November 27th 2013: Dinner at Peking Garden, Grafton

Today after work, I decided to get Chinese takeout from Peking Garden, a small takeout place at 206 Worcester Street in Grafton, since all the other restaurants were probably not opening for long on Thanksgiving Eve.

I decided to get the Crispy Orange Flavored Beef, which did not come with rice and I had to cook some instant noodles to go with it.

The beef wasn't crispy at all to say the least. Really disappointing meal.

Recommended Places to Visit: Grafton

Recreation

Golf
Highfields Golf and Country Club
42 Magill Drive

Horseback Riding
JH Eventing
94 Old Westboro Road


Parks

Town Common
Worcester Street and South Street

Riverview Park
176 Providence Road

 Museums

Willard House and Clock Museum
11 Willard Street

Beaches
Silver Lake
Upton Street between Old Upton Road and Nantucket Place


Water Bodies
Lake Ripple
Worcester Street and Providence Road

Pratt's Pond
Waterville Street near Leland Avenue

Hiking
Fletcher Reserve
Upton Street between Old Upton Road and Nantucket Place

Potter Hill Meadows
End of Potter Hill Road

Architecture

Places of Worship

Unitarian Universalist Church of Grafton
3 Grafton Common

Union Congregational Church
86 Main Street

St. Mary's Catholic Church
17 Waterville Street

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
53 North Main Street

Congregational Church of Grafton
30 Grafton Common

Baptist Church of Grafton
1 South Street

St. James Parish
89 Main Street


Town Facilities

Grafton Public Library
35 Grafton Common


Historical Buildings
Grafton Inn
25 Grafton Common

Restaurants

Highly Recommended:
Western
Bridge Street Bistro
10 Bridge Street
Recommended Dishes:
Southwestern Steak Tips

John Henry Tavern
42 Magill Drive
Recommended Dishes:
Grilled London Broil


Tried:
Western
Art Bradish Snack Bar
39 Shrewsbury Street
Recommended Dishes:
Long Dog
Chili Cheese Fries


Chinese
Peking Garden
206 Worcester Street
Recommended Dishes:
Crispy Orange Flavored Beef


Pearl Cafe
198 Worcester Street
Recommended Dishes:
Chardonnay Shrimp
Red Curry Delight

Italian
Pepperoni Express
92 Worcester Street
Recommended Dishes:
Soprano
Sun Burn
Ocean Delight
Broccoli Cheese Balls


Mexican

Cancun Family Mexican Restaurant
75 Worcester Street
Recommended Dishes:
Cancun Special

August 5th 2013: Dinner at Shanghai Gardens, Attleborough

Today after work, i decided to use my Groupon at Shanghai Gardens, a Chinese restaurant in Attleborough.

Before that, I decided to sightsee a little until daylight ran out, passing through Shrewsbury,

Flint Pond, 30 Hartford Turnpike

and Grafton.

Fisherville Pond from Riverview Park,
176 Providence Road

In Upton, I first went to hike at Stefan's Farm. The rough path I took here to try to find the water body here is shown below in pink.

The path in the woods was pretty simple, but whenever I entered the fields, the darker green patches on the map, they were pretty overgrown and hard to distinguish. Unfortunately, the water body was well hidden as well, causing me to bypass it and head into the next field. I realized I was lost, but thought I had not yet passed the pond, so I tried to find an alternate way through the woods, which was a really rough path to traverse. It was only when I started turning south that I finally realized where I was and backtracked all the way back, when I finally found the really small pond, hidden behind a bunch a trees so I could not get to it. What a waste of my time here.

After getting back to my car, I visited Pratt Pond at Hopkinton Road and Westboro Street in town,

and then tried to find the Upton Caves, an ancient manmade subterannean structure located at the new Upton Heritage Park at 18 Elm Street. I apparently went the wrong way, finding Mill Pond instead,

and gave up after walking around aimlessly on the paths I managed to find. I later found out my mistake a little too late, but I will be back here again in the near future.

The last town I visited was Milford,

Old P Gillon Building,
189 Main Street

Calzone Park,
Main Street and Beach Street

which has the Irish Round Tower in the middle of St. Mary's Cemetery at ~70 Cedar Street.

Finally, it was time to head into Attleborough. The restaurant itself has pretty interesting decor, with Chinese vases, paintings and lanterns all over the place.

With my groupon, I managed to order a lot of food, mainly appetizers, getting the Hom Sui Gok (fried sticky rolls with pork and vegetables), the Fried Wontons with Lemongrass, the Peking Duck Wrap Appetizer, and finally the Cantonese Style Sweet and Sour Pork.

Hom Sui Gok

Fried Wontons with Lemongrass

Peking Duck Wrap Appetizer

Cantonese Style Sweet and Sour Pork

The two dumpling dishes were actually pretty tasty, although the pork was way too sweet and dry, while the wrap was just so-so. Overall, unless you are really craving Americanized Chinese food, it is not worth the trip.

With that, I called it a day for sightseeing and headed home. I'm definitely going to find those caves some day, and I'll be armed with a torchlight for it.

June 19th 2013: Learning to Ride a Horse in Grafton

Today after work, I had an appointment to learn how to do horseback riding at JH Eventing in the town of Grafton.The last time I kinda did this was when I was still a kid riding a pony in the zoo.

Before that, I decided to go grab a quick bite at the Art Bradish Snack Bar, a takeout hot dog stand/shack at 39 Shrewsbury Street in town, getting a Long Dog and a Chilli Cheese Fries. Pretty ordinary stuff, nothing to write home about.

Heading to the stables, located within a residential area, I had a little trouble finding parking, and the instructor had to direct me where to go.After I parked, the instructor soon came and directed me into the barn, where she introduced me to Jasmine, the beautiful horse I would be riding today. After leading her out of her stall, I proceeded to brush her hair to clean her of any residual mud on it. When walking behind her, I had to touch her in order to inform her of my presence and not startle her into kicking me.

My brushes

Next, I had to scrape out her hoofs of mud and stones, by lifting her legs up one by one. Thankfully she has been trained to do so, otherwise I would be having a hard time here.

Now it was time to put on her bridle and saddle.

Her bridle

The saddle has several parts. The saddle pad is put on first to minimize chafing from the saddle, and the belt around its belly has to be attached tightly to prevent the saddle from moving around.

The bridle was a little chore to get over her head as well.

Finally, it was time to lead the horse out to the shed, leading her by the reins on her left, holding it up to ensure she did not trip on it. My instructor made it easy for me to mount the horse after letting down her stirrups, letting me get onto a platform first. 

After getting onto the horse pretty easily, it was time to learn how to put my legs in the stirrups, and how to hold the reins. Then it was time to ride within the confines of the shed.

Getting her to go was easy, by squeezing my legs against her tummy and holding the reins such that it hung loosely. After she starts moving, I controlled her direction of motion by pulling the reins in the desired direction while the other side hung loose. Easy enough, especially with the piles of horse poo lying around the shed. Stopping involves pulling back on the reins and saying "whoa"

Next was learning how to stand up and ride, holding onto her mane to balance myself while doing so, which is what jockeys do during races. Not too hard either, although it was a little harder to balance while in this position.

Even harder, was when she started to trot at a faster pace after I squeezed her tighter with my legs. According to my instructor, even she still can't balance herself at times when the horse trotted. That's a comfort, even though I felt like I was going to fall off the horse at any time.

Thankfully, the lesson ended soon after, and the reverse of everything we did was performed to lead her back into the stall.

Some things to note are that horse handling directions are not standardized across the board, and different horses have different temperaments, some being naughtier or nastier than others.; Thankfully Jasmine was a nicer one.

After a nice horseback riding experience, it was time to head to dinner, with me heading to the John Henry Tavern, a western bar restaurant located within the Highfields Golf and Country Club in town.
The views from the parking lot of the srroundings was pretty nice, although the sun marred my picture taking a little.

Being in a country club, the restaurant decor was pretty decent, although there wasn't much variety to the menu, and the Grilled London Broil I finally decided to get was very overcooked even though I ordered it rare, but overall it was still palatable and not too bad.

By the time I left the place, the sun was just about to set, so I took one last picture before heading home for the day.

I had a really fun time learning how to ride a horse today, although my meals were a little disappointing. Next up, going on a mini-speed boat ride next week and looking forward to it.

May 27th 2013: Spending Time with My Friend at Home

Today, my friend who came back from China had to go get a phone, and after doing so, we decided to have lunch at the new Italian restaurant that just opened on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, Volturno. This place is a pretty upscale looking bar restaurant with 2 ovens at the back of the restaurant.

For our meal, we decided to get the Arugula Salad (Blue cheese, toasted hazelnuts, arugula), the Volturno Pizza (San Marzano Tomato Sauce, Buffalo Mozzarella, Arugula, Prosciutto) and the Gargarnelli (Speck, Radicchio, Great Hill Blue Cheese, Onions) pasta, which my friend even ordered another plate of because it was so delicious.



Volturno Pizza

Arugula Salad

Garganelli

Definitely, this place is one of the nice additions to the city of Worcester.

Later tonight, when we decided it was time for dinner, I decided to head to the town of Grafton nearby to grab some food from Pearl Cafe, a typical Chinese takeout place, ordering the Chardonnay Shrimp (served on spinach and noodles in wine sauce) and the Red Curry Delight (jumbo shrimp, scallops, chicken sauteed with vegetables in curry coconut milk broth).



The curry wasn't too bad, although the chardonnay shrimp was just typical stir fried food. Oh well, what can you expect from a Chinese takeout place anyway. 

With that, a fun Memorial Day weekend ended on a much quieter note. I'm glad I got to spend it with friends though.