May 3rd 2014: Hiking and Mini Golf

Today, I had a meetup event for lunch and mini golf in the Framingham area. Before that, I started my day hiking at Nagog Hill in the town of Acton. The path I took to try to see Nagog Pond is shown below in pink.

The views of the pond weren't that great though,

especially considering how long I took to get near the pond, and that it can easily be seen from Great Road as well.

My next hike was at the Will's Hole Bog/Acton Town Forest in town. The path I took to get to the bog from the end of Nagog Park Drive is shown below in pink.

Definitely much better than at Nagog Hill, and a much shorter walk.

I headed to the town of Concord next, going to hike at Newbury Field first. The path I took to get to the water body here is shown below in pink.

Nothing much to see here though.

Right next door was the Chamberlin Woods, although I chose to start my hike closer to Bateman's Pond on Hugh Cargill Road, the path I took being shown below in pink.

I had to venture into private property in order to get onto the trails, but thankfully no one saw me the whole time. The supposed views of the pond were obstructed by trees though.

From here, it was on to the Hapgood Wright Town Forest in town. The path I took from the parking lot at 500 Walden Street to see Fairyland Pond is shown below in pink.

Not a bad place to go for a walk at all.

Finally it was time to head to lunch at Uncle Cheung's Restaurant, a Shanghainese place at 266 Worcester Road in the town of Framingham. The food here is pretty authentic, coming from various regions in China. We ordered many dishes naturally, getting things like the Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll, the Sauteed Rice Cakes with Pork and Vegetables,

the Chilli String Beans, the Honey Smoked Fish,

the Wuxi Spare Ribs,

the Gyoza, the Honey Smoked Fish with Noodles,

the Yangzhou Fried Rice,

the Steamed Mini Pork Buns,

Salty Soy Bean Milk,

the Pork with Bean Curd Knots in Brown Sauce,

the Pork Kidneys

and the Lion's Head Meatballs. 

Except for the fish dishes, which were way too bony for my liking, the dumpling dishes which had skins that were too thick in my opinion, and the soybean milk which I am used to drinking sweet and could not get used to the saltiness of it, the rest of the dishes were actually pretty good, especially the spare ribs and the bean curd knots.

After lunch, we headed to Golf on the Village Green, a mini golf place located in the town of Natick. This place is probably not as good as Kimball Farm in Westford, but pretty decent all the same, with historical figures and monuments from Massachusetts History being placed on the green as part of the golf course, as you can see from the pictures I took.

At the end of the day, we did okay I guess, although the best score was half mine.

With that, the fun meetup session finally came to an end. I decided to resume my hiking for the rest of the day, starting off with the Pod Meadow Conservation Area in the town of Wayland. The path I took here is shown below in pink.

The views of the water body here were pretty decent.

I headed onto the Hultman Acqueduct,

then back out onto the road and walked back to my car, spying a pileated woodpecker at work on a tree.

From here, it was on to the Heard Farm Conservation Area,

where the path I took from the end of Heard Road to view the small pond here is shown below in pink.

It wasn't much to look at though.

Sedge Meadow Conservation Area was next. The path I took here to get to the monument on the map from Loblolly Lane and Moore Road is shown below in pink.

The monument wasn't much to look at, although the flowers were in bloom.

From here it was on to Lincoln, where I viewed the water bodies on the Codman South property on Codman Road and Lincoln Road

and Pigeon Hill inside 57 Conant Road.

In Lexington, I checked out the West Farm Conservation Area,

where the path I took to view Wilson Farm is shown below in pink.

Views of Wilson Farm which were just okay, is shown below in pink.

Finally, I decided to call it a day for hiking, and headed to Medford to grab some pizza from Wellington's Pizzeria, getting the Brazilian X-Tudo Pizza (Sauce, mozzarella cheese, hamburger, ham, bacon, eggs, cheese, corn, tomato and crispy potato sticks),

the House Crab Cakes (Two crab cakes homemade with fresh jumbo lump crabmeat tossed with Wellington's secret blend of seasonings and baked to perfection),

which one would not usually get from a pizza takeout place.

The pizza, despite all its ingredients, was pretty bland. Thankfully, the crab cakes were actually pretty good and flavorful.

I saved most of the pizza for lunch next week, and proceeded to Woburn to use another groupon at Arcenia's Cucina Rustica, a pretty nice looking Italian place, though more casual than upscale.

After looking at the menu , I decided to get the Clams alla’ Brandy (Clams, smoked bacon, plum tomatoes, in a brandy cream sauce)

and the Prosciutto e Fighi (Sliced prosciutto di Parma with fresh figs stuffed with goat cheese, shaved parmesan, drizzled with olive oil)  for appetizers,

the Orata and Rabe Sauce (Pan-seared red snapper fillet topped with rabe pesto sauce Served with fried artichokes & roasted potatoes) for my main dish,

and finally the Panna Cotta for dessert.

The brandy sauce for the clams was really delicious, while you can't go wrong with prosciutto and dates, although I did not take well to the goat cheese. Unfortunately, the fish was more of a fried dish with not much flavor. Thankfully, the dessert was sinfully sweet and tasty. Overall, not a bad meal, and I probably should have gotten another main dish instead. Looking forward to working on the food truck tomorrow.