May 2nd 2014: Trying Out New Restaurants in Shrewsbury

Today during work, I had to run out to do some errands, and decided to try out 2 new places in Shrewsbury for lunch. The first was Noodles and Company, which actually had their official opening ceremony today right before they opened.

This place is like a fast food eatery, 

and with me being their first customer, my Japanese Pan Noodles (Caramelized udon noodles in a sweet soy sauce, broccoli, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, Asian sprouts, black sesame seeds and cilantro) with shrimp came pretty quickly.

Not bad tasting either, especially for the price, although I wished my veggies had been more cooked and less hard. 

Nearby is ICraze Frozen Yogurt, a typical pay by weight froyo place, with flavors like Original, Vanilla, Red Velvet, Coconut, Chocolate, Mango, Green Tea, Raspberry, Tiramisu, Pistachio, Honey Dew and Watermelon. 

It was okay I guess, nothing extraordinary. After work, it was time for more hiking in the north. I headed to the Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary in Princeton first. I have been here before in the past, but this time I wanted to check out the ponds here. I passed by Wildlife Pond on the way to the parking area.

From here, the path I took to get to Rock Fire Pond is shown below in pink.

At the Second Pasture,

 I happened spot a mound of black in a corner of the field,

and when I got closer, I realized it was a prehensile tailed porcupine.

It waddled away as I approached,

 and climbed up a tree to try to escape me, but it was unable to avoid my camera.

The pond itself wasn't much to see though. 

From here, the path I took to get to Otter Pond is shown below in pink.

I passed by the Farm Pond along the way, and happened to notice the red-spotted newts in the water.

Some of them actually had eggs between their legs.

Otter Pond itself is pretty scenic.

Heading back to the car, the view from the top of the pasture was pretty beautiful too.

I drove to Black Pond next on the dirt Road on Thompson Road.

From here, it was on to Hubbardston to check out a few water bodies.

Mare Meadow Reservoir,

165 New Westminster Road

Cunningham Pond,

79 Old Westminster Road

Lovewell Pond, 44 Streeter Road

Waite Pond, 70 High Bridge Road

I headed back toward home, deciding to stop by Val's Restaurant, a small town family restaurant in the town of Holden for dinner.

They have pretty interesting starters, in the form of crackers and a cheese dip.

I got the Atlantis Platter (filet of Sole bursting with shrimp, scallop and crabmeat stuffing placed over mashed potato with baked sea scallops and a baked stuffed jumbo shrimp, with a lemon butter sauce, served with steamed broccolini) for dinner,

which came with a Greek Lemon Rice Soup

and salad.

The soup was pretty good, not too sour, while the seafood was well put together, pretty worth it for all it contained. Overall, not a bad dining experience.