Maine Memories...

Don't get me wrong, the grilled cheese sandwich I devoured for dinner before heading back to the library for mass amounts of lecture writing and reading for seminars was very good. I make a damn tasty grilled cheese sandwich. But the solitary cooking of the sandwich, not to mention its lack of complexity and the quickness in which it was eaten, has got me reminiscing about the last family dinner I had in Portland with my Maine family--potatoes au gratin, empanadas stuffed with fresh Maine lobster, fish tacos made with local fish, avocado-mango dip, and grilled Maine shrimp complete with a specialty tequila cocktail to accompany the fantastic meal. A grilled cheese simply cannot compare to the company of friends and family and the leisurely cooking and consumption of delicious food on a quiet Sunday evening.  

While I can't be in Maine tonight, at least these photos captured some of the culinary joy of that meal...

Lobster Empanadas     

Tequila-Marinated Grilled Maine Shrimp

Tequila Cocktail with Freshly Squeezed Juices, Ginger Simple Syrup, and St. Germaine's Elderflower Liqueur 

Potatoes Au Gratin

Look at that burbling...

Fish Tacos

Mango-Avocado Dip 

Slider Throwdown: Part III

Well, well, well--we've come to the last competitor in the throwdown. Pat busted out two pounds of bacon in an attempt to win over the judges. Because, come on, who doesn't love bacon? On his menu was German potato salad, pineapple-jalapeno margarita with candied bacon, and a steak slider with grilled peppers and onions and a blue cheese sauce.

I became seriously nervous when I saw that Pat had bought all that bacon. One pound went into the potato salad and the other was used for candied bacon. The idea for candied bacon on a pineapple-jalapeno margarita was brilliant. To make the candied bacon he just coated the pieces of bacon in brown sugar, lied them flat on a baking sheet covered in foil, and cooked them in the oven until the sugar had caramelized and the bacon was cooked through. The jalapenos added a nice heat to the margarita (though I added a little more to mine for an extra kick), and the candied bacon was certainly an  interesting and delicious garnish. Candied bacon is definitely making an appearance at the next bacon party.

Pat used a family recipe for the German potato salad, and I hated to admit that it was one of the best potato salads I've tasted. He also grilled up some steak, onions, and peppers and the slider and created a lovely blue cheese concoction for the slider. The steak was cooked perfectly--nice and rare--and the sauce was . As I sampled and enjoyed Pat and Sonya's culinary creations I started to worry that I was about to be put to shame in this slider throwdown.


It was time to the face the judges--who do you think would win? Would it be my mango-avocado dip with fried wonton chips, hibiscus margarita, and seared Ahi tuna slider? Or would it be Sonya's waldorf salad, apple-pear margarita, and sausage slider? Or would it be Pat's German potato salad, jalapeno-pineapple margarita with candied bacon, and grilled steak slider? Place your bets!