The Cottage at the McCobb House

The Cottage at the McCobb House Airbnb cottage rental in Boothbay Harbor, ME

This morning’s scones were apple and aged Kerrygold cheddar.
05/30/2026

This morning’s scones were apple and aged Kerrygold cheddar.

We had planned to pick a spring recipe from “Modern Country Cooking” as we had from “Full Moon Suppers,” but I opened th...
05/29/2026

We had planned to pick a spring recipe from “Modern Country Cooking” as we had from “Full Moon Suppers,” but I opened the book to the first recipe in the January chapter, Olive, Lemon, and Herb Focaccia, and didn’t get any further. That was clearly getting made. Then saw Meatballs In Tomato Sauce on Spinach a few pages later and we decided that would make a perfect meal to go with the focaccia. We were right on both counts. The crumb of the focaccia was perfect and the slightly charred lemon slices on top were fantastic. The only change I’d make the next time is to double the amount of olives in the dough. The meat balls were also great in a simple quick sauce made from canned tomatoes served over tender sweet raw spring spinach instead of pasta. Two excellent keeper recipes, and the leftovers combined to make fantastic meat ball sandwiches! Like “Full Moon Suppers at Salt Water Farm,” we cannot recommend this book highly enough and you can get your own copy at the bookshop.org link in our bio or directly from .

This morning’s scones were feta cheese and chive made with chives from our garden.
05/21/2026

This morning’s scones were feta cheese and chive made with chives from our garden.

When we were trying to decide what to cook from ’s “Full Moon Suppers at Salt Water Farm,” turned to the April chapter ...
05/15/2026

When we were trying to decide what to cook from ’s “Full Moon Suppers at Salt Water Farm,” turned to the April chapter and her eyes immediately lit upon braised rabbit with fennel, leeks, Dijon, and French lentils. We already had a plump rabbit in the freezer from and a pound of Black Caviar Lentils from in our Bean Club stash, so all we needed from the grocery store was fennel and a few herbs. Kate and I are both very fond of rabbit and have a few favorite recipes for it, of which, spoiler alert, this is now one. But even though a good rabbit is arguably tastier than even the best chicken, we don’t have it very often because it is about 100% fiddlier to butcher than chicken. Still, I was happy with the results. While making rabbit stock from the carcass, we seasoned, floured, and browned the rabbit pieces in butter and olive oil. Then the rabbit braised until it was tender with sliced leeks, chopped shallots, white wine, Dijon mustard, rabbit stock, bay leaf, and thyme. While the rabbit was braising, we roasted chunks of fennel, thin lemon slices, smashed garlic cloves, and thyme sprigs drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and cooked the lentils with sautéed shallot and more of the rabbit stock. When everything was done, the lentils went onto our platter, topped with the roasted fennel & lemon slices and rabbit garnished with pan sauce and chopped tarragon and parsley. It was an afternoon’s work, but so worth it! And we had plenty of leftovers that we took camping and reheated over our camp fire. We cannot recommend this book highly enough and you can get your own copy at the bookshop.org link in our bio or directly from .

The next book in our cook through is ’s “The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià.” If you’re not familiar with h...
05/11/2026

The next book in our cook through is ’s “The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià.” If you’re not familiar with him, Ferran Adriá was the head chef at elBulli in Spain, which was widely considered to be one of the best restaurants in the world. This book is built around 31 menus for family meals, the meals served to restaurant staff before service, served at elBulli over the years. It’s also a great resource for home cooks for satisfying and varied three course meals that can be prepared in less than two hours on a budget.

This morning’s scones were maple oat nut with maple syrup glaze. Our cottage guests get freshly baked scones every morni...
05/10/2026

This morning’s scones were maple oat nut with maple syrup glaze. Our cottage guests get freshly baked scones every morning. The next batch could be for you!

The perfect dinner on a cold Maine night is a steaming bowl of seafood soup and, while we have great go-to recipes for M...
04/25/2026

The perfect dinner on a cold Maine night is a steaming bowl of seafood soup and, while we have great go-to recipes for Maine style clam chowder lobster stew, we didn’t have a bisque recipe that we loved. So, when we were deciding what to cook from “Something Old, Something New,” made a beeline to .e.adler’s recipe for shrimp bisque. I’m happy to announce that the bisque-sized hole in our repertoire is now filled. A quick shrimp stock made from the shrimp shells and a bouquet garni; plump gulf shrimp from cooked until just barely done in olive oil and a splash of sherry then chopped and reserved; minced shallot & garlic sautéed in more olive oil and cooked along with some arborio rice in the shrimp stock until the rice is fluffy; finally, most of the chopped shrimp and some heavy cream go into the pot and it gets puréed with the immersion blender. Ladle the bisque into bowls, garnish with a little reserved chopped shrimp, chopped parsley and freshly ground pepper and voila! This bisque was so delicate and the very essence of shrimp. It will definitely be appearing as a first course when we make dinner for guests in the cottage and I’m keen to try out variations made with lobster and crab.

The next book in our cook through of our cookbook collection is another lovely book by .e.adler - “Something Old, Someth...
04/18/2026

The next book in our cook through of our cookbook collection is another lovely book by .e.adler - “Something Old, Something New: Classic Recipes Revised”. and I had both enjoyed Tamar’s first book, “An Everlasting Meal,” so much that we preordered this one the moment we heard about it. We weren’t disappointed. The book features seasonal menus sandwiching chapters on categories of food such as hors d’œuvres, salad, soup, etc. In each chapter, Tamar writes about a dozen or so classic dishes, some largely forgotten and others that remain ubiquitous but have fallen on hard times. Weaving together historical and literary sources with her own personal experiences, Tamar inspires the reader to reinvigorate and enjoy these classics anew. And the book’s illustrations by are wonderful. Our copy arrived in April 2018 while Kate and I were in the midst of packing our house to move from California to Maine and, after having read the first few chapters, Kate read the entire book aloud to me on our five day drive to our new home in Maine in May. We cooked many things from it immediately and more over the years since. Any fans of M.F.K. Fisher or Laurie Colwin will love this book. If you’re inspired to check out “Something Old, Something New” for yourself, you can support independent bookstores by ordering a copy via the bookstore.org affiliate link in our profile.

Spring must be getting close, because we just made our first surf and turf board of the year for guests in the Cottage! ...
04/14/2026

Spring must be getting close, because we just made our first surf and turf board of the year for guests in the Cottage! We started them off with half a dozen oysters served on one of our oyster plates. Then the main event: a medium rare porterhouse steak from with chimichurri and grilled scallions from , butter poached lobster tails from with melted butter, roasted fingerling potatoes, rainbow carrots, and baby onions and sautéed pea shoots , all from served on our big cutting board from . And finally, cups of chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream and grated flake for dessert. We have plenty of availability in the Cottage in April and May, so why not plan a romantic Spring getaway to Boothbay Harbor and let us cook a special meal for you, too! The link to book is in our profile.

The recipe and I chose to cook from .e.adler’s The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z for our cook through was Fr...
04/14/2026

The recipe and I chose to cook from .e.adler’s The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z for our cook through was French Onion Soup Panade. Before I dive into the recipe though, I have to say that this book is an amazing resource. More than 1,500 recipes for making the most of whatever is leftover in your fridge or pantry. I pride myself on being a wizard with leftovers, but Tamar is truly next level and so creative. And if you haven’t read her first book, An Everlasting Meal, we can’t recommend it highly enough. It espouses a beautiful philosophy of zero waste cooking and eating that has been a profound inspiration to us. Now, on to the recipe! It doesn’t look like much in photos, but it was the perfect thing for a rainy almost-but-not-quite spring night. Hearty, savory, cheesy, and 100% satisfying. Layer leftover French onion soup, diluted with additional broth or water if necessary, sliced stale bread, and grated cheese in a buttered baking dish. Bake until the bread has absorbed most of the both, top with more grated cheese, and continue cooking until it’s hot and yummy and the cheese on top is melty and golden brown. It’s essentially French onion soup bread pudding and it was delicious. And so easy to make since we had a quart of French onion soup in the freezer from a few months ago (Julia’s recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1, which I consider to be the platonic ideal), so no need to add more liquid, and half of an excellent baguette from . All we needed from the store was some Gruyère which I picked up at when I went out to get wine. We would definitely make this again. We ate two-thirds of it for dinner and I reheated the rest for my first breakfast the next morning. We’ll definitely be coming back to this book for inspiration for years to come. If we’ve inspired you to check out Tamar’s books yourself, you can support independent bookstores by ordering a copy via the bookstore.org affiliate link in our profile.

Address

138 Ocean Point Road
Boothbay Harbor, ME
04538

Telephone

+12073503229

Website

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