If you've never heard of the "Pecha-Kucha", you're not alone. But the first one in Midcoast Maine is coming up this Friday, hosted by Eric Hopkins Gallery, 21 Winter Street in Rockland, and it doesn't sound like something you'll want to miss. Fellow participants Farnsworth Art Museum, Midcoast Magnet, and Maine Center for Creativity hope for a great turnout.
Continue reading “Eric Hopkins Gallery Hosts Pecha-Kucha Night” »
For Midcoast Maine artists Susan and Tim Van Campen, there is little distinction in their lives between food, gardening, and art. All these variables are intertwined to create a rich color palette of living.
Susan, a watercolor artist, is best known for her still life paintings of flowers and fruit, though she also works in oils.
Tim works multimedia, enjoying a range that spans from bold acrylics to computer design. They approach their art from very different angles, however.
Both husband and wife take care in tending and harvesting their sizable garden, and they shared with us some favorite family recipes. We were treated to a delicious meal with ingredients fresh from their land.
We want to share with you the special and memorable day we had with them. You can view a pdf of the article here, then view the Table of Contents of the new issue of Maine Food and Lifestyle magazine,
From the staff at Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.
As my birthday falls the week before Halloween, I have fond memories of every childhood year having a cool theme party hosted by my Mom. One of my favorites was when she sent out invites to all my friends to come dressed as a famous celebrity. I think I was 11 or 12 the year we had Hercule Poirot, Smurfette, Dolly Parton, Katherine Hepburn, Blondie, Marilyn Monroe, and Brooke Shields (me), among about a dozen others, all together in my star-studded livingroom. Everyone signed an autograph book wishing me a Happy Birthday in their character, quoting something their character would've said to me on my special day. And of course, all the celebs posed for photos taken by my paparazzi-playing, shutter-bug mom. There hasn't been so much glam all together in one room since!!
Here's to simpler times, younger days, and the fondest memories. And, as I think it was Marilyn who said it best, "Yours till the lipsticks!"
Came across Artascope Studios blog, whose October 15th Painting Party birthday idea post stirred this creative thought up from the memory bank.
What a great place to get creative again!
Melanie Hyatt is an editor at Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.
Maine has been a source of inspiration for over 35 years. Interestingly, my family roots go back to the 1700s, one of my relatives fought in the Revolutionary War defending Deer Isle. The harbors and coastal areas which I paint carry their names. Another was Sir Hiram Maxim, the famous Maine inventor.
Barbara Ernst Prey has never left her muse – the coastal Maine fishing villages where her family has lived for hundreds of years. In watercolors layered upon canvas, she captures a scene of Port Clyde perfectly: the scintillating bright blue sea and sky, the setting sun brilliantly illuminating the tattered coast, and the sleeping fishing vessels awaiting another hard day’s work out on the unforgiving sea.
Whether painting or cooking, Barbara allows herself to adapt and improvise. Using family heirlooms – vintage silverware and pottery – and with an eye for color, Barbara “paints” her dining room table with local Maine cuisine.
In “The Maine Landscapes of Barbara Ernst Prey,” she gives insights to painting, cooking, and life as well a collection of recipes for the delicious summer meal featured on this issue’s cover.
From the staff at Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.
5-3-08
5:21—5:42 a.m.
Welcome to the Greatest Show on Earth! Another Trade Winds Dawn! Welcome to the first light of a New Day across Rockland Harbor and Penobscot Bay! From that thin, soft, dull, blue band of distant islands laying at the edge of the horizon, light, soft pink-beige slowly fades to bands of softer yellow with gentle blue-gray overhead. Today a long streak of gray trails across the sky from south to north with feathery streamers from west to east lit underneath by warm pinks. A distant contrail is illuminated from below the horizon. Bands of stratified moisture start to glow a delicate, sky-blue pink. The contrail expands in shape, scope, and color. It’s a brand new day! The thin sliver of very light blue is Cadillac Mountain protruding skyward beyond Webster Head on North Haven. The clouds take on a three-dimensional quality.
Continue reading “First Light of a New Day (A Journal Entry)” »
I’ve enjoyed eating tacos many times at many locations. From restaurants to taco stands, from the east to west coasts, and even in Mexico (much spicier) I’ve sampled many different combinations of ingredients and salsas. As expected, I’ve sampled some very good tacos and some not-so-good ones. But I hadn’t expected to find the best tacos I ever tasted right here in Maine. It wasn’t at a restaurant or at a taco stand; rather, a home-cooked meal prepared by best selling novelist Tess Gerritsen at her home in Camden
We were visiting Tess to create one of our "Food of Art" features for the magazine (Holiday 2006), with Tess as the subject. I was caught up in process of photographing the event, while Merill conversed with Tess and her husband Jacob to flush out the article. Tess had mentioned that she would be preparing tacos for lunch, but neither of us had really been thinking about eating at that point. We were having a great time just being there and enjoying the conversation that evolved.
And then it was time for our taco lunch, which Tess prepared for us in her lovely modern kitchen. What a surprise. Not that I didn’t expect the tacos to be good, it’s that I didn’t expect these to be the absolute best tacos I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating, anywhere, anytime. Turns out that Tess grew up in a family of food lovers, has a penchant for Mexican food, pays attention to the details of it all, is quite particular about ingredients, and the right ingredients certainly do make a difference.
Anyway, those tacos were delicious. I had to bite my tongue to keep from grabbing more and more from the serving platters in front of me. I ended up restraining my taco jones, and regret it to this day. But at least I didn’t eat the photo this time!
I wish Tess would take a few months from writing her novels each year and open a part time Taco stand somewhere near our Rockland office. In my wildest dreams, I really don’t expect this to happen. But Tess’s Taco Stand would definitely be a regular lunch spot for me if she did. For now, that’s a very pleasant kind of fiction to think about.
I could tell you a lot more about her tacos, and about Tess and her fascinating background, but you can read our article as well as get her taco recipe in the Holiday 2006 issue of our magazine: Tess’s Tacos
Tess Gerritsen, you make a mean taco!
Jim Bazin is the creative director of Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.
