November 27th 2013: Dinner at Peking Garden, Grafton

Today after work, I decided to get Chinese takeout from Peking Garden, a small takeout place at 206 Worcester Street in Grafton, since all the other restaurants were probably not opening for long on Thanksgiving Eve.

I decided to get the Crispy Orange Flavored Beef, which did not come with rice and I had to cook some instant noodles to go with it.

The beef wasn't crispy at all to say the least. Really disappointing meal.

November 26th 2013: Dinner at Royal India Cafe, Shrewsbury

For lunch, our boss decided to take us out to Ceres Bistro in Worcester. I have been here many times, but the lunch menu today was pretty different. After looking at it, I decided to get the Cream of Crab Soup

and the Crab Crusted Burger (signature all beef patty, lump crab, Swiss, lettuce, tomato, lemon aioli, hand cut fries). 

Both dishes were actually pretty good in my opinion.

Other appetizers were ordered as well, including the Fried Calamari (fresh parmesan gremolata, peppadew, smoked tomato mayo),

the Coriander Crusted Seared Tuna (honey Sriracha, seaweed salad, pickled ginger, the House Pickled Vegetable, Olive Tapenade and Hummus (piano paper bread, grilled naan, roasted garlic cloves, herb oil),

and even a single Oyster on the Half Shell (Champagne mignonette, cocktail sauce).

The calamari was delicious as always, as was the tuna. The olive tapenade was a little too salty for my liking, however.

For entrees, some of my colleagues got the Sweet Soy and Ginger Braised Salmon (wasabi risotto, edamame, pea shoots and sugar snaps),

the Pan Seared Swordfish (cajun dust, signature rice blend, crab-mango salsa, fresh vegetables)

and the Hanger Steak and Frites (Hand Cut Fries, House Steak Sauce).

Of them, I was able to try the steak, and though my friend did not like it, I actually thought it was pretty good.

After work and before bowling, I decided to try out the newly opened Royal India Cafe, an nice Indian restaurant located in Shrewsbury.

There wasn't much people here when I came, considering it was still early. I decided to get the Boti Kebab Masala (Lean pieces of lamb marinated for 24 hours in yogurt and spices, baked on skewers in the tandoor and then finished in a tangy, spicy red sauce).

The curry was actually really good. Yet another Indian place to recommend here.

November 25th 2013: Dinner at Royal East Restaurant, Cambridge

Today after work, I had plans to go for a second round of salsa dancing lessons at the YWCA with Rumba Y Timbal in Cambridge with my friend. After picking her up from work, we decided to have dinner at Royal East Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant in Cambridge which also serves Malaysian food. The decor is pretty typical for a Chinese restaurant, so I did not take any pictures of it. For food, as we did not want to eat too much before dancing, we decided to get the Satay Chicken (Marinated chicken on skewer grilled to perfection, Served with Malaysian peanut sauce. Diced cucumber on the side),

the Roti Canai (Hand tossed crispy and puffy Malaysian pancake freshly made to order. Served with curry chicken),

the Kang Kung Belacan (Hollow greens sauteed with famous Malaysian mildly spicy shrimp paste) and the Aromatic Hainanese Rice.

Of all the dishes, I was only disappointed with the Satay Chicken, which were simply deboned chicken wings on skewers. The rest of the food was pretty good, though not as good as Penang in Boston. After dinner, we headed to the dance hall, where my friend pretty much outshone me on the dance floor, even though it was her first time. I was actually rather demoralized by that, more because I don't think I'm really cut out for dancing after all. Oh well. I'm glad my friend had fun though.

November 24th 2013: The 17th Boston International Fine Arts Show

This morning, I organized a meetup event for my group at the 17th Boston International Fine Arts Show, located within the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama in the South End area of Boston. As I had to pick my friend up, I was a little late, but thankfully the organizers of the show would not let us in until the show started properly anyway, and by then I had already arrived.

I have never been inside the Cyclorama before, so it was nice to see what it was like.

The paintings were pretty good too, coming from several galleries in the New England area and elsewhere, with some costing millions of dollars. None of my meetup friends could bother to afford one, to say the least. Pictures I took here, though not many due to concerns about copying, follow.

After everyone was done viewing the paintings at the show, a group of us decided to go to Chau Chow City for some dimsum. This place has 2 levels, with dimsum being served in pushcarts on the 2nd floor. We ate a lot today, but in the end, it was still less than $15 a person. Cheap, and good.

From here, my friends suggested that we go try the Egg Puffs from the shop of the same name at 42 Beach Street. This small store is located inside a small food court, with a single old lady manning the station.

I originally thought it would be 3 bucks per puff, but it is actually for an entire bunch. Wow. And they are so good. Glad my friend recommended this place.

From here, we parted ways, and I decided to head into the East Boston area to do some sightseeing there. At the East Boston Memorial Park at 143 Porter Street, it was already so cold and extremely windy, that I almost gave up and went home at that point. I decided to stay however and take pictures.

East Boston Memorial Stadium,

End of Logan Airport Service Drive

At the Bayswater Street Urban Wild, there were nice southern views of the ocean and the Boston skyline as well.

From here, I headed to the town of Winthrop, where I visited a few beaches until the sun went down for good.

Winthrop Beach

Halford Beach, 156 Sewall Avenue

Short Beach,

Upland Road and Revere Street

With the sun completely set, I decided to head to Waltham for dinner at the Playmakers Sports Bar and Grill, a sports bar located along Moody Street.

For food, I got the Cajun Shrimp (seasoned sauteed shrimp with side of cocktail sauce),

the Steak Tips (fine cut, marinated with house special sauce)

and the Shrimp Quesadilla (grilled flour tortilla stuffed with jack and cheddar cheese).

The food was actually pretty good, though nothing very exciting to write about. With that, I ended my day of fun. I'm glad I made several new friends.

November 23rd 2013: Hanging out with a Friend

This morning, I was to meet up with a friend for lunch, but before that, I decided to do some hiking in the morning. I went to the town of Clinton first, walking the Mossy Pond Trails, located at the end of Rogers Field Way, to view Mossy Pond itself. The trail I took is shown below in black.

Here, I managed to get right to the water's edge, so the pond views were pretty good.

Heading next to the town of Maynard, I first went for a small hike at the Durant Pond Conservation Area, where I walked around the small pond located here, as shown below in pink.

This pond is pretty nice as well.

The next place I went to was the Blue Jay Woods, located at the end of Blue Jay Way. The rough path I took here to try to find the water body here is shown below in pink.

Unfortunately, the paths here are so overgrown that I had to bash through the woods to get to the pond, and it wasn't even much to look at. I somehow managed to get out, but picked up a deer tick along the way that I thankfully spotted climbing up my jeans leg. I killed it promptly, of course.

From here, it was on to the town of Wayland, where I first went to hike at the Castle Hill Conservation Area, located on Alpine Road. The path I took to see School House Pond is shown below in pink.

The views of the pond were not many, although I was on top of a high ridge most of the way, so I could still see the large pond through the trees.

I tried to find the trail to get to Concord Road, but the paths seemed to be flooded, and I did not want to be wading through the mud, so I gave up and headed back the way I came to get back to my car. Not too bad a hike though.

The next place I went to in town was the Upper Mill Brook Conservation Area. The path I took from the corner of Peartree Lane and Glezen Lane is shown below in black.

The first part of the trail was simple enough, until I tried to get from Point C to Point B, where the path became flooded, and I was forced to backtrack to get lost and going to Point L first, then heading back the right way to Point D and proceeding to Point K from there.

After taking a picture of Benjamin Pond,

I headed to point A, where I mistakenly headed out to the parking lot instead of walking back around the pond to point M. I realized my mistake thankfully and headed back the right way, whereupon after I finally exited the area on Glezen Lane, I was able to walk all the way back to my car. Overall, there was nothing much to see here in this large place, so I don't recommend coming back.

At this point, my friend called to remind me of our lunch appointment, so I headed to her place to pick her up, and head to the Taste of Karibu Restaurant, a small Ugandan cafe located in the town of Waltham that I have been to before.

We both got Karibu Chai Tea, which wasn't too bad,

and my friend got the Nkoko Kuku (Chicken Stew), while I got the Ngege Samaki (tilapia stew), which came with Chapati (Afro Bread) and Muwogo (Steamed Cassava).

Both stews were actually pretty good, although I would have preferred it if my fish did not have that much bones to contend with.

In the middle of the meal, the 2 year old daughter of the store owner came over to our table, and we had fun playing with her for while. She kept playing with my phone and my camera, and she was actually smart enough to know how to take pictures without me even teaching her, and she proceeded to take tons of pictures with it, some decent, some not so much. However, all good things have to come to an end, and we had to get the father to get her to give me my camera back. She also refused to let us leave, standing in the way of the door. Another customer had to bring her into the restaurant before we could leave. So adorable.

From here, we went to explore the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Watertown, where the views from the top of the tower were as awesome as always, although it was really windy and cold, and we only stayed up there for a short while.

From here, we decided to head to a nearby cafe in Cambridge, namely the Sofra Bakery and Cafe. This place is pretty small, although they sell really unique Mediterranean desserts with twists to them. For drinks, my friend got the Sahlep (tea made with steamed milk, ground orchid bulbs, cinammon), while I got the Rooibos Latte.

Both drinks were pretty good, although the Sahlep had a little too much cinnamon for my liking.

For dessert, we got the Milk Chocolate Tahini Cups,

and the Maureos (with Milk Jam).

I especially liked the Maureos, which were pretty much like Oreos with a different sort of cream.

The rest of the food on the menu looked really good as well, but as we had a potluck dinner to go to later tonight, we had no choice but to forgo it.

From here, we went for a little bit of shopping at the Prudential Center, and I went to Crazy Dough's Pizza nearby to get 2 large pizzas for the potluck, namely the Reuben and the Potato Bacon Cheddar, the same pizzas I got the last time I visited the branch in Brighton.

From here, we went for the Potluck at a friend's place in South Boston, and had a blast playing games like Pictionary, Cards Against Humanity and Taboo for the entire night. I never knew I could laugh so hard at extremely silly or dirty answers to posted questions in Cards Against Humanity. Definitely a good game, that one.

November 22nd 2013: Dinner with Friends at Bon Chon, Boston

Today after work, my friends called me to go have dinner with them at Bonchon Chicken in the Allston area of Boston.

I have been here several times before, so I recommended the Okonomiyaki (Japanese-style pancake with squid, shrimp, and bacon topped with bonito flakes, Japanese mayo and okonomiyaki sauce), 

and of course we had the Soy Garlic Fried Chicken and the Hot Sauce Fried Chicken. New dishes we got were the Agedashi Tofu (Lightly battered and fried soft tofu in a hearty broth, topped with bonito flakes, scallion and spicy grated daikon radish),

the Pork Belly Shioyaki (Broiled slices of garlic-marinated pork belly)

and the Okdol Bibimbap (spicy pork with rice, egg and vegetables in a sizzling stone bowl, served with red pepper paste on the side),

along with a bottle of Lychee Soju.

As always, the food was all really good. The soup for the tofu was pretty flavorful, while the Pork Belly was delicious, although the portion was a little small. The Bibimbap was extremely spicy as well. I'm just glad I did not get drunk after so many shots of soju before we finally finished the seemingly small bottle of it.

After dinner, we decided to head nearby to Infusions Tea Spa, located at 110 Brighton Avenue, for some bubble tea. I was so full from dinner that I decided to just sample from my friends' Hot Vanilla Black Milk Tea, which had Popping Boba in it,

and the Hot Grass Jelly Drink.

Both drinks were pretty good, although I'm used to grass jelly being sweeter, from my childhood days. The Popping Boba did not go well with the milk tea in my opinion, as the filling tasted more like mango.

Not a bad day for eating out with friends.