Category Archives: Photo

Taiwan Cafe

You can’t go to a new city without visiting Chinatown. We had a long list of places to check out in Boston, but settled on Taiwan Cafe…to start.

Everyone feels great, still buzzing after our visit to the Sam Adams Brewery.

XLB.

Neef Noodle Soup. The broth tasted atypical, with a sweet and spicy flavoring.

We had more restaurants planned for some marathon eating, but after beer and our first meal, we needed a nap. The rest of Boston’s Chinatown will have to wait for another time.

 

King of Craft Breweries

We already covered Harpoon Brewery in Boston, but the largest craft brewery in the United States is also there is also in Boston.

I’m coming, Sammy!

Growing hops on their patio.

Look at all the awards they’ve won.

We love beer!

I’ve got a golden ticket!

The original copper kettles and the newer stainless steel ones as well.

Utopia barrels. 27% alcohol by volume. That girl was stationed there just to keep me from getting a taste.

Tasting room.

Educational and delicious.

The Sam Adams Brewery in Boston really isn’t used for commercial production other than the Utopia line. It’s more of a laboratory to create and perfect their brews and a classroom to educate and indoctrinate visitors to the cult of craft brew. The great thing is the tour is free and you get to keep the tasting glass. They have a shuttle that takes people to a local pub that serves Sam Adams in the Perfect Pour glass and let’s you take it home for $5.50! Every college kid in the Boston area should visit this place at least once.

Black Tuesday Party

One week ago I got the opportunity to attend The Bruery’s Black Tuesday Release Party. My wife takes me to all the best places, and in return I am her arm candy. It’s an absolute win-win situation.

I really like The Bruery’s beers and think they do an excellent job of not sticking to the traditional. They produce some delicious beers. The people that work there are also super nice and very approachable.

I still have no idea how I convinced my friend and cousin to let me pick up their bottles of Black Tuesday, which led to this.

Happy Halloween!

Michelle, Fairy Princess.

Me, Toddler Rocket! (That sounded terrible.)

Jack Skellington, The Pumpkin King.

Boba Fett, The Baddest Mother F’ing Bounty Hunter in the Galaxy!

Muqueca

The oddest suggestion we got for places to eat for our Boston trip was definitely this one. We decided to try it out, because it would be a unique experience. Where do you go get Brazilian seafood stew anywhere, let alone New England?

Rapscallion Honey Wheat.

Caipirinha.

Fried frog legs.

Seafood stew.

They have this hot sauce on the side that is fantastic.

Plantains.

Nothing makes you feel dumber than the Ivy League.

One of the stops on our trip to Boston was Cambridge to check out my cousin’s stomping grounds at MIT and check out Harvard as well. That’s right. We went on vacation to watch smart kids in their element.

Here is a common area in my cousin’s fraternity house. Creepy, right down to the velvet drapes. I think I saw the portrait’s eyes follow me around the room.

MIT’s theather. It’s so odd that they leave everything unlocked. This would never happen at a public school, because the piano would probably be stolen.

The entrance to their classrooms is as grand as the one to the Mines of Moria!

Inside, a hack to honor Steve Jobs, just two days after his death.

We stepped out into their courtyard and there was a class project happening.

Holy crap, they have  catapults and sling shots!

Normally when you see a guy in a costume with a pistol and a megaphone, you run for your life. Here, it’s a professor and an Angry Birds physics project.

Knock down those pigs!

“My nerdy students, physics is everywhere!”

“We love physics!”

This is where they do a lot of the hacks. A full-sized plastic cow and a police car were placed on the top of this dome.

The Ray and Maria Stata Center, except it’s missing a few letters. The Ray and Mar A Stat Center.

Does this look like it was designed by anyone you know? Frank Gehry designed this, and every time it rains, it leaks.

The classrooms at MIT. I bet if the rooms at UCLA were brightly colored, I would have stayed awake more often in class.

The media center at MIT, so white.

Michelle, taking in some media.

They have a camera that measures happiness based on facial expressions, and they have four different stations around the campus to measure the overall mood of MIT. Look how happy we are to be at MIT!

Michelle in front of the conductive paint wall. Touch any of the pink flowers and the light next to it goes on.

At Harvard to see the other smart kids in Cambridge. Their buildings are all so beautiful.

Harvard Library, with books that survived the Titanic’s sinking.

Michelle at the Harvard Library. When they told us only Harvard students could go inside, we really want to go and look at their books.

Michelle with Harvard’s founder. See, future children? Mommy went to Harvard. (Technically it’s true.)

Another grand building on the Harvard campus.

The nicest chemistry building I’ve ever seen.

They have a lawn in the center of the campus, where past commencement speeches are played through speakers hung in the trees. The only thing I wondered is why the chairs weren’t chained down. It’s just the public educated side of me that thinks someone is going to steal these chairs and set them up in their dorm rooms.

After seeing MIT and Harvard, Michelle and I decided that our future children will attend Ivy League schools. Sure they’ll end up in a world with people that we have little in common with, and their parents will be a classless embarrassment,  but at least we get to see more fun school projects like Angry Birds. Also, they’ll be successful and support us in our old age. Go, smart offspring!

Black Tuesday? Nope. Friday I’m in love!

I can’t believe my friend and cousin trusted me to pick up their bottles. That’s the oldest trick in the book! Bowling for beer, anyone?

There was some confusion about whether I was allowed to pick up my friend’s bottles. Fortunately I was in a beer store, so I shopped while they sorted it out.

I think it’s about time I invested in a 29mm capper with some caps.

Flour Bakery

USC has Chano’s. UCLA has that $2 sandwich shop spot that keeps changing. The college kids in Cambridge have Flour Bakery. The Ivy League school kids win again.

The place is the creation of Joanne Chang, an honors graduate of Harvard College with a degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics. Damn over achievers.

roast chicken, avocado & jicama

smoked turkey, vermont cheddar & cranberry chutney

Tuesday never looked so delicious.

Howl at the Moon

Not wanting to be the old couple, after we gorged ourselves on pastries and pasta, we decided stay up and head to Howl at the Moon. This bar actually exists in a few cities, including Hollywood. If it’s half as fun as the one in Boston, I’d be happy to go.

The concept is simple. It’s a dueling piano bar that takes requests from the audience, but at least in the Boston location they had six different musicians that night. They play many a lot more than just the piano and they switch up. There was a drum set, an electric guitar, bass, acoustic guitar, a keytar, and they even pulled out a flute during one of the songs.

You can see they are pretty talented. Here they are performing Nicki Minaj’s Super Bass.