FEATURES

32 Ocean’s 11
It’s madness even to consider a portfolio of oceanfront property in this economy-madness or the  stuff that dreams are made of.
From Staff & Wire Reports

42 The Warm Winter of
Paul Black Portland’s resident Impressionist is painting up a storm.
By Colin Sargent

47 What You Get For…$100…$200…$500K.
Three tiers for home values!
From Staff & Wire Reports

49 Runaway Talent
A trip to Margaret Wise Brown’s cottage on Vinalhaven still hurts with memories of her early death and what the stylish young author might have done.
By Donna Stuart

53 10 Things We Love About Valentine’s Day (…plus 13 more)
Stay where Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard spend the night…or hire the caterer who’s served high tea to Martha Stewart on her private jet.
By Erin Donovan

55 Where Eagles Dare
The newly built “Ski Esta” rental palace in Newry offers views of all eight Sunday River peaks.
By Brad Favreau

59 Crime & Punishment
The only U.S. citizen ever hanged for slave trading lived just steps from where Axis Sally grew up, right here in Portland. Was it something in the water?
By Ron Soodalter

60 Delicious, Vervacious
Two computer geeks wanted to get away from it all. Then they brought it all back-as a line of spicy delights from the far reaches of the seven seas.
By Judith Gaines

65 Return of the Bargain Hunters
It’s Monopoly on Congress Street, though the tuxedos barely show beneath the camouflage of plaid hunting jackets and Bean boots.
By Colin Sargent

IN EVERY ISSUE

14 Letters
Readers on highway robbery, Canadian mist, and splitting atoms, not wood

16 Snow Report
News on the slopes for 2009

21 Goings On

29 Chowder
A tasty blend of the fabulous, noteworthy, and absurd.

74 Dining Guide

75 Restaurant Review
Slates reinvents itself in Hallowell.
By Diane Hudson

87 House of the Month
In this Schoodic fantasy, you buy a stone and log chalet with a massive granite fireplace…

89 New England
Homes & Living

95 Fiction
“August”
By Katherine Rawson

96 Flash

DEPARTMENTS

10 From the Editor
The Invisible Lake
By Colin Sargent

66 Market Watch
A kovsh by Fabergé star Feodor Rückert, discovered in an “impressive summer cottage in Kennebunk,” has Kaja Veilleux playing the balalaica-to the tune of $85,250.
By Sarah Cumming Cecil

69 Performance
From jazz and soul to sultry pop rock, you won’t find any tears in Patty Morris’s tracks.
By Todd M. Richard

72 Personal Shopper
Romantic whimsy for your table
By Amy Louise Reynolds