Day 191 LocalrootZ Project (July 12, 2010)

Breakfast

Pesto Potato Homefries

w/ Sunny Up Egg

Lunch

Snap Peas

Diced Tomato w/ Sea Salt

A Cognizant Dinner

Cold Summer Salad

Baked Cusk Parm

over fresh Spinach

So the cold summer salad was a fresh raw combination of coarsely chopped fennel, gold & marketmore cukes, gold carrots, celery, kholrabi a bit of cider vinegar follow by some shredded asiago.

Another wonderful dinner with Geofferson & Hannah... on the eve before they made the ardous journey back to the land of cheesesteaks and landlocked city stickiness, we got them over for another cognizant dinner.  After learning they were occasional fish eaters I got the go ahead for this trusty dish that always pleases. At least Im 2 for 2 with it thus far... The dish is easy and only requires boiling down a quick tomato sauce...then while waiting simply cornmeal dust and pan fry some fish as the sauce reduces. In this case I chose cusk @ 3.99/# and nobody noticed till I told them 1/2 way through dinner... In this dish the fish serves mainly as a texture and the browner you can get the cornmeal the better chance you have of getting a better texture to your final dish... a little hint for you cooks out there.  Im slowly learning new tricks and techniques but the best advice is if you keep it simple and use top notch ingredients  ehhhem ehhem FARMERS MARKET... you really cant go wrong !  Ok anyhow I digress, it was a wonderful dinner with great company and we will await the return of Geoff & Hannah to Portland in a couple weeks.  But before we let them go we twisted their arm and convinced them to stay for dessert...

Dessert

Raspberry & BlackBerries

over blueberry cornbread

topped with

Blueberry Ice Cream

DAMN we be spoiled !

Transportation Today

Work Commute : 22 miles bicycle

Day 105 Project LocalrootZ (April 16,2010)

Breakfast

Macintosh Apple

Lunch

Slice of Spelt Bread

Dinner

Pan Fried Cusk

w/ Roasted Potatoes

Glass of Weihenstephaner Doppelbock*

* Not Local : Yes we have strayed here and there on our 100% local beverages.  Even we have our limits and occasionally I will drop a few dollars at Downeast Beverage and purchase some high quality brew.  We also have had our moments of caffeine withdraw and on those rainy afternoons... we will indulge in a few shots of espresso or a french press full of Matt's Coffee.  However we stay dedicated to our food sources being complete of Maine origin 100% !

Anyhow that being said, yes I put a little of the beer in the batter and managed to drink the rest.  Cassi even took a small glass of the pure clean German doppelbock.  Im a beer geek, I love trying different varieties from various different regions... however if i were to pick three brewers that make a wide array of very high quality beer I would narrow it down to Cantillon, Allagash, Mikkeller .

Ok enough beer talk... dinner was great with Cassi throwing the potatoes in an hour before I got home making them cooked to perfection and on the brink of bursting with juice.  A wonderfully nourishing dinner that had me pan frying the $2.99/# fish in a beer/egg mixture then breaded in fresh ground cornmeal that was tossed with ground herbs (sage, rosemary, thyme). From there it is onto the pan of hot sunflower oil and a tablespoon of butter.  Yummmm!

Transportation Today

Work Commute : 18 miles bicycle

Day 025 LocalrootZ Project (January 25, 2010)

Breakfast

Blueberry Pancake

Lunch

Plain Smiling Hill Yogurt

w/ Raw Honey

Raw Chantennay Carrot

Dinner

Baked Cusk w/ curry powder

w/ Herb Smashed Shepody Potatoes & Chantenay Carrots

 

Dessert

Cranberry Apple Crisp

w/ Maple Ice Cream

Today was a wild and windy day with gust reaching 60mph heading over the Casco Bay Bridge.  That made for an eventful commute home with the bicycle zigging and zagging a little more than I was use too !  I also had a opening @ the Old Port Sea Grill where I was showcasing a handful of my new "Portscape Series".  Therefore it was dinner on the quick and cheap, making cusk @ 3.99/# an obvious choice.  Paired with a heap of mashed carrots and potatoes and it was a belly filling spirit warming meal. 

* As part of our Social Amendment, Cassi and I did enjoy a couple alcoholic beverages at my art opening this evening.  However I did choose to drink a wonderful Allagash Black brewed right here in Portland !

Below is a glimpse of my new pieces entitled...

"Port's Bounty" 

(a homage to winter eating in Portland) 

 24" x 24"

acrylic & enamel on canvas

"Wind Maine"

24" x 24"

acrylic & enamel on canvas

Better pics to soon come @ Lukaduke.com !

Transportation Today
Work Commute : 15 miles Bicycle

Errands : 3 miles Walking 

Day 005 LocalrootZ Project (January 05, 2010)

Breakfast

2 Eggs Sunnyside up

over Root Hash

(Mixed Potatoes,Parsnips,Celeriac Root, Onion & Garlic)

side of Fermented Carrots

 Lunch

Smith's Farm Maple Yogurt

Raw Carrots

Dinner

(pictured below)

Italian Fish Saute

Cocktail Tomatoes, Basil and Cusk

served over pea shoots

w/ cream sauce

Glass of Bartlett's Coastal White Wine

 Dessert

Baked Cranberry Apple w/ Oats

topped w/ Maple Ice Cream

 

What a wonderful dinner... Ok here is the rundown of where the ingredients were sourced, because if you are paying attention your probably saying cocktail tomatoes in Maine ? in January ?

Well yes... there is a wonderful little hydroponic greenhouse in New Gloucester that supplied not only the tomatoes but also the basil and pea shoots !  More on Olivia's in the future.... then we added to the mix a nice piece of cusk topped with leftover cream sauce from the last night and there you go... another classy meal that Cassi and I had never created before !

Transportation Today

Work Commute : 15 miles Bicycle

Errands : 3 miles Walking