With just three shopping days left the better-half and I decided we needed to get out of the house and have a good meal at one of our favorite spots.  She was jonesing for some smoking hot chicken wings and our first holiday visitor arrived as well and he needed to relax a little after his trip. There was only one place we could think of that fit the bill.

We made our way to the Great Lost Bear, located in Portland Maine.  If you like good food, a giant selection of beer on tap, and a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere this is the place.  It’s a dark and cozy bar/restaurant with a really diverse group of customers.  Since I’m not much of a beer drinker a decided to try something new and interesting for my beverage selection.  I received a extra tall glass of Woodchuck Cherry Cider.  I know one thing for certain, I’ll be drinking a lot more of that stuff in the future. It was semi-sweet, fruity, with an alcohol content of approximately 5.4%.  It was awesome.

‘How do you pick just one?’

We all arrived with huge appetites and proceeded to chow down.  I tried something new called the Barbecue Hot Mess.  It’s layered in a Mason jar with Mac & Cheese on the bottom, then baked beans, then pulled pork w/sauce, then cole slaw, and finally topped with a big fat jalapeno popper. I was lucky to get this picture because I could barely control myself. I made short work of the whole mess and it was just incredible.

It was a miserable night weather-wise but the food and drink made up for it.  Just as we were leaving the bar the rain which had been pouring down for hours stopped.  The late shopping crowds appeared to out in great numbers regardless causing the traffic to be much heavier than normal. 

For those of you who live in and around the many metro areas in this country that are constantly clogged with traffic you need to understand what I’m saying.  In Maine traffic congestion is considered to be a line of twenty cars during rush hour. Really heavy traffic requires a line of forty cars.  One of the biggest adjustments I had to make after moving to Maine was the lack of traffic. I came from Boston where I spent at least an hour a day sitting on Rt. 128. In Maine I’d have to travel fifteen miles to even find a small traffic jam.  Do I miss Massachusetts . . . that would be a big Hell No!

We still  have a few Christmas items left to wrap and more food preparations to complete for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners but really that’s just part of the fun. My better-half who claims to love being surprised is chomping at the bit to see her gifts but this pleasant torture is something that I look forward to every year. I drop lots of meaningless hints which mean absolutely nothing and it just drives her crazy.

1 SHOPPING DAY LEFT