55.4° 
Kathy Gunst
First Harvest Pea and Lettuce Soup
Submitted by Kathy Gunst on Mon, 06/29/2009 - 12:49pm.
The peas have arrived. This strikes me as slightly miraculous considering this past month’s weather. I call it “June-tober” — rain and cold temperatures, rain and warm temperatures, rain and more rain. I think about the farmers with their soggy fields, those tender, early crops out there trying to hold on. I hope the sun comes out soon to rescue and dry up this mess. I know we need water, but this is ridiculous.
Chickens and Eggs
Submitted by Kathy Gunst on Thu, 05/28/2009 - 4:07pm.
Last winter a small box arrived in the mail that had the faintest sounds coming from it. When I held the box in my hands it was warm and seemed to vibrate. Inside were our 22 new baby chicks, two days old, huddled together in clean sawdust, peeping and keeping each other alive. We ordered them through the mail because we wanted something more than the generic brands our local feed store offers year after year. We wanted something exotic. And we got it.
A Maine Recipe for Mothers
Submitted by Kathy Gunst on Thu, 05/14/2009 - 11:51am.A close friend of mine just celebrated her very first Mother’s Day. She had a baby a few weeks ago, and it’s been thrilling to watch her reaction to it all -- the excitement of bringing a human being into this world.
She has videotaped him moving his head in his crib, and taking his first stroller walk. He even has his own blog — I kid you not. (After all his mother is just 30, and a blog is apparently the new baby book.)
Rob Evans is Beard's Best Northeast Chef
Submitted by Kathy Gunst on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 1:14pm.Big news for Maine food lovers. Rob Evans, chef and owner of Hugo’s in Portland, Maine, won the highly coveted James Beard Award last night for Best Chef: Northeast. Evans was competing against some heavy hitters – Maine’s Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier of Arrows in Ogunquit; Michael Leviton of Lumiere and Marc Orfaly of Pigalle, both of Boston; and Tony Maws of Craigie on Maine in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Ramen Revisited: Rainy Day Antidote
Submitted by Kathy Gunst on Fri, 04/03/2009 - 11:25am.
President Obama is on the radio outlining his plan to save the auto industry. His voice is filled with fierce determination. He wants to move ahead and assure us all that U.S. car manufacturing won’t die, but he clearly wants to teach some lessons along the way. No more free rides. I listen as he reaches out to those ailing from this weak, terrible economy. Outside my office window, rain spits. It’s all enough to make a girl depressed.
Exporting Penobscot Bay to New York City
Submitted by Kathy Gunst on Wed, 03/11/2009 - 4:08pm.
It may seem strange to travel all the way to New York City to taste fresh Maine seafood. Last month chefs Lynette Mosher and her partner/husband Robert Krajewski, owners of Lily Bistro in Rockland, teamed up with their neighbor (the two restaurants share a common wall on Main Street), Keiko Suzuki Steinberger of Suzuki’s Sushi Bar to cook a Maine seafood dinner at the famed James Beard House in Greenwich Village.
It was well worth the trip.
Anatomy of a Recipe
Submitted by Kathy Gunst on Mon, 03/09/2009 - 4:18pm.How does someone create a new recipe?
In a given year, working on cookbooks, magazine articles, and this blog, I write hundreds of new recipes and am often asked a logical question: Where do my ideas come from?
New Times, New Flavors
Submitted by Kathy Gunst on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 1:51pm.
Yesterday was Inauguration Day. Along with close to 800 others, I went to the Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to watch Barack Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States live on the big screen. Friends and neighbors greeted one another with tight hugs, others wore flashing Obama hats and Obama t-shirts and pins.
A New Year’s Eve-type energy floated through the great hall. We watched the millions of people huddled on the National Mall in Washington, willing
A Soup-Obsessed Journey Toward Winter Meals
Submitted by Kathy Gunst on Mon, 01/12/2009 - 4:03pm.
It’s that time of year, the New Year, when everyone tries to eat light and healthy. It’s like a national epidemic, these swings from rich holiday fat-laden and sugary foods to the quest for a slimmer, trimmer everyone. I have nothing against eating healthy, keeping the focus on fresh, seasonal foods (it’s something I try to do year-round) but have you looked outside the window? It’s freezing out there. Snow
Natalie's Chef Lawrence Klang is 'a Major Talent'
Submitted by Kathy Gunst on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 11:27pm.
Late Thursday night we lost power. Living in Maine means going without electricity every now and then. But on my road, in a small town in York County, that concept has special meaning. I call it “the street that time forgot.” It’s now Tuesday and we still have no power. That means no, light, water (our well pump runs on electricity), or heat from the furnace for 5 days, or 120 hours. We have watched almost every other part of our town turn bright. We have watched as disgruntled,
