Foodie Weekend Part 1

We finally had a weekend away... a week ago.
We went to our favorite city to the north… Portland. Plus it means we get to visit our favorite baby… and family. We literally ate our way through the weekend. We haven’t always been so foodie about it but this time was different.
We arrived Friday evening about 9, checked into the hotel (we stayed at the Eastland Park, we usually stay with our friends but being that this is probably the only weekend we will get away we decided to splurge) and immediately went out to eat. We purposely didn’t eat before we left so that we could get on the road sooner. I spent some time the day before we left looking for restaurants near the hotel and narrowed it down to Katahdin (I couldn’t pronounce it either, it is named after a mountain in Maine, like I was supposed to know that) [kuh-tah-dn] and 555. We chose Katahdin because it was literally across the street from the restaurant and it sounded interesting. I called first to try to make a reservation and they don’t take any, when we got there it was pretty clear that at 10pm you don’t need a reservation. I had a super delish blueberry martini; it came with a sidecar in a small bowl of ice, basically two martinis in one. For appetizer we enjoyed steamed salmon dumplings; in a really thick soy sauce and some slaw on the side. The salmon was really lite in flavor and paired with the slaw made a perfect bite. For dinner I had lightly breaded flounder in a beur blanc sauce over mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus. Hubby had grilled lobster over fettucine. I tried the lobster and fettucine and was not blown away. I thought the lobster was a little dry, the pasta was overcooked and the sauce was very thick. My flounder was good; flaky and not over breaded. We did not have dessert, the blueberry martini was enough.
Saturday morning we met with Judy at the famed Arabica; one of the great little coffee shops in the area. We always go and I always love it. The coffee is wonderful as is the various treats that they sell at the front desk. I was tempted by the sticky pecan buns but I was good and ordered a triple cappuccino with an order of toast. This may seem simple to you but if you’ve ever spent any time in Portland or know anyone from Portland, toast is not that simple. There is a “guy” that makes this toast daily and deliciously from scratch … the toast of the day was “dirty toast” regular white flour toast with a scoop of wheat thrown in to make it dirty. YUM. I am a huge toast fan. It was lightly buttered and I shared it with little Liv, she loved it too. Whew… this is only the beginning. More to come.
Ciao for now.
S