Monday, July 23, 2012

The Second Annual Monson Swap Meat

Now Playing -  Is This Love by Bob Marley
 
Life -  
 Now that's how you spend a laid back Saturday in Maine! Last year, we were lucky enough to stumble across the Swap Meat while my mom was here and we made it a point to attend this year.
 
What is the Swap Meat, you ask? It's a yearly event, arranged by Spring Creek Bar-B-Q in Monson, Maine. Coinciding with Monson's yearly summer celebration, the Swap Meat brings together roughly a dozen grillers, smokers, barbecuers and cookers from around the area to ply their wares and share technique.

It's a lot of fun in a simple, back country kind of way. There's plenty of good food, some questionable live music and  if the last two years are any indication, beautiful weather!
 

The important question - What did we eat?

 
Pulled Pork, Pork Ribs, Beef Brisket, BBQ Lobster Rolls, Meatloaf, hand cut french fries, jerky and pork sandwiches. All very, very delicious!
 
The only downsides? Despite checking three times, we were never in time to get the grilled veggie kabobs, there was no whole pig on fire like last year and the "Fresh Squeezed Lemonade".
 
Why was the lemonade a disappointment? It was 16oz for $3. They put one lemon half on a squeezer and squished it right into the glass - looking good so far! Then they toss the entire  half in, taking up space and adding some seeds and whatnot to the mix. But it looked cool. Then they added a good 6oz of ice. Sigh. Expected, but still. Then they top off the final 1/2 glass with some mysterious lemonade from a jug on the table. Which tasted like Crystal Light. Bah.
I know, I thought about that too. Luckily, the lobster roll came from a tub, pre-made and refrigerated. The lobsters out in the sun were for looks. And the roll was quite good.

We didn't spend a lot of time in Monson. We wandered the Meat, popped into an antique store and moseyed amiably down the street for a while. They were having an anything-goes boat race and fireworks later, but I'd worked until 5am the night before and that much meat was starting to take it's toll.

Yes, that is a smoker made out of a file cabinet.

On the way home however, we did make another stop in the adorable town of Dover Foxcroft at Butterfield's Ice Cream for some amazing homemade ice cream. I had Strawberry Cheesecake and Linz had some of the best Mint Chocolate Chip I've ever had.



Then we went home and I took a nap.

The ROUS FAMILY -   
  
 
 
 
 

1 comment:

randymeiss said...

Looks amazing. Love the food pictures!