September 14th 2013: The New England Indonesian Festival, Boston

This morning, I had fencing again, so I decided to head to Lowell for  breakfast, grabbing it at Ray Robinson's  Sandwich Shoppe, a small place at 201 Central Street which looks very dirty and run down. Even the Steak and Eggs I got were crappy, the steak not being very fresh at all.

Definitely one of the worst breakfasts I have had to date, and I'm not going back ever again.

After a disappointing breakfast, I visited a few other places in town,

including the fenced up Christian Hill Reservoir, located on the corner of Beacon Street and Reservoir Street, which has nice views from the top of the small hill overlooking the reservoir.

My next destination was the Rogers Fort Hill Park. The fountain

and the gateway at the bottom of the park were pretty nice,

although there weren't any views at the top of the hill.

Other places I visited in town today before heading to fencing in Wilmington at Vivo Fencing Club for the second time follow.

Moody Elementary School

Nicole Conservation Land

Lowell First Church of the Nazarene

ISSO Shree Swaminarayan Temple

I was late for fencing, but thankfully, they had only just warmed up and were putting on the equipment, so I managed to put in some fencing time before I had to leave to pick up my friend to go see the New England Indonesian Festival, held on Copley Square in Boston.

We took the train into Boston to check out the festival,

which already had long lines queuing up for the food, which ran out really quickly. Thankfully, we were still able to get some food, including ikan bilis.

I have to say the performances on the main stage were pretty good,

especially the angklung concert,

which everyone in the audience enjoyed, although they probably could not understand what was being sung.

Other than that, there wasn't much else to see,

Trishaw

so we decided to head out to Cambridge to eat at Koreana, a pretty nice Korean restaurant in town.

For food,

we decided to get the Miso Soup (tofu, seaweed, scallions in a miso soup),

the Duenjang Chigae (Beef, vegetables in soybean paste based stew)

and the Jeonbokjook (Abalone in rice porridge).

With regard to the soup, it was just alright, and was interesting that we had to pay 2 bucks for it, when it is usually provided free with meals at Japanese restaurants, while my porridge was a little bland with very few pieces of abalone. The soybean paste stew was actually pretty good though. Overall, I would give this place a recommend, although it was not the best of meals.

From here, my friend and I parted ways, and I headed to Malden to do some food truck stuff. After we were done, we headed to Pho Hoa in town for dinner, where everyone else ordered pho while I decided to get the Chanh Muoi (Salty Lemon Drink)

and the Chim Cut Chien (Roasted Quail). 

I wasn't a fan of the drink, tasting more like salted dried plum than lemon, although the quail was actually pretty tasty, though pretty bony as can be expected.

Overall, my day did not feel very productive, although it was good to be able to catch up with good friends.