Sunday, June 30, 2013

Recommended Places to Visit: Everett

Recreation
Sports Arenas
Everett Veterans Memorial Stadium
Spring Street and Chelsea Street


Fun Stuff
Skyzone
69 Norman Street


Architecture
Monuments
Lt. Joseph F. Wehner Park
921 Broadway

Town Clock
Norwood Street and Broadway

Time Dial and Fountain
School Street and Broadway


Dam
Amelie Earhart Dam
End of Mystic View Road


Cemeteries
Woodlawn Cemetery
302 Elm Street



Places of Worship
Town Facilities
Shute Memorial Library
781 Broadway

Parlin Memorial Library
410 Broadway


Historical Buildings
Old St. Therese Church
801 Broadway

Edward G Connolly Center
90 Chelsea Street

Whitney Lorenti House
15 Summer Street

Winslow Condominiums
14 Locust Street


Restaurants
Tried:
Western
Popeye's (chain)
1886 Revere Beach Parkway
Recommended Dishes:
Spicy Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Biscuit
Apple Pie

June 30th 2013: Sightseeing Before and After Doing Food Truck Stuff

This morning, I woke up early to do some sightseeing before heading to do food truck stuff. I decided to get some breakfast first in the Allston area of Boston, settling on @Union, a nice cafe which was open at this time of morning.
After looking at the menu, I decided to get the Banana Avocado Smoothie and the Coconut French Toast (with grilled pineapple, coconut flakes and powdered sugar)
Banana Avocado
Coconut French Toast














The smoothie was really hearty and I could only finish half of it, while the french toast awed me with its presentation and tastiness, as I am not really a fan of shredded coconut, but I finished it all this time. A definite recommend from me for this place.

From here, I headed to the South Boston area to doing some sightseeing there,


St. Monica Church
Fourth Presbyterian Church




Our Lady of Czestochowa

Jospeh Moakley Park,
446 Old Colony Avenue

My last destination in the morning was Carson Beach, which was a much better beach than Savin Hill Beach, which I visited yesterday. Pictures I took here before heading off to do food truck stuff follow.




































After dealing with food truck stuff, I had to leave a little early to attend a friend's birthday party at Skyzone, the trampoline park in Everett which I have been to before. As it was the last time I was here, I had lots of fun playing dodgeball for an hour, although it was pretty intense and tiring.
After our time was up, my friend decided it was still too early for dinner, so we bid each other farewell, and I decided to head to the town of Melrose nearby to continue my sightseeing there and have dinner as well, passing by the Winslow Condominiums at 14 Locust Street in Everett along the way.
I decided to grab dinner first, heading to Spice of Melrose, a decent Thai restaurant in downtown Melrose, where I had a groupon to use.

After looking at the menu, I decided to get the Salmon Salmon Roll (crispy rolls filled with salmon fillet and spinach, served with oriental style cream sauce) for an appetizer, the Tom Ka Ta Lay (Spicy coconut soup with fresh selected seafood, mushroom, scallion) for soup, the Three Taste Mango Fish (pair of crispy haddock fillet and homemade spiced mango sauce) and the Chiangmai Noodle (Yellow curry with chicken and shrimp served with egg noodle, crush peanut, and fried shallot). The starters came out in the form of a small sweet steamed bun, which was pretty interesting, and I dipped it with the sauces from my food.
Starters
The soup was marvelous, the sweet coconut taste blending well with a tinge of tanginess to complete the dish which I lapped up hungrily.
The salmon was a little dry, but thankfully the sauce that went with it made it alright.

The fish was crispy yet fresh and cooked just right, going well with the pineapple-mango sauce,
while there was more curry goodness with the noodles.
A definite recommend if you are ever in town.

After dinner, I spent the rest of the day taking pictures of various places in Melrose.
City Hall
First Baptist Church










Fire Department
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall










War Memorials, 585 Main Street
First United Methodist Church










Bank of America
Trinity Episcopal Church










Ell Pond
The Gazebo
Vietnam War Memorial









Public Library


Melrose Family YMCA
Mary Foley Park










St. Mary of the Annunciation Church
Beebe Estate












First Congregational Church
Milano Senior Center








Melrose Highlands Congregational Church



Melrose Church of the Nazarene
Green Street Baptist Church










With the sun having set for good, I headed home for the day, satisfied with my evening of sightseeing in Melrose.









Saturday, June 29, 2013

June 29th 2013: Visiting the JFK Presidential Library and Museum, Boston

I had a full plate of events today, but before that I still had time in the morning to do some sightseeing in the Dorchester area of Boston. Pictures of the places I visited, including the Edward Everett Square which had several interesting sculptures, before going to grab breakfast at McKenna's Cafe in town follow.
Engine 21 Firehouse
James Blake House











College Bound Dorchester Little House
Waymark Seventh Day Adventist Church




Edward Everett Square

Edward Everett Memorial
Giant Clapp Pear

































Boston Spanish Seventh Day Adventist Church
Strand Theatre












Pilgrim Trinitarian Congregational Church
Compass










First Parish in Dorchester

Reverend Allen Park,
Adams Street and Church Street

St. Peter's Church
Spanish Church of God,
450 Quincy  Street

Nonquit Street Green,
Nonquit Street and Dudley Street
Coppen's Square,
Bowdoin Street and Adams Street











Paul A Dever Elementary School


McKenna's Cafe seems pretty popular with the locals for breakfast, and was pretty filled with people when I arrived. 

I decided to get the Eggs Florentine (2 dropped eggs, turkey, spinach, florentine sauce on toasted English bread with baked beans and home fries, which looked just like eggs benedict, except with turkey bacon.
It was pretty disappointing, however, as the turkey meat was way too dry and could not be saved with any of the sauces available.

After lunch, I went to visit the Savin Hill and Malibu beaches, which were pretty disappointing as well, as there was as much grass as there was sand at Savin Hill Beach, while Malibu Beach was more a bed of rocks than a beach to say the least. Pictures follow.
Savin Hill Beach













Malibu Beach





I have since realized that I was not at Malibu Beach proper, which is further south of where I went, so I will head back there some day.

From here, I headed to the JFK Presidential Library and Museum to view the exhibits about former president John F Kennedy there. I never knew he was a good writer.
The Museum
PT 109

Why England Slept















The view outside
Artifacts of the time











JFK's Sailboat
Presidential Seal













Election Time
The Oval Office







Campaign Room
Nixon Kennedy Debate Room



Cuban Missile Crisis Survival Kit
Kennedy Won!






Scrimshaw Collection











Gifts from Foreign Leaders: Germany



Morocco
Indonesia













India
Russia











Egypt
Tanganyika













Berlin Wall Piece



After leaving the museum, I decided to take a short walk outside along the Harborwalk South Boston, which had beautiful views of the Boston Harbor, and I walked from outside the museum through to Old Harbor Park, stopping short of Carson Beach before heading back to my car. Pictures I took here follow.





JFK's Sailboat from the outside
Fallon Pier, Columbia Point

Carillon
Old Harbor Park





















Carson Beach in the distance










Finally it was time to head for my meetup BBQ at Arsenal Park in Watertown, where I had a real fun time meeting people, manning the grill and playing Ultimate Frisbee with friends. We had been worried that it would rain, but as it turned out, it never did.

The end of the day wasn't here yet though, as my chef friends were cooking up a storm in the kitchen in Malden for dinner. Here are some pictures of the delicious gourmet food they prepared.
Gazpacho
Scallops







Short Ribs



Asparagus Salad
Penne Alla Vodka











Persimmons
Canteloupe and Prosciutto











After dinner, a group of us stayed awhile to play drinking games, then I finally headed to my friend's place in Allston to crash for the night in preparation for doing food truck stuff tomorrow.