April 12th 2012: At Heald Pond, Pepperell

 Today after work, I headed to Heald Pond in Pepperell. The last time I was here, the trails were covered in snow, but this time I was able to walk them after parking at a suitable spot on Heald Street near Bayberry Street. The path I took here is highlighted in black below.

I first headed down the Jeff Smith Trail along the shores of Heald Pond,but at the point where the trail moves away from the trail, the other trail faded into non-existence, so I was forced to backtrack to my car. Pictures I took of Heald Pond in this area follow.

I then headed across the road to another section of the Jeff Smith Trail, and walked down the somewhat treacherous path alongside Gulf Brook to a bridge/dam made of twigs that I had to cross to get to the other side of the trail.

 

 From the other side of Gulf Brook, I walked the path back to my car. Determined to get to Viewpoint A on the shores of Heald Pond which I could not get to earlier, I decided to try again by heading to the Heald Street Orchard area further down the road. As I walked along the trails to get to Heald Pond, I took a few pictures of the views of the sky from the orchard.

When I finally reached the shore of Heald Pond, the view here was actually better than from the Jeff Smith Trail.

By the time I got back to my car, it had started to rain, and it was getting dark as well, so it was time to head for dinner at Harley House Inn in Lunenburg, where I had a $40 Groupon to use. The last time I was here, it was St. Patrick's Day and the restaurant had a lunch buffet, so I was unable to use my Groupon, so I decided to do it today instead. Once again, the waitresses took one look at me and decided to warn me about not ordering enough, like I did not know already. I then set to looking at the menu and ordering enough to fit the bill. I first got a bowl of Farmer's Stew, which had a lot of variety in beans, and pretty good too.

Next, the appetizer. I had a choice between corn fritters and crabcakes, and I decided to take a chance with the fritters, which came with both maple syrup and Tzatziki sauce, a type of Greek yogurt. I did not expect them to be so big though.

My final course finally came when I had two of the corn balls to go. When deciding on it, I was torn between the seafood pie and the lamb chops with Mint Jus, but the restaurant owners were actually nice enough to do a combo of both dishes for me, complete with a crabcake from the appetizers earlier. I also went with the turnip and carrot au gratin and Italian risotto as sides.

Overall, everything was fantastic, with the lamb reminding me of a similar dish I had at the King Phillip Restaurant in Phillipston. I could barely finish everything though, with the sides still being barely touched. On top of that, I still had $2 on my Groupon to spend, so I still had dessert to go. I decided to go with their Peach Pastry, which was served hot with Vanilla Ice Cream on top.

It was good, but I could barely get in 2 mouths before I had to give up. I finished the vanilla ice cream though. With that, I had more leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.

April 10th 2012: Hiking at Mandell Hill, Hardwick

 Today after work, I decided to go hiking at Mandell Hill in Hardwick while it was still light out. The parking area is located at the junction of Ridge Road and Barre Road, and shortly after entering the farmlike area, the views all around are just amazing. Pictures follow.

The rough path I took while here is shown below in black.

Walking through the fields along the path was a wonderful experience, but when I headed into the woods, I got disoriented and totally lost, although it was nice to see signs of new plant life in the form of young shrublings on the ground.

I somehow ended up on a field right next to Upper Church Street. Thankfully, the GPS on my phone was working sufficiently to tell me roughly where I was: I long way away from my car. I happened to meet a woman walking her dog as well on the field, who told me I was actually walking on private land and that there were lots of ticks there, but she also directed me where to go. I ended up with dog slobber on my pants though. The views from the field here follow.

Finally, after reaching Upper Church Street and while walking back to my car, I took several pictures of flowers along the way.

Dinner was back in Worcester at La Scala, where I had a Livingsocial deal for $30 to spend. This place is a pretty small restaurant with a bar right next to the dining area. By the time I arrive, people were finishing their dinners, and the place was less than an hour from closing.

The task of finding enough food to spend $30 on was much easier tonight, with me getting the beef minestrone soup special, baked stuffed shrimp with spinach and rice pilaf, and finally the pistachio cream cake.

Beef Minestrone

Baked Stuffed Shrimp

Pistachio Cream Cake

The dishes were pretty typical, I feel, nothing much to shout out about. Thankfully I was still able to save about $15 from this transaction. After dinner, I still had time to rush to Dick's Sporting Goods at Lincoln Plaza on 525 Lincoln Street to grab a bike rack for my car in preparation for a mountain bike which I intend to use for riding the several rail trails in Massachusetts.

April 9th 2012: Lunch at Buca Di Beppo, Shrewsbury and Dinner at Shangri-La, Worcester

Today,we had a company lunch at Buca Di Beppo to celebrate our achievements in recent months. I had had another company lunch there in months past, but today was the first time we actually could order from the main menu in the main restaurant. The design of the restaurant was pretty similar to the restaurant's predecessor, Vinny T's, but the menu was really lacking in variety for lunch.

I decided to go for one of the few things on the menu which seemed agreeable and unique to me, the Penne San Remo.

I wasn't expecting much, but the dish was actually pretty good, and I enjoyed my lunch. I couldn't say the same for everyone else though.

As I was about done with lunch, my friend called me to tell me he was dropping by in town, so I had him over at my place, and we went for dinner at Shangri-La, a new Chinese-Japanese restaurant in Worcester, where I had a Livingsocial deal. The interior decor was pretty decent, although I've seen better, but the restaurant was pretty large for a Chinese restaurant in this area.

We actually were not really hungry, so we just looked for interesting dishes on the menu to eat to fulfill the $30 minimum. We decided to get the Morgan Roll and the Cortelyou Roll, but as my friend did not like spice, we had the spicy mayo removed from both dishes, but it ended up making both rolls boring and tasteless in my opinion.

Cortelyou Roll

Morgan Roll

On the waitress' recommendation, we also got the seafood soup, but I felt that there was too much scallions and pea pods in the soup, although my friend liked it thoroughly and finished all of it.

Seafood Soup

Our final dish, the Scallop Kaiyaki appetizer, finally came when we were already almost done. I have to say though that it was pretty artistic and tasty too, coming in a martini glass complete with a cherry on the side. The glass contained grilled scallops on a bed of grilled crabmeat and Japanese seaweed, and it was the best dish for the night.

April 7th 2012: Another Day Out with Mom

Today, my mom wanted to do more shopping, so I decided to take the opportunity to visit the Wegman's store in Northborough, which many of my colleagues had previously commented to be larger than any supermarket. They were actually quite right, although somewhere in my mind, the place was still much bigger than it actually is.

This place has a huge food court buffet style, where almost everything except pizza and some other stuff are charged by weight instead of food type. We were a little afraid that there would not be an area for us to sit, but apparently there is a huge dining area as well. The food itself was okay, but cheap all the same.

After shopping around in Northborough Crossing where Wegman's is located, my mom asked me to take her somewhere interesting, so I decided to bring her to Mount Wachusett in Princeton first, but by the time we got there, the gate was already closed, and as my mom was not akin to climbing up the 2000 ft mountain, we had to give up this time. We then headed to Clinton to view the Wachusett Dam and the quaint town center. We then headed to Dexter Drumlin in Lancaster, where my mom grudgingly climbed up the gentle slopes of the small hill to the top and the great views there.

Running out of places with great views and no hikes to go to, I finally decided on Moore State Park in Paxton, but along the way there, we happened to pass through the town of West Boylston, where I remembered that the Old Stone Church area was pretty scenic, so we decided to head there instead. There were several people fishing along the shores of the Wachusett Reservoir here today, and the views of the church were as beautiful as when I first came here.

With that, my mom was finally satisfied, and on request due to the cold day, we went back to Pho Dakao in Worcester for dinner, as all she wanted was a bowl of hot soup. She got a bowl of Beef Pho, this time without the pho, and a claypot of caramelized pork (Thit Ko To), while I decided to try the Bo Kho (beef stew) with pho noodles.

Bo Kho

Thit Ko To

The beef stew was delicious, although it was more a soup than a stew, while the pork was a little on the salty side, but still good, and went well with rice.

We could not finish everything though, so we had more leftovers to take home. With that, another day of showing my mom the best Massachusetts had to offer ended.

April 6th 2012: Having Dinner with a Friend From Out of Town

Today, I got a call from my friend that he was in town for a job interview, but as my mom was still visiting, I could not spend much time with him, but I managed to etch some time out after dinner to bring him to Feng Asian Bistro in Millbury. The place was filled with people, but we were still able to find a seat immediately beside the bar.

My friend had to convince me to get a drink as always, and I got the Lychee Bellini on the fly, complete with a cherry at the bottom, while my friend got the raspberry colada.

Raspberry Colada (left)
and Lychee Bellini (right)

My drink was pretty good, although the aftertaste of alcohol was still a little strong for me. The food then came soon after. We had ordered 3 rolls, namely the special Blackstone Roll, the Angry Dragon Roll, and the Yayoi Roll, which had mango and cherry tomatoes in it, while my friend also got the Yaki Soba with beef, thinking it was a noodle soup, when there is absolutely no mention of any on the menu.

Blackstone Roll

Angry Dragon Roll

Beef Yaki Soba

Yayoi Roll

Of all the rolls, I liked the Blackstone Roll the best, and the Angry Dragon Roll had a pretty unique taste too, mainly due to the Rutta sauce and BBQ eel sauce with it. The Yaki Soba turned out to be excellent as well, even though my friend was disappointed with the lack of soup at first.

It was good to see my friend again. Unfortunately, I could not spend more time with him over the weekend, so I decided to lend him my PS3 for the weekend. I won't be using it with my mom around anyway.

April 1st 2012: Bringing My Mom to Quabbin Park, Ware

This morning, my mom and I decided to do some grocery shopping for Asian foodstuff at the Mekong Market on 747 Main Street in Worcester. After bringing home the groceries, we finally decided to set out for the day, grabbing some Vietnamese lunch first at Pho Dakao in Worcester, with my mom getting the Crispy Rolls appetizer and a small bowl of Pho Dac Biet, while I got the Lemongrass Beef dish.

Crispy Rolls

Lemongrass Beef

My mom was a little apprehensive that there would be too much lemongrass in the beef, but it ended up being really delicious. She enjoyed the Beef Pho as well, saying it was much better than back home in Singapore.

With that, we headed to Quabbin Park in Ware, although it started drizzling by the time we started our walk to the Goodnough Dike. Thankfully, we had our coats with hoods on, so we proceeded anyway. At the dike, my mom enjoyed the extremely beautiful view of the Quabbin Reservoir, though slightly marred by the gloomy weather, but she did not want to walk all the way across the dam, so we backtracked to our car, then headed to the Enfield Outlook, where we stopped to take a few pictures here.

Next, we headed to the Quabbin Tower, but my mom did not want to climb the stairs to the top, so we stayed below and took a few pictures here.

Lone Tree on the hill

View at the base of Quabbin Tower

From here, we headed to the Quabbin Spillway, and the waterfalls near Winsor Dam, where my mom took a few pictures with her camera while I waited at my illegally parked car.

Finally done for the day, we decided to head to East Brookfield for a Thai dinner at the Thai House Restaurant. This place was pretty decently decorated, but the food was very Americanized as well.

We ended up ordering the Sweet and Sour Shrimp and Basil Fillet of Cod because my mom did not want any curry, and as it did not come with rice, we decided getting the Sriracha Fried Rice as well.

Sriracha Fried Rice

Sweet and Sour Shrimp

Basil Filet of Cod

We ended up not finishing much of our dinner, being still full from lunch, but we could not resist trying the Fried Banana covered with honey and sesame seeds for dessert.

It was okay I guess, and after finishing it, we headed home for the day.