February 12th 2015: Breakfast at Stephanie's Boston Logan Airport

I had an early flight this morning, so it was for the second time that I had breakfast at Stephanie's in the Logan Airport in Boston. This time, I went with the Morning Burger (ground Sirloin Burger topped with Fried egg, applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, served with home fries).

Not bad, although I could not finish it all.

Just glad I'm leaving the snow covered city for the moment, with more snow to come.

February 11th 2015: Lunch in Worcester, Dinner in Newton

I decided to head out for lunch today, going to Sisters Restaurant, a small diner at 171 Stafford Street in Worcester.

I got the Birds Nest Benedict (2 Poached eggs in potato skins on a bed of lettuce topped with bacon and chives),

which was interestingly unique and pretty good.

After work, my friend took me to Newton, where I decided to check out Comedor, a Tapas place with decor much like La Brasa in Somerville, though smaller. I started off with the Lomito a La Plancha (Brussels salsa Verde, spicy Queso fresco),

The Pescadito Frito (plantains, Spiced honey, lemon, pickled seven chilis)

And the Bowl of Crispy Mussels (lemon toum, lots of herbs).

The Pork loin was perfectly cooked, not being dry, going well with the cheese sauce below it. The fish was moist and Crispy, going really well with the Flavored plantains. Lastly, the mussels were crisp and perfected with the Herb dip covering them.

I decided to top it all off with the Semola con Leche (burnt sugar and pistachios) for dessert.

Initially, the cake did not taste like much, then I realized that the Caramel was all at the bottom, after which it definitely tasted much better. Overall, a pretty good meal for the area, although Toro is still better.

February 10th 2015: Mexican Dinner at Zarape, Marlborough

Today after work, I headed to Marlborough to have dinner at Zarape Mexican Restaurant in Marlborough.

This place has somewhat similar decor compared to Casa Vallarta in Northborough, though much smaller, with less interesting stuff on the menu.

In the end, I just went with the Caldo de Res (beef soup).

Not bad, and pretty filling too, though Casa Vallarta was definitely better.

February 8th 2015: Making the Most of a Supposed Blizzard Day

My original plan had been to stay in all day because of the forecast snow storm, and it had been snowing early in the morning, but as it stopped and never really started again, I decided not to waste my day any longer, heading first to Holliston for lunch at Jasper Hill Cafe and Bistro. When I stepped into the place, I thought it looked familiar,

and on checking my records, I realized that I have indeed been here in the past, when it was still the Pejamajo Cafe.

With my deal, I got a large Iced Mocha Latte,

a Ham and Veggie Soup

and a Mushroom and Swiss Burger.

The food wasn't that great though. I think Pejamajo was better.

From here, I decided to visit the Grafton Historical Society in Grafton. The curator gave me a tour of the place, telling me about Grafton's history, including that it used to have an airport and a thriving shoe and textile industry. Pictures I took here follow.

By the time the tour was over, it was too late to do anything else, so I decided to just head to the Grafton Inn for dinner at the restaurant.

I decided to get the Scallops Capri (bay scallops, sauteed in white wine sauce with a light pesto tossed with walnuts, fresh spinach, tomato, feta cheese served with garlic bread) in the family style bar restaurant.

Not bad, but nothing amazing. 

When I left the place, it was already dark, and starting to snow pretty badly. Thankfully home was close by. At least I did not waste the day totally staying at home.

February 7th 2015: Ice Climbing and Ice Castles

My friend and I set out early this morning to get to the Northeast Mountaineering Bunkhouse in Bartlett NH, where we were to set out for an ice climbing expedition.

I have since realized that I have been here before in the past to do waterfall rappelling. We had to rent mountaineering boots, crampons, gaiters, harnesses and helmets, and spent some time fitting them.

When we were all equipped, we went on a drive to the Crawford Notch State Park in Hart's Location NH, going to the railroad track on Arethusa Falls Road, hiking northward on it,

where the views of the surrounding mountains from the bridge were amazing.

The ice covered cliffsides were beautiful as well.

After crossing the bridge, we put on our crampons,

and hiked up the steep hillside in the Frankenstein Cliffs area

to get to our climbing area for the day.

Our guides set up the ropes,

showed us how to belay,

as well as the techniques required to use our ice axes

and our crampons to climb the ice.

Then, it was time for us to climb.

I have to say that everyone else other than my friend and I, who were pretty unfit, got pretty good at ice climbing in the end, climbing to the top several times.

I got some pictures of me climbing, fortunately.

I have to say, it took some effort to get the axes stuck in the snow to use it suitably for support, as it was to kick holes in the ice with the crampons to stand on them. My toes became painful eventually with all the kicking, and decided not to aggravate them again after a while of climbing.

When everyone was finally done, my friend and I managed to slide quickly down the hill, then made our way back to the car and back to the bunkhouse to return our stuff.

After a tiring ice climbing experience, we headed all the way to Lincoln NH to check out the Ice Castles.

I have to say, I wasn't really impressed with the manmade ice formations, although it was cool to see the many ice spikes hanging over our heads, and the lights shining out from within the ice. It is a pretty unique experience though. Pictures I took here follow.

Done with the cold, we left for Massachusetts in light of the pending snow storm.With not much snow falling by the time we got back to Malden, we decided to get dinner at Oppas' Kitchen and Bar, a new Korean restaurant in town. The decor here was little on the simple side, but there were a lot of interesting stuff on the menu. We initially decided to get stews, with me getting the Gopchang Jigae (Beef Intestines and beef tripes with tofu, enoki mushrooms and vegetables in spicy stew),

and my friend getting the Kimchi Jigae (Homemade kimchi, sliced pork, sweet rice cakes, tofu, enoki mushrooms in spicy stew).

Although the 2 stews looked the same, they could not have tasted more different. Mine was strongly beef flavored and spicy with peppers in it, while my friend's was less spicy and pretty sour, going well with the rice.

I wasn't feeling satisfied after my meal though, so I decided to get the Japanese Chashu Ramen (Japanese style tender slices of marinated char siu (pork belly) on Japanese Yellow ramen noodles with kamaboka (steamed fish cake, corn, enoki mushrooms, bean sprouts and scallions in tasty tonkatsu pork broth).

I have to say the soup was absolutely delicious.

Overall, a recommend, being the only Korean restaurant in town, although I do have one complaint. The ingredients stated in the menu for the dishes were not necessarily what we got. For example, my stew had rice cakes, while my friend's did not, and mine did not have tofu. The ramen had eggs, but no corn or fish cakes.

A great end to a fun but tiring day in the ice. Thankfully I got home before the worst of the ice came.