Dessert at the Portland Pottery Cafe

I've been meaning to post this for a while! A few weeks ago I hosted a date night event at Portland Pottery - couples spend an hour or on a wheel-throwing lesson, then have dinner.

The dinner was great but the DESSERT was amazing. So amazing i am still thinking about it weeks later. A cylinder of mascarpone with walnuts, surrounded by raspberries, chocolate gelato, and a wedge of fruit pastry.

Chef Manda does not offer this particular work of art every day. There are always a few cheesecakes, bars, macaroons, and cakes to choose from, but if I want something like this, I am going to have to make it myself. And where do we go to learn new skills? Why, youtube, of course!

I decided I am going to try this for Mother's Day, when I will have a small but forgiving audience of family. Will keep you posted! In the meantime go say hi to Manda & Kevin at the PP cafe. Tell 'em Lori sent ya.

Dear Holland Bulb Company

Twelve years ago, I received a gift certificate for your catalog as a housewarming/engagement gift. I used that gift certificate to purchase 50 daffodil bulbs.
These bulbs, when they arrived turned out to be the rarely seen foliage daffodil! For 12 springs I watched for the round-tipped, verdant blades to peek above the soil, developing the slightest blush of maroon at their edges; simple, understated, and lovely. They would spring up , cover the slope with their grey-green abundance...and then die back. It was a ritual. Anyone can appreciate a bloom. It takes a real connoisseur to appreciate a foliage daffodil.


Daffodils are long-lived plants, and they naturalize and spread. I expected to enjoy my foliage daffodils for many years to come! But I notice this year something has happened; they seem to have been infected with a fungus of some kind! It's bright yellow, and ruffly...do you think it's related to those growths you see on trees? You know, Chicken of the Woods?

I will say this: though perhaps a bit gaudy compared with the sleek, sophisticated bare foliage we've enjoyed for the last dozen years, these fungal eruptions - if that's what they are - are not without appeal. I was wondering: if these pose no threat to the health of the plant, is there is some way I might encourage more of them? Not to devalue our foliage daffodil experience, but I find the bright cheery splash of color quite charming!
Any idea what it might be?

Very truly yours,

Lori Keenan Watts

Moose on the Bridge: Just Another Day in Maine

From the Bangor Daily News:

BELFAST, Maine — An unusual jaywalker briefly tied up traffic on a busy Belfast bridge Wednesday morning.
Belfast police Sgt. John Gibbs said a moose crossed the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge, which carries Route 1 over the Passagassawakeag River, shortly before 8 a.m. The lanky-legged animal jaunted over the bridge from Belfast’s East Side before continuing his trek south down Route 1.
People heading into work captured the moose on camera as it swerved from one lane to another, slowly making its way across the span.