Mainely Fun!

“Fun”—that’s what the tag on my travel bag says.  Thankfully, I have had much of it on our East Coast trip.  In between the cornerstones of loving times with family and friends have been unique on-the-road discoveries, many of which centered around food—what a surprise!

Here are a few of my Maine favorites:

♥El El Frijoles near Sedgwick, Maine (near Penobscot Bay)—great Mexican food, with daily specialties, prepared by a husband and wife chef-team.  We ordered our dinner inside the small converted barn, then walked up an adjacent hill past the chefs’ home and their children’s play area, to their Makers’ Market Shop and Studio to buy our beverages. Quite a creative family compound. We then returned just in time to have our meals delivered to an outside serving area.  

The food was excellent, and we loved sitting at a picnic table talking with our neighboring diners, musing over the restaurant’s name (Might it be a punny reference to L.L. Bean, a Maine mainstay?)  We also loved reading and hearing about “The Hat,”  the restaurant’s solution to running out of specials or certain foods.  As El El Frijoles’ website says, “If you arrive and find a customer wearing “The Hat,” they are the last customer we will be serving for the evening and you’ll have to join us another time.  Be sure you are in front of The Hat!”

♥Blueberries for Sal, a classic children’s book by Robert McCloskey—I bought a copy as soon as we arrived in Maine and then we discovered that the original sketches for the book were the focus of The Art of Wonder exhibit at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, Maine.  We made a field trip there and were smitten with McCloskey’s art.  

We also learned that Robert McCloskey’s daughter Sarah, the inspiration for the character Sal, had recently come to the library to read some of her father’s books to an audience of 225 McCloskey admirers.  Plus, we discovered that the library had some interesting things other than books to check out…like pasta makers, blenders, food mills, a bocce ball set and a blueberry rake!   My, how library offerings have expanded!

♥ Farmers’ Market and Rubber Ducks in Belfast, Maine—We first visited what is touted as the best indoor year-round farmers’ market in Maine and loved talking with the food vendors, sampling tidbits (John especially liked the smoked mussels), and purchasing a few small creations from the local artists.

Then, after we left the market and walked down to the bay, we saw three large rubber ducks floating in the harbor.  Apparently, no one knows who is responsible for the ducks’ appearance.  And you will not believe their names—the littlest was Joy, the next size up Greater Joy, and the third one Greatest Joy. I want to adopt those ducks!! .  

So, dear friends, on that rubber ducky note, I say ta-ta for now and hope that life is presenting you with some summer fun!