Eating My Way Through S. New England

I had a great 3 weeks in Boston. I spent lots of time with my parents and brother back at the homestead in Waltham. Watched lots of baseball because it's on every night. We celebrated nephew Kevin's graduation from Wentworth, and the start of his new civil engineering job almost immediately! Here's Kevin with brothers Ryan and Patrick, his mom Linda and the grandfolk. If Linda looks ecstatic, it's because now she's down to one kid in college...

And I ate my way around town (and southern New England). You must need a restaurant suggestion list for your next trip East. Here you go.

I had two dinner dates with Karen and our college era friends, the first at Naked Fish, where my blackened scallop salad was to die for. The next week, a larger group met in the Grille at Hobbs Brook at Doubletree Restaurant where Amy and Stash were staying. They were very hospitable to our large semi noisy gang. Which reminds me, I need to send Karen a check...and thank her for my new green bumpah stickah!


On to lunches: An excellent lunch was had at Sweet Chili Thai in Arlington with Arthur, one of my oldest friends still in the area. He reminded me that we met in 10th grade when we were lab partners in Dr. Rosa Kubin's Chemistry class. We walked around the town square and checked out the rails to trails bikeway and the Uncle Sam memorial.

A day trip to RI included lunch at the infamous Twin Willows with some NMFS buddies...while I considered a traditional Bill Burger, I was craving chowder and clamcakes that day. My brother Mark drove me and the folks to the Cape one day, where we had lunch at Seafood Sam's with cousins Nancy and Tiba, and long lost buddy Janet. If you haven't had a whole belly clam plate, you haven't lived...clam strips are for HoJo's.

The four of us did another day trip to Ipswich MA, and had lunch at the Choate Bridge Pub with sister Carol and her husband Paul. The lobster rolls were enormous! The waterfront park area behind the restaurant was a good place to walk it off. The murals on the old printing company building are incredible. Even the old cellar windows had historical murals on them. The one shown here is the first of a long series, from native days to present.


In keeping with the foodie theme, we did a girls' night, with Keara, mom, Linda and myself heading over to the Embassy Theater to see Julie and Julia. Meryl Streep NEVER disappoints!

I also picked up Alina in a tropical downpour when she came back from Ireland, then moved her into her new apartment for the year. It was an exhausting day of hauling stuff out of Keara's moldy basement and up this charming stairway to the third floor of Alina's place. I am grateful to the swim team boys downstairs who helped with the bed and futon.


We celebrated with a Pini's Mediterranean pizza and a bottle of nice NZ Sauvingon Blanc on her third floor balcony.



After getting the grocery shopping done the next day, she and I drove over to Cambridge to meet John, Sue and Matt Hohenberger, our old neighbors from Lagos. They were moving Matt into MIT. We had a fantastic dinner at The Asgard Irish Pub. A late afternoon slice of leftover pizza kind of dampened our appetites so we just had salmon salads. The menu looked great, with lots of hearty and authentic Irish comfort food.

Keara, Adam and I met up at Alina's Saturday of Labor Day weekend and tailgated before the BC-NU debacle. It was a sea of gold Super Fan shirts. Except for the young man with the white "You Run, I'll Drink" shirt from Marathon Monday. My poor alma mater, though...the score was 38-0 at half time.

Thanks to Conor's dad Larry for sharing his extra tickets for the great seats...ours were nosebleed end zoners.



We left, and the three of us had a great dinner at The Sunset Grill and Tap. They have a fantastic spinach and artichoke appetizer that is like mediterranean nachos. Keara and I split a salad, too. Adam had a burrito that looked delicious...and HUGE. Unfortunately, we were all 'tapped' out by the time we got there, so we stuck to water, but the beer selection was incredible.

Sunday was my mom's 82nd birthday. She wanted a luau. We did the best we could. We had leis, we had Don Ho on the record player, I played Happy Birthday on the uke, and cooked up a storm with grilled chicken and shrimp with coconut sauce and lots of curry style condiments.

Kudos to Alina for her prep work on the shrimp skewers and to Mark for his grilling expertise.

Linda brought a pitcher of delicious white sangria, and an incredible cake. Here's mom with the cake, and her brother Billy. And yes, sure, she's 28...

Annie and Don brought Don's famous potato salad. I finally got to taste it. It lived up to the raves.

Winding down, Labor Day Monday we had tea with Auntie Marilyn and cousins Beth, Sarah and Maryanne in W. Concord. Tuesday I had a final lunch with Alina before she dropped me at the airport: our traditional Fins sushi date.

By the way, I checked when I got home: I did NOT gain any weight! Must have made good choices...that and schlepping up three floors moving the kid...