December 22nd 2013: Winthrop in the Fog

After a late night yesterday, I woke up pretty late today. I had a dinner appointment later tonight at the Sichuan Garden II in the town of Woburn with a friend who had come from Philadelphia and wanted to meet up with a group of friends, so I decided to head straight to the town of Winthrop, where I had a Groupon to use at the Winthrop Center Cafe, a small town diner in town. I decided to get a Hot Chocolate, the Steak, Eggs and Veggies (8oz Prime Steak, 2 eggs served with mixed grilled vegetables) and a side of Corned Beef Hash.

Hot Chocolate

Steak, Eggs and Veggies and Corned Beef Hash

Pretty decent meal for a cold, foggy day out. 

After breakfast, it was time to start my sightseeing for the day in this coastal town. I visited several places in the downtown area,

Old EB Newton School

Fire Department

Town Hall, 1 Metcalf Square

First Church of Winthrop United Methodist

St. John the Evangelist Church

Winthrop Playmakers

I visited a few other places in town

St. John's Episcopal Church

Temple Tifereth Israel

Lewis Lake,
Veterans Road near Cutler Street

before finally heading to the coastal areas, visiting Winthrop Beach,

Water Tower,
Faunbar Avenue and Prospect Avenue

the Public Landing area,

Channel Buoy

The Crystal Cove Marina,

and finally Yirrell Beach, which is actually better than Winthrop Beach in my opinion.

At this point, I decided it was time to head to the town of Stoneham to use my Groupon at Yoguee Frozen Yogurt. Like most other yogurt places, it has an availability of yogurt flavors, ranging from Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, Pistachio, Old Fashioned Peanut Butter, Cookies and Cream, S'mores, Triple Caramel, Sea Salted Caramel Pretzel, Valencia Orange Sorbet and Tahitian Vanilla. As always, I had to pile my cup high with stuff before I could make the $10 on my deal.

They had some interesting toppings like caramel popcorn and cream biscuits, but overall, it was pretty much the same.

I happened to spot the Japanese restaurant Sato II right next door, where I had another deal, and as I still had some time to spare, I decided to use it in the small place, getting the Boston Uncommon Roll (Special Soy Bean Sheet, inside super white tuna with tropical mango, avocado and topped with chef's special homemade sauce and tender lobster meat),

which was pretty good actually, although the smallness of the place makes me not want to go back again.

With that, it was finally time to head to Woburn for my final meal of the day, or so I thought. The place itself serves pretty authentic Chinese food, Szechuan food as the name suggests. My table ordered several dishes, getting the Ox Meat and Tripe with Roasted Chilli-Peanut Vinaigrette (tossed with cilantro), the Camphur Tea Smoked Duck, the House Spicy Ox Meat in Bao, the Double Cooked Fresh Bacon with Spicy Capsicum, the Feiteng Fish (boneless fish braised, dried chilli peppers, garlic, ginger, wood ear mushrooms, bean sprouts, sichuan peppercorn), the Double Cooked Fish Filets (sauteed with leeks, garlic, ginger, black bean paste and capsicum chilli peppers), the Sautéed Green Ong Choy, the Chong Qin Hot Dry Chicken (diced chicken that has been floured and cooked with sun dried chillies, garlic, ginger and sichuan peppercorn) and the Taro and Baby Bok Choy.

Ox Meat and Tripe with Roasted Chilli-Peanut Vinaigrette

Camphur Tea Smoked Duck

House Spicy Ox Meat in Bao

Double Cooked Fresh Bacon With Spicy Capsicum

Feiteng Fish

Double Cooked Fish Filets

Sauteed Green Ong Choy and Chong Qin Hot Dry Chicken

Taro and Baby Bok Choy

To say the least, the food was excellent, and we actually finished all the food for once, something that doesn't usually happen in a Chinese restaurant. But that was the end of it. Some of us decided to stay on for dessert, going to the Applebee's right across the road. We had a ball of a time there, along with the desserts we got, namely the Triple Chocolate Meltdown (A magnificently moist chocolate cake. Its fudge-filled center will erupt upon first bite! Served with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge), the Blue Ribbon Brownie Bite (Super moist with hunks of dark chocolate, nuts and hot fudge. Served with vanilla ice cream) and the Butter Pecan Blondie (Baked with nuts, topped with both ice cream and glazed pecans, and served sizzling, covered with a rich, cream cheese sauce).

Triple Chocolate Meltdown

Blue Ribbon Brownie Bites

Butter Pecan Blondie

I have to say, of all the desserts the Blondie was definitely the best tasting, the pecans and the butter enhancing the taste of the blondie. I'm glad I got it. But it would not have been as enjoyable with my friends around me.

November 10th 2013: Exploring Abandoned Tunnels and Candlepin Bowling

I woke up bright and early today to start my sightseeing for the day.

My first destination was the abandoned railway tunnel, located at ~188 Boylston Street in the town of Clinton. There is a small dirt path leading up the hill to the mouth of the tunnel, which is actually really close to the roadside, cleverly hidden by a layer of trees. To think that I passed by this place so many times in the past, and never knew it was here.

The mouth looks innocent enough, the sides all covered in graffiti, and the other end did not seem so far away.

As I entered, the light from the outside helped,

 but as I proceeded onward, it just got darker and darker, and I had to use my torchlight to guide me along.

Being a little scared that something or someone might jump out at me from nowhere, I even started using my camera to flash out the way.

Thankfully, the ground was pretty level, and the place was devoid of any life, so I managed to make it to the other side without any issues.

This end of the tunnel is a little waterlogged, but I was just relieved to be back out in the open.

Unfortunately, the only way back to my car was going back the way I came, so I had to make the trip one last time.

Thankfully, this time it was faster as I was now familiar with the path, and soon I was back at my car.

From here, it was on to other places in Clinton. I did a tiny hike at the Rauscher Farm to see Clamshell Pond. The path I took is shown below in black.

Thew view of Clamshell Pond was pretty decent actually.

One last place I visited in Clinton was the Duck Harbor, which has a beautiful view of Coachlace Pond.

In the town of Stow, the first place I went to was Spindle Hill. The rough path I took here to try to get to the top of the hill is shown below in black.

On my first attempt, I tried to get to the hill via Gates Lane, but the place was so overgrown that I gave up. I then decided to try to head in from the Wheeler Road side instead. I was able to follow the path for a bit, and then got lost on a side trail that led me all the way back to Gates Lane. Determined to get to the top of the hill, I backtracked to the stipulated path with the help of the GPS on my phone. Finding only overgrown paths, I pushed on in the right direction, bashing through the trees to get higher. I did manage to find signs indicating I was on Stow Conservation Land, so I knew I was on the right path. However, there were no views to be had at the top of the hill. Not wanting to go back the way I had come, I happened to notice a tower in the vicinity, and after checking my GPS, I realized there was a path from it leading to Wheeler Road, so I bashed through to it, and managed to walk on the road back to Wheeler Road and back to my car. A waste of time, but what an adventure.

From here, I headed to visit a few other places in town

Fletcher's Pond, 9 Box Mill Road

Minister's Pond, 290 Great Road

White Pond, 581 Sudbury Road

including the beautiful town beach at the Pine Bluffs Recreation Area.

At this point, my friend told me that she wanted to have Bo 7 Mon (7 Courses of Beef) at Pho Le in the Dorchester area of Boston.

After picking her up, we headed to the restaurant, which was right next to another Vietnamese restaurant. There were a lot of Vietnamese families eating here today.

I've had Bo 7 Mon at Pho Hoa in Malden before, but had a feeling that the courses might be different at this new place, and they were a little different.

Beef Salad (Goi Bo)

Beef Fondue (Bo Nhung Dam)

Grilled Sesame Beef with Butter (Bo Nuong Bo)

Beef Porridge (Chao Bo)

from left, Grilled Scallion Beef (Bo Nuong Hanh),
Beef Meatball (Cha Dum),
Grilled Beef in Betel Leaf (Bo Nuong La Lot)

I have to say, all the dishes were exceptionally good, especially with my Vietnamese friend to tell me how to eat them. The Mung Bean Smoothie I got and the Mango Smoothie my friend got were also pretty good.

Mung Bean Smoothie (Dau Xanh)

After a delicious lunch, I decided to go candlepin bowling with my friend, as she had never done it before. We did this at the South Boston Candlepin, a typical candlepin bowling place with manual scoring and resetting of pins.

As always with beginners, they have the luck of winning, but thankfully I somehow managed to win the last game of 3.

From here, we headed to dinner in the town of Stoneham at Melissa's Main Street Bistro, a small upscale restaurant in a small town setting.

We decided to get the Prosciutto and Asparagus in Puff Pastry Drizzled with Balsamic Glaze for an appetizer to start things off.

It was a little burnt though, so we did not enjoy the dish very much.

For our main dishes, I got the Pan Roasted Duck Breast (spinach, mushroom and pecan wood smoked bacon risotto, port wine and fig glaze), and the Braised Beef Short Ribs (Homemade mashed potato and sauteed spinach).

Pan Roasted Duck Breast

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Both dishes were actually really good, the duck going well with the sauce, and the beef being really tender as well.

Overall, a pretty good meal if not for the burnt appetizer.

With that, we called it a night as we were still not feeling well. Time to go back to work tomorrow.