September 28, 2017. Lobster and Provincial Taste.

September 28, 2017.  Lobster and Provincial Taste.  Over 5 million lobsters are eaten in Bar Harbor every year.  About 90 percent of the nation's lobster supply comes from Maine.  If you are in Maine, you should eat a lobster, I've been told.  

In the 1970s I attended a seminar in Miami Beach.  At the end of the classes, one of my partners suggested we dine at a local landmark seafood restaurant, Joe's Stone Crab.  I wasn't a seafood fan but I agreed to go along.  

Once seated, all those at the table ordered crab, or lobster, or some other saltwater fare.  When the waiter got to me, I ordered a Kansas City strip steak.  That same partner remarked about my "provincial" taste.  I wasn't sure what he meant so I just laughed along with everyone else.  Then, I enjoyed my steak.  

When I had a chance, I looked up the word.  I wasn't happy with the definition:  provincial is something related to a specific country or geographic area or someone or something that is small-minded and unsophisticated.

I had the word in mind yesterday when we were early arrivers at the Chart House Restaurant.  So, when I saw lobster, I ordered it.  Shelby, our server, promised she would show me how to crack the shell and remove the meat.  Later, she was good to her word.  She draped a plastic bib on me and handed me a nutcracker.  

I first broke the claws and gouged out the meat.  Next, I went to work on the tail.  All the time, water and juice was dripping from my chin and onto the bib.  Last, I cracked open the torso and scraped away the scant layer of meat concealed within.  After all that work, I figure I ingested about three ounces of lobster meat.  My take on the whole deal was that the food wasn't worth the effort.  Next time, I'll order a lobster sandwich and let someone else do the work.  Better yet, I'll order the bacon burger.  Forty years later, provincial I still am.  

The Chart House was our first top on yesterday's circumnavigation of Mount Desert (pronounced "de-zert" - you know, like ice cream and cake) Island.  Before leaving, I snapped a couple of pictures of the bay, the dock and several lobster traps.  The second stop was the town of Bar Harbor.  We sat on a bench in a park overlooking the pier.  The outer edges of some trees are beginning to turn colors.  The next couple of weeks in New England should be beautiful.   

We drove around the island past Otter Cove, Seal Harbor and Southeast Harbor.  We saw quaint villages and sand beaches.  Before returning to the cabin, we passed through Somesville where we found the arched walking bridge over a pond leading to the first structure constructed in the area in the mid-1700s.

The final stop was a lobster shack near our cabin.  The shack was surrounded by lobster traps and the outer walls covered with buoys which, presumably, are used to mark the traps.  I stopped because of the colorful design created by the buoys, not because I wanted lobster.  I'd rather have a Kansas City strip.  

Goodnight.