Fresh from Maine: Recipes and Stories from the State’s Best Chefs. Text by Michael S. Sanders and photographs by Russell French. Published by Table Arts Media, 2012.
Author Michael Sanders attempts the nearly impossible, capturing 24 au courant Maine restaurants in a kind of freeze frame, knowing that “change comes to the business of cooking with a particular vengeance.” He points out that since his writing project began, some “have opened new restaurants” and “others have moved on to other venues entirely.” But, even if changes have occurred, that doesn’t detract from the book’s underlying focus, because this isn’t intended to be a comprehensive list or authoritative rating. It isn’t even really much of a cookbook.
Sanders and French offer the reader a close-up look, with interviews and photographs, of who (at least at the time of their research in 2012) some of the best chefs in Maine’s slow food genre are, what ingredients they use, where they work and who owns and/or manages those eateries.
A few recipes per chef further illustrate their craft. The recipes tend to be complex and labor-intensive but the photographs may inspire you, if an in-person tasting isn’t possible.
The restaurants profiled are committed to using local, organic as much as possible, sustainably grown and harvested foods. And in the slow food movement, community matters.
It isn’t just about local sourcing but also sharing local economic and environmental concerns. As Sanders writes, thanking the chefs and owners who opened their kitchens to him and photographer Russell French, “We hope you and your loyal clientele realize that your creativity and passion make our Maine communities stronger, more rewarding, and better places to live—and to eat.”
Good Catch by Tracy Ann Lord. Published by E-Lit Books, 2013.
The title Good Catch implies a story that might have something to do with fishing. But being in the genre of “chick lit,” it also alludes to a vacation trip’s eventual outcome for a single lady.
Tracy Ann Lord, a Maine native who lives in Hope and whose resume includes work as a journalist, baker, teacher, actor and director, corporate caterer and public relations professional, has written a romance novel set in the northern Maine woods at Wilson’s, a rustic fishing camp on Lake Mooselookmeguntic (in the Rangeley area).
Our heroine, Maddie, is divorced with grown kids and a career in public relations in Miami. But when she unexpectedly loses her job, her colleagues send her to Maine—where better to recover and rebound—on a week’s vacation.
Given all the camp’s challenges, it’s hardly relaxing. Besides having the wrong wardrobe and Spartan accommodations, Maddie needs to navigate quirky if not downright difficult personalities among the staff. However, it isn’t all rough water, even when her (“very expensive”¦ butter-soft and beautiful”) Ferragamo sandals get soaked.
Maddie goes fishing. She learns to love meat again and abandons her vegetarianism. She discovers new and potent alcoholic beverages. An empty lakeside estate, shorn of its proud past and status of success (oh how Maddie might identify with that) suggests a grandeur could be rekindled. And Maddie finds herself falling in love.
But with whom, or what?
At the very end of the book—and I’m not going to give away the ending you’ve probably already at least partially guessed—recipes are provided for some of the camp drinks Maddie imbibed. The directions for drinking them sound like oblivion’s the goal (“chug”¦ repeat until satisfied” and “Don’t worry about getting up” and “Forget about everything, ‘cept needin’ a refill”).
It seems we the readers are the intended recipients of that advice, but really, just getting to the end of this book could have the same effect: being left somewhat numbed, and wondering exactly what our time was just spent doing.
Tina Cohen is a summer resident of Vinalhaven.