On February 25-26, DH and I blew into Portland, Maine, to visit friends. It was wicked windy, as we say here in New England, so when I say "blew into," I mean it literally, as our trusty Honda was buffeted by arctic clipper winds all the way.
While Portland is justly celebrated for its lively waterfront - still a working port - a bit of online research led us to the road (somewhat) less traveled, edgy Congress Street. In my "A to Z" report of our trip, I'll start with Z -
Z Fabrics, at 316A Congress St. However, if you visit after March 1, please note that the store is moving to 477 Congress St., having outgrown its current sliver of retail space. A nice, edited selection of fabrics, and I found just the right backing fabric for a quilt top.
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| Z Fabrics store, original space. |
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Next on our tour of Congress St. came the
Angela Adams home furnishings store. Ms. Adams is a Maine native and has done her home state proud.
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| Angela Adams store. | | | | | | |
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Back into the cold outdoors but not for long, as we entered the cozy, wool-lined
KnitWit shop at 247A Congress St. A busy, lively place despite the shopper-discouraging blustery cold. Of course, there's no better place in winter than a friendly yarn shop.
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| KnitWit yarn shop. I bought yarn to make a hat to match my teal jacket. |
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| Foodie images - including Katie Made Bakery, and mead tasting. |
From fiber to food and drink - we left Congress St. and walked two blocks to the
Maine Mead Works brewery (meadery?) for a mead tasting. No appointment, just show up. We tasted nine flavors of mead, which is wine fermented from honey, and liked the Blueberry and Dry Hopped best. Evidently 30% of Maine's bees now work for Maine Mead Works. Who knew?
We fueled up at lunchtime at
Katie Made Bakery, a corner storefront at 147 Cumberland Ave., and each slurped a delicious cream of broccoli soup, before sharing a roast beef and caramelized onion sandwich. The cupcakes looked delicious; maybe next time.
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| Grace restaurant, a former church. |
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After taking in a Degas show at the Portland museum, we all enjoyed dinner at
Grace restaurant. In a very imaginative example of adaptive reuse, the sanctuary of a deconsecrated church has become an eating place with just the right balance of fun and formality. We enjoyed an excellent meal, comparable to anything in Manhattan, and at one-third the ticket price.
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| Japanese saying - we eat first with our eyes. |
I especially have to rave about one dessert - a peanut butter roulade with candied celery (lower right in the image above.) Remember eating peanut butter on celery sticks as a child (or an adult, for that matter)? Well, this version has gone to France and received Cordon Bleu certification. Sponge cake hugs a peanut butter filling; neither cake nor filling are too sweet, and the candied celery provides a crisp herbal note that's just right. A delicious way to cap our trip to Portland.
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| Images of Portland. |
