“I made a Washington Post recipe for Carrot Bread. The flavor is excellent, but the center 2 inches was completely unbaked, even after 90 minutes in the oven (baking time was supposed to be 1 hour). My loaf pan was slightly larger than called for, but the batter filled it to about half an inch […]
Leslie Bridgers
Columnist
Leslie Bridgers is a columnist for the Portland Press Herald, writing about Maine culture, customs and the things we notice and wonder about in our everyday lives. Originally from Connecticut, Leslie came to Maine by way of Bowdoin College and never left. She joined the Portland Press Herald in 2011 as a reporter and spent seven years as the paper’s features editor, overseeing coverage of arts, entertainment and food.
Posted inBooks, Food, Maine Gardener
In many murder mysteries, gardens provide the plot twist
Marta McDowell’s ‘Gardening Can Be Murder’ looks at examples of where the hobby appears within this genre.
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Posted inRestaurant reviews
Dine Out Maine: Little Pig’s ‘Thai-ish’ takeout could be Portland’s next big thing
The new West End spot is run by a culinary powerhouse of a couple.
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Review
Art review: See work by Alison Hildreth ranging from her early career to still wet
Speedwell Projects and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art both have shows up that celebrate the artist’s ongoing career.
Posted inUncategorized
Not your grandparents’ Chianti: The straw-wrapped wine goes high-end
This is not your grandfather’s Chianti. Forget the old straw-wrapped bottles, called fiaschi, that used to define Chianti. Forget the flasks of nameless local vino you enjoyed at a trattoria in Florence and remember nostalgically every time you hear Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.” And forget “spaghetti wine.” I’m talking about an exciting […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Deep Water: ‘Piano,’ by Mike Bove
Maine poems edited and introduced by Megan Grumbling.
Posted inFood
McDonald’s mambo sauce is a tasty, if largely token, nod to Black America
Some publications claim the condiment was born at a rib joint on the South Side of Chicago. Others say carryouts in Washington, D.C., created it, a sort of spicy riff on sweet-and-sour sauce.
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Books
Jonathan Lethem’s love-hate relationship with Brooklyn
In “Brooklyn Crime Novel,” he blends fictional narrative and historical essay into a metanarrative that has crime as its main character.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ an admirable yet vexingly uneven film
The four most dreaded words for a film critic are, “What did you think?” And never have they been more problematic than when it comes to “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Martin Scorsese’s eagerly anticipated adaptation of David Grann’s 2017 book of the same name. In that gripping, magisterial account, Grann chronicled in sickening detail […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Do This, Local & State, Review
Theater review: Follow a budding romance’s slow burn in ‘Fireflies’
The tender play, set in small-town Texas, opens Good Theater’s season.