Boston Walks and Eats

I have returned! 9 glorious days away from drab cubicle and into cities of Boston and Montreal and the mountains of New Hampshire. I’m not happy to be back.

We only did 3 things on this vacation, quite frankly (okay 4 things, if you consider driving but I thought I’d spare you stories of roadkill on the interstate). We walked, we ate, and we slept.

We started off our trip in Boston after breaking up the 11hour drive with a night’s stay in Batavia, New York.

The walks…

After arriving in Boston early Saturday afternoon, Matt and I took to the streets straight away. Armed with a Frommer’s Best of Boston Guidebook as well as a slew of recommendations from Sophie we headed out to explore the city. Our hotel was in Copley Square so we walked through the square and down to Newbury Street for some shopping. Newbury Street reminded me of Yorkville in Toronto in both atmosphere and shopping.

Copley Square

My favourite shops were Newbury Comics—a music/dvd/novelty shop with so much to see– and 1154 LILL Studio where you can design your own handbag! I thought that was a really neat idea.

Newbury Street

That evening we also walked through the Beacon Hill neighbourhood which was probably my favourite part of the city. It has, what has been claimed to be, the most beautiful streets in America (like Mt. Vernon and Acorn streets) and is home to Boston’s wealthiest families. We even saw the former house of Luisa May Alcott and Sen. John Kerry’s house in Louisburg Square.

Massachusetts State House

Acorn Street

We spent Sunday morning following the Freedom Trail from Boston Common to the North End to see the major historic sites from the Revolution. I loved visiting the old cemeteries and experiencing the cobblestone streets and old churches from the 18th century. I think I would have better appreciated it had I known more about US revolutionary history.

Old Burying Ground

Faneuil Hall

Matt and I also walked along the harbourfront and then headed to Cambridge to the MIT museum and to explore the MIT campus.

MIT

We spent the evening talking about history, politics, and education under a willow tree in Boston Public Garden.

Boston Public Garden

On Monday we walked through the South End for breakfast then headed up to Cambridge again to the Harvard Campus. Harvard was nice and all but I was expecting so much more from it. Maybe I romanticized it to the point where I was expecting something otherworldly from it, but it just felt like any other university campus (and not nearly as impressive as MIT).
We snuck into a classroom (which was beautiful, I must admit) and Matt practiced for a future career as Harvard professor.

Harvard

All in all I really liked Boston. The city was very walk-able and it felt safe and comfortable—it’s the kind of city I could see myself living in. What I loved most about the Boston is how well-preserved the historic buildings are; the entire city has a colonial feel and even modern buildings don’t take away from the ambiance. Everything flows so well that you could easily walk by a significant landmark without even blinking an eye.

The eats…

We had dinner at the Beehive on Tremont St. the first evening that we arrived.

We split an appetizer and main course:

Lime & Jalapeno Seafood Ceviche

Moroccan Couscous with Chicken & Lamb

The food was quite good but nothing spectacular. The ceviche was perfectly refreshing for a warm summer evening. I liked the atmosphere of the restaurant– eclectic. They had a live jazz band playing too which was pretty cool.

We followed up dinner with a GREAT wine bar called Bin 26 Enoteca where we shared a very earthy tasting Chateau Mont Thabor red wine (I’d describe it as tasting like a roll in the hay in leather boots) paired with 4 cheeses (Pecorino, Taleggio, Manchego, and Gorgonzola). The sommelier there seemed really knowledgeable about the wines and very excited to describe them and discus their taste. I’d highly recommend this place for the selection and the service.

Bin 26

On Sunday we went to the very highly recommended Mike’s Pastry, an Italian bakery in the North End, for their popular cannoli. The cannoli that I’m used to eating has much smaller shell so there is less filling, but this one was enormous and was loaded with ricotta. I loved how crispy the shell was (you knew that it obviously was fresh and hadn’t been sitting in the counter all day) but I found the filling to be just a bit too sweet.

Mike’s Pastry

We headed to the harbour for a late lunch (early dinner?) at The Barking Crab because a trip to Boston would not be complete without some seafood (specifically chowdah!). I ordered the Clam chowder but only ate about half the bowl because it was so rich. The chowder was delicious, but Matt’s Corn and Crab chowder was even tastier! The restaurant had lobster of all sizes but we went for the big guns: the 10-pounder! Matt had to meet the little guy before they boiled him up for us.

The Barking Crab

Just kidding! We asked to see this enormous lobster when we saw it on the menu. Can you imagine? 10lbs of Lobster?? Crazy. We split a modest lobster roll instead.

Since we had a late lunch, we skipped dinner and opted for coffee on Newbury St. instead.

On Monday we decided to forgo the poor complimentary hotel breakfast and head to this awesome bakery in the South End called Flour. We had some really fantastic sandwiches there! Matt’s was a turkey sandwich with cheddar and cranberry chutney while I opted for the vegan option of tofu with grilled veggies and tapenade. Matt also ordered an apple cake which tasted just like my Nonna’s apple pie…mmmmm!

Flour Bakery

grilled tofu sandwich

apple snacking spice cake

We finished up the day with dinner at a really funky cafe called The Other Side Cafe on Newbury. I didn’t take any pictures but I ordered a really awesome vegan mock chicken salad that I really want to replicate at home.

Overall, my favourite dining experience in Boston was definitely the wine bar. It had a great atmosphere and great staff, and Matt and I had a lot of fun there. We love our wines!!

Stay tuned this week for updates on my travels in New Hampshire and Montreal!

day 134: progress report

So far my 8 Weeks to Awesomeness isn’t going very awesome.

Let’s see how I’m stacking up with my goals:

Calories:

Goal: 1500 cal
Avg this week (excl Saturday)-> 1660

Macronutrients:

Goal: 40% protein, 40% carbs (mainly before and after my workouts), 20% fat
Avg this week (excl Saturday)-> 28% protein, 42% carbs, 30% fat

Exercise:

Goal: Keep doing what I’m doing – weightlifting 2x per week; yoga 2x per week; cardio 4x per week
This week ->

Weightlifting: 2 upper body and 2 lower body days
Cardio: 5 cardio sessions @ 180 min total (only 2 morning cardio session)
Yoga: only once this week

I don’t know why I didn’t do a weigh in last Tuesday. I did one on Thursday though. I’ll have to wait until Thursday to compare and see what kind of progress I’m making. So far though, it doesn’t look good. I might need to cut back my calorie intake to below 1500 (if that’s what it’s going to take to get me to actually eat only 1500 calories)

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On a side note: Matt and I are headed to on a trip this summer to Boston, Mt. Washington New Hampshire, and Montreal. If you live in those areas or have visited there before and can recommend some fun, interesting, or active things to do and places to eat, I’d love to hear from you!