March 3rd 2012: Partying the 2nd Night in a Row

I started off after lunch today due to the light rain all day. I decided to try to risk the snow covered land to go hiking in various towns I had visited before. I first headed to Grafton to the end of Potter Hill Road to try to hike at the George Knowlton Preserve.

When I got to the top of the hill, there were nice views of the surroundings, shown below.

However, when I finally got to the trailhead, it was almost impossible to distinguish grass from trail, so I decided to give up hiking for the day.

With that, I decided to head to Weston to look at the Weston Observatory, a campus of Boston College. There was nothing of note here, so I headed into Watertown to start my sightseeing there.

The first place I went to was the Cannalonga Memorial Park, located along the Charles River at 480 Pleasant Street. I was hoping to see views of the river from here, but there was nothing much to see here.

 I next headed to the Plumbing Museum, which was nothing to look at either, and tours of it are only by appointment, so I decided not to check it out either.

 I then visited a few interesting place in town before heading to the Armenian Library and Museum of America.

Watertown Police

Watertown Savings Bank

Memorial Outside Town Hall

Church of Saint Patrick

Watertown Creative Start

Watertown Town Hall

Watertown Community Church, 525 Main Street

Watertown Fire Department

Watertown Free Public Library

Saltonstall Park Memorials,
~149 Main Street

The Armenian Library and Museum of America was nothing much to look at from the outside, but inside it was actually one of the nicer museums I've been to in Massachusetts, and it was 6 dollars for admission.

I really like Armenian architecture, although it made me really sad to read about the genocide propagated by the Turks  from 1915 onwards till the continued hatred that persists in today's world between the 2 ethnicities, with the deaths of millions of Armenians at the hands of the Turks. Pictures of the exhibits follow.

Zvartnots Cathedral Model (left)
and Genocide (right)

St. Hripsime Model

Mini Khachkars

Armenian Garb

Armenian Wedding Dresses

Inside the Museum

Khachkar

Armenian musical instruments

When I finally left the museum, it was already getting dark, so I decided to call it a day, and try out the Italian restaurant Stellina which was really close by so I did not need to move my car. This place looks pretty high class, and it got crowded pretty quickly after I came.

I decided to get the Baked Cabbage and Onion Soup, which was pretty much a French Onion Soup with extra flavor, and the Kobe and Boar Bolognese, which was actually quite good, considering I don't really like tomato based sauces with pasta. I also liked the complementary starters, which was 3 different sorts of dough with a pesto dip, which was really delicious.

Bread with Pesto Dip

Kobe and Boar Bolognese

Baked Cabbage and Onion Soup

Tonight, dinner wasn't the end of the day for once, as I had a meetup event to go to at Scholars in Boston. I was expecting a regular bar, but this place is actually quite posh, having 2 floors and a place for billiards.

The Lounge Area

The bar

The Painkiller

I was early, so I decided to get a drink for once. I got the Painkiller, consisting of  spiced rum, coconut cream, orange juice, pineapple juice and fresh-grated nutmeg, which was really good.

I had a great time as always meeting new people, but as I had had a long day, I decided to leave early, feeling a little tired, but just as I left, my friend texted me that it was her birthday, that she was celebrating with some of our mutual friends at the Field Pub in Cambridge, so I decided to head over there instead for a a drink or 2 with my friend. I have to admit that this pub is nothing compared to Scholars, though.

When I finally got home, it was already 2 something in the morning. Yet another late night for me.

March 2nd 2012: A Night of Partying in Boston

Tonight after work, I headed to Boston for a meetup event to have fun with the younger crowd.

I headed first to Avenue One after parking at the Boston Common Garage, located on the 3rd floor of the Hyatt Regency Boston Hotel for a drink and to meet up with the rest of the group. Some pictures of the hotel follow.

The bar itself was a pretty nice place, with not many people, so the group pretty much occupied the entire bar. I wasn't able to take any good pictures of the place however, and I did not want to drink on an empty stomach, so I did not order anything from here in the end, choosing to converse with new acquaintances while waiting to head to East Ocean City in Chinatown for dinner. Even after looking at the menu, we could not figure out what to order, so we ended up letting our fellow friend from another table decide for us, and pictures of all the good food we had follow.

Seafood soup

Thousand Island Shrimp

Black Pepper Beef

Deep Fried Squid

Shrimp with Scallions and Ginger

Sweet and Sour Pork

Roast Chicken

Clams and Vegetables

Sago and Sweet Potato Dessert

After a great time at the restaurant, our next destination was actually to go party at the Gypsy Bar, but due to a lack of participation a few of us decided to head to Rock Bottom for some drinks and conversation. I decided to get a mojito, and I have to say that was actually really good, because I've had lots of worse ones before.

I wanted so much to stay longer, but I remembered that it was going to snow at midnight, and when I left the building, it had already started snowing, if not hailing. What resulted was a hazardous drive back home, which ended up taking twice as long. I was just relieved to be able to get back home alive and safe.

March 1st 2012: Dinner at AKA Bistro, Lincoln

Tonight after work, I had a dinner appointment with a friend to celebrate her getting a job. She worked in Weston, so we decided to have dinner at the AKA Bistro in Lincoln. It was snowing heavily all day today, and I even skidded once or twice while driving to the restaurant. My friend was a little late as well, getting lost as the restaurant was a little hard to find, being nestled within other buildings.

When she finally arrived, we got straight to ordering. This place has 2 menus, a French one and a Japanese one. For appetizers, my friend decided to get the Hamachi (Yellowtail) Sashimi, while I got the Foie gras torchon  (Foie gras terrine with port poached ladyapple, brioche and hibiscus).

Hamachi (Yellowtail) Sashimi

Foie gras torchon

The sashimi was a really tiny portion, although the foie gras was pretty tasty, being like a pate to eat with bread.

For the main course, my friend decided to get the Confit de canard (Duck Confit with fresh choucroute, slow roasted sweet potato puree and juniper gastric), while I got the Char de L’Artique (Pan roasted skin on Artic Char with leeks fondue, pommes Maxim and parsnip mousseline)

Confit de canard

Char de L'Artique

Once again, small portions, but really delicious food. When we were done, we were still hungry, so we decided to get dessert as well, my friend getting the creme brulee, while I got the chocolate ganache special.

Creme Brulee (left) and
Chocolate Ganache (right)

Both were equally delicious as well. To top it off, we had complementary coconut cookies with our bill, which was extremely costly as well. 

Oh well, what more can you expect of a French-Japanese restaurant but small portions of high quality food at extremely high prices. I definitely recommend this place to food connoiseurs.