Ogunquit, ME in our own apartment...

Every summer for the past four years, Matt and I have taken a brief trip to Ogunquit, ME.  I think I can safely speak for the both of us by saying it's one of our favorite places.  (It's also really the only place we've ever traveled together, but whatever.)  Usually we go up with Matt's parents and his sister, Annie.  This year, we had some trouble getting our schedules aligned and ended up going separately.  We missed having his family around to meet up with, but we did enjoy our brief stay in early August.

Our friends know that our trip plans typically consist of mapping out where we will eat each meal.  I used to end up eating a lot of incarnations of Caesar salad (which is totally my favorite meal, so I wouldn't complain) because I didn't like seafood.  I have gotten a little more adventurous recently and although I will never love lobster as much as someone I know...

A look of determination.

I have started to enjoy some seafood.  The primary reason I don't like seafood is not the flavor, but the texture.  I can't even write about why I don't like it because it gets me weirded out just thinking about it.  Enter, swordfish.  Guys, swordfish is so un-fish-like in its texture that I almost don't even realize I'm eating an ocean dweller!  Wahoo!  On this particular trip, we went to The Lobster Pound.  As you saw above, Matt enjoyed a lobster from the outdoor tank.  I ordered Grilled Swordfish, Cajun style with curried melon salsa.  It was so incredibly delicious that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since.  Matt and I decided to try to recreate it last night.

The swordfish was coated lightly in olive oil and liberally seasoned with salt-free Cajun spice (from the bulk section at River Valley Market), sea salt, and a little black pepper, then grilled on this sweet little set up below.

When it was done cooking, I put a little butter on top and when serving, I topped it with some mango salsa.

This was a make-it-up-as-I-go recipe, but I think I added:
1 champagne mango, diced
1 cube of frozen cilantro (a great way to keep herbs on hand!)
1/8 cup diced onion (purple would be best, but I didn't have any so I used white)
1/4 jalapeno, diced very small
1/4 tsp. sea salt
freshly ground pepper, maybe 5 turns?

The potatoes are Salt and Vinegar Potatoes from the August issue of Real Simple.  I don't feel like writing out the recipe, but it's basically sliced potatoes and onion coated in olive oil, apple cider vinegar (I could drink this stuff!), salt, and pepper and grilled in a foil packet.

Finally, we added some grilled asparagus to round out the plate.  Yum!  I felt like we were savoring the last bits of summer through a window to Ogunquit.

For dessert, we had some locally made coffee ice cream.  I think this is becoming a theme, but I love dessert so I often forget to take pictures.  It is made of sugar, cream, milk, and locally roasted coffee beans, so how could it be bad?

I realized that I forgot my little round-up on the last few posts, so here it is, again:

Today I am...

happy that: my Western blot had some sort of interesting results.

less than happy that: there are big, dark, scary rain clouds outside.

daydreaming about: finally getting new shoes for real this weekend.

Current reading:  Bossypants, by Tina Fey (about 3/4 of the way through)

Next up: Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Playing on the flute:  Sigh, still nothing.  I'm not living up to this part of the resolution, so far.