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  loaded up on some brazilian drinks and meats while shirley was in LA ... she saw the brazilian food from the previous entry and had a hankering for a few cheesy breads ... i took in a quasi-authentic caipirinha ...
original thai bbq in glendale for a change ... happened to be in glendale visiting the folks w/ shirley and i mentioned there was a orig. thai bbq ... they hooked us up w/ a massive plate of the good stuff ...
about 5 hours sleep before we had to wake up for our flight to boston for a nice quick weekend vacation ... manage to get the very first flyaway shuttle of the day ... it's pretty busy, even at 5 in the morning with the bus being packed ... i guess a lot of people have early morning flights ... forgot our headphones so we forked over a couple bucks for the virgin america variety ... no suprise what color shirley picked ...
 showed up at boston a few hours behind the rest of the bbc, so we took a taxi to vdg's place ... most of the taxis had an up-to-date credit card reader (the kind you can wave your card at), but every driver mentioned that their reader was broken ... riiiight ... it's ok if you don't want to give part of your fare to stupid cc companies ... i understand ...
got to vdg's swanky pad and subway'd it to downtown-ish to meet up w/ the rest of the bbc for the boston duck tours ... quick drive around town to see the old buildings and park-y areas turned into a quick dip in the river to see the old bridges and park-y areas ... turns out the jail (lower center) has one of the best river views in town ... lucky ...
 later night plans involved dinner near the south end ... stella's seemed like a good idea at first, but the stink eye we received from the diners made us a little uncomfortable ... sorry, we're not business casual tonight ... so we hoofed it a few blocks to have dinner at the red fez ... mediterranean cuisine ... wide open dining area though the bar was packed ...
got a couple savory stuffed pastries and the usual kabobs and steaks and lamb/eggplant/yogurt dishes ... their martini menu was pretty rad though i'm sure they have a good rep since they're supposed to be one of the older mediterranean places in boston, if not the oldest ...
  lastly we got dolled up for a night of drinks and dancing at an tua nua ... local irish pub within walking distance of vdg's place ... central to a few colleges and that night happened to be college night ...
so we tried our best to shave a few years off with a half-dozen drinks ... and shots ... and drinks ... and water ... because, hey, we can't pound 'em like we used to ... and apparently neither can some of the college kids ... one guy tried to get me to cheer w/ him during the hockey game ... sorry guy, bruins lost ...
  the dance floor opened up, so we scooched in to grab a table for some dancing ...
top 40's stuff ... some 80's stuff ... you know, the usual hits ... beyonce, 90's rap, lady gaga ... a little phone-related kissing ... and journey ...
good times carried on until last call ... by then we were pretty much set for the night ...
  next morning was the drive to new hampshire ... so we got a pretty thorough tour of boston's subway system ... first in america ... it's pretty cool though we had to switch trains a few times and hop the bus to the rental place ... it was only a couple bucks, so yeah, it's fine ...
so we got to hertz and it turns out we snagged ourselves a mustang ... same price as the other cars? AWESOME ... though jik driving a cherry red mustang through new england at california speeds doesn't seem like the best possible idea ...
either way, it's about noonish at this point and we are starving ... so we hit up one of the billion dunkin' donuts in new england ... if you hit up "dunkin donuts boston" on google maps, you'll see what i mean ... there's probably one per block, at least ... but yeah we tried out the donuts and even had a flatbread combo ... the donuts were m'eh ... but the hash browns were pretty well seasoned ... so i give those a thumbs up ... but yeah, hit up a winchells ... or a krispy kreme ... or stan's in westwood for some badass-ness ... dunkin' donuts should stay on the east coast ...
  drove north for a couple hours and made the stop in concord NH to catch up w/ bdv, ro, and joe who had graciously set up our hotel room ...
met w/ richard for a hot second while he was packing up all his stuff for the move home ...
his apartment was pretty rad ... very white ... minimal ... but that's probably because some of his stuff was packed up ... but yeah i think the kitchen was bigger than his living room ...
we'll meet back up w/ richard later ... he's gots stuffs to do ...
drove out to maine for the lobster ... a couple hours out to ogunquit ... yep, it's as out there as it sounds ... found the ocean and a typical new england coast view ... got separated a little on the drive over so we managed to take a few abercrombie catalog shots while contemplating renting a house for the summer ... i'm not sure i'd enjoy the mosquito issue, though ...
hmm ... which place should we pick? how about the lobster shack ... that sounds like they might have some lobster ... but yeah we splurged for the 3lb big boy ... probably the biggest lobster i've ever had all to myself ... and lobster rolls which were awesome ... and clam chowder which, despite being made to order, was more soup-y than i thought it'd be ...
 it's hard for about a dozen people to get together and actually be able to get things done, but we're getting better at it ... a ton of carnage from the lobster stuff ...
do you guys eat lobster guts? i couldn't manage to get myself to dig in, but i destroyed the claws/tail and some of the legs ... but that lobster roll was good too ... a prepared lobster salad in some grilled toast ... basically a lobster hot dog ... though it was stuffed w/ lobster meat, maybe was not worth the 13 bucks ...
took in a little bit more of the maine coastline ... and boats ... didn't get on one though ...
and eventually we got back to concord for one last richard night out before he leaves new hampshire forever ... the green martini was the local place ... some music, i think ... can't remember actually ... but they had bad food choices and good drink choices ... in hindsight, i should have gotten something more dinner-y ... like the turkey dinner or something ... but we settled for the popcorn shrimp and chili cheese fries ...
hung out w/ all of richard's law school buddies and richard's bionic calves made for an interesting night after the bar closed considering his penchant for 1/2 marathon running while inebriated ...
don't worry ... he made it to graduation ...
  and yeah the graduation went off w/o a hitch ... mostly ... good speeches ... pretty warm for an outdoors-y ceremony ...
very convenient reception which was in the neighboring tent ... great reception food ... mainly man salads and meatballs for me ... though there were cream puffs and chips and dips and vegetables ... vacations aren't for dieting ...
but yeah congratulations to richard ... it takes a lot of balls to leave everything behind and travel 1000s of miles away to be in the cold cold northeast studying law ... well-deserved ...
  mexican food to celebrate ... though i'm not sure why we went to have more food after the buffet madness at the reception ... but we got to meet the folks and wish richard a safe trip home ... graduation one day ... bar exam prep course the next ... we'll see you in a half-dozen weeks ...
and more boston shenanigans ... walkies around town while we were recovering from our green martini madness ... newbury street with the shopping ... checking out the historic buildings, checking out boston weddings, etc ...
 last dinner stop was artu in the north end of boston ... quasi-traditional italian fare ... though the wait was super long ... seems a cab carrying half of us lost a rear wheel in the tunnel ... could have been much worse than it was, but it was definitely a story ...
lots of pasta dishes ... i got the steak and shirley got the rice and bean soup and chicken/broccoli rape salad which totally hit the spot ...
thanks to joe for the suggestion ...
and we all took in one last drink at sasso near the hotel ... the tourist bar scene wasn't for us ... but we had a nice healthy conversation composed mostly of hypothetical questions ... ah, hypothetical questions ... reminds me of how we used to pass the time in the student store on during those long lonely closing shifts ...
but yeah, a very mellow wind down evening and our last night in boston ...
the next morning, we re-visited the north end to stroll around ... taxi got us there a little early so we wandered the many angled intersections ... definitely not a city with a street grid ... grabbed probably the best cannoli i've ever had at modern pastry ... voted best of boston 2008 and i can see why ... also hung out at an urban playground for a little bit ... not sure i'd want my kids playing there, though ...
  and then we stopped by pizzeria regina which is one of the oldest pizza places in boston ... and they have the business end taken care of ... efficient, if a little rude, hostess but the pizza was rad ... good ingredients ... cozy place w/ good service ... our server memorized the orders of 11 people ... pretty tough if you ask me ...
  so that's the end of the boston trip ... ivy shirley and i had the first flight out w/ work on monday ... but yeah, thanks to vdg for letting a bajillion people crash her place ... happy birthday vanessa and richard ... happy graduation from law school richard ... happy vacation to us ...
happy boston, everybody!
andy
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| | Posted 5/18/2009 7:36 PM - 76 Views - 4 eProps - 3 comments
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Also, are you sure you're still eating? You look really skinny.