Tell the ones that need to know: we are headed North

    I'd like to formally apologize for a few things:

1. I'm sorry my posts have been so sparse lately. I'm basically hibernating by this time of year.
2. I apologize that I haven't been posting a ton of well-described methods and recipes; that time will come again.
3. I regret not initiating some type of 12-day cookie mini-blog. I guess I'll just do, like, a 9 day pickling thing in January. 

     Part of the reason why I haven't written in a while is due to some recent traveling. I spent the better portion of last week traveling to Cambridge, Boston and Portland, ME. Although I have visited Maine before, this was my first trip to Portland, and was I excited! So excited, in fact, that I only slept 5 hours prior to my 8 am bus to the Land of Port. Foolishness. Here are some of the things I did there that are definitely worth reporting. 

Bam Bam Bakery

Let's be serious, I'm not the first person to get excited about visiting gluten-free bakeries. However, it seems like everything offered up in Portland is just a little bit better than I expect it to be. Bam Bam was actually an impressive amount better than I thought it would be. My friend suggested I get a pumpkin whoopie pie with maple filling. I thought this was an odd choice until I remembered reading that Maine claims to have created the whoopie. Pennsylvania is also making this claim. If you look up "Liberty" in the dictionary, there's a picture of Rocky Balboa eating a whoopie pie. Case closed. We also bought a loaf of white bread which was sickening (read: fabulous) when toasted with copious amounts of budder. 

Boone's Fish House and Oyster Room

One of my maine objectives while visiting Portland (see what I did there?) was to obtain the tastiest of tasty lobstah rolls. I devoted an hour a few days before to finding the perfect joint. I was dead-set on going to Fishermen's Grill, but we took a detour and ended up at Boones. No one hates it. I ordered the L roll while my gluten-free companion requested the crab roll sans roll. What a trooper. What I got was an appropriate portion of lobster, lightly dressed in mayo, nestled in a bed of shredded iceberg, wrapped in a buttered split-top bun. I drowned the fries in malt vinegar and unapologetically decimated my plate.

(This is actually a picture from Fishermen's Grill. I ate my roll before I could manage a photo.)

The Speckled Ax

I don't normally get too uppity about my coffee selection. Give me some iced Dunks any day of the week and I'm a happy bear. That's not to say that I do not appreciate a responsibly sourced and excellently prepared cup of the stuff. The Speckled Ax had a small, albeit appealing selection. Unfortunately, I could only select one kind in decaf. To this I say, no matter. My iced single-origin coffee was probably one of the best I have ever had. Sorry, Dunks, I don't deserve you.

Gimme dat coffee!

I also obviously bought a butt-load of maple roasted nuts and candy to bring home. Portland exceeded my expectations and certainly deserves a visit if you're in town. If you're not, it's only a 1 1/2 hour bus ride from Boston, where I also ate tasty tacos at Dorado, some dank-per-usual fried rice from Brown Sugar, splendid sushi by FuGaKyu, addictive brioche from Tatte Bakery,  and boozy ice cream from J.P. Licks. All and all, I ate a bunch of great dishes and only gained a pound. Or two. Who's counting?