Dear Trader Joe,

January 10, 2010 ~ thedailydish ~ Leave a comment

HEY BUDDY!! How are you?! Yep, we’re all good. I was thinking about you this morning & realized it’s been almost a Y-E-A-R since I last saw you. I KNOW! You still wearing that same crazy shirt? Yeah, me too. So. Listen bud. I wrote a few months ago, and I realize how busy you are – but seriously. The time has come. WHEN ARE YOU COMING TO MAINE???!!! B/c I am out of stuff.

Peppermint castile soap. Salt free tomatoes. No salt tuna and sockeye salmon. Dried mango. Knockoff cereal. chocolate chips. Emergen-C. Bargain priced stonyfield farm yogurt. Joe, I will be blunt. Portland is stupendous, but it simply won’t be paradise until you’re here too.

I emailed you weeks ago. Requesting a new location….and… and…Nothing. DUDE – I miss you! Baaad. The stickers and balloons. Those wild shirts. From your 2 Buck Chuck to your chocolate covered almonds. From your french milled goodness to your uncured hot dogs – to the tofu, Joe. I need you.

Portland *(maine) needs you.

Love,

your favorite MAINE-UH (really from away)

Dishy.

PS: And Please hurry, b/c my recyclable shopping bags have all sprung holes & I’m in need of some colorful new ones. But – only yours. xo

Please excuse me, I’m From Away.

May 8, 2009 ~ thedailydish ~ 10 Comments

HEYYA!! Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. This whole *BAKING UP A BUSINESS* thing is very time intensive. More on that later/BUT for now The Cart & I just wanted to thank you for your support. Great suggestions, everyone! I have designed a t shirt for our future excursions which I think will simplify matters greatly.

THANKS>!!ME too. Hard to believe I’ve been *From Away* for SEVEN WHOLE WEEKS NOW!

What do you mean, what do I mean? Aren’t you LISTENING? I’ve been From Away for 7 weeks. OH! No.. I don’t mean I’ve been AWAY FROM Philly all this time, though you could read it that way too. No. What I really mean is since moving to Maine I’ve joined a secret heretofore unknown and supremely mysterious group which is in fact growing ever larger even as I write this sentence. In fact — you are very likely a part of it — and you may not even KNOW! NO _ I’m not talking about LOST! BUT SPEAKING OF WHICH _did you watch weds night? I KNOW! I was like GO JOHN! WAY to kick that stupid bug-eyed benjamin linus in the balls. MAN I HATE HIM. BUT – aanyway – From Away is a folksy term used by Mainers to identify OUTSIDERS. It’s a polite way of acknowledging crazy persons without having to point and make little nutball circles next to one’s head. Saying someone is FROM AWAY is akin to calling them a dingus w/out saying so. It’s simply understood.

Mainers are very proud of their heritage. If you were born in Maine, you are and will always be a Mainer (Maine-uh). Everyone else is From Away. SO that pretty much includes us all – or 99.9999999852% of the world. Having “From Away” to bandy about – well, it makes it easy for Mainers to scoff at, scorn or ridicule those not from Maine (meaning US), without alerting us to this fact. I also believe, though I cannot be certain, that this whole “From Away” thing was intended to establish Maine superiority and/or differentiate between homegrown and non-native whackadoo. A little like the Nazis, but extremely reserved and without death camps.

WELL. LET ME JUST SAY./ All of us were born somewhere. I, for one, was born in a hospital. But not everyone has that luxury. Some people were born in Maine. But I do not fault them for that. No. That my friends would be wrong. Making fun of someone, rolling your eyes behind their back or assuming they’ll vote A CERTAIN WAY because of where they were born is not right. That is just plain PLACIST.

And in this day and age, to have to play the PLACE card – well… I don’t have to roll my eyes b/c you KNOW I AM ANYWAY. That is stooping pretty darn low. NOT as low as that guy hawking tee shirts w/ Calvin peeing on that other guy, but STILL. Just b/c I am FROM AWAY does not mean I don’t enjoy a lobstah roll as much as the next guy. [Though, between you & me, I’d save your $10.] And DON’T get me started on the whole top-split New England frank roll vs. the “Other part of the country” side-split hot dog bun… sheesh.

Eating like a Maine-ahh

April 17, 2009 ~ thedailydish ~ 10 Comments

Being new in town, we don’t know a whopping lot of people yet – which, coming from Philly where everyone knows everyone, is a bit weird – and lonely. So last night was a real treat. We were invited to dinner at the home of one of John’s coworkers. Sitting down to a meal in an authentic *MAINE HOME* – complete w/ backyard, grill, and Jack Russell terrier, was wonderful. And they were so thoughtful – they even served us traditional Maine fare. I am of course referring to RED HOT DOGS.

Holy smokes!! They really truly are THAT RED. I’d heard of Red Hots before, but I’d never in my life SEEN anything like this. For those of you also “From Away” (aka, Non-Native Maine-ahhs), these colorful franks are typically referred to as red “snappers” – or simply “Snappers” due to the crunchy BITE of their natural casing. Although hot dogs across the board are pretty much verboten to me, I HAD TO TRY THESE. My alloted bite had a pleasant snap, and the taste was (as w/ most hot dogs) divine. You’d think they’d be spicy – with that fiery GLOWING RED color, but nope. I found a link, so if anyone not now residing in Maine wants to try these too, you can ORDER THEM HERE. PS: This morning I’m pleased to report we are all still normally pigmented – which, as pale as we are, is a good thing – right?

Serendipity.

April 16, 2009 ~ thedailydish ~ 11 Comments

Sometimes things just magically fall into place. In the past three weeks, I have done more than settle into a new city and apartment. I’ve also managed to land myself a sweet new job. And by sweet, I mean SWEET – as in BAKING. My very own sticky buns for a bakery around the corner. As the recipe itself came to me in a dream, and this is for me a dream job, you can imagine my state of mind right now. A little bit country, a little bit rock-n-roll. And a whole lot of WOW.

Three months ago, if you’d told me I’d be living in Portland, walking my kids to school, and baking for a living, I’d have told you you were crazy. But here I am. The first time we visited – wwaaaaayyy back in February – a sign greeted us at the border.