We hit the Allagash fundraiser for MOFGA last Monday night and had a lovely time, visiting with our friend Katey, chatting with our buddy Sean, saying hi to Rob, and meeting some of our neighbors. Allagash donates $1 from each bottle of its Hugh Malone beef to MOFGA, plus this event raised almost $5000. Very cool!

It was also really generous of Evangeline's chef Erik Desjarlais to donate his space and his time, plus lots of delicious food, including steak frites, my favorite. The staff also helped by giving their time for free.

One of the things I love about the Portland area is how the restaurant owners and servers and everyone, really, all work together to make the community better.

There's another fundraiser from Allagash this weekend, the 23rd from 2-4 at Vignola, to benefit the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Med. If you want to go call (207) 772-1330.

I spent all day customizing the design portfolio for Otis's website. There are still a couple of things I would like to change but I am pretty happy with it for now. I'm still planning on redesigning this site too, but of course all of this has to happen before September when I go back to school.

We appear to be growing a squash plant under our porch. Anyone recognize it?

EDITED to add the news that it's a pumpkin! Someone threw a partially rotted pumpkin under the porch last fall and it has bloomed into a lovely plant. I am hoping I can preserve it until we get some little pumpkins this fall.

Otis and I had a fabulous and relaxing trip to Wellfleet, which of course included lots of good food and enjoyable visits with friends and family.

We drove up late Wednesday and had a terrible time with the weather-- we arrived, starving, around 9 p.m. Happily the Wicked Oyster was still serving so we popped over there for some burgers and drinks. Our burgers were perfectly cooked, and everything was lovely except the weird drink I had, which as Otis points out, was kind of predictable, given that it had vodka, coconut, and ginger.

The next day we slept super late, and then ran down to the Bookstore Restaurant for brunch. Otis is still talking about the enormous amount of lobster that he had on his Lobster Benedict, which was a reasonable $14.95 and had at least half a pound of meat, including three claws (my favorite part). My regular benedict was creamy and tasty, and the bloody mary's were truly delicious, especially accented as they were with pepperoncini. Nice touch!

After breakfast we drove down to Eastham to visit Gramma, and then came home for a rest. When it stopped raining we set out on the short walk to town, with Zeke in tow, in an effort to get some fish for dinner. As always, Hatch's fish market didn't disappoint, with some super-fresh swordfish and, of course, my favorite crab dip. That evening Otis prepared a lovely dinner and we had a nice quiet night.

Not so much Friday night-- Otis's parents came home Friday, and took us out to dinner at the new hip spot in Wellfleet, Sol. Sol is a Hawaiian-influenced restaurant which specializes in poke, a simple raw or lightly cooked fish dish. And wow, was the food at Sol delicious! We had two types of poke, both of which were incredibly fresh and perfectly seasoned. For my entree I chose fish tacos, which were simple and delicious with an avocado crema and cilantro, served with cabbage salad and white rice on the side. Also noteworthy was Walter's entree, a pulled Kahlua pork that was tender and richly flavored. Sol is BYOB, so we had a couple of bottles of wine, and Walter brought a 1/2 pint of Jack Daniels, which he enjoyed toasting to the wonderful staff. It was quite a lovely meal, with delicious food and great company. (Besides Walter and Jane, Otis's Aunt Joan and Uncle Jim came along.)

After dinner we stopped by Mac's Shack for a drink at the bar, where Otis's old friend Ethan is a bartender. Mac's has a great outdoor seating area, in addition to an expansive menu including a raw bar and sushi.

And of course no visit to Wellfleet is complete without a visit to the Bomb Shelter. Enough said there, we had a lovely evening, and I was reminded anew about how amazing the stars can be in a sky with minimal light pollution.

The next day we enjoyed more lovely walking with the doggie, and then a nice visit from the other side of Otis's family.

All in all it was a wonderful vacation, except much too short. Driving back on Sunday we both agreed that five days is simply inadequate to become fully relaxed!

We're leaving in about an hour for the cape. Too bad the weather is so dreary, but regardless I am looking forward to a wonderful 5 days of food and drink and relatives and relaxation. Evidently there is some fresh-caught cod awaiting us, thanks to a friend of my brother-in-law, and a plan for dinner out Friday night.

Mostly I'm thinking about sitting on the Baron family deck with the dog, reading a book, and eating crab dip.

When we come back I have high hopes: I am planning to do a blog redesign by the end of the summer. I'm also done with school, so I'll be back in the kitchen and posting CSA-veg-related recipes, which after all was the whole point of this project!

There's also a possibility that my friend Ravinder will become a guest writer, focusing on cocktails. If we can ever sit down and talk about how to work that!

We finally made it to the Green Elephant vegetarian restaurant on Congress Street last weekend-- and I wish we hadn't waited so long! It was an entirely pleasurable dining experience. The service was great, the ambiance lovely, and the food delicious. it definitely won't be long until we're back.

Because we were meeting friends, we planned on an early-ish dinner, and met at 6:30. After sitting down the waiter came over promptly and took our drink orders-- Otis and Andrew each had a beer from the fairly basic beer list, while Sara and I opted for glasses of pinot noir and riesling, respectively. The wine pours were quite generous, in lovely balloon glasses.

The waitstaff at Green Elephant write your order into palm pilot-type gadgets that wirelessly beam the info into the kitchen. I'm not sure if this is a huge time savings for them, but it sure is cool!

The menu was quite large, and we were all chatty and distracted, so we decided to order apps only first. Andrew and Sara are regulars, so they were able to recommend the Green Leaves Wrap with Mango and Herbs, which I would never in a million years have tried-- it's raw collard greens wrapped around raw herbs and mango. Although it sounds weird (raw collards??) it's actually very delicious. We also got Crispy Wontons, which were similar to a vegetarian version of crab rangoon, made vegan with soy cheese, and Deep Fried Vegetarian Spring Rolls, made with shiitake mushrooms. All of the apps were delicious, and despite being deep fried the latter two seemed very light and not greasy at all. The dipping sauces complemented the dishes perfectly, and the portions were quite generous.

We did eventually figure out what we wanted for our entrees, although it was difficult since everything sounded to tasty! I opted for the Hot & Sour Noodle soup, and Otis got the Far East Duck, which is actually "duck."

A word about the fake meats. Otis loves 'em. When he lived in Boston he was a regular at Buddha's Delight. They're not necessarily my favorite-- but I did try his "duck" and it was delicious. Happily for me, since I don't like duck, it didn't really taste like duck, and the sauce was wonderful. Similarly, my soup was great-- flavorful, spicy, and fully of great veggies.

So, if you haven't tried the Green Elephant yet, don't be like me and wait forever. Go!

608 Congress St. Portland, ME
207-347-3111

June 21 was our 5-year wedding anniversary, so we wanted to celebrate with a special dinner out. We'd been talking about checking out Bresca for a long time, because we had heard that it was fabulous-- but because it's so small, reservations are crucial, and planning ahead isn't always our forte.

Happily, we remembered to call and reserve about a month ahead of time. Even so, the only times available were 6:00 or 8:30. We opted for 6 under the theory that it would probably be a fairly leisurely meal and we could start with cocktails etc.

When we arrived, the space felt very inviting. It's tiny, true, but the decor is lovely and feels very homey. The staff is very friendly and welcoming. Otis had mentioned when he made the reservation that it was our anniversary, and so our server offered us complimentary sparkling wine, which was a nice touch.

After hearing about the specials we munched on some delicious crusty bread that we dipped in some fruity olive oil that was poured into our app plates. We opted for one of the special salads to start-- it had greens, speck, French beans, and asparagus spears in a light vinaigrette. It was absolutely delicious-- I consider it the high point of the meal.

For our entrees, we went in very different directions-- Otis went for the braised pig's feet, a dish which is an homage to Au Pied de Cochon, the famed Montreal restaurant. I opted for the fish special, salmon with citrus brown butter and lentils.

Both dishes were delicious, but perhaps a little overly rich. My salmon was perfectly cooked, with a tasty crispy skin and tender flesh, served on a bed of lentils. I didn't get a lot of citrus flavor from the brown butter, and overall the dish could really have used a little touch of acidity-- it had a slightly sweet undertone.

The braised pig's feet were delicious, but again, very rich and slightly sweet. As a first time pig's-foot-eater, Otis also felt a little frustrated at how little yield of meat there was on the plate.

Because of the richness and sweetness of the meal, neither one of us felt too much like dessert, which was too bad, since Bresca is renowned for its desserts.

Our meal at Bresca was, overall, quite delicious. If you detect a tone of disappointment in this entry, it's because it didn't quite live up to its reputation, I thought. We'll definitely give it another try some time-- everything really was quite delicious-- but Bresca won't be joining the frequent restaurant rotation.

Word is the folks behind the Foreside Tavern and Sidebar will be opening a new restaurant in the Chestnut Street Church. The plan is apparently to preserve the architectural features of the building, including the interior. I haven't heard whether there's a specific menu or culinary approach planned, but it seems the interior will feature an enormous bar. The restaurant will be called 'Grace.' Sounds like a really cool project. I love the fact that the owners realize that historical preservation and commerce can go hand in hand. Rock on Anne and Peter!

Wolf Pine Farm started its CSA deliveries this week. As usual, the first week of delivery is fairly light-- we got 2 heads of lettuce, 1 bunch of tat soi, 1 bunch kale, 1 bunch spicy mustard greens, and 2 whole green garlic plants.

Whole green garlic is one of my favorites. It tastes like a milder form of garlic with the texture of scallions. We'll have to ponder what to do with it... or maybe Otis will. I'm at school, then work, then school from 7:45 to 7:15 almost every day, which is cutting into my cooking time. Luckily Otis has been producing an endless stream of fabulous meals, most recently crispy tofu with chinese mushrooms, baby bok choy, and buckwheat soba. Mmmm.

The 'Grill Wok' is a beauteous invention. It allows your vegetables to get the great flavors that grilling over charcoal imparts, without losing the vegetables between the holes in the grate.

In our house, Otis is the grillmaster, and he has developed this recipe for making vegetables that is simply phenomenal. The other day he made fennel in this style (to accompany grilled monkfish...mmm) and the two of us alone ate two entire bulbs of fennel.

If you want a grill wok they have them at Hannaford for 15 or 20 dollars. Totally worth it!

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb green beans or other vegetables, washed and trimmed (and chopped if necessary)
2 T olive or peanut oil
1/2 T salt (kosher)
1/2 T sugar
1 or 2 T malt vinegar (or rice vinegar if you want an Asian flair)
1/4 t black pepper
3 cloves or garlic, pressed or minced very fine

1.Place the veggies in a large bowl and toss with oil, salt, and sugar to coat
2. Place in 'grill wok' and grill, tossing frequently, until cooked
3. Remove from heat and return to bowl
4. Add vinegar, black pepper, and garlic, and toss to coat
5. Cover bowl tightly with saran wrap and let sit for 5 minutes
6. Serve!