I awakened early and blogged. When suzette awakened she helped me send pictures from our phones to our I Pad and insert them into the blog.
We packed and then made scrambled eggs with two eggs, about 1 T. of minced shallot, 2 T. of Morbier cheese, a handful of fresh spinach leaves, and the tail meat of a lobster. Needless to say, it was delicious.
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| Our lobster, Sinach, and Morbier cheese scramble |
Damariscotta, ME 04543 a block from the river of the same name, which produces oysters of exceptional quality, mainly because of the river’s tidal flows that wash the oysters with alternating flows of salt and fresh water twice a day.
We ordered six select Pemaquid oysters and a beer. They were large four inch oysters that filled one’s hand and they had a really clean delicious flavor.
Six select oysters at King Eider's Pub
A nice four inch "Select" Pemaquid oyster at King Eider's Pub
We inquired about other oyster places and the lady who ran the oyster bar, “There is a place across the river run by a young man, you might try.” So we drove across the river to Newcastle and found the River Bottom Raw Bar on Main Street, renovated gas station with outdoor seating at picnic tables. There is also a distribution business that sells the wide variety of oysters to local restaurants.
The map of oyster aquaculture facilities in the Damariscotta River
The River Bottom Raw Bar in Newcastle, Maine
We tried 4 each of six different oysters from different areas of the Damariscotta River, including: Glidden Point,, Norumbega, Pemaquid, John’s River, Otter Cove, and Weskeag.
Here is a review of the unusual Weskeags
Oct 28, 2010
A nice addition to the Maine oyster scene, Weskeags hail from the Weskeag River in South Thomaston. Grown in staked bags to protect them from the striped bass that fill the river (and can eat oysters up to two inches in size, shell and all), Weskeags have that ultra-briny Maine flavor profile, with a little something unusual behind the salt–a savory miso soup kind of taste, all kelp and smoky dashi. The ones I had in October were a tad thin–not unusual for a Maine oyster in fall–but should be
plumping up nicely from now through January.
We ordered glasses of Muscadet to go with the oysters. The oysters were $72.00, so about $3.00 an oyster and these oysters were much smaller than the select Pemaquids we had had at King Eider’s Pub, which were selects with huge four inch shells. The River Bottom oysters were all cocktail or petite.
For a guide to grades and size designations go to http://www.pangeashellfish.com/blog/the-culling-process-oyster-grades-and-sizes
So after our short lesson in Maine oysters we learned several things. it turned out that the best and best priced oysters (6 for $17.00) were served at the best, most established restaurant, King Eider’s Pub.
The second thing we realized was stated by Suzette, “If we want lots of oysters we need to buy them
in bulk and shuck them ourselves.”
We then drove to Sweetgrass Winery and Distillery in Union. Maine where we tasted wines made with blueberries and cranberries and fortified wines made with the wines. But the reason we returned to Sweetgrass was its Back River Gin, which is
ranked among the 50 best in the world, flavored with juniper berries and 5 other local botanicals.
Suzette became enamored with lovely sheep skins made from sheep raised at Sweetgrass’ property, so we bought two bottles of gin and a sheep skin.
Suzette wants to make throw pillows for our remodeled bedroom with the Blue dyed cotton from Mali we bought at the Las Vegas market on one side and lamb’s wool on the other side. Voila.
It was 3:00 and we wanted to get to Cissie and Rick’s, so we drove the last 40 miles to their house in Camden. Ryan and Cissie were waiting for us. We drank a lovely 2016 Cotes de Provence Domaine
de la Fouquette Cuvée de Rose d’ Aurore rose’ made with 65% Grenache, 30% Cinsault, and 5% Rolle grapes. It was lusciously fruity with a hint of the warmth of southern France in the fruit; the best rose’ I have tasted this year.
I was tired so I took an hour nap.
When I awoke Cissie had organized a picnic bag with two cheeses, two cheese spreads, plus a container of fig and olive tapenade. We put the rest of the Rose’ and a bottle of Gruet Sauvage Rose’ we brought from Albuquerque and drove to the city pier where the main marina is located to the landing where the Olad was moored for a sailing excursion. Cissie told us that the Olad was rented by Walter Cronkite and sailed in the Caribbean years ago. It is a Fully restored 1927 wooden Yacht that carries 22. We boarded at 5:30 and I poured the champagne and Cissie plated two plates of food and three types of crackers and we began to nibble and drink and talk to the captain.
The sailing lasted two hours. There was not much wind today and we barely exceeded 2 knots of speed, but we definitely enjoyed the easy motion on the big boat gliding through the water. The only wildlife we saw was a seal that popped it head up out of the water.
Ryan and us on the Olad
Sunset from the Olad
When we returned at 8:00, it was getting dark. We walked up the Main Street to the Waterfront Restaurant and were shown to a table by the bay.
We had eaten so much that we did not feel hungry, so Suzette ordered a bowl of clam chowder and I ordered an appetizer of steamed clams and we split a Cesar salad. Cissie only had a wine spritzer and Ryan had a hamburger.
We then went home and went to bed.
Rick was away on call, but we will see him when we return on Wednesday.
Bon Appetit
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