‘Boston’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Visit: Nantasket Beach Resort {Hull, MA}

May 6, 2017 · Narrative

A quaint hotel with a gorgeous view right outside of Boston … let’s visit the Nantasket Beach Resort!

Last year, for Spring break, my kids and I met up with Sarah and her kids for a whirlwind day in Boston. Because I’m only slightly crazy, we spent the night in Hull the night before, to break up the long day of driving for me. Although it would have been more convenient to stay in Boston, I picked a spot outside of Boston because the price is dramatically less expensive.

When I’m looking for a hotel, I always start with Groupon and LivingSocial to hunt for the best deal. My kids have two criteria for hotels … a swimming pool and room service. This one had neither, but it had an in-house restaurant and a stunning view of the beach across the street, so it was still a winner.

We were only in the area for the night, and headed straight to meet Sarah in Boston the next day, so we didn’t really poke around too much, but I CAN tell you that there was a drive-thru Dunkin’ Donuts, which makes this caffeine-driven mama very happy. The town, however, has an interesting history. It is long and narrow, with one main street going down one side along the water, and the other side to exit, and it feeds into the Boston Harbor. Because of its convenient location to the waterway, it was originally set up as a Trading Post for Indians back in 1621!

The parking situation was a little odd at this hotel. Guests park a block down from the hotel. It’s not a terrible distance, but when we arrived it was raining, so it was a bit of a pain. It is, however, free parking, so bonus points for that.

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Visit: Sweet Bakery {Boston, MA}

June 3, 2016 · Narrative

When I was compiling a completely unrealistically long list of Things to Do for our quick trip to Boston during Spring Break, someone mentioned Sweet Bakery was a must-visit.

And, of course, I was all ears.

Because, cupcakes.

There are several locations in the Boston area, so I quickly put each address into the Waze app to see which one made the most sense and had the best hope of parking, and the Charles Street location was it.

We amazingly found a parking space right in front of the store, which I decided was fate. Or that, despite the fact that I obsessively read all the street signs looking for why I shouldn’t be parking there, I would come out and my car would be towed.

Luckily the worry was for nothing.

#dodgedbullet

As soon as we opened the door to the bakery, it smelled like sugar and baked goods all at once, swirling around our heads and inviting us into the storefront. Which is exactly what I want to smell when I go into a bakery. Just absolutely divine.

Their display case was full and everything looked so good. There are many seasonal flavors and traditional favorites to choose from, even frosting shots. Fancy schmancy flavors like Madagascar bourbon vanilla and plain old awesome chocolate. Yes, please. We each choose a mini and got them packed up to enjoy later that evening.

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Visit: New England Aquarium {Boston, MA}

May 10, 2016 · Narrative

If you’ve been a regular reader here, it should come as no surprise that if we’re traveling, we’re going to find a local aquarium or zoo to visit. I’ve lost count at how many we’ve visited, but it’s one of our favorite things to do.

And our recent visit to Boston was no exception.

Although I had a relatively ambitious list of things to do and see in Boston, there were a few non-negotiable items.

The New England Aquarium being one of them.

Interestingly enough, Madeline and I had just seen the movie, Miracles from Heaven, which had scenes shot at this aquarium, so that was a fun reference, but if you’re looking for the tank with the fish swimming over your head from the movie … you’re not going to find it here. Apparently that was some swift editing and creative license on the part of Hollywood.

We planned to meet Sarah and her kids at the aquarium as we rounded the corner and approached the front entrance, we noticed two fire trucks and all the patrons outside.

Alrighty then.

Luckily whatever was going on (likely a false alarm) was resolved quickly because by the time we came back some fifteen minutes later, everything was back to normal.

There is a parking garage right in front of the aquarium, which is incredibly convenient and not outrageously overpriced. I think it was around $20 for our visit. Sarah ended up being late, so we started without her, did the whole aquarium, and then did it again once she got there. So we got our money’s worth, both on the admission prices and the garage fee.

As for admission, you can bet I flashed my Student ID to get discounted admission, and if you have AAA that will save you a few bucks off as well. Once we got our tickets, we headed inside. There is a gift shop and an area where staff members are taking your picture (which we skipped), and then we were off to explore on our own.

The inside is in a circular pattern, so as you’re following the winding pathway, you’re circling a giant round tank in the middle. Once you get to the end, you can see the top of the huge tank (and it’s open), and that’s where there is a demo with some staff divers, and they tell you a bit about the giant turtles.

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Do: Boston Duck Tour

April 20, 2016 · Narrative

If you’re looking to get a thoroughly fun tour of Boston, hop on a duck tour!

Two weeks ago, during Nick and Madeline’s Spring Break, we headed up to Boston to spend the day with Sarah and her kids. She moved to Maine two years ago, and we haven’t seen each other in forever. Boston is kind of a halfway point for us, and my kids have never been. I couldn’t think of a better reason.

My “to do” list for Boston was definitely ambitious. In fact, I think we only got through half of it. There is just so much to see and do there, such a great town that is so rich with history … we’ll just have to make a repeat visit. I used to go often when I was in my early 20s, but I’ve been remiss in taking my kids.

Doing a duck tour was definitely on our short list because we’ve never done one before (and Denise from Chez Us highly recommended it), and I thought it would be an awesome mix of both fun and educational.

Spoiler alert: it was.

You can hop on a duck tour at three different locations in Boston, and we chose the Prudential Center location. If you know you’re going to be visiting and doing a tour, check Groupon or LivingSocial to see if they have deals on the tour tickets (LivingSocial had a current deal when we were there). You can also save a few dollars if you have a student ID (and yes, I totally whipped mine out). First word of advice: buy your tickets ahead of time. Although the tours run frequently, they ARE popular and, especially as the nicer weather is upon us, they do sell out.

We arrived, as requested, fifteen minutes before our tour was scheduled to leave and waited at their benches. MC History, our tour guide and driver (or “ConDUCKtor”), showed up, and he was every bit as fun and friendly as you would imagine. He definitely knows the city backwards and forwards and had fun little tidbits to share about different buildings, movies that were filmed there, famous people that had lived there, and historical facts. He was pretty much a walking encyclopedia of all things Boston.

*This church was voted one of the Top 10 Architectural Buildings in the US
*Edgar Allen Poe’s childhood home…

Review: Mount Vernon Restaurant, Somerville, MA

July 28, 2011 · Narrative

When Joanne, Patsy and I arrived at our destination on Saturday night, we were on the outskirts of Boston. Like about 5 minutes away. It was after 8 pm and we had just checked in to our hotel. And hadn’t had dinner. After stashing our bags in the room, we headed downstairs to the front desk to ask for recommendations. Because, you know, they’re from the area and should be an excellent resource. Ike at the front desk said “there’s a good seafood restaurant about 5-10 minutes away on foot.”

Seafood? Boston? It was a no brainer.

Our first mistake was asking Ike. Our second was thinking we were on our way to an awesome seafood dinner. We were soon to find out our adventures that evening had just begun.

First, the directions were as hazy as the weather, and after 15 minutes in one direction, in a hundred degree heat, we realized there was no restaurant to be had.

We walked the other way, passing Mystic’s namesake along the way.

Up a residential street. A hill. “We’re walking off our delicious seafood dinner!” we thought.

Passing a pizzeria that smelled of oregano. I half-jokingly suggested grabbing a slice and a Diet Coke and heading back to the room. But how could we pass up seafood?

We passed a group of rowdy bachelors and politely demurred when they waved us over for beer and food.

We finally reached the top of the hill, rounded the corner and saw sparkly lights in the tree. Ah, this must be the place. That walk up hill in the steam bath called Summer in New England was starting to pay off.

It wasn’t especially clear which door was the entrance, but we found it. As soon as we threw it open, the smell of fresh seafood hung in the air. This was looking better and better.

We slid into a booth and were handed menus nearly immediately.

Side bar: If you walk into a restaurant on a Saturday night and there are only a few tables occupied, that would be an important clue.

We all perused the menu, each description sounding better than the last. We all chose seafood. I mean, c’mon, seafood restaurant in Massachusetts, how could we not?

The waitress asked if we wanted popovers or Italian bread with our meal. Joanne and I exchanged looks. Popovers don’t really fit with the seafood theme, but sounded intriguing enough that we took a leap of faith.

Behold the popovers.

Quite overdone, we dove in, broke them open and each took a bite anyway. No flavor. No salt. Just a whole lot of nothingness. We pushed them aside and asked for the Italian bread.

The salad arrived. Standard issue. Iceberg lettuce, sliced cucumber, not-quite-ripe-enough tomatoes. But ok.

Then it started to go rapidly downhill from there.

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Food Writers’ Road Trip: Weekend Photos in Review

July 25, 2011 · Narrative

So what happens when three food writers set off on a Boston road trip? We come back with a ton of stories and a scant amount of pictures. A normal weekend usually nets me a minimum of 200 pictures. This weekend? I barely scraped a hundred. And forty or so of those were from the ride home. The laughs and the characters we met along the way, however, more than made up for it. And when I say characters, I mean characters.

That’s Joanne from Eats Well with Others and Patsy from Family, Friends and Food, by the way. If you’re not a reader of their web sites already, do check them out.

On the way to pick up Joanne in NYC, we may or may not have made a wrong turn. Twice. I blame the music. And Patsy. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Our next picture didn’t happen until we reached the Mass Pike. A pathetic excuse for a freelance photographer I am. This time, Joanne was in the car too, so I’m blaming both of them. Too much talking! We sadly missed every “Welcome to…” state sign on the whole ride down. Three states. Three signs. I’d like to say we made up for it on the ride home. We kinda didn’t.

My Dad works in engineering, so when I saw these pastel-colored storage tanks as we neared our destination, I had to take a picture for him. Well, actually I stopped on the highway so Patsy could take it. You know, Safe Driving 101 and all.

After two days with me, the girls might be now used to my “wait, we have to stop everything and take pictures of the sky” problem fascination.

Just no getting away from Mystic.

What do three food writers eat for dinner when they head to Boston for a food conference? Lobster? No. Chow-dah? Nope. Steamers? Negatory. Homemade granola bars and strawberries brought from home. At 10:30 pm. I wish I was kidding, but the best food we had all weekend was likely the roasted vegetable wraps from the rest stop on our drive home. Sad. Very sad. But great fodder for blog posts, coming to a web site near you.

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