Our own Maine cookbook author, Kate Gooding!

I had dinner last night at Havana in Bar Harbor, with Kim Swan and Kate Krukowski Gooding. I was so into my dinner (as are most who dine at this restaurant) that I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the meal. Kim had to remind me that oddly enough, I hadn’t taken any. So this was our espresso cheesecake with espresso soaked hazelnuts atop a crisp graham crust with this fantastic buttery strawberry sauce and a chiffonade of mint. How interesting a combination of flavors is that?

So back to this post and Kate-she’s the author of Black Fly Stew – a wonderful Maine cookbook with deliciously unique recipes “combining modern and historic elements of Downeast cooking“. Wild Boar, anyone? Kate’s newest book, to be released in about a month, is called Simple Gourmet Lamb. She asked me to test one of the recipes for the book (honored) but we were a week away from moving and my husband packed away most of the kitchen so I wasn’t able to…next book). I’m excited to get my hands on it when it comes out. The book cover in the above photo was done by local artist Russell Dalessio.

She appeared on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and indulged him with her Beaver Chili!

Kate knows her food and her wine! Wild or tame…