The doubly-devastating whammy of finding out that two of our favorite food haunts in Ogunquit were closing – Amore Breakfast and Bread & Roses – put Andy and I in a funk, as we had already bee missing that Beautiful Place By the Sea for a couple of years. The only solution I could think of to ameliorate some of our sadness was making this attempt at approximating the Chocolate Oatie found at Bread & Roses. (B&R are actually shifting their operation just a little further up the coastline, to Wells.)
There wasn’t anything exceptional or especially wonderful about the chocolate oatie that they offered – it was a basic chocolate and oatmeal bar – but the circumstances and moments in which Andy procured this particular sweet treat were always magical. It meant we were on vacation, visiting one of our favorite places on earth, and we were together in the old knotty pine room. It meant there were either lilacs blooming outside the window, or the cozy smell of burning leaves to accentuate a blazing fall. It meant that the beach was nearby, whether in sun or rain or hints of snow. It meant time with my husband, time with my family, and time with our Ogunquit friends. That simple little oatie, as humble and unremarkable as it might otherwise be, came imbued with a power and enchantment that signified happiness and joy and ease.
It’s been too long since we’ve been to Ogunquit – it’s been too long since we’ve been anywhere actually – and Andy and I feel that longing keenly. This is my small way of bringing some of its magic back to us, in the same way that a Rosa rugosa bush in our backyard reminds us of the Marginal Way every time it blooms and lends its spicy perfume to the breeze.
{For this chocolate oatmeal bar, I used this recipe, and substituted pecans for the walnuts. I’m thinking of modifying it a bit, maybe incorporating some coconut flakes since I have to get rid of half a bag.}
