Culinary Tourism

Culinary tourism is defined as experiential travel, including local, domestic, and international tours, whereby one learns about and/or consumes food and drink reflecting a region’s cuisine and/or culture. Camden Maine is a New England Epicenter for Culinary tourism. The food and drink of the coast of Maine are superb and should be experienced by all. I have children and recently we went to NY for the traditional Italian family Christmas Eve fish dinner. My 10 year old son commented that the lobster in NY was not as good as the lobster in Maine. Most people at the party agreed. It was then that I realized the asset I have in my Maine neighborhood. The wonderful bounty of the sea: Frutta di Mar. The flavors of the coast are like no other.  Potatoes, vodka, fiddleheads,blueberries all worth trying when in Camden Maine.

I hestitate to share this wonderful website I recently came upon (don’t want everyone to know my great find). For those that want truely Maine Made protects, should check out http://www.transfigurationhermitage.org/. These nuns can make some awesome cookies and jams. They also make a great lasagna, but you can’t buy that online.

Camden Cookies for a Cause

The Camden Windward House Bed and Breakfast is hosting its first Cookie Walk. I baked 84 cookies today and prepared cookies dough for another 100 to baked off tomorrow. Tomorrow is the kick off to the Christmas By the Sea Holiday in the Mid Coast of Maine. It is a wonderful time to visit the area. There will be a parade in the downtown and the annual Christmas Tree Lighting. Saturday, Camden Windward House is the sponsor of Santa coming to Camden Harbor by Lobster Boat @ 11:30am. Santa motors in and then walks up to the Camden Public Library (12:00pm) to read the Night Before Christmas to the children. at 1:00 The Camden Windward House will host the Cookie Walk. The cookie fundraiser benefits local school nurse Judy Clossey. Judy has been helping area children for over 35 years.

1st coookie for the WALK:

White Chocolate and Rasperry Cookies:

11 ounces white baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp Salt

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup seedless jam

1/2 tsp shortening

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheet. Melt 4 ounces of white baking chocolate and let cool. Ta ke another 4 ounces of white chocolate and chop int small pieces.

2. Beat in  butter, sugar, baking soda and salt, beat until combined. Beat in eggs and melted white chocolate. Beat in flour, and then stir in extra 4 ounces of chopped white chocolat.

3. Drop by tsp onto cookie sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes. Bake until brown around the  edges and bottom. Let stand for 1 minute on the sheet then cool on rack.

4. Before serving, melt jam over low hea. Spoon onto of cookie. Heat the remaing 3 ounces of white chocolate and the shortening. Dizzle over the cookies, refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm.

ENJOY!!!

New Wine Tasting Law

Sign of the times, you can’t take your kids into a wine tasting room. Maine will pass a new law that children can not see you tasting wine. Although I somewhat agree with this law, I thought this article about the law was hysterical: http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/6729883.html , The last line, “We had a wine tasting this weekend and a couple with a baby stroller came in,” she said. “They would have had to leave the baby on the street or I guess the parents could take turns.” 

There are some wonderful wineries in the Mid coast of maine. The Cellardoor winery this year has decided to make their Wine stomping festival an adult only event, which makes sense, but boy was it fun to bring the kids the last 2 years. The winery had lots of things for the kids and it was fun for all. This year there will be a grand tent with orchestra music and dancing. Oct 2nd and 3rd, 2009.

Friday night, October 2, with a ticketed wine dinner-dance. Dinner will be served in the vineyard at Cellardoor Winery and each course will be paired with Cellardoor’s wines.  Dinner will be followed by desserts and dancing – dance music provided by Maine Pro Musica.
The Saturday, October 3 Vinfest lineup includes a stellar array of food, wine, music and activities for grown-ups. Cellardoor Winery will host grape stomping, a homemade wine competition, wine tastings, lunch prepared and served by Riverfront Barbeque & Grille of Augusta, wine cellar tours, live music all day, farm stands, hot air balloon rides and many other interesting activities.

Tickets for all Vinfest events will be on sale online. Tickets for the Friday night Vinfest dinner/dance are $100/person and will also gain you admission to the Saturday Vinfest activities. Saturday admission is $10/person.

4th of July Inn History 1854

I will write about the wonderful Camden Yacht Club dingy parade and add some pictures, but first i want to share some fourth of July history that I learned this evening. I was googling about Elijah Glover, the ship builder that built this Inn and I found out that he was not only a ship builder but a sea captain. More interesting than that, there is documentation that there was a family wedding here on the 4th of July 1854, the same year he finished building the house. I find great joy in this news, because it further proves to me that this house was always great for hosting groups of people and sharing wonderful moments.

The children dressed in red, white and blue and set out on their dingys, turn abouts and optys. They waved their flags, blew their wistles and yelled happy 4th of July. All of this took place in Camden Harbour. The rain stopped for their wonderul parade. It probally is the cutest thing you can witness.

Maine – “the lung of the USA”

I start todays blog with this great quote from a guest from Sweden. This couple has traveled to the US several times, but this was their first time in Maine. She told me she thought the area was so green and being near the ocean made this area the Lung of America. I had never thought of our little oasis as a lung but what a great reference. Jesse and I moved to Maine because we have 3 small children and we want to give them a healthy environment up bringing. Jes and I grew up in Staten Island, the home of Americas largest garbage dump. If anyone needed some new air it was me and Jes. Staten Island was a great place to grow up, and now the dump is closed, but nothing beats the fresh air of trees & Ocean.

The Summer has started and the gardens are bloom. Since we stopped using pesticides in the garden we have been host to several bird families. We currently have 2 nests with eggs. The mama Robins can be seen pulling the worms out the ground all day long. Jesse planted canadian roses this year. I am so proud of him for making this native choice. I keep trying to get him to plant potatoes, Maine is know for its potatoes – in case you didnt know (just ask Homer Simpson – he wore a t-shirt saying Maine Potatoes on the famous, long running Simpson’s show), but Jes insists on planting Tomatoes, being Italian and all, he thinks he can grow the best tomatoes, even if he is in MAINE.

The boats are going out, the hiking trails are open and the kayak guides are all anxious to paddle to curtis island with guests. A new addition to the area is the Megunticook Rowing. Life is good in Maine.