Bowl of Berries

Since I am the best girlfriend ever, I decided I would swallow my Yankee pride and buy Scottie tickets to the Red Sox game on his birthday.  I came up with and planned the trip one afternoon and could not wait to tell him!  I am horrible at keeping secrets!  So Friday we were set to go!  Unfortunately we almost missed our flight!  We were set to take off at 7am but I still set my alarm for 4:30 to allow plenty of time to shower, finish packing and get to the airport in plenty of time.  Somehow either I didn’t set the alarm or I turned it off without knowing because at 6am, Scottie woke up and asked what time our flight was.  I was so out of it it took me a minute to realize our flight was in an hour!  We both jumped up, threw the rest of our stuff together and were out the door in 10 minutes.  Luckily we live close to the airport and only had carry ons.  We made it in plenty of time and even grabbed a coffee before take off.

The flight was an easy 90 minutes and we were in Boston by 9am.  We found our hotel which was conveniently attached to a large mall so we checked in, dropped our bags and found food!  We walked around and bit and I suggested Legal Seafood, yes it is a chain but I felt the need to eat there plus it was right there.  It was a rainy morning, but we sat at the window and the charm of the city immediately grew on me.  We started our trip with beers and after struggling with a lunch decision and decided to just bite the bullet and get a lobster roll since this is one of the things I was most looking forward to.  I did much research on the perfect lobster roll and my final conclusion was that there is not a “best” you just have to try them all out and see which YOU like best.

I very much liked this lobster roll. The brioche roll was buttered and toasted and was loaded with succulent lobster meat.  Just a bit of mayo and some lettuce…mmm perfect.  I didn’t even bother with the fries or slaw, I was stuffed!  Scottie got a mushroom and scallop ravioli that was really tasty too!  The first meal of the trip was a success!

Since Scottie joked me for my anal planning of our California trip (planned to the tee in an Excel spreadsheet)  I made no definite plans for the weekend besides the baseball game but I did make a list of restaurants that I heard were good,in case we were in the neighborhood.  We took Friday to just walk around and become acquainted with the city.  It continued to sprinkle on and off throughout the day so it wasn’t ideal to be outside but we didn’t let it damper our spirits.  We wandered through Boston Commons, the Wharf, Financial District, Newbury Street and ended up at the located of  “Cheers” and yes the outside looks like the show, the inside…looks nothing like it which I expected but we still wanted to go inside..  We walked through Fanueil Hall which was packed with food places to drool over and ended up chilling at an Irish pub, Ned Devine’s for a bit to relax and have a beer.  We then made our way back to the room to freshen up for dinner.

One of Scottie’s friends sent us a list of places he enjoyed while we lived in Boston so we took his advice and went to Shabu Zen in Chinatown.  Shabu Zen does Japanese hotpots so when you walk in there are tables around the perimeter and then there is a low bar in the middle that has a station for each patron with a pot of broth in front.  I asked to be seated at the bar as that looked like the most fun.  We were presented with a list of meats, seafood and veggies that we could order. I chose the seafood sampler and Scottie got the filet.

As soon as our menus were gathered we were poured green tea, presented with our beers, a platter of veggies, bowls of udon noodles and a few minutes later our proteins.  There were also the required equipment and additional flavorings  such as garlic, green onions, chilis, soy sauce and a semi spicy paste.  Neither of us were exactly sure what to do, we looked around to try to get an idea, then just started dumping things in the boiling broth in front of us.  There really isn’t any sort of rule book about how this is done, flavor your broth drop in some veggies and proteins and wait for them to cook.  This ofcourse takes no time as the filet is shaved paper thin and the seafood ofcourse doesn’t take long by nature. Within minutes we were scooping out items from the pot, creating a spicy broth in our bowls and adding noodles.  It was delish!  It is kinda like Japanese fondue but much cooler since you can create your own broth with the items in front of you. It was quite fun.  The other great thing is that this is relatively healthy and it is CHEAP!  Our dinner for two plus two beers was under $40.  And I can’t forget the dessert that was included.  We were presented with a sweet black bean soup.  Scottie described it as a watered down chocolate sauce with beans. It wasn’t bad but it certainly was not the start of the show.  After dinner we walked back to the hotel and had a drink at the hotel bar before bed.

I was determined to have a game plan for Saturday since we kinda spent Friday aimlessly wandering so we were up Saturday around 8 or so and decided to swim some laps in the hotel pool.  The pool was small but adequate and we got in about 25 minutes before showering up, getting some coffee and escaping the hotel fire alarms.   We grabbed breakfast at Au Bon Pain in the mall before trekking out to the Aquarium.  The New England Aquarium is pretty well known and I can see why.  While not a cheap museum I do think it was worth it as I was quite impressed with all they offered inside.  When we stepped in we looked below and saw 4 different types of penguins and a scientist giving a talk about the species.  Quite interesting and it was fun to see the penguins interact with each other  After the talked we walked around the museum, literally,it is set up in  large circle with the center being a floor to ceiling  aquarium which housed the large turtles, sharks, eels etc.  We made our way around the smaller exhibits and once at the top worked our way around and down, viewing the large center aquarium.  It was so much fun to see the creatures up close, which made for some great pictures.  Luckily by the time we left the crowds were starting to get thick, great timing on our part.

Since we were in the neighborhood, conveniently,we walked to the Harpoon Brewery.  We got tickets for the next tour and had about 40minutes to kill so we walked a few minutes to Yankee Lobster for lunch.  This is a fish market which also  sold a variety of soups, salads, rolls and full platters.  I ordered the lobster bisque and crabcake sandwich (resisting the temptation to get another lobster roll) and Scottie got the fried clam roll.  I was glad he got this as I had heard the whole bellied clams of New England were not to be missed.  After a bit of a wait we were presented with lunch and it was worth the wait.  Scottie’s clams were awesome, I loved getting the “full”clam if you know what I mean, no measly strips around these parts and my crabcake was quite flavorful and not mucked up with a lot of fillers.  We finished up and walked back to the brewery.

Our tour group was small, maybe 15 or so people and our guides were two young guys who provided  great information about the brewing process and the history of the company.  After 30 minutes we made our way up to the tasting bar.  We all tried their famous IPA then were given free range to try  whatever we wanted for the remaining 30 minutes.  All of the beers I had were quite good and I wished we could get more of them in NC.  We shopped a bit then made our way out to the next stop, the Freedom Trail.

Scottie was not excited about this but when in Boston you must walk the historical trail which goes past 16 sites.  We started just past Fanueil Hall and followed the red line (so convenient!  no map needed!) through the North End when I spotted the famous Mike’s Pastry.  As promised there was  a a line out the door so I pulled Scottie over to wait in it.  I was so excited to try one of each (I wish!) and as we made our way in who so I see but one of my best friends from college, Heather!  I was shocked as she is in med school down at ECU and how the hell was she in Boston the same time I was!  We screamed like school girls and made a scene then she said she would wait for me outside while I went in.  I was still in shock about the chance meeting but I had to focus on the task at hand.  There were so many people you couldn’t even see the full array but I knew there were a few things I had to try so once conferring with Scottie I stepped up to the counter I rattled off my order; yellow cream puff, chocolate mousse cannoli, tiramisu and an almond biscotti…all for $9!  We walked out and chatted with Heather, and her two friends and decided we must me up for dinner so we made plans to touch base after their Harpoon tour.  We parted ways and continued on to the Freedom Trail.  We stopped in a park and sat to eat the tiramisu and cream puff, both were divine.

We continued past Paul Revere’s house, the North Church where we sat in on a brief talk, a cemetary then over the bridge to the USS Constitution.  By this point I was pretty hot and tired and loved finding the Constitution muse which was air conditioned and had bathrooms.We rested for a bit then decided to take a water taxi to the aquarium instead of walking all the way back. Once on land we made our way back to Ned Divine’s for our afternoon beer.

After Heather called we decided to freshen up before dinner where we met up at Fanueil Hall to find dinner.  With nothing particular in mind we ended up at a pseudo Asian type place,it was cheap and “made to order” but the food was ok and the service was dreadful,  still we got an early start on Scottie’s birthday.  After dinner we walked to a few bars only to find a cover charge until we found a small whole in the wall with no cover but a mellow atmosphere so we figured we could shake things up. Needless to say we had a great time at the bar with much alcohol consumed.  We decided to head back to our hotel so that Heather could check in for her flight and so that she could buy Scottie two more shots.  We all slept well that night thanks to the drinks.

I had planned to run Sunday morning and because I slammed a bunch of water before bed, I felt ok but my legs were so sore from all of the walking the previous days so I decided to be lazy.  Scottie was a bit slow moving but I got dressed made coffee and finally he followed suit. We decided to head out to Cambridge to wander around Harvard.

Cambridge is super cute, reminds me a lot of Chapel Hill.  We walked all around the campus and decided to find some brunch.  I had heard about Upstairs n the Square and once we stumbled upon it I knew I wanted to eat there.  The decor is much like a tea house, rather feminine yes but I loved it.  We were seated at a small but cute table and started with coffee.  We then got a bread basket with mini muffins, mini cinnamon rolls and my favorite, the cheese scone.  Scottie ordered the melon with prosciutto which also had shaved parm and some drizzled pesto - very good.  He also ordered the eggs benedict which were also quite nice. I ordered the Monte Cristo which come to find out was a Croque Madame, mmm one of my favorite dishes ever.  It was very nice especially with the addition of caramelized onions.  Once we finished up we were on our way to Fenway.

I knew I was in for a shock but wow it is nuts to see 37k people flood the streets around the park. It was like a street festival.  We made our way in and finally found our seats in the grandstands.  Thankfully our seat were in the shade, I don’t think Scottie would have survived being in the sun for 3 hours.  The shade also allowed us the enjoy the slight breeze.  Though our view of first base was slightly obstructed by a large pole, I was still thrilled with my seat choice as I could not imagine being directly in the sun.  The weather called for thunderstorms most of the day but it was sunny and bright the whole day, go figure.  The game was admittedly a lot of fun.  It was cool to be in such an iconic stadium and be around such die hard fans.  After the 2nd inning we made our way down to get a Fenway Frank and two Sam Adams beers.After our snack it was back to our seats for the rest of the game.  Even though the Sox lost and I didn’t get to see an Ortiz homer I still had a great time and would not think twice about buying overpriced tickets to Fenway again

After the game we walked through a nearby souvenir shop where Scottie got a Sox shirt and tried to talk me into getting one,he didn’t succeed with that one!  We then walked to Boston Beer Works were we had one of the beers, the bluebeery ale which has real blueberries floating around.

After our drink we made out way back to the hotel to rest and cool off.  Scottie decided he needed to have seafood so after perusing my list and a couple magazines we decided on the Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in the US.  We arrive around 6:40 and were talk we had a 45 minute to an hour wait,no worries we weren’t starving, and decided to have a seat at the bar.  We ended up waiting almost 2 hours, note to others- make a reservation here!  Still we enjoyed our wine and then the bartender felt bad for our long wait so we offered us a free beer. I gladly accepted and not long after we were seated upstairs.  I ordered a half dozen oysters as well as the sauteed seafood medley which was clams, mussels,shrimp and haddock sauteed in a spicy red sauce over linguine.  The oysters were actually some of the best I ever had and I wish I ordered a dozen more, they were incredible.  My dinner was nice though I could have done without the pasta and the white fish as they were totally devoid of flavor.  Still I loved the sauce and the shellfish and would rather had had some crusty bread to sop it up.  Scottie ordered the clam chowder, which was some of the creamiest I had ever tasted, as  well as the lazy man’s lobster which was basically a lobster with a bit of stuffing.  I could have done without the stuffing but the lobster was nice,  Scottie didn’t think it was cleaned well which sort of ruined things at the end. Lesson learned, go for oysters and clam chowder and sit at the bar

Once back at the hotel we packed up our things and relaxed before falling asleep.  Our flight the next morning was not until 10am so we took our time to get ready, finish packing and head out.  I was really sad to be leaving as I really fell in love with the city.  I wasn’t completely overwhelmed as I was in San Fransisco and I really ended up loving the people.  It is certainly a place I could see myself living, even if I had to deal with crazy winter weather at least I wouldn’t need to drive as they have a pretty extensive public transportation system.  Our flight was slightly delayed and we were almost tempted to take a later flight to get some voucher but ended up getting on our flight home.  The flight was uneventful until we landed when the cabin immediately filled with smoke. I didn’t freak too much as we were on the ground, still I was eager to get out and we parked just off the terminal entrance and were told to quickly disembark.  I had my bags but Scottie had to gate check his since the plane was only 16 rows so we waited in the terminal and watched at the fire tracks quickly drove up.  They didn’t say what happened but Scottie thinks one of the chutes opened up as he said it smelled like an air bag deployment.  We were given meal voucher for our troubles which I used to get a fruit cup and tea from Starbucks while we waited for Scottie’s luggage.  Something strange always happens when we travel, this time is was just at the very end of the trip!

So in the end, I am so glad I was brilliant enough to concoct this plan.  We both had a great time and I really can’t wait to go back!  Hopefully this was a memorable birthday for Scottie!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 6:41 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.