Busy, Busy, Mostly Eating:-)

Once we got Gilbert's and Newicks out of the way, we moved on to other favorite places to eat, and after all we hadn't even had a lobster roll yet!  First stop was Harraseeket Lunch, we wanted to get there before Memorial Day and the crowds arrive.  This has been one of our favorites for many years.  We got steamers, awesome seafood chowder and excellent haddock sandwiches.

Then not to be outdone, Jan made a great shrimp dish for dinner.

So by now the thoughts of lobster rolls were really penetrating our minds so we decided the first one would be a famous one in Kennebunkport at the Clam Shack that many folks feel is the best lobster roll in Maine.  And it truly is a shack, a building about 10 X 10 that offers a unique, at least for Maine, roll in that it is not on a New England hot dog bun, but instead on a perfect soft round roll. We scoffed years ago that on this roll it could be as wonderful, but after trying it, we had to admit it was superb.  In our opinion it is number 2, behind Red's which we will have next week.  It is a perfect lobster roll in that it is just fresh lobster and if you order "both", highly recommended, you get a dab of mayo on the bun and a bit of melted butter over the meat.  It is truly wonderful, so wonderful in fact, we all decided to go back two days later and get another:-)  And the spot where we ate them is nice as well.

We have been having a cool and wet spring here in Maine.  It doesn't get over maybe 65 and many days a lot cooler, there has been quite a lot of rain, drizzle, and fog, but actually it is quite welcome.  We have been walking every day, getting together enjoying each others company, and eating, eating, eating.  And had a wonderful visit with Bob and Harlean, friends that live in Maine we met in Florida.  We'll see you again later.

And of course solving the world's problems at happy hour:-) 

Jan made a delicious Spicy Thai Beef salad one night, a hit.

The happy chef

In fact when we went back down to get our second dose of lobster, it was quite foggy.

We found an incredible seafood market nearby with a beautiful selection of fresh fish, and have been enjoying wonderful meals at home as well as out.  Swordfish, one evening, and some fresh scallops with a couple of soft shell crabs another!

We haven't bought any live lobsters yet, that will come later.  The prices are up this year with the  combination of expensive fuel and rule changes that really hit the fishermen hard.

We had booked a fishing trip this year and hoped the weather would cooperate.  It sort of did, a bright blue clear day when we arrived at the dock, but the wind was strong and gusty and actually got worse as the day progressed, but we still had fun.

With the intense wind, which you can't really see in the pictures, we didn't go far out.  Turned out we were fishing for Striped Bass, or Stripers, something we had never done before.  Captain Ben tried to anchor several times, but with the strong wind and poor holding ground had to grab a mooring to get in the fishing.  He said most of the time he drifts slowly along, but if he did that we'd be back at the dock in about a minute:-)

Karen was first to get one on the line, a nice fish, and quite large, but not big enough to keep, they have to be between 28" and 35", and since it is early in their runs, most are smaller.

Tom was next, he got into a smaller one.

Captain Ben netting Tom's fish

Then finally I got one.  Pretty exciting, as the fish ran with the drag squealing.

Unfortunately Jan got skunked, and then just before we had to go back in, Karen got another!

Even with the wind, it was a fun and beautiful day.