July 11th 2013: Dinner at Firefly's, Marlborough

My boss decided to take us out to lunch to celebrate the work we had done so far, taking us to Via Italian Table in Worcester.

We got the Plate of Italian Meats and Cheeses (prosciutto, mortadella, speck, capicola, salami, gorgonzola, truffled pecorino, fontina, parmesan )

and the Via Traditional Antipasto (sliced chicken saltimbocca, prosciutto wrapped asparagus, salami, caponata, Italian deviled egg, fresh sliced truffled pecorino, romano, marinated mushrooms, marinated artichoke hearts, mortadella, pepperonata, brussels sprouts) for appetizers,

and my boss got the Shrimp and Bean Salad (arugula topped with cannelini beans, served warm with lemon vinaigrette),

while I got the Shrimp with Cheese Ravioli (cheese ravioli with garlic seared shrimp, tomato, lemon, basil and lobster sauce), all of which were pretty good.

After work, I had a meetup dinner at Firefly's in the town of Marlborough, but before that, I still had some time to kill, so I decided to do some hiking in Worcester.

First, I decided to do the East Side Trail, climbing up to the top of Bell Hill after parking next to Bell Pond on Belmont Street near Olga Avenue.

The path I took to get there is shown below in pink.

It was pretty easy getting to the top of the hill, which did not have much views,

but I got a little lost heading downhill, arriving at Elliot Street instead, but thankfully there was another way back to Bell Pond, of which I took a few pictures.

From here, I decided there was still time for one more hike, so I headed to the Crow Hill area, and the path I took here after parking at North High School to see the two water bodies here is highlighted below in pink.

The paths were pretty overgrown, and I got sidetracked for a little while after seeing the first pond, which wasn't much to look at. On top of that, I constantly feared getting ticks on me due to the tall grasses I had to walk through, so I hightailed it back to my car after seeing that the second pond was nothing to look at as well. However, I have come to find out that Crow Hill itself, which I failed to get to this time, has nice views from the top, so I am going to come back here again someday.

Finally it was off to Marlborough for dinner. When I got there, everyone else was already present at the BBQ bar restaurant, which had some interesting decor,

including a complete rack of extremely hot sauces.

Instead of getting BBQ meat, I decided to go for a Jamaican Jerk Chicken Po'Boy (12" crusty French bread, lathered with scallion mayonnaise and Cajun remoulade and filled with shredded lettuce, tomato, dill pickles) with Sweet Potato Pecan Pudding, which wasn't too bad, and went well with the 5 different BBQ sauces they have here, although I kinda wish I had gotten some BBQ as well. Maybe next time then.

I actually tried a few of the hot sauces as well, and the last one, Da Bomb Ground Zero, literally burned my lips for several minutes, even though I had only taken one drop of it.

Unless you are really crazy, I don't recommend you go anywhere near this sauce.