Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Recommended Places to Visit: Norfolk

Recreation
Water Bodies
Bush Pond
14 Lawrence Street

City Mills Pond
361 Main Street

Comeys Pond
381 Main Street

Cress Brook Pond
37 Lake Street

Populatic Pond
~56 Lakeshore Drive

Kingsbury Pond
28 Kingsbury Road


Beaches
Mirror Lake
Mirror Lake Avenue


Hiking
Recommended:
Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary
108 North Street


Architecture
Monuments
Town Common
Union Street and Main Street


Places of Worship


Schools
H Olive Day School
232 Main Street


Historical Buildings
Grange Hall
28 Rockwood Road


Town Facilities
Public Library
139 Main Street

Town Hall
1 Liberty Lane


Restaurants
Highly Recommended:
Italian
Guido's Italian Restaurant (closed)
218 Dedham Street
Recommended Dishes:
Clam Chowder
Mixed Grill
Stuffed Quahog

Tried:
Western
Novato's Bar and Grill
218 Dedham Street
Recommended Dishes:
Thanksgiving Turnover
Scallops and Bacon Mac and Cheese

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

August 26th 2014: 7 Course Dinner Tasting with a Friend at Bergamot, Somerville

Today after work, I met up with a friend who I thought was visiting from Texas for a 7 course tasting dinner at Bergamot, the top restaurant in Somerville. As it turned out, she was going to stay in Massachusetts for a while as she hated living in Texas. Anyway, I don't think anyone else is interested in the details of that, so on to the restaurant and the food.

To be honest, I was expecting much more from the decor for the top restaurant in Somerville, but it wasn't too bad either.

We started off with olive bread and butter,

along with a mushroom pate.
Not too bad, with the pate having mild flavors of all its components.

Our first course was a salad of Heirloom Tomatoes (Lobster, Basil Aioli, Bacon-Brioche Crumb),
which was really tasty with all the ingredients eaten together, especially because of the basil.

Our next course was another kind of salad, the Smoked Bluefish (Corona and Romano Beans, New Potato, Eggplant Puree, Farm Egg). 


Once again, a perfect combination of ingredients, the saltiness of the smoked fish being balanced by everything else on the plate.


The Andalusian Gazpacho (Grilled Calamari, Chickpeas, Mizuna)

was a little sour for me, but still pretty good.

Our 4th course, the Buccatini (Woodbury Clam, Cherry Tomatoes, Chorizo Dust, Whipped Eggplant, Anchovy)
 also contained tomatoes, which was becoming a trend by now. The pasta was still excellent, of course.

The Pan Seared Local Hake (Yukon Gold Potato, Braised Celery, Marinated Green Tomatoes, Tongue of Fire Beans, Cuisson)

was cooked just right, although I felt the sourness of the tomatoes did not jive well with the rest of the dish, which my friend declined to agree with.

Finally, a dish without tomatoes. I ate everything on the Grilled Sirloin Steak (Green and Yellow Beans, French Breakfast Radish, Sweet Onion, Miso-Whole Grain Mustard Sauce) 

plate except for the onions, which I gave to my friend in exchange for her steak fat. She does not know what she's missing out on.

It was on to the desserts, with a complimentary Plum Sorbet arriving first.
 I'm not a fan of Plum, but thankfully there wasn't too much of the plum taste in the sorbet.

The final course came in the form of the Roasted Banana Custard (Blueberry Ice Cream, Macadamia Nuts, Lemon Curd, Raspberries).

Amazing combination of flavors, although the sourness of the raspberries did not go well with everything else.

There was one more dish, in the form of some sort of cake-bread,
although it wasn't anything extraordinary. I don't know why they ended the meal with it. Oh well.

Overall, a pretty good meal, especially because I got to treat my friend with a Groupon. I still think Sarma is a better restaurant though. It should be #1 instead.

Monday, August 25, 2014

August 25th 2014: Dinner at Scioli's Pizza Bar and Grille, Milford

Today after work, I headed to Scioli's Pizza Bar in Milford for dinner, passing by Upton
Old Knowlton Hat Factory
along the way.

This place is more a bar restaurant than a pizza takeout place, but I had to see why they were called a pizza bar. The pizzas on the menu weren't very inspiring, but I had hope that the Meat Lovers (sausage, pepperoni, hamburger, bacon, tri cheese blend) I got would taste awesome,

but it was just typical, even when fresh and piping hot. What a disappointment. Thankfully I had a deal I could use here.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

August 24th 2014: Finishing My Hikes in Lincoln

My first hike this morning was around Farrar Pond in Lincoln.  The path I took here after parking at the lot at 23 South Great Road is shown below in black.
At this time of morning, the mist was just lifting from the water surface,
 and as I carried on, there were more views of the pond to come.
After finally making it all the way around the pond and back to my car, I went on another short hike at Adams Woods. The path I took here from the end of Old Concord Road is shown below in black.
There wasn't much to see here though, although there were horses on the farm by the trail at the beginning.
From here, I decided to head to Watertown to have breakfast at the Deluxe Town Diner, a small town diner with an interesting array of pancakes on its menu. I decided to go with a Sweet Potato Flapjack (New Orleans style, light and naturally sweet),

along with a cup of Hot Chocolate

and the Southwestern Chili Omelette (homemade chili as a filling topped with melted cheddar, sour cream and guacamole on the side).
the pancake had a little too much cinnamon for my liking, although the omelette was delicious with the chili. This place was pretty packed with people the whole time I was here though.

With that, it was on to another busy day of doing food truck stuff, and by the time I was done, it was already pretty late, and I totally forgot to grab something to eat, which means I am eating a bowl of instant noodles as I type this entry. Have a good work week ahead, everyone.










Saturday, August 23, 2014

August 23rd 2014: Celebrating My Friend's Birthday

I started my day in Stoughton to finish my hike at the Bird Street Conservation Area where I left off yesterday.

This time, the path I took is shown below in black.
 Welch Pond wasn't too bad a view to say the least, although it took me a while to get there.
Unfortunately, I still missed out on another portion of the area, so I'll have to go back again in the near future.

From here, it was on to the town of Brockton,
Monument, Brockton Fire Museum
where I took a long drive to check out the beautiful ponds and the tower at the DW Field Park.


I also ventured into the Avon portion of the park, where Brockton Reservoir is located.
In Avon, I visited a few places
Christmas Tree Shops
Moses Curtis Park, 1 East Main Street
Civil War Monument,
East Main Street and West Main Street
Avon Baptist Church
St. Michael's Church, 87 North Main Street
John J DeMarco Park, 103 North Main Street
before going to grab some pizza from Avon House of Pizza at 163 Main Street in town, getting a Hawaiian Pizza

and the AHOP Special Sub (Steak tips and grilled chicken with feta cheese, lettuce and creamy house dressing). 
Nothing special, really. From here, it was on to the town of Holbrook
Brookville Bible Church
St. John's Episcopal Church
St. Joseph's Church
Lake Holbrook, 75 Fagus Road
before heading for my second meal at Jit's Sports Lounge and Grill in Randolph.

I got the New England Clam Chowder (Cream based clam chowder flavored with rich bacon fat and fresh cracked pepper),

the Curry Bone In Wings (House seasoned, baked then fried, and tossed with curry sauce),

the Baked Haddock (Fresh haddock cooked in white wine and butter sauce then topped with Ritz cracker bread crumbs)

and the Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.
Other than the clam chowder, which was pretty good because of the bacon in it, everything else was pretty horrible, the fish not being fresh, and the wings having very little sauce on it. Even the shortcake was uninspiring. Definitely not coming back here.

I went on short hikes at the Blue Hills Reservation next, checking out the Duck Pool in the Randolph section, where the path I took is shown below in pink.

Nothing much to see here though.
I went to see the St. Moritz Pond in the Quincy area as well, the path I took highlighted below in pink.

Once again, more of a swamp than a pond.
At this point, it was almost low tide, so I took this opportunity to head to what I call Moon Island Beach at Border Street and Bayside Road, where I could head all the way to the bridge to Long Island with low water levels.

The boats moored here are pretty much stranded at low tide,
and the views were beautiful this clear day.
It was a decent walk to Moon Island itself,
and I actually spotted a sleepy budgerigar on the rocks along the way.
I think it escaped from its owner. Hope it fares well in the wild.

Things got a little rocky from here on out to the bridge itself,



but the views of places like Deer Island, Spectacle Island

and the Boston Logan Airport were pretty rewarding.
After finally making it all the way back to my car, it  was on to Cambridge,
Beat the Belt, 13 Riverside Road
before stopping in Boston at the In House Cafe, a deli in the Allston area with a Mediterranean twist where students head to to study,

where I got a meat pie
that was just okay. Apparently they do good crepes here. I guess I'll come back here again for them.

Soon it was time to head to dinner with friends at Shanghai Gate close by, as my friend was celebrating her birthday.

I have been here once in the past, but as I was with people who did not understand Chinese cuisine, we did not really order the right stuff. This time, my friend knew better. We got the Wild Vegetable and Beancurd (Fresh wild vegetables served with 5 spice tofu),

the Four Treasure Tofu (Tofu braised with wood ear and peanuts), the Lion's Head Casserole (House-made meat balls stewed with baby greens),

the Chicken with Broccoli,

the Pork Steamed with Preserved Vegetables (served with steamed bread),

the Black Bean Chicken Wraps (Diced chicken marinated and seared in black bean sauce, served with cool lettuce leaves),

the Braised Pig Knuckle in Brown Sauce,

the Sauteed Kangkung

and the Da Chian Fish (Braised in garlic with meat sauce).
Definitely much better this time around.

It wasn't the end of the night though, as we headed to Malden for a karaoke session at 1986 KTV, a new place that opened at 76 Exchange Street recently. This place is pretty fancy, being all up in lights, and it was cool that you could write stuff on the TV screen, although like snapchat, it disappeared after a while. Oh, and you can drink here, unlike most of the other karaoke establishments in the area.

I didn't really like the song selection technology though, and they were still not very up to date either, although most of the new songs were in their original music video form. In that respect, I still prefer Do Re Mi in Boston better, although this place comes pretty close.