New York Day One: Sightseeing, Mexican Food and Darren Criss!

Hello! How was everyones fourth of July? Last weekend Mom, Dad and I went to New York City for a mini-vacation. We left the house early in the morning and got to the Affinia Dumont in Midtown at right before noon. We dropped off our bags and headed out into the big city!

Our first stop was the Tenement Museum on the corner of Orchard St and Delancey St in the Lower East Side. We had signed up for the "Hard Times" tour, which looked into the lives of two families who lived at 97 Orchard Ave (the actual tenement) during two different economic crises (the Panic of 1873 and the Great Depression). No photos were allowed in the tenement, but I took photos of the outside of the building.

This is the gift store and ticket counter at 103 Orchard St, the tenement is down the road

Outside of the Tenement Museum 

Looking up at the tenement

We all agreed that this is one of the coolest and most interesting museums that we have ever been to. There are seven other tours, and I want to go back and try them all. Each tour is held on a different floor. For example we visited two staged apartments on the first floor, but the "Irish Outsiders" is held on the fourth floor with a different staged apartment. We really got a glimpse of the lives of the people who lived at 97 Orchard St through the staged apartments, census records, and real life accounts.

After our tour we stopped at the gift store and bought a postcard, a New York Street Food cookbook, and some buttons for Emma. Then we headed out to explore the Lower East Side and find some lunch.

While walking on 2nd Ave we found Rosie's, a Mexican restaurant where the front glass windows opened up to open the interior to the sidewalk. Making it perfect for people watching!

We decided to split some appetizers before moving onto entrées.

Fried plantains, fresh fruit with lime and red chili, and fresh salsas.

Some guac and chips!

I loved the fried plantains and fruit. In the fruit cup there were pieces of watermelon, cucumbers, and mango. It was super refreshing for the hot day. Mom and Dad really liked the guacamole and salsas, although they liked the salsa verde better.

After eating the last plantain and scooping up the last of the guacamole, we ordered the entrées. Dad got the brisket torta, which came with black beans, avocado, lettuce, pickled jalapeño, cheese, and mayonnaise. Mom and I split the brisket tacos and the queso fundido.

Everything was delicious and I would definitely recommend Rosie's to anyone looking for good Mexican food. 

After the late lunch, we walked back up 2nd Ave back to the hotel. We passed by a lot of neat looking restaurants, a park and we went into a coffee shop for a quick pick-me-up. 

I thought this was in DC!

At Peter's Field

Also at Peter's Field. My favorite Peter!

Before going to see one of the best musicals that I have ever seen, we rested at the hotel and then got ready.

I will be the first to admit that one of the main reasons that I wanted to see Hedwig and the Angry Inch was because of Darren Criss. I have loved Darren Criss since I saw A Very Potter Musical four or five years ago. I still cannot believe that I saw him perform live and that I actually met him in person!

The musical was absolutely fantastic and it was such a privilege to see Darren perform live. Mom, Dad and I laughed through the whole thing. While it is not a musical to bring Emma to (at least not for a few years), I would love to see it again with Darren as Hedwig or with anyone as Hedwig.

As soon as the last song ended, I rushed out to stage door wait to meet Darren. While I waited for over two hours, it was definitely worth it! I also got a photo and autograph from Rebecca Naomi Jones who played Hedwig's husband Yitzhak. 

Dad's photo of me right in front of the line! Stage door is directly to my right!

AHHH!

Rebecca Naomi Jones! 

Maybe my roommate will let me hang the poster is our room!

This was an amazing first day to our long weekend. I mean, what more could I ask for? A really interesting museum, fantastic food, and a mind-blowing musical? Not much tops that. But it's a good thing that we had a great weekend plan. You'll just have to check back later this week to find out about the rest of our trip!

See you next time!

Kara

Breakfast With Dad: The Most Delicious Breakfast EVER!

In the next installment of Dad and Kara try new breakfast places, we went to the Ugly Mug Diner in Salem, MA. I had seen this place when I went to Salem with my grandfather last week. It was also featured in North Shore Magazine's "Best of the North Shore 2015" for breakfast.  I checked the menu online and immediately knew that I needed to go there! The diner calls themselves a "foodie haven, not a greasy spoon" and it is certainly a foodie haven.

One side of the sign outside of the diner.

Same!

While looking through the menu Dad and I both got large orange juices (freshly squeezed) and espresso drinks. He had a double espresso and I got a cappuccino. My cappuccino came in a, you guessed it, ugly mug! Every table already comes with an ugly mug filled with the creamer cups. My mug was for a motorcycle company and the one on our table had different variations of "mom" written all over it. I saw a Scarecrow (from "The Wizard of Oz") mug that was pretty ugly!

Now onto the good stuff! I made the fantastic choice of getting the "This Ain't No Chicken & Waffles," which is duck confit and candied pecans on top of a waffle with a bourbon maple syrup reduction. This was out of this world delicious! Why don't I have duck more often? And for breakfast!

Dad also got duck, but he got it in "The Hungry Chef" with Brisket Hash, wheat toast and two sunny-side up eggs. He loved it and found it interesting that the hash was made with sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes. 

Overall definitely a 5 out of 5 and we would come again. The delicious food along with the quirkiness of the restaurant with all of the ugly mugs on every table made the experience unique and fun. We need to take Mom with us next time! (Plus we got 10% discount at Wicked Good Books if we brought our receipt!)

Dad and I then spent some time wandering around Salem and looking at all the witch related stores in the area.

A "Bewitched" statue 

Some storefronts on Essex St. 

I guess that this is the American Ollivanders?

Stickwork, part of the Peabody Essex Museum

This is supposed to be an abstract map of Salem with a Torii (Japanese gateway) to represent Salem's relationship with the Far East.

Dad and I had a great time at the Ugly Mug Diner and walking around Salem. We went into some cool shops. I especially liked Roost & Company where I got a Jane Austen candle! Dad and I agreed that we would want to come back to Salem and try some of the other restaurants. 

See you next time,

Kara

Lunch in the North End with the Family!

Hello! I hope that everyone had a great Father's Day. My grandfather flew down from New Jersey Saturday morning and is staying until Thursday. We picked up my grandfather (Nonno, which is grandfather in Italian) and headed to the North End. As you may have guessed the North End is one of our favorite neighborhoods in Boston. We were planning on going to Quattro (which Mom and I went to last summer), but there was an hour wait. The five of us then walked down the block to Ristorante Fiore, which we had never been to. We sat on the roof deck and browsed through the menu.

Mom and I chose to split an arugula salad with lemon juice and shaved parmesan. It was a perfect light start to a carb based meal. 

Both Dad and Nonno got the arancini (rice balls) stuffed with sausage and cheese. They both loved it, and I was happy to sample some of Dad's!

While we waited for our entrées to arrive (which took longer than we had anticipated) we discussed some of the work that Mom and I have been doing tracing our family tree. We have since worked on it, and now the tree has 140 people on it dating back to 1837. It has been a lot of fun and I can't wait to find out more about our family!

Emma ate spaghetti and meatballs! Classic and delicious.

I chose the Maccaroni al Forno. An amazing mixture of rigatoni pasta with spicy sausage and goat cheese. It was huge and I could not finish it all!

Mom got the Penne al Pollo, which had artichoke hearts, chicken, cherry tomatoes, in a light cream sauce. Like mine it was huge and she could not finish it, but she loved it nonetheless.

Lastly, Dad and Nonno got the gnocchi with sausage and mushrooms. I'm not a big fan of either gnocchi or mushrooms, but I got to say that it was pretty good! Not something that I would order for myself. 

Even after all of that we could not say no to dessert! Mom, Nonno, and I got cappuccino, while Dad got his usual double espresso. We got two tiramisus to split between the four of us (Emma does not like tiramisu) and it was so good! I love tiramisu. I have made it many times and I have had it at many restaurants. My french host mother even made me a speculoos tiramisu! Out of all of those tiramisus, this one is in the top five. It had a really good coffee flavor, that can be lost with the mascarpone filling and chocolate.

We then walked by the harbor before heading back home! All in all another very successful meal in the North End.

See you next time,

Kara

Breakfast With Dad: Country Chef Restaurant, Wilmington MA

Hello! As you guys may know breakfast is my second favorite meal, with brunch being my favorite because I can sleep in and eat breakfast foods! So I love going out to breakfast every other Friday with Dad. We usually try to find a different restaurant or diner each week (although we haven't always stuck to that rule). So far we have tried Agawam Diner in Rowley and Shawsheen Luncheonette in Andover (which we have gone to twice and is apparently an Andover favorite because there is always a line out of the door). 

Yesterday we went to the Country Chef Restaurant in Wilmington. It is a cute little place where a lot of locals were getting their breakfast, which is always a good sign.

Upon arrival we were offered a fruit salad to eat while choosing our entrée. It consisted of pineapple, honeydew, and cantelope. The fruit was yummy and fresh, even though none of those fruits are my favorite.

The menu has egg dishes, pancakes, waffles, French toast, and more. It took me a while to decide but I got there in the end! Dad got the Linguicia special omelette, which had Linguicia sausage, feta cheese, American cheese, spinach, and tomatoes. It was served with home fries and wheat toast. He really liked it and would have it again.

I had the Boston Breakfast, which is two eggs served any style (I chose sunny side up), choice of meat (I chose sausage), home fries, toast and a small juice (I got orange juice). It was yummy but I wished that the home fries were crispier. Next time I really want to try the pancakes with chocolate chips!!

Overall I liked the place. As we were leaving there were a good number of cars pulling in, making it look like the place to get breakfast in Wilmington. I can't wait to try the next place!!

See you next time,

Kara

Summer Plans: Volunteering, Movies, and Going to India!

Helle everyone! I hope your summer is going well so far. I am so excited for the rest of my summer because I have a lot of fun stuff lined up!

Three times a week I volunteer at the Crane Estate in Ipswich. The Crane Estate is one of the many Trustee of Reservations properties. There are tours at the great house, a tour of the grounds, and picturesque views from almost any place on the property. I work at the Casino, no, it is not a place for gambling. It was a place for the Crane's and their guests to relax and have a good time. Outside of the Casino there used to be a saltwater pool that was filled in by Mrs Crane, so the Casino was the place to cool down after a fun afternoon in the pool. Here are some pictures of the estate that I've taken during the last few weeks. 

A photo of the house during the kite festival 

The view from the house's cupola. Wouldn't this be nice for a summer home? 

Some of the salt marshes around the property

View from the Grande Allée (the rolling hills in the second photo)

On days when I am not working at the Crane Estate I am working with four of my fellow Northern Ireland students on a research paper for one of the undergraduate journals on campus. We all have our different sections to write. I am writing about some of the cultural challenges to integrated education. Going back through our notes and watching the videos (haven't seen them yet? I'll insert them below!) has made me nostalgic for one of the best trips of my life! The first video is the more academic one and the second one is the vlog style video.

Speaking of traveling, I am lucky enough to go to some amazing places this summer. First I am going to New York with my parents for Fourth of July weekend. We are seeing a Broadway musical (Hedwig and the Angry Inch with Darren Criss!!) and going on a cool walking tour of the High-line and Greenwich Village. I hope to take some amazing photos. In late July my mom is going on a business trip to India and I am incredibly lucky enough to go with her! We are going to New Delhi and Bangalore, with an overnight trip to see the Taj Mahal. Words cannot describe how excited I am for this trip! I have two trips in August. One is a four day family trip to Toronto, Canada (where I lived for three years) to see some of my mom's old colleagues and poke around our old haunts. Lastly, the four of us are going to Florida!! The first half of the week will be in Orlando to go to Walt Disney World and the second half of the week will be spent in St Petersburg to see friends! I want to see if St Petersburg has changed since I've last been there (last Thanksgiving). I can't wait to go on these four trips and to write all about them. 

As far as movies go, I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron three times (AMAZING!), Mad Max: Fury Road once (Go Furiosa), and Jurassic World (Chris Pratt!) . I am looking forward to seeing Ant Man and Inside Out. Any other movies that I should look out for? Let me know in the comments!

I know that this summer is going to go by super fast! before I know it I'll be starting classes back at American! I hope that everyone has had a good start to their summer and has fun things planned.

See you soon,

Kara

Shopping and Dinner in the North End!

Hello everyone! I know that it has been a while but I want to get back into the blogging groove. I'm so happy that Summer is here and that the sun is shining (on most days). Living in Massachusetts has been good, although I miss my friends from Florida and D.C.. Two weekends ago Mom, Dad and I went into Boston for some shopping (well the shopping was for Mom and I) and eat at one of my favorite Italian restaurants in the North End.

Once we got into Boston, we wandered through an arts market just as it was about to end. I wish we had gotten there sooner, but we still had the chance to look at some beautiful jewelry.

Me helping Dad with geocaching

We also bought some amazing smelling candles from a Boston-based business called Fifth & Madison. We got three candles: Molokai (Sea Salt, Gardenia, and White Musk) for Mom, Cosmopolitan (Pomegranate and Grapefruit) for Emma, and Spa Water (Rosemary and Eucalyptus) for me. They are nice and light summer scents!

While Dad waited in Quincy Market, Mom and I perused through Ann Taylor Loft where I got two shirts and a pair of sunglasses. We then walked down to the North End to go through the store Lit where I got a cute dress. 

We had dinner at a new restaurant on Hanover St called Parla. I ate here last summer with Mom, which you can read about here. Now this is not your typical Italian restaurant with spaghetti and meatballs or pizza. They change their menu on a regular basis, so you can always try something new. We got beef carpaccio and grilled polenta to start. Both were yummy, but I liked the polenta more because beef carpaccio is not really my thing.

For the main course Mom had the roasted duck breast with carrots and sweet potato purée. She loved it and let everyone have a try. I love duck and I would definitely get that again.

Dad got the most interesting dish: a ramen "carbonara." Just like it sounds, it was a mix between ramen soup with spaghetti carbonara. He really liked it and it showcased how different Parla is from the other restaurants in the North End.

I ate the seafood pasta dish with haddock, scallops, shrimp, mussels and clams. While it was not the most adventurous thing on the menu nor my favorite seafood pasta, it was still pretty yummy. I'm not a huge fan of haddock but the rest of the seafood was perfectly cooked and sauce was delicious.

We had to get Mike's Pastries for desserts just because. I've never had Modern Pastry, but I will always go to Mike's to get a chocolate chip cannoli. 

My parents and I had a great time going to Quincy Market and the North End. They are two of my favorite places to go in Boston and I have fond memories of them both. Since we live here, however, I cannot wait to explore new areas of Boston and try other restaurants. Any suggestions?

See you next time,

Kara