Happy As A Clam
Maine, year two
Hi friends,
I’m writing to you from Bangor, Maine after a lovely weekend on Mount Desert Island with Tilden, Ann, Frank, and Goose, who I found out is named for Top Gun, not the bird. It was a little rainy which allowed for lots of moody moments to gaze out the windows. I love spending time in Maine and the food is superb and local—we shopped at many farmers markets and loved cooking dinner.
Last week got very busy with work and preparing for my trip so our travel newsletter is coming this week and I’m freshly inspired after a trip! Also for good measure, I’m still on the hunt for Eras tour tickets in Europe—hit me with any leads and thank you!
Something to cook:
I have been in a bit of a cooking rut but saw these sesame noodles last Monday and instantly needed to make them. I made them after work and brought them for lunch for the rest of the week. I added broccoli (cook it in the same water as the noodles).
Once we landed in Maine, we sought out provisions: produce, white wine, local bread, butter, and bivalves. On our first night, Tilden made baked clams with homemade breadcrumbs (minus the pecorino, inspired by this), Ann shucked oysters and made mignonette, and I baked ricotta and made a salad with a roasted onion dressing (Tilden’s great idea) with peach balsamic. The salad had local butter lettuce, daikon two ways (thinly sliced and roasted), and basil. The baked ricotta was an award winning lemon fennel ricotta—I divided it into two ramekins and topped it with honey, pistachios, and olive oil. It was delicious spread over local bread. Because we couldn’t resist, we also had radishes with butter and salt because they looked so good at the farmstand. We traded lots of cooking tips—like adding pepper to the water you soak clams in so they sneeze out impurities and soaking onion to reduce the bite. After all this, I went to bed before 10 pm, which was excellent.
For lunch on Saturday, we made grilled cheeses with cheddar and pesto ricotta and a smashed cucumber salad with sesame oil. It was fuel for a quick and scenic hike before the rain (I know, I hiked, it was only 20 minutes!)
On Saturday night, after another round of market visits, we made pasta with clams (no recipe but it was full of white wine, parsley, basil, a little garlic, a bay leaf, red pepper flakes, butter, lemon and optional roasted cherry tomatoes). I know longer pasta is typical with clams but we all really liked the small shape and how everything nestled together. To balance out the pasta’s richness, we had salad with sugar snap peas, feta, pistachios dressed simply with olive oil and peach balsamic. Plus, toasted bread for the sauce and more radishes.
Something to order:
We celebrated Alyssa’s birthday with L’Industrie pizza and ice cream sandwiches (from Davey’s and Carvel) in McCarren park. Great combo.
Gabby was in town so we had a team happy hour at Ray’s. It’s easy to get a seat on the early side and they have good bar food like onion rings and nachos. If I ever see Justin Theroux there, I want to ask him about his two appearances on Sex and the City.
Mandy and I saw Celebrity Book Club at Bowery Ballroom and we went to Thai Diner beforehand (another spot that is not that hard to get into on weekday). We split the baan salad with crispy rice, pad thai with crispy tofu, and perfect corn fritters with sweet chili sauce.
On Thursday night, I was packing and picked up a veggie burger at Mother’s. I love their special sauce and the fries stay crispy on my walk home which is a major plus.
We didn’t really eat out in Maine but I have to shout out Beech Hill Farm, Parsons Lobster, House Wine, Fiore Olive oil, andthe Bar Harbor farmer’s market (there’s a vegan Middle Eastern stand where we got za’atar flatbread, dips and salads for lunch). I brought home maple syrup and coffee. Good ingredients make good food.
Something to read:
Opting out of upgrade culture from
The forgotten drink that caffeinated North America for centuries
A Child of the Gayby Boom from
There’s a new shark movie and it takes place in Paris. Sur La Seine (on Netflix) is a good way to spend a rainy afternoon and the ending keeps you thinking, which happens a lot in French movies.
Check your Instagram feed: is the flat lay back?
New Yorkers, please call the governor and all your elected officials about congestion pricing. This plan would make the city so much safer and fund the MTA for years to come. Canceling it at the last minute is a betrayal! This link will call all your reps and it took less than 5 minutes.
brought back his newsletter Signal Problems to write about this.Helen Rosner dedicated her James Beard award acceptance speech to Palestine
As a lifelong New Yorker, reading The Power Broker has always been somewhere on my list. It’s a commitment. Ann recommended 99% Invisible’s ongoing podcast book club and it might just get me to pick it up.
Thoughts on making cooking more physically accessible from
(I brought Simply Julia as a hostess gift, it really holds up).Take care this week,
Abigail