I’m headed out of town for a few weeks, so the blog will be quiet for a bit. It’s my usual recharge-the-batteries visit with family still living back in Maine, something I always look forward to each year. In an incredible case of coincidental timing, my friends from California are actually there now and leave the day I head in that direction; if we’d had even a scintilla of better planning, I might have been able to act as something of a tour guide. I mean, no one should miss the chocolate moose or best place to get lobster with a view to kill for (not literally, of course). As it is, they finally understand my reluctance to eat seafood anywhere but Maine — at least, if the stream of photos they’ve been texting me is any indicator.
And they thought I was kidding about Lobster Eggs Benedict. Hah!
My own nostalgia for favorite dishes will likely lead me to the usual suspects, many of which have inspired fictional places in Windeport or, oddly, Rancho Linda. The diner Vasily loves is an interesting mash up of one I visited in California and a breakfast place my father and I used to frequent when we commuted together during the early days of my I.T. career in Portland. I still remember the waitress who was capable of deftly pouring my cup of coffee from a carafe held at least three feet above my cup. I also recall how I never seemed to be able to order what I wanted, for no matter what I requested, she always shook her head, frowned, and retrieved “the special” for me that morning. That was quite the way to start each morning, I can assure you.
Sean’s favorite bakery has its roots in one that I used to go to with my parents every so often while growing up; it was a hike to get to it, relatively speaking, but always worth the trip. Their freshly baked pastries never failed to include something called a bismark — an amazing donut generally filled with either a pastry creme or a thick fruit jelly, topped with chocolate icing. My favorite had a strawberry filling made from berries picked at the companion farm next door to the bakery. There were lots of other goodies, too, ranging from bear claws to muffins large enough to have counted as a full meal.
The Italian place that Kate and Tenoch visit had a similar feel to one that I took my wife to shortly after we were married; I think the couple that ran it (the real one, not the fictional one) were from the southern tip of Italy, and their dishes reflected the wide variety of fresh produce available there. I loved the small, intimate dining room they had, complete with flickering candles on each table; it was also the first time I’d ever been served robust sourdough bread with a dipping sauce of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
I don’t know about you, but suddenly I’m rather hungry!
Anyway, I’m definitely looking forward to the food; there should also be plenty of visiting, and, of course, lots of time to sit back and take in the greenery that is so lacking here in Arizona. Long range weather forecasts tell me that it will likely rain for the first half of my visit; the same thing happened to me last year, and honestly, the hours of slow drizzle kind of helped to slow down everything — something my rather worn out system needs right now.
See you in a few weeks!
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