October 7th 2012: The SOWA Open Market in Boston

Today I decided to check out the SOWA Open Market in Boston. On the way, I passed by the old William H Lincoln School, the current John D Runkle School in Brookline.

I decided to park on Washington Street between Franklin Square and Blackstone Square, which are pretty much mirror images of each other.

Franklin Square

Blackstone Square

As there was still some time before the market opened, I walked around for a little to take a few pictures of the buildings in the South End, including part of the Boston Medical Center.

Old Church of Immaculate Conception,
775 Harrison Avenue

Worcester Square,
between Washington Street and Harrison Avenue

Allen House,
1682 Washington Street

Moakley Building at BMC

Menino Pavilion at BMC

I finally headed to the market, where the food trucks were just starting to set up. I headed over to 460 Harrison Avenue, where the rest of the stalls are.

SOWA Open Market Food Truck area

Grillo's Pickles

Bon Me, the Dining Car, Boston Super Dog

Kickass Cupcakes and The Taco Truck

SOWA Vintage Market

Right beside the market area was an interesting tower-like building, which turned out to be part of the Pine Street Inn.

Finally, it was time to go back to the food truck area for food, where I met my chef friend who was also there to check out the food. At The Dining Car, I got the Crispy Cauliflower, served with curry aioli, which was really tasty.

The Dining Car

Chicken and Rice Guys

Crispy Cauliflower

Next, Bon Me with their Noodle Bowl, for which I got the Rice Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce and and Miso Braised Pulled Pork, which was excellent as well.

Bon Me

Rice Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce
and  Miso Braised Pulled Pork

My friend got the Smoked Pork and Chicken Tacos from BBQ Smith, which were okay in my opinion but good to him.

BBQ Smith

Smoked Pork and Chicken Tacos

From Roxy's Grilled Cheese, which had a long line and I had to wait 12 minutes for my order, I got the Fall Melt, with VT cheddar, sweet potato, cinnamon apples and raisins, and a rosemary maple dipping sauce.

Roxy's Grilled Cheese

The Fall Melt

This time, my friend wondered why I did not get a regular grilled cheese just like everybody else, as the sandwich tasted a little weird to him, although I enjoyed it.

From the Taco Truck, my friend got the Pollo Asado Torta, with guajillo marinated grilled chicken. It was nothing like the one I had in Worcester at Sol of Mexico, and both my friend and I agreed that the torta wasn't that great.

I was still not done yet, so I decided to try the Lamb Chilli from the Dining Car. This dish is made from lamb simmered with smoky ancho chiles, garlic tomatoes, and dark beer, served with a side of jalapeno corn pudding, which was pretty much cornbread. Once again, another good dish from the Dining Car.

At this, point, we decided to call it quits to eating for the moment, deciding to head to the Boston Local Food Festival on the Rose Kennedy Greenway next.

Boston from Surface Road

Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
at Tufts University

There were a lot of people at the festival, and we were already very full from the SOWA Market, so we just walked around a little to see what was going on, including a meat cutting demonstration.

Fresh Seafood

Meatcutting Demonstration

The food truck Frozen Hoagies was also here, although we were to full to get any hoagies from it.

From here, we headed all the way back to the SOWA Market where my car was, passing by a few buildings along the way.

Liberty Square,
Batterymarch Street and Liberty Square

Boston Opera House

Back at the market, we decided to get one last dessert, getting the Triple Chocolate and Californian Tart yogurts from the Froyo Truck.

The Froyo Truck

Triple Chocolate and Californian Tart Yogurt

I don't know why, but I liked the sweetness of the chocolate yogurt, while the Tart one did not really suit my fancy after I had tasted the chocolate one.

Back at my car, we headed to Cambridge next, where my friend's goal was to look for some beer at the Harvard Square Oktoberfest. Most of the roads into Harvard Square were blocked off, so I had to park far down Mount Auburn Street, past Longfellow Park at the Longfellow House.

Longfellow Park

The festival itself of a cacophony of sound, from rock bands to trumpet playing troupes, and even

Pink Trumpet Players

At the Harvard Square Oktoberfest

Rock Band Performance

I really enjoyed the performance by Wacky Chad the most, who was really funny with his jokes, timed with appropriate music, dance moves, as well as amazing stunts on a pogo stick and unicycle.

Pictures of his various tricks follow, including getting a kid to sit on his shoulders while riding a tiny bicycle.

Crazy Dance Moves

Balancing a basketball

On the Pogo stick

The Back Flip

Kid trying to ride the tiny bike in vain

Handing the bike to the kid

Riding around

Climbing the unicycle

After the performance, we decided to call it a day and head to dinner at the Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub, where I had a Groupon to use. This place is more for band performances than for food, as we were soon to find out. We decided to get the Baba Ghanooj (Smoked eggplant blended with sesame puree, spices, and lemon juice) and the Lamb Shank Cous Cous, which were both just barely edible. Definitely not coming back here for food again.

Restaurant decor

Baba Ghanooj

Lamb Cous Cous

With that, my friend had to leave early, so I decided to head home as well, as I had another long drive to New Hampshire for ziplining tomorrow.

October 6th 2012: Hiking at Mount Pemigewasset, Lincoln NH

 This morning, I had a meetup event to go hike up Mount Pemigewasset in Lincoln, NH.

I was to carpool with my friend from Worcester, so I drove to his place, passing by the Upper Room Family International Church at 75 Alvarado Avenue along the way.

After meeting my friend, we headed to the town of Lowell to pick up 2 other people before heading the rest of the way up to the Flume Gorge Visitor Center at the base of the mountain.

There were tons of people here today to see the fall foliage, which was ample here even in the parking area.

Fall Foliage

Flume Gorge Visitor Center

Inside the Visitor Center

At the Parking lot

 The path we took to go up the mountain is shown below in pink.

The ascent was pretty wooded and muddy, in light of the rain coming down on us. Thankfully I had my cap and coat on, so I did not feel much of it. A few of the people in the group got a little tired, so I offered to carry their bags for them as well. The extra weight did not stop me from reaching the top easily though. The views at the top at Indian Head were fantastic, however, even though the clouds blocked the views at times.

The walk down the mountain was much quicker, but a little more treacherous due to all the wetness.
Back at the trailhead, I took one more picture of the leaves blowing all around in the rain.

The day was not over for my group though. We decided to grab dinner back in Lowell, MA at the Red Rose Restaurant at 716 Middlesex Street, where I decided to get the Special Fried Rice with Beef Lok Lak on my friend's recommendation. And an excellent recommendation it was. The beef was crispy and tasty, definitely my first real taste of Cambodian food.

By now, I was so tired that I just slept all the way back to my car, and went home immediately from there. Another eventful Saturday for me, and the rain did not even ruin it at all.

October 5th 2012: More Takeout from Pepe's Worcester

I had to stay late again at work tonight. I decided to get some pizza takeout this time from Pepe's, ordering the Mare and Mundo, a pizza with one half made of clams and tuna, while the other was prosciutto and sausage, and trying out the Nutella Stromboli dessert.

When I got to the place, I was surprised to see this was more a bar than a pizza place, though not that fancy. I was also surprised to see that my pizza was actually pretty large, but both halves were actually pretty tasty. The nutella stromboli itself did not look all that aesthetic, although the individual pieces were pretty delicious, especially when the Nutella was still warm.

Mare and Mundo

Nutella Stromboli

Oh well, back to work for me on a Friday night. Thankfully my weekend should be more fun.

October 4th 2012: Takeout from Dragon Dynasty, Worcester

I had to stay late at work today, so I decided to get some takeout from Dragon Dynasty, a Chinese restaurant in Worcester.

I decided to get the Dinner Special of Pork Fried Rice, Chicken Teriyaki and Curry Beef, calling to pick it up.

This place is a pretty typical Chinese takeout place. Surprisingly, the dish was actually pretty good though for American Chinese food, with the curry actually being spicy for once.

October 3rd 2012: Dinner at Sol of Mexico, Worcester

Today after work, I had originally wanted to explore Newton Hill in Worcester, but due to the extremely foggy weather, I had to forgo that hike, heading to Sol of Mexico in town instead for a Mexican dinner.

This place on Pleasant Street is pretty small and simple looking, with an even simpler menu.

I decided to get the Beef Torta, which comes on a bulkie bread with chipotle mayo, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and avocado.

 What came was pretty much like a giant burger, but it was actually pretty good for a burger, although I could hardly finish it.

For dessert, I decided to get the Cheese Flan. I don't know why, but it looked more like a pecan cheesecake. It was decent I guess.

Not a place I would bring friends to, although I did enjoy my very first torta here.

October 2nd 2012: Dinner at Le Mirage, Worcester

Today after work, I decided to have some Mediterranean food at Le Mirage in Worcester. From the sound of the name, it seemed like a pretty high class restaurant, but it was actually much smaller and simpler in decor, though still pretty decent, complete with pumpkin and autumn leaf decor for the fall. It looked like a bakery from the outside, but it was actually the display case for the desserts

 I decided to get the Beef Port Saiid for dinner, after looking at the menu which was pretty typical Mediterannean food. What I did not realize was that Port Saiid is actually a pretty sour dish, and as can be expected, I did not enjoy my meal much.

That being said, the beef was actually pretty tender, and I somehow managed to finish my food. No more Port Saiid for me I guess.