Canadian Contraband and the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound

The scene for the transfer of the Canadian contraband was here...

The Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound.

There are many lobster pound shacks along Rte 3 en route to Mount Desert Island.  You can't miss them, recognizable by the steaming pots and stovepipes that are lit first thing in the morning.

We chose Trenton Bridge for two reasons:  first, it got the best food reviews on Yelp and secondly, they cook their lobster in sea water for added flavor.

One of my blogging needle friends (BNFs), Linda Hubbard and her daughter Laura were meeting us there for lunch.

They had driven down from New Brunswick, Canada and were bringing with them some of that exhilarating, bottled Canadian elixir that I had been dreaming of for over a year.

Linda and I have been BNF's for a few years and had first met each other last April at the Crazy Adventure in Connecticut.   At that time, she made the mistake of giving me a bottle of the "good stuff" as a gift while we were at the retreat.

When I told her we were going to be in Maine, she volunteered to meet me (she and her daughter had planned a trip Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts) and to bring me a few extra bottles to feed my habit.

OK.  I kept calling the stuff "contraband" and "moonshine"  because it comes in these suspicious looking bottles...

But Linda wants you to know that she hasn't done anything wrong.  In fact, it's perfectly legal for her to carry these bottles across the border.

In fact, Linda is as pure as the 100% Canadian Maple syrup that she trucked over from Canada.  But I'm here to tell you, just because it is 0º Proof and has zero alcohol content doesn't mean that it isn't intoxicating.  I am happy to report that I'm back on the bottle!

It was wonderful to see each other again and to share our Lobster Pound experience with two such lobster-eating aficionados.   Evidently, the lobster in New Brunswick is even better than Trenton Bridge!  ;)

Linda and Laura had lobster rolls, Jack had New England clam chowder, and Jim and I had the Lobster (pronounced Lob-stah in Maine).  

I thought it was called a Lobster Pound because lobster is sold by the pound but that was wrong.  Maine calls them Lobster Pounds because historically, the shacks have had a holding tank or a tidal "pen" that contained the lobsters, keeping them fresh before they were sold live.

We hand-picked our lobster from a cooler.  I selected one that was 2 pounds but Jim got the Big Daddy.  

His was over 3 pounds and completely crushed my poor girl on the scale.  Men.

After weighing, they were placed in these knotted-net bags...

And carried outside...

To be placed in one of those boiling pots of salt water...

You can tell it was sea water because of all the salt residue that is coating the outside of the stoves...

I actually really liked the salty-crustiness of the stove and how the salt created textures on the brick and iron ovens.

These stoves have been used.

Our lobster bag was given a number so that Big Daddy was sure to land back in Jim's stomach and not inside some other lucky fellow...

And sure enough, when they came out of the pot, there was lobster team #25, red-y for our enjoyment. 

Delicious is just too gentle a word for how great they tasted!

Now like me, you may have wondered how those lobsters go into the pot looking mottled greenish-brown but come out flaming red?

It turns out that the lobster shell contains many pigments that give it its color, helping it to blend into its environment.  One of those is a red, carotenoid pigment called astaxanthin.  All the other pigments break down when heated except for the astaxanthin, which gives the cooked crustaceans their lobster red color.

I know.  And you thought this was just a needlework blog.

Well, this post does contain a needlework friend...and a very, very good one.  

If you would like to visit Linda, you can see her beautiful quilts and gardens on her blog here.

And Linda, it was great to see you and thanks SO much for the...

Sir-up,

Seer-up 

or (as we butcher the word down here in Baltimore)

Sayr-up.

And for my non-english speaking BNFs, that's the three different ways that we English-speakers pronounce the word, syrup.

Have a sweet day everyone!

P.S.  Your public service announcement for the day...