January 5th 2013: Ice Skating and Playing Pool in Kendall Square

This morning, while my friend and I were dealing with some food truck business, we had to wait for a bit in the town of Plainville to get our truck inspected, so we decided to grab some breakfast while waiting, heading to Goochie's Cafe at 23 Messenger Street in town.

This place is a breakfast place which had a lot of people this Saturday morning. Thankfully, there was still space for us, so we got seated quickly. After looking at the menu, I decided to get the Roast Beef Hash and Cheese Omelette with Rosti Potatoes,

while my friend got the Blueberry Pancakes with a side of sausage.

My omelette was actually pretty good, especially since I have never had roast beef hash before. The potatoes were flavored as well, unlike most other hash browns at breakfast where you have to pour your own pepper and salt. The pancakes were just okay though, and I did not like the sausage as they were too oily.

After we were done with our business, and dropping my friend off in South End, where I passed by the LandWave monument in Peters Park,

I decided to head to Watertown to grab some lunch at East Side Wings and Grill. This place is small and very like a fast food restaurant, although I did have to wait a bit for my food to be cooked. For my 20 dollar groupon, I decided to get the 8 pack of Chicken Wings coated with Sweet Thai Chili,

and the Coolidge Burger (topped with bacon, avocado, Muenster cheese, and Jalapenño Ranch).

The wings were just okay, while the burger was interestingly good, especially with the jalapeno ranch.

From Watertown, I headed into Cambridge to the Kendall Square area, where I was to have an ice skating meetup event later that evening.

The first place I went to was the Cambridge Center Rooftop Garden, which I could not find the last time I was in the area. This time, I found it by going to the parking lot in between the Boston Marriott Cambridge and the 4 Cambridge Center building and taking the stairs all the way up to the top. There was some construction going on here, but there was still a portion that was not touched,

and the view from here of Kendall Square below was pretty decent as well.

After heading back down,  I proceeded to finish exploring MIT for the rest of the day by  first visiting the MIT List Visual Arts Center.  This place is all about contemporary art, which I absolutely hate, but here's what I was able to take in this small place which was free admission, even though for the most part, I wad not allowed to take pictures.

After leaving the place, I headed next to the MIT Museum, heading past the Stata Center area on campus.

I have to say that I enjoyed my experience at this museum, especially with the exhibitions on artificial intelligence, cute little machines that made things like wishbones walk and pieces of paper fly like birds, and vanishing glaciers comparing old and new photos of various places in the Himalayas. Pictures follow.

I finished up the rest of MIT after leaving the museum,

visiting the Compton Gallery

 and the Hart Nautical Collection as well.

Outside the McClaurin Building, I saw the magnificent views of Boston from across the Charles River, so I decided to cross over to take a few pictures of the frozen river and the setting sun.

I finished visiting all of MIT just as the sun went down,

so I headed next to the Kendall Square Community Ice Skating Rink, an outdoor skating rink, to meet my friends.

When everyone finally arrived, we got our skating shoes, and I initially decided not to use a locker for my backpack, but I soon realize how hard it was to balance myself with it on my back, so I finally decided to pay the 1 dollar needed to get a token for the locker. Even then, I still spent the entire night trying to to skate properly. I guess tonight was just not a good night for ice skating for me. Thankfully, none of my other friends were that good at it either. I blame my poor performance on the weird music that they were playing.

After a few hours of skating, we decided it was time to head somewhere for dinner. After checking out a few packed restaurants at One Kendall Square, we finally decided to go to Tommy Doyle's, an Irish bar restaurant there.

There was hardly anybody here tonight as it was already pretty late, so we were seated immediately and got down to ordering. I got the French Dip, mainly because I have never had prime rib chopped into pieces and served in a french bun with au jus sauce on the side.

My friends got the Traditional Irish Stew, made with  lamb, potatoes, carrots and celery in a Guinness stout broth,

the Fish and Chips, which doesn't need much explaining,

the Curry Chicken, made with chicken, peppers and onions sautéed in a light curry sauce over rice,

and my vegetarian friend had to get the Artichoke and Spinach Dip as that was pretty much the only thing vegetarian on that menu.

My dinner was actually really good, with the prime rib being just right and tasting so good in slices, and everyone else's food was pretty decent too, while the curry was actually pretty spicy for once. I think I'm actually gonna give this place a recommend, mainly because of the good food.

After our dinner, we decided to go to Flat Top Johnny's nearby to shoot some pool. Unfortunately, the place was pretty busy, and we had to wait for a bit to be able to play. We had a good time playing though, although I had to leave early as I had stuff to do tomorrow.

On the way back to my car, I had to take the T from Kendall Square, and while waiting for the train, some people on the other side started ringing the chimes in the middle of the tracks, and that's when I realized that they were even there. Pretty cool.

With that, I headed home for the day, tired after a long day of fun and business.   

January 4th 2013: Dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy, Boston

Today after work, I had a meetup dinner event at Maggiano's Little Italy in downtown Boston.

I was a little early, so I decided to pop into Finale, the desserterie nearby for some pre-dinner dessert,

getting the Fruit and Cream Tart.

Maggiano's is a pretty upscale restaurant with a somewhat Italian family feel to it.

After everyone arrived, we decided to order Classic Family Style, at $28.95 a person, which comes with 3 appetizers, 4 entrees and 2 desserts. The thing is, at every course (appetizers, entrees or desserts), the dishes you ordered come out non-stop at your request, until you decide to move on to the next course. For the appetizers, we got the Calamari Fritte,

the Steamed Mussels

and the Stuffed Mushrooms, made with Jumbo mushroom caps stuffed with spinach and topped with seasoned breadcrumbs, served in a garlic white wine sauce.

After several rounds of appetizers, we finally decided to proceed to the entrees. For this course, we got the Chicken and Truffle Tortellini, baked in a garlic and white wine cream sauce with smoked ham, Asiago cheese and fresh spinach,

the Linguine and Clams in White Wine Sauce with basil and tomatoes,

the Gnocchi and Italian Sausage (Ricotta pasta simmered in tomato cream sauce, finished with vodka, roasted garlic and sliced Italian sausage),

and the Eggplant Parmesan (sliced eggplant, breaded and fried, layered with Provolone cheese and marinara sauce).

In my opinion, I liked the tortellini the best, while the clams came in a distant second. The eggplant parmesan was ok I guess, but the gnocchi had a weird herbal taste.

At this point, we were already pretty full, and there were a lot of leftovers, especially the gnocchi. Guess everyone agreed that it wasn't that good after all.

For dessert, we got the Profiteroles, pastry shells filled with vanilla bean ice cream and topped with hot fudge and fresh whipped cream,

and the creme brulee (Rich and creamy vanilla custard with a hint of citrus, caramelized sugar crust, topped with fresh strawberries). 

I love cream cuffs, and the profiteroles were reminiscent of that, while the creme brulee was actually really good.

After dinner, a few of us decided to go to the Cuffs, a bar nearby in the Back Bay Hotel, for some drinks.

This place is really upscale, complete with a fireplace.

The mojito I got was pretty good,

but as I had to pick my friend up at midnight, I was forced to down it quickly, and walked around the hotel for a bit before leaving.

With that, I headed to pick up my friend then went to his place in Malden to stay the night, as we had some food truck business to deal with early tomorrow morning.

January 2nd 2013: Pizza Dinner at Blue Jeans Pizza, Worcester

Today, I had to work late, so it was time for takeout again. This time, I decided to try the Hawaiian Buffalo Chicken Pizza from Blue Jeans Pizza in Worcester.

Another typical pizza place, although there were a few people waiting for their orders when I arrived to pick my pizza up, seems pretty popular.

I thought the pizza was just okay though, nothing too fantastic, although it did come in an interestingly designed box made to look like a jeans pocket, as suggested by the name of the place. The pizza did get me through the rest of the night though.