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2 months ago | 
bangordailynews.com | Sandy Oliver
This story was originally published in February 2021. If you watch the Super Bowl this year, it won’t be because the New England Patriots are playing but because it might be interesting to see what Tom Brady does for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s going to be a while before Bill Belichick rebuilds the Patriots well enough to get them back at the Super Bowl with any of what was our accustomed regularity.
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2 months ago | 
bangordailynews.com | Sandy Oliver
This story was originally published in January 2023. With the Super Bowl just around the corner, it’s time for a couple of appetizer recipes. If you work it right, appetizers can make the whole meal, because who wants to leave the TV long enough to sit down to a supper? A few years ago, CBS published the most common snacks Googled by state to discover America’s favorite game day treats. It showed, uniquely enough, that Mainers seemed to favor deviled eggs.
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
bangordailynews.com | Sandy Oliver
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Nov 16, 2024 | 
bangordailynews.com | Sandy Oliver
This story was originally published in November 2021. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. When we fork up a mouthful of pumpkin pie, part of what we think of as pumpkin flavor is the blend of spices that season it. That’s the same seasoning in pumpkin beer, pumpkin lattes and lots of the other semi-pumpkin dishes that have less pumpkin than other ingredients but all have pumpkin pie spice to flavor them.
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Oct 13, 2024 | 
bangordailynews.com | Sandy Oliver
This story was originally published in November 2020. It is apple season, and Anna Bryan of Holden sent along a recipe she discovered in her grandmother’s collection, neatly typed on a card by Anna’s great-great Aunt Win, who ran a tea-house back in the early middle 1900s. It is the soul of simplicity and a good way to use applesauce, and a bonus is that it’s flourless and just fine for anyone avoiding gluten.
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Oct 6, 2024 | 
islandinstitute.org | Sandy Oliver
Green beans, tomatoes, peaches, and corn! Late August and September give us a summery abundance in cooler portions of Maine even as chain grocery stores lay out pumpkins and move apples to the front of the produce section. With peaches still on the tree, I’m hardly in the mood for Halloween or apple pie. Summer is winding down, for sure. Cooler overnights (good sleeping weather) and the equinox prove fall is on the way. I’m taking stock of how this summer went. Finally, a good growing season.
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Sep 27, 2024 | 
bangordailynews.com | Sandy Oliver
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Aug 20, 2024 | 
islandinstitute.org | Sandy Oliver
Flavor matters so much when we eat. Cooks sample as they go along to make sure the seasoning is just right, that the balance of salt, sweet, spicy, sour, bitter, and umami is pleasing. Still, each of us experiences flavor in highly personal ways, hence, “De gustibus, non disputandum est.” In other words, when it comes to taste, there’s no agreement possible among us all about what tastes good.
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Aug 8, 2024 | 
bangordailynews.com | Sandy Oliver
This story was originally published in July 2022. Each summer, our library’s friends group holds a book and bake sale. Not just cakes and cookies, breads and pies but jams, jellies, pickles and chutney are snapped up by summer and year-round residents alike. This summer, one of the delectables found its way post-sale to a potluck supper I attended where it was served for dessert: truly yummy, fat oatmeal cookies filled up with vanilla-flavored frosting.
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Jul 23, 2024 | 
islandinstitute.org | Sandy Oliver
Beets have an undeserved bad reputation. Some polling outfit recently discovered that among the ten most hated vegetables in America, beets were No. 1. Eggplants, okra, turnips, and Brussels sprouts also make it onto the list, though if most other food is nominated, anchovies top the list. Poor beets. Sweet, brilliantly colored, and amenable to lots of ways of preparing them, plus being fairly easy to grow, beets are nonetheless controversial.
