October 5th 2014: A Day of Eating in Boston

Early this morning, I headed to the town of Lynnfield to do some hiking there. I had no trail maps, so I had to wing it and hope I could find the views the two places purportedly had. My first hike was at the Partridge Island/Reedy Meadow area, accessed at the junction of Main Street and Heritage Lane. The path I took was pretty straightforward, shown below in pink.

The boardwalk brought me through the swamp,

onto the island and on to another boardwalk, which led to a viewing platform that had a commanding view of the wetlands.

After retracing my steps and returning to my car, I headed to my next hike at the Bow Ridge Reservation at the end of Ledge Road. The rough path I took here with the help of Google Maps with the terrain feature is shown below in pink.

To get to the ridge, I had to pass by the power lines,

and when I reached the ledges, I thought I had already reached my destination, but with only partial views of the Boston skyline.

I had a feeling there had to be a much better view eastwards, so I pushed on, and I was finally rewarded after emerging onto a large plateau area.

The fall foliage was beautiful as well.

In my attempt to get back to my car, I got lost, emerging elsewhere on to the road and having to walk on Canterbury Road and Salem Street to get back to my car.

From here, it was on to Boston, where I had food truck stuff to do. Before that, I decided to use my deal at Metropolitan Desserts, not knowing that it provides desserts to Angora Cafe, which I have been to before in the past, and this was where I was directed to by my deal.

I decided to go with a box of Baklava,

and the Turtle Cheesecake

Not too bad, but I was disappointed that Metropolitan Desserts wasn't a new place on its own.

As I hadn't had breakfast yet, I decided to head nearby to Cookin' Cafe and Grille, a pretty small place with a pretty uninteresting menu as well. The Pepperoni and Cheese Omelet did fill my stomach though, and there's not much you can go wrong with it.

After a day of doing food truck stuff, my friends and I headed out to celebrate at Jo Jo Taipei in the Allston area of town.

Besides the Pig Ears

and the Jo Jo Special Soup Dumplings,

we also got the Tofu with Preserved Duck Egg,

the Bamboo Shoots with Dried Beancurd,

the Spiced Beef,

the Crispy Smelly Beancurd,

the Salted Crispy Chicken

and the Crabmeat Soup Dumplings.

Except for the beancurd which was a little too strong and smelly for my liking, and the chicken which had a lot of bones, everything else was pretty tasty, although they could have sliced the beef a little thinner as well.

After dinner, we headed nearby to Infusions Tea Spa at 110 Brighton Avenue, where almost everyone got a hot tea, with me getting the Russian Caravan Tea (blend of fine black teas from China yielding soft, slightly smoky and sweet brew, bold ans savory flavor),

which was pretty good with honey as well.

With that, a day of eating out in Boston was over. My mom willing be coming over tomorrow, looking forward to that.

October 4th 2014: White Water Rafting on the Dead River

After waking up in Maine, my friends and I made our way to North Country Rivers in Bingham ME, where we were to embark on a whitewater rafting trip down the Dead River. Like all the other times I have gone whitewater rafting, we had to get our wetsuits, booties, helmets, paddles and safety jackets before going onto the bus which would take us to the start point of the rafting trip in Northwest Somerset ME. We had to walk a little further to get to our rafts,

and after putting it into the water,

we were off.

The fall foliage along the river was beautiful today,

and although we got terribly wet several times today in the rapids,

I still think Penobscot was better, mainly because there were only rapids here and no major falls.

One of my friends was a first timer, so I got him to sit in front most of the trip, and he pretty much shielded me from getting wet half the time. In order to get him to go in the water, I had to go in as well,  and he ended up staying in longer than I did. I even got pushed into the river at one point by my friend.

When it was finally over, we took the bus ride back to the base, where we had a small lunch.

Even then, we were still hungry, so on our trip back, we stopped at the rest stop on I-95 exit 25 in Kennebunk ME for a quick snack,

before heading to Woburn for a late dinner at Pho 1 at 908 Main Street. The place was pretty crowded today in the rain and all, so we had to wait for a bit for our table to become available.

We were so hungry that we all ordered a bowl of noodle soup, with everyone else getting a version of the Pho Dac Biet (Beef noodle soup with sliced rare eye round, well done flank, brisket, tendon and tripe),

while I got the Hu Tieu Nam Vang hoac Hu Tieu My Tho (Seafood and pork noodle soup combining with shrimp, seafood balls, squid, fish cake and pork).

Mine was not too bad, although the beef broth was really flavorful.

On top of our soups, my friend also got the Coconut Juice with Coconut Meat

as he was feeling dehydrated,

and my other friend got the House Fried Rice (Fried rice with chicken, beef, pork, egg, onion, scallion, tomato and red bell pepper. Garnish with cucumber cilantro)

and the Duck Basil (Crispy roasted duck topped with string bean, mushroom, carrots, bamboo shoots, onion, red bell pepper and basil leaf in thai spicy basil sauce)

for everyone to share, as he said they were really good, and they actually were, the rice being really tasty, and the duck being crispy and delicious.

After dinner, I got back to my car, and decided to head to the Showcase Cinemas in town to watch "The Maze Runner" and "The Equalizer". Both shows were really good, especially with the reclining seats in the theater, much like in Braintree, but I especially liked the first movie, and look forward to watching the sequel.

October 3rd 2014: Eating at the Burlington Mall, Burlington

My friends and I were to go white water rafting in Maine tomorrow, and decided to meet up at the Burlington Mall beforehand for dinner. I arrived a little early, so I walked around the mall for a bit,

getting a Pepperoni Pretzel from Pretzel Twister

which was pretty good even though it looked very simplistic, before finally heading to the Rainforest Cafe here to meet with the rest of my friends.

I have seen the one in Las Vegas before, but did not realize the restaurant existed elsewhere as well, especially not in Massachusetts itself. The decor was much like the Las Vegas one though, which was pretty awesome. Here are some pictures of the place, which has aquariums and moving animals, and an occasional thunderstorm to boot.

For appetizers, we got the Lava Nachos (Crispy tri-color tortilla chips topped with seasoned ground beef, peppers, onions, black beans, corn and queso sauce. Garnished with green onions, Cheddar cheese, sour cream and pico de gallo),

which were just okay I guess.

For food, I got the Taste of the Islands (Caribbean Coconut Shrimp, blackened tilapia topped with a mango salsa and dynamite scallops and shrimp),

while my friends got the Pastalaya (Shrimp, sautéed chicken, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and andouille sausage tossed in a hot and spicy Cajun sauce and served over linguini)

and the Rasta Pasta (Grilled chicken, cavatappi pasta, walnut pesto, broccoli, red peppers and spinach tossed with garlic Alfredo sauce).

My food was pretty good, especially the tilapia ans the mango salsa, while the cajun pasta was pretty tasty as well. The alfredo pasta was just so-so, however.

After dinner, we parked our cars at my friend's place in Woburn before finally carpooling and heading to Maine to stay for the night at the Quality Inn and Suites in Augusta, ME.

Looking forward to our whitewater rafting trip tomorrow on the Dead River.

October 2nd 2014: Brazilian Pizza Takeout from Lake Williams Pizza, Marlborough

Today after work, I decided to get some pizza takeout from Lake Williams Pizza in Marlborough. I went for the unique stuff, getting the X-Tudo Burger (Lettuce, tomato, corn, peas, bacon, cheese, egg, ham and potato sticks),

the Romeo and Juliet Pizza (Guava and Paste)

and the Churros (filled with Doce de Leite).

 The burger was actually pretty good, although the desserts were just so-so.

At least this is one of the better pizza places in the area.

October 1st 2014: Chinese Takeout from Hong Kong Island, Worcester

Today after work, I had to fix my garbage disposal, so after getting it from Lowe's, I decided to get Chinese takeout from Hong Kong Island at 880 West Boylston Street, getting the West Lake Beef (Crispy tenderloin beef sauteed with chef's famous sauce, garnished with crunchy broccoli). 

The beef wasn't even crispy. Interesting how so many Chinese takeout places still exist in Worcester. At least my garbage disposal works now.