For our four year dating anniversary (which is not to be confused with the engagement anniversary or the wedding anniversary although at this point its hard to keep any of them straight) we rented a cottage in Brunswick, Maine and enjoyed the waterfront lifestyle.
On the ride up we stopped in Portsmouth, NH and had to fight for a parking spot because the tall ships were in town...fucking tall ships. Parking in Portsmouth was harder than parking in NYC. We ate lunch at the Portsmouth Brewing Company Dina opted to dive right into Operation Eat As Much Seafood As Possible and ordered the fried haddock sandwich with chipotle mayo and tartar sauce while Joe went with his usual bar food order... a pulled pork sandwich (Joe believes he eats a variety of bar food staples but I insist his favorite is pulled pork)
After a fine lunch and some yummy m
icro brews we continued our journey to Brunswick. We were hoping that we would have some room for some other artery clogging fried seafood at The Lobster Shack at Two Lights but the distance between Portsmouth and Cape Elizabeth was not sufficient to muster up the appetite. The view was great and the smell of the ocean air officially meant we were on vacation.It was then off to the most photographed lighthouse of Maine AKA
The Portland Headlight. The grounds are free and the views are breathtaking.(And no I am not pregnant that is my dress blowing in the wind)
After our visit to the Portland headlight we headed to our cottage. We were a little nervous upon arriving because the house had no siding and was wrapped in whatever that stuff is that you wrap houses in. However, to our delight the cottage was just perfect. We drank a bottle of red and watched the moon rise from our deck. What a night!
Here are a few pics of our cottage and our view!
Our first full day in Brunswick
we woke up to a beautiful sky and the salty smell of the ocean. After a yummy breakfast similar to the one pictured here,We took the bikes for a ride to Thomas Point Beach (which we learned was the hot spot for horseshoe crabs to lay their eggs. It's also the hot spot for annoying fargin' horse flies)
After a shower in iron laden water we were off to meet Dina's friend Laura from college and her husband Chip. We ate lunch at the Dolphin Marina in South Harpswell. Operation Eat As Much Seafood As Possible was in effect and everyone but Laura ordered the Lobster Roll with either onion rings or french fries....Laura ordered the chicken finger basket (No comment) The lobster roll was so tasty and the bun was toasted and the lobster was yum-o (The Rachel Ray reference is to annoy Joe) To top it all off we had a warm blueberry pie with both vanilla and coffee ice cream. After saying our goodbyes Joe and I hit the r0de and enjoyed the very picturesque ride which consisted of Maine farm houses, rolling pastures, and cute signs indicating where to buy fresh picked blueberries, and fresh eggs. When we got home we drank another bottle of wine on the dock and called it a day.
The next morning we woke up to yet again another gorgeous day. We drank coffee out of what Dina refers to as the sexy Frech Press and ate another breakfast which consisted of scra
mbled eggs, bacon, and our home grown tomatoes and basil. (Homegrown food tastes soooo good!) It was then off to Sea Spray Kayak (A refreshing respite from the evil bitch at Hudson Valley Outfitters who makes you jump through ten million hurdles of kayak jargon before letting you out on the river) At Sea Spray Kayak we were greeted by a friendly staff who got us outfitted and ready to go in just a few minutes. "Can you swim? Yes. Ok here is your kayak"We kayaked to Thomas Point Beach where we tried to relax but spent most of our time murdering pesky horse flies. Back in our boats we head further South until we reach our dock. We tied up our kayaks, Joe broke us in to our own cottage (keys were back at Sea Spray Kayak) and we brought down some beers and snacks. It was amazing sitting on our dock with our kayaks tied up, a beer in hand, and dreams of swapping Manhattan for a waterfront cottage in Maine. Given that having a dock of our own is not a daily occurrence we braved the frigid waters of Maine and went for a swim. Damn they aren't kidding about the fact that the ocean never gets warm in Maine. Taking the positive tone, we concluded that the water was "fresh" About an hour later we get back in our kayaks and head back to Sea Spray. On our paddle back we had the lucky present of spotting not only one but two bald eagles. A sight that neither of us had ever seen. They were beautiful and seeing them soar above us was truly a gift.
That evening we took a ride to Portland which we believe is a city we might be willing to call home in 3 to 5 years (depending on if we can handle the winter) We strolled around the Old Port, window shopped, and of course drank beers. First stop Gritty McDuffs I of course had the pale ale and Joe opted for the hoppy IPA. After we met up with Laura and Chip again at Novare Res the slightly hidden (at least for us) beer garden off of Exchange Street. Here we sampled some chipotle beer and I can't remember what else.
The most memorable experience that evening had to be our dinner at Street and Company which proved to us that great food does exist outside of NYC. To start we ordered a half dozen oysters which we
credit Chuckie Baby for introducing us to these seemingly nasty things. The oysters were refreshing, and whatever that delicious concotion the oysters were seved with has opened us up to a whole new world where our oysters are not drowned in horseraddish. We then shared a charred kale, beet, and feta salad. The kale was out of this world! The kale was prepared by placing it on a baking sheet brushing it with olive oil and sprinking it with kosher salt and pepper. So simple but yet so delicious. Then it was on to the entree. Joe orded one of the specials blackened blue fish over a gaspacho soup with avocado and Dina ordered the lobster in the pan with linguine in a butter garlic sauce. Now in NYC when you order some linguine with lobster you are charged over $30 and you get linguine and maybe some of the lobster tail sprinkled throughout. Not at Street and Company. This dish was served with a full lobster halved. The linguine was al dente and the dipping the lobster in the butter and garlic sauce was superb. It was a heavenly dining experience and overall fantastic introduction to Portland.Our last full day in Maine we woke up to some cloudy and rainy skies. Dina was once again sure it would "burn off" and lucky for us it did. We started the day off with more eggs and sexy french press coffee and headed off to the Brunswick farmers market in search of sides for our lobster dinner scheduled for later that evening. The farmers market was small but the offerings were great. Beautiful fresh vegetables and a space a hell of a lot less hectic than the Union Square Green Market. However, we did bump into a severly annoying woman who narrated her
entire farmers market experience to her even more annoying kids. "Ok boys time to find some corn for dinner tonight" (high pitched squeaky yet mellow voice) This evil hippie lady seemed to follow us from stall to stall. Eventually we lost her and were able to buy our own corn, onions, and a blueberry pie made with Maine blueberries! We also bought some rasberries and ate them on a bench as we continued to deride the hippie chick.After the farmers market we drove around Brunswick. Too early (even by vacation standards) to hit up the Sea Dog Brewery we decided to check out an Antique store. Antique stores are all over Maine and it seems the economy there consists of lob
sters and old shit. The antiques were cool. We even found a copper pot we have been w
anting but we decided that the $85 price tag was too much andjust enjoyed strolling around the massive antique store which was housed in an old fort of some kind. Finally the politically correct beer o'clock hour struck 11:45am and we were sitting in the Sea Dog Brewery drinking beers. The Topsham location is great with a beautiful patio which hangs over the Androscoggin River.After our beers we returned back to our cottage to make the butter for our clams casino which we were planning to serve as our last night in Maine appetizer. Making butter is fun. As all the ingredients cooled we took advantage of the high tide and spent some time on our dock and since this would be our last high tide on our little dock we decided to strip down to our naked time bathing suit and jump in the "fresh" water. Fresh and delightful it was.
After our butter was in the fridge we decided to take a ride down Route 24 to Baileys Island. I love that taking a ride in Maine is considered a tourist activity. It is just so amazing to drive with the windows down and taking in all the beauty, stopping for photo opps, and discovery little stores and seafood shacks along the way. Here are a few pics from our ride.
We turned down some dead end street in Baileys island and found a path called the Great Steps. The houses along the path were dream houses. Shake shingle with gigantic windows facing the ocean, cute manicured gardens, and port like Tchakies dangling from covered porches. You wouldn't believe who we ended up bumping into. No, no one famous just the infamous annoying hippie chick from the Brunswick farmers market. She spotted us. "Didn't I see you at the farmers market this morning," she whined. She then started to offer us some places to visit while we were here. No don't be nice to us. We want to continue hating you. Well before her gracious recommendations could completely change our opinion of her the rain started and we were off to the safety of our car. We drove back up 24 with our sites set on Gurnett's Trading Company. Unfortunately they were out of littlenecks so our Emeril butter would have to wait. We bought two live 11/4 lobsters for $15- and headed back to our cottage.
The rain was really coming down which made the perfect curl up on the couch and read a book setting. After turning some pages we both fell asleep to dancing raindrops and when we woke up we knew it was it was time to cook our last night in Maine dinner.
It's one thing to have a cooked, steaming, red lobster served to you but its another thing doing the actually cooking( a nice word for murder) There was a moment there that we both thought about throwing them back in the water but what kind of carnivores would that make us. Trying to convince ourselves that being thrown into boiling water was a quick and easy death, Joe finally worked u
p the courage to do the deed while I hid in 
the bathroom. 20 minutes later we were eating lobster with a butter tarragon dipping sauce, farmers market corn on the cob, and green beens slathered in butter and seasoned with kosher salt and pepper. After dinner we scarfed down our mini yet extremely delicious farmers market blueberry pie.We were not happy to have to leave our little cottage. Up early we were able to get in one last ride to Thomas Point Beach, eat yet another egg breakfast, and said goodbye to that special place. We were off to Freeport to consume from all the discout retail shops yet be comforted that our consumption took place in what seemed to be a cute little Main street town. After a few hours of JCrew, Banana Republic, Gap, etc it was time to get on the road...But wait one last stop at the Clam Shack in Kennebunkport
Maine or as Dina likes to call it KenneNbunkport. Another superbly cute town that 
has a river running through. We orderd our last artery clogging meal which consisted of a fried haddock sandwich, onion rings, and friend clams.Overall, it was a spectacular vacation. We can't wait to see Maine again to see if we can survive the winter test.
