Boston, Massachusetts - Day 2

Day 2 of our adventures in Boston started at the Massachusetts State House where we had a great view of Boston Common while enjoying our coffees.  From there, we walked down the street to the historic and charming neighborhood of Beacon Hill, where rowhouses, gas street lamps, shady trees and brick sidewalks are commonplace in the area.  

Decorations on entrances to homes in the Beacon Hill neighborhood...

Na hanging out and staying warm in an apartment doorway while I was taking pictures and some birds eating away on a feeder on Charles Street.

And of course, we gotta eat...brunch at Beacon Hill Hotel & Bistro!

Because dinner was so good in the North End on the previous night, we decided to head back to the same area on our 2nd night.  Off the main street and in a very tight one way street is Nepture Oyster.  Although the place was small and the wait was long, we had another delicious meal in the North End.  We're starting to think that EVERYTHING is good in this area!

And then there's desserts...  We've been told from locals that for cannoli's, it's either Mike's Pastry or Modern Pastry.  Being that we love desserts and it might be awhile before we're back in Boston...we got cannoli's from both places!  Oh and not just one cannoli, but two from each location AND other sweets!

Can you say sugar HIGH???  Anyways, as you can tell, I couldn't really wait to eat a few of them before taking pictures...oh well.

Boston, Massachusetts - Day 1

It's been waaay too long since my last entry, but I did finally get a chance to go through some pictures from late last year when we took a trip to Boston.  It was the first time both of us have visited and spending 4 days there gave us a good idea of what the city was all about...historically, visually and of course, culinary!  We got in on the red-eye and surprisingly, neither one of us was tired and so we started our adventure in Boston early in the morning.  After checking in at the Intercontinental which overlooks the Boston Harbor, we headed straight to breakfast.  It was a nice walk from our hotel to Flour Bakery and Cafe, a local joint recommended by the hotel staff.  The shop display was filled with mouth-watering pastries while the smell of fresh brewed coffee was omnipresent.

After breakfast, we headed over to Boston Common for the Freedom Trail Walking Tour led by our

18th-century costumed tour guide...who Na and I both thought looked a lot like a smaller Liam Neeson.

The Granary Burying Ground of Boston's most famous sons...  Although there are 2,345 markers on the grounds, an estimated 8,000 people were buried here.

Quincy Market

Below: Faneuil Hall, the site of American protests which would become the doctrine for

no taxation without representation...

Lunch from Quincy Market - Boston chowda, lobster bisque and lobster roll!

Details and sights along the Freedom Trail...

A panoramic view of Downtown Boston from Charlestown...

Dinner at Pomodoro in the North End, Boston's "Little Italy".  The restaurant was cozy but tiny so we had to wait outside for a table.  However, the staff completely surprised us by bringing out a plate of fried calamari AND wine while we waited...how cool is that?!?!  At that point, I was SOLD!  We had a delicious meal accompanied by excellent service...giving us a great first impression of the food and the people of Boston. 

The Lab & The Tengs

Earlier this month, we had a chance to take some shots of Wang, Misty and the kids down at the Lab in OC. We got there early enough so that we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. Such a cool place and it's always a good time w/the Tengs around! Here are some of my favorites from that morning...

A nice weekend...

We had a chance to hang out and explore Malibu and Westlake Village this past weekend. It was very relaxing for the both of us since we didn't have a schedule to follow or a timetable to go off of... I didn't take too many pictures but did end up with a few from Malibu Seafood and Malibu Wines where we did a tasting and enjoyed our time on a swing for a long, long time...

Enjoying our fish 'n' chips at Malibu Seafood on PCH...

On an early Saturday morning...

A few weeks ago, Victor and I decided we wanted to (or at least we attempted to) get some skyline shots of Downtown LA early in the morning before the city wakes and goes about its business. However, it just wasn't meant to be as you can see from the pictures below...

Beautiful downtown LA filled with sun and a thick layer of.....FOG?

So instead of shooting the skyline, we ended up shooting other things while we waited out for the fog to clear...

It didn't happen so we gave up and decided to go grab some breakfast instead. I remember Na mentioned that breakfast was good at the Nickel Diner in downtown LA so we decided to give it a try. We got lucky too b/c the diner was just about to open when we arrived. It's a cool little spot with a lot of the old school feel with breakfast that is quick and good.

Mammoth Lakes, CA

It's been at least 15 years since I've been up to the Mammoth Lakes area during the summer. Since Jimmy has never been and it's been a while since Jesse, Na and I have gone, we decided to do a short weekend trip. Everything is almost like I remembered except that it was crowded...really crowded! I remember it being a really slow town in the off season, but I guess Mammoth has become a year round destination since my last summer visit. And the weather was perfect...warm days and cool nights. Here are some images from that weekend...