Good eats and good treats.

One of the things we were most looking forward to in Maine was eating lobster.  After arriving in Maine, we found out that not only is there lobster available everywhere and in every form (lobster, lobster rolls, lobster stew, lobster tacos, lobster mac & cheese…), there are ice cream shops on almost every corner!  Pinch me!  I think I must be dreaming!

On our first night in Maine, we went to dinner at Lord’s, a nearby seafood restaurant.  The first thing I saw when I walked in was a platter full of onion rings that we ended up ordering and nearly filling up on before our meal even arrived.  For dinner, we shared a seafood trio of a seacake, 2 coconut jumbo shrimp and baked haddock casserole.  The baked haddock casserole was our favorite of the trio.  Chuck also tried their clam chowder but it was the clear kind of clam chowder and not near as good as S&P Oyster Co.’s or Pebbles’.

On Friday night, John and Joe took us to Shane’s for their homemade ice cream (see “Good Friends and Good Times” post.)

On Saturday, at Joe’s recommendation, we tried Fisherman’s Catch and we were not disappointed.  We had our first lobster dinner here.  As has now become the “norm” when we go to a seafood restaurant in New England, Chuck tried their clam chowder.

Mmmmm….very good and much better than Lord’s.  Next, we got ready for our lobster dinners.  First, we read the instructions on the placemat on “How to Eat a Lobster”:

Chuck put on his lobster bib; and when the waitress brought our lobsters, he was ready to get cracking!

The shells were hard but the lobsters were delicious.

(We learned later that we were here early in the season and the lobsters were usually hard-shelled like these. )

On Sunday, we had lunch at the “Bull and Claw” because we noticed they had a $6.99 salad bar.  We tried our first lobster roll but were not very impressed.  We agreed with John in that it’s pretty much just lobster and mayo on a bun.  We’d rather have the real deal.

Later in the week we tried an ice cream shop right outside the park where they served just about any flavor of soft serve ice cream you could imagine.  Chuck had peach and I had chocolate mint.  (Mine was a lot better.)

On Thursday night, John invited us over for grilled hot dogs/kielbasa.  They were so delicious.  John and Joe even surprised Chuck with an early birthday cake.

The best dinner of all was on Saturday night when we John and Joe and their families and us got together for a lobster dinner.  Chuck and John and Joe had ridden up the coast on Friday where they bought 20 lobsters and a bunch of clams.  The lobsters and clams were packed in seaweed and ice.  While Joe cooked the lobsters and clams in a big pot:  lobsters, clams, seaweed, and beer all in one pot and corn-on-the-cob in another pot…

...Chuck, Lorraine and John got the tables ready.

After about an hour, the lobsters were red and ready.

Chuck got the first one.

Now that’s a “lob-stah.”

We ate and we ate…

…until there was nothing but a bunch of empty shells left. 

John LOVES lobster.  He would sip out the juice, eat the “tomalley”, and dig whatever remaining edible (and what looked like inedible) parts of the lobster.

See the lobster body that was left on my plate.  He ate it. 

We also tried the “steamers” or clams.  They were good too; but we liked the lobster the best.  Joe's lobster was the best lobster we had ever eaten (or probably ever will).

We brought Renee’s (Chuck’s cousin) apple dumplins and ice cream for dessert which was a big hit with everyone.

On Sunday, Joe cooked his Sunday breakfast that just about everybody in the campground comes too.  Joe cooked all the bacon, eggs, omelets, and toast.  John and Lorraine made blueberry pancakes.  Afterwards, we just sat around and visited.

And got a few more pictures.  This is Lorraine (John’s wife) and me:

And this is “The Three Amigos”

Joe, Chuck and John.

After breakfast, we went for another bike ride along the coast with John. 

We wanted to make homemade chocolate ice cream before we left but we couldn’t find ice cream salt anywhere.   After our bike ride, Chuck and I drove around looking for ice cream salt again and we finally found it at the Ace Hardware in Kennebunk.  While we were in Kennebunk, we drove out to Kennebunkport and saw President George Bush’s seaside home:

And then stopped at the “House of Pizza” in Kennebunk for lunch.  The pizza was pretty good but not as good as the House of Pizza from years ago on White Bridge Road in Nashville. 

On Sunday night, we made the homemade chocolate ice cream.  I think our new northern friends like our Southern apple dumplins’ and homemade ice cream about as much as we like their “chowda” and “lobstah”. 

The best "treat" of this trip was the great new friends we met at Moody Beach.  "Hope we get to see ya'll again sometime real soon.... ya her!"  :)