Lemon Blueberry Muffins

I have a love/hate relationship with blueberries that falls directly on the low bush/high bush divide. I'll admit it, before I moved to Maine I didn't know there were different kinds, but boy is there a big difference. The low-bush or wild blueberry is a thing of beauty, small, tart and delicious. The high bush blueberry on the other hand, I feel is gritty, heavy, and lacking in flavor. In short  - I am not a fan.

I wish I could say the berries in the recipe came from wild blueberries we hand picked somewhere in a distant field (and if you know a good place to pick wild blueberries in Southern Maine, let me know - please!!), but they didn't - but they are wild Maine blueberries, and those are tasty enough for me.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

(adapted from Whipped's Cranberry Orange Muffins)

Makes 12-16 muffins

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• zest
 of one washed lemon
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 Tablespoon lemon juice)
• 1  to 1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen wild blueberries

Preheat oven to 375°F.

If making buttermilk, mix milk and lemon juice and set aside until needed.

Grease  or line muffin cups. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl.

Whisk together butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and buttermilk in a separate mixing bowl. With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in the flour mixture until just combined.

Toss blueberries in a small amount of flour until coated and fold into batter. Fill each muffin cup about three-quarters full. Bake until golden and a toothpick comes out clean (20-24 minutes). Let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes and eat warm with butter.

Roadtrip: Lake Mooselookmeguntic

Mr. Cleaver and I got back Tuesday afternoon from a few much-needed days in the woods at Stephen Phillip Memorial Preserve campground in Oquossoc, Maine. Though it was grey when we arrived, we lucked out on the weather and had a fantastic time hiking, canoeing, and sitting around the fire.

If you're ever in the Oquossoc/Rangeley area, I'd highly recommend the camp, as well as a stop at the road-side vista point Height of Land, and the breakfast burrito at the BMC Diner in Rangeley.

It's wonderful what some time lakeside does for the soul, isn't it? I've included some of my favorite photos below, but if you'd like to see some more, the full set is available on Flickr.

Roadtrip: Crescent Beach

Yesterday Mr. Cleaver & I fufilled my yearning for homefries at the Miss Portland Diner, spent the afternoon at Crescent Beach State Park, and went to a friends for a barbecue for dinner (where the barbecue caught on fire, so we ended up broiling some steaks inside instead). All in all a perfect summer day.

Roadtrip: The Cleavers Go Camping

Camping is in my blood. My brother and dad both reached the rank Eagle Scout and as a kid we when car camping all the time in all the state and national parks up and down California. I've always lover camping, but since I started college I've been camping a total of once. So this summer the mister and I decided that we would go camping for our big vacation.

Problem being that aside from the sleeping bag my mother mailed me, we had zero camping equipment.  So in the past few months Mr .Cleaver and I have stockpiling camping equipment thanks to a number of gift cards we had received for LL Bean.

While we've made a reservation for a site for a number of days in August, we wanted to take our new gear for a test run first. So this weekend we took a one-night jaunt to the campground at Bradbury Mountain State Park.  I brought along the camera to document our test run:

(Didn't think I'd skip my Tour de Fleece responsibilities did you?)

I won't say the box was completely full when we started on the fire, but it was pretty close - but in my defense the wood was kinda damp

I earned this s'more!

Sweet dreams - and then we realized that sleeping pads would be a good idea :)

Birthdays (of the Spousal and National Persuasion)

What a wonderfully busy weekend! Between Mr. Cleaver and the country - we spent our whole weekend in celebration. Not that I'm complaining :)

After a leisurely morning on the 3rd, involving the farmer's market and the bakery and a new fishing pole for Mr. Cleaver, we lazed away the afternoon ( I finished my dress) and headed out to eat around 4. We grabbed a meal and some bird watching at The Good Table (our favorite) and then drove down Highway 77 to Prout's Neck for a trek around the Cliff Walk.

The cliff walk is one of those hidden gems that I'm sure everyone knows about, but I didn't until about two weeks ago and Mr. Cleaver didn't know about it until I took him there this weekend, so maybe it is secret. In any case, to take the cliff walk find the house above, right next to the Black Point Inn,  and find the small stone path that cuts across the grass. This will take you out to the Cliff Walk.

The Cliff Walk is stunning.  There are rocky crags, pink sand beaches, and a beach entirely of smooth round rocks that rattle when the waves recede.

The walk takes between 45 minutes to an hour. Afterward we stopped at the Black Point Inn for cocktails. The bar was busy so they sent us down to the Adirondack chairs on the front lawn (too bad, right? :) ), where we sat and sipped and watched the sun set.

Mr. Cleaver declared the birthday a success. On the way back to town we stopped by the side of the road to snap a few more shots of the sunset.

For the Fourth, I spent the morning baking a belated birthday cake for the Mister, which we had delayed because we knew it would take a while to make this much cake! Though it did mean I had our tiny oven running for a few hours on the hottest day of year thus far!

After all the baking I finally got to put on my new dress!

[Dress: Vogue 8184; Modifications: made band from contrasting color, skipped boning, added in-seam pockets, added horsehair band to hem]

All snazzed up, we headed our to my Mother-In-Law's for a cookout with the family. Mr. Cleaver's older brother offered some hints and tackle for the new pole.

Once we were stuffed to the gills, Mr. Cleaver and I joined half of Portland for the Portland Symphony Orchestra pops concert/fireworks show. The addition of PSO to the festivities was a great touch!

I hope every one else had an enjoyable weekend too!

Roadtrip: Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

On Saturday, Mr. Cleaver and I made the drive up to Boothay to visit the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. This was our second visit to the gardens, the first being in the dead of Winter back in 2009.  THe cold tuend us out of the garden that February, but we vowed to return when the place was in bloom and it was well worth the return trip:

The blueberries were close to ripe and since you were encouraged to pick the ripes ones - we managed to fine one or two

My Dad always called Lamb's Ears "Cowboy Toilet Paper"

Maybe the most beautiful shade of blue I've ever seen:

Is it weird to take a picture of yourself with a sign with your fake last name?

Some red, white, and blue....

Which reminds to post a sneak peak of my 4th of July dress!

From Away

For Memorial Day weekend my friend Kasey came out from Chicago for a visit - we got to do some catching up, get in some shopping, eat some seafood, and soak in the sun.

We had a picnic at Evergreen and saw baby ducks and snapping turtles.

Played a string of candlepin and a few bucks worth of pinball.

Caught the sunset at Prout's Neck

Picked up lupines and local food from the farmer's market - including some tasty greens from my favorite farmers.

We did some shopping for clothes in Freeport.

And some shopping for shellfish in Portland

Caught a game at the ballpark (the first time I ever saw the Seadogs win!)

Made a fabulous local feast - including  Mr. Cleaver's scallops, Kasey's lobster and clam chowdah, and my first (quite successful) attempt at crab cakes

A trip to the chilly beach and a slightly warmer lighthouse.

And don't worry - Mr. Cleaver didn't miss out on all the fun - he just didn't make it into all that many pictures!

(and thanks to Kasey for the great time and the use some of your photos - you're welcome back anytime)

A Walk at Wolfe's Neck

Last night after work Mr. Cleaver and I took a walk at Wolfe's Neck State Park - it was warm and we were two of about a half dozen people at the park. Afterward, we oogled camping equipment at LL Bean and chowed down on slow cooked meat at Buck's Naked Barbecue. That's what I call a perfect evening.

We'd been at Wolfe's neck in the early fall and the late fall, so it was fun to see how the park is different in the spring/summer:

I love the color contrast of new growth -

These are the first wild orchids I have ever seen - they were everywhere!

This was the highest the tide has been on our visits here, it made the coastal parts of the walk look very different.

I couldn't believe how big some of the dandelions were! I saw another non-blooming one that was a least 4 inches taller.

The osprey nest. The chicks should be out an about in another few weeks.

Let's Go To The Movies

Last night Mr. Cleaver and I took the first of what will be many trips to the Pride's Corner Drive-In Theatre in Westbrook, where it's always a double feature. It was a fantastically fun atmosphere, with tons of families and folks who were clearly old pros at the Drive-In Experience. And for $7 for two first-run movies with inexpensive concessions, it's a good bang for your movie-going buck.

Some of my favorite things were all the younger kids in their pajamas and the 60's-era intermission cartoons. And for those wondering, the picture quality is good after the first 15 minutes or so (when it gets dark enough) and the sound plays via your car radio. As for film reviews, we both really enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon, but found Iron MA 2 to be underwhelming. Other than that, the photos are pretty self-explanatory, so I'll leave it to them.

PS - in other news, I met with a physical therapist on Thursday and have been diligently doing my stretches and I can happily say I can fully bend my wrist with no pain! I'm not out of thw woods yet, but this is definitely a positive move forward :)

Roadtrip: Maine Maple Sunday 2010

Every year, the 4th Sunday in March is celebrated state-wide as Maine Maple Sunday. Which is yet another reason to love Maine. Last year, Mr. Cleaver and I visited Merryfield farm in Gorham. This year we cast our syrup-seeking net a bit wider and drove out to Sebago to get our sap and sugar fix. And boy did we ever!

We started off our morning at the Sebago Town Hall for a tasty pancake breakfast benefiting the local fire department. The fire chief himself served Mr. Cleaver his coffee. The hall was packed to the gills with locals, with a few sundry outsides like ourselves.

No Mrs. Butterworth here!

After we'd filled our bellies we drove about five minutes up the road to Greene Maple Farm  - where six generations have been turning sap into syrup.

Outside the Greene sugar shack I overheard the following exchange:

Teenage boy in shorts: "It's cold"

His sister: "It's always cold on Maple Sunday!"

And indeed it was chilly, but it's nice in the sugar shacks next to the evaporators: )

At Greene's we sampled warm maple syrup over homemade vanilla ice cream and picked up a pint to take home.

A pile of tree taps.

Next we stopped at Grandpa Joe's Sugar House over the line in Baldwin., where the Murch's have been in residence since 1916 and making maple syrup since the 1980s.

They had a plethora of goodies at Grandpa Joe's and we came out with some more samples, some maple sugar candy, and, Mr. Cleaver's favorite, maple cotton candy.

Though some strange weather patterns (mostly a string of unseasonably warm days) has significantly cut back on the sap run this year, everyone was proud to demonstrate their craft. And visitors were glad to stand by the fire, which runs around 214°F/101°C.

There may be no more beautiful sight than the stea rising from a Maine sugar house on a cold spring morning.

I can't wait until next year, but at least I got syrup to tide me over :)