BOSTON: Day 4- Food and 3 states

Before I left for Boston, I had a list of foods I wanted to try: lobster, oysters, clam chowder, and Sam Adams beer. Up until day 4, I had only completed half of my list, which left the two I was most looking forward to: the lobster and oysters, although I was a little nervous about the oysters. The plan was to find 'Oysters Rockefeller' which I think are cooked and have spinach with them, but that plan fell through as we couldn't find cooked oysters anywhere.

We started the day at a cute little town in Mass-a-Tu-sets. Liz got lucky because they were having a festival! In the middle of the town square. It was really cute, and a lot less crowded than the other festival, plus the band was really good. We did some random shopping again and decided we needed some food. I tried some fried mussels and they were not my favorite.

I added a lobster roll to my food list because I get a magazine called Gourmet delivered to my work that I read if I get everything done on the weekends or when I eat lunch. The previous manager had a subscription and decided it have it mailed to the store. One issue had a huge picture of a lobster roll on it and the description sounded so good that I figured while I was there, I could probably get a good one.

It was delicious! A little chewier than I thought, the lobster pieces were pretty big and hard to eat. I'm a full Type-A personality, so getting messy while eating is not my favorite, nor is eating something without neat little even bites. I was pleased that it wasn't overpowered by the mayo. I also learned later that lobster is low in fat, calories, and cholesterol. What a healthy lunch! :)

Before the main event was one of my highlights of the trip. Raw oysters. I can't believe how good they were! I've been thinking about them ever since!

Luckily the place we ate had them for $1 each, which Liz/Louis say is cheap. In Boston they can be $2.50 each! The pros I dined with advised that I should spritz a little lemon on them, and just a touch of cocktail sauce (which I'd ever tried either). I do not like cocktail sauce by itself, Liz described it as 'bad ketchup' and I have to agree.

Getting ready to take the plunge, and my first taste of oyster! I have been told not to chew it, to just swallow it. However, my gag reflex is fairly strong and my oyster ambassadors told me that they both chew it a couple of times. The first one all I tasted was the cocktail sauce, but on my second try I got all of the oceany flavor!

And here is the funny menu from that place. There is a soldier riding on a lobster. It reminds me of some book I read when I was a kid that had a toy soldier following a kid across the country and I think his name was Bill. Random.

After filling up on lunch, we headed across the New Hampshire state line. I've never been to New Hampshire before. Another cute and charming town, with lots of cute and charming things to look at, like this:

Turds for $3. It was in one of those fun random stuff stores and it looked so real, I almost ralphed up all of my oysters. But just outside that store, were these cute streets:

And this cute sign!

I was [thisclose] to buying this reusable sandwich holder thing that we'd seen several times over the trip. It's fabric on one side and plastic on the other, and it folds a certain way to hold your sandwich, and closes with a loop over a button. There was a free-trade/recycled goods store that had one. I just knew that I would use it every day, and so would Bean, and I was tempted to buy a few for our future children (kinda like I wanted to buy several onesies at different points during our shopping). So we're standing there, and I'm holding my little sandwich holder, and the lady working in the shop is chatting with some other guy for a good 15 minutes. He's not buying anything, and Liz/Louis had already been through the store at least 3 times each, and although I really wanted the sandwich holder, I didn't want to get trapped in New Hampshire talking to the lady. I had some lobster to eat. So we left.

In no time at all, we crossed the state line into Maine, our third state that day! It's crazy how our total travel time was about an hour from Boston to Maine, and I could easily travel from Denton (where I went to school) to downtown Dallas. Or from my house to Whit's house. And that's practically all in the same city!

Liz found Warren's, which had the seacoast's finest salad bar. It even says so on the sign. When we got there and quite a bit more chilly, a little spooky, like from a scary movie or something.

The paper place mats had instructions on how to eat a lobster. Liz and I opted to share the double lobster plate, which came with two 1 1/4 lb. lobsters and the amazing salad bar. Which really was good, even though I'm not the best with salad bars. I usually put random stuff that doesn't go together on my plate and don't feel like eating it.

Look at how shiny and bright they are! Their shells were fairly pliable, so it wasn't much work at all. But the first step is always to take a photo with your food.

They are so cute!

Step one is to use the cracker thing to break the claws. They were my favorite part because they were the most tender and easiest to chew.

My plan was to document each step and give a detailed description of each part, but my hands were covered in lobster juice, so I couldn't. Louis was able to get a shot of us at various stages of lobster eating. I have the whole tail unwrapped and ready to eat.

Again, the lobster was delicious but very chewy, with lots of tendons or something. I think I prefer it in smaller bites, rather than one huge piece. But in Maine, bigger lobster is better! (right?)

After all that food, Liz was a little tired so she took a nap in the restaurant.

We made the trek back to Boston, which was tough because we were all so tired after the weekend's adventures. I was trying not to get too depressed about having to leave the next day, or about Liz going to work. We played Guitar Hero and I got to meet Liz's other roommate and her boyfriend who seemed really fun. I also sampled some Gasolina, the alcoholic Capri-Sun beverage Liz/Louis brought back from Puerto Rico. It was pretty tasty.

Louis went home and Liz and I stayed up way too late chatting again. It was wierd, because a couple of times my eyes would close and I would think that we were in her bedroom at her parent's house, with that white quilt thing, and when I'd open my eyes again, we were there in Boston- all grown up.

I definitely feel more like myself when I'm around Liz. She doesn't care if I say something crazy or laugh too much, or if I just need a glass of wine with my lobster. We have similar views on relationships, and tend to think things through a lot. It helps to be able to bounce 'what if?' ideas off of her, not to mention our jobs are essentially the same. I'm just so happy to have a friend like her, and on Monday when I had to head home, I got to thinking maybe she feels the same way.