Eating My Way Through Massachusetts

The past week has been a very strange, exciting, bittersweet experience.  I’ve said my goodbyes to family and friends in order to welcome a new beginning.  I’m still not settled in, but I’m starting to feel at ease about the move.  My moment of weakness came about two days after my mom flew home.  For someone that was so eager to move, I had never been so homesick.  Even my dog Hulk wanted to tag along for the move.  Thankfully, I have been blessed with a very supportive family that put me at ease.

Hulk kept circling the car as we packed it. Poor boy was so sad 😦

While I’m sad to have left my family behind, at least my first love (food) will go anywhere I do.  In just the first week of living here, I am already too ashamed to look at my bank statement.  This post won’t even cover half of what I’ve eaten in the past 10 days that I’ve been here.  I’m so lucky that I have a fast metabolism.  My eagerness to eat has outweighed my efforts of documenting my meals.

One of the things I was most excited to come back to was chicken and rice from the Chicken and Rice Guys truck.  I’ve never had the legit halal chicken and rice that originated in NYC, but they didn’t disappoint me!  Separately, the chicken (and/or lamb), yellow rice, pita, and lettuce wouldn’t be anything to rave about.  But mixed together with that secret white sauce makes it worth while.  Unfortunately, they were out of lettuce or something so it was missing that crunch factor.  Still tasty though but didn’t quite fulfill my craving.

Chicken, lamb and rice with white sauce. Tastes better than it looks!

Another craving I was having was for falafel.  I had forgotten my lunch at home so I just took a chance and went to the closest place on Yelp that had it.  That’s how I ended up picking up a falafel lunch combo from Chaloos.  This was only the second or third time I’ve had falafel, so I can’t really say how this compares…also considering I’ve always been out drinking before I have some.  It came with pita bread and shirazi salad, which was diced cucumbers, tomato, parsley, and mint that was tossed in olive oil, lemon juice, and some spices.  It was a nice refreshing addition to the falafel.  I wish I had done the falafel-kebob combo though.  While I love vegetables and don’t mind eating vegetarian meals, I really could’ve used some meat.  My hunger took over before I was able to snap a picture.

Falafel with shirazi salad

I spent Sunday exploring the city with Kelley.  We had Spanish class together in high school but never actually hung out.  She just moved to the Boston area so it was nice to walk around with someone who is just as clueless about the area as you are.  After grabbing bubble tea and egg puffs from Chinatown, we enjoyed the view of the harbor by the aquarium.  We even saw jellyfish!  Eventually we made our way to the Prudential Center where we found this cute artisan pizza stand called Crazy Dough’s Pizza that was hidden by the post office.  We snagged a deal of two slices of their signature pizzas and a drink for only $8!  I went with the “Nutty Tuscan” which was a square slice of pizza with roasted plum tomatoes, caramelized onion, roasted garlic, toasted pine nuts, with fresh basil, drizzled with pesto, and topped with crumbled gorgonzola cheese.  Kelley got the Balsamic Glaze and Ricotta: fresh mozzarella, ricotta, and parmesan cheese with basil and olive oil drizzle with balsamic reduction as the base.  Both pizzas were amazing!  We ate our pizza in the plaza outside of the First Church of Christ Scientists.  It had a nice fountain area that kids were playing in and a long reflective pool.  I’m also making a personal note right now to visit David’s Tea again – basically Teavana but more modern and there’s no sticks up anyone of the employee’s asses.

Nutty Tuscan Pizza

I didn’t even get pictures of Hot Pot Buffet with my mom; which is exactly that – unlimited hot pot!  Mom and I also got a fruit tart, paragina, and black and white cookie from Mike’s Pastry.  Pumpkin beers at the Baseball Tavern with Vinhy (we also went kayaking on the Charles!).  Pho at Pho Countryside and dim sum at China Pearl with Sunny.  I want to review more but my wallet can’t handle it… I’m sure the next post will be something related to budget eats or budget recipes.

Boston Calling

Have you ever ended up somewhere and you just know that THAT is exactly where you should be?  I’ve had that feeling three times in my life.

1. Watching a sunrise at the 8th station on Mt. Fuji
2. Watching a sunset on the white sand beaches of Boracay
3. Looking at the Boston skyline from Piers Park

I’ve only been to Piers Park twice, but both times I literally felt chills.  This may partially be due to the fact that it was a little chilly out or because it’s in a beat-down area.  The view of the Boston skyline across the harbor is nothing short of breathtaking.  I wish I had something better than my broken iPhone 4s to capture the scene.

We took a trip down to the park after indulging in the “best Italian food in town,” Rino’s Place.  Rino’s Place was featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, so after watching this clip I just had to try it.

Being a lover of both seafood and pasta, I decided on their featured lobster ravioli.  Delicious, simply delicious.  The raviolis were huge and stuffed with sweet pieces of lobster and fresh ricotta cheese.  The sauce tasted so fresh and had large chunks of lobster meat.

After debating on how to properly pronounce it, Sunny ordered the Bolognese topped with rib eye.  The pasta was freshly made, tossed in a plum tomato sauce with a huge slab of rib eye thrown on top.

 

It was a two-hour wait that was well worth it.  The service was friendly, portions were gigantic, and taste was exceptional.

If you’re ever in the Boston area, I would highly suggest checking out Rino’s and ending the night with a skyline view at Piers Park.  I wish my photography skills were more than iPhone shot and Instagram filtered because these pictures don’t do it justice.