Cafe Maplethorpe Blog :: PEI Restaurant

As usual, I am behind in reporting on life and food on Prince Edward Island. It is hard to know where to jump in, so I will just start.

What a difference a month makes! On my last post (Easter), we were blanketed in snow. Now on May 15–exactly 30 days later–things are growing, growing, growing! It is difficult to describe the transformation that has occurred from the gray and bleak winter that wouldn’t leave to the vibrant season that seems to have settled in. The local CBC affiliate has been asking listeners to send spring photos and there are some beautiful ones posted on the website here.

This is that beautiful time before the mosquitoes arrive. We are getting anxious for locally-grown veggies, but it is still a bit too soon. At the market today I saw a few bags of spinach and lettuce, must have been grown in local greenhouses. One vendor had bundles of radish, but the poor little premature things were the size of grapes! (And not those big grapes with seeds inside–the tiny red grapes!) People are just desperate for tender and fresh foods!

Our tomato and cucumber transplants–in every sunny spot in the house–are waiting to get outside. Jim has the frame of the greenhouse up but the cover isn’t on. Although we haven’t had a freeze at night for the last week or two, it still gets cold and is too soon for anything not frost-tolerant to be planted.

I want to be a salad when I grow up!

The lobster fishers set traps on April 30 and landed the first PEI catch of 2009 on May 1. The lobster seem in good supply, but buyers aren’t, so prices are low. Early visitors to PEI will be pleasantly surprised to snag fresh lobster for around $5 a pound. We’re doing our part by adding lobster rolls to the lunch menu and lobster pasta to supper. And we hope the demand side will pick up soon so that the fishers see a better return on their hard work.

PEI lobster boat on trap setting day

This is a holiday weekend, Victoria Day, so rain is practically guaranteed. I have more work to do around here than I could finish in a month of holidays, so there won’t be any break for us. We Islanders spend the entire winter waiting the busy season to arrive, and when it does…well, it does. The price of gasoline jumped 7 cents a liter overnight, so the tourist season is officially here. There will be no breaks now until Christmas.