Who doesn’t love real frozen custard? For the best, we head to Hodgman’s Frozen Custard in New Gloucester. It’s known as “Zen Cus” by the locals because those were the letters left after the other lights blew out. And the name “Zen Cus” stuck because it is soooo close to perfection. We have received numerous reports that the Pumpkin Frozen custard is THE best! Established in 1946, this roadside shop is practically an establishment.

Katherine Emory is a columnist for MF&L.

Here’s a partial list of the some of the food we’d rather that you didn’t know we like.

Jim Bazin: I wish I had kept a list of the many times I made a dinner meal out of chips and salsa. It never was intentional, but one bite would lead to another, and before I knew it my hunger had been appeased.

Sean Chung: Pickle juice. I find it refreshing, almost tonic, and it keeps the kidney stones away, too.

Katherine Emory: Jelly Beans. In all flavors, except lime and licorice, but I particularly like tropical fruit flavors! So there, it’s out!

Melanie Hyatt: Hmmm. I think people love sharing their weird food tales. I just wish I had some really exotic ones. Back before the days of red tide, dad and I used to dig for quahogs. He’d show me how to find the big holes on the beaches, how to dig deep, and how they’d fight to burrow deeper in the mud. They are big shelled versions of steamers, really. I like that they are a bit chewy when boiled. And I love beef and venison jerky. And rabbit stew is good, too…

Melissa Leiter: As a college student, I eat lots of canned foods and pasta, as well as rice. For variety, I like to spice up my rice and pasta with different condiments like salad dressing, ketchup, and mustard – pretty much whatever is in the fridge – for a little extra flavor.

Merrill Williams: As a kid, I used to reach into the refrigerator and whack slices off a stick of butter and eat them right off the blade of the knife. Today, if I’m home alone in an empty kitchen and desperate for dinner, I can make an entire meal out of crackers and butter. Bad habits die hard.

Thoughts from the staff at Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.

Maine has no shortage of professional bakers and many of them gathered in Skowhegan to share their experience and talents at the annual Kneading Conference on August 1st and 2nd. Aimed at  promoting ecological and community sustainability, the conference offered classes on growing and milling grains, bake oven building, as well as local artisan bread techniques.

Stu Silverstein, a recent MF&L subject, and Kendra Michaud, led a half-day Clay Oven Building workshop. Using many of the methods in his book, the pair, along with assistant Ollie Hartman, demonstrated how to build micro-ovens, and afterward each participant built his/her own version. At the end of the class, attendees had their very own outdoor ovens to transport home and fire up with goodies of their choosing.

Stu Silverstein

From the staff at Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.