Fusion for foodies

Hungry in Belfast? Try the Spring Street Caf?, which opens today at 38 Spring St. Carole Anne Emmett and chef Oliver Outerbridge plan to serve fusion cuisine with Asian, Southwestern and Pacific Rim influences, such as Asian-style caramelized salmon, crispy Caribbean scallop cakes or blood orange-pistachio tiramisu. Outerbridge graduated from Colby College, studied at Peter Kump’s New York cooking school and apprenticed at Royal Gray, a Michelin two-star restaurant in Cannes, France. To raise money to open his own restaurant, he worked as a cook on a factory fish ship in the Bering Sea. He opened Oliver’s in Islesboro in 1982 and sold it last year as he made plans to open a restaurant on the mainland. Emmett grew up on Islesboro, worked as dining room manager at Oliver’s, and will take care of everything but the cooking at Spring Street Caf?. The restaurant is open at 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday through the winter, and reservations are encouraged. For information, call 338-4603.

Chef retires

Last Wednesday marked the end of an era, as Chef Phyllis Siebert cooked her last meal at the Blaine House. Siebert began her career as the chef at the governor’s mansion 27 years ago, when Kenneth Curtis was governor, and has cooked for five governors during her tenure. She plans to retire to Eastport.

Ice cream dreams

If memories of cooking with grandma make you feel all warm and fuzzy, you should enter Edy’s “Traditions in the Kitchen” ice cream flavor contest. The folks at Edy’s are looking for a new flavor for their Edy’s Homemade line, inspired by “ingredients right out of Grandma’s kitchen.” If your flavor wins, you could win $25,000 to remodel your kitchen or a year’s supply of ice cream. To enter, send your ice cream flavor name and a creative description of the flavor, including the base ice cream flavor and any flavor swirls or other mix-ins. For example, “Sunny Gingersnap Crunch” would be “vanilla ice cream with a loving scoop or bite-size gingersnap cookies, a sprinkle of nutmeg and a sunbeam of caramel.” Also include a paragraph (50 words or less) describing what the flavor means to you and why it reminds you of grandma’s kitchen or a special family tradition. Submissions can be made by May 15 at www.edys.com or sent to: Edy’s Homemade “Traditions in the Kitchen” Ice Cream Flavor Contest, P.O. Box 4110, Grand Rapids, MN 55730-4110.

Model behavior

Do you dream of gracing the pages of Seventeen magazine? Send in a creative milk mustache photo and you could appear in your very own milk ad to run in a future issue of Seventeen. Last year’s winner, Kate Mason of Austin, Texas, built a wall of bottles of flavored milk and designed a cow-print chair for her entry. Now, the 14-year-old joins a host of celebrities and supermodels as one of the mustachioed magazine models. This year, one lucky milk drinker will be flown to New York, where she will pose for a milk mustache photo shoot. Plus, she’ll win $1,000. For details, read the March issue of Seventeen or visit www.whymilk.com.