From the New York Times: A piece by Melissa Clark about ways to cook eggplant. Oh, how I love eggplant. I’ll be trying some of her recipes, that’s for sure.

From Specialty Food Magazine: Candy, candy, candy. No, it’s not good for you, but in these sour economic times, who couldn’t use a sweet treat? Apparently, a lot of people feel this way, and candy sales are up.

From the New York Times: Swapping Meats for Nuts to Lower Diabetes Risk. With such high levels of diabetes in American society, this piece is well worth reading. It reinforces Michael Pollan’s advice: Eat mostly plants. And perhaps a little low-fat dairy, too. (I noticed there was no mention of candy…)

From the Washington Post: More about eggplants. They can be pickled! This slide show takes you through the steps.

From Salon.com: When Eating Local Is the Cheapest Option. From Scavenger, a blog about, well, scavenging during tough economic times.

From the Portland Press Herald: If you have an abundance of home-grown tomatoes and don’t want to can them, then here is a nifty idea by Anne Mahle, who writes a column called The Maine Ingredient.

From the New York Times: An article by David Carr about a new food magazine (in print!) called Lucky Peach. Along with describing this quirky magazine—which I would love to read—Carr also discusses how print magazines are finding a way in the world of electronic publishing. Mainly, by appealing to a niche audience and by having both quality and heft. As the former publisher of a small magazine—Wolf Moon Journal—I found the bits about publishing particularly interesting.

From the New York Times: Mark Bittman makes it perfectly clear that he is not impressed with McDonald’s decision to include apples in Happy Meals. Ditto for the concept of “big food” regulating itself.

From the Portland Press Herald: Vesta Rand’s nifty idea for a portable hikers’ snack: apples stuffed with peanut butter, hummus, or cream cheese with various tidbits to jazz up the fillings. Fall and fresh apples are just around the corner. I’m thinking that on crisp but sunny day, I’ll make some of these snacks, gather the husband and the dog, and head out for a walk somewhere.

From the Associated Press: Is eating healthy a privilege of the rich? As someone who lives on a modest budget, I struggle with this all the time. Fruits, vegetables, beans, rice. Organic. Local. Free range. Antibiotic free. The more you add to the list, the more expensive food becomes.

From the website of David Tanis, a writer and chef: “Cooking for others is a generous and civilized act, even if it’s just a simple pot of beans.” My sentiments exactly.

From The Diane Rehm Show: Diane Rehm’s August 4th show was about the crisis in Somalia brought about about by a combination of climate change, with the result being extreme drought, and bad governing, which makes a terrible situation worse. A tragic, cautionary tale for the whole world.

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about a day trip my husband, Clif, my daughter Shannon, her husband, Mike, and I took last Sunday. The weather was glorious, and the day was centered on two of my favorite activities—trying new restaurants and being outside, the latter a happy necessity because we brought our dog, Liam, along for the trip. In Part One, I wrote about the Frog & Turtle Restaurant in Westbrook, where we had some of the best donuts I’ve ever tasted. We were able to eat them on a boardwalk overlooking the Presumpscot River, and this certainly got the day off to a very good start.

Part Two of our day trip was a little trickier, again because of Liam and the heat of the day, which made it impossible to leave him in the car. Where to eat the takeout from Buck’s Naked Barbecue? But the trusty old Internet came to my rescue. Into the Web Search I typed, “Picnic areas in Freeport, Maine, that allow dogs,” and one of the options was Royal River Park in Yarmouth, which is four miles away from Buck’s. I had heard of Royal River Park and how pretty it was, but I had never been there.

“Let’s check it out,” I said, and Clif, Mike, and Shannon all thought it was a splendid idea.

Royal River Park was a delight. It’s not far from downtown Yarmouth, which even has a little bookstore called Royal River Books. The park is big and well maintained—I haven’t been able to find out exactly how big—with a large central green with picnic tables. Paved walkways go by the Royal River, which has brick and stone structures in varying states of repair, old dams and a small grist mill that are solid reminders of a time when water was used to power many things. As we walked along the river, we talked about the pros and cons of water power, and we all agreed that in this era of climate change, water power looks much more attractive than oil, coal, or gas. We also agreed that provisions needed to be made for spawning fish, so that they could move up and down the river.

All in all, we probably walked a couple of miles in Royal River Park, long enough so that the donuts were nicely settled, and we were ready to move on to Buck’s Naked BBQ. Our plan of action was to go to Buck’s, order takeout, and bring it back to Royal River Park to eat on one of the picnic tables in the shade. And that’s just what we did.

Buck’s Naked BBQ is on Route 1 in Freeport. As befitting a restaurant that specializes in barbecue, the atmosphere is casual, a cross between a log cabin and a road house, and the inside is spacious with lots of booths and a play area for children. According to their website, they do their own smoking and make their own sauces. Clif, Shannon, and I ordered entrées that gave us two choices of meat, two sides, and corn bread. Clif and I went with pulled pork, beef brisket, cole slaw, and baked beans. Shannon decided to go with a double order of pulled pork and a baked potato rather than baked beans. Mike broke with the pack and ordered half of a pit-roasted chicken.

The service was quick, and soon we were back at Royal River Park with lots and lots of food. The various sauces—ranging from basic to slightly spicy and packed separately—had a good tang, and the meat had a nice albeit mild smoked flavor. The sides were good, but the cornbread was bland. All in all, though, a tasty meal.

As we ate, we shared some of our meat with the dog. Not far from us, at a large covered area with several picnic tables, a family set out food and decorations for a birthday party. On the large grassy area, they also set up a bicycle obstacle course for the main entertainment. Soon more families came, and the children brought bikes. Around and around the children rode, dodging flags, riding onto a sort of stone stage that is part of the park, and bumping down the stage’s few stone steps. The birthday song was sung.

The taste of smoked meat and barbecue sauce, the picnic table in the shade, the dog by our feet, and the sound of the party all came together on that hot August Sunday. Is there any better place to be in August than Maine?

Sunday was my favorite kind of day—sunny and hot but not humid. A perfect day for my husband, Clif, and I to pack our dog, Liam, in the car—along with plenty of water—and head to the Portland area to check out two restaurants that we have never tried—Frog & Turtle in Westbrook and Buck’s Naked BBQ in Freeport. To make the day even better, our daughter Shannon, and her husband, Mike, joined us.

Because we brought the dog and the day was hot, all of our food had to be ordered as carry out. This was certainly not a problem for Frog & Turtle. Right next to this restaurant are benches on a little boardwalk overlooking the Presumpscot river. And because we had specifically come for donuts, the food we wanted was easy to eat on park benches.

Not long ago, Shannon and Mike had gone to Frog & Turtle for brunch. Among other things, they had ordered some dounts, which are cooked fresh to order, and knowing what a donut hound I am, Shannon and Mike urged me to come to Westbrook to try them.

While Shannon, Mike, and Clif waited outside with Liam, I went into Frog & Turtle and ordered the donuts. The inside is dark in a soothing way, funky, and very comfortable. As I waited for the donuts, several servers came over to make sure I had been taken care of, and one of them—a zippy young man who also happens to be one of the owners—urged me to sit down in a comfortable chair while I waited. Now, most restaurants have staff that is friendly and helpful, but at Frog & Turtle they are exceptionally so, and Shannon said that when she and Mike had come for brunch, it was the same way. The owners must place a high importance on good service, and what a pleasure to go into a restaurant that is so welcoming.

After a bit of a wait—the donuts, after all, are cooked to order—we got our donuts and headed to the benches overlooking the river. For this donut lover, the donuts were sheer bliss—warm, a little crunchy around the edges, with fillings that were exceptionally good—in one, a custard that tasted as though it was made from scratch and tart raspberry jelly in another. I’m even going to go out on a limb here and state that these donuts did not taste as though they were made from a mix. (Most donut shops, whether they are chains or privately owned, use commercial mixes.) They had a taste that was all their own, and I could eat one of those donuts right now. We had ordered six different kind of donuts—chocolate, glazed, filled—and there wasn’t a clunker in the bunch. My only comment is that the chocolate used for the toppings is quite rich, and a little goes a long way. But if I had to choose one word to describe these donuts, then it would be superb.

We brought thermoses of tea and coffee to go with the donuts, and as we sipped and ate, we watched the water go by. From time to time, we gave the dog little bits of donut.

Shannon assured Clif and me that the rest of the food was equally good, and sometime we will come to Frog & Turtle without Liam so that we can have a leisurely meal inside. But it was fine to eat donuts outside by the river on a sunny day, and when we were done, we were ready for the next part of our trip, which I’ll write about tomorrow—Royal River Park and Buck’s Naked BBQ.

From the New York Times: Mark Bittman’s take on irradiated food. He also touches on other aspects of food safety, ranging from pesticides to antibiotics. Definitely food for thought.

From the New York Times: More from Mark Bittman—he’s on a roll. This piece is about the effects of meat and dairy on the environment. On a personal note, my husband and I have really cut down the amount of meat we eat, but we can’t seem to give up dairy. Milk and butter, in particular. I use them to make bread, and together they produce a wonderfully rich, soft loaf that keeps well. However, I’ll be thinking of ways to cut down on the dairy. At least most of our dairy comes from Maine.

Again, from the New York Times: They, too, seem to be on a roll. Michael Tortorello has written a terrific piece about permaculture, how it is good for Earth, good for people, and just plain fun.

From Reuters: H-m-m-m. Do you think the folks at McDonald’s have been reading Mark Bittman? In this piece, readers can learn how McDonald’s is cutting back the amount of fries in its Happy Meals and automatically adding…apples. I won’t be rushing to McDonald’s anytime soon, but the change is an interesting one.

From the Portland Press Herald: An article about the fifth annual Kneading Conference in Skowhegan, Maine.  Lately, there has been a resurgence of growing wheat in Maine and of making bread. (Once upon a time, in the 1880s, Maine grew so much wheat that it used to be considered the bread basket of New England.) Unfortunately, my schedule doesn’t allow me to attend this year, but I’m planning on going next year.

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about the recent Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) and how many of the films were thought provoking, indeed food for thought. My husband, Clif, our daughter Dee, and I went to the festival for ten days, and here are our film totals: I saw 14 movies; Clif saw 24 movies; and Dee saw 29 movies and was therefore the grand winner of the family. ( I suppose I really don’t need to add that even only 14 movies are a heck of a lot of movies to see in ten days.)

You might think with all this movie going that there wouldn’t have been any time for cooking, but you would be wrong. I did indeed manage to slide in a fair amount of cooking, which began with two batches of cookies—chocolate chip and anise biscotti—before the festival even started. The cookies, especially the biscotti, keep quite well in tins, and they provided sweet, little treats to go with the lunches we packed for the festival.

On Monday, when the movies didn’t start until 3:00, Dee, Clif, and I took to the patio and had a lunch of grilled bread and grilled spiced eggplant. The eggplant recipe came from the Cabot Cheese website, and although I made a few modifications, it came out exactly the way I hoped it would, with the bland but pleasant eggplant jazzed up by garlic, herbs, cheese, and tomatoes. Definitely a make-again dish.

On Thursday, my daughter Shannon, who lives in Portland, took time off from work and came to join us for the morning and afternoon. As my refrigerator was bursting with vegetables from Farmer Kev’s garden, I decided to prepare a feast of vegetables, and as the day was sunny and hot, we would of course eat this feast on the patio. We cut beets and potatoes into thin slices and tossed them with olive oil, salt, and pepper so that Clif could grill them until they were very crisp. I also had some delectable sugar snap peas, and I parboiled a bowl full until the peas were tender-crisp. Then I chopped a couple of cloves of garlic, heated some oil in a big frying pan, stir fried the garlic for just a minute or so, and added the peas. Onto the peas and garlic I sprinkled a little soy sauce, a shake or two of sesame oil, and a tiny bit of hot sesame oil. Back into the bowl the pea-pod mixture went, where it was sprinkled with roasted sesame seeds. We also had grilled chickpea patties, and for dessert we had fresh raspberries on vanilla ice cream.

As we ate, the dog begged for scraps, the orange cat plunked himself in the day lilies, and hummingbirds flitted among the red bee balm. All around us were trees, and we felt as though we were cupped by the green hand of the forest, a welcome relief on such a hot day.