{"id":2403,"date":"2026-08-14T12:19:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T12:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=2403"},"modified":"2026-08-30T13:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T13:43:09","slug":"friteday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=2403","title":{"rendered":"Friteday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">A big sky morning stretches across Portland, <br>that kind that draws locals and tourists alike <br>to stream out of Airbnbs and hotels and cottages<br>and take to the streets, to browse and munch en plein air. <br><br>After a long walk to the beach and back, nourishment calls.<br>A week into feasting our way through Maine's coastline, <br>I still hunger for more, to embody the taste of this place, <br>a traveler's communion.<br><br>An alchemist, I will convert molecules of field and sea <br>into fresh red blood cells; I'll remyelinate tired neurons.<br><br>I stand in line, place an early order at Duck Fat Shack.<br>What better way to build my future infrastructure <br>than through a flute of hot frites on main street?<br><br>In exchange for twenty-four dollars, thirty cents, <br>I accept a large order of ruddy chips and five compostable fluted cups <br>brimming with with \"local farm egg\" mayonnaise dippers: <br>garlic, thai chili, curry, horseradish.<br><br>A torch-bearer in the Olympics, I hoist paper cone aloft.<br>Embodying the Nation of Potatoes, <br>I traverse the street, join my dining companions.<br>The ones who'd bought fish and chips from Lil' Chippy.<br><br>Which spud staple reigns supreme?<br>We discover together, wide mouths gulping for <br>hot fries and summer freedom.<br><br><br><br><br><br><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cFriteday,\u201d an appreciation for Portland, Maine&#8217;s unparalleled weather and hot frites, written Friday, August 14, 2026 poem 226 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo: &#8220;Waiting on a Flute of Frites,&#8221;  by Diana Ludwick \u00a9 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2126,2130,2358,290,200,1572,2,2129,776,2353,551],"tags":[2184,2359,132,1588,2357,2360,2362,1838,2286,2356,2361,134,127,1827],"class_list":["post-2403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-poetry-challenge","category-culinary","category-eating-and-drinking","category-food-tourism","category-homage","category-humor","category-of-place","category-poems","category-recipes-for-life","category-short-form-musings","category-travel","category-unserious","tag-august","tag-duck-fat","tag-family","tag-family-travel","tag-food-tourism","tag-frites","tag-good-weather","tag-high-summer","tag-maine","tag-portland","tag-sauces","tag-summer","tag-travel","tag-vacation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2403"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2567,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403\/revisions\/2567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}