Greetings again from the road. We had a delicious meal yesterday night at the wonderful Scales restaurant on the wharf in Portland. (If you are ever in the area, and like seafood, for the love of God, go. It’s spectacular.) I had lobster bisque followed by a baked whole fish and was in heaven. The company was pretty awesome, as well – booksellers from three of Portland’s wonderful independent bookstores, Print: A Bookstore, Sherman’s, and Letterpress Books.

Today Katie and I drove from Portland to Cambridge, MA, stopping on the way to see my friend Don, who owns the finest specialist cookbook shop in the country, Rabelais Books in Biddeford. Don knows more about food and drink than anyone else I know by a country mile, and so whenever he recommends somewhere to eat, I always pay attention. That was how we found ourselves here:

The Palace Diner is flat-out wonderful. The menu is small, but everything is prepared to perfection. If you are ever traveling up I-95, do yourself a favor and stop in Biddeford for lunch or breakfast. I had a tuna melt which, several hours later, I am still thinking about. We made it to Cambridge in good time and this afternoon I strolled along Mass Ave to Harvard Square. For some reason all the snow seems to make more sense in New England than it does in Missouri.

Tomorrow I return to Missouri, where wife, children and dog await me – although I wouldn’t like to speculate in what order of anticipation. Then real life, or what passes for it these days, begins again in earnest.