So this past weekend Emmy and I took a trip up to Maine. Specifically, to Damariscotta, Round Pond, and Pemaquid.
Our arrival in Damariscotta was accompanied by the most fantastic lunch on the planet, ever. Now, I know I've talked about this place before but it bears repeating: "The King Eider Pub" is the best place to eat, period. It's my favorite restaurant, hands down.
We had, of course, the baked brie with honey and split, at my reccomendation, the BBQ'd salmon sandwhich. Just dump the sauce all over everything and go to town. This is feel-good food at its best. They also have a raw oyster bar. Like, a whole bar devoted to oysters. And several people we asked in town said, quite without prompting, that the King has the best chowder on the penninsula. All other options were "okay, but King Eider's is the best".
Then, we went beach-combing at Pemaquid Point, picking up a good couple bits of sea glass and forgotten pottery. I like to think of it as Litter Patrol.
We returned to Round Pond, where we were to spend the night, and got our ice cream fix at the famous Granite Hall Store. I had the Bear Tracks. Yum, now that's summer.
The next day we had coffee from the shop by the book store, right downtown in Damariscotta. Did you know they make their own whipped cream? I mean, wow. #bestcoffeeanywhere
And then it was on the Fort William Henry, where we met some Living History folks (professional re-enactors) who fired off muskets, answered our million questions about clothing, culture, and history, and told us that a normal soldier's ration in the 1760's-era was dried peas, bread, salt pork, and molasses. In fact, you just missed lunch where we had dried peas, bread, salt pork, and molasses. Can you guess what we're having for dinner?
All in all, they were a hoot and really informative. Emmy and I wandered around the site where the living history village is planned to be implemented in the next couple years (donate please!), saw a wattle & daub house (combination of clapboard and cob), and visited the graveyard. Did you know that the soldiers at the fort had their food shipped up from Boston? I mean, how interesting is that? In the years before the Revolution the soldiers, who had the perfectly good town of Bristol just a couple miles away, had non-local food. They didn't even keep pigs, cows, or chickens on site in the fort, just repair services like a blacksmith.
Also, in its day the fort cost 20,000 British Pounds. If the cost of 1 lb of tea in that era is 20 Pounds, or two weeks' wages, then the fort cost roughly 1,000 lbs of tea. A normal weekly wage was about 8-10 Pounds. So it would have then taken the average man 38.46 years at least to pay for the cost of the fort, if he was donated everything else he needed to live. (Emmy wants you to know that my source for wages and cost of tea is 1800's, not 1700's. Specifically, Jane Austen's era.)
So, that's my nerd bomb for the day.
Onward to lunch! We took a quick trip from the fort over to the Seagull, a place right next to Pemaquid Point. As was earlier illustrated we could have gone right back to King Eider, but I know for a fact that the Seagull keeps "fish chowder" on their menu all year long so that's where we went. I had the fish chowder, Emmy had the clam chowder. Chowder, wicked, and lobster, is it any wonder I'm in love with this girl? Sigh.
Then, once more, on our way out of town we stopped at the Rising Tide Co-op, and vowed to pick up a local Maine cheese. We choose Eleanor Buttercup, Hahn's End Cows Milk. It was spicey and deep, with the light taste of New England, but with a strangeness to it that reminded me of blueberries crossed with peppercorns. It tasted, I kid you not, exactly like Maine. I don't know how I know this without all the palette training I did at Fromagination, or its equivalent, but I do. It was Maine through and though.
The cheese is always revealing, it seems. It has more to say about the land it comes from than nearly any other food.
Happy eating!
xoxoxo,
Kim & Emmy
Our arrival in Damariscotta was accompanied by the most fantastic lunch on the planet, ever. Now, I know I've talked about this place before but it bears repeating: "The King Eider Pub" is the best place to eat, period. It's my favorite restaurant, hands down.
We had, of course, the baked brie with honey and split, at my reccomendation, the BBQ'd salmon sandwhich. Just dump the sauce all over everything and go to town. This is feel-good food at its best. They also have a raw oyster bar. Like, a whole bar devoted to oysters. And several people we asked in town said, quite without prompting, that the King has the best chowder on the penninsula. All other options were "okay, but King Eider's is the best".
Then, we went beach-combing at Pemaquid Point, picking up a good couple bits of sea glass and forgotten pottery. I like to think of it as Litter Patrol.
We returned to Round Pond, where we were to spend the night, and got our ice cream fix at the famous Granite Hall Store. I had the Bear Tracks. Yum, now that's summer.
The next day we had coffee from the shop by the book store, right downtown in Damariscotta. Did you know they make their own whipped cream? I mean, wow. #bestcoffeeanywhere
And then it was on the Fort William Henry, where we met some Living History folks (professional re-enactors) who fired off muskets, answered our million questions about clothing, culture, and history, and told us that a normal soldier's ration in the 1760's-era was dried peas, bread, salt pork, and molasses. In fact, you just missed lunch where we had dried peas, bread, salt pork, and molasses. Can you guess what we're having for dinner?
All in all, they were a hoot and really informative. Emmy and I wandered around the site where the living history village is planned to be implemented in the next couple years (donate please!), saw a wattle & daub house (combination of clapboard and cob), and visited the graveyard. Did you know that the soldiers at the fort had their food shipped up from Boston? I mean, how interesting is that? In the years before the Revolution the soldiers, who had the perfectly good town of Bristol just a couple miles away, had non-local food. They didn't even keep pigs, cows, or chickens on site in the fort, just repair services like a blacksmith.
Also, in its day the fort cost 20,000 British Pounds. If the cost of 1 lb of tea in that era is 20 Pounds, or two weeks' wages, then the fort cost roughly 1,000 lbs of tea. A normal weekly wage was about 8-10 Pounds. So it would have then taken the average man 38.46 years at least to pay for the cost of the fort, if he was donated everything else he needed to live. (Emmy wants you to know that my source for wages and cost of tea is 1800's, not 1700's. Specifically, Jane Austen's era.)
So, that's my nerd bomb for the day.
Onward to lunch! We took a quick trip from the fort over to the Seagull, a place right next to Pemaquid Point. As was earlier illustrated we could have gone right back to King Eider, but I know for a fact that the Seagull keeps "fish chowder" on their menu all year long so that's where we went. I had the fish chowder, Emmy had the clam chowder. Chowder, wicked, and lobster, is it any wonder I'm in love with this girl? Sigh.
Then, once more, on our way out of town we stopped at the Rising Tide Co-op, and vowed to pick up a local Maine cheese. We choose Eleanor Buttercup, Hahn's End Cows Milk. It was spicey and deep, with the light taste of New England, but with a strangeness to it that reminded me of blueberries crossed with peppercorns. It tasted, I kid you not, exactly like Maine. I don't know how I know this without all the palette training I did at Fromagination, or its equivalent, but I do. It was Maine through and though.
The cheese is always revealing, it seems. It has more to say about the land it comes from than nearly any other food.
Happy eating!
xoxoxo,
Kim & Emmy
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