July 2nd 2015: Raspberry Picking at Connors Farm, Danvers

My friend and I decided to go raspberry picking today at Connors Farm in Danvers. As we were really early, we decided to head to Kaffmandu Coffee House, a pretty nice little cafe in town.

I got a Hot Chocolate while my friend got a Coconut Chocolate Mocha.

Not bad. I especially like the ambience of this place, and by the time we left, there was a line forming already. Good thing we came earlier.

When we arrived at the farm, it had just opened for business,

and after paying 10 bucks for 2 pint boxes, we had the raspberry fields to ourselves.

It was interesting to note the differences between strawberry, cherry and raspberry picking, with not much strength required to pull out the really ripe raspberries,

and they were the darker red ones and usually the sweetest as well.

Eventually our boxes were full,

and we headed back home for the day.

After work, I met with my friend for a Cuban dinner at Gustazo Cuban Restaurant and Cafe, which has taken the place of Elephant Walk, which I went to a long time ago.

The decor looked pretty much the same as before, but the menu was another thing altogether, consisting mostly of tapas style plates, of which we got 4 of them, namely their special Swordfish Ceviche, Which came with plantain chips,

The Maduros con Tocino (sweet plantains wrapped in bacon, agave, orange slices, crumbled goat cheese, microgreens),

The Costillas a la Guayaba (guava glazed Pork Ribs, hearts of palm pineapple puree, pickled beets)

and the Camarones al Ajillo (shrimp sautéed in garlic, sweet paprika, Jerez, cilantro, red pepper flakes).

Everything was really good, especially the plantain chips, which were the crispest I have had to date and the ribs, the bones being so soft you could eat them.

For dessert, we got the Avocado Panna Cotta (with orange mango marmalade and crumbled pistachios).

It was good at first bite, but the richness of it got to us in the end and we could not eat more than a few spoonfuls.

Overall, a pretty good dining experience though.