If you’re in the Kennebunk area on May 4th, check out the Kennebunk May Day Festival. A pancake breakfast, art exhibits, wagon rides, balloon art, crafts, face painting, rock wall climbing, live entertainment, a free bean supper and much more are on the schedule for the 14th Annual Kennebunk May Day celebration!

If you like vintage cars, May 5th is the day to head to Medomak Valley High School, 320 Manktown Road, Waldoboro, Maine for the Cruisin’ to Graduation Car Show.Doors open to spectators at 10:00am. There will be close to 400 exhibitors this year. All of the funds raised from the car show go towards MVHS Project Graduation (some student concession stands may benefit class trip fundraising).

Sunday May 12, 2013 - The Maine Coast Marathon – Kennebunk - After a 26 year hiatus the Maine Coast Marathon is returning. This is a USATF sanctioned race will travel along a scenic route from Kennebunk High School to the University of New England in Biddeford. COMPLETE INFORMATION

Friday, May 17, 2013 – Sunday, May 19, 2013 – The Annual Northern New England Home, Garden and Flower Show at the Fryeburg Fairgrounds features over 300 home related products and services. In addition, Chefs from Maine and New Hampshire will provide cooking demonstrations (and free samples), there will be home and gardening seminars, and a marketplace filled with a large selection of plants and garden supplies.

SOUTH PARIS – The Moore Park Art Show in South Paris is seeking exhibitors for a celebration and sale of original arts, Saturday July 27, 2013 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Rain date July 28). The 4^th annual show will feature 60 artists and artisans with a new craft table tent with live entertainment and fine fare. Over $600 in ribbons will be awarded to several artists representing painting, photography and crafts in an optional judged competition. The event is presented by the Town of Paris, Parks and Recreation Department and the Mahoosuc Arts Council.

Artists are being sought whose work includes paintings, drawings, photography, wood, metal and glass sculpture; fine jewelry; handmade prints; fiber and textile/fiber arts and more. All art work must be the original design and creation of the exhibitor. Booths are limited. Artists also have the opportunity to submit work for awards judging. There will also be a limited number of craft booths under a tent for more traditional crafts.

Single 10 x 10-foot booths are $60 for a single exhibitor, $35 a piece for a shared booth up to four exhibitors, and $75 for booths shared by groups of five or more. Craft tables are $30. Applications must be received by July 1 for inclusion in the Moore Park Art Program. Food vendors spots are $75. Food vendors must provide proof of insurance with application.

FMI: Visit www.mooreparkartshow.biz or contact Director Aranka Matolcsy at 207-890-6386 or mooreparkart@gmail.com.

Three days full of great family activities and fun! The Miss Shrimp Contest takes place on Friday night, and Saturday starts early. Enjoy a full day of activities which include trap hauling, a codfish relay, old-fashioned fish fry, lobster crate races, and much, much more. The annual Blessing of the Fleet Memorial Service and boat parade take place on Sunday in Boothbay Harbor.

By Judith Hayes

It’s Maine Maple Sunday!! Check out the Maine Maple Producer’s Map of all the locations you can visit to see how Maine Maple Syrup is made and MAYBE get a free sample!!

A great sign of spring and a great taste any time of year! Here are some wonderful recipes using Maine Maple Syrup!

My Mom used to make maple butter, and nothing tasted better on biscuits, pancakes, and french toast. It’s simple to make and your family will ask for it again and again.

MAPLE BUTTER

1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup Maine Maple Syrup

With an electric mixer on low setting, beat the butter and syrup until well blended. ENJOY! Refrigerate any leftover.

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Start these potatoes in the morning before you leave for work and they’ll be ready for dinner when you get home, or put them on at night and they’ll be all done when you wake up. Pack some in your lunch and be the envy of everyone at the office. They are a definite dish to serve on holidays!

 Crock Pot Maine Maple Candied Sweet Potatoes

1/4 cup Maine Maple Syrup
1/4 cup apple juice
1 Tablespoon butter
4 small sweet potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup raisins

In a 3-1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker.

Mix the Maine Maple Syrup and apple juice in the crock pot. Add the butter, sweet potatoes, and raisins. Cover and cook on LOW until the potatoes are tender, 8 to 10 hours. Serve with the syrup from the cooker and raisins spooned over the potatoes.

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Spiced Maine Maple Syrup Cocktail Ribs

Ingredients:

4 pounds spareribs, cut into 4-inch pieces (see Note)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/3 cup pure Maine Maple Syrup
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons unsulfured molasses
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a shallow baking pan with non-stick foil.

Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper. Arrange spareribs bony side down in a single layer in the baking pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Meanwhile, combine Maine Maple Syrup, Dijon mustard, molasses, cider vinegar, and cumin until well-mixed.

Remove the spareribs, and drain the fat from the pan. Turn ribs over. Coat the ribs with 1/2 of the maple syrup sauce. Bake another 25 minutes. Turn ribs again, add remaining sauce, and cook another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

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 Maine Maple Cream

It just doesn’t get any better than this!! Maine Maple Cream is good served with anything and everything. Try a spoonful on top of vanilla, coffee, or chocolate ice cream!

Ingredients:

4 cups pure maple syrup (Grade A Light Amber or Medium Amber works best)
A few drops of butter or vegetable oil
A large pan or sink full of cold water

Fill pan partially with water and a candy thermometer. Bring to a boil, and note the temperature of the boiling water. Empty the pan.

Place Maine Maple Syrup in a deep pan (the boiling syrup will foam up fairly high when boiling). Add a few drops of oil or butter. (This helps to keep foam down).

Boil carefully over high heat without stirring, until temperature of the boiling syrup is 24 degrees above the boiling point of the water, as noted earlier. NOTE: Watch carefully as the temperature climbs higher. It can get too hot very quickly near the end. If your pan boils over, you’ll have a real mess! If it cooks too long it can scorch, even catch fire. Watch it carefully.

CAUTION: This is very hot and sticky and can cause bad burns. Be very careful!

Remove from heat, and place immediately into a large pan or sink of very cold water to cool. Do not move, stir, or disturb the syrup during cooling. You can gently add some ice cubes to the water bath if necessary.

Cool to near room temperature. (Hold the back of your hand close to the surface. It’s cool enough when you don’t feel any heat radiating off the surface anymore.)

Remove from water bath and stir slowly with a wooden spoon until it loses its gloss and starts to get opaque. You will notice a change in the color of the liquid. This will take a strong hand and some time. It will get to the consistency of peanut butter when finished. Spoon into containers and keep refrigerated.

Yield: about 2 pounds

The Vejibag is an environmentally sound green product. Sally’s concern for the environment inspired her to design a bag that is of natural fiber, harmless to the environment, and reusable. The Vejibag keeps your wonderful fresh vegetables crisp and tasty for a week or more. That saves many dollars over a years time, when you consider almost 25% of fresh produce gets thrown away. The Vejibag allows vegetables to breathe. Plastic bags suffocates your veggies and they quickly turn bad.

Vejibags use 100% U.S. grown and milled Organic cotton fabric and thread, and they support U. S. local economies. When you purchase and use Vejibags, you save money because your veggies stay fresh and crisp longer and you have no waste. You also support a Maine community business, and help the environment. That’s a pretty big accomplishment!

Check out the Vejibag website for full information on the company, and the beautiful and amazing Vejibag. You can order your Vejibags and maybe grab an extra as a gift for one of your veggie loving friends! VEJIBAG WEBSITE

When Zach and Allison Poole moved to Maine in 2008, they fell in love with Maine’s food and beer culture. Three years later the Maine Brew Bus was born.

Zach explains, “I started the Brew Bus to give everyone the opportunity to learn about Maine Craft Beer. I have had a blast educating others and seeing them enjoy beverages that they never thought they would like. I love it when one of my customers favorite beers becomes one of Maine’s on my tour.” Zach Poole

The Maine Brew Bus offers three special tours, The York County Bounty, The Casco Fiasco, and The Local Pour. Additionally, private tours are available. Learn more about these tours here – Maine Brew Bus Tours Call 207-200-9111 to make reservations to be sure you get your seat, or Make Reservations Online. You don’t have to be a tourist to enjoy one or all of these great tours. It’s a great way for Mainers to get to know Maine’s exceptional microbreweries, and what a great birthday gift for someone you love!

The Maine Brew Bus

Some of the great breweries visited on the various tours are Allagash Brewing Company, Sebago Brewing Company, New England Distilling, and Rising Tide Brewing Company. See the Complete List and Brewery Descriptions Here.

Make your reservations soon and enjoy this great flavor of Maine. You’ll have a great time and be sure to tell them you read about their unique bus tours here at MaineUSA. Give Zach a call… we guarantee he will Drive You to Drink – Locally – Visit their website The Maine Brew Bus

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When people visit Maine, one of the first things they want to do is enjoy a lobster (lobstah) dinner. Maine is truly one of the few places where you can enjoy life they way it should be and the way it was – at the same time. A fantastic way to enjoy a bit of Maine history is to take a sailing lobster tour on Maine’s last sailing lobster boat, the Sarah Mead!

Be sure to bring your camera, because you may see some wonderful sea life, including seals, porpoise, and osprey. The scenery is breathtaking, and the activity is exciting. You can just sit back and enjoy it all, or enjoy it by participating in all the action by hoisting a sail or even taking the helm. The choice is yours and the experience will bring you back year after year to be part of the amazing Maine lobstering tradition.

They sail out of Boothbay Harbor and the season begins on June 1st and runs through the month of October. There are four tours a day, seven days a week. If you’ve made plans to be in Maine this summer, it’s not to soon to make your reservations to be sure you can get the date you want. Click here to check the tour schedule times.

Not only is the “Sarah Mead” the only sailing lobster boat in Maine, it is the only sailing vessel in Maine to go “0″ emmisions. With the help of a state grant, Captains Nate Jones and Randy Jones took out the diesel engine and installed an electric turbine. While the “Sarah Mead” is sailing, the water passing over the propeller charges the turbine. It’s a fascinating story to see how it all developed, and the whole story (in pictures) is available on their website.

You can call 207-380-5460 to make reservations and visit their website for more information and beautiful pictures and videos!

An artist stands in the cold near Artist Bridge in Bethel, painting on a very cold day.

A beautiful old farm snuggled into a cozy valley. Bethel, Maine

Ice Fishing Shack

A line of ice fishing shacks. Ice fishing is a popular winter pastime.

Winter Mountain Scene

Prout’s Neck viewed from Pine Point

January Sunset at Pine Point

January Sunset over the salt marsh in Scarborough

White on White

Maine Lakes Mushers Bowl
January 25th, 26th, and 27th

It’s almost time for the annual Maine Lakes Mushers Bowl held in Bridgton, Maine. You can be a part of all the action! Enjoy a dog sled ride, snowmobile ride, or even a horse drawn carriage ride. Make your plans now!

There are lots of events being held for your enjoyment. Ice fishing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, ice skating, and other festival events will delight the whole family. Did I mention food? Well I should have because there will be plenty of it starting with breakfast and ending with supper. Check out the full Schedule of Events

]]> http://www.maineusa.net/2013/01/07/maine-lakes-mushers-bowl/feed/ 0 http://www.maineusa.net/2013/01/05/if-you-live-in-maine-jeff-foxworthy/ http://www.maineusa.net/2013/01/05/if-you-live-in-maine-jeff-foxworthy/#comments Sat, 05 Jan 2013 09:54:40 +0000 admin http://www.maineusa.net/?p=694 Continue reading →]]> When you think about MAINE – think of it fondly!!

Halloween

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September though May – You live in Maine.

If you design your kid’s Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit – You live in Maine.

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don’t work there – You live in Maine.

If you’ve worn shorts and a parka at the same time – You love in Maine.

If you’ve had a lengthy phone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number – You live in Maine.

If you measure distance in hours – You live in Maine.

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once – You live in Maine.

If you have switched from “heat” to “ac” in the same day and back again – You love in Maine.

If you can drive 75 mph through two feet of snow without flinching – You live in Maine.

If you install security lights on both your house and garage, but leave them both unlocked – you live in Maine.

If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them – You live in Maine.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow – You live in Maine.

If you know all four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction – You live in Maine.

If you have more miles on your snow blower than on your car – You live in Maine.

If you find 10 degrees a “little chilly” – You live in Maine.

AND if you live in Maine you will send this page to all your family and friends no matter where they live!!