Unaccompanied Minor
Feeling frazzled this week. & Son Three flew by himself home from “Dad’s house.” Matt has an apartment in Houston, TX, because that is where his work is. We call it “Dad’s house” as a joke, which Matt hates but has now become desensitized to. It still gets a chuckle in mixed company and involves a lot of explaining to someone new. Unaccompanied minors cannot make connections and must fly direct, so I had to pick & Son Three up in Boston at Logan at 3p on Monday, which ate up my whole day.
Then on Tuesday, the & Sons had no school for Veterans Day. Jet-lagged and overstimulated, & Son Three insisted on catching the 7:45a ferry to the island with me, only to completely scatter all my organization. I left my boat pass at the house, forgot to put my computer in my bag, and left the confectioners’ sugar in town.
I still haven’t filed my H2B visa employer application because I’m scared we’ll be denied. I can’t relaunch my online merch store on www.LObakehouse.com until I figure out how to make shipping affordable, and that involves weighing and measuring items on a third-party site. I’m terrible at promoting myself on social media, and I’m dying to put this blog out to the world, but I can’t get over the hurdle of how to first post about it. I’ve put off all these chores, and I put off writing this post. Now it’s Friday. My chest feels tight.
Ever feel like that?
Good: Okay, now this really is good. Matt & I love us some research & design! Dreaming of Summer 2026, we’re expanding our Oyster & Champagne Sundays to every & all weekends. We’re adding new items to the menu to include surf & turf; such as deviled eggs with caviar, beef carpaccio crostini with fish dip, and SAKE OYSTER SHOOTERS! And more! It’s going to be good. See you at the Bakehouse on May 23, 2026, for opening weekend!
We come up with our best ideas at boozy lunches while the & Sons are under the care of the Maine public school system. It’s our love language.
We love our fellow restauranteurs and are always getting inspired. There are a lot of them in Portland. You should come check them out. For lunch, we love Eventide Oyster Co. , The Honey Paw , Crown Jewel , TUSCAN TABLE , Central Provisions and more. Then once inspired, we Get the freshest seafood and lobster in Maine • Harbor Fish Market down on Custom House Wharf.
But now, for the pièce de resistance : Eamon & Seamus’s Mackerel Dip
& Son Three and his best bud are young aspiring fishermen. In the summertime we give them a 15’ maritime skiff with an Evinrude 30 and they return from their daily ocean ventures with fresh mackerel. Matt smokes it, and I make it into Eamon’s & Seamus’s soon to be famous Mackerel Dip. You’re going to love it.
Gotta stay fresh.
Bad: The island car didn’t start. With my cranky buddy, & Son Three, and a particularly chilly snowflake-filled Tuesday, our 2010 Honda Pilot didn’t appreciate the change in weather. The battery just didn’t have enough juice to turn her over. So annoying when it cranks, and the key alarm blares, but it’s just teasing—it’s never going to start. I wanted to catch the noon back to town to take the & Sons to a new indoor mini golf joint Portland, Maine's Mini Golf, Bar & Restaurant | minibar golf for their school day off, I didn’t have time to mess with flagging down someone to jump me. So we walked.
Island cars belong to the Island of Misfit Toys. Missing exhaust, no a/c, blown-out back window: no problem. We just gave up our powder blue 1997 Jeep Cherokee at 389,000 miles. You had to roll start it, and when it was on, there was no way to turn it off besides unhooking the battery. Particularly challenging due to the island being relatively flat, and the only grade to roll it usually ended with the ocean. Jump start your car? More like jump start your heart!
She’s all dolled up for the 2017 4th of July Parade
Unexpected: Cake orders this week! When I was 17, I started this whole life’s work/passion of mine by decorating cakes at Kroger Starkville Grocery store bakery department in Starkville, Mississippi. It was one of my two after-school jobs. The other was assistant bicycle mechanic at the town bike shop.
The launching grounds of my 26-year love affair with baking.
Cakes were shipped in premade and frozen. Frosting was premade in 5-gallon buckets. It was delicious art & crafts. All you had to do was decorate! I started baking because I loved decorating so much.
How I got to Mississippi from Maine is a story for another day. And before you ask, I’ve forgotten everything I knew about fixing a bicycle.
What I’m reading: The Senate spending bill U.S. Senate: Commonly Searched for Legislation (119th Congress). No, not really! I’m reading the news feed on a little provision tucked into it that bans the use of hemp-derived THC in products. Federal hemp-THC ban signed into law as part of spending bill The Bakehouse just started carrying Nowadays THC Drink. I offer a premixed 16oz canned cocktail—think citrusy/ hard seltzer-ish flavor with no alcohol and 10mg THC. We also have a 2oz, 10mg “shot,” which I suggest putting in a warm tea, or if you’re a professional, perhaps in a mimosa.
Now “The Man” might be taking it away. Okay. I completely understand that there should be some regulations around these products. Right now there is absolutely none. No age restrictions, no handling requirements—it’s like the wild west. I keep them behind the counter and treat them as a controlled substance like alcohol, but nobody told me to do that. I guess it’s easier to take it all away instead of doing the legwork to write new rules around regulations? Legwork might be why my blog isn’t public and my online store isn’t live. But come on, senators, let’s you and I get to work!
What the & Sons are asking for: Snow. Excitement is high with Sunday River Resort | Newry, Maine | open! And Sugarloaf coming along shortly! Wednesday we woke up to a full dusting that didn’t melt until afternoon.
The & Sons at Sunday River 2020. Early in the season
This week’s paper cup contains:
French Onion White Bean Soup. I’ve been wanting to make French onion soup for Gas & More, but how? It involves a melty toasty bubbling layer of gruyere, fresh from the broiler. This is something Ron definitely doesn’t have time for, nor would a paper cup hold up for it. So this is what I did, and I think it is a nice compromise:
While the onions were caramelizing to a brothy perfection, I made garlic-onion croutons to enhance the richness of the soup. (Take one loaf of white bread, cut into 1” squares, toss in a generous amount of olive oil, granulated dried garlic, granulated dried onion and salt. Spread on baking sheets, and bake at 325° for 10 minutes until they are dry and crunchy.) Onions done and turned into soup (see the link above for full directions), it’s ready for Ron to add the croutons and minced-up Swiss cheese to top and serve. It works!
