Lots of you may know that my husband travels for work quite a bit, and with four young kids and writing projects all around, two things are needed to really keep our ship afloat: babysitters and Date Night.
This was especially true when we were gearing up for one of his bi-annual? tri-annual? every other month? week-long sales meeting which are hard on everybody, but necessary (I think). Either way, hasta la vista to the hubs means book a date night first. For us, that means a trip here:
We have been loving this restaurant called Robert’s Maine Grill in Kittery, Maine. The first big draw for us are the oysters, and we found out that Monday Nights were BOGO for fresh oysters and half-off Maine beer. They make amazing sauces for the oysters like blueberry vinaigrette and strawberry champagne vinaigrette. Mind blown every time.
And they always start with this little dish of crackers and flavored butter/cream cheese (I tell myself it is mostly cream cheese but really, who cares they’re so good). Usually by the time these are set down we have taken our requisite 4 deep breaths and 16 major updates about life and can start to relax. And look at all of their amazing artwork. (Behind my amazing hubs. Doesn’t he look relaxed?)
We love ordering oysters from places we know and love, including Pemaquid, Maine (there are even some from Great Bay which is right next door to us). Their website actually lists all the places they love to source their ingredients from and do business with. If you are looking for local farms here is a great place to start.
The star of this trip for me were mussels cooked in a broth of leeks, bacon, really in-season tomatoes and cream. So simple, so good. Mussels are super cheap to buy and easy to make, I know I’m going to duplicate this at home (will keep you posted, of course).
^^^This might be my husband’s favorite salad on the planet. The wedge salad with local bacon and tomatoes.
And all around the restaurant are windows that look out onto the estuaries. This is especially beautiful because everywhere else you look is an outlet store, since it is nestled onto the main outlet strip in Kittery. But when you go into Robert’s it is like an oasis, and the view just reinforces this feeling.
I love hanging with Rob here. It is our place, our ritual, where we get to connect. We even took Andrew here when we was super little:
I can remember this day like it was a second ago, but I mostly remember the feeling – we were at Robert’s, and even with a newborn, things would return to normal. Rituals like this help us – help me – remember that. No matter how bad a day or a week or a sales conference can be, it will always get better.
I hope you are taking time to connect with the people you love this summer – judging by everyone’s Facebook updates fishing on a lake somewhere with little people takes the cake. But I’ll take my BOGO oysters. It’s what gets me through my hardest weeks.
Here’s to what gets you through.
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