Category Archives: cooking

August in Maine means blueberries, baking and beer

Maine produces foods that are iconic: lobsters chief among them. But at a certain “tilt” of summer, Maine blueberries, tiny with a sweet/tart burst on the palate, are a must-have in the kitchen. I know it’s hot, blasted hot some days in August. Take a deep breath, set the oven to 350 degrees, turn on […]

Debate this: is corned beef and cabbage Irish or American?

I can’t recall my mother ever making corned beef and cabbage, but I’ll bet that’s because she knew we kids wouldn’t eat it. Cabbage? Only as cole slaw on the side of our Monarch Diner’s Friday night fried clam dinners. My grandmother by marriage, Margaret Mary McCarthy, made New England boiled dinners, a descendant of […]