September 30th 2014: Eating Out in Cambridge

Tonight after dinner, I had a meetup event at Brick and Mortar in Cambridge. I knew this place was more a bar than a place to eat, so I decided to grab some chow from the Beantown Taqueria nearby, getting the Quesadilla Starter (Cheese and Salsa, with Chipotle Aioli Sauce)

and the Huarache (One thick handmade soft corn tortilla with lengua,Topped with refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, drizzled sour cream and queso fresco).

the Quesadilla was actually pretty good, especially with the chipotle sauce. The Huarache was a little bland though, even with the lengua present.

From here, it was on to Brick and Mortar. This place has no sign for it, being right above Central Kitchen. In order to enter it, one must go through the door to the left of that for Central Kitchen.

Upstairs, there is not much sitting room, unless you are at the bar itself. It was hard to hear each other above the din as well. Having eaten a little already, I decided to just get the Duck Fries (Crispy Duck confit, pickled pepper, melted gruyere), thinking that the fries were actually made of duck meat. Oh was I disappointed.

It was still pretty good though.

As was the piece of the Devils on Horseback (Dates wrapped in bacon and stuffed with blue cheese) I got to try.

After hanging out with my friends for a bit, I headed out, and finding that Paris Baguette was really close by, I decided to grab some desserts to go, getting the Choux Cream,

the Strawberry Pastry Bite

and the Cheese Souffle Cake.

Amazingly good, just like the Mocha Butter Cake I got from my friends on Sunday. With that, I called it a day for eating in Cambridge, and head home for the night.

September 29th 2014: Dinner at Granite Grill, Braintree

After work today, I headed into Braintree,

Old Quincy Reservoir,

Lakeside Drive and Pond Street

where I sighted my first real red fox

before heading for dinner at Granite Grill, a pretty fancy bar restaurant in town.

I could not say the same for the food I got though. The Scallops and Bacon (five scallops wrapped in bacon drizzled with Thousand Island Dressing) were so tiny, making the plate look very sparse.

There was way too little shellfish in my Mussels and Clams Messina (sauteed with onions, diced tomatoes, dijon, pancetta, white wine and garlic butter), and the bread was way too hard, although the sauce was really good.

Even the Maryland Blue Crab Ravioli (maryland crabmeat ravioli in a lobster beschamel with peas and chunks of lobster meat) had a lot of shell in it, and the sauce was just okay.

Definitely not coming back.

After a disappointing dinner, I headed into Weymouth, where I planned to visit the Weymouth Historical Museum, located within the Tufts Library in town and only open on Monday nights.

Pictures I took in this small place where stuff was pretty much cobbled together is shown below.

With that, I was finally done with the towns of Braintree and Weymouth.

Recommended Places to Visit: Reading

Recreation

Trapeze
TSNY Beantown
50 Walkers Brook Drive


Hiking
Tried:
Pinevale
Center Avenue and Maple Street

Bare Meadow
Short Street and Main Street

Reading Town Forest
405 Grove Street

Water Bodies
Lobb's Mill Pond
~40 Mill Street

Parks

Memorial Park
64 Salem Street

Shopping Malls
Jordan's Furniture
50 Walkers Brook Drive


Arts Performmances
Colonial Chorus Players
1249 Main Street


Architecture

Monuments

War Memorial
Lowell Street and Salem Street

Bowser Gazebo
25 Linden Street

Places of Worship

Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading
239 Woburn Street

St. Agnes Catholic Church
186 Woburn Street

Church of the Good Shepherd
95 Woburn Street

Old South United Methodist Church
6 Salem Street

First Congregational Church
25 Woburn Street

First Baptist Church
45 Woburn Street

Korean Church of the Nazarene

900 Main Street

St. Athanasius Church

300 Haverhill Street

Schools
Joshua Eaton School
365 Summer Avenue

Northeast School of Ballet
32 Lowell Street

Historical Buildings
Pleasant Street Center
49 Pleasant Street


Town Facilities
Municipal Light Department
260 Ash Street

Public Library
64 Middlesex Avenue

Town Hall
16 Lowell Street

Fire Department
757 Main Street

Police
15 Union Street

Restaurants

Highly Recommended:
Italian
Ristorante Pavarotti
601 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Baby Octopus
Seafood Ravioli
Cannoli

Venetian Moon
680 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Venetian Carozza
Crema di Mela
Salted Caramel Crunch Cake

Dessert

Cupcake City
137 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Chocolate Chip
Peanut Butter Chocolate
Vanilla
Red Velvet
Hostess
Oreo

September 28th 2014: Dinner at Highland Creole Cuisine, Somerville

This morning, I started out with a hike at the Billerica State Forest in Billerica, the rough path I took after parking on Janice Road being shown below in pink.

There was nothing to see at the top of Gilson Hill though.

From here, I headed into the town of Reading, where my camera strangely started to work again,

Pleasant Street Center

Bowser Gazebo

to go hiking at the Pinevale area, where the path I took from the junction of Center Avenue and Maple Street, which seemed to be on private property, is shown below in pink.

Once again, nothing to see here.

My last hike was at the Bare Meadow area, where the short path I took to the viewing platform is shown below in pink.

The view from the platform wasn't anything to shout home about.

I had food truck stuff to do today, so I headed into Boston from here, going to Laz Cafe in the South End to get some breakfast. This place is more a pizza takeout place than anything else, to say the least. I decided to go with the Breakfast Pizza (Eggs, Spinach, feta cheese and mozzarella (no tomato sauce)), which was just okay, although the egg was an interesting concept.

while doing food truck stuff in Boston, my friends surprised me with a birthday cake from Paris Baguette, which was really good, complete with cookies on top. At the end of the day, I decided to head to Highland Creole Cuisine at 2 Highland Avenue in Somerville for dinner. This Haitian place was filled with Haitian folks when I entered, and it took a while before I got seated, and longer before I got a menu.

I decided to get a Papaya Drink with Milk and the Creole Goat for my meal.

I enjoyed the drink, and the sauce for the goat was really delicious, especially when I dipped the plantains provided in it.

I definitely look forward to having the leftovers tomorrow. I can't say the same about coming back here though, as the atmosphere wasn't very welcoming.

September 27th 2014: A Surprise Birthday Celebration at La Brasa, Somerville

After a day of doing food truck stuff in the Jamaica Plain area at the second annual Boston Fermentation Festival, held at the Egleston Farmer's Market, my friends and I headed to La Brasa in Somerville. We had a pretty good experience the last time we were here, so we wanted to try it again.

Unfortunately, my camera refused to work tonight, so please forgive the state of the pictures taken from my phone, which was also dying. This time, other than the Oysters on the Halfshell,

we also got the Roasted Carrots (mole and sesame), the Greens with Buttermilk poppyseed dressing and almonds,

the Pastrami Spiced Roast Pork Loin Sandwich (watercress, house pickles, challerhocker cheese and horseradish mayo),

the Fire Roasted Hanger Steak (celery root, espresso, charred ASF eggplant and bone marrow bread)

and the Harissa Grilled Skirt Steak (raita and grilled broccolini).

Excellent meal once again, although it took quite a while for the food to arrive, and the simplicity of the salad and the sandwich was a little disappointing.

We also got desserts, getting the Affogato (espresso and ice cream),

the Coconut Tapioca Pudding (Sichuan peppercorn and apricot salsa) and the Dulce de Leche Flan. At this point, my friend who said she wasn't going to come suddenly appeared in my sight and sat at the table, carrying a birthday present for me, even though it wasn't even the day itself. Even my pudding came with a candle. What a pleasant surprise.


With respect to the desserts, my phone was dead by now, so no pictures unfortunately. Except for the affogato which was way too bitter for me, the other desserts were delicious. Thank you my friends for surprising me this way, considering I was the one who made the booking.

September 26th 2014: Dinner at The Saloon, Worcester

Today after work, I decided to go check out a new bar restaurant in Worcester called the Saloon. After looking at the menu, I decided to get the Potato Pancakes (golden brown with bacon and cheddar topped with sausage gravy)

and the Mashed Potato Burger (half pound of fresh ground beef topped with crispy onion strings).

The potato pancakes were actually pretty tasty, but the burger came out looking like a mess, and I think they forgot to put the top bun on it. It wasn't that good a burger anyway.

Time to head home and wait for my friends from NYC to arrive. Looking forward to a weekend of doing food truck stuff.

September 25th 2014: Meals in Douglas, Worcester, Boston and Cambridge

Early this morning, I was feeling hungry, so I headed into Douglas

Old Factory, 120 Gilboa Street

to get some food from the Little Coffee Bean, a small cafe serving bagels and donuts, among other things at 299 Main Street in town. I decided to get a cup of Hot Chocolate and a Bacon, Egg and Cheese Spinach Garlic Bagel.

Nothing really special.

For lunch, I went out again, this time for Chinese takeout from Dragon Chef in Worcester. I got the lunch combo of Pork Fried Rice, Crab Rangoons and General Gau's Chicken.

The chicken wasn't even crispy, and the sauce did not even taste right.

After work, I headed to Cambridge for a meetup event, trivia at the Tasty Burger in the Harvard Square area of Cambridge. Before that, I went into the Allston area to get some pizza takeout from First Bite Cafe, getting the Pesto Chicken Pizza (Grilled chicken, pesto sauce, sun dried tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese and broccoli),

Chicken Nuggets

and Onion Rings.

The pizza was absolutely horrible, although the onion rings and nuggets were okay I guess.

In Cambridge, I still had some time before the event, so I headed to Boston Tea Stop, a bubble tea place at 54 JFK Street nearby.

This place is pretty small and dirty, although they do have games for people to play. I got the Vanilla Taro Milk Tea, which was a little too sweet after a while.

In the end, no one except the host showed up for trivia, and since I am pretty useless at it, we decided it was not worth it to proceed in the basement bar I never noticed till now. We just resorted to getting burgers, with me getting the Mushroom burger (sauteed mushrooms, cheese, Tasty Steak Sauce).

It took so long for my order to come, and they would not even allow us to sit downstairs, where things are done more bar style than fast food style.

The burger wasn't that great either.

Overall, a totally wasted day of trying 5 places.

September 24th 2014: Deli Meals in Sturbridge and Leominster

I had to stay really late at work today, but that did not prevent me from heading out to Sturbridge for lunch at Soup to Nuts, a small town deli cafe located within a small town shopping complex. For food, I decided to get their deal of a Seafood Chowder,

a Spinach and Tomato Quiche, and a Garden Salad.

A pretty good meal actually. It was sad to overhear that the company the owners get ingredients from expect small companies to order large orders they would never use and can't afford either. We should support local businesses more.

For dinner, I headed out again, this time to the town of Leominster to check out Desilets Market and Deli.

This place is more a grocery shop than a deli cafe. I did get to try the poutine they have here, which wasn't the fries I thought it was, but poutine paree, a pork dumpling made with a casing made of potato.

It was really bland in taste though.

I had to take it back to the office to heat it up, together with the Pork Pie I got as well.

Sadly that was equally bland as well. I ended up resorting to eating instant noodles at home. Oh well.