August 31st 2014: Helping My Friend Move Furniture

I woke up early in my friend's place today, as we had to meet a mutual friend who was in town for brunch. She was staying at the Nine Zero Hotel in the downtown Boston area, the lobby of which was pretty nice while we waited.

After our friend came down, we decided to head to the Omni Parker House nearby

for brunch at Parker's Restaurant inside, which was pretty fancy as expected.

This place is where the Boston Cream Pie originated, so we definitely had to get one, if not two.

For our meal, I decided to get a single Boston Benedict (corned beef hash, poached eggs, Boston brown bread, hollandaise)

and a single Seacoast Benedict (Lump Crab Cakes and Hollandaise),

while my friends got the Boston's Best Corned Beef Hash (House Hash with Two Eggs, breakfast potatoes and toast)

and the Traditional Eggs Benedict (Canadian Bacon and Hollandaise).

I loved my two egg dishes, especially the corned beef hash and the sweet brown bread that came with the Boston Benedict. The dessert wasn't too bad either, but I don't really see what the hype is all about.

After a pretty good meal, it was on to help my friend move furniture. It was amazing how we managed to stuff an entire queen sized mattress into my car, and removing it was even harder without more help from cleaners who were cleaning her apartment. She wanted to thank them for their help by heading to the Danish Pastry House in Medford nearby to get some desserts for them. However, by the time we came back, they had already left, which meant I could have one of the Bear Claws (apple jam, almonds).

I guess I'm glad they left.

We had to dismantle the dresser and desk in order to get it to fit in the car, but we could not do that for the mattress box-springs, so we had to carry that all the way home. In the end, we decided to discard it, and chose to have lunch at the Greek Corner Restaurant, a Mediterranean place with a cafe like atmosphere in Cambridge, as my friend had heard good things about it.

After looking at the menu, I recommended that she try the Taramosalata (Red caviar blended with bread and spices, topped with olives), something different from the usual hummus one can get at these places. We also got the Avgolemeno (Egg-lemon soup with rice and chicken)

and the Lamb Shish Kebab (Delicious marinated lamb or pork on a skewer with green peppers and onions, cooked on charcoal).

The pate was pretty good, while the soup wasn't too sour. The lamb was cooked pretty well too, being tender and juicy. Unfortunately, because of the brunch we had earlier, we could hardly finish the food, and my friend brought all of it home for leftovers. I remained at her place to write this blog for a bit, waiting till it was time to head to Green Tea, a small Chinese restaurant in Newton, to get some Chinese takeout, namely the Singapore Delux Rice Noodles,

to bring to another friend's place in Natick for a potluck party, where I had a lot of fun catching up with friends I had not seen in a while. I'm amazed at how many of my friends have become attached to each other. Not going to happen for me any time soon I think, but who knows.

August 30th 2014: White Water Rafting on the Penobscot River, Maine

I had to pick my friends up really early this morning in order to drive all the way to the Penobscot Outdoor Center in Northeast Piscataquis ME, where we were to embark on some white water rafting on the Penobscot River with New England Outdoor Center. This place is pretty hard to find, with no proper address. Thankfully, we knew it was below the Pockwockamus Pond, and we had the coordinates for the place as well, so we managed to arrive at the place uneventfully and early. We took a short nap before we had to meet up with everyone else. Just like my first white water rafting experience, we had to get our wetsuits, helmets, paddles and safety jackets before getting on to the bus to the lower portion of the river to start our rafting.

The views of Katahdin along the way were beautiful.

At the start point, our guide taught us how to paddle in the raft, and before long we carried the raft down to the river.

It was definitely perfect weather for rafting today.

After getting through the first set of falls,

we did our share of surfing (keeping the raft in the falls without paddling)

and only moved on to the next spot when we were finally done.

The next fun thing we did was a rock slide, where we were to do a leap of faith backwards into the water, then ride the water down the smooth rock surface. It was fun to say the least, although the water was really cold, so I was glad to be out of there when it was over.

As we moved on down the river, we spotted bald eagles in the trees,

and we were allowed to swim in the water for a bit.

The views were beautiful as always.

especially as we approached the final set of falls

where my friend actually lost her paddle as a result. I was to tease her about it for the rest of the day.

Lunch was much like the last time, consisting of Hot Chocolate

and steak for me.

After lunch, we took the bus further up the river, where we were to embark on the second portion of the rafting. After a short walk

to the McKay hydroelectric station,

we waited in line to carry our boat into the water,

and off we went.

We somehow survived our first Class 5 falls, mostly thanks to our experienced guide.

At the next Class 5 falls, there were actually people sitting on the ledges above, watching for people to fall out the raft.

We made it out alright, but one raft actually got stuck on the rocks for quite some time.

We finally moved on after they found their way out, but not before I took pictures of people fly fishing in the river.

All good things have to come to an end though, and we were sad when we finally left the river, and began the long drive back to Massachusetts after returning all our gear. I'm glad my friend got her first taste of rafting though.

August 28th 2014: Exploring Boston Logan Airport Terminal B

This morning, I had a business flight to Chicago from the Boston Logan Airport. While waiting to board, I walked around Terminal B, getting a Pepperoni Pizza from Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen

first before walking around for a bit.

At my gate, I decided to get a Boston Red (Strawberries, Banana, Orange Juice, Apple, Greek Yogurt) smoothie

from Berkshire Farms Market.

Not a bad start to the day. Off to Chicago I go!

August 27th 2014: Dinner at Jimmy's Pub and Restaurant, Mansfield

I decided to get lunch from NU Cafe in Worcester today. This place is pretty modern and upbeat,

catering to the younger crowd, and there were many people studying here at this time.

I decided to go with their Inspiration Bowl (mix of quinoa, kale, sweet corn, beets, shredded carrots, sliced almonds and a sweet miso peanut sauce) and the Kalefornia Dreamin’ (kale, spinach, chia seeds, bananas, fresh apple juice, soy) smoothie.

Both were really delicious considering how healthy they were, but they were really filling, and I could not even finish half my bowl of quinoa. I did not imagine that a bowl of healthy stuff could taste that good.

Good and filling lunch to say the least.

After work, I headed towards Mansfield for dinner, passing by Holliston,

Christ the King Lutheran Church

Norfolk,

Norfolk Grange Hall

Foxborough

Foxborough Pumping Station

and North Attleborough

Attleborough Falls Gasholder Building

along the way to Jimmy's Pub and Restaurant in Mansfield.

For a dive bar, this place has pretty interesting food on the menu, of which I decided to go with the Prosciutto Shrimp (7 large shrimp wrapped with prosciutto and pineapple. Baked to sizzling finish) appetizer

and the Hawaiian Scallops (Baked Sea Scallops with mandarin oranges, snap peas, pineapple, cherries and coconut almonds, served over linguine).

The prosciutto made the shrimp way too salty, while the fruit just made the pasta more like a dessert than a meal. It made me lose my appetite for it almost immediately. Oh, the  consequences of trying to go for the exotic stuff. After dinner, I headed to the Showcase Cinemas De Lux in Randolph to watch "The November Man". Not too bad a show really. That ended my day on a good note after that terrible dinner. Looking forward to my trip to Chicago tomorrow.