September 18th 2013: Dinner at Tu Y Yo, Somerville

Today after work, I met up with my friend for dinner at Tu Y Yo, a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant located at 858 Broadway in the city of Somerville near Tufts University. The interestingly designed menu yielded interesting food that I definitely needed to try, and we ordered all of them, namely the Tacos De Chapulines (Six deep fried mini tacos stuffed with grasshoppers and served with avocado sauce), 

the Longaniza (Mexican sausage served with sides of onions, cilantro, slices of limes, tortillas, red & green sauces),

the Quesadilla (Small corn flour turnover filled with cheese and cuitlacoche (corn's black mushroom)),

the Nopales Con Cerdo (Chopped pork tenderloin sauteed with fresh cactus in a sauce made out of green tomatoes, vinegar, ancho, mulato and pasilla peppers)

and the Chile Relleno En Nogada (Poblano pepper stuffed with ground beef, almonds, raisins, peaches and cheese, covered in a sweet creamy sauce with pomegranate and cilantro on top).

The grasshopper tacos were the most exotic dish in house, and though it looked just like spring rolls, it was the inside that was exciting, and here's the proof that I ate grasshoppers.

They actually taste really good, crispy like fried anchovies. To be honest, I was a little apprehensive at first, fearing that their legs would pierce the walls of my esophagus, but I ended up finishing all the tacos while my friend only dared to try one. 

The sausage was pretty good too, especially when wrapped in the tacos that came with it, although we had expected hot dogs instead of ground beef.

The quesadilla was disappointingly bland though, although it was cool to eat the fungus that usually grows on corn.

Sadly, I had to find out that cactus is really bitter, and as my friend ordered the dish, he had to bear the brunt of eating all of it, which was really bitter.

Thankfully, the Chile Relleno dish that I ordered was really delicious, due to the sauce and the pomegranate seeds. In fact, it is the best Chile Relleno dish I have had to date.

Overall, I highly recommend this plate, because of the unique food on the menu, the authenticity of the food, and it actually is pretty good while being cheap as well, although the grasshoppers were a little on the pricy side.

September 17th 2013: Pizza Dinner at Leoni's Brick Oven Pizza, Dudley

Today after work, I decided to grab some dinner before going bowling, choosing to grab some pizza from Leoni's Brick Oven Pizzeria in the town of Dudley, choosing to go with the Unusual Pizza, consisting of a weird combination of pineapples, bacon and jalapenos,

along with an order of Spicy Curly Fries.

The fries were alright I guess, while the pizza was pretty interesting in terms of taste, although it was a little spicy for me.

I also visited New Pond

and Hayden Pond, located on opposite sides of 130 Hayden Pond Road in town

and Pierpont Meadow Pond at 30 Hayden Pond Road.

From here, I headed to bowling in Auburn. Thankfully, my team won all 3 games today.

September 16th 2013: A Pig Roast at Citizens Public House and Oyster Bar, Boston

Today after work, I had a dinner appointment to have a pig roast at the Citizen Public House and Oyster Bar, a pretty nice bar restaurant in the Fenway area of Boston.

This involves eating an entire roasted pig, shared between over 10 people, no kidding.

After waiting for everyone to arrive, it was finally time to start the feast. First came the raw bar, consisting of oysters, littlenecks and shrimp, which one can't go wrong with as long as they are fresh.

The pig was then brought out to be shown to us, and we were told of its origins, and how it would be prepared for us.

After taking the pig away, more food was to come while we were waiting for the meat. First the caesar salad,

then the carrots,

the grits,

and the mushrooms.

Finally the meat came out, all in different parts and manageable pieces.

Excluding the head, the best cuts of meat were the stuffing, which was flavorful, the skin, which was not hard and pretty crispy, the ribs, which did not have much meat but were seasoned really well, and the belly was simply scrumptious.

Next came out the head, neatly dissected, leaving only the jaw behind with the snout still attached.

Pretty much half the table was afraid to try the head pieces. I have to say that the pork "oyster" is definitely the best cut of pork meat, though pretty small, while the tongue and snout were delicious too, the tongue feeling like a cased sausage, and the snout being a little hard but still crispy. The brain of course was the best part, being smooth and creamy like pate. My friends were amazed that I could eat it straight up.

At the end of the night, there was still so much leftovers that all of us had a big portion to take home. One of my friends even took home the jaw.

Overall, it was an extremely fun night meeting new people and having a lot of laughs. I definitely recommend doing the pig roast here, although you need at least 10 people for it to happen.

September 15th 2013: A Terrible Meal at Fuloon, Malden

After a day of doing food truck stuff, we decided to get some food at Fuloon, yes again. We ordered the spicy fish soup dish again, along with the Special Garlic and Red Pepper Crab.

There was too little fish in the soup, while there was little meat in the crab as well, and it did not taste fresh either. Definitely my worst meal here ever.

September 14th 2013: The New England Indonesian Festival, Boston

This morning, I had fencing again, so I decided to head to Lowell for  breakfast, grabbing it at Ray Robinson's  Sandwich Shoppe, a small place at 201 Central Street which looks very dirty and run down. Even the Steak and Eggs I got were crappy, the steak not being very fresh at all.

Definitely one of the worst breakfasts I have had to date, and I'm not going back ever again.

After a disappointing breakfast, I visited a few other places in town,

including the fenced up Christian Hill Reservoir, located on the corner of Beacon Street and Reservoir Street, which has nice views from the top of the small hill overlooking the reservoir.

My next destination was the Rogers Fort Hill Park. The fountain

and the gateway at the bottom of the park were pretty nice,

although there weren't any views at the top of the hill.

Other places I visited in town today before heading to fencing in Wilmington at Vivo Fencing Club for the second time follow.

Moody Elementary School

Nicole Conservation Land

Lowell First Church of the Nazarene

ISSO Shree Swaminarayan Temple

I was late for fencing, but thankfully, they had only just warmed up and were putting on the equipment, so I managed to put in some fencing time before I had to leave to pick up my friend to go see the New England Indonesian Festival, held on Copley Square in Boston.

We took the train into Boston to check out the festival,

which already had long lines queuing up for the food, which ran out really quickly. Thankfully, we were still able to get some food, including ikan bilis.

I have to say the performances on the main stage were pretty good,

especially the angklung concert,

which everyone in the audience enjoyed, although they probably could not understand what was being sung.

Other than that, there wasn't much else to see,

Trishaw

so we decided to head out to Cambridge to eat at Koreana, a pretty nice Korean restaurant in town.

For food,

we decided to get the Miso Soup (tofu, seaweed, scallions in a miso soup),

the Duenjang Chigae (Beef, vegetables in soybean paste based stew)

and the Jeonbokjook (Abalone in rice porridge).

With regard to the soup, it was just alright, and was interesting that we had to pay 2 bucks for it, when it is usually provided free with meals at Japanese restaurants, while my porridge was a little bland with very few pieces of abalone. The soybean paste stew was actually pretty good though. Overall, I would give this place a recommend, although it was not the best of meals.

From here, my friend and I parted ways, and I headed to Malden to do some food truck stuff. After we were done, we headed to Pho Hoa in town for dinner, where everyone else ordered pho while I decided to get the Chanh Muoi (Salty Lemon Drink)

and the Chim Cut Chien (Roasted Quail). 

I wasn't a fan of the drink, tasting more like salted dried plum than lemon, although the quail was actually pretty tasty, though pretty bony as can be expected.

Overall, my day did not feel very productive, although it was good to be able to catch up with good friends.

September 13th 2013: Lunch in Shirley, Dinner in Holliston

Today at lunch, I decided to head out to the town of Shirley

Old Fire Engine,
8 Leominster Road

President Building, 17 Leominster Road

Engine Hall, 1 Harvard Road

for lunch at Piccolino's Restaurant, a typical bar restaurant at 4 Mill Street in town. I passed by a few places in town along the way.
 At the bar, I ordered the Seafood Chowder for soup,

the  Hawg Wings (tender pork legs grilled with Spicy BBQ sauce) for appetizers,

and the Vermont Burger  (0.5lb Angus burger topped with hickory smoked bacon and Vermont cheddar) with seasoned fries for my main dish.

The chowder was alright I guess,  while the legs were actually pottery tender and went well with the BBQ sauce. Unfortunately, there was no sauce on the burger, which made out really plain and I had to salvage it with ketchup.

Overall, not a place worth coming back to for the food.

After work, I decided to head into the town of Holliston for dinner, passing by the town of Millbury,

New Creation Baptist Church

then going to find the historic manmade cave in Upton at the Upton Heritage Park at 18 Elm Street, which I missed out on the last time I was here. This time, I managed to find it.

 The "cave" itself was pretty small, but strangely devoid of any wildlife, so I wasn't bugged in any sense of the word the whole time I was inside taking pictures of the round enclosed space in the dark.

From here, I visited Fiske Millpond on the corner of Fiske Mill Road and Pond Street,

before I headed into Hopkinton to visit Sandy Beach on the shores of Lake Maspenock at the end of Hayward Street.

I also visited the Ice House Pond at ~66 West Main Street.

Finally it was time for dinner at Casey's Publichouse in Holliston. Again like at Piccolino's, another typical bar restaurant. Here, I had $40 to spend, which meant having to get a lot of food, including the French Onion Soup (Home Made Onion Soup baked under a crouton with Swiss Cheese),

the Grilled Blackened Kielbasa (butterflied smoked kielbasa, dusted with blackened seasoning and served with horseradish sauce),

the Jamaican Jerk Wings,

the Pub Burger (2 8oz All Angus Beef Patty grilled to your preference, topped with 4oz of our smoked pulled pork, applewood bacon, BBQ sauce, coleslaw and cheddar cheese with sweet potato hand cut fries)

and finally the Oreo Pie (Vanilla Ice Cream and Ground Oreo Cookie served in Pie Crust). 

The soup was just alright, while the wings were disappointingly bland. The kielbasa was salty, but pretty good, especially with the horseradish sauce, while the burger was pretty massive and I could hardly finish it at all. The sweet potato fries were really soggy though. Thankfully, the dessert helped to salvage the meal, but my impression of the place is already set. Definitely not for me.