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

Easter at Home!

Two weeks ago I went home to Massachusetts for Easter. It was really nice to see my parents, my sister, and my pets. The last time I was home was at Christmas, so it was cool to see the house without tons of unopened boxes and actually painted. 

I flew in the Friday before Easter and left Easter Sunday in the afternoon. Saturday I went to see Emma ice skate, went to Legal Sea Bar for lunch, got my nails done (yay!), and dyed Easter eggs. 

Saturday night was our "Easter dinner" with lamb, raita, hummus, and naan. Emma and Mom decorated the table and drank champagne with our fancy dinner.

How cute is this!! 

So good!!

The next day we went to brunch at Bambara in Cambridge. It was a buffet, which was good but not great. The Easter bunny who was taking photos with the kids was scary. Maybe it's because I'm not a kid anymore, but that costume was creepy. I avoided the bunny when I could. I wanted to try a little bit of everything. But my favorite was the waffle that I topped with whipped cream, fresh berries and honey. It was super yummy!

Berries with greek yogurt, a sausage patty, bread and cheese

Eggs Benedict and roast pork loin with apple butter

My waffle creation!

After brunch we went to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market before I had to get to the airport. We wandered around Urban Outfitters, Ann Taylor and Quincy Market (where I had a fantastic latte).

It was sad to leave my family, but they are coming to Washington, D.C. in a week to take a lot of my stuff home. It's crazy to think that my freshman year is almost over!! It has gone by so fast. 

See you next time!

Kara

A Day in the Life | Walden Pond

Hello everybody! On Wednesday Dad, Emma and I went to WaldenPond. Back in junior year of high school my English class read Walden. It was by no means my favorite book that we read that year, but I was still excited to see the cabin and the pond. The first thing that we saw was the reconstructed cabin that Thoreau lived in for over two years. It was definitely smaller than I had imagined while reading the book.

I don’t know if I would be able to live there alone in the woods for two years. I also don’t think that Thoreau would enjoy seeing a gift store and beach so close to his sanctuary.

Next we went into the wood to look for a geocache. Geocaching can pretty much be described as looking for Tupperware (a cache) in the woods, on street signs, under rocks, or anywhere. Our family has been geocaching for a few years now and our team name is TeamSchiap (isn’t it creative?). For this one (called Thoreau’s Perpendicular Bisector), we had to go into the wood and follow one of the trails. I won’t give away where we found the cache, but it took a bit of looking!

One day, I would like to hike around the wood for real (and with useful shoes, I was wearing sandals) or read book on the beach. The lake itself is beautiful and I wish that we could have spent more time there.

After geocaching we went to downtown Concord for lunch at Comella’s. It was actually very good. I got grilled chicken parmesan which hit the spot! Once finished eating, we headed to a Lenscrafters for an eye exam. I decided to get contacts and I have been using them for three days. I find it really hard to take them in and out, anyone got any tips?

Thanks for reading!

A Day In the Life | A Trip Back to the 17th Century

Hello guys! Welcome back! Today I will be talking about our visit to Plimoth Plantation. I have been here a few times; the first time was when I went to Boston on our eighth grade trip. It was early summer and still a bit chilly. The second time was last summer and then the third time was this past Thanksgiving when I went with our family and it was COLD. This time, however, the weather was warm and pleasant. Personally, I enjoyed the experience the most when we went during the fall because Thanksgiving and Plimoth go together. The fires are blazing in the pilgrims’ homes and the Wampanoag homesite, your breath frosts in the cool air and everyone is bundled up. The atmosphere there and at that time is wonderful.

As a history buff, Plimoth Plantation is always a lot of fun and a great chance to explore history. People may think that history is boring, but that is probably due to only studying history in a classroom. History is not about memorizing facts; it is a chance to discover how people lived and how historic events influence current events. I love it when I can connect events spanning decades (Franco-Prussian War to World War II is an example).

After watching the introduction video, we walked down to the Wampanoag homesite. Everyone here speaks English and talks from a 21^st century P.O.V..

Then we strolled along the “woodland path” to the village where everyone there is role-player speaking from the 17^th century. The idea is to ask about their lives and their opinions. Sometimes they will ask what is happening back in England and you have to flounder for a response. Last summer we were asked this and Dad responded that the prince and princess had a baby, meaning William and Kate. The role-player was confused and thought we were crazy!

After a picnic lunch we headed to Nye Barn where they have rare breeds from the 17^th century. But when we entered the barn we were surprised to a see a . . . llama. I know, a llama in a “17^th century” barn. No one was there so we could not ask why a llama was with the goats. It is still a mystery.

At the gift store, I got some maple sugar candy that we ate last night. Let me tell you, they were delicious. If you don’t like sugar or maple syrup, however, you would not like these.

And that was our day! I hope that you had a great day and I will see you next time.

Thanks for reading!