Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

The Ice Cream Store
6 Rehoboth Ave,
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971

Sammy went with her girl scout troop to Cape Henlopen which is near Rehoboth Beach.  As one of the activities we spent an afternoon in Rehoboth.  For icecream she went to The Ice Cream Store, a place that has over 100 ice cream flavors!  After sampling a few (all the Harry Potter related flavors) I decided on Hagrid's Rock Cookies...

... and it was delicious!

Recipe for Cinnamon Rolls

For the start of the school year Sammy decided to make cinnamon rolls for her friends since they are relatively easy, can be frozen and therefore made beforehand, as well as there being a large quantity of cinnamon rolls (resulting in lots of friends!).

Recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/freezer-cinnamon-fruit-rolls

Bar Harbor, Maine: Stewman's Lobster Pound

After the multiple stops during our drive from MHT airport to Bar Harbor, we arrived at our B&B, the Acacia House Inn, a little before 8PM.
After checking in, we got a recommendation from our innkeeper to go to Stewman's Lobster Pound for our first lobster dinner.
From our B&B, it was a short walk to Stewman's Lobster Pound, which was located in downtown Bar Harbor, along the waterfront.

Stewman's Lobster Pound
5 West Street
Bar Harbor, ME 04609

Live lobsters were organized by size in their respective tanks.

We could watch the lobsters being steamed in an outdoor cooking area.

For our first dinner in Maine, we shared a half ladle of New England clam chowder, which was excellent and filled with clam bits.

The "Simply Maine Lobster you choose the size" was a 1 1/4 pound steamed Maine lobster that came with a fresh ear of corn.

For those not wanting to do the work and fight the lobster shell, the Classic Maine Lobster Roll was perfect: a butter-toasted roll filled with fresh picked lobster meat with a touch of seasoned mayonnaise, and a side of cole slaw and fries.

For dessert, we could not resist the Maine wild blueberry pie (a la mode).

We were very satisfied with Stewman's Lobster Pound, as the food was excellent, and the location extremely convenient from our B&B.

Portland, Maine: Gorgeous Gelato

The drive from the MHT airport to Bar Harbor was estimated to be between 4.5 hours (fastest route) to about 5.5 hours (scenic route.)
Either way, we would drive by Portland, Oregan.
We stopped at the Gorgeous Gelato in Portland on our way to Bar Harbor for a 'snack'.
Its owners were originally from Milan, Italy, and their gelato are as authentic as you would find in Italy.

Gorgeous Gelato
434 Fore Street
Portland, ME 04101

It was a difficult decision on which flavors to pick, but after multiple samplings, we both settled on the Gorgeous flavor, a vanilla base with caramel swirls and chocolate chunk.
And since the 'small' gelati was allowed to have two flavors, one of us added the Dark Chocolate gelati, a perfect complement to the Gorgeous flavor.

This was a nice snack and break on our way from the airport to Bar Harbor.
The Harbor area has other shops and was nice to walk around (stretch our legs from our drive).

Kittery, Maine: Bob's Clam Hut

Bob's Clam Hut was our first stop after we landed in MHT airport (Manchester, NH).
The reason we picked Bob's Clam Hut was that its location was about one hour from MHT, and it was known for its fresh clam strips.

Bob's Clam Hut is located in Kittery, among a busy stretch of Kittery's outlet shops.

Bob's Clam Hut
315 US-1
Kittery, ME 03904
www.bobsclamhut.com

We started our first meal in Maine sharing a cup of lobster stew and a plate of Lillian style clam strips.

The lobster stew had big chunks of lobster and was delicious.
The clam strips were very tasty, especially dipped in the homemade tartar sauce and spicy tartar sauce.

We highly recommend stopping at Bob's Clam Hut if you have a chance, especially since we discovered a Lululemon outlet down the street from Bob's Clam Hut.

Bar Harbor, Maine: Acacia House Inn

The Acacia House Inn is located in Bar Harbor, Maine.
Its location is very close to the Acadia National Park, but also within a short walk from the main shops and restaurants of Bar Harbor.
While this is a Bed and Breakfast, the BREAKFAST is amazing.

The address is:
6 High St, Bar Harbor, ME 04609
Phone: (207) 288-8122

The co-owner of the B&B, Anna, used to have her own breakfast shop, the Morning Glory Cafe, that eventually became a bakery.  And we were fortunate to have her make breakfast for us.  Breakfast is served in the dinning area and porch area.

On our first breakfast, the first serving was a fruit cup of Maine wild blueberries, banana slices, and pineapple chunks.  The main breakfast items could be ordered from a menu, or chosen from the special of the day. Today we decided to share the blueberry granola yogurt parfait and the Maine wild blueberry pancakes, both from the menu.  We also had fresh orange juice and cranberry/pomegranate juice.

On the second morning, a cinnamon bun was the morning fresh baked item.  The fruit serving was Maine wild blueberries with custard.  For breakfast we both ordered the delicious Maine wild blueberry pancakes so that we wouldn't have to share, as they were perhaps the best blueberry pancakes we have ever had!

On the third morning, a strawberry scone was the baked item. The fruit cup consisted of strawberries and grape.  For breakfast (because someone back at home said all we eat was blueberries), we got the raspberry french toast and the egg frittata with onion, mushroom, and Maine tomatoes.

On our final morning, chocolate croissants were the baked item.  We were happy to have  once again Maine wild blueberries and raspberry for our fruit cup.  Today on our last day we had to have our all-time favorite Maine wild blueberry pancakes, and the special of the day: grilled polenta topped with 2 eggs, fresh tomato salsa and cilantro sour cream.

In the evening, Anna put out baked goods and lemonade for us. One night it was muffins, another night it was coconut puffs, and one other night it was classic chocolate chip cookies: delicious!

We stayed in Room #1, which was on the main floor of the inn, and had the biggest bathroom with a large newly renovated shower, and a nice jacuzzi tub that we did not use.
The bed linens were really soft, and the bath soap and shampoo were fancy and smelled wonderful.
We truly enjoyed our stay, and would return just for the wonderful breakfast.
We highly recommend that you check this B&B out if you decide to visit Maine.

The Acacia House  Inn is a Bed and Breakfast from May through October.  In the offseason, November through April the House opens for breakfast to the locals on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

There are some recipes from the Acacia House Inn:
http://www.acaciahouseinn.com/recipes.html

Recipe for Sous-Vide Salmon

Sous-vide, which means “under vacuum” in French, refers to the process of vacuum-sealing food in a bag, then cooking it to a very precise temperature in a water bath. This technique produces results that are impossible to achieve through any other cooking method.

When scout first received the Anova sous-vide device from Robo as a gift, she experimented this sous-vide cooking for steak, chicken, pork chop, salmon and egg.

Today scout is showing you the sous-vide salmon, which comes out evenly translucent and just starting to flake.

1. Set the sous-vide device to 115 degrees F
2. Put the salmon in a ziploc bag, with olive oil, sea salt and herbs (such as thyme, dill or parsley)

3. Remove air from the ziploc bag using water displacement method

4. Submerge the salmon in the water bath, clipping the bag to the side of the pot and cook for 45 minutes

5. When done, glaze the salmon with Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce and put under the broiler until the salmon has a slight burnt

6. The result is a nice glazed piece of salmon, cooked to perfection.
7. Serve with side dishes such as fresh corn or a nice salad

Recipe for Dumpling Sauce

scout learned how to make Dumpling sauce from scratch last night, at Ou's house.
Ou is from Beijing, and she invited us over to her house for some homemade dumplings.
scout paid attention when Ou started to mix her dumpling sauce from scratch, as this will come in super-handy during our Thanksgivings and Christmas Dumplings parties!

Dumpling Sauce recipe:
sugar (maybe about 2 tablespoons?)
Chinese vinegar (maybe about 1/8 cup?)
soy sauce (maybe about 1/8 cup?)
sesame oil (a little bit)
Sriracha spicy sauce (a little bit)
Adjust amount to taste, mix well, serve

(Okay, when I actually try this, I will fix the amount in the recipe as a starting point.)

Recipe for Sarku Teriyaki Chicken

Sarku Teriyaki Chicken at the mall's food court is simple, yet delicious.
The last time that we went to Montgomery Mall and ordered some Teriyaki chicken, scout noticed that they also sell their special teriyaki sauce in a bottle!

If you find a good bottle of Teriyaki sauce, it is very easy to duplicate the Teriyaki chicken from the mall.

First you buy de-boned and de-skinned chicken thighs, and cut them up in little chunks.
Sprinkle some flour, salt and pepper to the cut chicken.
Add oil in a pan and over high heat, stir fry the chicken until brown.

Then add a good amount of the Teriyaki sauce into the cooked chicken and cook in medium heat until the sauce caramelizes and the chicken turns to a nice brown.

Serve over white rice and some vegetables.
Here I stir fried some broccoli as a side to my chicken teriyaki.

If you want to make your own Teriyaki sauce from scratch, there are several recipes you can find online to try.
But if you are lazy like me, buy a good bottle of Teriyaki sauce (it doesn't have to be the Sarku brand) and you are good to go!

Recipe for Peach Jam

Ingredients: Any kind of fruit or fruits you want (yellow peaches and white peaches were used here), sugar, citrus rind, grapefruit juice

The great thing about jams is that you can uses as much as you want of each ingredient. The steps are all more or less the same.

Starting off, take all the fruit you are using and chop them into small pieces. Remember, the larger the pieces, the chunkier the jam. You can skin the fruit if you want, but you don't have to. In the jam pictured above, I kept the skin.

Also take the citrus rind and scrape off pieces of the white pith . I used a grapefruit for this, but any citrus is fine. You can also use the colored peel if you don't mind adding some of the citrus taste to the jam. Keep going until you have a small pile. The purpose of the rind is to add pectin to the mix. Pectin is a polysaccharide that acts as a thickening or gelling agent in an acidic environment (usually with a pH value of 2.8 to 3.6, hence the grapefruit juice). Sugar will also increase its gelling ability and will thus affect the consistency of the jam. Depending on what kind of fruits you are using, you may not have to use as much rind. Apples, blackberries, and grapes are high in pectin content so they typically only need some sugar to gel, whereas blueberries, strawberries, and our peaches are low in pectin so they need some more help. Store bought pectin can also be used (fun fact, that pectin is typically made with apples) but if you use citruses, be sure to use the rind. Citrus rinds are high in pectin but the rest of the fruit is not.

Place all of the fruit and rind in a medium sized saucepan over medium high heat. Throw in a heavy splash of grapefruit juice. Lemon or lime juice will do just as well, just remember that since they are more acidic (pH of ~2 to grapefruit juice's ~3) you can add a little bit less. I just happened to have grapefruit juice on hand (can you tell I like grapefruits?) so that ended up being what I used.

Once the fruit has reached a boil, bring the heat down to medium. You can now add the sugar. I personally don't like adding a lot of sugar, so I had m only throw in half a small handful of sugar. This will let the natural taste of the peaches shine a bit more while still having enough to help with the gelling process. I recommend taking some time here to taste the mixture as you add the sugar since this will vary by the sourness of the fruits you choose and the amount of fruit used. Add to taste!

Now, just stir occasionally and wait until your jam reaches the desired consistency. I tend to be impatient and will try to crush the fruit to speed it up as I stir, but that's just me. This step can take anywhere from 15 to 45 mins, depending on the ripeness of the fruit and the fruit itself. For example, the yellow peach jam (the more orangey one in the bottom of the jar) will take less time since it's already quite soft, but the crunchy white peach jam will take longer since it's harder. However, once you like the consistency of the fruit and the jam has thickened, you are ready to jar it and leave it to set overnight.

Have fun!
-M

Recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie

Today I held my first section meeting, and in keeping the tradition of the previous section supervisor, I brought baked goods to my section to buy their love.
Truth be told, I wanted everyone in my section to bake for me, but not wanting to act like the badass that I am, I told everyone we would take turn baking for my section meetings, and that I would take the first turn.

I was pretty tired from our trip to Florida, so I defaulted to the tried and true chocolate chip cookies that mvpcoachphil has always loved.

This recipe is based on the Nestle Toll House recipe on the back of their bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, with a slight variation.
The resulting cookie is soft and chewy, and really really yummy especially when it comes right out of the oven.

In order to enjoy hot baked cookies every time, after I mix the dough, I shape it into little balls of dough and freeze.
I then use the toaster oven to bake a few cookies at a time, to be eaten as soon as it cools.

Nothing beats a warm freshly baked chocolate chip cookie, and now you can have that warm fresh baked cookie day after day!

Recipe:
2 1/4 cup of self-rising flour
2 sticks butter softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 bag of Toll House Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat butter, both sugar, vanilla extract using a mixer until creamy
Add one egg at a time and beat well
Gradually add the self rising flour
Stir in the chocolate chip

Bake in a preheat oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes
Cool for 2 minutes before removing cookies from baking sheet