eat make read

We had such a great time in boston this past weekend. It’s always a different experience when you visit a city where you know a local and lucky for us our locals know us well. Unfortunately I wasn’t with it enough to photograph each place we went, but I think you’ll get a good view of some really great places in the Boston area.

The first few stops are in Somerville, which is about a 15 minute walk from Cambridge. We started Sunday morning at a delightful coffee shop named Bloc 11. The coffee was really top notch and gave me the kick I needed to get my day going. Along with coffee, they serve a ton of different teas and their pastry area was filled with awesome looking baked goods. The space was really interesting as well. The building was once a bank, so it’s quite an ample space filled with different rooms to sit in, including the vault.

Our next stop was just down the street. It’s a great little Portuguese restaurant called the Neighborhood Restaurant. When it’s warm out, all dining takes place outdoors under grapevines and brightly colored umbrellas. There’s nothing fancy about the place, but the food is undeniably mouthwatering. To start every meal comes with a choice of fruit or cream of wheat and a super tasty orange juice. Our friends recommended the Portuguese Meat Plate, which consisted of two crab cakes and shrimp cakes, potatoes, eggs with all sorts of goodness mixed in and rice and beans. That was one meal. Aaron chose pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon and walnuts, which also came with a side of sausage, eggs and potatoes. Ok, that’s just a little nauseating to read the amount of food that was given to us. I’m happy to say we didn’t eat it all, but it was so, so good. The kind of good that makes you sad that you have to leave some behind.

After brunch, we somehow rolled ourselves home and packed up the car to take a little trip outside the city. On the way out, we stopped at the dreamiest little gourmet shop called Formaggio Kitchen. I’m not quite sure how we were still able to think about food after that brunch, but as soon as I stepped inside, it was like the day was a blank slate and I got lost thinking about all the possibilities. First there’s the cheese, which is the key to my heart. They have two big cases of cheese and helpful staff to answer any questions. We somehow walked away with two lovely choices, a spicy blue and a 3 cream cheese. Yum. After the cheese room you walk into a room filled with chocolate and candy, both homemade and from around the world. The last room was like a visit to the farmers market, with a few extras tossed in. There were baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh flowers, assorted beverages including coffee and beer. I tried to be good inside, I really did, but I still came out with a few bags of goodies.

Finally, we took a short car ride to a park called World’s End in Hingham, MA. The park is actually a little penninsula where you can see great views of the Boston skyline from across Boston Harbor. We set up a blanket, opened up some violet lemonade and blueberries that we picked up at Formaggio, and just relaxed. Cheese, crackers and beer came a little later after our stomachs had forgiven us for the earlier meal.

I actually can’t think of a way the day would have been any better. Great friends, delicious food, the great outdoors and a little relaxation…  I mean come on. That’s the life.