Adventures in Boston

The Boyfriend arrived last Friday and so for our first full day together, Saturday, we took the day to explore the city.

First was lunch in Chinatown which perhaps seems odd, as I should be introducing American food to him, but both of our favorite cuisines are anything Asian, so we checked out one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants and got ourselves some pho and crispy noodles.

From there we walked through the Boston Commons and the Public Gardens and made our way through Beacon Hill, where Boston’s famed red brick district which everyone had told him he needed to check out. It was a little underwhelming for him, though, seeing as how most houses in Korea are also made of brick. He didn’t see what the big deal was…

From there we walked down to the Charles River and checked out the boat dock. We decided that Sunday we would rent a kayak and go out on the river, but when we returned the next day, ready to get out on the water, it turned out that the boathouse was closed for a 9/11 event nearby. We were quite disappointed.

Anyway, after checking out the boat dock we walked back to Fanuil Hall and walked through Haymarket, Boston’s outdoor vegetable and fruit market. He was so astounded by the cheap prices of some fruit that we bough seven oranges for $1.00 just because we could.

From there we walked through the North End, Boston’s Italian district, and found ourselves at Old North Church, the church made famous in the poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. That whole part about one if by land and two if by sea refers to the signal lit from the church tower as a signal warning of the British troops advances, one light if they advanced by land and two if they took boats across the Charles River.

China Pearl: Dim Sum in Boston

Usually when I go to eat dim sum in Boston, I go to Hei La Moon, but when I told my friend they served chicken feet she got some cold feet of her own about going to try dim sum there. I had gotten recommendations to go to China Pearl from some of my non-Asian friends for dim sum. I wasn't sure if that meant it was going to be less authentic, but I thought I'd give it a try. I was very pleased to find out that, while I didn't see any chicken feet, this place was still very authentic. (Just to explain my criteria for authenticity, since I am no dim sum expert, there was a waiting line at the door and we were among the very few non-Asians here. Seems to be a huge hit with the folks in Chinatown for weekend brunch.)

I felt that the options here were much more varied then Hei La Moon (despite the lack of chicken feet on the particular day that I went). They had a huge variety of dumplings! 

I loved this pork dish, but my friend did not. Actually, it is very reminiscent of something I'd eat at an American style Chinese restaurant, but I loved the fact that it was served cold, which seemed to be the main deterrent against this dish for my friend. It reminded me of when I was in Nanjing and got some Chinese style roast beef served cold... also a big deterrent for the boyfriend as well. I guess people don't like cold meat. I, on the other hand, love it! 

This one was a bit luke warm and I don't think it was supposed to be. But, despite this, it was still fine (again, not being hot doesn't bother me) but it would have been better if we had gotten it hot off the frier.

But the best part of the meal was the steamed buns. I have searched everywhere for steamed buns since I was in Hong Kong (yea yea, I know the convenience stores serve them in Korea, but for some reason I'm kinda weirded out by anything cooked by a convenience store). These things were no where in sight at Hei La Moon, and unfortunately these babies came by just as we were finishing our meal and were feeling stuffed, but I had missed them so much I had to grab them. And oh were they good!

Overall I think I actually liked China Pearl better than Hei La Moon, although I think everyone should go there once for the experience. I found that nearly every dumpling at Hei La Moon had shrimp in it, where as here, though they had a lot of shrimp filled dumplings, they also had a lot of other options as well. I also saw some amazing tofu that I wanted to try, but there was just too much, it was impossible to get everything. Prices here were decent I'd say. We got these four dishes plus several others and the bill came to $27.00 for the two of us. Not bad I think! Anyone out there have an idea how to tip in these places? I feel like whatever I left on the table probably didn't go to the ladies walking around with the food carts.

Bunker Hill Monument

This monument is a tribute to the Battle of Bunker Hill, where the famous phrase "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" was popularized due to the colonist's lack of ammunition. Unfortunately, this battle's name is a bit of a misnomer as Bunker Hill is actually the next hill over. The battle mostly played out where the monument is located, on Breed's Hill. This is one of Boston's most famous landmarks located on the Freedom Trail in Charlestown across the Charles River from downtown Boston.

I was very excited to learn that the monument and adjacent museum is free to the public (though donations are accepted). The monument is 294 steps to the top observation area, so make sure you're in good shape. There's no room for stopping as the stairwell is exactly big enough for two people across, one going up, and one going down. And near the top, as the building tapers, two people passing do need to squish a little bit to the side. Claustrophobics beware!

Finally we reached the top and were rewarded with a beautiful view of Boston.

When we came down, we were lucky enough to catch a musket firing demonstration. I'm always a sucker for anyone dressed up in traditional dress, even in my own country! (It's a little known fact that I used to be one of those people who dressed up like colonial people or frontier people in those recreation villages. Yes, that was my dream job until probably high school)

After that, we took a walk through some backstreets of Charlestown and found ourselves at the U.S.S Constitution or as we Bostonians lovingly refer to as "Old Iron Sides" alluding to battles during the war of 1812 when cannon balls were said to bounce off her hulls. The admission prices nowadays to get onto the ship are a bit steep, but you can still see her from the outside in the Navy Yard.

Aftermath of Irene in My Neigborhood

Here in Boston, we did not get struck with the devastating rain that many parts of New York and Vermont did, but we did get tropical storm force winds which did enough damage on their own and still, now 3 days after the storm on Wednesday there are still people without power in many towns. To folks (like my boyfriend) who say, why are you so worried about a tropical storm? This is my answer. These were taken on Monday after the storm had passed and the skies were blue. Again, not nearly as serious as what's still going on in Vermont, but nothing to be taken lightly either.

All these photos were taken while just walking from my house to the trolley station.

This is my  neighbor's fence (photo above and below), and that is my father's car. Now, if that branch had just been  a few feet to the right, it would have been our cars, not the neighbor's fence under a branch.

The next photo was taken at the end of my street. That is an entire tree, and yes, it is resting on the power lines.

Here, below, you have a cracked telephone pole, this photo was taken about 100 feet down from the photo above. The house in between this pole and the tree above, as far as I know, still has power lines on the ground on their front lawn.

 

Though, most homes look like these, with moderate sized branches piled up out front for someone to take away, someday.

How did your home fare in the storm?

The Science Museum of Boston

One of my favorite places in Boston is the Science Museum. It's great for kids, but adults can have a blast here too. I went here last week with a friend of mine who fortunately had a membership and got us in for free. Otherwise the price is now a whopping $22 per person for admission. We also got tickets to the planetarium to see "Cosmic Collisions" where I learned how scientists now think the moon was formed and what will happen to our galaxy in billions of years. 

 Static Electricity 

My favorite part of the museum which I make a special point to see whenever I go, is the Lightning Show. I've seen it probably 10 times... at least in my life, probably more, but I never get tired of it. Who can resist seeing the worlds largest Van de Graff generator in action along with giant Tesla coils playing music?

I tried to get the lightning spark here, but this cage is being zapped by lighting from the Van de Graff generator behind it. And what is she doing? yes, she is touching the metal cage that is being struck by the lighting. Why isn't she being electrocuted? It's because the electricity only travels on the outside of the metal, making it perfectly safe to be touching the inside of the metal cage... or being inside of a metal frame car if you are struck by lightning. 

I took the above photo while this Tesla coil played a song for us from the buzz it makes each time the lightning is emited. Now, to the naked eye, there was actually only one spark being released at a time, but my camera which was probably on a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second (sorry, don't know exactly, could have been longer) picked up all of these sparks in that short frame of time. That gives you some idea of how frequently these sparks were being emitted. 

But that's not all the museum has to offer. Here below you see a working model of the Mars rover. 

A display of the birds in our neighborhood, including the pink plastic lawn flamingo. And if you checked the computer screen in front, you could get all sorts of data on any of these species and learn about the flight patterns and calls of the pink lawn flamingo (or the Canadian goose, raven, etc etc)

Here's a before and after for you. That egg above with the wing hanging out... that became the chick you see below and we were lucky enough to see it actually come out of the shell on it's own. 

This pendulum above is actually a clock. It keeps time because as the Earth spins the pendulum moves and knocks down a series of pins on the mosaic below which represent the hours of the day. 

And I couldn't help but photographing these adorable stuffed creatures from the gift shop. The big one is the cuddly common cold virus, and below, you have a cute little mono virus. Don't these make the perfect gifts???

The North End

The North End of Boston is famous for its Italian food. We took a trip in here last Friday night for a little treat for ourselves. 

Our first stop was at an eatery called L'Osteria which served up a decent chicken, broccoli and ziti. The prices were quite reasonable, I think.

 For desert, we couldn't not go to one of the North End's Italian bakeries. I picked up a canoli for me and my mom and my friend got some yummy Italian cookies.

I have no idea how you make these cookies, but they are quite different from the kind of cookies you buy in  the supermarket. They are not particularly sweet, and a bit drier than the standard supermarket cookies too, but for some reason, I love them because of this.

No trip to Boston is complete without a stop by here. Just a few minute walk from Faneuil Hall Marketplace, be sure to stop by here on your next trip! 

Sam Adams Brewery Tour

Nestled in a little residential neighborhood in Jamaica Plain, Boston, exists one of Boston's finest establishments. Yes, the  Samuel Adams Brewery. A few days after getting home from Spain, I was able to get a tour here and learn probably more than I ever wanted to know about the beer.

While we waited for the tour, we got to vote on the new beer for next winter's winter six pack. 

Then, on our tour, we got to taste and smell some of the hops they use to make their beers and see where they store the beer while it ferments and becomes what we drink.

But, of course, the part of the tour that everyone was looking forward too was the chance to sample beers on the last part of the tour. We got to try three beers, the Boston Lager, which is their most famous brew, the Octoberfest which is brewed with 5 different malts for a rich flavor, and Boston Brick Red which is only available on tap in and around Boston. We really liked the Boston Lager and the Octoberfest, but we were less impressed by the Boston Brick Red. But the one nice thing about the Brick Red is that Samuel Adams makes a donation to charities for every keg sold, so for this if nothing else, it may be worth a try if you see it next time you're out.

There are tours from Monday-Saturday and the cost is only a $2.00 suggested donation to local charities. Visit their website for more info!

Boston at Night