DEER ISLE DELIGHT — For one weekend in October, Deer Isle will be a culinary paradise. Three world-renowned chefs will cook a meal to be remembered on the evening of Friday, Oct. 9, in a private Deer Isle home. The big names include international star chef Jean-George Vongerichten, Boston tastemaker Michael Leviton, and Melissa Kelly of Primo in Rockland. Tickets for this event, which raises funds for Island Culinary and Ecological Center, or ICEC, are $250, and a few still remain. Expensive? Yes, but it will be an evening you’ll never forget. The five-course feast, featuring local seafood and produce and paired with appropriate wines, will be served by local high school students. On Saturday, Oct. 10, ICEC will sponsor an Edible Island Conference at the Reach Auditorium in Deer Isle; it will include presentations from Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch on year-round gardening in Maine, Ginny Olsen and Aaron Dority on the future of sustainable fishing on the island, and Terry-Anya Hayes on foraging for wild foods. Presentations will take place between 9 and 12:30 and will be followed by a farm lunch using all local products. The conference is free, but the $12 tickets for the lunch need to be reserved in advance. After lunch, there will be excursions to Sunset Acres Farm in Brooksville to learn about making cheese, and to Five Star Nursery in Brooklin. For more information or to make reservations for the dinner or any of the other events, visit www.edibleisland.org.
CHIEF CHEFS — The three finalists for Maine Lobster Chef of the Year were announced last weekend. They include Melissa Bouchard, chef at DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant in Portland, with her recipe for Maple Butter Poached Lobster Tail with Sweet Potato & Fuji Apple Bisque and Frizzles of Green Onion; Rick Skoglund, chef at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, with his recipe for Butternut-Mascarpone Lobster Ravioli with Balsamic Pomegranate Spinach Salad; and Mackenzie Arrington, a Maine student studying at the Culinary Institute of America, with his recipe for Roasted Lobster Tail on Braised Cabbage and Cornbread. The winners will be announced Friday, Oct. 23, after the public votes during the Harvest on the Harbor celebration, Oct. 22-24, in Portland. For more info, visit www.lobsterfrommaine.com.
DEMPSEY CHALLENGE — To legions of “Grey’s Anatomy” fans, he’s McDreamy. To Maine cancer victims, survivors and their families, however, he’s McLifesaver. Patrick Dempsey, Lewiston native and Hollywood star, is the founder of the Lewiston-based Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing, a center for high-quality education, support and wellness services at no cost to cancer patients and their caregivers. To raise funds and awareness for the Center, the inaugural Dempsey Challenge takes place Sunday, Oct. 4, at Simard-Payne Police Memorial Park in Lewiston, and will include cycling routes of 10, 25, 50 and 100 miles, as well as a 5K run-walk and a Kids’ Fun Run. It will be followed by a festival in the park, featuring sandwiches from Sam’s Italian Sandwich Shop, lobster from Maine Fresh Seafood, ice cream from Gifford’s and beer from Gritty’s Brew Pub, which, in honor of the Dempsey Challenge, has created a special brew for the day: Courage Ale. It’s a small-batch ale now available at the company’s Lewiston-Auburn Gritty’s Pub. One dollar from each pint sold during the festival will go to benefit the Dempsey Center. To sign up for the event, visit www.dempseychallenge.org.
