August of 2004...family road trip (read: Daddy wants to hit every Lobster Pound from the bottom of Maine
to Nova Scotia and back...).  Lobster, 3 times a day.  Breakfast Lobster Benedicts, Lobster Grey Flannel
Hash....lunch...steamy cup of Lobster stew, or bisque...a few soft shelled lobsters, potato salad...dinner,
steamed lobster, clam chowder, or scallop chowder, steamed corn, salad with fresh tomatoes, and
every dessert with wild Maine or Nova Scotia blueberries.  Warm Northeastern days with cool nights,
perfect trip..The weather today is turning cooler, again, so, I need to push the summertime envelope.
Think Lobsters!!!  Did I mention waiting on every line I could find for Lobster Rolls?  For those who
think you must travel REALLY far to experience unique regional cuisine, I'm here to say that you can
find a new regional food once you've left a 50-100 mile radius of where you live.  Get out there. 
Travel...and eat that regions' foods.  In the top picture, we were getting ready to enjoy a lunch at
the Maine Luau (the name just reeks American roadfood cheese...and it was good)
http://www.maineluau.com/     No matter where you travel in that region, a Lobster Pound is simply a place where they steam huge numbers of lobsters, freshly caught, in big steam pits.

This is a lobster shack in Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia.


Here we are on a Lobster Boat (a tourist Lobster boat) in the Lunenberg Harbor in
Nova Scotia..You can try to get on board the "real" ones, but 6 years ago my girls were
not good candidates for a sea-sick laden high seas Deadliest Catch reality boat ride.
This was perfect, we caught lobsters, got up close and personal with the creatures,
marine bio specialist on board who gave a great lecture.  Like a petting zoo for
crustaceans...very cool.  Lunenberg is a must see town in Nova Scotia as well as a
World Heritage Site. (http://www.explorelunenburg.ca/)

  What are you thinking right now?  I was only thinking of what
that fine speciment was going to taste like on after a steam bath and a hot butter treatment...fries please. 
  Here I am at the Hall's Harbour Lobster Pound in Nova Scotia, site of some of
the world's most impressive tides "catching" our lunch.
 And here I am proving to you that
I am really in Hall's Harbour and not somewhere near my house...now my conscience is clear.  Let's move onto what
we can do to recreate a little Maine/Nova Scotia lobster love in your kitchen.  Here is a simple American regional
sandwich, one of my all-time favorites, known as the Lobster Roll.  Many a New Englander will argue as to whether you
simply dress it with simple seasonings and melted butter nestled into a toasted top-split hot dog rolls...OR...to make
a lightly seasoned dressing of Hellman's Mayo, celery, salt, pepper, squeeze of lemon, little bit of green onion and
serve it in the butter toasted top-split roll.  I like both.  How could you not??  However, my preference is for the mayo
based one. 
Take 3 cups of lightly chopped cooked lobster (MUST BE MAINE LOBSTER, rather, Northern Atlantic Lobster which
can come to us from either Maine or Canada, do NOT use frozen tails, fresh water, South African, Caribbean,
Australian lobsters, they taste different...), add a cup of finely diced celery, tsp. of sea salt, a good amount of 
black pepper, some green onion (scallions), sliced..a squeeze of 1/2 a fresh lemon, 1/2 cup of
Hellman's Mayo, 1 tsp. fresh chopped parsley.  Now mix this all well and refrigerate for 2 hours.  Serve on top-
split NEW ENGLAND style hot dog rolls that you have toasted with a little butter on a flat pan or griddle.  The
buttery taste and crisp texture of the bread is perfect next to the cold seafood.  This makes about 8 nice rolls.


There they are...the Lobster Roll...serve this with a salad of greens tossed with blueberries, and a
Honey Blueberry Vinaigrette,  muddle 1/8 cup fresh cleaned blueberries, add 1 finely minced shallot,
1 tsp. dijon mustard, whisk in 2 tsp. of Blueberry Honey (or regular), then add 3 tsp. apple cider vinegar,
keep whisking adding 6 tsp. of walnut oil, or grapeseed oil till it is emulsified.  Add salt and pepper to
taste.  Drizzle over your mixed green salad with the blueberries.
 I made this salad in the summer and
added some gooseberries...

 A Maine Lobster Pound meal,
steamed lobster, fries, onion rings, cole slaw, Lobster Roll...you don't see the dessert, but it was a warm
blueberry crumble with vanilla ice cream.  Does NOT get better than this on a summer's day. 
I'll leave you with a picture of a group of Mennonite women who were surveying the view at  Peggy's Cove..
I wonder if they were thinking...."Lobster for dinner tonight?"
   My guess would be, yes, that's what the're saying.