Harvest on the Harbor off to a festive start

The first ever Harvest on the Harbor kicked off last night with a jam packed Grand Tasting at the Ocean Gateway. Lots of locals turned out to sample food, wine, beer and spirits from 45 vendors. It was without a doubt a grand success.

The party featured a number of local celebrity chefs, including Sam Hayward from Fore Street, who was serving chilled, raw and marinated Maine seafood. Seafood was definitely the unifying feature for much of the food.

Being more of a veggie person, I bellied right up to the Harraseeket Inn table. They were serving up an extremely tasty herbed cracker with fall ratatouille and pumpkin seed pesto.

These espresso-filled treats from Sweet Marguerites were mighty tasty too.

When it came to drinks, my friend Shannon Bryan and I stuck to wine. Here we are sampling the fruity Covey Run Riesling, which offered a nice balance of sweetness and acidity.

Another favorite was the Barefoot Bubbly Pinot Grigio Champagne. The woman who poured my glass said it makes a great holiday cocktail when mixed with 100% pomegranate juice.

Those who prefer brewskis to wine, flocked to the tables staffed by Peak Organic Brewing Co. (above), Shipyard Brewing and National Distributors.

I capped off my tasting adventure by finally getting a taste of the Blueberry Cold River Vodka. It was delicious and got me thinking about all kinds of fun cocktails I could create. It was a sweet way to close out a wonderful evening.

Harvest on the Harbor events continue today and tomorrow. A couple are sold-out, but most still have tickets available. Check out the full schedule, because you won't want to miss out on this stellar new foodie event.

It's cold out, so get cooking

I just got back from the farmers' market, and I'm frozen to the bone. But my heart is warm. Why you ask? Well, it's because I'm amazed and grateful that all these wonderful farmers stand out in the cold and the rain to allow us city dwellers to eat real food grown locally.

The one good thing about cold days is that they're perfect for baking pies, roasting potatoes and simmering soup. Once I get home, I plan to fire up my oven and roast some of the yummy market veggies I bought today. The market is open until 2 pm, so, if you can, get yourself to Monument Square and then get cooking.

Should you need some added cooking inspiration, you can find a number of farmers' market recipes on my cooking blog.

Foxy new sidewalks

Portland tends to be a very walkable place, with its quaint brick sidewalks and compact downtown. However, there are a number of exceptions to Portland's walker-friendly vibe, places where you suddenly find yourself without a sidewalk and faced with three choices: Retreat, walk on the road or travel along a dirt "goat path." One of these sidewalk-free zones used to be Fox Street, adjacent to the notoriously pedestrian UN-friendly Franklin Arterial and across from the Whole Foods.

But here's what I spotted yesterday when I was cruising through the area: Sidewalk construction underway on Fox Street!

This is just one of the many sidewalk additions/extensions that the Public Works crews have undertaken this year. The sidewalk added to the west side of Franklin was a particularly sweet victory for local pedestrian advocates. Here's hoping we'll see many more projects like this in the near future.

Thai Chef fills you up for under $10

Thai Chef Buffet opened a little over a week ago, and today I made the short trek up Congress Street to check it out. At 1:30 pm, the 100-seat restaurant was pretty packed with office workers grabbing a quick lunch. The attraction is obvious: fast, fresh, tasty food at an all-you-can-eat price of $8.50 (plus tax, of course).

The restaurant is owned by the very gracious Suwanna Sanguantonkallaya, who also owns Sengchai Thai Cuisine on Forest Avenue. She explained to me that the buffet is divided into

a vegetarian bar,

a meat-eaters bar

and a salad, sushi and fresh spring rolls bar.

When she showed me the dedicated veggie bar, I could tell Suwanna is a woman after my own herbivore heart (wait, make that stomach). And my affinity for her only increased when she told me: "I dream a lot of getting people to eat tofu."

Her passion for healthful eating springs from personal tragedy and the desire to not let it happen to others. If you were living in Portland in early 2001, you may recall the tragic fire at Suwanna's former restaurant on St. John Street. Shortly after that sad event, her husband passed away from a heart attack. Prompted by his dad's untimely death, one of Suwanna's sons is getting close to completing his doctorate in heart surgery at a med school in Thailand. This same son has been urging her to get Americans to eat less meat.

Achieving this goal shouldn't be tough, considering how delicious the meatless meals are here. I particularly recommend the fresh spring rolls, the curry puffs, the yellow curry and the hot & sour soup. And judging by the reactions of my meat eating colleagues to the non-vegetarian samples I brought back to the office, the meat based meals are mighty tasty too.

Thai Chef Buffet is located at 511 Congress St. It is open Mon.-Thur., 11 am-9 pm and Fri.-Sat., 11 am-9:30 pm. The restaurant serves beer & wine and a full take-out menu is available. Delivery is available too. FMI call 699-5550.

Greendrinks packs the house

Last night earth-loving Portlanders turned out in droves for the monthly Greendrinks networking party. Switch/MaineToday.com co-hosted the get-together with the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, which provided the top-notch venue. Salt moved this summer from the Old Port to the Arts District and its new home is super-chic and modern. This was the first-ever public event held at the new Salt, and we certainly tested the capacity of the gallery and screening room.

I was super psyched about the art exhibition we curated specifically for Greendrinks. We asked six local artists to carve, paint and/or adorn pumpkins for the show. The resulting works came from Clint Fulkerson, David A. Marshall, Michael Rich, Christina St. Cyr, Willa Wirth and Jeff Woodbury. Here Tim Greenway is photographing each of the works, which means we'll have much better photos along with info about the artists in the Oct. 30 edition of Switch magazine.

Another great addition to this month's Greendrinks was the awesome donation of food from Green Elephant. This all-vegetarian, eco-friendly restaurant on Congress Street is always packed, and it was easy to see why with the way people quickly gobbled up the selection of fresh rolls, spring rolls, crispy wontons and soy nuggets that the eatery so generously donated. The offerings also included donated coffee from Coffee By Design, donated apples from Randall's Orchard and donated cider from Thompson's Orchard.

Of course the always popular Geoff Masland of Peak Organic was swamped with Greendrinkers eager to try the latest brew: Espresso Amber Ale. You may have seen my post about this new beer the other day, and now that I've tried it I must say I'm a huge fan. It had a hearty feel - perfect for a winter brew - and a wonderful coffee flavor. (Plus a little kick of caffeine!) Geoff says they plan to dial back the coffee by about 20% in the recipe before they bottle it. Because there were so many thirsty people there, we managed to kick two kegs in about an hour and a half. Now that's what I call a sign of a hot party!

17 make Biennial cut

Today the Portland Museum of Art announced the list of artists chosen for inclusion in the 2009 Biennial. This will be the sixth time the PMA has assembled this much-anticipated show, which serves as a snapshot of the state's current art vibe. On the off years when the PMA is not hosting the Biennial, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art picks up the slack (this year's show just closed on Oct. 5).

In a departure from previous exhibitions, the PMA's 2009 Biennial will present a more pared down view. While the 2007 show included 98 works by 61 artists, the 2009 show includes just 28 works by 17 artists. The intent, according to the press release, is to "present a close examination of works by a small but diverse group of artists with ties to Maine, rather than a broad survey of the contemporary art scene here."

The show attracted 970 applications, so selecting just 17 artists must have been tough for the jurors, who are Elizabeth Burke, art consultant and former co-director of Clementine Gallery in New York; Dan Graham, a video, installation, and performance artist based in New York; and Denise Markonish, curator at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams.

As you can see in this photo courtesy of the PMA, Curatorial Coordinator Sage Lewis hardly had room to move around in her office once the submissions began to arrive.

The exhibition opens April 8, 2009 and remains on view until June 7.

Here are the artists whose work will be in the show:

*Eric Aho (Saxtons River, VT and Islesford, ME) (2003)
*Mary Aro (Grosse Pointe Park, MI and Sedgwick, ME) (1998, 2001, 2007)
Dozier Bell (Waldoboro, ME)
Melissa A. Calderon (Bronx, NY)
*Tillman Crane (Camden, ME) (2007)
*Sean Foley (Worthington, OH) (2003)
A. Jacob Galle (Berryville, VA)
Ilana Halperin (Glasgow, Scotland and Camden, ME)
*Ethan Hayes-Chute (Berlin, Germany and Freeport, ME) (2007)
*Tanja Alexia Hollander (Auburn, ME) (2001, 2007)
Wade Kavanaugh (Brooklyn, NY and Brunswick, ME)
Steven Perkins (Bath, ME)
Andrew Rosen (South Portland, ME)
Julianna Swaney (Portland, OR)
Susan Hayre Thelwell (Santa Fe, NM and Hulls Cove, ME)
Susan Prince Thompson (Wilton, NH)
*Sam Van Aken (Syracuse, NY and Portland, ME) (2007)

* exhibited in past Biennials

Tuesday's hot party: Greendrinks

The monthly Greendrinks gathering is always a happening time, but this month's party taking place tomorrow night is sure to be one of the best yet. Why's that? Well, for starters there's the free beer from Peak Organic, the free organic wine from Rosemont Bakery and the free food from Green Elephant. Then there's the coolness factor of being one of the first people to check out the new home of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Plus, who wouldn't want to spend the evening with the awesome folks from Switch/MaineToday.com, who are co-hosting the event? (Not that I'm biased or anything.) Finally, there's the fact that the first 200 people through the door will leave with a free pint glass.

As you can clearly see with all that free stuff and a great group of eco-minded business people, there's really no good excuse not to be there.

BaROCKing the Vote

Last night Adam and I stopped by the BaROCK the Vote party at the Asylum and got to hear the sweet, sweet sounds of the Pete Kilpatrick Band. There were at least a couple hundred people there and everyone paid $20 at the door, which went straight to the Barack Obama for President campaign. Although neither of us is a registered Democrat, we're both part of the under-50 set and tend to be glass-half-full kind of people, so I guess it was inevitable that we'd gravitate to Obama's inspiring message and promise to provide more thoughtful, compassionate leadership than what we've been subjected to for the past eight years. A number of familiar Democratic faces spoke at the event. Including ...

Justin Alfond, the former head of the League of Young Voter's who's running for Portland's District 8 State Senate seat, and

Chellie Pingree, who's running for Maine's first Congressional seat. She gave a funny speech contrasting herself with Sarah Palin, noting that although she's never field dressed a moose she did beat her Republican challenger in a recent cow milking contest. And

Congressman Tom Allen, who's challenging Senator Susan Collins and write-in Independent Herb Hoffman for Collins' post in Washington.

The youthful crowd was pretty pumped, and a big thanks must go to organizers Elliott May (of Portland Greendrinks fame) and Bree LaCasse (who's mother is responsible for the wonderful holiday sculptures that light up Portland in the winter).

The Pete Kilpatrick Band closed out their set with the title song from their current album, "Hope In Our Hearts." It's an apt anthem for our current political situation, as it tells us that "With hope in our hearts/We'll pull through the night." I, for one, am hopeful that they know what they're talking about.

Will this art tank?

Yesterday the Art All Around jury announced the winner of the international design competition to paint 16 oil tanks across the river in South Portland. Venezuela-born artist Jaime Gili, who lives in London, now has the challenge of transforming the industrial wasteland that is the Sprague Energy tank farm into something more aesthetically pleasing. His work was selected from a group of five finalists, which were winnowed down from 560 entries. Gili's winning design proposal is pictured above.

As you may have guessed from my posts on this blog, I'm a huge fan of public art. Not only does it make art accessible to a much wider audience, but it imbues a city or locale with a sense of character. However, one downside to public art is the controversy it often attracts.

This has certainly been the case here in Portland in recent years. Both the "Tracing the Fore" installation on Fore Street and the "American Baseball Family Group" sculpture outside the Sea Dog's ballpark have garnered more criticism than praise. Each of these works was created by an artist "from away," and this lack of connection to the local community has been cited as one of the reasons the works haven't fared so well in the court of public opinion. Gili is without a doubt an international artist with an impressive resume, but also one unfamiliar with our local history and quirks.

Will he be able to get the public to embrace his work? Only time will tell. I know in my informal survey of local artists and members of the arts community, I can't find anyone who will give the project an unqualified thumbs up. But maybe this current lack of public enthusiasm doesn't matter. Maybe 25 years from now, when we're zipping across the Casco Bay Bridge or down the highway in our electric cars, we'll look at the abandoned tank farm and its faded murals and fondly remember this time as a bygone era, a brief blip in human history when we weren't ashamed of our strange addiction to foreign oil.

Local hop lovers unite, tonight

Locavores and beer lovers will come together tonight at the Great Lost Bear when Sebago Brewing Company unveils this fall's single batch series, Local Harvest Ale. If you read the story I wrote for Switch magazine a couple weeks ago about cooking with beer, you'll recall that Sebago brewmaster Kai Adams promised this beer was coming soon.

Should you want to sip some of the local, limited edition brew, head over to the Bear from 6-8 pm tonight.

In other local beer news, Peak Organic has launched an Espresso Amber Ale, brewed with organic, fair trade beans from Coffee by Design.

"As foodies, we've always appreciated hand-crafted coffee roasters," says Geoff Masland from Peak Organic. "So we jumped at the opportunity to work with our friends down the street at Coffee By Design, who craft amazing micro roasted coffee. We feel like this is more than just a delicious craft beer, but also a positive experience from start to finish, farm to glass."

Peak Organic Espresso Amber Ale is the first Fair Trade Certified beer brewed in the United States. Look for it wherever Peak Organic is served or sold. Or sample some at the Time of Rivers Festival at SPACE Gallery this weekend and at Greendrinks next Tuesday.

Crowds & scones at First Friday

Congress Street, its galleries and restaurants were jam packed with art walkers on Friday. Adam and I made our way up to the Arts District around 7 pm, and had to elbow our way through the crowds to catch a glimpse of the art. We stopped in at Whitney Art Works, the ICA at MECA, Aucocisco and the PACA gallery at the PDD.

The biggest crowds were at SPACE, where Tod Seelie's eclectic documentary photographs filled the gallery. There were so many people there it was nearly impossible to get in or out of the door.

Just up the street a ways, we encountered a strange bit of performance art.

A group of artists had commandeered the Gorham Savings Bank ATM to the great amusement of passers-by.

Here's our friend Karl, who played guitar inside this sidewalk-side bubble. The posters you can see taped to the window said the artists were performing "The Ancient Art of Sonku." Which, according to the same posters, uses "a combination of triadic words accompanied by music" in order "to evoke a hypnotic trance, a hallucinatory artistic state in which the viewer becomes melded with recurrent descriptions of a vision or theme, in this case, walking through the streets of Portland." Considering the mention of hallucinatory states, you'd think more people would have been all over the free baked goods being offered inside.

Finally, my husband (at right) couldn't resist the sugary temptation and ventured inside. He got a scone. Turns out the goodies weren't filled with magic mushrooms, but instead baked the traditional way by the folks at Standard Baking Company. It's a good thing too, since the First Friday Art Walk sights are plenty trippy even without the the addition of mind-altering desserts.

Lovely Lauren & her lily pads

Portland-based artist Lauren Fensterstock looked absolutely stunning at the opening of her meticulously executed installation "Parterre" at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art last night. I managed to snap this photo (using - gasp! - a flash) of the artist and her centerpiece work right at the end of opening reception, when the huge crowd had thinned considerably. You can't see it in this photo, but part of her installation involves diamonds embedded into the gallery walls. Her work grabs attention with its compelling surface beauty and then pulls you in with its quiet, contemplative depth. The show remains on view until Jan. 11, and it's definitely worth a trip to Brunswick. I'll offer more details about the show in the Oct. 16 edition of Switch magazine.

On another art-related note, the question of the day is ...

It's Friday, do you know where your art is?

The answer is easy. It's in Portland, of course. Tonight is the First Friday Art Walk and, as usual, there's an overwhelming amount of stellar work to see. If you're having trouble determining what galleries to hit, you can check out my selected mini-tours, download the official map and see the full list of shows on the MaineToday First Friday Art Walk page. Hope to see you tonight!

Shaking hands with lobsters

"The Maine Lobsterman" sculpture is a familiar piece of public art to most people who've wandered around Portland. It's located in ... wait for it ... Lobsterman Square! (To be honest I had no idea the plaza in front of the Nickelodeon had a name until I looked it up on the city's official public art list.)

Created by Victor Kahill (1895-1965), the original sculpture was made of plaster and exhibited at the 1939 World's Fair. In 1974 Normal Therrien produced this bronze version, which was installed in 1977 in its current spot in Portland. In 1983, the Maine State Society of Washington, DC had another cast made and installed it on Maine Avenue in Washington, DC. Another duplicate lives in Harpswell, the hometown of model Elroy Johnson.

This work caught my eye because I have lobster on my mind this week. In the current edition of Switch magazine, I wrote a piece about a new trend of selling lobsters directly to the public. I'm constantly amazed by the hard work that goes into pulling these luxury eats from the deep. To me, it seems a far cry from the civilized handshake that appears to be taking place in this work.

October means tasty market eats

It's damp and it's October, but the Portland Farmers' Market remains in full swing. In fact, most of the vendors plan on showing up until Thanksgiving. Today I loaded up on lots of fall goodies, including Brussels sprouts, beets, fingerling potatoes, rainbow chard and apples. I went early to make sure I could get my hands on some of the season's last high-bush blueberries. I was told this may be the end of them, but then again I heard the same last week. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more at Saturday's market.

The market was full of kids this morning. While I was there, a bus rolled up and dropped off the K-1 classes from Waynflete School. The students were there searching out specific vegetables and planned to set up their own market once they got back to school.

As I mentioned last week in my post about all the artists at the market, there's much more to this event than raw veggies, fresh eggs and frozen meats. Here my sister is picking up some baked goods from Elise Richer at Cream & Sugar Bakery.

Mike from Lakonia is at the market every Wednesday. He's there representing his family's business, which owns olive groves in Greece, imports the olives to its facility in Saco and presses them into the most exquisite, unfiltered extra virgin olive oil. It's a little pricey, but well worth every penny.

And for those of us with a sweet tooth, Tom's Honey offers a natural fix.