Spent a long weekend in Millinocket ME, had a wonderful time and some great food. I was unable to blog yesterday as there was no WiFi. Thought it was pretty comical I had no problem blogging from Cancun Mexico but Northern Maine not going to happen. I was told the next time I go up there will be. I am sure if I tried a lot harder I could have figured out a way to get it done, but we were so busy with playing and eating. We logged over 120 miles on snowmobiles; which is saying a lot since I have not been on a sled in 10+ years. It is just like riding a bike – well at least I picked it up again pretty quickly. Did you know that new sleds have heated hand, feet and butt warmers – Brilliant!!!!
Mt. Katahdin this morning – view from my friends camp
The sled I borrowed for the weekend
Sunday we had plans to meet my girlfriends’ nephew and friends for lunch out of the trails then later back at her place for Sunday dinner; there were 9 of us in total. We brought the turkey from home as they could not get one locally. There was a very lengthy discussion as to when to put the bird in the oven, at what temp, and when we HAD to be back to take it out. There was a lot of doubt that we would be eating a moist bird. Our back up plan was lots of gravy and plenty of wine. Well our precise planning worked; dinner was excellent, the bird was juicy and everyone was thrilled. Dessert were very yummy soft peanut butter cookies. Try them if you can.
1 Cup peanut butter
¾ Cup butter
¾ Cup Sugar
¾ Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
2 Cups Flour
1 Tsp Soda
Add a handful or two of Chocolate Chips if you want – we did
Cream butters & sugars, stir in vanilla and eggs; add flour and soda till combined. Either use a cookie scoop or just place about a golf ball size of the dough about 3 inches apart on an ungreased pan or sheet. Cook at 375’ for 10 minutes till slightly brown, do not overcook. Leave on the ungreased pan for a minute or two till set. Makes approx. 36 cookies
There are times when no planning garners some pretty amazing results. On the way home we wanted to stop for a bite to eat. We ended up down in the Old Port area of Portland. We saw a place parked and started walking got to the one we saw originally and it just didn’t look right. My husband said he saw a café a few storefronts back that looked pretty good, at least there were people sitting, eating and smiling; that was his deciding criteria.
What a delightful gem Olive Café turned out to be. It’s a cozy little Mediterranean Restaurant, great atmosphere and wonderful food. We each had a salad which were both wonderful and split a pizza. I was slightly afraid of the ingredients on the pizza but just had to try it.
Chicken Shawarma Pizza – Marinated Grilled Chicken, Garlic Sauce, Chopped Tomatoes, Chopped Parsley, Chopped Pickles, Mozzarella & Feta Cheeses and Sumac garnished with Tahini sauce on a thin crispy crust that was cracker like. First time ever having pickles on a pizza have no idea was sumac is and don’t recall ever having tahini sauce – it was excellent we ate the whole thing!
Millinocket is my favorite place to visit in Maine. The scenery is wonderful and everything tastes better there. Portland is also an up-and-coming area for restaurants. Reading your blog posts brought me back to those places I love so much. I will definitely try the cookie recipe.
It is beautiful up there, we have plans of visiting over the summer. And this was the first time as an adult stopping in Portland. It looks like someplace we could stop over again. I hope you like the cookies, I couldn’t stop eating them.
If you’re interested in restaurants in Portland or Bangor, Maine. Check out the Bangor Daily News. http://www.bangordailynews.com. They have recipes on that site and they have a Food Section and an Event Section, where they review restaurants. If you’re going there again, you may want to check this out.
Will do thanks