Great ending and a wonderful beginning

We met in 06, had fun in 07, and look forward to 08++

I arrived early Saturday morning to a rainy and foggy Providence. Matthew then whisked me away for brunch at Nick’s on Broadway where I had the most amazing food. Venison sausage (deer) with a plate of eggs benedict with scallops and banana rum french toast. I can still taste the scallop’s soft texture with a hint of lemon and the wonderful sauce that had been drizzled on them. Mmmm… I cannot wait to go back.

Myrna in Sommerville.

We then headed to Somerville/Cambridge to surprise Myrna, Johnny Mac’s girlfriend, at the Starbuck’s she works. She’s a very chill person to be with. We later picked her up at the end of her shift to bring her back to Providence to surprise her man after a long day of “Cockapoo”(cocker spaniel/poodle hybrid) shopping. We then parked in Harvard Square to hop onto the red T line and then had to transfer (via Park St.) onto the green line to exit at the Hynes/Convention Center stop to stroll down Newbury St. Our main objectives were to visit Boston’s Camper and Kiehl’s stores. I was disappointed to find nothing at Camper that caught my eye, so I left with no new shoes in hand The Boston Kiehl’s store experience was adequate. The sales personnel were only helpful when a customer needed to find a specific product. And the one thing I love about Kiehl’s is that they give lots of samples, this store didn’t offer any! The Chicago store is the best.

Blinging in Boston. With owl medallions

Matt, do you remember where this was taken?  I have no clue.

Matt’s friend Brandon came to meet up with us to shop (Anthropologie), sushi (a cute and very tiny spot) and then for a round of Guinness at the Pour House as the big Patriots/Giants game was about to start. Brandon’s off to Dubai for a few months, I hope he has a great experience there.

Dunkin Donuts (following Pats-Giants).

The whole of Kristine’s visit was a range gastronomical pleasures! Kristine was brought to the Bayside, a justifiable repeat visit for: lobster, lobster, and more lobster…and her first cream soda.

Lobster roll.

Lobster salad.

A full Kristine at the Bayside restaurant.

Along the ocean in Westport

Roger Mandle, the current RISD president, was enjoying lunch two tables down from us; ironically, we were going to the RISD museum following our lunch.

Following the museum visit, we met up with Matt’s cousin Melissa for drinks at Temple, a bar within the Renaissance Hotel. Matt, would you do the honors of describing the space?

We consumed 2 different local famous dishes on the 31st: Olneyville N.Y. System hot wieners (and fries) for lunch and The Coast Guard House for dinner. I am still dreaming of those wieners. We also stopped at Pastiche on Feddy Hill for mochacinno’s and a peanut butter brownie. We were unable to indulge in their cake slices because of New Year’s orders they had to fulfill.

Coast Guard House!

Coast Guard House kiss.

The 31st -> 1st celebration included Manish and began at his men’s club (Regency Cigars) in North Kingston.

Manish & Mike (Regency Cigar).

Following a cigar, we went to Starbuck’s for tea and cookies and then to the Coast Guard House for our dinner that included: vanilla lobster bisque (a bit too vanilla-y), oysters/tasty jelly/caviar(phenomenal), stuffed shrimp (I was stuffed after them), creme brulee (the Parkside’s brulee was good too, maybe better), and champagne. On our way to dinner we brought Kristine on a night tour of ‘ganset, showing off our favorite ocean-side area of Lil Rhody including a pitch black sky pregnant (I saw the big and little Dipper!) with stars suspended over a still ocean.

We were seated along the waterfront and were treated to Newport’s fireworks; sudden floral bursts of brilliant color interrupting a continuous black night.

Kristine outside of the Cable Car Cafe

The first of the new year we indulged in one of the great American fast food joints, Taco Bell! We had an Apple emergency which landed us at Providence Place Mall (yes, they were open on New Years Day) and I had a hankering for chalupas. See you next year Taco Bell. Afterwards, Matt and I stopped by his Aunt Anne’s home in Cranston for even more food.

Aunty Anne sharing family images with Kristine!

I enjoy spending time with his family especially when Matt starts to shake is head in disbelief. A week in Boca? Sure Auntie Anne We ended our day with a viewing of The Kite Runner at the Avon theater on Thayer Street just a few feet away from one of Matt’s old apartments. A bit disappointing, but movies adapted from novels almost always are.

Our last day was spent with breakfast with Matt’s Auntie Kate in Little Compton, a trip to Mass to drop off Matt’s car to be shipped to Portland (arriving in 18-20 days) and stops at CostCo and Stop ‘n Shop. We ended our last night together watching Rush Hour 3 (1 and 2 were better) and falling asleep in each other’s arms. I love you Matthew.

Helping out Matt with his project.

I can not forget to mention…my sweet new shirt!

IL–>MI–>OH–>PA——>NJ->NY–>CT–>RI->MA->RI->MA->RI…

Our trip began in Chicago, Illinois on Friday evening (9pm) with tasty fish and some turkey-Spam, a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee, chocolate glaze and sprinkle donuts, and the new Kanye…

Towards the East Coast, our diet was not the best but also not as junky as I thought it was going to end up. Included was beef jerky, Burger King’s sausage breakfast sandwiches and hashbrowns, Starbuck’s latte and iced skim milk caramel macchiato (kudos to Matt for getting that order right). Am I forgetting anything? And 2 Red Bull’s Matt consumed to stay awake but also was the cause for multiple bathroom breaks.

On our way East, we took a little detour through Michigan seeing that Matt’s never visited that state ever Realizing we needed to be on I-90 and not the I-94 we were currently zooming down, we stopped at a gas station off the interstate. The woman behind the counter was no help at all so we purchased a Trip ‘n Guide off the counter. She tried to help by directing us toward a country road that would get us to the I-90 faster. She tried to calm my fears of dark country roads by telling me it was a bit “hilly” while doing up and down motions with her arm and to not “be scared, it’s just the country.” Matt and I thought it was safest to stay on I-94 until we hit I-69 (hehehe) which would then reunite us with I-80/90.

PA morning mist

Together in PA morning!

Brownie bits and crumpled wrappers.

When we arrived in Tiverton, RI, we hopped back into another car for dinner. I had the scrumptous lobster and asparagus salad, Matt and his mom enjoyed the crab salad and Matt’s dad ordered the scallops with cusabi sauce.

Even though Matt still had not yet slept, we drove to Providence to the Fire Walk Water Fire. Baskets of wood set in the middle of river that runs through downtown Providence were set aflame in the night. It was definitely a couples required event.

Enjoying a cool bay breeze.

While pondering a Del’s, cabinet, or AwfulAwful (below).

Chocolate cabinet with jimmies.

A cabinet is what Midwesterners call a milkshake. What Rhode Islanders call a milkshake is a drink with milk and flavored powered shaken up. Needless to say, I was really excited when I my ordered included the words Awful Awful, cabinet and jimmies.

Awful Awful with jimmies .

It actually says Jimmies on the Awful Awful menu!

Kristine & Manish 0n Chetan’s roof in DOWNTOWN Boston.

Our first afternoon was spent in Boston with Manish – a communication error prevented the afternoon to include Jmac Manish’s initial idea was pancakes at Sophie’s; a long line redirected our path towards Newbury Street where Camper, Puma, and Johnny Cupcakes prolonged our walk towards breakfast.

Kristine became giddy the moment she saw Johnny Cupcakes, directing us into the store with the false expectation of warm fluffy cupcakes waiting for us. My anticipation of a Boston area Sweet Cakes lasted for several strides before I realized we were entering an urban apparel boutique. My disappointment is not with Johnny Cupcakes’ store (cool layout) or the products (other than price); I was expecting fluffy cupcakes -remember, we were entering the afternoon with no breakfast in our bellies.

I was digging two shirts – the cupcake and cross-bones and cupcakes clouds with lightning – and later (via online catalog) the baseball theme belt buckle. Had I noticed the Hippo shirt featured on the Johnny Cupcakes site I may have broken down and purchased it (for Kristine of course).

Too much $$$ for a fun shirt.

I like the design minus the

blue talk bubble.

A fun belt I did not notice until I visited the online catalog.

Hippo shirt from Johnnycupcakes.com

Kristine purchased superhero red fundies and a packet of buttons that she distributed to Manish and me.

With empty bellies we exited the faux bakery and discovered a Camper store! We spent a saturday afternoon last month searching for a Camper store in Chi-town, sadly there is no longer one I tried on a pair of Campers too find the correct fit (46) in hopes of preventing a hassle with returns when I ordered my Caper Peus online. The sales associate that attended to us provided one of the most pleasant and informative sales experiences in my [minimal] clothes shopping history.

Atop Chetan’s stellar rooftop, Manish, Matt and I smoked cigars, ate the delectable Great Wall of Chocaolate cake from our P.F. Chang’s lunch and had some fun on the comfortable hammock. I can’t wait to visit again when they install the hot tub!!!

Kristine meeting a Rhode Island quahog for the first time

Kristine has always claimed a preference for the Cubs before the Sox. Hmm.

Yes, I did buy the Sox Jersey shown above. It’s okay! They hardly ever play the Cubs during the regular season.

We spent the afternoon in Cambridge with JohnnyMac; we began sharing a dozen Beaver Tail oysters from Legal Seafood (yummy); with a belly full of oysters and wine we went to Cambridge Galleria ‘s Best Buy ( to locate a web cam ), a walk around the square, ice cream at Herrell’s ( chocolate whip cream (double yummy)), a walk along the Charles river, and concluded with an impromptu Red Sox game – who is going to pass on $25.00 tickets?

That was the best day I’ve ever had. Never had I thought I’d see a Red Sox game in Fenway Park this summer. And to see it with Matt (and JMac) made it even more special. I’ll always have a great memory attached to my cute Sox (Red, not White) jersey.

Jmac and Kristine as monkeys on the super cool gym on Oxford!

Almost there…

Shine!!!

A pirate and her ship?

Mmm…

Kristine, hand puppet, and Newport.

Cliff Walk in Newport.

Cliff Walk in Newport + PERFECT weather.

During Kristine’s first daytime drive through southern Rhode Island’s back roads (old farm land) she noticed one of my favorite attributes of the “rural” landscape: stonewalls. Once functioning as property boundaries and walls of livestock pens, these amateur structures formed by hand as farmers cleared rocky soil for harvests. …

Tastes:

The Bayside

http://www.thewestportbayside.com/