This morning, I started my day early by having breakfast at
Charlotte's Cozy Kitchen, a casual breakfast place in Pepperell. After looking at the menu, which was pretty standard breakfast fare, I decided to get the Hash and Cheese Omelette,
along with a cup of Hot Chocolate.
I have to say the dish was really oily, though still pretty good. From here, I went to the town of Dracut in search of the Beaver Brook Dam, located at the very end of Victory Lane behind some warehouses. Unfortunately, the water level was very low today, and there wasn't much to see.
From here, I headed to Lowell, where the annual
Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival was being held today along the shores of the
Merrimack River at the Vandenberg Esplanade.
I did some sightseeing in town first before the festival officially started.
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View from Pawtucket Falls Overlook Park,
383 Pawtucket Street
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New Life Christian Ministries,
150 Middlesex Street
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| Holy Family Parish, 30 Grafton Street |
Back at the riverside, while waiting for the dragonboat races to begin, I took a stroll alongside the river,
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| Rourke Bridge from Vandenberg Esplanade |
passing by the Rynne Beach along the way.
Various tents had been set up along the path to sell stuff from Laos, Cambodia and the surrounding regions.
I decided to try out something unique, namely the dark purple Kralan (sticky rice in bamboo), which came in different sized bamboo containers for different prices.
In order to get at the rice, the bamboo container is cut open to reveal the delicious rice inside.
Finally, the races started. Pictures I took follow.
As I had the Tomato Bash to go to in the town of Brockton, I left Lowell early, heading first to Lexington to buy some cupcakes from a really small shop,
Cake., located within a house in downtown Lexington.
I bought 11 different mini cupcakes and 3 normal sized ones, in all sorts of flavors including RED CARPET (Smooth, deep red velvet cake laid out with a
decadent cream cheese icing), CHOCOLATE MADNESS (flourless chocolate cake
covered with marshmallows, chocolate chips, drizzled with smooth rich ganache),
MIDNIGHT DELIGHT (Dense fudge cake filled with sweet chocolate pastry cream
topped with Ghiradelli cocoa icing), CLOUDS
OVER CHOCOLATE (bittersweet chocolate cake topped with vanilla buttercream), For Goodness Cake (Gold cake
enveloped in smooth chocolate buttercream icing), Banana Split (banana cake
topped with tri-flavored buttercream, drizzled in ganache),KARAT TOPPED
(pineapple cream cheese icing set on a moist, full-bodied carrot cake), MOCHA
EXPRESS (Bittersweet chocolate cake iced in a cappuccino buttercream and
garnished with a mocha espresso bean), BLACK TIE AFFAIR (Sweet vanilla bean
cake filled with our own pastry cream and dressed in ganache), BERRIES &
GOLD (Rich gold cake filled with fresh raspberry preserves and a whipped
Chambord buttercream), the Minuteman (Moist gold cake layered with
strawberries, light whipped cream then topped with a vanilla buttercream), and
the Milk and Cookies (Chocolate Chip Cake with malted buttercream), most of which were actually really good.
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| from left to right, top to bottom: RED CARPET, CHOCOLATE MADNESS, MIDNIGHT DELIGHT, CLOUDS OVER CHOCOLATE, For Goodness Cake, Banana Split, KARAT TOPPED, MOCHA EXPRESS, BLACK TIE AFFAIR, BERRIES and GOLD |
From here, I headed straight to the Brockton Fairgrounds at 600 Belmont Street in Brockton, where the Tomato Bash was to be held.
I thought I had to be there early to register for the event, so I paid $10 to park. What ended up happening was that I had over an hour to spare, and nothing much to do, although I did manage to take pictures of the arena itself, which was littered with a layer of tomatoes, which at least were not rotten,
They also turned on the foam machine, which the crowd immediately swarmed to to get a little wet from the tomato foam.
I did a little of that too.
I ended up walking around for a bit, visiting a few places in town,
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First Baptist Church,
10 Bouve Avenue
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Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital Outpatient Clinic,
500 Belmont Street
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including the
Giant Rocky Marciano statue, located at the Rocky Marciano Stadium by the
Brockton High School.
I also managed to have time to grab some food at a nearby small Vietnamese restaurant,
Pho A Dong, where I managed to get the Bun Mam (salted fish soup). which is actually pretty hard to find in Massachusetts, if not the whole of America, and was really good.
By the time I got back to the event, it had already started, so I immediately got into the heat of it, donning my goggles and walking into the crowd, where tomatoes were already flying in the air.
To properly throw a tomato, you take one in your hand,
smash it,
then throw it into the fray. Eventually, the ground became a pool of tomato mush, and people actually started diving into it.
After about 15 minutes, I decided I had had enough, and went to the side of the field to hose myself down to get all the tomato bits off. After changing into dry clothes in my car, it was off to resume sightseeing for the rest of the day.
In trying to get to Quincy, I passed through Stoughton,
and Randolph, which I managed to finish up before nightfall.
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| Stetson Hall, 6 South Main Street |
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Crawford Square,
North Main Street and North Street
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| Town Hall, 41 South Main Street |
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Imagination Station,
North Street and Pleasant Street
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| Norroway Pond at Powers Farm Park |
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Great Pond Upper Reservoir,
Oak Street and Pine Avenue
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Great Pond Reservoir,
~375 Pond Street
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I finally reached Quincy to have dinner at the
Shabu Restaurant, a small but really nicely decorated Japanese hot pot place, complete with outdoor seating. When I arrived, there were already people waiting in line, but as I was just one person, I managed to get the last available seat at the counter.
For my hot pot with regular broth,
I got the Japanese Tontoro High Quality Pork (Sliced Pork Belly) and the Quail Eggs, which came with vegetables and my choice of yam noodles on the side.
I also ordered other appetizers, namely the Sauteed Beef Tongue
and the Soft Shell Salt and Pepper Shrimp.
I have to say that my dining experience here was pretty good. A definite recommend from me. Do expect to wait in line for a table though.
With that, a long and eventful day finally came to an end. Now to go home and wash my clothes free of the tomato stench.
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