Category: People

The Locavore column in Wednesday’s Portland Daily Sun is about Angela Fagin and her company Angela Jyang-Lee’s Authentic Chinese Treats.

Growing up in Nanjing, Angela used to eat dumplings made with whole wheat flour. It’s what her mother could afford; “dark flour” was much cheaper and not rationed like refined white flour. Naturally when her mother came to visit her at her new home in Maine, she was astonished that the dumplings that were the core of her daughter’s successful American business were not only made of whole wheat but that they sold at a premium because of it.

Also this week from the Sun is a continuation of Natalie Ladd’s reporting on the food stands at Hadlock Field.

A man of action and few words, he is surprised that people are remotely interested in what goes on behind the rolling metal gate that separates Stand D from the general concourse where fans roam; seeing and smelling their food and beverage options. With eight short days left until the first ceremonial pitch is tossed, the three-man, in-house, professional food service team is as busy as they will be all season.

South Portland baker and business owner John Palanza passed away last week. Palanza owned the Uncle Andy’s Bakery in South Portland for 45 years, from 1951 to 1996.

In the late 1940s, Mr. Palanza was hired by Fred Nanney, the original owner of Uncle Andy’s, to run the doughnut shop. In 1951, Mr. Palanza acquired Uncle Andy’s, growing it from a doughnut shop to a full-service bakery.

For more than 40 years, he produced breads, cakes, pies, doughnuts and assorted pastries for hundreds of loyal customers, many of whom would wait in line outside the bakery on busy weekend mornings and on holidays. The police department assigned a traffic cop to direct traffic past the shop during its busy times.

The Portland Daily Sun has published a profile of Daniel Steele, co-owner of Brian Boru.

Daniel Steele’s ideal dinner is a study in contrasts – delicately Frenched Icelandic lamb ribs marinated with garlic and tamari then grilled to get that gorgeous brown crust. Next to it are generous slabs of raw toro, the fatty tuna underbelly that sits contentedly atop a throne of vinegared rice.

Stanley T. Bennett II, Chairman and CEO of Oakhurst Dairy died Wednesday. Bennett was the grandson of the dairy’s founder.

Bennett, who was diagnosed last summer with pancreatic cancer, was remembered Thursday as a champion of agricultural initiatives and a generous supporter of nonprofit organizations, especially those that support children or a clean environment.

He took over as president of Oakhurst in 1983, after his father’s retirement, and oversaw a continuing expansion of the business and aggressive investments in clean-energy technology such as solar power.

For further details see the obituary that appeared in The Forecaster, and for more insight into Bennett read the tribute to him published in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

Bob Mathews, the longtime owner of Botto’s Bakery, passed away this week at age 78.

Mr. Mathews was a fixture at Botto’s Bakery for more than 50 years. He managed the bakery on Washington Avenue for 25 years, then bought the business in 1982.