Tag: Portland

Maine Moments: First Days

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MAINE IN 2021

On Saturday, we traded hot Florida sun and humidity for cool gray Maine.  Due to airline schedules and a cancelled flight to Portland on Friday, we flew into Boston’s Logan Airport.  Waiting for our bags and then dealing with the scrum of people all pressed together waiting for the bus to the rental car center was one task. Getting ourselves and all our many bags onto the crowded bus was another!  Thanks to a mother with a young child on her hip, we and our bags made it on board.

Masks were required in the airport and on the airport buses.  Once in the rental car garage, few masks were in evidence; those that were, were mostly on young kids.  Social distancing is still encouraged and urged, and you are advised to wear a mask entering any business or store if you have not been vaccinated.  This means we’ll be able to freely socialize with our friends, inside each other’s homes and without masks.  

The bigger issue is the hit that restaurants and other businesses have taken due to the Covid epidemic.  Many restaurants are unable to find and hire enough staff to cover all the hours they wish to be open.  Add to this missing, delayed, or shortchanged food deliveries given staffing shortages at the large distribution warehouses, and you have another reason for their shorter hours.  Several local restaurants are closed a weekday or two, and some didn’t open at all this season.  But there are more tourists here than last year and so the demand for tables makes reservations essential!  Even the general store on this island is now closed all day Sunday and only open until 4 pm the rest of the week.  

Our first full day here, it teemed rain on and off all day, and the high only reached 64.  Despite that, it’s good to be back!

MONDAY FORAY TO PORTLAND

It’s a complicated story, but we had to drive down to Portland to deal with paperwork related to our rental car.  That errand was blessedly quick and gave us the excuse to go to downtown Portland and spend a bit of time in the Old Port area.  I was able to replenish my supply of note and greeting cards at Sherman’s.  We then made our annual visit to Le Roux Kitchen, a longtime favorite, where we picked up several thematic Maine mugs (simple white with blue and gray whales), paring knives and a grater, and several styles of cocktail napkins.  

Alfresco dining at Duckfat

The high point of this expedition, however, was an indulgent lunch at Duckfat, a casual eatery on Middle Street specializing in Belgian fries and local charcuterie.  We ate a wonderful lunch here two years ago and the return visit was also special.  All seating this year is outdoors under a robust wooden structure outfitted with picnic tables.  We ordered the fries, of course, a glass each of Albarino, the blistered shishito peppers, and the charcuterie board of ham, duck, and smoked salmon with appropriate garnishes.  

Very tasty!  When asked if we’d like doughnut holes for dessert, we couldn’t resist!  A small metal cone of six holes arrived along with a caramel dipping sauce with overtones of maple.  The holes had been rolled in cinnamon sugar and the interior was accented with citrus.  Yum!  Even better than churros and chocolate!

Doughnut holes!

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

View of cove at Molly’s Point

Departing Maine & Arriving Florida

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WINDING DOWN MAINE

Our airline threw us a curve when it changed our departing flight from a very civilized 12:45 pm to before sunrise at 6:00 am.  Thus, we left our rental house a day early, drove down to Portland and spent the night at the airport Hilton Garden Inn,.  We’d been told that the hotel was offering no services (no food, no shuttle) and that it was mostly empty.  Imagine our surprise, when we arrived and learned that they were sold out that night!  Granted, it was the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, but early in the week, the hotel gentleman had said everyone’s gone home, back to school and so on.  

We took an Uber to downtown Portland, the Old Port area, our first time there this summer, and wandered around a bit.  Many streets in that neighborhood are closed off and restaurants abound, offering food and drink outside in properly spaced tables and booths.  There were more people on the street than I’d seen anywhere.

Creative way to offer drinks and food

We had booked an early table on the patio (really in the street) for dinner at Petite Jacqueline, a bistro we’d frequented in the past.  The tables were appropriately distanced, and all the staff were wearing masks.  It was a treat to be waited upon and served.  We enjoyed a panzanella salad and roasted Brussels sprouts followed by lobster rolls with tarragon mayonnaise and a stack of sinful skinny fries.

FLYING IN THE AGE OF COVID

Maine is serious about social distancing and wearing masks and there were signs and announcements galore at the Portland airport.  It’s paid off because they have one of the lowest numbers of cases and deaths of any state in the U.S.  

American Airlines was also serious.  Although they don’t block off any seats on the planes, they required everyone to be wearing a mask. The flight attendants on both flights went up and down the aisle several times checking.  They also warned that noncompliant passengers could be denied the right to fly with them in the future.  No food or drink was offered.

In the Charlotte airport, there were also announcements about masks, but they didn’t sound as forceful as those in Portland.  I did see a couple of individuals without masks.  And I was struck by how busy this airport was—-many more people traveling than when we’d flown on a Tuesday in mid-July!  

Both our flights boarded efficiently, left on time, and arrived on time or few minutes early.  Deplaning was done by rows from the front.  Passengers were requested to wait seated until the row in front of them had been vacated, and folks seem to cooperate with this instruction.  All in all, I felt as safe as was possible given everything.

FLORIDA RE-ENTRY

mangroves along the bay
Mangroves overlooking Sarasota Bay

When we left home in July, the state of Florida was a Covid-19 hotspot.  Our area wasn’t as bad as Miami-Dade, but still far too many new cases each week and very spotty mask requirements or enforcement.  Now, there are more signs about masks and, it seems more people are being observant.  Before we left town, Fresh Market required masks to enter, but Publix supermarkets did not.  We are pleased that now masks are required for entering a Publix.

The Hannaford stores in Maine made their grocery aisles one way with green arrows on the floor on one end and red exit signs at the other.  I’d gotten so used to this that I kept expecting to see a green arrow in Publix allowing me to proceed down the aisle, but not so.  

It was 57 degrees when we woke up in Maine on Saturday, 82 the afternoon before in Portland, and 80 this morning here in Florida with a predicted high of 94!  Boy, did I love the cool pleasant air of the Maine coast!

VIEWING

Radioactive (Amazon Prime)
Rosamund Pike (the guardian.com)

I didn’t realize until this film was almost over that it is based on Lauren Redniss’ 2010 graphic novel of the same name.  That’s a colorful arty book chock full of information.   I had read it with science book club I facilitated at the Academy of Sciences in San Franciso. 

Marie Curie, its subject, was a passionate, arrogant, brilliant, driven woman.  She loved science and was determined to do science no matter who or what might get in her way.  The film recounts her struggle to get lab space, her attraction to and then marriage to Pierre Curie, and their joint work on radium.  That same radium sickened them both and he died an early death.  Madame Curie was passionate in her personal life also. Her later affair with a married man sullied her somewhat suspect reputation as a “dirty Pole.”  

The film is gripping and full of emotion.  It is less successful with the interjection of more contemporary events, such as the use of radiation to treat cancer or the tragedies of Hiroshima and Chernobyl.  While these events highlight the positive and negative sides of the Curies’ discoveries, they are jarring interruptions in the arc of Marie’s life.  Nonetheless, definitely worth watching! (~JWFarrington)

Note: Header photo and other unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
  

Maine Time: Pausing in Portland

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PORTLAND INTERLUDE

As is our wont, our annual trip to Maine included about 36 hours in Portland.  Portland is red brick and squawking gulls (Florida seagulls don’t seem to squawk, at least I haven’t heard them).  It’s also home to a branch of the ubiquitous Sherman’s (books lowercase, gifty items uppercase), the seriously good Longfellow Books, and a plethora of good to great restaurants.  It’s a real foodie’s town.  And in our short time there, we managed to squeeze in a tasty lunch at the Garden Café, two superb dinners, and an atmospheric, but somewhat disappointing, lobster roll lunch in the Old Port.  

We like to stay at the Portland Regency Hotel in the historic Armory building.  It’s conveniently located close to the touristy Old Port yet also easily walkable to the center of town and to the Portland Art Museum.  Like all of the hotels this season, it’s pricey—summer is when Portland makes real money.

On our way to dinner one night, we stopped in at said art museum (turned out it’s free from 4:00 to 8:00 pm on Fridays) and found the exhibit of the photography of Clarence White most interesting.  Self taught, White gained attention at the beginning of the 20thcentury for his soft focus photos of women and children and was later commissioned to do illustrations for a number of books and for advertising.  He also was one of the first individuals to teach photography in a university setting, at Columbia and also elsewhere.

WHERE WE ATE

Garden Café

This is the Regency hotel’s outdoor dining spot, and when the weather is perfect, which it was on Thursday, it was just right for lunch.  The menu includes the usual coastal fare of fish and chips, chowder, and lobster rolls, but you can also order a quesadilla with chicken or one from their appetizing selection of salads.  Service is leisurely, but who wants to hurry on a beautiful day!

Hugo’s

Hugo’s is a seriously good restaurant and the dinner we enjoyed here was exquisite.  The menu is divided into three sections:  appetizers, to share, and mains.  We ordered mostly from the appetizers section with the addition of one entrée and shared everything.  The cold smoked halibut with almond milk and ramps was different and delectable, the tuna tartare luscious, and the orcchiette with lamb bacon and spinach an inspired and hearty combination.

As a main, we sampled the roasted scallops with mole, probably the best scallops I’ve ever eaten!  Seating is in booths or stools at the bar and the wait staff are all very friendly and welcoming.  For those who may be hesitant about this refined food, the staff will put them at ease.

Chaval

This Spanish style casual place in the west end is celebrating its first anniversary this week. We have dined at Piccolo, its sister Italian restaurant in the Old Port, several times and found it so wonderful, we felt we needed to try Chaval.  Chaval too is marvelous.  There is pleasant indoor seating, but we opted for the walled-in patio out back and were charmed by the bold painted flowers on the building wall.

The menu has a number of tapas dishes on the To Start section of the menu along with Stuck in the Middle and Forks and Knives.  We like small plates and so tried the fried cauliflower, patatas bravas (the Chief Penguin pronounced these the best ever!), deviled eggs with shrimp and caviar, and a special of the night, duck rillettes.  

These were several bites each and thus, we then went on to lettuce and nuts (a salad with walnuts and cabrales blue cheese) and a beautifully presented plate of shrimp a la plancha.  To end, we succumbed to an order of churros.   Another wonderful meal!

READING UPDATE

#8  Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

This historical novel has so many different strands at work that it’s difficult to know what aspects to pinpoint.  It’s a story about a father-daughter relationship, albeit one that exist in bursts with 12-year old Anna recounting a memorable outing with her father, followed by his disappearance, and then her resignation at knowing his fate.  It’s also about the divers who worked at the Brooklyn Naval Yard during WWII and how Anna becomes the first female diver.  And there’s the shadowy background of the mob—the corrupt underworld of nightclubs and shady yet tantalizingly seductive men like Dexter Styles.  Egan brings all this together in a compelling, richly detailed, dark tale that kept this reader wondering how it would all come together and whether any of these characters, Anna, her hapless mother, or her rootless aunt Brianne, would find ease and stability.

For the record, more than fifteen publications included this work on their lists of the top books of 2017. (~JWFarrington)

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).  Header photo is back side of restaurant Chaval.

Portland: Red Brick & Raucous Gulls

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MEANDERING IN PORTLAND

We had a day and a half to ramble up and down Portland’s red brick streets and to explore the shops and restaurants of this New England center of cuisine and culture.  The sidewalks of slightly uneven rectangular red bricks add charm and old world authenticity while echoing the 19th century building architecture, much of it also brick.  It’s a small port city that is enlivened by tourists in June, July, and August, and you are always within earshot of squawking gulls.

In addition to visiting both Sherman’s of Portland (Maine’s oldest bookshop) and Longfellow Books (a serious and well-stocked bookstore that is just books), I loaded up on notecards and stickers (the latter for my granddaughter) at Paper Patch, bought hostess gifts at K & Cotelette (a sophisticated home furnishings shop), and picked up knick-knacks and knives at Le Roux Kitchen.  We also stopped into Browne Trading Market to gaze hungrily (it was a day without lunch) at the fish case and to purchase some appealing-looking cocktail jams, and then into Angela Adams to ponder their colorful contemporary area rugs. For a return visit, I will be sure to check out Print, a new independent bookstore in the east end.

A walk to the art museum meant we could enjoy the recently mounted outdoor sculpture display.  The sun had just come out and we were hesitant about going indoors.

Human Structures by Jonathan Barofsky

Hearsay, 2014 by John Bisbee

Raising Cain, 1999-2000, by Celeste Roberge

On our way back, we stopped to inspect the trade posters in the Maine Historical Society’s windows, a fun teaser for one of their exhibits.

     

We also checked out the society’s shop (very nice!) and that netted a couple of postcards to mail to our granddaughters.  One of a Whoopie Pie for the 1-year old and the other of coastal Maine showing both Portland and Boothbay Harbor for the five year old.

While there, we did a brief tour of the Wadsworth-Longfellow House which was staffed by junior docents (think middle school age) and was free admission for that hour.  The house was built in 1786 by poet Longfellow’s grandparents and he and his parents moved here in 1807 shortly after he was born.  The last resident was his sister who bequeathed it to the historical society upon her death in 1901.  The house has been restored to look like it did in 1851.

Note:  All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).