January 2010

Lee Farrington and her mother, Carol

The photo shoot at Figa was scheduled for noon time earlier today. When MHN arrived the shoot had just begun. A food photographer from Boston was taking photos of the salmon and shrimp dishes, the table settings and we’ll just have to wait to see what else – that is wait for the March issue of MAINE. The MAINE MAGAZINE. That’s when the magazine is running a 4 -page article on the new Figa Restaurant – owned and chefed by Lee Farrington.

Following the photo shoot, Jennifer Muller, art director of the Magazine, the Boston photographer (whose name I can’t remember!) and I sadt at the bar sampling amazing dishes taken from the pages of the Figa menu. There was shrimp patia and salmon tandoori. From the dessert menu there was creme bjulee, Indian inspired Rice Pudding and Chocolate Souffle. To top off this extraordinary culinary experience, was Lee’s Brazilian home made chocolates.

International cooking has always been an important influence in Lee’s cooking. Her mother, Carol, was born in Brazil. She married an airline pilot and moved to Kentucky. Once a week, Lee says, her mother would cook an international meal. Her mother was a semi-professional golf player, so she was often away from home – playing in tournaments. Lee and her siblings learned to do their own cooking.

One of Carol’s specialities are Brazilian home made chocolates. Every Christmas holiday, Carol made many dozens of the chocolates for holiday entertaining. “No one makes them the way my mother does. They are a special part of the Figa menu.” They are the first item on the dessert menu.

Lee has a sweet tooth she admits. She manages her weight by running 3 or 4 miles a day. The conversation turned to her preparation for a 13.2 mile marathon she’s participating in at the end of the month in Miami.

“I want Figa to be a neighborhoold restaurant. Part of that means keeping the prices in a moderate price range.” Entrees run between $10 – $15. “I love to hve people experience by food, but I don’t need to get rick from it,” she said. No opening date for the restaurant has been set yet.

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Carol McCracken  (Post # 371)

The City of Portland has just announced an additional way in which people can contribute money to assist the earthquake victims in Haiti – the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in more than 200 years. 

Yesterday, Nate Nickerson, executive director, of Konbit Sante, announced that a recovery fund has been established with a donation of $25,000 from this organization’s operationsl reserves funds.  These funds will be used to address long-term and short-term health needs related to the earthquake.  The public is invited  to add their support by contributing to this fund.  To contribute, please visit www.healthyhaiti.org or make checks payable to Konbit Sante, PO Box 11281, Portland, ME  04104 and note Earthquake Response Fund in the memo field. 

Since the earthquake, people eager to do something positive for Haiti have been contacting Konbit Sante Cap-Haitien Health Partnership staff, board and volunteers with inquiries about how they can help in this disaster.   “Prior to the January 12 earthquake, our colleagues in Cap-Haitien were already providing care with inadequate resources,” said Nickerson.  “We are still working hard to fund our programs to provide basic care to the comunity, but we feel this extraordinary situation requires an extraordinary response.”

Please visit nnickerson@konbitsantseorg or info@info@konbitsante.org for more details.

Please see previous post for more details.

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By Carol McCracken  (Post # 370)

Earlier this afternoon, Mayor Nicholas Mavodones issued a letter to the residents of the city of Portland expressing his shock at the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday.  “As with any tragedy like this, our hearts go out to the men, women and children lost or in pain”

The Mayor explained that Portland has a connection to Haiti.  “Portland is uniquely tied to Haiti through its sister city relationship with Cap-Haitien, a community in northern Haiti.  This relatsionship came about in part from the work of Portland’s nonprofit, Konbit Sante Cap-Haitien Health Partnership, which supports  health and medical programs as well as other public health projects in the northern part of the country.”  The letter goes on to say that Cap-Haitien did not suffer major physical damage from the earthquake, although the entire country is being affected by this disaster.

To get to the heart of the letter, if you are wondering how you might contribute to the on-going major humanitarian efforts to assist, Haiti, Mayor Mavodones has several suggestions:

1.  A collection effort is underway at the City Manager’s office in City Hall where charitable donations can be made to Konbit Sante’s Earthquake Response Fund.

2. People can also make donations online to the American Red Cross, International Response Fund at www.redcross.org or Doctors W ithout Borders at www.doctorswithout borders.org

3.  All proceeds from Sunday’s 2010 Martin Luther King Jr. Observance Concert at Merrill Aujditorium will be donated to relief efforts.  For those interested, tickets can be purchased at the box office at Merrill Auditorium.  

In conclusion, the Mayor wrote:  “As you know, Portland is a deeply compassionate, caring comunity and if we can help alleviate the pain for our brothers and sisters in Cap-Haitien, we will. Our city motto, Resurgam means – I will rise again and I know that today, Portland, will rise to the occasion.”

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By Carol McCracken (#369)

Over the past few days, you may have noticed that there have been no new posts on munjoyhillnews.com!  MHN has encountered technological problems that have just now been repaired.  (The problem was so technically minor that MHN is embarrassed to tell the nature  of the problem, let me assure you!)

But effective in the next few days, MHN expects to be back reporting on Hill people, events and general news of interest to all of us.  In the meantime, thank you for your continued support and interest in this “online news service” as evidence by the number of views that have continued since Sunday evening when MHN lost its ability to connect  with the Internet.

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