Spring Break in Maine :: Portland

Hello everyone!

This spring break could not have come at a better time!  

The weather is gorgeous, David hasn't had a break from work since July, and I was also ready for a break from Boston. While I love the pace of life at this point in Boston, it gets so busy that we hardly ever have time to relax and just spend time as a couple anymore.  This is probably also why I never blog anymore..  it's hard to find the time to sit down and blog, and when I do, it seems that all I've done is work haha

Anyway, since we had such a good time in Maine last year at Acadia National Park, we decided to try Maine again for our getaway!  Acadia is a little far (about 6 hours from Boston with rest stops) so we settled on Camden, Maine with stops in Portland!

As soon as we landed in Portland, we made a beeline to Holy Donut, my favorite donut shop!  We tried 3 flavors last time when we fell in love with this place, and this time we tried 3 different flavors.

My favorite was this dark chocolate coconut one, but the other one, mocha something..., was good too!  haha  

David said the old-fashioned was good with coffee, but as a non-coffee drinker, I wasn't as much of a fan =)

After having stuffed our tummies with donuts, we went for a stroll around town to burn some of it off before lunch haha

Our strolls lead us to the Portland Museum of Art, and we spent an hour or so browsing their collection.  It was a pretty small museum, but it had some interesting works, and we had a good time!

David and the sleeping Tom Sawyer

The part that intrigued me the most was that the museum had a house as a part of its collection.  It was owned by a wealthy merchant back in the day, and they had renovated and opened it up to the public as a part of the museum.  

My favorite part was this staircase  haha

They don't build staircases like these anymore!

Having decided that an hour of art museum stroll was enough to burn off 3 donuts, we headed off to find some lunch at the Green Elephant.

A little vegetarian Asian fusion to kick off the next part of our road trip!  =)

With full bellies, we headed north to Camden, Maine, where some winter hiking and a lovely stay at the Hartstone Inn awaited us.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you are having a wonderful day!

--Janny

Portland, ME :: Duckfat

Hello everyone!

On our way back from Acadia, we stopped by Portland again for some lunch.  I know this is out of order, but I wanted to put Portland blogs together, so Acadia photos will be coming soon!

For lunch, we chose the restaurant, Duckfat!

It honestly didn't look like much outside, but people were raving about this place, so we figured we should try it out. 

We went around 2pm, but even at that hour, the wait was about 40 min!!

We weren't sure if it would be worth it...

but we decided to stick it out.
and 40 minutes went by pretty fast while we were goofing off with the camera   haha
David is becoming quite the shutter bug  ;)

In no time, we got a text saying that our table was prepared, so we hurried in to find our seat!

We didn't take too long with the menu since we knew we had to have the fries.  I mean, they were fried in duck fat, so...   haha

We also ordered some pork belly panini!

They had house-made sodas as well, so I ordered a saffron orange soda while David went for some coffee. 

and then we sat back to see if the 40 min wait would be justified.

while goofing off, of course.  haha

scruffy David.  poor guy.. there was a bit of a miscommunication with the status of his razor, so he couldn't shave the whole time we were in Maine..

The soda was pretty great. I mean, I couldn't really taste the saffron,,, but pretty darn tasty nonetheless!  =)

Then, the fries came.

oh. my. goodness.  these fries...

These were.  the best fries I've ever had.  

I love fries. I mean, I usually eat pretty healthy and all, but I just can't resist good fries.  Usually though, I prefer sweet potato fries because sometimes I think the normal fries can be kind of taste-less... but I would eat these Duckfat fries over any other fries (including the sweet potato variety) any day. That's how amazing these were!

All of them were amazingly crispy, and so full of flavor... I would definitely go back to Portland just for these fries.

The pork belly panini was pretty good too.

I don't think I've ever raved about fries so much, but these are seriously rave-worthy.  We ordered a large one and finished it between the two of us in about 5 minutes!  haha

Portland is surprisingly close to Boston, so we plan on going back often. and when we do, you know we'll be visiting Duckfat for some fries! If you are in Portland and have some time to wait for an open seat, we would highly recommend trying out the fries here!  =)

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you're having a wonderful day!

--Janny

Portland, ME :: Donuts and Lobster!

Hello everyone!

Last week, David and I visited Portland ME on our way to, and from, Acadia National Park!  Having donned our best 'Portland fashion' of Sorel boots/rain boots, and sweaters, we took off in search of the best Portland had to offer for our growling tummies.  

Disclaimer: We actually have no idea what real 'Portland fashion' looks like. but it was cold and rainy, and we saw many people in rainboots and sweaters, so we figured we were pretty close haha

First stop? The Holy Donut!

Rachael recommended the place, and really, who doesn't like a little bit of warm potato donut to start a chilly Maine morning, right?

 

I got candied ginger, sea-salt dark chocolate, and bacon cheddar donuts.  and David got coffee.  haha

I did let him try a few bites of my donuts though  =p

I think my favorites were the bacon cheddar, and of course, the chocolate.  the candied ginger gets an honorable mention  ;)
look at that ooey gooeyness of cheddar bacon goodness...

Having had the appetizers, we set off to find some real food for lunch.

and since we were in Maine, we figured we should go get some lobster!  

Portland Lobster Company seemed like the perfect place (what with the 'lobster' in its name and everything) and it was only a few blocks away, so it was a pretty easy decision.

I have a bit of an issue with seeing my food alive right before I eat it, so I walked past the tank pretty quickly, but I suppose that's how they ensure maximum freshness...

I'd rather look at this plastic lobster instead  haha

Even though it was freezing outside, we headed out to the tent to eat in the quasi fresh air (and away from the live, crawly, lobsters).  

We picked the seats right under the heat lamp, and waited eagerly for our first Portland lobster experience!

and it definitely did not disappoint!

It came out fighting, and it put up a very good fight too! I appreciate foods that put up a good fight  ;) a little more interesting that way, am I right?  haha

a lil bit of Instagramming action going on  haha

This was only the second time I've had lobster like this, and I have fallen head over heels for Maine lobster. Because of this fact, during our Maine trip, we had lobster every. single. day...  Not gonna lie, I'm a little sick of it right now (poor David, he must be realllyyy sick of it too haha) but give me a few weeks, and I'm sure lobster will crawl straight back up to the top of my favorite foods haha

On our way back, we stopped at Portland again for lunch, so I'll be back with another Portland post soon!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

--Janny