Magical Culinary Tour: Boston (Day 1)

The blog is on the road again!!

For the weekend I decided to visit my good friend, Rosie, up in Boston/Cambridge. She had to move here for work, and is not too thrilled with life here at the moment, so I thought I'd give her some company, plus have some fun times in Boston!!

Although I didn't bring Cupboard Love with me, I thought it'd be fun to do a sort of cultural and food tour of Boston.

The first day:

Well, lots of walking, and we stopped at Harvard to have a bit of a rest in the shade. It was so serene -- I was reminded of Love Story and waited for Oliver and Jenny to walk out of one of the dorms. Just sitting there, I felt smart. Rosie and I had one of those 'what-are-we-doing-with-our-lives' conversation. Way too philosophical for a lazy Saturday afternoon!!

We had lunch at a sorta touristy Mexican restaurant in Harvard Square. The food looked beautiful...

but I think my enchilada was just way too cheesy! I thought enchiladas had rice IN them. Hmmmn, well, Rosie's 'burro' was good.

We stopped at a chocolate shop -- renowned for its, well chocolate, and various other desserts and pastries. L.A. Burdick was in the heart of Cambridge, just off Harvard Square. Many people were drinking what looked to be iced chocolate concoctions. I bought a chocolate bar and took in the environment of the rest of the chocoholics surrounding me. Rosie reminded me of a place in Paris that specialized in macaroons, as we had seen similar ones at this chocolate shop. We discussed how we didn't see the fuss and why anyone would pay 20 euros for two macaroons or something ridiculous like that. It's madness -- agreed! Rosie says, "It's just wafer and cream." Actually, Ro, it's meringue and cream, but I totally see your point. LOL.

So after the chocolate shop the test of will and nerves began. We continued walking down Brattle Street, seeing amazing and gorgeous mansions from days of yore. I'd like to say they were 'colonial' but I don't know shit about architecture, so bear with me!

We walked about 45 minutes, in the heat, in the opposite direction. Should mention to you that Rosie is horrible with directions -- but she insisted we were walking back towards Cambridge. When we consulted a couple of locals, we found out that we, actually she, was wrong! So aboard a bus we got, and headed back to her place.

After resting our tired feet, we decided to have some Italian food in Boston's Little (actually quite Big) Italy in the North End. It is basically one long street, Hanover, with side streets all full of gelaterias, pastry shops, and Italian shops and restaurants -- not like the bullshit that is NY's Little Italy, this one actually had Bostonians hanging out in it.

Did I mention that Bostonians are hard core Red Sox fans?! Man, I'm glad I didn't wear my Yankee jersey to dinner, sheesh!


We went to La Summa, an Italian restaurant off of Hanover Street. Judging by the 45-minute wait, we were assured that the food was good... And it was!

We had a fantastic salad for starters. Following on my adventure in trying out new cheeses, I suggested we try a salad of mixed greens, gorgonzola (!), fennel, figs, walnuts and a raspberry vinaigrette. Well, what can I say, I love gorgonzola!!! Woohooo! But I also discovered how gross fennel is -- yuck! Licorice, anyone?! So I really have to improvise with the fennel salad I have coming up in Cupboard Love.

For our mains, Rosie had the House Special, which is probably every meat imaginable. She likes her meat! It was in a fantastic mushroomy pepperoncino sauce. Yum! I soaked up some of the remaining juices with the ciabatta they put on the table.

I had some jumbo shrimp in a light pomodoro sauce over linguine. Not being a lobster or crab person, I thought I'd at least have one type of seafood Boston is known for. The shrimp was succulent and delicious. This is a happy and full Ilana!


Afterwards, we walked back to the Red Line, passing some very happy and drunk Bostonians on the way. It seems like Saturday night's alright for drinking... and a lot of it!

We also stopped by a cute cupcake shop called Lulu's. How adorable is this cupcake?! I can also say it was delicious!! I had half of it there and then, and the other half back at Rosie's with some organic vanilla soy milk -- how virtuous!

Speaking of which, I barely felt my feet when we got back to Rosie's apartment.. and she said today we would do some more walking from her neck of the woods to Newbury Street, where she promised posh cafes and a cute scene. I'm dreading the walk, but not the experience... on to Day 2! Hopefully I'll regain some feeling in my legs.