I was so honored to be invited back for another Seder at Irene’s. I love learning and sharing the traditions, reading from the Haggadah and of course, sharing a tableful of fabulous food. The first was in 2007, but I didn’t blog that one. Then there was the completely over-the-top delicious feast of 2008. I didn’t think it was possible to better that. I was wrong.
After our lovely day exploring Camden, we went back to Camden for dinner — to one of Jeff and Theresa’s favorite places, Francine. These were the most unusual and delicious mussels I think I’ve ever had.
We really were so lucky to have hit it off so well with cousins Jeff and Theresa. I mean, we kind of knew each other a little through family functions and events, but we’d never hung out for real. The visit was a lot of getting-to-know you questions and answers from both sides. I peppered Jeff with questions about his growing up and the rest of his siblings — there were six all together! — and he told me things I didn’t remember about my Dad. Like the Chileans visiting.
“You have his laugh, you know,” said Jeff one night.
“Oh really?” I asked.
“Nobody ever told you that?”
Nope. They hadn’t. I’m glad Jeff did.
More photos of our fabulous supper, including Theresa’s to-die-for Lobster BLTs, after the jump.
The chef at Primo is Melissa Kelly. We’ve never eaten her food before, but had always meant to when she was cooking a lot closer to us at the restaurant at Old Chatham Sheepherding Company in the Hudson Valley. She left there to opened Primo with pastry chef and co-owner Price Kushner. (Since then, she’s won a James Beard Award for Best Chef, Northeast.) So not only were we looking forward to dinner because Theresa and Jeff were raving, but also because we felt like we were finally getting to do something we’d been wanting to for a very long time. You know how sometimes when you anticipate how good something will be, and then your hopes are dashed once you are in the throws of it? This was absolutely not the case at Primo. Everything was delightful and delicious. We had a ball, too.
Here’s the local halibut with risotto:
We had an adventurous time getting to our next destination, taking the blue roads along the coast to check out two small towns: Wiscasset and Damariscotta. Both are known for having excellent seafood. At Wiscasset, it’s the lobster roll at Red’s Eats. Inn Damariscotta, it’s the oysters. They are said to be terrific just about anywhere you order them in town: they come from the oyster beds in the Daramiscotta River. But Jan, a friend we made at the wedding, said “There’s nothing like sitting down to a plate of oysters at King Eider’s Pub.” She was so right. There’s nothing like it in the world. The oysters were so fresh, so briny, so magical. They made our throats tingle. We had one taste and it took about half a second for us to look at each other and know. These were the best oysters of our lives.
More about the oysters, Red’s, and our trip to Rockland, after the jump.
