WHOA!!!!

How do 21 days go by and I don't post once?!?! Could it be the holiday season? Those calls I get at 6 pm which last until 6 am for work??? Maybe I am just lazy????

Well It is going to be another few days before I get back to posting, but I have a lot to talk about. So stop by after Christmas to find out about......

My next installment of Diner's Driveins and Dives a.k.a the Peterborough Diner.

Boston's Best, or so they say, Thai restaurant, Montien

and the Big "O" The restaurant at the Opeche Spa in Belmont NH.

and much, much, more!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diners, Driveins and Dives/ Victoria's

I was watching Diner's, Drivein's and Dives over Thanksgiving. Lou and I are waiting for Guy Fieri to drop dead from a heart attack during one of the episodes from all the grease he is eating, but the food does look damn good at these places. I used to think he only ate a few bites of whatever he was eating, but after watching the marathon, he is chowing!

Anyway, this is my own version of Diners, Driveins and Dives!!! or just Diners, or rather Diner...

I have written about Breakfast at Victoria's Diner in Dorchester before, but I have never written about dinner.

Lou and I have come to appreciate Victoria's for more than just the 24 hour breakfast. We now go there for dinner too!

Lou's dinner usually consists of breakfast, but sometimes, like the other night.... He gets something different!

This last time at Victoria's we tried the Eggplant fries. Basically fried eggplant that looks like fries. I am sure this would contribute nicely to Guy Fieri's hardening of the arteries, but they are very tasty, and need no dipping sauce. Although I think marinara or ketchup would be a nice addition as well, we ate them plain. I get it Guy, I am working towards my own heart attack if I keep eating these, but this batch was work the extra cholesterol.
Moving away from the breakfast for dinner theme, Lou got this gigantic Cranberry and Walnut salad with Mandarin oranges above.
I got my equally large standard chef salad which comes with real freshly sliced turkey breast.

All salads also come with Pita bread which I love, love, love. I don't know why when I was growing up in NJ no salads came with pita bread. I didn't see this phenomenon until I moved to Boston. Maybe I just never ate salad back then...

Dinner for two at Victoria's is usually well under $30 and you get more food than most restaurants. The menu is the typically diverse Diner Menu with lots of choices for everyone, and they are open 24/7. Where was this place when I was in my 20's?

Cheesy Boy! Cheesy Boy! Cheesy Boy!

Cheeseboy

South Station Train Concourse

cheeseboy.com

If Squirrel only knew.... those of you from Bryant College years circa 86-90 may remember our friend, Ed, making his "Cheesies" in the bottom of dorm 2 late at night for the munchie crowd. He even had a hot dog cart umbrella to add to atmosphere!

Well 20 years later looks like another cheese master has decided to cash in on his own grilled cheese making. This kid's idea had to be born in a similar late night college dorm.

Cheeseboy is the brainchild of Michael Inwald, a guy who loved grilled cheese in college and who's friend's thought he had a knack for making them. Mark believed in his concept so much he left his Yale MBA program last year to invest 20K and go on the road selling grilled cheese. After obtaining outside investment, he was able to open the first Cheeseboy in South Station.

Read some of the naysayer's reviews and they will tell you grilled cheese consumption in restaurants is down, but Michael is being smart about it. He has a small, to go only stand in South Station, and his prices are extremely affordable. A classic grilled cheese is only $2.99
There are three main choices on the menu for low maintenance ordering, or you can mix and match bread cheese and fillings to customize your grilled cheese, from the choices below.

Choose your bread: Italian, rye, multigrain, or wheat

Choose your cheese: American, Cheddar, light swiss, Muenster, or Provolone,

Choose a meat: Turkey, Bacon, Ham Pepperoni

Choose some Veggies: Tomato, Basil, pickles, onion, spinach, roasted red peppers, Jalepenos

Cheeseboy also offers the tried and true grilled cheese pairing, Tomato soup!

Lou and I went to South Station last week to check it out.

I decided to got with Italian bread, Cheddar, Tomato and Basil for my sandwich

Lou got the Italian, Cheddar and Pepperoni

It took about 5 minutes to get our grilled cheese and they each came in their own sturdy to go box.

My verdict? The grilled cheese was tasty, and grilled to perfection with a golden brown evenly toasted and perfectly buttered crust. The price is right, the take away box is convenient and staff if quick with a great grilled cheese suggestion, like adding the basil to my sandwich.

I think this place will do well with commuters, and the nearby lunch crowd. It is affordable, and quick and who doesn't love grilled cheese?

I am not completely sold that anyone will go out of their way to stop by for a grilled cheese though. We did because we wanted to check it out, but unless I am being extremely lazy, I can probably make the same quality grilled cheese at home. Never the less, I don't think I am Cheeseboy's target audience, and I see a lot of grilled cheese eating commutes in Boston's future.

Thanksgiving in Boston Pictures and Recipes

I think I may have cooked the best turkey I have ever cooked in my life this Thanksgiving. It was completely by accident and I don't know if I will ever replicate it, but it was like butter. My husband who hates turkey found himself going back for seconds.

How did I do it? Somewhere between putting the turkey in the oven at 325 degrees at 9 am, and 11:30 am, the oven got turned off. I have no idea how or how long it was off, but when I noticed, it was only at 199 degrees! oops! I put the oven back on at 350 degrees. The turkey was at a safe edible temp by 2:30, we let it rest out of the oven for a half hour, and damn that was a good turkey! Even the leftovers are moist.
Lou's family came to dinner this year. There were 9 of us all together. Lou's mom brought a honey baked ham and green beans. Aunt Shirley brought her famous pound cake and mac and cheese, and Lou's dad brought a pumpkin cheese cake and a bag full of bread for leftover sandwiches!
Lucky for me I have a neighbor who was away for the day and let me use their stove, and a husband who remembered to take all these pictures when I first put the food out. Otherwise I never would have gotten everything out hot, or had pics for the blog:)
Two recipes I have never seen anyone make the or at least make in the same way are my grandmom's stuffing and my grandmom's turnips. Here are the recipes.

Stuffing

1 loaf of bread

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced onion

Poultry season to taste, which usually amount to half a spice bottle of it.

Mix with hands, and then stuff the bird with it.

It is so good, it doesn't have meat or pineapple or anything fancy, and sure it has a lot of butter, but for once a year, it is a treat!

Turnips

One large yellow turnip peeled and cubed

One half onion cut in thin rings

7 slices of bacon

Boiling the turnips until tender, set aside. Cook the bacon until it is crispy. Remove from pan and crumble. Reserve about 4 Tbsp. of the bacon fat in the pan. Cook the onions in the bacon fat until they start to turn transparent. Add the cooked turnips and the bacon, saute until blended and hot. Serve. I make them a day ahead of time often and they taste even better the next day, just microwave to heat up. Turnips are in the for front of the pic below.
Enjoy my pics and I hope everyone who was celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend had a great time with family and friends. Now get out there and work those calories off!

Shopping Detour at Spruce Pond Creamery

Spruce Pond Creamery and Franklin Flatbread Pizza

www.franklinpizza.com

370 King Street

Franklin, Ma

508-520-7900

Menu: Pizza, Pasta, Sandwiches, Salads, Ice cream

Atmosphere: Casual pizzeria and Ice creamery

Kid Friendly: If Ice cream is ever not Kid Friendly, then it is being served in a bar.

I wanted lunch, and why my husband wanted to check out a place called Spruce Pond Creamery made no sense to me. I was hungry though, and hunger for me means severe loss of brain power so I went along with his idea.

We were on our way to the Wrentham Outlets when we took this detour. This was not a case of twisting my arm. I am not a shopper. In fact, I pretty much loathe shopping except for maybe 4 times a year, and there is nothing that makes me loathe it more than crowds. When I saw the line of cars meandering off the the exit to for the outlets, there was no chance I was staying in it.

Lou knows me so well he actually said it before I did. As soon as he pulled into the back of the line he asked, "You want to get some lunch instead of shopping?"

It took me a second to process it, then I saw the same line on the other side of the highway getting off the opposite exit going to the same outlets. My worst nightmare! All I could think was, "Get me the heck out of this line before we are on the off ramp with no option to get out!"

Lou quickly pulled back onto 495 and we were out of there. We took out Lou's iPhone and used the app, Around Me, to see if we could find a restaurant nearby. Lou picked the Spruce Pond Creamery. I don't know what made him think they would have food, but it was only about a 1/2 mile off the next exit on 495, so we checked it out.

This is the first thing I noticed. This place looked like a very colorful ice cream stand to me, and it was getting a little chilly out. Lou looked at the main sign, however, and it said they had flat bread pizza, so we went in to check it out.
It turns out the Ice Creamery has an inside seating area, and a wood burning stove where they make some delicious pizza. They also have sandwiches, salads, and pasta dishes, various bakery treats and of course homemade ice cream.

Lou was excited when we sat down because he spied this cream soda in the display case.
For lunch we got the flat bread because it was the highest thing billed on the menu, and it looked really good on our neighbors table. We chose to split our pizza in half. One side was the Lightning Rod-hand-made herb & garlic sausage, organic tomato sauce, blend of organic cheeses, sautéed organic green peppers, sliced organic mushrooms & balsamic-splashed sautéed organic yellow onions.

The second side was Ben's trip to France- Organic eggplant & organic Roma tomatoes over organic garlic-infused extra-virgin olive oil base, with grated Reggiano Parmigiano cheese and balsamic-splashed organic yellow onions

I don't really get the name choices, but I guess I should thank Ben for going to France and coming up with this original pizza choice. It was a delicious blend of ingredients.

The staff at Spruce Pond was friendly. The ordering was a little unorganized. There was a line at the counter when we walked in, and several parties sitting down, but it wasn't clear if you should stand in line, order and then sit, or sit and wait for a server. We went to get in line and we must have had, "We are ordering lunch and sitting down written all over us, " because as soon as we stepped in the back of the line, we were told to sit and wait for a waitress.

A sign saying, "Seat yourself for eat in", would have been a huge help.

We didn't get ice cream, but the line for it was steady the entire time we were there, and it wasn't a very hot day, so it must be pretty good.

Outside the Creamery has a beautiful landscape rolling down to what can only be the Spruce Pond. I can imagine a lot of families hear hanging out on the hottest of summer days. It is a little far for us, but if I ever make the foolish decision to head to Wrentham on a popular shopping day, I will know I can always detour it to Spruce Pond Creamery.

Thanksgiving Feast Part I The Menu

I sat down last Wednesday and put together our Thanksgiving menu then went shopping Thursday night. Here is the feast.

Turkey- I make it simple and just rub olive oil all over it. This year we have a 20 pound bird.

Stuffing- It's my grandma's recipe, bread, onions, celery, butter, and a whole lot of poultry seasoning. I stuff it in the bird and it comes out moist and delicious.

Mashed Potatoes- The only secret I have is the blender. I use a whisk attachment to mix them.

Carrots, Celery, and Walnuts- Sounds strange, but is a yummy combo

Turnips- an old family recipe which includes onions and bacons, very simple and guests love them.

Savory bread- This is my mom's recipe. I don't know where it came from it is a mix of spices parsley and onions on bread. I absolutely love it. This one is for me!

Sweet potato casserole- This one is for my husbands family who always have sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving. I hope I don't screw it up.

Mac and Cheese- Courtesy of Aunt Shirley

Pound Cake-Also Shirley's. One of these days I will have to talk her out of her recipes:)

Baked Ham-My mother in law is bringing this, yes we are going to have a ridiculous amount of leftovers!

String Beans-Another in law favorite courtesy of Lou's mom.

I am also going to throw an Apple Pie, a Pumpkin Cream Pie and a Pecan Pie into the mix.

Come back for pictures and recipes!

Turkey Time

It's curtains for you Pal! Curtains!