Mumbai to Maine!

Photo Credit: Michael David Wilson, courtesy, Coffee By Design

Back in 1994, Mary Allen Lindemann and Alan Spear launched Coffee By Design in what was the sketchy neighborhood of Munjoy Hill, Portland, Maine.

During a recession, Munjoy Hill, was not the hippest place to launch a coffee business. But as you will hear in this podcast, Lindemann and Spear’s vision was never about just selling coffee it was focused on creating and building a diverse community around its coffee brand. They are also super passionate about the arts and have been credited as the leaders in the revitalization of downtown Portland’s vibrant and thriving creative arts scene.

So it should come as no surprise that after being in business for 25 years, Coffee By Design won the prestigious 2020 Macro Roaster of the Year award and proudly operates as one of 10 B Corp’s in the state of Maine. If you read up on the criteria for both, it’s no easy feat.

Coming off this prestigious win, I invited Mary Allen to the studio to share the remarkable Coffee By Design maker story and journey as part of Maine’s Bicentennial Food Podcast series.

Right after this picture was taken, Mary Allen Lindemann got on a plane to Africa and upon her return faced a daunting realization that COVID 19 was not going away anytime soon. Her next trip to Africa had to get canceled for fear she would not be able to return or deal with the unknown.

Here in Maine, businesses, especially small businesses, were grappling with laying off their valued employees while frantically applying for PPP loans and also trying to staying open within CDC guidelines, all while trying to stay alive, keeping their core teams safe and operational and NOT shut down shop!

The stress was surmounting all the way around. Mary Allen and Alan Spear and their teams…looked at everything with fresh eyes, reconfiguring how they would stay operational, make new signage, set up news ways of servicing their loyal customers.

But most important, they continued to serve their communities – hand delivering boxes of Maine Made treats and fresh coffee to nearby hospitals and to health care workers who were on the front lines working marathon shifts for days.  As she and her team took on the toll of having to lay off a large percentage of the CBD team, she took the time to get back on a call with me and talk about Coffee By Design  – through the Pandemic and beyond. What was the next chapter going to look like, with no playbook or anyone to turn to for answers.

Lindemann, Alan and their team decided to take an introspective look at CBD’s core values – the idea that you should as a business owner hold on to those values during your highest peaks and lowest valleys, resonated with me deeply and what provided them with a compass in a world that felt like it was spinning out of control.

I want to thank Mary Allen for sharing these thoughts with me in a follow up podcast. It was heartfelt, eloquent, and so deeply meaningful, I simply had to include it here, unedited, in her very own words:

I am a small business owner. The journey began 25 years ago when the doors to Coffee By Design first opened when the vacancy rate in downtown Portland was at 40%. I’ve gone from sleeping on the shelving in the basement of our first store to owning my own home and running five retail locations and a wholesale business, what began with 2 of us and a part timer became 65 strong. We’ve been through at least three recessions, the tail end of the AIDS epidemic and ‪9/11. After years of business growth for Coffee By Design and Portland (Maine) which is listed on almost every top 10 list as the City to be in, nothing prepared us for COVID-19 and the impact it is having on our community – locally and globally – our business and we ourselves.

We know we are strong. We have a community which supports all of us. We are Maine. Working together we will keep our team intact and bring them back home. We got this.

These are the words I say every morning I get up and go to work.

Yes, we are fortunate in that we are able to remain open and continue with a small portion of our business but having to furlough 50, 75% of our team who are like family soon after celebrating our 25th anniversary and becoming 2020 Roaster of the Year has brought us from the top of the mountain to the deepest valley.

The truth of the matter is I’m scared. I don’t know a single small business owner who doesn’t feel the same. Every tool in the emotional toolbox is being used in ways that we never even imagined they would need to be.

How do I bring my staff back and ensure that they can be safe. How do I instill in them that I’ve provided masks but they would prefer not to wear and believe the physical distancing is enough along with hand-washing and sanitizer everywhere.

We are afraid that we may get the virus and not be able to continue to care for our families and lead our team. An Asylum seeking friend of mine shared a phrase I had never heard before about sleeping trapped within one’s home to keep outside the danger. Ville Morte Dead City. But what if the danger is inside?

Do the numbers work? Do we have enough to hold on and if so for how long should the doors not fully open again longer than we hope.

Yes, we received the PPP loan money but will I be able to grow the business fast enough as a deemed essential business open in the midst of a state stay at home order at this point for half of that time I need to bring the equivalent of 48 full-time people back. How can I compete against unemployment when people are being given what in effect is a bonus check which means that weekly they are paid more than if they were working with me.

How do I ask people who are scared to go out side to come back out and work with others whom they can’t be sure are isolating appropriately when at home themselves.

On a daily basis, I feel I am being asked to bring people back to work, pay them less and be unsafe. How do I tell people if you don’t come back to work now I can’t guarantee that there will be a job later not as a way to get back but because if I don’t grow the business now, if I don’t come up with creative ways to re-think about what you do I can’t help for every body. I can’t bring everybody back as I had thought initially I could.

What if I should fail?

I think about A.A. Milne and Winnie the Pooh.  “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.”

This moment will define who we are as small business owners but more importantly, who we are as citizens of the world.

Mary Allen Lindemann

April 28, 2020

*Published with permission from Mary Allen Lindemann, co-owner of Coffee By Design .

Sunday dinners don’t need to be feast…but they do need to be a feast for the eyes!

Today was a PERFECT fall day!

I wanted to enjoy every minute of it. We woke up later than usual so I made the family a big brunch and had no plans on cooking up a big Sunday dinner. I typically make a a large Sunday supper from scratch. So I pulled out a pound of frozen Luke’s Lobster and a box of fresh Terra Cotta Pasta Co.’s hand crafted Egg Fettucine on my soapstone counter and headed out for a bike ride with Justus to our community dock.

As we headed down I felt inspired to throw a simple but flavorful Indian spin on our pasta dinner when we got back. I knew we would be starving. I was not in the mood to pull out my entire pantry…just a few ingredients.

Living in Maine, we are spoiled to be able to get a hold of the world’s freshest lobster caught by our local fisherman.

I pulled out some Maine-made ingredients to enjoy our Sunday lobster dinner! (And, chilled some Reisling, of course!)

SKORDO’s Hot Madras Curry powder
Casco Bay Creamery Co. unsalted butter
Stonewall Kitchen’s Organic Olive Oil
Oakhurst Dairy heavy cream
Farm-Fresh Asparagus & Shallots

This Curried Cream Lobster Pasta dish was too easy to throw together.  If you feel inspired be sure to check out www.lukeslobster.com and order the Lobster Pasta kit and put your own spin it.

The kit showed up within 48 hours, frozen, and with a fun recipe to make Luke’s Lobster’s amazing lobster rolls too!

Luke’s Lobster – all claw and knuckle and some of the best I’ve ever had in Maine. Sustainably sourced, traceable and the most important – delicious. Terra Cotta Pasta Co. – handcrafted fresh pasta, super flavorful and cooked to a perfect al dente.

I challenged myself to keep the core ingredients local Casco Bay Creamery – slow churned Oakhurst – gives back a percentage of every sale Skordo – an award-winning spice company on a mission to empower the homecook.

Egg Fettuccine cooked to perfection. Nice bite to it, lightly salted, loved the eggy taste.

Something about the combination of asparagus, Madras curry powder, a dash of olive oil at 400 for 20 minutes. I could eat this for lunch and dinner.

Mise en place for my Madras Curried Cream Lobster Pasta.

Browning up the shallots in unsalted butter.

Sautee up the lobster for a minute in the curried browned shallots.

A bit of heavy cream – because its the right thing to do!

Toss in the al dente pasta.

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The great folks Luke’s Lobster did send me their Lobster Pasta Kit and asked me to have fun with it. So yes folks – this Luke’s Lobster Pasta kit totally saved me tonight. I so wanted take in every possible minute of this beautiful fall day with the family – day light savings is coming soon – too soon.

Lobster Caldine: Lobster simmered in a coconut milk gravy infused with turmeric, coriander, cumin, chilis and vinegar

Mother’s Day has traditionally been an action-packed weekend for my family with fun dance recitals, graduations and parties to attend all over town. But not this year. For the first time I can remember, our weekend was unusually wide open. With this quiet time on my hands, I found myself thinking of my mother and missing her cooking more than ever. Vivid memories of her Goan Caldine (Kahl-deen), a mildly spicy coconut-based seafood stew, kept coming back to me.

Back home in Mumbai, my mother’s kitchen was her happy place. It was the only place she was truly in her element.  The entire apartment building knew my mother was cooking up a storm when she hand-crafted her exotic Indian spices on her well-seasoned tava (skillet). I remember coming home from Sunday school starving for a snack. The fridge was tucked in the corner of the kitchen and getting to it was like an obstacle course. I had to squeeze through mom and her gas stove to get to it. I’d find her hunched over sitting on the most uncomfortable wooden seat fitted with a crescent-shaped iron blade grating coconuts like her life depended on it.  I have no idea how she ever had the patience to do this by hand. Huffing and puffing she would sway back and forth angling those coconut shells just so, to get every bit of that white flesh out. Then she’d gather up the coconut into cheesecloth and give it a firm squeeze, wrangling out every drop of coconut milk. After adding a bit of warm water to the cheesecloth she would squeeze it again with everything she had left in those tired arms to get the second and third press of milk.

The entire process of making this creamy, coconut seafood stew seemed daunting to me. And yet just thinking about it made me feel closer to my mom now that she has passed on. I decided it was time to try to make mom’s Goan Caldine in my kitchen with my kids, Sophia and Justus.

Before I go on, I need to set the record straight here: I went rogue and did not hand-grate coconuts. I had to keep things as simple and safe with my three-year-old son Justus involved. So I made peace with opening a couple of cans of coconut milk instead. Sorry mom!

I texted Corey Pottle a friend of ours who is a local lobsterman to see if we could buy some fresh lobsters off his boat. We agreed to meet up on the east side of Boothbay Harbor where he docks Brandy’s Girl. I splurged and bought a half dozen, pound-and-a-half lobsters from him and his brother, Brian.

On the way home, my husband Guy suggested we boil the lobsters in briny water right off our community dock. So, we swung by the garage, grabbed a bucket, some yellow rope and headed down to the dock in his red-pick up. Without any hesitation Sophia got out of the truck, grabbed the rope, got down on her knees and tied a firm bowline knot onto the red bucket. Her time at sailing camp sure came in handy! We all watched intently as Guy sent the bucket over the railing.

Now, it’s time to fess up. We’ve lived in Maine for over a decade and never cooked a lobster at home. It’s just always seemed way too easy to order them steamed and ready to go from our local lobster pound. I knew this was going to be quite an interesting evening for us.

Back in my kitchen, I transferred the pristine, Damariscotta river water into a large pot and got a roaring boil going on the stove. Sophia threw in a lobster and based on the horrified look on her face, that may have been her first AND last time ever cooking a lobster. Thankfully Guy came to her rescue and got the job done. While the crustaceans cooked and cooled down, the kids and I toasted some shredded, unsweetened coconut, coriander and cumin seeds along with a handful of Tellicherry black peppercorns and Kashmiri red chilis in a dry cast iron skillet. In that moment, I felt like I was standing next to mom again watching her pan roast her intoxicating Caldine spice blend on a Sunday afternoon.

As soon as the spices cooled down, we ground them up in my spice grinder. I added the aromatic mixture into some coconut milk and blended it into a thick, savory coconut smoothie. Caldine gets its signature bright yellow hue from a heaping spoonful of yellow turmeric powder. I knew Justus would get a kick out of adding it in, so I handed him the miniature silver spoon in my masala dhabba (an Indian spice container), and watched his eyes light up as he did the honors. Meanwhile, like a seasoned sous chef, Sophia turned on the stove and added the coconut milk to the thick coconut paste in her favorite blue Creuset. With her trusty wooden spoon, she gave it a gentle stir while I shucked the lobsters over the kitchen sink.

In Mumbai, we never had access to lobsters. Mom always made her Caldine with either fish or shrimp. She would always buy an extra handful of shrimp from our fishmonger Kamli because she knew it would not be enough with me around. I would eat all the shrimp on my plate and then scour the pot and everyone else’s plates for another helping. I can still hear her say to me, “Cherie, you better marry a fisherman when you grow up!”

I gently added in the tender lobster claws, tails and legs. As the Caldine simmered away, the creamy, coriander-scented coconut gravy made me weak in the knees. I know mom would agree that these Maine lobsters really took her savory Caldine to the next level. The anticipation for our Caldine lobster dinner was building up. I made up a batch of steamed Basmati rice while the kids ran into the garden to pick a bunch of daffodils for the dinner table. That evening as we all savored the lobster Caldine together, I decided that this should be the beginning of a new tradition for the Scott family. We had so much fun from start to finish and the best part was it gave me a chance to reconnect with my Portuguese-Indian (Goan) heritage, cook with my kids and share stories about their grandma, the best home cook.  If you decide to give it a go, here’s our family recipe. (Feel free to skip the coconut grating!) But please do toast those whole spices as this secret step releases the essential oils. And if you are in Maine, do indulge in lobsters if you can. The succulent, sweet tender meat definitely elevated this iconic savory Goan dish to dreamy status.

Corey Pottle, a friend, neighbor and Boothbay Harbor lobsterman on his boat, Brandy’s Girl.

Sophia tying the Bowlin knot on our bucket.

Pristine, briny Damariscotta river water to cook up our lobsters.

Sophia and Justus checking out the crustaceans.

Sophia hard at work shuckin’ some Maine lobstah!

Mise en place for Lobster Caldine, Part 1.

Dried Coconut infused with turmeric, toasted and ground coriander, cumin, Tellicherry peppercorns, Kashmiri Red chillis and coconut milk.

Gorgeous Daffodils from our garden.

My sweet boy, Justus, with a single daffodil for his mommy.

My kids, Sophia, Justus and our labor of love: Mom’s Lobster Caldine.

My gorgeous mother (check out her dimples), me ( I think I’m 2-years-old), Karen (my sister) and my handsome Dad (check out his sideburns) back in our little apartment in Bandra, Mumbai, India.

When I heard Chef Floyd Cardoz lost his battle to Covid-19 on March 25 I was shocked and felt a wave of deep sadness for his two sons, Peter and Justin; his wife, Barkha in New Jersey; his mother, Beryl, along with extended family in Bandra, Mumbai and his restaurant teams based in Mumbai and in New York City. I immediately texted my friend, Chef Melissa Kelly, owner of Primo, an award-winning ‘full-circle’ kitchen in Rockland Maine, who was at a loss for words. A few minutes later she sent me a text,  “I’m cooking Indian food to honor Floyd, can you be involved somehow?” I was so touched.

Chef Kelly had eaten at Tabla and the Bombay Bread bar and was a big fan of Chef Cardoz.  She was taken with his kindness, hospitality and the amazing food. She went onto share how he had brought Barkha and the kids to dine at The Old Chatham Sheepherding Company when she was executive chef there and won her first James Beard award for Best Chef, Northeast in 1993. “I admired him and his cooking for a long time,” Kelly said. “My first time meeting him. He was a kind, gentle soul with whom I connected instantly.” Sadly, they never cooked together.

I never knew Floyd. I never had the opportunity to dine at any of his restaurants but somehow he touched my life. I realized that we had quite a bit in common. We were both raised in Mumbai, in a bustling burb called Bandra, about 15 minutes from each other. I greatly admired his brother Kim Cardoz who was a fantastic local musician. I had never even heard of Floyd back in Mumbai, nor did I realize that he and Kim were brothers, until I heard of Floyd’s passing and read the numerous articles about his incredible career. I learned he originally went to college for Biochemistry and soon realized that the coat he truly wanted was the chef’s coat, not a lab coat. He had his sights on getting out of Mumbai and moving to New York and working with the best chefs in the world. He set his eyes on and attended one of the finest hospitality schools in the world, Les Roches, located in Switzerland, and soon found his way across the Atlantic to the big apple working for famed chef Gray Kunz at Lespinasse.

Back in 1997, he was the first Indian chef to elevate Indian cuisine with his smash hit restaurant, Tabla, in partnership with Danny Meyer from Union Square Hospitality Group.  One of my biggest regrets was not getting to eat at Tabla when I lived in the city. I was a college student back then at the American Musical Dramatic Academy, living on $3/day, and eating at Tabla was not in the cards.  But just knowing it existed gave me a sense of quiet pride. Thanks to Floyd’s hard work and passion, Tabla was more than an Indian restaurant, it was a statement to the world that world-class Indian cuisine had arrived in NYC!

In the following weeks after Floyd’s passing, I felt compelled to learn more about his life and career. I read hundreds of tributes and articles about Floyd. But it was one article on plateonline.com, written by a close friend of the Cardoz family, food writer Jacqueline Raposo, that deeply resonated with me.

“My heart breaks remembering him (Floyd) saying that his ideal “last supper” would have been his mom’s xacuti and Barkha’s saag gosht…,” Raposo writes.

I shared this quote with Chef Kelly who totally got it! Her mom’s eggplant Parmesan is legendary in her book!

We both knew Chef Kelly had to make the Xacuti in Floyd’s honor.

I felt inspired and took a stab at making my first chicken xacuti in my Maine kitchen while Chef Kelly decided to make her version showcasing Primo restaurant’s prized pork instead.

So, here’s to you Floyd Cardoz, in your honor, a dish close to your heart. Thank you for shining your light on your Goan culinary roots and Indian heritage. We are celebrating your life and legacy this week in Maine.

Goa Xacuti (pronounced SHA-koo-ti))

An iconic celebrated Goan dish bursting with complex flavor profiles of toasted ground coconut ? infused with spicy red ?, coconut vinegar, star anise, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, fennel, Tellicherry peppercorns, turmeric, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, curry leaves, tamarind paste, onions, potatoes, ? oil and fresh cilantro.

?Back in Bandra, my mom would labor for at least two hours over the xacuti prep after mass on Sundays or on special occasions. She hand-grated the coconut ? using her old-fashioned grinder, no short cuts. Then she would toast the fresh coconut flesh on her tava (skillet) with whole spices and then grind it all up mortar-pestle-style. Lunch was always a late one. I’d hover around mom in our tiny shoe-box of a kitchen asking over and over again in anticipation: “I’m hungry, is it ready yet?”

Years later, in my kitchen, it seems like nothing’s changed…xacuti still takes patience and time (minus hand-grating the coconut) and I do believe it tastes better the following day! There’s something magical about the warm melange of spices resting together overnight that must take it to the next level. I still find myself hovering around the pot as the aromas get more intense. Only now it’s my two kids, Sophia and Justus, who impatiently ask, “Is the Xacuti ready yet, mommy????????”

I am so thankful to my Aunt Claire for sending along our family Xacuti recipe all the way from Dona Paula, Goa.

Saag Murgh | Spinach Chicken ?

This luscious spiced infused creamed spinach dish originated in Northern ?? Saag Paneer (Indian Whole Milk Cheese), Saag Gosht (Spinach Lamb) are other variations of the dish.

If you choose to eat chicken or lamb you should cut up boneless skinless chicken thighs or a boneless leg of lamb into 2”. (Vegetarians please substitute chunks of  paneer ?)

It’s not everyday that a talented chocolatier and chocolate-maker stops by bearing hand-crafted organic bean-to-bar candy, cacao soap, cacao-infused spices and nibs of dark chocolate to share. This past Holiday I was thrilled to host Kate McAleer, co-founder of Bixby & Co, located in Rockland, to share her entrepreneurial story on Maine’s Bicentennial Food Podcast.

Bixby & Co. is an organic chocolatier and chocolate-maker based in Rockland, Maine. Women owned, co-founders, Kate and her mother Donna, recently made Maine food history as the state’s first chocolate-maker of organic bean-to-bar vegan smoothie bars– innovation in chocolate making at its best!

It took hours of additional paperwork, federal and state regulations, grant-writing, demonstrations and testing in the kitchen with their talented team to innovate at this level. It didn’t come easily, but it paid off. There are only a few other organic bean-to-bar chocolate makers in the country.

The thing I love the most about Kate is her grit. Kate has won multiple entrepreneurial pitch competitions and written multiple grants to fund her business from the ground up in the last 8 years with no outside investment. She’s not afraid of the paperwork nor the regulations. She’s also not interested in an exit strategy.  She’s in this for the long run and truly wants to build a chocolate company with a moral conscience. A creative collaborator, Kate recently worked on incorporating her chocolate nibs with Gelato Fiasco, Maine’s beloved gelateria. Last year, two-time James Beard award-winning chef Melissa Kelly and owner of Primo restaurant in Rockland reached out to Bixby & Co. to launch her 20th Anniversary ’20 Karat Primo Bar’ featuring Primo’s popular and addictive signature bar snack, roasted almonds with a touch of Calabrian chili and rosemary. The bar was uniquely sweet, salty but also contained spicy notes infusing the 70% dark chocolate. Hundreds of bars were produced but only 5 bars contained a hidden golden ticket.

Its fun collaborative creative experiences like these that inspire Bixby & Co. to continue embracing Maine and its community of outstanding makers while growing its brand. Kate recently collaborated with Maine’s only organic bourbon maker, Split Rock Distilling, located in Newcastle, Maine, to create a chocolate bar (Split Rock Bourbon 70% Dark Chocolate Bar.)

Bixby & Co. retail store located in downtown Rockland also houses Maine’s first bean to bar chocolate factory. The production area is fun to watch through a glass window. I stopped by with my family and enjoyed sampling our way through Pumpkin Caramels, Needhams, Maine Blueberry Jam Bonbons and Dark Chocolate Almonds. We even got lucky and got to watch a chocolatier at work.  I’m sure you’ll find it hard to leave without a 2 lb dark or milk chocolate handcrafted Lobstah in your hand! For now, check out the pictures below and be sure to listen to Kate’s inspiring story on the podcast.  If you can’t squeeze in a visit to Maine soon Bixby & Co. also ships its delicious candy through its website.

Kate enjoying her Mumbai to Maine chai before we hit the studio.

Co-founders of Bixby & Co., Kate and her mother and inspiration, Donna McAleer.

“Kate the Great!”

Sampling Maine Sea Salt and nibs of organic chocolate.

Award-winning restaurant Primo’s 20 Karat Bar made with Bixby Chocolate

What a feast for the eyes or for any Vegan chocolate lover!

Chocolate making in action

A two-pound dark chocolate hand-crafted LOBSTAH!!!