August 31, 2017 Lunch - Morse’s Sauerkraut. Dinner – Salad, Corn on the Cobb, and Kittery Oysters

August 31, 2017 Lunch - Morse’s Sauerkraut. Dinner – Salad, Corn on the Cobb, and Kittery Oysters

I had yogurt and blueberries for breakfast.  At 10:00 I was given a tour of the facility that Rick works at across the street by Tom Rodman, the owner.  The facility is a converted luxury cottage with 65,000 sq. feet of buildings and beautiful views of the Atlantic.

When I returned to Cissie’s we drove to Morse’s Sauerkraut for lunch.  Morse’s is amazing.  A European store in the middle of the Maine woods.  We bought Leyden cheese, rabbit pate, Finn Crisp, cracked olives, and Spanish almonds for the airplane trip tomorrow.

Then we were seated in the small dining room. Morse’s has an all German menu.  I ordered a Rueben with corned beef to try the Sauerkraut.  Suzette ordered the bratwurst with Sauerkraut, Cissie ordered a bratwurst with mac and cheese, and Ryan ordered a Reuben with seitan.  I had never heard of seitan.  Here is a definition.

A definition of seitan: Although it is made from wheat, seitan has little in common with flour or bread. Also called “wheat meat”, "wheat protein", “wheat gluten” or simply “gluten”, seitan becomes surprisingly similar to the look and texture of meat when cooked, making it a popular meat substitute

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Seitan is also high in protein, making it a popular protein source for vegetarians and vegans. Asian restaurants often use seitan as a vegetarian mock meat, and seitan is also the base for several commercially available products such as Tofurky deli slices and other vegetarian meat substitutes.

Morse’s also makes it own pickles.  One is fresher cucumber with a salty flavor and the other is a dill pickle that is slightly vinegary.  We ate lots of them.

Cissie did not care for her bratwurst, so was able to try it and it was delicious also.  I was served ½ of a Reuben sandwich that was enormous.  I can not imagine eating a whole sandwich.

Morse’s restaurant does not have a liquor license so serves no beer.  After we left Suzette drove us out to Bailey Island and we went into Ccok’s and had a beer and talked to a lobsterman.

We then drove to Saco, where we stopped at the Hannaford supermarket to shop for dinner.  We bought a spring salad mix with arugula, two ears of fresh corn, a shallot, two tomatoes, a cucumber, and 12 Kittery oysters for $1.25 each.

We went on the Cynthia’s house and I prepared a salad with basil, red onion, cucumber, tomato and the salad blend.  Suzette wrapped the corn in Saran and cooked it in the microwave.  We made a mignonette sauce by finely mincing the shallot, adding lemon juice and white balsamic vinegar and a minced sprig of dill.

Then I opened the dozen oysters.  The Kittery oysters were buttery and briny.  They were cocktail sized, but the mignonette sauce in moderation deflected some of the saltiness.  When too much was used the vinegary shallot flavor was overwhelming.

We chilled and drank the Cotes de Provence Rose’ that Cissie gave us named Aurore.

I am hoping I will sleep through the night if I eat lightly like last night.

Bon Appetit