Once upon a time, I went to the Prom.  I was 29 and the venue was Oxbow Brewing Company on Washington Ave.  There was a fruit pie bar as this was the release of their First Fruits blend.  What more could one need at the Prom (not that I know, as I didn't attend either prom in high school). See 6/28/2015 for the whole story but my point is, I fell in love.  This First Fruits beer was everything I've ever wanted in a drink.  Bold but light, fruity but not too sweet, drinkable and my favorite color to boot. 

Fast forward to last Friday, Fruited Friday that is.  Oxbow had seven home-made fruit-tastic brews on tap, plus three "Guest Beers."  I raced over after work, once a  couple taxidermied owls for a lesson on nocturnal animals were secured in my car.  Welcome to my teaching life!  The event ran noon to 6pm so I was shocked to find that all the kegs were still active when arrived at 3:30pm.  Through my wily charms, I was able to taste six of the seven beers, and found one new favorite beer. 

Momoko is blended, barrel aged peach farmhouse ale that is 7% ABV.  This was different from Allagash's Farm to Face peach beer in that it was slightly sweeter and much more like taking a bite of a peach and sharing your mouthful with sip of beer.  Peachy beer.  Go find some.  It even smells like it tastes so I was brought back to my family's peach orchard in Colorado.  Eating and drinking should be about transporting yourself to a place of love or a place of loved ones.  Momoko accomplished that.  I ended up getting two pours of this one because I couldn't imagine living one more minute without it.

I went for First Fruits next.  It was certainly still as killer as I remembered.  This one is also a blended farmhouse fruit beer that is aged six to twelve months in barrels with cherries, raspberries and Oxbow-grown strawberries.  She's also 7% ABV.  (Again, see 6/28/2015 blog for many more details about this one).  Putting fruit into beer just makes my life so much better.  And since there's fruit in it, the beer is healthy, right? 

I just had a couple sips of the other four I tried.  It's just so much nicer going to a place that lets you try things you might enjoy!  I have been to other bars and felt judged for wanting to experiment.  Not at Oxbow!   Here are the others I tasted:

Liquid Swords- 7% ABV, Blended and barrel aged farmhouse ale, with cherries!  I love cherries so this one was terrific.  First Fruits only won out because it also had raspberries and strawberries in it.
La Griseta-4%ABV, Mixed fermentation grisette (style of beer, like a saison) aged with pluots (plum and apricot hybrid).  The pluots gave it a light and not too sweet taste.  Had I been able to drink many, many pours, I would have gotten this one too.

Millhouse-8.5%ABV, Blended dark farmhouse ale aged in Millstone Cellar cider barrels with raspberries.  If I had any love for dark beer, this would have been incredible.  As it was, I found it a little bitter but the color (a deep garnet) was outstanding.

Professor Plum-6%ABV, Blended barrel aged plum farmhouse ale.  Don't take this the wrong way but this was like the most amazing cough drop you could ever put in your mouth.  It was an interesting taste and I found myself taking as small of sips as possible so that I might prolong the drinking experience. 
BAFPA- 6.5% ABV.  Farmhouse ale, fermented in stainless steal and aged in oak barrels, aged on raspberries.  This is the only Oxbow beer on tap I didn't get around to tasting.  Everyone has their limits and I reached mine at the end of the second Momoko. 
Finally, the three guest beers were blended with fruit as well:
Freigesit Geisterzug Gose- 5.2% ABV, An ancient spruce gose recipe with quince added during fermentation
Hitachino Nest Saison du Japan- 5%, Japanese saison brewed with rice koji and yuzu fruit
Monarchy Methusalem Holunderheimer- 10% ABV, sour, strong altbier or "Adamsbier" brewed with ("And your father smelt of...") elderberries. 
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When I revisited Oxbow last night for an art opening (see photo below), all but the Holunderheimer was off the menu.  Good things never last.  The new art is exquisite though.  Had I an unlimited budget and wall space to match, at least three of Tessa's paintings would be mine.

Moving on.  I didn't have much planned for the weekend so a day trip to Boston was just what I needed.  I took the 8:30am bus down and watched the Princess Bride, a favorite of my sisters', along the way.  Talk about unreachable romantic goals...Once we arrived, I walked East to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA).  Sometimes, I love to visit gift shops of museums more than the actual museum.  It's cheap (FREE!) and you get a feel for what the museum has to offer.  I was most impressed by a piece of work on their giant entryway wall.  It is a 40-foot mural by Ethan Murrow called Seastead.  The interesting part: it was created using Sharpie markers.  See http://www.bigpaperairplane.com/ for more of his work as well as more shots of Seastead.  I wonder how many Sharpie pens and markers he went through...

As I left to walk back towards Boston proper, I passed a wall with a non-traditional, not-planned mural of ICA attendance stickers.  It made me think of the wall of gum in Seattle for some reason.  It's technically littering but with so many colors intermingling, it works as its own type of art.  I walked over the water to the Boston Tea Party Museum for a look at some ships, people in Colonial period dress and a few Christmas presents.  Then it was on to Chinatown.  Boston's Chinatown isn't nearly as impressive as Washington DC's or Manhattan's but it gets the job done for a getaway from American-ism for 20 minutes. 

Straight for the burial grounds is where I headed next.  Their history and age never fails to floor me.  One man's grave, Joseph Trapping, has an incredibly elaborate headstone.  The symbolic images range from a skull with wings (representing a soul leaving the body) to an hourglass (representing time running out) and a skeleton snuffing out a candle (Death ending life) all the while, Time (bearded figure) is attempting to stop Death.  When did gravestones stop being an ode to a life as well as a work of art and turn so plain?  And no Boston trip is complete without a jaunt through Boston Commons.  It was an incredibly clear and pretty day.  Leaves, squirrels and wedding parties taking photos were everywhere.  One couple chose to shoot among millions of fallen yellow leaves.  Brilliant!

Food was soon necessary, as I walked around for a total of eight hours.  Flour Bakery is always my go-to place in Boston.  Their food is really fresh and damn tasty.  Once, long ago, I got the smoked turkey sandwich with cranberry chutney, sage mayo and white cheddar cheese and I haven't strayed since.  I say white cheddar because if you say cheddar, most assume yellow.  This cheese is above and beyond any yellow cheddar there is in this world, not to diss my Wisconsin cheese-making-relatives...This sandwich was so good that I got one half to eat in-house and then a full sandwich, panini-ed to perfection, for dinner. 

The next day, I went on an epic walk to Wolf's Neck (see 11/9/2015 blog post) and then on an epic bike ride the day after.  I followed the same route my dad and I took last summer South through Cape Elizabeth and all the way to Higgens Beach.  Round trip, it was about 28 miles.  One stop I made included Two Lights State Park, a place I have never visited.  I often go down to the actual two lighthouses and skip the park.  I walked around to discover an old World War II era battery bunker.  See the metal door photos below.

I'm off to collect Holy Donuts for a garden cleanup event at Reiche Elementary tomorrow morning, come if you want to get your hands dirty.   And eat donuts.  Mmmmm donuts...

Today I needed some dog-therapy so, I borrowed one.  Miles the Wonder Dog!  We went for a walk at Wolf's Neck State Park.  For some reason, this is only the third trip I've ever made to this location.  The first was to run my first 10k and the second was on a very lovely walk with two charming canines. 

I left my phone in the car to get away from technology and get some space but that ended up backfiring.  I was so overwhelmed by what I saw, smelled and felt that we ended up walking ALL the trails twice as I had to go back to the car to get said piece of technology to document the experience. 

No need to adjust your screens, this transmission is meant to be in and black-and-white.  Sometimes the true beauty of fall in Maine cannot be captured on "film."  In random order of trails and sights, here are some of the things I couldn't wait to share:

There was a great expanse of white pines with no understory whatsoever due to the acidic environment, just an acid-tolerant moss, lichen or Wintergreen patch here and there.  All around me there was brown.  Dead leaves and dead needles, brown trunks of pine trees but above, all bright and green growth and pure blue sky beyond.  Skinny tree roots were splayed upon the ground and covered the trails at points.  Some were rising up out of the earth like breaching dolphins. 

One giant crack in a very dead, very old pine tree opened into the empty tree core. I would've missed it, had I not been looking up at that one second instead of looking down at my feet, not wanting to fall my face.  Tall women with large feet may have a beauty all their own but we are not considered graceful.  As I stopped, open-mouthed in wonder next to the hollow tree, I heard a tapping sound behind me.  A woodpecker was working 30 feet up a tree and small chips of wood were flying everywhere.  As I stood there, still as a statue, a red squirrel ran over with an acorn in its mouth. It's amazing what you'll see in here if you just stop and listen. 

At multiple points along the trails, red squirrels climbed a tree upon spotting us.  I watched them for a minute or two as they chattered and chided, shook their tail and stared down.  Once, it seemed he laughed at us as we walked away.  Chipmunks were also out in full force, with full cheek pouches, and running to and fro to get ready for the long winter ahead.  The ran among Partridge Berry blankets which covered the forest floor near the trail, lighting up the foliage with bright red berries among their deep green leaves.

There was a stump along the way, left over from a tree that was set to fall over onto the trail.  "I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees," I shout as I jump up on it.  No answer.  The trails were all mine today.  As this event passed, brown oak leaves floated down from the sky as soft and quiet as giant snowflakes falling and hit the ground with the shushed sound.  Nuthatches, Titmice and chickadees flitting about all around, visiting different trees and talking to their friends.

There were tip-up roots (trees which have fallen over for one reason or another) everywhere.  Single-digit aged trees and centuries old trees decided one day to just to lie down and take a rest. Their roots sprawling skyward. Some of them leaned together like drunks at a bar, too tired to stand up straight.  Some tip-ups are fresh and new, with copious amounts of dirt still clinging to their roots. One such tree looked as if a girl was lifting up her skirt to step over a very large puddle.

An old unforgotten rock wall adorned the trail at one point.  You had to walk though it to continue on. Where you cross over, it is not green from the thousands of feet who have traveled her before me.  Every inch of every other rock is covered in a thin layer of moss.  As I stop to notate that point,  chickadees and titmice filled the silence.

The forest floor seemed to trade off real estate, with some areas completely covered in oak leaves and others in aspen or birch leaves but it seemed coniferous needles were everywhere.   Meanwhile, the sky was clear and ablaze.  At 12:30pm, the sun had already set a good deal.  The rays bouncing off the water was more blinding than a city lit by fireflies (thank you obscure U2 lyric).  The tide was moving in as I walked, making the melodic lapping sounds that you often hear on those sound machines one uses to soothe yourself to sleep in the unlikely event your upstairs neighbors are having a raging party.

All my senses except taste were heightened today, just from being outside in this perfect weather.  The smell among the falling leaves was especially intoxicating. If I could bottle it up and turn it into a pheromone, Paul Bunyan would be mine.  I'll leave you with that thought and this poem I crafted as I explored this amazing local park. 

A dead tree is a sad thing to see
but there are more things living in her now
than there will ever be

 Since my last post, I've been to Harvest on the Harbor, celebrated Halloween and my 30th birthday, crunched through every leaf pile possible and embraced this need for cozy food and drinks (though as I write this, the high for the day will be 65 degrees...)

Let's start with the most important thing: cake.  I love picking out my own birthday cake from Scratch Baking Co.  I started this tradition with myself a couple years ago.  It really just assures that I get to eat whatever the heck I want on my birthday without settling for a sub-par sugar-bomb.  Scratch always has the best selection with seasonal favorites as well as items they have everyday. 
This year, I chose four types of (small) cakes:
Deep South Coconut Cream Cake: layers of yellow cake filled with coconut pudding, covered in marshmallow frosting and coated in sweet coconut.  Oh goodness...

Ring Ding A Ling: rich chocolate cake, thick and delicious whoopie pie filling, c0vered in chocolate ganache and topped with colorful sprinkles to make you feel like a kid again.  I got two of these because they're so good.

Aztec Cake: cupcake-esque with chocolate cake and espresso frosting(?).  I don't remember all the details to this one but it was very good!

Mint Truffle Cake: You'd never know it was vegan...Very minty, rich and chocolate-y.  I love all things mint so this one was a perfect addition. 

This was a perfect birthday.  A latte and a walk in the morning, then a cake run with a birthday bagel (eaten at the SMCC lighthouse, thank you!), followed by teaching about nocturnal animals at my favorite school and finally drinks, flatbread/hummus, and beer/cheese soup at Local 188.  We all ended the night with cake, cake and more cake. 

Side note: If you've never had a bagel from Scratch, your life might be empty.  The bakers arrive at 3am every day to make them fresh and they always sell out.  The flavors are sea salt, all seeds, sesame, poppy, wheat and plain. Once upon a time, I worked at Scratch Baking Co.  I would arrive at 5am to make breakfast sandwiches and the aroma of these bagels still haunts me.

I attended a foodie event called Harvest on the Harbor a week or three back.  It was not nearly as wonderful as the previous two times I've attended.  The event was started in 2008 and was once held right on the harbor at what is now the Nova Star terminal.  There was a great tent set up with countless tables filled with incredible food and drink. 

This year, it was held in one of the back 58 Fore Street buildings.  The atmosphere was ok but what I was put off by most was the lack of compost or recycling facilities.  There were only trash cans.  All the uneaten food and drink went into the trash with the used plastic cups.  Disappointing to someone so set on lowering the trash stream amount. 

The food vendors were also sub-par this year with very few stellar booths ringing out.  One I can highly recommend though is Casco Bay Butter Co.  These artisan butters are handmade and packaged in Scarborough.  You can find their heart-stopping flavors (Get it?  Butter.  Arteries.  Heart-stopping.  Ha.) at Hannafords, Whole Foods, the Portland Food Co-Op, Scratch Baking Co and more.  Try the herb butter, truffle butter and sea salt flavors.  I may have visited this table more than 5 times just to eat butter on crackers.

Speaking of animal fat, I bought at Locavore coupon to Great East Butcher Co, $30 for $15.  I went in with an empty canvas bag and left with about ten pounds of fresh pork chops and sirloin strip steak for not very much money at all!  With pork chops being $3 per pound, I accidentally-on-purpose bought eight.  Freezer-tastic.  They have very slowly being eaten after I cook them on medium, in a pan with truffle olive oil (free from Harvest on the Harbor), rosemary, salt and pepper.  This dish makes my apartment smell delightful for hours to come.  I was also recently blessed with a pan of incredibly creamy and lust-worthy mac and cheese.  This was so delicious that it blew my recipe away (see June 2014 archives).  The noodles and cheese sauce was topped with buttery bread crumbs that MADE the dish.  I can't wait to eat some more!

The leaves continue to change and fall all around me as I walk or bike place to place.  On one school campus today, I stood under an enormous oak tree that was shedding leaves by the pile-full.  Students ran around, trying to catch them in their hands or more humorously, in their mouths.  It made me grateful that I wasn't the only one noticing what was occurring here.  I have sent photos of red, orange and yellow leaves to my family in the color-less state of Texas.  I can't imagine living anywhere else for now...