Maine + Friends + Concert + Lobster

I had a crazy fun weekend in one of my favorite places and want to give you guys the slightly abbreviated re-cap.  I didn't bring my real camera with me, so iPhone/instagram will have to do.

It started after work Friday with a little work event at the Harpoon Brewery down in the Seaport area.  I actually can't believe I haven't been here before.  We didn't do a tour, but our group and another private group had one of their tasting rooms where you can just hang out and sample as many beers as you want in the hour and a half time frame...they were nice and let us stay till 7:15 instead of 7 :). They had about 12 beers on tap to try.

First up for me was the UFO Pumpkin!  I know some people are all "noooo, too soon for pumpkin!" but I am not one of them.  It's getting to that time during the summer where I can't WAIT for fall.  I remember enjoying UFO's pumpkin last year and it was just as delicious this year.  I also tried their barrel aged White IPA, their Cider (which was actually amazing, and I didn't think I was a big cider fan), the Leviathan series Red Squared, and finished off the evening back at Pumpkin.

The Red Squared was good, but I could only handle a small taste…very strong, and somewhat bitter. 

I'd definitely recommend going there and doing the tour! Then you can sample the beers after.  While my co-workers headed down Seaport Blvd to continue the evening, Brian picked me up and we headed to Olives in Charlestown for my best friend's birthday dinner!

Blurry :(

I hadn't been to Olives since 2007 but it was just as good as I remember...although I hope their AC compressor arrives because it was quite humid and uncomfortable in there that night.

The next morning Brian, Bromley, and I hopped in the car and headed north....destination: Portland, ME.

A group of friends and I got tickets to the Gentlemen of the Road show, being headlined by Mumford & Sons in Portland.

We ended up stopping on the way up in Portsmouth for a late breakfast/early lunch.

Iced coffee from Breaking New Grounds and a salad from The Works.

Hit the spot.

We then continued another hour north to Portland.  I didn't have a dog-sitter, so we took Bromley and stayed at my friends house who lives about 10min from Portland.  It was nice not having to pay for a hotel, not worry about the dog, and relax before the show!

My friend and a few others were biking over from her boyfriends office, but dropped us off less than 2miles from the venue.  The concert had a bicycle valet to encourage people to ride over!! How cool is that?!

It was a pretty warm and humid days but being along the coast made it much more bearable.  Brian and I walked through The Old Port and then down the bike path that runs along the bay.

 

We had lovely views on the walk over. 

Then we arrived!  The concert took place on the Eastern Promenade which is a big grassy hill overlooking the Bay.  The area was gorgeous with the ocean in the background of the stages.

This was the biggest concert that the city of Portland has had here, so it was a big deal for everyone around the area.  Plus there were a bunch of bars/restaurants that hosted after-parties.  It’s a perfect area for something like this…very walkable. 

It was a big insane inside if you wanted a beer or food.  They had a TON of different food vendors…all the food truck companies in the City!!  However the lines were ridiculous and I was SOOO happy we ate beforehand. 

The beer lines were also a bit crazy, but they actually went faster than they looked.

Shipyard and Gritty’s were the two beer sponsors….yay for good beer at a concert!   

We arrived around 5 (show started at 2 but there were 6 bands).  I don’t know who was playing when we first arrived, but once we got settled we saw Dawes…who I hadn’t actually heard of, but they were really good! 

Then a surprise short set by The Dropkick Murphy’s!  They were playing a separate after-show at a nearby theater, so this wasn’t expected!  Very cool!!

Then Mumford came on! 

Honestly, going into the concert I was a fan, but not really a huge fan…I liked their songs, but didn’t actually even have the album…woops.  Well that is all changing, because I thought they were phenomenal!  They sounded amazing and I realized I  like a lot more of their songs than I thought.

Here’s a little snip-it from “Little Lion Man” which was the 2nd song they played.

Sorry, wish I recorded longer!!

It got dark as they continued…

It was just a really nice night, awesome concert, gorgeous venue, and one of my favorite places.

  The next morning, Brian and I headed back into the Old Port for brunch.

We went to The Farmers Table, and luckily snagged a table outside.

So guess who likes runny egg yolks now????  THIS GIRL!

I only JUST recently started to like them and am SO happy about it!  I don’t know what it was but they grossed me out.  Actually I didn’t even really like eggs at all until some point late in college.  And even then only eggs with “stuff” in them like omelets or scrambles with veggies and cheese. 

So when I recently made that yummy sweet potato hash….remember?  I just KNEW it would be the perfect time to try it out.  Delish. 

So, to get back to this weekend..that was my first time EVER ordering eggs Benedict with actual poached eggs.  This Benedict had thick Canadian bacon, sliced tomato, arugula, the egg, and hollandaise.  Loved it.

Brian had their braised brisket and sweet potato hash with over-easy eggs and hollandaise.  Also amazing.

And if that wasn’t a good enough food weekend (I should mention we grabbed some apps at Fore Street after the concert, and stopped at Two Fat Cats bakery earlier in the day as well)….

We stopped by a fish market and grabbed 4 lobsters to bring home. 

 

Lobster Feast.  

Top Notch weekend right there! 

Have you ever been to “all day” type concerts/festivals??  This wasn’t exactly all day…and honestly I don’t know how people sit out in the heat for entire days!!  We were there for about 4-5 hours and that was PLENTY!

Also if you live in New England, or anywhere for that matter, and haven’t been to Portland, ME….GO!! 

Winter Weekend in Maine

It’s not news to tell you that I love Maine…especially Portland.  It’s one of my absolute places to go in New England. 

The bonus is that now I have a friend who lives a short 10 minute drive from the Old Port!!  One of my good friends/former co-workers moved back to her home state of Maine about a year and a half ago and I am just now getting up to visit her!! 

We had a relaxing, fun, and delicious weekend with our dogs :)

Bromley had a great time playing with Molly! 

First thing we did when I arrived was to head into downtown Portland to hit up a local winter Farmer’s Market and then walk around the Old Port. 

I picked up some local cheese to try

We dove into the cheese later on

Beautiful little spice shop on Commercial Street

Finally tried a cappuccino from Bard Coffee

   
It was very good, but I still think that Thinking Cup wins. 

Lots of cute shops, lunch, more walking and then I decided I needed a sweet treat

I can’t believe how many places I had never visited in Portland before!!  Including Two Fat Cats!

Everything is made from scratch and it just looks that way.  The cookies aren’t perfect round circles, and the cupcakes are just frosted by hand with a knife…no fancy piping.  I LOVE that.

I couldn’t decide so I bought 2 cookies to nosh on…a little then & a little later.

I’m STILL thinking about these cookies and wish I could have one RIGHT NOW!  The one above was an Almond Shortbread….so soft, buttery, almond-ey…perfection in my opinion.

Also a pecan chocolate chip.  Again, soft, buttery…all the things I love in a chocolate chip cookie.  

As I was eating them I couldn’t stop saying how good they were…that’s when you know you found something special.

After that, we went back to her house, grabbed the dogs and headed to a local beach for an afternoon walk!

Bromley had a blast!!

He wants to live near the ocean now.

From there, we headed home and started thinking about how we wanted to tackle the evening to be sure to hit up lots of delicious spots.

But first some wine and cheese

I probably over-did it a smidge on the cheese, but it was good stuff and I was hungry.

Our first stop was my friend, Jen’s, favorite Mexican place…El Rayo!

Inexpensive, fresh, flavorful food, with a great drink list!

Since we had more food in our future, we only split 2 small tacos and 1 hibiscus margarita ;)

Next, we headed to Walters for drinks and some appetizers. 

Since my cocktail on Valentine’s Day was such a success I decided to go the “ask the bartender” route.  I ended up with one of their cocktails on the menu but minus the syrup.  This one had rum, grapefruit juice, and lime juice.   

We also ordered a Brussel Sprout Salad that was divine… shaved brussel sprouts, red onion, cob smoked bacon, marcona almonds, dried cranberries in a lemon honey mustard vinaigrette with pecorino

And also some Cracklin’ Calamari and Salt & Pepper Shrimp.  Both really good.  This was just enough food after all the cheese, wine, tacos…etc. 

We had hoped to stay for dessert but they had run out of what I really wanted so we figured we’d hit up another spot for a sweet close to the night.  Unfortunately most places were closed, or at least their kitchen’s were and we were out of luck!

In the end it was fine…we were full and I still had some of my Two Fat Cats cookies left.

Sunday morning we were both woken up around 6:30 by our lovely pups…thanks guys.

Sunday involved picking up pastries from Standard Baking…my request.

Coffee from Coffee By Design, and then heading to another state park/beach with the pups.

Flaky fresh Pan au Chocolat and an Ocean View.

A little later we said our goodbyes, and I packed myself and Bromley into the car to head home. 

I was trying to be a good wife and find Brian a bottle or two of a certain beer he really likes (its from Maine and hard to find…Lunch IPA in case anyone sees it and wants to let me know where!)

I tried 3 places with no luck so I gave up.

But then I got a FANTASTIC idea.

Lobster > Beer.  I stopped by a fish market in York on my way home and grabbed 3 lobsters.

I made Brian do the dirty work. 

I’d say it’s a fair trade ;)

Oh I had also picked up some crab cakes that were on sale at Whole Foods

Took our “Feast” to the next level.

Quick potatoes

(cooked 1large potato in the microwave, then just sliced it and browned it in the pan I cooked the crab cakes in, sprinkled with a little Old Bay)

Steamed Asparagus

Notice I just put down an old towel on the table instead of place mats…things get messy when we eat Lobster.

Apparently February is a great time for Lobster…these were some of the BEST lobsters we’ve had in recent memory!!  The meat was so flavorful!!  I wish I got 6 of them!!  We each had 1 and split the 3rd. 

Couldn’t even finish the crab cakes, but no worries those made a delicious lunch today. 

What an fabulous way to end a great weekend.  It almost ALMOST felt like summer for a minute.

Can’t wait to go back and visit Jen when it’s warmer out!  So many things to do and still SO many restaurants to try!!  I was notorious for always eating at Fore Street whenever we are in Portland, but she is breaking me out of that habit…although I do miss it.  Next time ;)

Hope you all had a great (long?) weekend!  Brian and I both worked today, so not so long here, but still nice as you can see.

Restaurant Review: Fore Street (Portland, ME)

Wow this is the first time I've sat at a computer since Friday night! I have lots of deliciousness to share from this weekend, but I'll keep this post to just my amazing dinner last night.

Brian and I drove up to Maine (with a stop in Portsmouth, NH), yesterday to walk around the shops in Old Port in Portland, Maine! Actually the shopping was more to kill time before our dinner reservation.

We had dinner at the amazing Fore Street...right in the historic waterfront district. The restaurant begins seating for dinner at 5:30, but you can enjoy the bar area at 5pm. Many of the nicest restaurants in Boston are not very crowded when they first open at 5pm...Fore Street, however, was bustling with people at the bar waiting to be led to their table as soon as the restaurant opens.

When you first walk into the doorway area you can view the Menu for that day.(p.s. the page on the left is entirely appetizers, entrees are on the right)

We were a little early so we grabbed a drink at the bar...Brian had Merlot and I opted for a sparkling glass of Prosecco.The seats at the bar are never vacant for too long...not when you can get dinner there too.I love the decor and atmosphere. The walls are exposed brick, high ceilings with exposed duct work, lots of candle light and even copper tables!!But my ABSOLUTE favorite part is the large open kitchen at the center of it all...I had a perfect view from my seat (as I requested :)I could watch that kitchen all day...1 chef manned the big brick oven (far left), then there was the chef at the wood grill, the next guy I believe was the head chef (calling out the orders and inspecting each plate), and the far right was the chef for the stove top and regular oven.

The other SUPER COOL feature here is the Vegetable Room!If you look at the picture of the kitchen, this room would be off the picture to the right. This is a climate controlled room to keep all the fresh veggies and herbs at peak conditions. There was 1 woman going in and out of here all night grabbing large baskets of vegetables to prep during the evening.

Then we began perusing the menu for that day...I already had an idea of what I wanted for an appetizer because I saw them go by while we were at the bar and the smelt insanely good...
Under "Roasted and Grilled Sea Food" you'll see the Mussels
The broth they were cooked in was SO flavorful...I was happy when the waiter took the pan away as to stop be from dipping more bread into the garlicky sauce!They were cooked in the HUGE brick oven...and these were popular as I saw many being cooked that night. He slides that cast iron pan right into the oven with the flaming wood, takes it out once to shake them up, then back in...and they are done.

Now the copper tables make sense because many of their dishes come right out of that brick oven and 2 minutes later are sitting right on the table in front of you.

It was definitely a meal from the sea for us that night. Brian had the Arctic Char (second item down) and I had the Sea Bass (third one down):
My fish came whole, right in the skillet...Those greens were the turnips...I've never seen turnips like that but they were very tasty. I probably should of let the waiter fillet it, but I just ate right from the whole fish. I had 1 side and have another as leftovers!

The side dishes are a la carte, and we chose two: Roasted Cauliflower with a smoked pepper cream, and Sweet Potatoes with caramelized onions and ripened cream.Both were DELICIOUS! The cauliflower had such great flavor from the brick oven, and the caramelized onions were pureed right into the sweet potato, heaven.

Oh and then came the finale...dessert menu time!Oh the decisions!!! But I knew after reading exactly what I'd order: The second one down in the picture below: Warm Banana and Almond Brittle Turnover with Mango and Vanilla Bean Coulis, coconut ice cream with Milk Chocolate covered Almonds...um holy WOW!!Brian ordered the Warm Apple Tarte Tatin: Butter pastry, caramel sauce, and vanilla bean ice cream.
The caramel sauce on his tarte was incredible...salted caramel that went perfectly with the sweet apples and vanilla bean ice cream!Mine was heaven...and I have one of those turnovers sitting in the fridge as we speak...mmm, I bet you know where I'm headed in 2 minutes.

If your ever remotely close Maine...GO HERE!! It's probably one of the best, if not THE best restaurant I've been too (this was our second time here).

Hope you all had a great weekend!