Gravenstein...........A Cider Press & 1669 Supper

the gravenstein is considered by many to be one of the best all-around apples in this country.... it was introduced to western north america (california) in the early 19th century, perhaps by russian fur-traders who are said to have planted a tree at fort ross in 1811... its origins have been traced back to 1669 denmark, although there is some evidence that the variety originated in northern italy. now in america this antique was the source of applesauce and dried apples for the troops in WWII and was declared an american heritage food by slowfoodusa and inducted to its ark of taste in 2005... chef carosi and the new england farm 2 fork project will feature a multi course 1669 supper after guests participate in 'the gravenstein cider press'... come enjoy just pressed sweet, tart and delicious organic 'raw' cider with supper... gather around the table with family and friends to help us sustain the existence of this antique apple at our 2o1o host farm: raven hill orchard.....

 

the evenings menu.......
the freshest mess of wild maine field greens tossed in a 'just pressed' raw gravenstein cider vinaigrette with shaved heirloom orchard apple, applewood smoked walnuts, great hill farmhouse blue cheese and wildflower bee pollen............... orchard cider syrup lacquered berkshire pork loin roast with farmstead local cheddar mashed maine taters, spiced antique apple chutney and bacon fat caramelized 'end of summer' squash................ 'as american as apple pie' with shain's of maine ginger ice cream........

join us in celebrating this heirloom apple...........august 29th
heirloom cider press...........4 pm..............1669 supper............5pm
$125 per person (plus tax & gratuity)

droole over the menu @ http://www.thenewenglandfarm2forkproject.com/
for reservations give us a holler 

dinner will be held on our 2010 host farm- raven hill orchard
chef sebastian carosi  |  founder

yarmouth clam festival.........45th annual

always on the third friday in july, in the charming coastal village of yarmouth is held the countries biggest clam festival........ what we ate: fried wholebelly clams . capt'n eli's ice cream floats . lime rickey's . fish chowder . more wholebelly clams and another lime rickey........ we watched the maine state clam shucking contest (celebrity showdown)....... new's 8- shannon moss & norm karkos . news 6- bill green & caroline cornish . news 13- doug rafferty & erin ovalle........... we then went on to the 38th annual diaper derby, fortunately zander was tuckered and didn't want to participate in the derby even though he has the 7th generation nation behind him, supporting him the entire way.... maybe next year...........! so instead of the diaper derby we headed over to have PJ do zander's first caricature...... his hair was in raw form........ a few facts about this clam fest: more than 6,000lbs of clams are eaten . 13,500 lime rickey's are drank . 6,000 lobster rolls are eaten . 400 homemade pies are consumed & 6,000 strawberry shortcakes are devoured throughout the weekend event........ we really enjoyed our time at the yarmouth clam fest and will return year after year....

parducci sustainable white.........

parducci sustainable white has crisp, clean aromas and flavors of citrus honeydew melon . parducci is locally owned and operated in california's mendocino county . they are commited to sustainable winegrowing practices that yeild top quality grapes and wines while protecting the environment and supporting communities and local farmers . america's first carbon neutral winery . featuring 100% earth friendly packaging

appellation: mendocino county, california varietals: 41.5% chenin blanc . 38% sauvignon blanc . 12% viognier . 7.5% muscat canelli . 1% fruiliano alcohol: 13.5%

http://www.mendocinowineco.com/

this winery is worth looking into, they produce a quality product with a message...... we pour all of their wines at our eco-gastronomic roving rural supper club events......

damariscotta, maine........where the hell is damariscotta

in most peoples minds maine is lobster country........! but the same frigid ocean, terminal moraine, and unpolluted coastline that grows such tasty crustaceans also makes for beautiful bivalves....... especially barb scully's.............!!! within maine's innumerable finger estuaries, fed by the robust tides, grows oysters that are distinctly maine, ..............as salty as a camden sea captain........! but overfishing and pollution in the 19th and 20th centuries wiped out almost all of the oyster beds along the eastern seaboard, and it took until the late 1970's for marine biologists at the darling marine center, university of maine's marine biology laboratory on the shores of the damariscotta, to discover that the river was prime for replanting........ as it turns out, the same cold, nutrient-rich water that made maine the kingpin of the lobster industry also produces perfect oysters....... the damariscotta's water is some of the cleanest in the northeast and gives the oysters their distinctively briny taste....... maine oysters grow slowly..... while southern oysters can reach market size in a year or less, a maine oyster needs at least three years minimum..... a four year old, cold water maine oyster has a glorious depth of texture and flavor, a trade mark damariscotta deep cup, and a beautiful green and white shell, sometimes edged with light purple that can be remarkably tough and hard bitten, like downeasters themselves...........! the closer the oyster 'farm' is to the mouth of the river, where the water is saltier, the brinier the meat.... plots closer to the riverhead tend to produce a slightly mellower, sweeter flavored bivalve...... pemaquids, like barb scully's glidden point oysters, are farmed near the riverhead then submerged at the river mouth for a week to purge river bottom sediment that collects during harvesting..... this extra care and attention ensures that the meat is super clean and will have that saltier finish found in a damariscotta cold water estuary raised oyster....... the damariscotta river cold water estuary, midway up the maine coast, has been ground zero for oyster lovers for thousands of years...... high up the estuary sits the glidden midden, an enormous hill of ancient oyster shells dating back more than 2000 years........ the mound is thirty feet high, runs along the river for 150 feet, and contains some oyster shells over a foot long...... among maine's string of finger estuaries, the damariscotta river stands alone...... virtually any oyster from the damariscotta is going to be tasty, thanks to the shape of the basin..... the cold, foggy damariscotta runs wide and deep fifteen miles inland to the town of damariscotta and beyond to damariscotta lake, giving plenty of room for growing oysters....... within a true stone's throw of each other you'll find the growing areas of glidden point, pemaquid, dodge cove, hog island, mook and many other leading growers............... this river is the napa valley of oysters.......! as the chef at a restaurant situated about four miles up the damariscotta, on the first big bend in the river I got to thoroughly enjoy these bivalves that were plucked from the waters just outside the restaurants back door........ I chose barb scully's glidden points, about an inch and a half long, barb considers these beauties her cocktail sized oyster....... I went through six to eight dozen a week....... friday nights we would do $1 oysters naked on the half shell with their choice of shaved cold river vodka bloody mary ice or sparkling green tabasco mignonette....... we also did many other oyster dishes: oyster stew, oyster po-boys, crispy cornflake fried oysters, oyster shooters and oysters rockefeller.......! if you are into this touted aphrodisiac or just love to slurp down a dozen or two, contact barb scully up in damariscotta and have her ship you a few......... she always has a few things around that she may have harvested from the sea several hours ago: clams, wild oysters and maine shrimp.......

shain's of maine...........................!

established in 1979, shain's of maine has grown to be one of the most innovative and top producing ice cream companies in maine........ now boasting over 90 flavors........ they began as a small ice cream company and sold everything that they made in their retail outlets in sanford and springvale... in 1984 they consolidated these two shops and built their current location on route 109... in the spring of 1988 they purchased an ice cream freezer truck to better enhance their service to wholesale accounts and to get the product to their customers in good condition... thus began the wholesale division of shain's of maine ice cream.... jeff shain has been in the frozen dairy delights business for decades, and the food biz for longer than that..... he is the creative force behind the creation of all flavor profiles and will make anything a customer can fathom as long as you purchase the entire tub........ jeff and I sat around in the kitchen of the tides inn a few summers ago, and bounced one ice cream flavor idea after the other around..... we joked about the pickle, garlic, red wine and trout flavored ice cream that we had heard of in our combined years in the food biz...... shain's of maine is a family owned ice cream company, this lets them be as flexible as they want when it comes to novelties and flavor profiles....... case in point: THE SEA DOG BISCUIT....... every year, five workers in sanford make the treats.... all two hundred thousand of them..... by hand....... twice in one week we decided to put them to the test....... not that we haven't TESTED their ice creams on a regular basis...... in the thick of summers heat and when there is three feet of snow on the ground, we make our way to shain's of maine...... on the evaluation block is ginger, cookie dough and black raspberry explosion.... ginger................creamy milkiness . loaded with bits and pieces of ginger . floral scent . slightly spicy, but smooth as hell.............. cookie dough................ a very creamy base with a gigantic 'fist-sized' ball of cookie dough..................... black raspberry explosion.........................a sweet creaminess . bold berry flavor with big chocolate chunks.......... we loved them all and will continue to sample the spectacular array of tongue twisting flavors....... shain's of maine........1491 main street sanford, maine ph:207.324.1449 -or- 800.324.0650

A Maine Game Dinner.....

in the shadows of ossipee mountain the new england farm 2 fork project will host another maine game dinner... a reception held in the orchard of the new england farm 2 fork project's 2010 host farm, raven hill orchard will feature chef sebastian carosi's in-house cured magret duck prosciutto on a buttermilk biscuit with homemade five pepper jelly as well as maine moose burgers on benne seed buns with sebastian's orchard smoked coffee barbecue sauce... the next three courses in this six course wild culinary affair are mammies local elk and black bear meatballs in cider gravy; a salad of smoked maine rabbit, forest mushrooms and milkweed pods; a swanky sinzibukwud roast of maine red deer with just ground heirloom corn grits and cattails... the evenings sugar therapy will be an antique orchard apple tart tatin with barrel aged allagash ale caramel and frozen homemade yogurt... spiced red wine and apple cider punch as well as rosemary cheddar-ale rolls are included with dinner... come enjoy an evening in the mountains with a cracklin' fire and a variety of wild local edibles... $125 per person (plus tax and gratuity)................ 6pm sharp...

full menu available @ http://www.thenewenglandfarm2forkproject.com/

held @ 2010 host farm- raven hill orchard

Julia Child...........a tribute

join the new england farm 2 fork project in celebrating an american culinary icon: julia child... both the luncheon and the dinner will feature some of julia's favorite ingredients, recipes and meals... utilizing the freshest of local bounty... being that julia's husband paul child brought her to his home early in their relationship on the outside of mt. desert island, the new england farm 2 fork project will feature several dishes that julia perfected while there in maine- bouillabaisse a la blue hill bay (her localized fish stew) and moulles marineres (maine mussels) one of her absolute favorites made with the purple shelled mussels plucked from the coast of old point her home here in maine... join us in celebrating julia's maine and remember... life itself is the proper binge..... the luncheon and dinner will feature several of these dishes and others influenced by maine's orchards, farms and gardens...
 

luncheon $65 per person (plus tax & gratuity) august 14th... 11am-3pm (4 courses)

dinner $150 per person (plus tax & gratuity) august 15th... 6pm (6 courses)
luncheon and dinner will be held on our 2o1o host farm- raven hill orchard
Remember Julia's Birthday- August 15th, 1912