Bike n' Binge

Yesterday I joined some of my roommates for an event they refer to as "Bike n' Binge".  Don't worry, despite the name, it does not involve copious amounts of alcohol.  Instead, it's a homegrown food tour by bike of the Boston area, organized by their friend, Amit.  At about 3 in the afternoon, about twenty of us headed out from Brighton by bicycle to visit 5 foodie destinations in Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge.  The stops were as follows, with my (naturally excellent) choices:

Clear Flour (french bakery, Brookline) - I had a delicious chocolate croissant, and a taste of their regular croissant.  Not the lightest, flakiest pastries I've had, but still excellently made.
 

Lone Star Taco Bar (hipster tacos, Brighton) - The description might say "hipster", but it's really quite refined.  I had their grilled avocado taco, which was, frankly, phenomenal.
 

Formaggio Kitchen (artisanal cheese shop, Cambridge) - Excellent selection of cheeses, a fair number of wine, etc.  I bought some Parmesan that is made by essentially a single farmer in Italy and aged for 2 years, and a 2010 southern Rhone (that was okay, but unremarkable).  We all shared what we had chosen, and took home the rest.  I got half a pound of the Parmesan, which I plan to nibble on over the next month or so.  I also bought some raisins still on the vine.  I haven't tried them yet, but I'm excited to give them a taste soon.

Guru The Caterer (authentic Indian, Cambridge) - Amit, our unofficial Indian tour guide, claimed this is very legitimate Indian.  Honestly, I thought it was okay but not amazing.  And while I don't claim to be an expert on Indian food, I have been to India, so I feel like I have at least a sense for what good authentic Indian food is.

Toscanini's (ice cream, Cambridge) A, in my opinion, somewhat pretentious ice cream shop with a line you wouldn't believe on a Saturday night.  We shared a variety of flavors.  The Earl Gray and Basil with Blackberry (the latter flavor which I couldn't really depict) were excellent. The Saffron with salt several people described as tasting like chlorine (so much for containing the super expensive spice saffron), while the Strawberry tasted and had the texture of a good jam.  I still prefer my favorite flavor, made by J.P. Licks: Coconut with chocolate chips and almond.

Upon finishing out ice cream, we raced back to Brighton in the dark (we unfortunately had fewer lights than I would recommend).  Dano pushed the pace, and we were home in a jiffy, panting and sweaty.  But hopefully we burned off a few calories from the days binge.

Scotland in Hindsight

I finally published the remaining posts on Scotland from my trip last Fall.  It took me almost a year to get myself that organized.  But I think now I am free to take another adventure to Europe.  In order to fully capture my trip, I thought I'd post a few last thoughts.

On my next trip to Scotland, some things I definitely want to check out include (in no particular order):

·      Visit Iona

·      Visit Island Life Museum on Skye

·      Explore Mull

·      Hike some tough mountains in the Cuillin Hills on Skye

·      Explore the outer Hebrides

·      Stay at some farm B&Bs

·      See the inside of the Mackintosh school of art in Glasgow

·      See some live music (with bagpipes, please!)

·      Try haggis

·      Do a long 'advanced' tasting at a distillery

·      Mountain bike?

·      See some other castles, such as Scone, Dunvegan (on Skye), etc.

·      Go sailing?

I also wrote very brief reviews on each of the B&Bs I stayed at.  All were at least fairly decent.  I relied a lot on my guide books and Trip Advisor.  I often booked only a couple nights in advance - I think if I'd even planned a few weeks ahead, I could have likely booked at almost all of the top recommended B&Bs in my books..

·      Garfield House Edinburgh (B) – Good breakfast, tiny room, very hot shower, great host

·      Montague House, St. Andrews (A-) – Good breakfast, very nice, helpful host, but most expensive (60 pounds)

·      Craigroyston, Pitlochry (A) – Good breakfast, sweet host, good breakfast, right in the middle of town

·      Craig Villa Guest House, Inverness (A+) – Great talkative (in a good way) host, excellent food, good location,  very nice rooms, only wish it had parking

·      Dalriada Guest House (B-), Portree – Food was just okay (sausage was not good), helpful host but gave me an uncomfortable feeling like he didn't like his job, no character to house, great views. Next time I would opt for something else, but being up on the hill is quite nice

·      Mayfield B&B (A-) Helpful and nice host, decent room (but private bathroom), solid breakfast, outside of town but did have good views of Ben Nevis

·      Kilchrenan, Oban (A-) – Very nice breakfast room, host didn’t seem terribly interested in me, but they do have sherry or whisky to welcome you, breakfast was decent, nice building and close enough to town to walk it

·      Adelaide’s Guest House, Glasgow (B-) – Very simple, but adequate, very nice hosts, big, with little character, cheap and in decent location

 

Would I go back to Scotland?  Absolutely!  Although first, I would like to tour Ireland in a similar fashion.