus on the small, out of your way or casual (this picnic table) eateries that are Maine institutions.


In many respects reading this book (OK, drooling over the photographs) was a type of homecoming for me. Malcolm grew up in the same area as I did only a decade later. But his references to the Maine dining institutions brought all of the memories back for me. Pies at Moody's Diner (do you only get to choose one type?) and hot dogs cooked in peanut oil from Wasses Hot Dogs, (Glenn thought he had died and gone to heaven when I introduced him to this hot dog stand and to this day it is the first place we stop when we hit the Mid Coast area) are an important part of my childhood memories. And then you have Dysart's, the truck stop in Bangor, Maine where nothing tasted better than a hot open faced turkey sandwich after spending a week backpacking in Baxter State Park. These places aren't fancy and would probably be looked down upon by more sophisticated appetites but they are a part of my Maine experience. And then there are the recipes for whoopie pies and dishes that include Moxie. It really doesn't get more Maine than this.

This book not only leaves my feeling hungry but it has me wanting to both cook and eat out at the restaurants they recommend. I don't particularly care for lobster (I know, call me a bad Mainer) but the pictures, recipes and restaurant reviews have me craving a fresh lobster roll.  As for my other meals, I'm still undecided but the options really are limitless. In fact, in this day and age of e-readers, I'm going to allot some of my precious luggage weight to bringing this book to Maine with me. It may be too soon to start packing for the trip but I can certainly start planning my Maine meals and begin cooking my way through their recipes.

All I Want For Christmas....... Is A Bacon Cheeseburger

Everyone once in a while a craving strikes me and until it is fulfilled it is all I can think about.  Last week it was a bacon cheeseburger that got me thinking and I just wouldn't be able to turn my thoughts to other things until I ate one.  Now this is a strange thing for me to crave since I've never been a huge fan of hamburgers and I really try not to think about foods I can't easily get here since it just makes my cravings unbearable.  But for better or worse, a bacon cheeseburger it was.

It all started with my checking my email while drinking my first cup of morning coffee.  As has become my habit lately, I check out a couple of the blogs I follow to see if there were any new postings. One of the wonderful things about having a six hour time difference between Albania and the East Coast of the United States is that I can usually wake up to an in box full of new reading material.  On this particular morning From Away a new favorite food blog based in Maine had posted a restaurant review of L & H Burgers, a new gourmet burger restaurant in Rockland, Maine.  This immediately caught my attention since this small Mid-Coast city has gentrified so much since I was growing up in the area.  After reading this blog entry and even though it was still the early pre-dawn hours where it is simply too early to eat a burger,  all I could think about was a good old bacon cheeseburger.

Apparently it is all about what you can't have.  My mind wandered to the last time I ate a real American hamburger.  Since I'm not normally a fan, I didn't eat one when I was back in the United States this past August.  I remember being moderately tempted to have a Five Guys Burger during my layover in Washington but instead opted to try out a wine bar I had always seen but never sampled.  (I didn't regret my panini sandwich and wine tasting one bit).  I think the last time I had a cheeseburger was during a training in Budapest back in May when a group of us decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe to get a dose of Americana.  As I recall, the burger was good but not great.

So this brings me back to my craving and a moment of foolishness last week.  As we do many work days, Glenn and I had lunch together in the Embassy cafeteria.  Their menu isn't fancy and consists of pretty good Albanian food, decent Italian food, and not so great American food.  I usually stick to soup and salads with the occasional pasta thrown in for variety.  Unaware of my cheeseburger craving, Glenn ordered a bacon cheeseburger with a side of fries.  Before I could really think about what I was doing, and much to the surprise of myself, the waiter and our table mates, I found myself ordering the same thing. I immediately knew I would regret it but I did it anyway.

And as predicted, from the very first bite I rued my choice.  It is hard to explain but any burger in Albania just doesn't compare to one of the a fore mentioned hamburger choices.  The meat is different in both taste and texture and the overly sweet ketchup does nothing to help the sandwich's cause.  No matter how much I closed my eyes and tried to pretend it was something different it just wasn't.  My Albanian bacon cheeseburger was just a poor imitation of the real American ground beef patty I had craved.  I still have my craving by my lesson has been learned (for the moment anyway).  I will stick with soup and salad and not think about all of those wonderful foods that I just can't find here.  At least the side of French fries were passable.