flying bear, picnicking bears, hulu dancing bears and the list goes on. Every time you turned the corner, another bear appeared. The bearfest continued for three years from 2000-2002 and they are currently in “hibernation” but a newer exhibit is currently on display where the artists

use bicycles and bicycle parts. The fish bike was a favorite of ours so I had to take a picture (look for my little red convertible in the background).

Next, we crossed the large bridge over the Passagassawakeag River (try saying that!) and headed a mile up the road to Young’s Lobster Pound. We had 2 pound lobster’s on their outside patio (right on Belfast harbor) and sipped Gruet (it’s BYOB) sparkling wine from New Mexico. The seagulls sang, the sun was sinking in the sky and we had our own little moment of heaven. They do lobster’s well here.

Stay tuned for Belfast part 2 where we will explore “Darby’s Restaurant” and some of our other favorite Belfast attractions.

Just in case you haven’t seen it yet, here is our new logo! Look for it on our cooking class aprons, hand thrown coffee mugs and stitched on the staff’s chef jackets for starters.

Suzie entered the contest after talking to one of our cooking class participants during my “Dim Sum” cooking class this spring and created this recipe especially for the Lobster Festival competition. The day it was announced that she was one of the five finalists she called us at the Inn and was so ecstatic. When Suzie arrived in Camden last week she revealed that she had not slept much in the past few weeks, attributing it to anxiety over the contest. Well, now that it is over and she won, we hope that Suzie has settled back into her regular sleep pattern. Before her return to Florida I asked her if she planned to enter the competition next year and she smiled, nodded and whispered to me her ideas. Congratulations Suzie, my lips are sealed!

Part 1: Daimler Dart (10 minute video – from car purchase to complete car strip-down)

Part 2: Rebuilding my Daimler Dart (8 1/2 minute video – putting the car back together)

It’s a nice sunny day, so I’m off for another “test drive.”

I feature the berries in the restaurant during July and they appear in everything from salad dressings and sorbet to breakfast trifles and muffins. Perhaps the most popular recipe is our Black Raspberry Mojito, perfect on a hot summer evening and equally popular during our evening cocktail hour. I have included the recipe below. If you don’t have your own black raspberry bush growing in your back yard, you can substitute either red raspberries, boysenberries  or blackberries. 
 

 Black Raspberry Mojito
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves
4 teaspoons granulated sugar (or 2 packets Splenda)
2 limes
1/4 cup fresh black raspberries (or red )
3/4 cup light rum
1 cup club soda
2 sprigs of fresh mint for garnish

1.      Place the mint and sugar in a mortar and “muddle” it with the pestle. Squeeze in the lime juice and add half of the blackberries. Lightly crush the berries.
2.      Pour the mixture into a cocktail shaker and add the light rum and club soda. Shake to mix.
3.      Place 4 large cubes of ice in two rocks glasses and divide the drink equally between them.
4.      Garnish each glass with the remaining black raspberries and a sprig of fresh mint.

I’d like to thank Peter and the staff at Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors for the review and encourage anyone with an interest in Maine maritime to subscribe to this wonderful magazine.

Michael and I have created a foodie adventure… we’ll be exploring the scenic Farms & Villages of Southern Tuscany this fall. If you have the desire to learn something new, would like to explore several beautiful villages in Tuscany and like to cook – or just eat, then this may be the adventure you’ve been looking for. We planned a single trip for this fall and it filled up in three days…so we added a second week and it filled in two more days. We are very excited by our guests interest in the trip. If this sounds like fun to you, we are planning to add two weeks to the same region in Italy in the spring of 2011. Once we have the dates for the spring trips established, we will include the information in our next newsletter. Please sign up for our newsletter at the top of our home page where it says email signup, and click on the Foodie Adventures and Travel checkbox. Arrivederchi.

I made a 10 minute video of the restoration process, up to this point, and it is available online at youtube if you are interested in car restorations, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRhxuFhp8AU

Join us on Sunday, May 9th as we celebrate Mother’s day.

Menu:
Spring Pea Ravioli with Duck Leg Confit
Baby Spinach with Cumin-Roasted Pears and Maytag Blue Cheese
Maine Blueberry Sorbet
Pan Roasted Maine Lobster with a Rosemary Cream and Herbed Zucchini Ribbons
White Chocolate Soufflé with a Pistachio-Crème Anglaise

In the Kitchen Dinner Series

Join Chef Michael Salmon and his crew in the kitchen at the Inn for an evening of mingling, beverage pairings and plenty of great food.  Three events remain in our “In the Kitchen Dinner Series” schedule.  We have made a few changes including adding an Italian Food & Wine Dinner and bringing back one more night of our popular Sushi & Japanese Beer Pairing Dinner.  The price is $29.50 per person and includes several food and beverage pairings and a kitchen full of food.

Italian Food and Wine Pairing
April 11, 2010
Specialties from all over Italy will be featured this evening including a full antipasto spread, a wide array of Michael’s homemade pastas and some of his signature Italian entrees like veal saltimbocca and Shrimp Parmesan. Michael’s Hazelnut Tiramisu and Zeph’s Semi Freddo will certainly finish the night on a high note.

Dim Sum and Beer
May 19, 2010
Dim sum, which translates to “to touch your heart,” is the perfect food for a unique dinner party. Dim sum is a broad term for small individual Chinese delicacies, savory or sweet, ranging from the abundant types of filled dumplings to steamed buns and spring rolls. This evening we begin by making numerous dumpling fillings and sauces, create various dumpling forms or shapes and cook the dumpling in variuous methods—steaming, deep-fat frying and a combination steaming-pan frying method used for cooking pot-stickers. Fillings include Thai-Pork, Turkey and Shiitake, and Shrimp. Various offerings will be paired with Far East beers and there will be an endless supply of food.

Sushi and Beer
May 30, 2010
Various Rolled Sushi including:
California Rolls, Crab and Asparagus Rolls, Spicy Shrimp Rolls,
Spicy Tuna Rolls, Tempura Shrimp Rolls and Rainbow Rolls
Flash-Fried Nori and Tuna Roll with a Ginger-Wasabi Butter Sauce
Crab and Papaya Mamenori Roll with a Sweet Chili Sauce
Chef Zeph’s Japanese Short Rib Sushi
Chef Michael’s Sushi Dushi (sweet “dessert” sushi)

“In the Kitchen” events are at 6pm and are always allot of fun. Reserve your  table today!