July 31st 2016: Buffet Lunch at Brazilian Steak Grill, Marlborough

We had a Brazilian buffet lunch at the Brazilian Steak Grill in Marlborough today,

paying by weight and hence getting a pretty good meal for what we paid.

A little limited on the meat types though.

June 30th 2016: Hanging Out in Rockport

We started out today with breakfast at Artie's Place, a popular diner in Peabody.

We got the Steak Tips and Eggs (2 eggs, toast, homefries)

And the Potato Delight (2 dropped eggs on a potato fritter, hollandaise sauce and toast).

The steak tips were cooked just right,  with a hint of BBQ sauce, while the potato fritter was made of mashed potatoes and deep fried to crispiness, going really well with the rest of the eggs.

Pretty good meal at a small town diner.

Our next destination was Long Beach in Rockport, although the entrance to it is at the end of Rockport Road in Gloucester.

Really nice beach, though a little crowded.

From here, I left to do some exploring as I could not find any free parking in the area, visiting Cape Hedge Beach at the end of Seaview Street, which was infinitely less crowded, although there was only residential parking here.

After walking up the hill to the South Woods Water Tower at 36 Thatcher Road,

It was on to the third beach of the day, Pebble Beach at 90 Penzance Street. The name made me think that it would not be a very good beach,  but even though there were a lot of pebbles,  quite a good stretch of it was pretty good,  and I could park really close to the beach as well.

After checking out Camborne Pond behind the beach,

my last stop of the day was at the Loblolly Point area at the end of Old Penzance Road, where there are trails among the rocks,

where one can see Thacher Island

and Straitsmouth Island Light

And Loblolly Beach nearby.

Lunch was back in Gloucester at Salty Frank's Dogs, a small takeout place in the downtown area,  where we got Lobster Rolls

And The Hillary Dog (cheese,  bacon,  BBQ sauce).

Not bad, but nothing special.

With that,  a day of relaxation at the beaches in Rockport was finally at an end.

July 29th 2016: Dessert at Sichuan Taste, Malden

We decided to head to Sichuan Taste in Malden for dessert tonight.

This time, we got the Bean Noodles in Wild Pepper Sauce

and the Coconut Sweet Soybean Pudding,

on top of the Mango, Vanilla Ice Cream, Durian, Coconut Milk, Sago, Grapefruit

we got the last time we were here.

As always, the food was excellent, and the noodles were extremely flavorful and filling as well. Definitely will be a third time in the near future.

July 28th 2016: Thai Dinner at Chez Siam, Marlborough

We decided to have dinner tonight at Chez Siam, a nice Thai restaurant in Marlborough.

We got the Fish Chowder Thai Style (Chowder fish in a coconut milk based soup, served with diced potatoes, mushrooms and seasoned with lime juice and Thai herbs),

the Chez Siam Roast Duck (Young tender duckling marinated with honey and spices then roasted to perfection, served on a bed of stir fried spinach and sweet pickle ginger)

and the Coconut Custard for dessert.

The soup was a little on the salty side, but still not bad. The duck was delicious, the ginger an interesting but great touch to the dish presented in a fish plate. The custard was tasty as well, with the soft custard layer at the bottom, with no coconut flavor to put me off. Overall, a really good Thai restaurant in Marlborough.

July 27th 2016: Checking Out More Places in Lexington

We were in Lexington this evening, and decided to check out Tres Petite Creperie, a small but nice new French cafe in town.

We got a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice

and the Citron Crepe (fresh lemon curd, fresh raspberries drizzled with raspberry sauce and whipped cream),

which was a tad too sour for our liking. We might still come back to try out their other stuff though.

Still hungry, we headed nearby to Daikanyama, a pretty small but decent Japanese restaurant with some interesting stuff on the menu.

After our edamame starters which were lightly salted,

we got the Sunny Maki (pumpkin tempura, avocado, raspberries with chef's yuzu sauce),

the Ebi Chili (spicy sauteed shrimp with bird nest)

and the Ochazuke (rice served with broth in tea kettle with sake (salt broiled salmon)).

This last dish involves pouring a tea kettle of broth over a bowl of rice,

effectively making it a delicious rice soup,

the best dish of the night, the soup being really flavorful and perfecting the dish.

The shrimp was not bad too because of the crispy shell, but the roll tasted a little weird because of the yuzu sauce, as expected.

For dessert, we got the Green Tea Crepe Cake with Ginger Ice Cream.

I did not take to the ginger flavor, and the crepe itself had a little too much salt to it, making the dessert taste weird.

Overall though, I'm willing to give this place another shot in the future because of the interesting stuff on the menu