Portland Getaway – Novel #1

Friday night after work I left Union for the weekend to travel down to Portland and stay with a friend, Merry. Technically speaking she’s my friend’s mom but I claim her as my own. Upon arrival it was late enough so we just took it easy but Merry had made an INCREDIBLE Blue-Barb Crisp. Blue Barb crisp is made with Maine Wild Blueberries, Rhubarb transplanted from Iowa (Woo WOO), delicious granola and Mimicream (cream but soy not dairy). For those of you that don’t know, Merry is vegan so I enjoyed quite a treat this weekend of a lot of foods unavailable in Iowa and a lot of dishes I couldn’t have at home. I’ve never really eaten rhubarb but apparently I like it in this delicious dish.

Saturday morning we arose and had Cornbread waffles with Maine made Maple Syrup. Everything I’ve eaten this weekend is CRAZY YUM, unless denoted otherwise. Merry introduced me to Kombucha. Kombucha is a fermented tea with mother in it (pro-biotic). I had it in the Strawberry Serenity version twice and loved every second of it. The stuff is really good for your health and if I were rich I would drink it every day because it also addictively tasty. Merry is a fountain of healthful (and many other kinds) knowledge.

Off to the Portland Farmer’s Market, Merry bought some stuff and we had some vegan cookies from 13th Cookie which were delightful. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Almond Butter Chocolate Chip and Nana Ca’Chew (banana and cashew butter). From here we raced out to Cape Elizabeth, BEAUTIFUL. I travelled to Maine with Merry five years ago and she showed be amazing things and she definitely didn’t fail me this time. Maine is beautiful, Cape Elizabeth is beautiful, the ocean is beautiful, the Portland Headlight Lighthouse is beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. Folks, go to Maine.

 

We walked down to a favorite spot of Merry’s on some rocky ground right above the water and enjoyed for a few minutes. Then we hiked up the hill to the field above. Picture this; a luscious field of grass up on a hill (pretty much a cliff) overlooking the harbor and ocean AND Merry pulls out a kite! Flying a kite is such a neat thing to do and I never think to do it, thank goodness someone was prepared. It was a great time trying to keep her going and reminded me that next time I see a cool one I’m definitely going to get a kite. It was sort of one of those surreal moments. I’m in Maine in this amazing place flying a kite. Doesn’t get much better than that, but I love the simple stuff in life.

Unfortunately we didn’t have all day for this; it was onward to VegFest, a Vegan/Vegetarian festival. This is where I received the chance to try an amazing amount of great food, listed here:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Gazpacho – Yuck, I hate cilantro.
Sheese (Soy Cheese) Cheddar and Mexican Pepper Sheese
Tofurkey Sandwiches on Anadama bread (made with molasses, yum!)

A granola mix (too dry)

Creamy Tofu Spread (Meh, I’m weird about tofu)
Miso Spread (So pumped I got the recipe)
Tamarin Sauce
Maine Rootbeer
Potato Bar with toppings, I tried Dr. Cow Cashew Cheese and Spicy Jack Soy Cheese
The Green Elephant had a stand and we had (this stuff was all AMAZING):
Spring Roll with Tamarin Sauce
Fresh Roll with Peanut Sauce
Soy Nuggets with Chili Sauce

Spicy Fried Rice

Pad Thai
I love food and I consider myself a Foodie and a Wino. Any followers will have to except that, including my many photos of food. When something is excellent I want to remember it until I can go back for it again. It was a busy day and we knew we had an early morning coming the next day (whale watching off Cape Ann in Massachusetts!) so we chilled at Merry’s Saturday night. We made semi-homemade (not with Sandra Lee) pizza. Rosemont bakery pizza crust, sautéed onions, fennel, red peppers, spinach, soy cheese and for sauce homemade basil walnut pesto. Super super yum. For our entertainment we watched It’s Complicated, which we had both seen and liked so it was a good choice.

4:30 A.M. Erg! But not really…why? Because we’re going WHALE WATCHING!!!! We pack our snacks for the boat ride (what’s supposed to be a 3-4 hour tour), we have sourdough bread from Rosemont, carrots and red pepper hummus, bananas and the most amazing Lil Lad’s Herbal Corn Popcorn. Anybody who knows me knows how much I love popcorn. I could eat it for every meal. This popcorn is the best and it’s super healthy for you because they use nutritional yeast as part of the herbal seasoning. Fantastic. Delicious AND super healthy, I win. Stopped for coffee in Portsmouth, NH and made our way down to Glouchester, MA. 8:30 cruise, we’ve timed everything perfectly we walk onto the ship and grab seating right up towards the front.
The ocean is so breathtaking. Just water and sky forever. I’m going to make this part short and a teaser… I’m sleepy. Five hours on the ocean and almost six hours of driving today are more than enough to do me in and I have to work tomorrow. So, whale watch is on the agenda for tomorrow. See you then!
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