Discoveries

The price of butter is out of whack.  Some brands cost over $7 per pound, which is 50 percent  more than last year when the average price was about $3.50 per pound at our area supermarkets like Hannaford’s,  Shaw’s, Whole Foods (for store brand) and Market Basket, the latter offering the best price deals for these sticks of gold.  Incidentally Shaw’s is one of the most expensive sources for butter, just under the average  whopping price at Whole Food’s butter aisle.  For example, Vermont Creamery butter half-pound package costs over $6  at Whole Foods whereas Walmart sells it for $2.98 for  8 ounces,   and picking it up at Shaw’s would set you back $3.99. Hannaford and Market Basket don’t carry Vermont Creamery butter.

 

Cabot butter at Market Basket, a relative

Currently Cabot Butter and Land O Lakes are well over $5 per pound, about $2 more than  six months ago, Cabot is generally less expensive than LOL.  The reason for butter price bloat manufacturers claim is that milk production is more costly than ever,  and labor shortages are to blame too.  I don’t necessarily buy this excuse. Still, I guess it’s a fact of life.  Why, for example, is Kate’s Butter, which is made locally from their own cows who graze on Maine’s farm fields,  way above its price from a year ago?

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Another casualty of the world’s Pandemic in Maine was Bisson’s Meat Market, who announced in August that they would be closing after 92 years of serving the Topsham community and beyond. The legendary butcher shop and farm cited these reasons: age and  health of the principles of the farm’s butcher shop and the lack of personnel to serve the throng of shoppers who love this place.  Few of these old-fashioned butcher farm shops still exist today as far-reaching retailers.  Another one, Curtis Meats in Warren, is still running strong.  Though  when I visited last month a sign on the door  said: “Closed due to Covid.”  They reopened soon after, and I was there several weeks ago for my stash of beef, from cows that are pastured on their own fields.

The counter at Bisson’s with an array of meats produced at the farm: butter, cream, milk, beef, bacon, sausage,  ham, salmon pie

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I went there this past Friday because I read a Facebook post that this was going to be its last weekend.  It has been one of my favorite places in Portland to enjoy not only great food-truck fare (courtesy of star chef Matt Ginn of EVO fame) but the view had been fantastic last year.  I noticed this at my first visit of the season several months ago when the food truck marina was not up to its past scenic glories that it had in its first year. The bar area had been moved down a bit, the dining bar shelf that ran along the water’s edge was gone, and the bar still hadn’t been constructed yet.

The problem was that the city mandated that all structures at the site couldn’t be movable, that they had to be constructed in a less permanent nature and it took a long time to get the city staff to coordinate its rulings because of pandemic absenteeism at City Hall.

Here is my story from last year when the marina bar opened. See link

This was the scene at the newly opened EVO X food truck marina in June of 2020

The marina and its patrons and food from scenes in June of 2020

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I never thought it would happen but I’m really fed up with cooking at home.  Even though I’m thoroughly vaxxed, I’m still hesitant to dine-in at restaurants regularly.  Yet I really don’t like take-out food unless it’s a carton of Chinese food or a box filled with pizza.  I recently went so low and bought some frozen supermarket entrees to avoid cooking and cleaning up after.  Dreadful!!!

Rao’s lasagna and spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna on the left

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Fresh Approach has been a fixture on Brackett Street in the West End for years. Basically a neighborhood superette, the rustic-looking  shop  makes hearty breakfast sandwiches, burgers hot off the grill made with their highly prized beef mix that’s ground fresh every day; then there are the prepared meals in take-out boxes in a cooler case filled with homespun meals  made in the market’s kitchen behind the deli counter. Of course, they’re known for their Italians and other sandwiches, too, where locals pile in at lunchtime.

A fixture on Brackett St

But the main event has always been the butcher shop that’s housed in the back of the store.  Their ground beef has been the source of great hamburgers that were made at Ruski’s  and elsewhere pre-pandemic.  And what a great convenience if you live in the neighborhood and can get everything you need for dinner without having to go to a supermarket. The vegetable case is filled with all the basics and the grocery items include all  the essentials.  They even have Aunt Jemima pancake mix.

It’s basically an old-fashioned neighborhood market with a strong local following

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I’ve decided that Shaw’s is my least favorite supermarket of the Big Three (Whole Foods, Hannaford and Market Basket). My reasons were firmly planted after a visit to the Falmouth Route 1 Shaw’s recently where I went to buy two items: Hershey’s cocoa and Karo light syrup.   I’ve never done a complete shop at any Shaw’s. Though if you want to finish fast, the Shaw’s at Westgate Shopping Plaza in Portland is the best because hardly anyone is in there. But I was in Falmouth and it was convenient to go there.

Route 1 Shaw’s in Falmouth

 

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Have you looked for canned pumpkin lately?

A couple of weeks ago I needed some canned pumpkin for a cake called snacking chocolate chip pumpkin cake.  It sounded over the top.  I had to have it.

I zipped over to Hannaford. Its stock was gone.  The manager said, “We put out an entire box-load this morning and it went almost immediately.”

Two cans of pumpkin puree,, which I’ll probably not use in pies since I prefer freshly made.  I found these at Whole Foods and Market Basket

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At 80,000 square feet, the  brand new Market Basket just past the Portland-Westbrook line exceeds the Forest Avenue Hannaford by 10,000 square feet.  The extra size equals your average McMansion in luxury neighborhoods around the country (few houses in Maine are that big).

Developed by Waterstone Properties’ Rock Row the total development will comprise over 2 million square feet of mixed-use retail, residential, hotels and office properties, probably the most ambitious urban development west of the Mall. Coming next year, Chick Fil A will open, and the current site plan shows other shops like Starbuck’s, The Paper Store, Old Navy and much more.

Aisles are very ordered and wide; shelves full

The uber-rich gourmand would not necessarily be happy shopping at Market Basket, but for the average Joe of varying income levels, Market Basket is a great store.  The quantity of everyday products is astounding.  The shelves are bulging with products (especially cleaning supplies including tons of paper towels and toilet paper) and the prices beat Hannaford and Shaw’s, the latter being more expensive across the board.

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At five in the afternoon I decided to  make spaghetti carbonara for dinner.  I had all the ingredients for the sauce (local onions, raw heavy cream, double-smoked bacon, Parmesan), but  I needed a box of spaghetti–or any kind of pasta such as a pound of fettuccine, papardelle, etc. I had a box of Market Pantry  linguine that I bought in March at Target in the days when we  quarantined and items of packaged, canned products were so de rigueur to stock our pantries.  No, that would not be good enough to use in this especially rich and luxurious sauce made otherwise with my pantry items in stock.

Since I live on the Hill the closest store was the local  Rosemont.  Masked, hands sterilized, a wallet of credit cards (no cash accepted) I was admitted entry.  I asked where the pasta was and the clerk pointed to the shelves in the back.  “Except,” she said, “we only have non gluten.”

“No other pasta?” I nearly barked.

“It’s the pandemic,” she replied.  I walked out in a huff.

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Most of the farmers I’ve spoken to at Portland’s “new” outdoor  market in Deering Oaks are relieved that it’s allowed to operate.  One farmer told me there were tough negotiations with the city who set out to make very strict rules governing the market to address the various pandemic  issues of shopping there.  Has the city, as it usually does, gone too far? The vendors prevailed and negotiated hard to be allowed to operate in a reasonable fashion.

The redone Portland Farmer’s Market

The lonely one way road at Portland’s farmers market

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