and a strong cup of coffee

The family and I spent a day one weekend with Robin and among the outdoor activities we did, we got to go fishing!  Given my track record here, I didn't have much hope of catching anything but any excuse to be on a boat is good enough for me.

Hubby, O, Robin and her husband Steve and I piled into the boat and launched into East Musquash Lake.  O was all about helping me reel in the line and being outside.  He was not so excited about his lifejacket but it helped that we all had them on.

 My goal for him is to be a fisherman so that he can better teach me - and so that we can cover all of our bases by having a hunter and fishermen bringing food to the table.

We trolled for a while and enjoyed the breeze and beautiful weather.  It was a perfect Maine day and we could not have picked a better one to spend outside.  It is easy to lose track of the day when you have great friends and great weather and are on a boat!

We pulled in the trolling lines and headed over to a shallow spot to t…

Honest Kitchen: Honest, whole food cooked from scratch. Simple, delicious and sometimes from the wild side. Robin, Erin and Michelle often prepare wild game, mushrooms, berries and other foods they harvest, grow or buy locally. Regardless - come cook with us. Copy this paragraph (please leave the links) into your blog and leave your link in comments each Wednesday so everyone can visit.
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I will get to how I got the trout in a little bit, but let's skip ahead to how to eat it!

I did not get photos of how we cleaned it, but it was literally three cuts; two angled from the front side fins towards the head to remove the head and one up the belly to remove the guts.  This is what it will look like.  Look at those spots!


Since I wanted to quickly cook this fish up, I didn't bother buying any lemons or trying to make it fancy.  I washed the fish down, and dredged it in some flour, salt and pepper, making sure to get both sides.


Then, melt some butter in a frying pan over mediu…

I woke up very early on our first full day in Grand Lakes Stream ( I think it was because I knew that we were going to spend the day with Robin) but I snuck out of the cabin and onto the dock to take photos of the sunrise.  I have not doctored any of these photographs and they are in chronological order... it is just that spectacular!

From the dock and our porch window, we could see all kinds of great bird sightings.  I wrote about the osprey here but wanted to share a few more pictures:

We were hanging out at the dock at Chet's Camps when we heard squawking and saw this osprey flying and swooping and seeming to taunting the two loons that were in front of us.  The osprey has what looked like bass in its talons.

I am now going to be stalking the trail camera pictures and probably trying to put out more as the summer goes on.  This is a new buck - a little smaller than the earlier one that I posted which means that at least a couple of them made it through the winter and with the amount of does that are around, I would say that we have a pretty healthy deer herd hanging around!

Honest Kitchen: Honest, whole food cooked from scratch. Simple, delicious and sometimes from the wild side. Robin, Erin and Michelle often prepare wild game, mushrooms, berries and other foods they harvest, grow or buy locally. Regardless - come cook with us. Copy this paragraph (please leave the links) into your blog and leave your link in comments each Wednesday so everyone can visit.

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The other night, I wanted to make a yummy salmon dish that was quick, easy and tasted great.  I pulled out some salmon that I received from a fish guy that I know and decided to do a little spice rub combo'd with an avocado that I had. 

The best way to deal with fish and clean up, is to use foil to help keep the juiced in and not burn on to the glass dish.


When you are looking for spices to add to your kitchen, really - go to Wild Cheff and just buy a handful of them.  This Honey Chile was perfect to rub into the salmon.  I drizzled some olive oil on the fish and then put a decent amount…

As much of a pain as mud season it, it is a great way to see where the deer are and how big some of them are getting.  It is almost like snow because it gives you a great idea of what is traveling through.

I was very happy to see all of the deer tracks but then I saw this one.  It wasn't as fresh as some of the deer tracks but it wasn't too old either.  Looks like I am hunting something besides deer and turkey this year.

Did you see the camo's critter?  Here are some better photos of him.




He still has white on his back feet and belly but the majority of him is brown now.  I hope he sticks around for a while - without eating all of the plants.

I spy with my little eye...



I snapped a few pictures of this critter as it scurried across the lawn.  It was hard to see when he was in the brush but I got a few good ones when he came back out onto the lawn and again the next morning.

Honest Kitchen: Honest, whole food cooked from scratch. Simple, delicious and sometimes from the wild side. Robin, Erin and Michelle often prepare wild game, mushrooms, berries and other foods they harvest, grow or buy locally. Regardless - come cook with us. Copy this paragraph (please leave the links) into your blog and leave your link in comments each Wednesday so everyone can visit.

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If you have never gotten burger from a specialize meat market or made it yourself, you don't know what you are missing.  Maybe that is a good thing, ignorance can be bliss but trust we when I tell you to take the time and go get some local burger.  It is nice to know that there are no mystery ingredients in the meat and that the time from cow to burger is traceable instead of an unknown amount of time. Local and organic really does make a better burger - you can taste it.

Here is my favorite recipe for a basic burger - nothing too fancy and feel free to add whatever you wish, but this is t…