“These are not State-of-Mainish in any way,” wrote Marjorie Standish in Cooking Down East, 1969, “except just about everyone in Maine makes them.” Back the ‘60s, when I was busy being an awkward teenager, the whole darn country was apparently making these. And humming along with Carol Channing in the Broadway musical. Is that why […]
The old-timers used to say that oysters “r” in season for all the months with an “r” in the name, and the best time to eat them. Last I knew it wasn’t Jur-ly with Aurgust coming up but we had grilled oysters the other night and they were wonderful and very simply done. It is […]
Go ahead and tear up all that nice, crisp lettuce straight from the garden or farmer’s market or produce section of the grocery store. Piles of it, perhaps a mix of green and red lettuces and other greens if you like them like arugula, sprouts, spinach, baby kale. We are in lettuce heaven right now […]
My parents didn’t believe in soda for children. When my sister and I were thirsty we drank water out of a Dixie cup assigned to us, lined up on the window sill just above the kitchen sink, one for each family member. ZaRex, a sweet flavored syrup that dissolved into water was termed belly-slop at […]
Asparagus, potato and eggs all produced in this yard combined to make a gorgeous frittata for supper the other day. We ate asparagus for most of May but during the summer an occasional spear of it emerges which I cut to add to salads or a stir fry. The odd potato missed last fall during […]
Thinly sliced, dressed with a little olive oil and lemon zest and salt and pepper lightly added, fennel salad is just the ticket for cool summer dinners, or something light after hearty braised winter dishes. Not everyone likes a vegetable that tastes like licorice though they might really enjoy a slight burst of that flavor […]
Another coconut cookie recipe never hurt anyone. This one came from Jan Varnum in Bar Harbor. Her mother, Ruth H. Witt, used to make them when Jan was a child, and Jan still does, too. I liked them very much because their flavor comes from brown sugar, coconut and butter; there is no spicing or […]
When BDN reader Beth Chamberlin read about Cooking Maine Style, the compilation of Marjorie Standish recipes I recently put together for DownEast Books, she wrote me right away to say, “I received my first cookbook when I was in 6th grade from a family friend and it was Cooking Down East,” by Marge Standish. “What […]
How a person can cook for nearly fifty years and not wittingly make Fettucini Alfredo or its sibling dish, Chicken Alfredo, I can’t explain, but apparently somehow, I seem to have skipped it. I think I must have eaten some along the way, because I have the distinct impression that it is delicious and […]
You love it or you hate it. Rhubarb advocates are delighted to see those red stems reach out and the dark green leaves unfurl. Others wince and clamp their jaws shut. Thirty years ago, when we moved to this house, one of the first things I noticed growing here was a rhubarb plant which I […]
