The Maine Event III: The Best Four Days of Your Summer

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August 9-13, Lincolnville, Maine



Before you read this let me be clear–it’s a sponsored post. This is advertising. And while it’s not for a Brooklyn Based event, like the upcoming Total 4th Avenue Immersion, it is for an event that I’m involved in planning and executing. While that means I have write this preamble for full disclosure, it also means that I am well suited to tell you how awesome the week will be.

Yes, that's the ocean in the background.

What happens in Brooklyn in August? The weather descends into hell-like conditions, each block becomes identifiable by its uniquely awful smell and the novelty of outdoor movies and concerts wears thin.

What happens in Maine? Tom Mylan (yes, further full disclosure, Tom is my husband) and Brent Young of The Meat Hook, and Dennis Spina and Millicent Souris of Roebling Tea Room unleash the depth and breadth of their culinary expertise on 20 guests at Salt Water Farm, a cooking school overlooking Penobscot Bay in Lincolnville, Maine. Chefs Annemarie Ahearn and Ladleah Dunn of Salt Water Farm will also be on hand to teach classes in cheesemaking, pickles and preserves and gardening, and to share their specialized knowledge of the Maine coast and its cuisine. Mark Firth, a former owner of Diner and Marlow & Sons, will join us this year to host, tend bar and share his newly acquired pig-raising expertise.

Jonah crab was in season during last year's Maine Event.

Maine Event guests spend their days taking classes in everything from pig butchering to cheesemaking, and enjoying leisurely lunches and dinners seated at Salt Water Farm’s 22-person outdoor dining table on a flagstone patio looking out onto the bay. It’s warm and breezy, and last year we even got the fire pit going to gather round once the aprons come off and the after dinner drinks begin.

It’s not just about sitting and watching while the chefs and butchers demonstrate. You’ll be cooking, drinking, and slaughtering chickens alongside some of Brooklyn’s most inspired food minds. Hone your knife skills, learn the particulars of cooking in a wood-fired oven, improve your oyster shucking stylings, throw your lobster in the pot–we’re all about getting everyone’s hands dirty.

The Maine Event includes all food and drink, classes and excursions. Local beers, seasonal cocktails and and wine pairings from Vine Wine in Brooklyn will be free flowing. It runs from August 9 through August 13; $1000 per person. When you call or email to reserve your spot, (annemarie@saltwaterfarm.com or 207-230-0966) Annemarie can help point you toward a variety of local lodging options. Hope to see you there!

Cleaning foraged sea urchins.

Maine Event 2011 Schedule

Tuesday evening, August 9
Optional meet and greet at Three Tides brewery on the water in Belfast, Maine

Wednesday, August 10
Morning snacks and coffee
Pig butchering with Tom and Brent
Lunch
Sausage making
Welcome blow out feast

Thursday, August 11
Coffee and breakfast
Pre-slaughter vodka shots
Chicken slaughter
Lunch (pork from Wednesday’s butcher demo)
Foraging field trip
Knife skills-pizza dough-cheesemaking workshops
Wood burning oven cooking class and dinner

Friday, August 12
Morning snacks and coffee
Pie making workshop
Lunch (Friday’s chickens)
Pickles and preserves-distillation workshops
Lobster boil overlooking the ocean

Saturday, August 13
Farewell brunch

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