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(Disclaimer: Yesterday, my Fitbit showed huge numbers. I took them at face value, but I has some doubts. This morning, on my ride into town, I realized what happened. The roads throughout the city are rough and the trolleys have terrible suspensions. My Fitbit registered all the bumps as walking, and all the hills as climbing the equivalent in flights of stairs. Oh well.)

And the Boston vacation continues …

Another beautiful day in Boston began as all the others, with a hearty breakfast and a ride on the Beantown Trolley to start the day.

We decided to spend the day not riding the trolley. We wanted to walk the Freedom Trail, as well as take in a few other sites. So we hit the trail at about 9am. We planned to be at Fanueil Hall for lunch by noon. (Remember how my plans turn out?)

I’m not going to inflict upon you all the pictures that I took. I try to not be excessively cruel. But I had fun wandering the area and finding really nice scenery. The wonderful architecture, both classic and modern, is impressive as is the almost constant use of flowers and plants everywhere. And if you are interested in cemertaries, Boston has some great ones. With a few big names, too.

Okay, so I earned my merit badge in “Corny Tourist”, but who cares? It was a delicious beer, and how often am I on Boston?  It was fun. And seriously, I was hot, tired and thirsty at that point of the day. Why was I so hot, tired and thirsty?

We were only on the trolley from our motel to drop-off point. After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking. Today, my Fitbit numbers are accurate: Steps: 23,614  Miles: 10.45  Flights: 53

Half of the 53 flights came from climbing the Bunker Hill Monument.

My plan for lunch was not met exactly. (Surprise!) By the time we got to Faneuil Hall, it was 2pm, and we were hungry.

Later, while waiting for the shuttle back to the motel, we found a fruit vendor for a quick snack of plums and oranges.

We returned to the motel and decided to find seafood (again) but not from a restaurant in the tourist district and not from a chain. We looked for a shop that only locals would know about. And we found one: “K Seafood.” They don’t have a web presence. They don’t have flashy advertising. They don’t have a fancy building. They don’t serve on china plates. They just serve really good fried seafood. To go, only.

And at Faneuil Hall, a statue of Samuel Adams stands where he made several speeches encouraging independence from England. (Apparently he did more than make beer. Who knew?)

It was a long day. Tomorrow, we leave Boston and head to Portland, Maine. And more lobster. (Do you sense a food theme?)

The morning started a bit early, up by 6am and eating breakfast at 7am. Our motel, the Comfort Inn in Randolph, MA offers a nice complimentary breakfast, much more than the usual pastries, coffee and juices. I know that we will be doing a fair amount of walking, and I like to start my days with a big breakfast. This place allows that. Yesterday and today I ate two hard boiled eggs, a whole wheat bagel with two tablespoons peanut butter, a banana, Dannon Light and Fit blueberry yogurt with 1/4 cup Fiber All cereal and coffee. We planned to grab a meal somewhere along our tour at noonish, so this would be a great start to the day. (It’s good to have plans. It’s better if they work out. Which is never guaranteed.)
We bought two day passes to the Beantown Trolley tour. This is a guided tour of Boston,with trolleys running at half hour intervals. This allows riders to get off at any location for greater exploration at specific sites and then climb back aboard the next trolley and continue the tour. If you are visiting Boston, this is a great way to learn about the city. Buying a two-day pass is very efficient because it gives you a chance to see the whole tour, and then spend the remaining day and all the next day on adventures visiting sights that are of special interest.

The trolley picked us up at our motel and we started the tour. At the end of the first circuit, we exited the trolley and took our first adventure on foot. Yesterday, Alyssa with Bites Of Boston Food Tours told us about an art and food outdoor market, located in the Art District (near the theater district and Chinatown), an area known as SoWa (South of Washington Avenue.) Since the Beantown trolley stopped near that area, we decided to check it out.

The first layer of this adventure was completely out of our control. It was hot (90F) and humid (64%). That is not a terrible thing, but the second layer of the adventure was that we were not completely sure of how to get where we wanted. Boston’s city streets are not laid out in a normal straight grid pattern. We first walked a few blocks one way, then realized that we were going in the wrong direction and backtracked several (many?) blocks. Then, we found out that we were headed in the correct direction initially and turned around. Eventually, we decided to go “that way” and hope for the best. We got where we wanted to go.

It was a nice market, focused on artwork of every type. (Alyssa, thanks for mentioning that while we were on the food tour.) Painting, sculpture, fabrics and repurposed materials shared space with food trucks, a pet snack bakery, and organic food vendors.

By the time the henna tattoo was completed on Tammy’s foot, we needed to get back to our pickup point. I wanted to visit the U.S.S. Constitution and since that is not open on Mondays, I needed to do that today. We didn’t stay at the market to eat, because I didn’t get in line early enough. Everyone wanted the same thing I wanted (Lobster Roll). Oh well, we’ll get some food soon. (Riiiiiight.)

We walked back to the drop off place turning the corner just as the trolley drove off. Sigh. Another one will arrive in 30 minutes. That will still give us time to grab some food and do the U.S.S. Constitution. Probably. Eventually, the trolley arrived and all was fine, except that this driver took us on slightly different routes, and took several long stops (15 minutes at one for no apparent reason, 10 minutes at another stop for a bathroom break) and then stopped to take his lunch break two stops later. At that stop, we were told that the next trolley would be there to pick us up in 20 minutes.

Okay.We will just see the ship. We will find some food when we get to the motel. (Gotta love it when plans fall into place!)

We finished that tour and waited for the final trolley ride back to the starting point, for the shuttle back to the motel. And food! We arrived back, and were told that our shuttle wouldn’t be ready for 75  minutes. So, that gave us time for food!

It was Italian time! Just down the street was a nice Italian place, Vapiano. We ordered a mixed antipasti platter to eat there, and then a small pizza to go. We didn’t know how long it would take to prepare the food, and I really didn’t want to miss the shuttle back to the motel.

Very good food. A rustic bread with chopped tomatoes, some marinated artichoke hearts, shaved parmesan, slice tomatoes with fresh mozzarella, giardiniere of veggies and some Kalamata olives. It tastes even better that it looks!

The pizza arrived right away, so we ate it there instead of taking it to go. Such a good pizza! We waited a lot longer than planned for our meal, but I can say it was worth it. (And this meal kicked the butt of the Mexican meal yesterday.)

Dessert was at the motel. Our first night, we had stopped at a Godiva shop in the mall the held the Legal Seafood restaurant. Tonight we enjoyed two truffles each. We each had a tiramisu truffle, and Tammy had a dark chocolate shell, while I had an extra-dark chocolate truffle.

Tomorrow’s plan? The Beantown Trolley to start, then a 3.5 mile walk on the Freedom Trail, ending back at the U.S.S Constitution. Then we will ride back to Fanueil Hall for some shopping and snacking. From there we will wander to the Boston Aquarium, followed by a seafood restaurant.

Those are the plans. I wonder what will really happen?

FYI: Boston has quite a few hills and we climbed up and down the streetswhile trying to find our way to the market. That, combined all the other stairs we climbed made for some impressive numbers on my Fitbit. We walked 8.31 miles, 18,570 steps and climbed the equivalent of 101 flights of stairs.

Today was our first full day in Boston and we made the most of it. The weather was beautiful (mid-upper 80s, with a nice breeze, low humidity) and made for a perfect walking exploration of Boston’s South End.

But first we needed to get to the starting point of our tour. So we added an adventure that we had not anticipated. We thought our inn offered a shuttle for us. And they do, but only to the nearest train station. So my wife and I took the train in to the city. A first for us! (Hey, don’t laugh. Mass rapid transit doesn’t exist in Wisconsin.)

We survived our first encounter with a large city mass transit system (it was actually fun) and walked a few blocks to meet the rest of our tour. We were taking a strolling tour of Boston’s South End, focusing on local eateries and regional architecture. And before I start talking about some really excellent food, let me tell you about the tour.  Alyssa Daigle is a director for Bites of Boston Food Tours and it turned out to be one of the most satisfying events my wife and I have ever joined. We had 10 other guests in the party and we covered about two miles in just over three hours. Along the way we sampled great foods from six unique eateries, learned about the history of the city, looked at some wonderful architecture and enjoyed a simply beautiful city.

Our first restaurant, The Parish Cafe was also our meeting point, sitting on the corner of Tremont Street and Massechusettes Avenue (When we asked for directions how to find it, we displayed our Wisconsin ignorance. Tremont is not pronounced “TREE-mont”, and the other is simply “Mass Ave.” Oh well. It’s nearly impossible for a tourist to hide that fact. And I don’t even try anymore.)

The theme of this restaurant is that all the meals are the unique creation of regional master chefs. That results in a menu that simply sings with creativity and wonder. We were treated to a sampling of one of the restaurant’s signature dish, Sean’s Meatloaf Club. A slice of chipotle meatloaf, bacon, chipolte aioli, lettuce and tomato with a side of mashed red skin potatoes and gravy. THIS is a meatloaf sandwich to write about! It is a creation from chef/owner Sean Simmons, and if a meatloaf sandwich can be this good, I can’t imagine how good everything else is.

Our next stop was a smaller restaurant, Orinoco, a Venezuelan cafe located on the ground floor of a brownstone first built in 1912.  With old painted ceiling tiles, and seating for about 20, it is a small and comfortable place to enjoy a unique meal.

We were given datiles, bacon-wrapped almond-filled dates.

Okay. It was a long day.We walked over 12,000 steps according to my Fitbit, with 15 flights of stairs climbed. It also included a LOT of food (I blew my daily budget, and I don’t care!) We both had a fun, relaxing and educational day. I want to again thank Alyssa Daigle and Bites of Boston Food Tours for providing one of the best vacation days in recent memory. If you and your plans take you near Boston from April to November, and your plans will allow you three hours of free time in the afternoon, I really encourage you to consider adding this event to your plans. Just wear comfortable shoes and bring an empty stomach.

We ate at Legal Seafood. Nice food, but in my opinion, probably only a bump up from Red Lobster. (If anyone objects to that characterization, I am sorry, but that was our assessment.) I’m glad we ate there, because I have heard a lot about it, and I enjoyed the meal, but it did not live up to the my expectations based on listening/reading others.

I had two raw oysters for my starter. I offered to share with Tammy (hah!) but she politely declined my offer.

Two sauces were served with the oysters, a traditional tomato-horseradish cocktail sauce and a delicious vinegar-garlic-pepper dip. The starter was the best part of my meal. (I should have simply ordered a dozen oysters.)

The main course was a simple fried seafood platter, with shrimp, clams and scallops. For sides, I ordered jalapeno-cheese polenta and a seaweed salad. (The salad was excellent. In fact, the sides were the second best part of the meal, after the oysters.) Tammy just ordered a platter of fried clams with the seaweed salad and mashed potatoes.

I don’t have nutritional data for the meals. LoseIt does not have Legal Seafood in their database. I know it will be sodium heavy, and I knew that when I ordered the food, so that really isn’t a problem, especially since the only thing we’ve eaten in the past 24 hours was fruit, vegetables, hard boiled eggs, dark chocolate, almonds and a lot of coffee while driving here.

When I was bartending in Milwaukee, I worked with a 70ish bartender who told me about this liquid dessert. Take a sip of the liqueur, and then while holding the Sambuca in your mouth, take in some hot coffee. The flavors are excellent and contrasting!

Tomorrow’s big event is the Bites of Boston.  We are taking a guided tour, walking three hours through Boston’s South End and sampling food from six local eateries. After that, depending on the weather, we might walk the Freedom Trail. (If it is brutally hot, we will postpone the Freedom Trail.) Watch for the foods that we will be tasting!

I don’t have a large garden, mostly because I really dislike weeding gardens (a holdover from my childhood summers.) But I use several “upside down” systems to grow tomatoes and peppers, as well as a small container garden for herbs. Right now it is June 19 and already I have peppers and tomatoes forming on the plants.

We are back from our second weekend of camping. This was at our favorite campground, Quietwoods South in Brussels, Wisconsin. It was another relaxing weekend. No children. No dog. Tammy’s parents came to stay with them.

We got to the campsite Friday afternoon and had camp set up in about 30 minutes. For 20 of those minutes I worked on putting up the screened gazebo with the two long shock-corded poles. For a long time it just looked like a dead spider with the legs on the ground, pointing in all directions. Then Tammy found the instructions and it went up much faster.

Friday night’s meal was a simple one of natural casing hot dogs, with a cucumber salad and some jalapeno pepper poppers. Nothing fancy, just tasty.

Saturday morning we made the scrambled eggs from our earlier camping weekend (why mess with something if it isn’t broken?) Lunch was a treat. We made BLT sandwiches. That means we ate more bread than usual and we had bacon, another uncommon component in our diet. (We avoid it, not because of calories but because of all the sodium in it.) I made mine traditional, with romaine lettuce, a slice of tomato and three slices of bacon, but then I went rogue and added a slice of Vidalia onion and some sweet German mustard. The sweet mustard really complimented the smokey/salty bacon.

Dinner was the main event, with spatchcocked chicken as the centerpiece. Spatchcocking is taking a whole chicken and removing the spine and the breast bone. This allows you to lay it open like a book. It is easy to rub seasoning over all surfaces and it cooks in a short time, too.

This is what a spatchcocked chicken looks like:

I got the fire going and when it burned down to mostly hot embers, I set up the tripod grill and put the chicken on it, skin side down. I had liberally seasoned both sides with Penzey’s 33rd and Galena chicken and pork rub. Along with the chicken, I made foil packets of potatoes and carrots with a bit of bacon, and Granny Smith apples, cored and stuffed with a brown sugar/butter/All Bran cereal mix.

Here is the tripod loaded with the chicken and apples. (The veggie packets are on the rocks to the left cooking in the radiant heat from the fire.)

After 15 minutes, I flipped the chicken (not as easy as it sounds on this tripod.)

The veggies took an hour, the chicken about 35 minutes and the apples about 45 minutes. During the entire cooking time it rained steadily. Fortunately there was a lot of tree cover which helped keep everything a little dry. But we decided to eat in the completely dry camper, and the lighting affected the picture of the meal. But here it is on the plate:

The apples turned out perfectly, especially when we went to the little camp store and bought a bowl of caramel soft serve ice cream.

Sunday morning’s breakfast was another simple meal of Greek yogurt, All Bran cereal and a banana. And coffee.

No more camping until the end of July now. But in 11 days we leave on our driving trip to Boston, Maine and points beyond. Just Tammy and me. Ethan will be on his trip to China and Bennett will be at home with Ozzy. In the meantime, I will get additional recipes here for you to try for yourself.

This was a fantastic Father’s Day weekend. It started with an incredible dinner at the Chef’s Table at Chives on Thursday, and ended with a weekend of camping with just the two of us. I am a lucky man!

I’m not sure why, but I never posted about this year’s Mother’s Day celebration. And since today my wife surprised me with an awesome Father’s Day present, I guess I need to get everyone up to date.

The day before Mother’s Day we had all of our parents over for a nice brunch. It was just supposed to be a little thing and then everyone was going home. What Tammy did not know was that I had asked her parents to spend the night at our place, so that I could take Tammy to a bed and breakfast up in Door County. So we all enjoyed lunch and sat around the table chatting while I impatiently was stealing glances at my watch. Finally my parents left and I got up to do the dishes. I said to Tammy, “I will take care of the kitchen if you get the clothes off the line and then pack an overnight bag.”

She just looked at me, a stunned expression on her face and said, “Uh. Okay?”

About 30 minutes later we were driving away. She didn’t know exactly where we were going until I pulled up in front of the White Lace Inn, a beautiful old Victorian home located in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. We checked into the Main House Room 4 and then walked to the small downtown for a nice dinner at the Inn at Cedar Crossing. She had wild mushroom ravioli and I had the braised pork rib, and together we finished a bottle of wine (which is more than we usually drink in an evening.) That wine probably accounted for a stop at a candy shop and buying a LOT of candy, which included dark chocolate covered bacon. (I wanted the dark chocolate because that is healthier than milk chocolate!)

We strolled back the inn, and relaxed with a second bottle of wine. When we arose, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast that included an egg bake, and chocolate chip muffin, rice pudding with warm fruit compote and what my son calls “cr-orange” juice (cranberry and orange juices mixed.) It was a very calm, relaxing and fun evening. It was also very out of my norm. I have never planned a surprise getaway like that, not arbitrarily chosen the inn for us. But it worked. We both had a wonderful time.

There are many more bed and breakfasts in Door County, and we will begin explore them.

That was a month ago. About a week ago, I received a text from Tammy which read simply, “Please note on your calendar that you are busy on Thursday June 14 from 5-8pm.”  That’s it.  And she wouldn’t say anything else about it.

I tried to be cool about it, but I was really curious. But she didn’t let on anything other than she wanted to eat as good as possible earlier this week because she wanted to really enjoy this evening. From that hint, I deduced that food was involved somehow! But there are many restaurants in Green Bay, so that really did not narrow it down at all.

Today while facilitating clinical experiences for the students, I kept running ideas in my head. Dinner and a movie? Sushi and a crafting event at a local DIY shop (coincidentally called DIY.) Maybe a dinner cruise on the Foxy Lady (a 90 foot yacht–aka floating bar–that cruises up and down the Fox River.) Maybe dinner at one of the area brewpubs? Or maybe a dinner at a new wine bar that recently opened?

It got to be 4:45 and she asked me if I wanted her to drive. I said that since I didn’t know where I would be driving, that would be fine with me, but she handed me directions printed from Google. Hmmm. Suamico? Could it be a dinner at Chives? We’ve never been there before.

It was Chives. But my wonderful wife didn’t settle for just a dinner at a very nice restaurant. When we arrived, she told the hostess that we were there for a 5:30 reservation. The waitress ask for the name and she said, “LaRene.” The waitress looked at the book and then said three little words.

“The Chef’s Table.”

When I heard that, I almost started giggling with excitement. I LOVE food (in case you haven’t yet realized that) and I love watching it being prepared. I read regional cookbooks just for enjoyment. I love watching cooking shows and talking to chefs whenever I can. And tonight I was able to sit in the kitchen and have Chef/Owner JR serve us. It was six courses of some of the best food I’ve ever tasted. I don’t have recipes for the food, but will describe the ingredients and dishes to the best of my ability.

The starter was a grilled scallop on a bed of grits and topped with a piece of pork belly with creole seasoning. Every bite was a little taste of heaven. And right as I swallowed the last morsel, Tammy said, “Too bad you didn’t take a picture of it.” (D-ohhhhhh!)

But not to worry. I took pics of everything else. The salad was fresh from the vine tomato slices, topped with feta, red onion, olive oil, cherry tomato, grape and mint. (My phone did not take great pics, but it will give you an idea.)

The next course was fresh gnocchi, with duck confit and hen of the woods mushroom. Absolutely delicious. I wish I could push flavors through the blog to you. It was wonderful and the diverse textures from the soft gnocchi to the rich duck and the mushrooms with their earthy bite … words do not adequately describe it.

Then we move to the fish course. I had never even heard of Alaskan Black Cod (also called Butter Fish, according to the chef) but I will never forget it now. It was marinated in miso and then baked, and served over a bed of grilled young broccoli stalks, with a cucumber-ginger salad and a drizzle of Chinese hoisin sauce.

That was the juiciest and richest tasting fish I have ever eaten. I hope I have the opportunity to try it again.

The meat course was another dish that I had never eaten before, a lamb t-bone. It was served on a bed of creamed spinach and home fried potatoes in a Parmesan cream sauce and a little balsamic reduction as a contrast flavor. (I’m drooling a little just thinking about this.)

All the courses were good. No, all the courses were excellent. But Tammy and I agree, this was the high point of the meal.

The finale was dessert. The pastry chef made two individual fudge cakes, but they would not release from the pans. She could not get perfect portions, so she went with Plan B. A lemon curd tart, with fresh passion fruit sorbet and strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.

Being served by the chef and watching the food being prepared (as well as listening to the chef talk to his staff about the new restaurant he will be opening) was an awesome treat. Sitting with my wife and enjoying this meal was even better.

She wanted to pick something that she thought I’d like. She didn’t realize that I had been wishing we could go there and sit at the chef’s table since I heard that they offer that service several years ago. This was a gift that was more exciting than she expected. I honestly almost jumped out of my skin when I heard “Chef’s Table” and I stayed that way through the entire meal.

I logged everything on LoseIt.  Sort of. I have no idea what the calories were, or the fat content, or the sodium content.  And I don’t really care. This was a very special meal and sometimes you need to say “who cares!” and just enjoy it.

I came home to a son with a flat tire. And even that did nothing to dampen my excited and enthusiasm. Tonight was a wonderful evening, full of great food, exciting activities and most important,a  wonderful dinner partner.

Now. What am I going to do for next year’s Mother’s Day? I need to start planning!