Beantown

Boston Public Garden

Utilize public transportation--check!

I'm pretty sure my parents didn't send me across the country to college so that I could learn how to ride a bus, but, lucky them, they now have a bus riding, taxi savvy, full-fledged rider of public transportation for a daughter. I'm pretty good on foot as well.

My two roommates, missing the fourth, took a trip to Boston this weekend for Hannah's belated birthday. We've been saying that we were going to go for about a year now, so we finally bit the bullet and followed through on something.

We arrived on Friday afternoon only to figure out that our hotel was slightly further away from the actual city than we had hoped but still ready to take it by storm. After arming ourselves with a map and a bus schedule, the three of us managed to get ourselves into the city. How we planned on getting back was just something we planned on solving later...Have cash, will travel--plus taxi's take credit!

Traveling Roomies

The weather was absolutely perfect and after walking around for a few hours and relaxing in Boston Public Garden, we met up with a friend of Hannah's and found an awesome restaurant called Figs.

Fortunately my friends are "try-ers" of all types of food so when we saw Calamari Pizza on the menu, we gave it a go. The pizza was piled with the crispiest and freshest of calamari as well as tomato sauce, arugula, hot peppers & lemon aioli. One bite in and we were already LOVING Boston.

Having a little Calamari with our Pizza

The next day, slightly more comfortable with the bus system, we met my cousin Tommy for a walking tour of the Freedom Trail. It is crazy how much history there is in Boston. Walking around with Tommy was great because after living in Boston for most of his life as well as being an architecture buff, he was able to share things about the city that we never would have found on our own.

On the Freedom Trail

The only downfall about the tour was that the girls and I had decided on fashion over functionality and had all worn flip flops for the nearly four mile jaunt...not one of our smarter ideas. However, after the tour we had a chance to hop on a Duck Boat leaving from the Museum of Science and tour Boston further without having to walk.


After the Duck Boat we hopped on the T train to Boston College only to find ourselves two miles away from our hotel. So, we did what any good iphone users would do, got ourselves some walking directions and started on foot. That lasted about 1 mile until the 95 degree weather and worn out feet conspired to hail us a cab, best ten dollars we spent all trip!

Sunday was our last day in Boston and we made our way to the New England Aquarium and the Barking Crab before making the drive back to New Brunswick. Seeing as we were a seafood haven, we decided to splurge on some lobster and crab cakes to make the food tour complete. There is not a lot more amusing in life than two college girls in a bib squealing over lobster brains...somethings are just made for immaturity.

Emma modeling our lunch

And then it was back on the road, back to belting out Celine Dion and Kelly Clarkson, back to Emma and Hannah minding my blind spot, and bye-bye Beantown. Lobster Brains aside, Boston was amazing! Not only is it a beautiful and fun town to explore, but the trip was a great learning experience for us all. There are not many girls that can suck it up and go with the flow when they've walked across a city in Old Navy flip flops, but luckily for me, my two friends can. Now fully recovered, I sit in my apartment, listening to the downstairs boy's band play, and think...where to next?

Baja Roads and Humid Summers

I recently took a little drive down the peninsula of Baja California to the formerly unknown fishing village that has become Cabo San Lucas. "Little" being the operative word for this 25 hour drive that is...or three days in a car if you like to stop for fish tacos, empty waves, or hidden mountain towns. Cabo may be sin city for some but for my family it has always been as oasis from the realities that an imperfectly perfect life can bring you. With Gramma finally out of the hospital, Rodeo being taken care of by family, and thick fog covering Coastal San Diego, this perfectly imperfect life took me to Baja for a little surf, a lot of tortillas, and the occasional game of beachside Scrabble.

Passports Ready!

Waiting for some fish tacos

El Mercado de Pescado

I never cease to be amazed by the nostalgic quality that Mexico inspires in me. I remember playing with my barbies in the tide pools at Punta Elena, fighting over the boogey board with Molly, and my fear of the imfamous Cascadas Shark Pool. Now as I return to Baja as a young adult(Scary word!!!) I continue to be calmed by the ethereal nature of the country, simply happy to bask in the low latitude sun and collect shells along the beach.

Nine Palms' Sunset

While Cabo has changed in many ways--no longer a small town but a buzzing city, there are still many things that remain special. There is nothing in the world like waking up to the sun rising over the Sea of Cortez(those eastern facing beaches always freak me out!) only to find random horses and donkeys grazing on the beach.

If only I could get my friends to pose this much...

One of the best parts about the trip this summer was that my friend and blogging muse Julia got to come with my family. My mom has always called her "our favorite Baja traveler," a title that continues to inspire jealousy in my boyfriend Adam. Julia has one of those "go with the flow" attitudes that I can only hope to fractionally emulate. She keeps me grounded and reminds me constantly that the stress that I claim to love isn't really as necessary as I make it. Plus with her constant mixing up of spanish words, there is always something to laugh about.

Julia-Always ready to dig in a random shell pile on the side of the road

We spent 12 days eating good food and simply relaxing. We found an amazing restaurant called The Hangman in San Jose which served dollar tacos, sauteed spicy potatoes, and cactus quesadillas. In Guerro Negro, at the Malarimo, my Dad, Julia, and I dined on medallion sized scallops(hands down the best in the world) and seafood stew. In the mountains above Cabo Pulmo we bought mangos fresh from the tree. Somehow this blog, and my life, always falls back to the food.

Potatoes and Salsas at The Hangman

Yet now, as I sit in my bed in New Brunswick,NJ thousands of miles away from those warm, sandy beaches I continue to remember my trip with fondness. Sometimes, it is the simple things in life, like golden buttons on a vintage sweater or fresh fish tacos from a stand in Ensenada that remind us that life is not as hard as we'd like to make it out to be. There are treasures to be found in the everyday, sometimes they solely require a deep breath and the realization that they are possible. I'm back on the blogging train now, refreshed from my Latin American vacation, the LSAT behind me, and ready to see what my beautiful senior year will bring me. Ciao Bellas!

Comfort Food with Dad

I am a firm believer that food can solve most of the problems of the world, in moderation of course! My dad and I cooked an awesome meal tonight while waiting for my mom to get home from a day of taking care of my grandma. First, we flash browned pork chops in olive oil and onions. Just a little browning on both sides is all that is needed. Then we cut up about four apples, fresh from the tree outside and placed them into a casserole dish with the pork loin. Covered it all with a little brown sugar and dry sherry and threw it into the oven at 425 for 30 min and then 325 for another 30 or so. We cooked up some garlic mashed potatoes and organic green beans from Puppa's yard, and VOILA! Healthy Comfort Food.

Sometimes it's retail therapy and sometimes it's a good book, but there are often times in life that a homecooked meal made with love is simple the only thing to make the stress and problems of the world disappear, at least for a half an hour. Then it's back to the grind of ringing cell phones, new emails, crashing stocks, facebook updates, and a world that seems to be constantly running on overdrive. So in the time of all this chaos, it's important to remember that comfort is simply an oven and some fresh ingredients away. Don't forget to throw a little love in before it hits the oven!