I hastily pickled some hot and sweet peppers and made a salsa verde variation (heavy on the parsley) during my lunch; we had those with stovetop macaroni and cheese (SE) and roasted broccoli. I would have liked this much better if we weren't using up some crappy penne. I have no idea were we got such lousy pasta but I hope we never do again! It went from al dente to floppy and gross in mere moments. Otherwise a pretty good dinner---the best part in my opinion were the pickled peppers that simultaneously used up a bunch of on the edge produce and made a tasty condiment.
Monday, April 29, 2024
Saturday, 4/27/24
Got up and went out in search of a small breakfast before Charles Street woke up. Tried my last fancy latte from Tatte (black sesame....didn't taste so different from the pistachio, TBH) and a cheese boureka. I took one last walk around and grabbed snacks from Whole Foods for the trip home and goodbye Boston. Dinner was leftover pizza so I was brought right back down to earth. That isn't to say that the pizza wasn't good! I am glad that I had been to Boston back in October so I had more of a sense of how to get around, and I think we did a good balance of activities and just sitting around watching TV. A vacation success!
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Friday, 4/26/24
A gloom hung over the morning, since Jessica had to leave midday. Breakfast at a local breakfast place called the Paramount (burger and homefries for me, breakfast sandwich for Jessica) and then a walk over to Copley. Jessica bought some of the world's priciest chocolates for her sister, then we explored the library for a while. Very grand! I was glad Jessica got to see the Sargent murals. Decided to just have lunch in our neighborhood so Jessica wouldn't feel rushed, so we had a pleasant meal at a place called Toscano (burrata with stupid winter tomatoes to share, and rigatoni for me). Jessica left at around 3:30 and I walked around aimlessly for a while before catching a train to Harvard Square with the intention of hitting up HMart. The joke was on me since Hmart (despite the name) is actually in Central Square! Not a problem since I enjoy a walk, and very serendipitously it took me right by Pammy's, a place that we didn't get around to trying that was highly recommended. There was one seat at the bar, so I had a cocktail, then lumache with Bolognese and gochujang and both were excellent. Affogato for dessert and then onward in my march to Hmart. Soju acquired, I had a gorgeous walk home. Central Square is lively and interesting, and the walk along the river near MIT was particularly pretty on this spring evening.
Luckily Jessica had showed me how to work the tv; so while it isn't the same alone I watched a little and then headed to bed in the slightly eerie quiet apartment.
Thursday, 4/25/24
Let's see, for breakfast we walked over to the Back Bay to a place called Cafe Sauvage, where I of course had to have tuna tartare for breakfast (plus a croissant). It was served with skinny little bread chips and avocado, and was quite nice but for once I think I can say I am all set, raw tuna-wise. Jessica had avocado toast that was very very pretty but a little tough/messy to eat. We caught a bus over to Harvard Square to go to the art museum; since I had just been there a few months ago it felt oddly familiar. There was a cool yarn/craft store not too far away that Jessica wanted to go to, so we walked over and then had a total lunch crisis. It was getting late and we had very fancy reservations for 6:30! We ended up at an Irish pub (?) called the Druid where I had an actually pretty good grilled cheese and fries. The problem with trying not to overplan, I guess. Then home to rest up before O Ya, our big splurge. And a splurge it was! Once I got past the sticker shock we had a lovely evening. Pretty spot, really gracious service and lots of excellent little bites of fish. On the 20 course tasting menu, there was only one thing we didn't like (a squid). The sleeper hit for me was a fried oyster with squid ink foam that I could have eaten at least 5 of. Anyway, it lived up to its reputation (thank goodness) and we really enjoyed ourselves. But then we had to get home to watch more HGTV.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Wednesday, 4/24/24
For breakfast I just walked to the local cafe, Tatte and picked up a couple of (serviceable) pastries and coffee. We lounged around the apartment until it was time to head to the Silver Dove for our lunch of full English tea. I don't love the drink tea, but it wasn't bad (milk and sugar helped). You start with scones with jam and clotted cream (currant scones in this case), then a fancy little tower of treats: cucumber sandwiches, smoked salmon on seeded crackers, Vadouvan coronation chicken, snap pea canape with stracciatella and pesto (good but the snap pea flavor dominated over everything else), deviled egg with pepper jelly and giancule (delicious!), carrot cake with brown butter-cream cheese frosting, elderflower macaron, rhubarb tart, and chocolate profiterole with pistachio. The slightly off thing is that the whole place is gluten free. It was fine for most things, but the scone and the crust for the rhubarb tart suffered.
 |
| terrible but you get the idea |
For dinner we decided to try Moon Bar; Mooncusser was on our list but since we weren't that hungry after two lunches and some pastries, it made more sense to try the a la carte menu. I had a lovely cocktail with gin, ginger, coconut, nutmeg and creole spices (I think?); sounded weird, tasted great. Then we split: marinated halibut with avocado, tomatillo and tostones, which was like the best guacamole but now with fish; yellowfin tuna with snap peas, red chili salsa, tangerine and papadam; flank steak with yucca chips, a creamy salsa verde and what was oddly the star, a marinated cabbage and cucumber salad. These were all outstanding. I wasn't blown away by banana ice cream with dulce de leche wafters and sesame chocolate sauce, but I knew going into it that I don't really like banana flavored things. Anyhow, it was a great meal and I bet the full prix fixe is even better. Nice walk home through the public garden then into sweats for more tv time.
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| The server didn't want to serve my cocktail up but I didn't care |
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Tuesday, 4/23/24
Got up and just had a small breakfast nearby, at Blank Street Coffee (breakfast sandwiches, very sweet cherry sold brew). Then caught the red line to Harvard Square to see the glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Very cool, but I grew bored quickly and looked at rocks instead. I demanded lunch at Madras Dosa Harvard Square (spicy potato and paneer & pani puri) and happily it was as good as I remembered. We tried Blackbird Donuts for dessert but they were only OK. Maybe because it was just a little satellite location? Then home to rest (we built in more down time for today), watch TV and plot where to have dinner. Finally settled on Yvonne's, as it is close enough to walk to, VERY pretty, and had a lot of things on the menu that appealed.
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| The prettiest tater tots ever |
The so-so: they are known for cocktails and I didn't love mine. Come on, gin, maraschino, rosemary and flaming chartreuse? It sounded so fun but I wasn't blown away. Also, we felt super rushed as we were out of there in 45 minutes! It was almost disorienting.
The good: the space is really stunning, and of the 5 things we ordered I loved 3 and liked the other two:
Crispy Tater Cubes, joppiesaus, farmhouse gouda, beet pickled egg (so good!)
Berber Lentil Fritters; sweet pepper cheese, manchego, spicy pickled carrots
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Monday, 4/22/24
Breakfast at the Friendly Toast...I was excited to try the tots that I didn't get last time; sadly they were pretty tepid but the taste was excellent. I had an enormous V8 to keep the scurvy at bay.
Two museums (the MFA and the Isabella Stewart Gardner) was perhaps overkill, but the Korean exhibit at the MFA was VERY cool. Due to poor planning, we just grabbed a snack at the cafeteria. Nothing even worth mentioning.
I was having a vert hard time choosing where to go for dinner, but finally settled on Saltie Girl, which I had been really wanting to try on out aborted October trip. So, another chic seafood place, but very different vibes (a pretty pink and green space in the Back Bay). We learned our lesson this time and skipped entrees and split a bunch of smaller plates instead:
More Oysters
Tuna carpaccio; lime leaf oil / pistachio / fried capers / pickled red onions (I am nothing if not predictable;)
Yellowtail: grapefruit / orange / pickled ramps / lime leaf oil / trout roe / green onion
French bread with sea salt butter
Sunday, 4/21/24
Got up and had a subpar breakfast in the neighborhood (well, Jessica's sandwich was OK but my my scone was trash). Then we walked around Newbury Street and had Shake Shack for lunch (burger, bacon-cheddar fries, shake). Headed over to a small museum called the Gibson House for a tour (very cool). Fancy manicures before dinner at Row 34:
Oysters (I'm warming up to raw oysters)
Seared Tuna* jalapeño, cilantro, lime (predictably my favorite)
Housemade Rolls with honey-cayenne butter
Grilled Asparagus hazelnut chili crisp, whipped goat cheese, balsamic
Jonah Crab Campanelle kale, Meyer lemon, cacio e pepe butter (needed more salt & acid)
Pan Roasted Monkfish lentils, fava beans, charred onion purée, chimichurri (it was supposed to be swordfish, but they ran out. The monkfish was fine but I was a bit disappointed).
A cool modern space near the seaport. with really good seafood, plus our waiter was super nice. We were (uncharacteristically) too full for dessert!
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Saturday, 4/20/25
Bus to Boston, so I just had snacks for lunch. I dropped off my bags and then walked around until it was time to meet Jessica at the airport. Then dinner at Ruka. Louder and more stylish than we were expecting!
We split 5 courses:
Friday, 4/19/24
We grabbed Carter in the afternoon and got him Wendy's for a birthday treat, but then he was on to other engagements. Dinner was pizza with cream sauce, prosciutto, spinach, and caramelized onions. The nice thing about making this at home was that we could cut the prosciutto into manageable pieces, not the large artistic looking slices they do at fancy pizza places, where the whole thing comes sliding off when you try to bite it. My first foray with making a cream sauce base: I wasn't into the whole bechamel thing, so I just reduced cream with parm, black pepper and lemon zest. Very good! I would like to make it again when arugula is available at the farm.
Friday, April 19, 2024
Thursday, 4/18/24
I made an absurdly large batch of chicken buldak. Jason made me cook it on the porch even though of course it isn't even hot out. He just doesn't feel like cleaning the stovetop (but that's his own fault for demanding a sparkling clean stovetop at all times). I didn't have any broccoli which I normally like as an accompaniment, so I threw in most of a bag of spinach. My two constant refrains that I never seem to learn from: why didn't I just use all the spinach? It always shrinks even more than I think it will. And: why do I cook SO MUCH FOOD? This could have fed 6 people. I guess I will never learn. Still, it was spicy and good. Plenty of leftovers!
Wednesday, 4/17/24
Barley bowls with cauliflower, feta, cherry tomatoes and red pepper. I had intended to make a lemon-tahini dressing, but was too lazy and used up some Caesar instead. This turned out to be a perfectly fine choice and meant one less little stupid jar lurking in the fridge.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Tuesday, 4/16/24
Lentil soup (no real recipe; just lentils, carrots onions, garlic, tomato paste and coriander) with leftover pit and some cucumbers. It can be a crapshoot but a. used up a bag of lentils and b. was actually pretty good! Dessert was awesome, though: banana cake with a caramel glaze from the NYT. I used three mushy bananas, and I added a splash of bourbon to the glaze. To hell with banana bread; I am on Team Banana Cake. Any time you can legitimately add frosting....
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Monday, 4/15/24
Jason made pita bread and hummus while I was at work, and threw together a salad with Caesar dressing. Nice quick dinner. Too quick: after eating and watching our TV show it was only about 7:15 and we were out of things to do and it was too early for bed.
Sunday, 4/14/24
Dinner with Jen and John (with guest star Carter). We made a Blue Apron with pork and roasted vegetables; Jason made a loaf of bread AND garlic flatbread, Jen had some really nice cheeses, and I made a lemon meringue dessert from SK. Fun fact: I made them for Jen and John's almost precisely 2 years ago ( I am guessing that recipe pops up around Passover?). They are like mini Pavlovas with lemon curd and whipped cream. Carter was a big fan, which was gratifying.
Saturday, 4/13/24
Cold windy day of watching Ultimate (April, you bastard). Dinner was roasted tofu and broccoli bowls with basmati rice and peanut sauce. No recipes.
Friday, 4/12/24
Pizza night; we went traditional with pepperoni and mushrooms. Great flavors, although the bottom crust was a tiny bit soggy. I also made a"birthday cake blondies" from the NYT. These are just very basic blondies with sprinkles: I don't think they need repeating since I have better blondie recipes.
Friday, April 12, 2024
Wednesday, 4/10/24
Pepperoni pasta from the NYT. I really just use the recipe as a jumping off point: I use a lot less pepperoni, this time I omitted garlic (because we were shockingly out!) and I added some cherry tomatoes, almost a whole bag of spinach, mushrooms, and scallions. This is so quick, flavorful and adaptable that it's a wonder I don't make it every week. The only part I wasn't crazy about was the pasta itself. We seem to have bought some subpar penne that gets overcooked no matter what.
Tuesday, 4/9/24
Smoky black beans from the NYT. I used chilis in adobo instead of smoked paprika and served it over rice (and another Caesar salad). Melted cheese makes everything good, in my opinion. And the black beas in the Instant Pot always have a superior flavor.
Monday, 4/8/24
Spicy ginger pork with noodles, from the NYT. I used regular spaghetti instead of rice noodles and would do it again. I also used Chinese broccoli instead of bok choy; Jason bitched at how pricey it was but even he had to admit that it added a lot of flavor. Our lame jalapenos didn't really bring the spice, so we added sambal oelek at the table. So good!
Sunday, 4/7/24
The delayed Friday night pizza, featuring cream cheese, jalapenos, scallions and cheddar. I thought it was great, but Jason wasn't happy with the bottom crust. Also, our jalapenos were ridiculously mild and didn't bring much. But I enjoyed it! I made extra dressing so we also had another Caesar salad.
Saturday, 4/6/24
Dinner with my dad and Liz. Liz made beef bourguignon, which made me happy as I love beef stew and we never have it. We brought bread and a bottle of champagne that my co-worker, Miguel gave me (someone gave it to him and he doesn't drink wine). It was very, very sweet. I also made a Caesar salad that got a bit soggy as Jason insisted that I mix it up before leaving the house. Angel cake and berries for dessert and best of all was seeing Corrina, Zac and the best baby in the world, Ramona.
Friday, 4/5/24
Dinner with Jay and Jodi. Jason made a loaf of bread and we brought the rest of the coffee crumb cake (it got devoured so I guess people liked it). Jay made roasted cabbage and a pork loin and both were really good! He often has ideas that I wouldn't think of. A fun evening.
Thursday, 4/4/24
Finally got around to having french fries and gravy for dinner. It has been getting bumped for weeks, but guess even we run out of leftovers eventually. I also made a spinach salad (only so-so) and a coffee cake from SK. The draw of this recipe was lots and lots of crumb topping. It turned out fine, although I thought the cake layer was a bit dense. We bravelt ate it anyway.
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Tuesday, 4/2/24
Another NYT recipe (that subscription isn't going to pay for itself) for mattar paneer. I basically followed the recipe, but did more tinkering than I first realized: used canned instead of fresh tomatoes (it's only April!), bumped up the spices and added coriander, pureed the sauce, used feta instead of paneer, added a few cooked diced potatoes and finished the whole thing with some lemon juice. Oh, and I didn't have cashew butter so I threw some roasted cashews into the blender with the sauce. This was one of my favorite Indian style things I have ever made! And really didn't take long: I was able to make it when I was home for lunch so we could just heat it up and make rice at dinner. Will definitely make again.
Monday, 4/1/24
Chicken cutlets and orzo with broccoli in a lemon cream sauce. I followed a recipe in the Times for the chicken that had you marinate it in a chili crisp-soy marinade. This was fine but ultimately not worth the bother. I remain terrible at pounding out the chicken breasts so it was a bunch of misshapen pieces that Jason cooked out on the porch in the skillet. Pasta was just roasted broccoli (nicer and easier than steamed!) with lemon zest, cream, parm and a little chicken base. Old school Lace, I guess.
Sunday, 3/31/24
Cauliflower "schwarma" from the NYT. This just translates into spiced roasted cauliflower served with pita, a spicy tahini sauce (the best part) and various toppings (in our case cucumbers, tomatoes, feta and scallions). I also drizzled on a little pomegranate molasses, which added a pleasant tanginess. A lot of reward for not too much effort.
Saturday, 3/30/24
Dinner with Jen, John and Laurie. Jen wanted breakfast for dinner, so we made a sort of homefries with baked eggs thing, with peppers, bacon and cheddar. Jason made a rye bread and I made a boxed cake with ermine frosting (nobody needed to know that it was a mix from Walmart). Fun but late night.
Friday, 3/29/24
Jason made us a lovely muffaletta pizza, but I till wasn't feeling my best, so I only half-heartedly enjoyed it. Jason assures me that it was excellent.
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