I spent Saturday and Sunday up in Portland, Maine. Besides having some really fantastic food (Po’ Boys & Pickles has some of the best pulled pork outside of the South and Local 188’s brunch kicked ass), Portland has some really nice book stores.

I visited Rabelais on Middle Street, which is dedicated to books on food & drink. Paradise! I was eager to see what they had in the way of books on pasta. As I’ve mentioned before, there seems to be scant information on pasta making. I ended up buying two books with some chapters on making various shapes and types of pasta: Bugialli on Pasta by Giuliano Bugialli and The Splendid Table by Lynne Rosetto Kasper. I spent some time yesterday afternoon reading through some of it and there’s lots of great information.

While trying to find Longfellow Books on Monument Way, I ended up in Cunningham Books in Monument Square. The owner says this happens often. I also stumbled into a used book store on Congress street, but can’t remember the name! All I know is that there’s a giant bigfoot model to the right when you walk into the place. [Editor: Mr. Bookdwarf says that the place is Green Hand Books. Thanks!]

I can’t wait to get back up to Portland, both to eat and to find more books!