Tuesday, August 31, 2021

In My Kitchen and Other Kitchens, August


While we were out of town in the first half of August, our neighbors took good care of our potted herbs, which we have used in cooking in our kitchen since our return. I’m sharing my month’s kitchen stories with other bloggers at Sherry’s In My Kitchen blog event.


We started the month in Iceland on the National Geographic Explorer. We never really saw the ship kitchen, as they are being very protective against any possible contamination. However, I took a photo from outside the kitchen, through the door from which the wonderful food emerged.


Our trip to Iceland ended August 3, and after flying back to Dulles Airport from Reykjavik, we spent a few more days at Evelyn’s in Fairfax, VA. We of course cooked in her kitchen. Peaches were in season there, so we made this peach crumble — my job was peeling and slicing the peaches. I've written quite a bit about the food we ate while we were on the ship, so I’ll move on to our next trip: Maine. And home to Ann Arbor.

The memory of these trips remains on my refrigerator. I have new magnets from the two big trips:

Maine lighthouses and puffins, Icelandic puffins, and some of the Great Lakes.

We had no kitchen in Maine — but lots of lobster!


From Fairfax, we drove to Bar Harbor, Maine.
A lobster roll is the Maine icon.

Every lobster pound has its own way of boiling the lobsters — always at the last minute for peak flavor!

Our lobsters: fresh from being boiled (Alice's photo).

Fried clams: another great Maine classic.

Lobster added to a pear and walnut salad.

A very plain lobster salad.
  
Local oysters are yet one more Maine delicacy.

Lobster mac & cheese — wow, this is a great dish. The lobster is freshly boiled and picked.

Lobster quesadillas.

Lots of Maine breakfasts, too. Here: stuffed French Toast.
Background: Blueberry Pancakes.

Now: Home in My Own Kitchen

In my own kitchen: lots of vegetables being prepped. Here, starting a soup.

Gazpacho from fresh ripe local tomatoes and peppers.

Also from local tomatoes: shakshouka.

More farmers-market food: fresh basil for pesto.



Ratatouille vegetables — everything fresh and local (except the onion).
  
Ratatouille in the pot for final cooking. Each item is separately sautéed.


Fresh corn on the grill: another Farmers Market treat.

Grilled corn and ratatouille ready to eat.

  
Ingredients for peach crisp or crumble (same thing, see this post).

Peach crisp with vanilla ice cream. New this year: maple syrup in the topping.

A Michigan Peach. Summer’s best!

Blog post and photos © 2021 mae sander for mae food dot blogspot dot com.


10 comments:

  1. This making me hungry while I wait for our dinner to finish cooking. Everything looks so good Mae.

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  2. Well now I am just hungry all over again!

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  3. Lobster Mac n cheese was one of my greatest lobster experiments when that was the only protein we had to eat. All your food looks delicious but the fresh local produce is the best.

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  4. The puffins, awww.
    Oh, boy, this is a post my Hubby would drool over!
    And I would probably run away as fast as I can. Oh, I do know seafood is healthy!

    But I love the Ratatouille. Oh. We still have Vanilla ice cream in the freezer. Totally forgotten...

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  5. You eat well.

    Please take me along on your next adventure. I also welcome any invitations to dine with you at your home.

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  6. There's just so much! Loved the picture of your herb garden. Glad it survived your trip. What a trip. Will have to read more about that. Did you get your fill of lobster?

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  7. What a fun trip, I love seeing the world with you. Love your backyard.

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  8. Mae, I am having a great time catching up on your posts; it has been too long since I "popped in" .... just choosing this beautiful post to leave one more comment, even though I could have something to say about every post, but we'd both be exhausted if I actually did that! There is not a single post that has not made me either smile or think or both (I like to do both almost as much as I like to eat good food -- this post ticks all the boxes! ). Thanks for all of it.

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  9. wow i am still reeling at the fact you could leave the country to go to iceland. We aussies cannot leave to go anywhere!:) No overseas travel for us at all. i am drooling at all the lobster. how delicious. i love it but hubby doesnt eat seafood so we don't have it at home and i can't afford it when out. and oysters too. yum. that's a great idea with the ratatouille to saute each veg separately. thanks once again for joining us at IMK.
    cheers
    sherry

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  10. i love that before and after Ratatouille food prep photograph.

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