Fish Fry plus Guinness equals Victory!

I am no further in my planning for Super Bowl Sunday fare today than I was last week. All I can say for sure is there will be Guinness. Guinness played an important part of the playoff run and Super Bowl back in 2001-02 when the Pats beat the Rams. It was what I was drinking during the snow bowl. It helped me through the 4th quarter. So I am sure to feature it again this year.

Knowing that, and the fact that its a late Sunday afternoon in winter, Super Sunday will be comforting pub-type food. Thats all I can say. I would like to stay away from the stereotypes of chili and nachos and buffalo wings. I am thinking of something of the fish fry variety. I will look into this. This is a good idea - it just came to me as I'm writing. A fish fry! Brilliant!

What could be better than some fried clams, fried haddock, french fries, fresh cole slaw, tartar sauce - yummm. Maybe I'll add some boil to it and add shrimp, mussels, lobster tails (?). I smell a new tradition starting here.

Now some research, some planning, a grocery list...

The New England Patriots Deserve My Full Attention

As the Super Bowl approaches I find myself in the same dilemma as every year. Where to go? Whom to watch it with? What to eat?

I've been lucky in that as a life-long Pats fan I've been enjoying the fruits of their labors this past decade. (And I remember being pissed off as a kid when home games weren't on TV cause the game wasn't sold out so I REALLY appreciate this team.) So naturally as the team goes for the impossible - the undefeated season plus championship - I feel torn. Do I go to a party where everyone is spouting their opinions or discussing the merits of onion dip over salsa or recounting how in 1985 they remember watching the Pats get whooped by the Bears and this will more than make up for that? Do I bring my kids into a lion's den of other kids who will distract them from the monumental once in a lifetime experience of watching this team (hopefully) complete the impossible task before them?

I decided (I should say we decided, since Laurie and I struggled together on this one) that for posterity's sake and sanity's sake and for the ability to completely immerse myself in the game with minimal distractions that staying home, alone, family only, would be the only way to go.

So now all I have to think about is what snacks will be served. My parents always ordered Chinese food for Super Sunday. Option. But recently we had a smorgasbord of 'pub' type of food on a random Saturday afternoon and the kids got a huge kick out of it. So we're doing that again. Stuff like french fries, little pizzas, shrimp cocktail. (Maybe some chili - Laurie made an awesome chili this past weekend - very nice.) I want to get more creative so I'll be pondering this this week. I'll post the menu when I decide what it is.

Until then, Go Pats!

Plate of Shrimp

Lunch today in Chinatown. Suishaya. Great sushi and Korean fare. Really enjoyed it even though all this mercury talk kept me from ordering tuna. Gah.

So despite the title of this entry, I didn't get shrimp. But on the way there I had a "plate of shrimp" moment. Yesterday I was randomly thinking of co-workers whose weddings I had attended at various points in my life. (This is actually a fun exercise to help yourself remember points in your past.) But while thinking of that I thought of other random people - like a girlfriend I had in college whom I had taken to my sister's wedding. Well we only dated for a short period of time, so she's a random memory but a permanent one because of the wedding thing. (Which is why I think its fun to remember co-workers whose weddings I've attended - some of them I am still friends with, but mostly not. So to think that I am kind of a permanent memory for them in their photo albums is kind of neat.) So she's this random permanent memory and for whatever random reason I was thinking about her yesterday.

And then, today, on the way to Chinatown - you know what's coming! - there she is. On the street. So we stop and say hi and all that and its very nice. But how random and "plate-of-shrimpish." So i got salmon even though I wanted tuna and thought about various other college days...

Eating on Thursday - A Bright Breakfast and a Lousy Lunch

I recently read a review on Boston.com for a burrito place right near where I work. Then I looked it up on yelp.com and really liked that site (I had never been there before). So I thought I should post some comments on yelp and then said to myself, "heck, why not blog it." And since I rarely have used my blog, I decided this is a good idea.

So the burrito place is Burrito Express on Bedford St. And I got the breakfast burrito and I thought it was quite good. Eggs, chorizo sausage, black beans, onions - yumm. Very filling, nice and spicy. I was so excited waiting in the place - with the music and the decor very Mexican. I felt like a margarita - at 8:30 in the morning. Which is fine if your actually in Mexico. On vacation. But it doesn't fly on a work day so much. Anyway it was great.

Since it was so filling I had a hard time deciding on lunch. I have a pretty standard set of places in the Downtown Crossing area that I frequent (and I'll post on those at a later date - baby steps!) and they are all good but also very filling. I was looking for light and on the healthy side.

For some reason I settled on Sebastian's on Summer St. I had eaten there in the past and remembered not thinking much of it, but, I wanted a make-my-own-salad so I figured it fit the bill.

Well what a mistake. Price: outrageous. Salad: bland. Bread that comes with the salad: crappy. I got basically a grilled chicken and caesar salad but I added artichokes. The artichokes were blah, no flavor and wilted. The chicken tasted like chicken, but not special, and not cut into nice bite size pieces, so the fork I was using was inadequate (a problem with takeout!). The dressing was watery. The croutons tasted like stale bread, which they generally are, but they don't have to taste like it. And the best part, the price! $10.50!! Awesome. What a deal.

Nothing can ruin a good day of eating (the burrito was so exciting, new and fun!) more than a bad meal at a bad price. I'll have to figure out what to have for dinner to salvage this day. I'm sure a margarita would help though...