A tasty tour along coast of Maine

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A few weeks ago, my husband Fred and I spent 10 days traveling the coast of Maine.

Maine is a place that many people do not think about when taking a vacation, but is one of the most beautiful states in the eastern United States. I can best describe it as “majestic” with its pine trees and massive rock formations bordering the beautiful waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Over the next few weeks I will take you on a journey along Maine’s coastline as I write my diary of our Maine vacation.

When I first planned this trip I knew that it had to include stays in bed and breakfasts and New England inns. Not only were the accommodations amazing, but the food each morning would be the basis of my column.

We stayed in four B&B’s — that were entirely different — to get a perspective on various types of inns.

After arriving in Portland, we headed to the midcoast town of Boothbay Harbor. Boothbay (population 1,086) is the town of beautiful harbors. The harbor was full of sailboats, large and small and some even massive.

We headed to our first B&B which was Topside Inn. This inn consisted of a large main house perched on a hill overlooking the harbor. It was a typical oceanfront home that you see in Maine, painted in gray with a large wrap-around porch.

Mark Osborn and Buzz Makarewicz have owned and operated Topside Inn for three years and are living the American dream, owning their own business doing what they do best and what they love, running an Inn.

Mark, an entrepreneur who bought and sold small businesses, left corporate America 14 years ago to venture into the inn, restaurant and bar business. Mark first ran a bar in Maine and then purchased the Topside Inn along with his husband Buzz (who recently left his job in the Wellness and Technology field).

The inn, plus two separate buildings, houses 23 guest rooms. One of the “beauties” of the inn is the dining room that overlooks the lovely grounds as well as the harbor. Each morning a three-course breakfast is served (up to 46 people). Mark and Buzz do all of the cooking from scratch making their own, jams, granola, omelet-inspired deviled eggs, English muffin bread, as well as curing their own salmon to mention just a few.

Breakfast starts with granola, fruit, home made fruit breads and fresh juice and coffee. We had two great breakfasts while staying at the Topside.

Each morning’s breakfast is served with a sweet or savory entree. Mark prepares the savory dishes while Buzz prepares the sweet entrees, alternating every other day.

Our first morning Mark prepared a gnocchi which was pan seared with locally foraged mushrooms. lobster and topped with sunny side egg. Mark’s theroy is that “add an egg to anything and you can call it breakfast.

The gnocchi dish was quite different as it was sauteed in olive oil rather than poached in a liquid. Because the directions and ingredients are quite long I have chosen not to run it, but feel free to contact me for the recipe.

Just take my word that the gnocchi dish was absolutely delicious and took them a good deal of time to prepare.

The second morning Buzz treated us along with the other guests to a dish of waffles topped with fresh blueberries compote. It was quite a change from the savory entree we had the previous morning, but was equally as good.

Today I am sharing one of Buzz’s favorite sweet bread recipes, along with an awesome whipped butter as a topping for the bread. I know you will enjoy it as much as I do.

BLUEBERRY ZUCCHINI BREAD

Bread:

1 cup canola oil

2 1/4 cups grandulated sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 cups shredded zucchini

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 pint blueberries – coated lightly with flour

Glaze:

1/2 lemon (zested and juiced)

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9”x5” loaf pans. Cream together oil and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined. Add vanilla and fold in zucchini. In a separate bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients mixing to combine. Coat the blueberries with flour and then gentley fold in to batter. Divide batter between two prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing and transferring to a cooling rack. Drizzle glaze over the top of cooled breads. HINT: do not glaze bread if you plan on freezing it. Glaze after thawing.

CINNAMON BUTTER

1 cup soft salted butter (no substitutions)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspon cinnamon

Beat together butter, sugar and cinnamon until fluffy. Store in refrigerator.

Thanks Mark and Buzz for a great stay in your lovely B&B. If you are ever in the Boothbay Harbor area I highly suggest you stop in and see Mark and Buzz at the TOPSIDE INN. (www.topsideinn.com – 207-633-5404)

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The trip started with a “taste” of the Topside Inn.
http://www.wnewsj.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2017/09/web1_topside-inn.jpgThe trip started with a “taste” of the Topside Inn. Courtesy photo

http://www.wnewsj.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2017/09/web1_Sheryl-Sollars.jpgCourtesy photo

Sheryl Sollars

Welcome To My Kitchen

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