Thursday, August 21, 2008

Mission : Seafood

So Monday morning a few of us hopped in Uncle Bucks suburban and head to Portland, about 30 minutes from Kennebunk, to procure seafood for meals for the next few days. Anne was at the wheel so we didn’t feel like outlaws so much, she pays her tolls. Anne has a few shops she thinks we will enjoy shopping and so we’re off. First stop is a kitchen store. They not only have tools for the kitchen and I mean a lot of tools for the kitchen, but they also have some specialty foods. One isle alone is devoted to Olive Oils and Vinegars. Stacey and I must have tasted 6 or 7 of each. They have these small kegs with a tap on each and little plastic cups for trying the different oils and vinegars. Each keg has a small card with a description of each. We tried balsamic with fig, we tried 40 year old balsamic, we tried 20 year green olive oil, we tried oil with garlic and many more. The two we liked the best were the oil with blood orange and an oil with truffles, we bought one of each. I also picked up some chocolate. They had these little bars made with exotic ingredients. Some made with green tea, some made with cocoa from Africa. I grabbed a handful of these.

From there it was up the street for lunch. Just across the street was a small place to get rolls and clams and local fare. One of the local offerings was the beer. Shipyard is the local brewer and they have a lot of different beers to try, so I did. Over the next few days I tried all their beers and the only ones I didn’t care for were the beers brewed with fruit, all the others were very good. So we ordered food and sat out on a pier, in the harbor eating and drinking local brew. It didn’t suck, here are a couple photos. One photo of my lunch, it was as good as it looked and another photo of our view during lunch.

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Next we hit the local, fresh seafood store. It was on a side street that looked like a movie set. entrance, Harbor Fish Market, Portland, Maine by lumierefl. This is a view of the other side of this street, I wish I lived there.

The Porthole Restaurant, 20 Custom House Wharf, Portland, Maine by lumierefl.

At this classic seafood market we bought scallops, crab meat, halibut, flounder, shrimp and corn. As you can tell we were gonna be eating gooooood!

The weather was a little damp so we quickly hit the bakery for bread and cookies and then we found an Italian specialty shop and picked up some cheeses and olives and the likes. Satisfied with our shopping we loaded back up and headed back to Kennebunk Beach.