December 30th 2014: Hiking, Sushi Buffet and Earring Making

I started out today in Andover, going for a hike at Serio's Grove. The path I took here is shown below in pink.

The Shawsheen River itself wasn't much to see from this area though.

Next, it was on to the Baker's Meadow area, where the path I took to see the Baker's Meadow Reservoir is shown below in pink.

Pictures I took of the reservoir follow.

I also explored the West Parish Meadow area, but the water bodies weren't much to look at here.

At this point, I decided to go get some breakfast,

Woodworth Cadillac

stopping at the Shawsheen Luncheonette, a small town diner, where I decided to get the Barn Yard in the Corn Field (one Johnny cake with an egg in the hole with bacon).

Simple, interesting, but delicious.

After breakfast,  I went to Den Rock Park for my last hike in Andover for the day, The path I took being shown below in pink.

The views of the Shawsheen River here weren't that great,

and there were no views to be had at the top of Den Rock.

From here, I proceeded to Middleton to grab some pizza from JC Pizza and Grill, getting the Hawaiian Special Pizza (ham, bacon, pineapple, chicken, mozzarella cheese).

Nothing special about it though, being a little bland as well.

From here, I headed to Revere, where I had a meetup lunch for Japanese Chinese buffet at Yutaka Buffet. This place is a typical Chinese buffet place serving Japanese sushi, and all for a cheap price of 10 bucks.

Nothing special though.

After lunch, I headed to Melrose to use my deal at the Bohemian Coffeehouse, a really small Cafe with hardly any space for sitting. Here, I got the Violet Smoothie (Strawberries, blueberries,  cherries,  Mangoes, blackberries,  raspberries, Agave, soy milk),

A Chocolate Chip Cookie,

A Cranberry Orange Muffin

And a Blueberry Muffin.

Except for the cranberry which was a little sour,  and the cookie which was a little bitter, everything else was pretty good,  especially the Blueberry muffin.

From here, it was on to Peabody to check out the museums there. First, it was the Elizabeth Cassidy Folk Art Museum.

Next, it was on to the Gideon Foster House next door.

From here, it was on to the George Peabody House,

which is where the Peabody Leather Workers Museum is located as well.

It was interesting to learn how leather is treated for various uses.

After leaving Peabody, I headed to Marblehead to check out Abbott Hall, which has a few exhibits of its own about the town's maritime history.

Finally, it was time to go pick my friend up to go learn how to make earrings at Sarapaan in Wellesley.

I have learnt how to bead a necklace in the past at the Franklin location, so I was confident I would be able to make some nice earrings today.

First off, we had to decide which earrings we were going to make from the selection available.

I decided to go with these 2,

while my friend went with these.

Next, our instructor went to look for the required materials to make our earrings.

With our materials ready, we had to first do a practice run on cheap pieces of wire she cut out for us.

We strung the large beads onto the wires,

then were taught how to use a special kind of pliers with rounded tips to do the wire wrapping.

In order to ensure that I placed the wire on the exact same spot on the pliers every time, I had to mark it with a sharpie like so.

Finally, it was time to practice wire wrapping. Holding the wire right above the bead with the pliers in a horizontal position,

bend the wire tightly over the pliers towards yourself.

You then turn the pliers in situ into the vertical position,

then you turn the bent wire and wrap it over the top of the vertical pliers and down to form a loop.

From here, you turn the pliers horizontal again, then start wrapping the wire directly below the pliers

in a downward spiral until there is no more space to wrap to form this.

One then cuts the remaining wire off

and smooth it to almost finish the piece.

With that, we started off assembling our earrings,

putting the pieces together

before starting the wrapping. After wrapping and cutting off the excess wire, it was time to put on the earwires,

and with that, our earrings were made.

To be honest, I did not expect earring making to be that easy. Now the hard part is figuring out who to give them to.

After our lesson, we decided to head next door for dinner at Coconut Thai Cafe, which is an affiliate of the Coconut Cafe in Newton which I have been to before in the past.

This time, my friend got the Tom Yum Soup (Thai herbs soup cooked to hot and sour with mushrooms,chicken),

the Pork Dumpling (Steam) (Pork stuffs Wrapped in wonton skins. Served with Black Sweet Soy Sauce)

and the Pra Seafood (Shrimps, scallops, squids and salmon bits mixed with Thai seasonings, Thai spices, red, white onions, scallions, hot peppers, coriander, served on the bed of mixed salads),

while I got the Pad Thai Noodles Bangkok Style (Thai rice noodles pan fried with egg, tofu, Thai hot chili sauce, bean sprouts scallions, ground peanuts and Pad Thai sauce).

The dishes weren't too bad, though nothing amazing.

With that, a fun day with lots of different activities came to an end. Still trying to figure out who to give the earrings to.