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Questions
Q: What Maine restaurant was singled out this summer for having the best Margarita in the country by a popular men's magazine?
A: El Camino in Brunswick.
Q: What company did two brothers from Cape Elizabeth start that was featured on CBS Sunday Morning show and awarded the Small Business Administration's 2008 National Young Entrepreneur Award?
A: Catch a Piece of Maine. It's kind of a CSA for lobsters. Investors pay for their own lobster trap. All the crustaceans that are caught are then shipped to the investor along with other clam bake fixings. The Ready brothers have gotten a lot of press for their relatively new company. Check out their blog here on DownEast.com
Q: What Food Network star worked in Maine before hitting it big?
A: We'll give you a hint. He certainly kicked it up a notch. That's right, Emeril Lagasse cooked up a storm at Seasons restaurant, owned by Dunfey Hotels before continuing on to celebrity chefdom.
Q: What percentage of North America's wild blueberries does Maine produce?
A: 25 percent. In fact, Maine is the largest producer of wild blueberries in the world.
Q: How many chapters of Slow Food does Maine currently have?
A: Four: Slow Food Aroostook County; Slow Food Midcoast Maine; Slow Food Penobscot Valley; Slow Food Portland. Slow Food is "is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded...to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people's dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world." For more information on how to join the chapter near you, go to www.slowfoodportland.org.
Q: Which Maine chef or chefs were nominated for a James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Northeast this year?
A: Rob Evans of Portland's Hugo's and the dynamic duo of Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier at Arrows in Ogunquit.
Q: What Maine fishing celebrity was arrested allegedly for harvesting in Canadian waters this summer?
A: That would be Linda Greenlaw. The best-selling author and cookbook writer who just released her first fictitious works, Slipknot in 2007 and Fisherman's Bend in 2008.
Q: Where and by whom was Moxie, the official state soft drink, invented?
A: Down East, among many other publications, is guilty of attributing the invention of Moxie to Maine. Technically, a Mainer, Dr. Augustin Thompson of Union, did in fact invent Moxie, but he did so while he was employed at Ayer Drug Company in Lowell, Massachusetts. Still, as the official soft drink of Maine with an avid following here and here alone, Moxie is very much a Maine product.
Q: What Maine-made dairy product won first place at the World Dairy Expo Championships in Wisconsin this year?
A: Butter. Kate's Homemade Butter to be specific. A family business since the early 1900s in Minot Maine (and on the market officially since 1981), Kate's Butter is both delicious and local.
Q: Which two Maine spirits have the word "river" in their name? And which is named after an actual Maine River?
A: Cold River Vodka (made by Maine Distilleries in Freeport) and Back River Gin (made by Sweetgrass Winery in Union). You can visit both distilleries and taste test (highly recommended). Both liquors are named after Maine rivers.
Q: How many brands of potato chips are made in Maine?
A: Exactly one! Fox Family Potato Chips of Mapleton — made by hand with 100 percent Maine potatoes.
Q: What Maine sweets company was featured as the "snack of the day" on the Rachel Ray Show this year?
A: Marnee's cookies of Bath.
Q: What Aroostook County town hosts a ten-day festival dedicated to the potato and its blossom?
A: The Potato Blossom Festival takes place in Fort Fairfield every July. The 2009 Maine Potato Blossom Festival is scheduled for July 11-19, 2009
Q: What Maine island is the home of Black Dinah Chocolates?
A: Isle au Haut. From June through September you can get coffee, tea, pastries, and of course artisan chocolates, at the Black Dinah Cafe.
Q: What was Erik Desjarlais' inspiration for the name of his new restaurant Evangeline?
A: A poem, Evangeline: A Tale of Arcadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (The restaurant overlooks Longfellow Square in Portland.)
Q: Where was the original Pat's Pizza?
A: Orono. Farnsworth's Cafe opened in 1931. About twenty years later, owner C.D. "Pat" Farnsworth added pizza to his menu. The rest is history. Today you can enjoy the same pizza in thirteen locations including the original in Orono.
Q: The December issue of Down East talks about the rumored inventor of the doughnut, Captain Hanson Gregory of Rockport. But who had the original patent on the doughnut cutter?
A: Most sources report that doughnut cutters were invented by John F. Blondell of Thomaston, Maine in 1872
Q: Len Libby's in Scarborough has an eight-foot, 1,700 pound milk chocolate what outside of its store?
A: A moose. Watch the video of how they made it here.
Q: True or false? Maine is the nation's largest producer of brown eggs?
A: True.
Q: What is the best-selling liquor in Maine?
A: We'll give you a hint: it's known as the Champagne of Maine. Allen's Coffee Brandy, most often mixed with milk. The company sold more than a million bottles last year in the state, making it the state's most popular liquor (though prior to breaking a million, it has been the most popular alcohol in the state for twenty years running).
Q: What former Maine lawmaker is now a spokesperson for Thyme for Goat, a conglomerate of goat farms selling goat meat?
A: Marge Kilkelly is the owner of Dragon Fly Cove Farm in Dresden. She is a former state senator.
Q: What is the Maine state fish? Berry? Herb?
A: Landlocked salmon; the wild blueberry; and Wintergreen.
Q: What Maine Ice Cream company makes the Sea Dog Biscuits most famously consumed at Hadlock Field?
A: Shain's of Maine. To read more about the company, see the article in the July issue of Down East.
Q: Which Casco Bay island had, prior to this year, successfully fought the fall of the Nabisco's Crown Pilot Cracker?
A: Chebeague Island. They even have a website devoted to their fight. Unfortunately, Nabisco announced that they would discontinue the brand again this year.
Q: What Maine specialty begins its life as a male and ends it as a female?
A: (Hint: we harvest millions of pounds of them a year). Maine shrimp. They are technically hermaphroditic. After a year or two being males the shrimp become. The official season this year runs from December 1, 2008 through May 29, 2009.
Q: What pub has the largest selection of beer in Maine?
A: Ebenezer's Pub in Lovell.
Q: Which two Portland restaurant chefs just got married this fall?
A: Krista Kern, of Bresca and Erik Desjarlais of Evangeline tied the knot the last weekend in September. You can taste the fruits of the marital bliss on Monday nights at Evangeline where the two accomplished chefs cook a prix fixe meal together.
Q: The leaves of what Maine staple are now being made into tea in Stockton Springs?
A: Wild Maine blueberries. Highland Organics in Stockton Springs is making the first whole plant wild Maine blueberry tea. (The leaves happen to have more antioxidants than the berries!)
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