Cats, Breakfast and Popovers

Our Maine vacation was plagued with grey skies, rain clouds, and freezing cold temperatures. While it was a nice hot 80 something degrees down here in Albany, were were covered up in at least three layers to keep warm in the 55 degree tundra of Bar Harbor.  I suppose it was a trade-off for how well we had been eating. Besides lobster, we needed food with sustenance to keep us going through the days and nothing was better than a hot comforting brunch. Lucky for us, Bar Harbor has a couple of two great brunch staples. 

Given J's obsession with our cat Goomba and cats in general (ok, I tend to take a lot of cat pics too), we had to stop by this breakfast joint called Two Cats. Here, coffee comes with a side of cat friends! We met George, one half of the Two Cats, but he wasn't a very good waiter. He was a bit of an attention whore. J ordered the apple cinnamon pancakes with a side of home fries. The pancakes were nice and fluffy and home fries are best when crispy and doused in ketchup. I lean towards the savory stuff for breakfast and opted for the spicy corn and sausage pancakes. I was expecting the pancakes to be made with cornmeal but was surprised to get fluffy pancakes with corn kernels and the spicy sausage mixed right in. It was weird at first but worked! We also got a side of catpaws to go; no cats were harmed in the making of these sweet treats. Catpaws are made with Two Cats' famous biscuit dough with pecans and rolled in cinnamon sugar. The cozy atmosphere made for a very pleasant dining experience, and who doesn't love being greeted by a fluffy kitty cat.  

The rain was on and off so a morning hike up Cadillac Mountain helped us build an appetite for a stop at The Jordan Pond House, a classic Bar Harbor restaurant located at Acadia National Park.  Jordan Pond House is the perfect spot to grab a spot of tea and popovers.  This place is legendary for huge popovers, which are served piping hot with butter and strawberry jam. For lunch/brunch, we wanted to go light (as light as we could get) and paired our popovers with a cup of lobster stew and seafood chowder. Despite the rain, the view overlooking Jordan Pond and the Bubbles made up for the weather downfalls and some soup and tea to warm us up was just what we needed. Rain schmain. We made the most out of our rainy and cold Maine vacation. -R