Cajuns conquer Boston!

Wednesday- more sun. We took the ferry into Long Wharf. The ferry went right past Winter Island and we got a great view of the campground and our 3 huge motorhomes on the harbor.

We spent a few hours in Quincy Market and ‘old Boston” showing them the oldest section of Boston. We managed to snag the stools at the Union Oyster House for lunch (more chowder- what else?). As we left, we started talking to Maria, the owner of the restaurant. She was a charmer- in her late 80’s and very pleased that we had taken the time to hear her story. Her father came from Sicily and opened a jewelry store in the North End. She married into the family owning the Union Oyster House.

While the guys went off to the Fenway Park tour, the girls headed to the North End for Michele Topor’s North End tour. It was every bit as wonderful as I remembered it. We started at Martinetti’s liquor for a bit of history on the North End and the cuisines of Italy.

Tour notes:
General:
Italians eat multiple courses:
Primo-a starch, soup, pasta or polenta
Secondo – a protein – meat, poultry or fish
Salad – at the end, the acid breaks up the food
Start with wine-but don’t have wine with salad
Italians don’t serve “spags and balls”.
Pasta is served with very little sauce.
There are 20 “food” regions in Italy, all with very distinctive cuisines.
The southern half of Italy was the poorest –and thus gave the North End most of its immigrants.

Then we were off for tastings and touring
Maria’s Pastry Shop:
Italians eat late- but have a “merenda” – a late afternoon sweet. (Tiramisu- means “pick me up”).
Maria makes her own marzipan- and they are gorgeous.
The dried bread and biscotti came about because people didn’t have the ability to keep bakery goods fresh – so they dried them and could store them for longer periods of time.
Dairy Fresh Candies:
Crystalized ginger-excellent for nausea. Used for chemo patients.
Licorice- great for sore throats, nausea. Watch it if you have high blood pressure.
Covered (Jordan) almonds- a symbol of love
Salumeria Italiana:
Olives- either cured or pressed. Buy naturally cured. No black olives from California-bad for you.
Olive Oil: Only 100% pure extra virgin- all others have chemicals
Can be filtered (clear) or unfiltered (some pulp left in – cloudy)
Shelf life- from harvest date : Clear 2 years, Cloudy 1 year
Store in a cool, dark place
Vinegar: Natural only – cider, wine, malt, rice. Use white for cleaning only.
Balsamic- only 2 modena and regoamelia. Aged a minimum of 12 years in wood barrels. Must say “must” on the bottle.
Vinegared veggies help digestion
Polcari’s Coffee:
Arabica coffee- has less caffine
Cappucino-only a breakfast drink. Steamed milk is too heavy on the digestion late in the date.
Cammomile tea – good for sleep and digestion
Ciraces:
Apertiv- sweet vermouth, campari and soda
Digustivo- at the end of the meal to help liver digest fats (grappas, amaros)

After tastes of pistachio macaroons, pumpkin fudge, pine nuts, marzipan, Italian lemon ice, crucalo cheese, mortadello, and limoncella, we finished our tour and found the guys waiting at Café Paradiso. We got back to Winter Island in time for a meal of spinach bread and empanadas.

Thursday- the last day in Boston for the Cajuns. The girls wanted to shop so the guys joined us later in Quincy Market. After lunch at Artu, it was time for power shopping in the North End- pasta, sun dried tomatoes, nougat at Modern Pastry. Then it was time to head back for “graduation dinner”.

Leave it to the Cajuns to put on a “Paarty”. Brenda, John, Carol Ann and J.C. got a little party area set up- picnic tables with stations for gumbo, fried fish and the bar. At 5:30 Charlie, from Winter Island, arrived with his blender in tow. We howled reminding Charlie that his only admonition to us when we asked about the “no public consumption of alcohol” in the park had said, “Don’t worry about it….just don’t set up a bar and get rowdy”. What a photo—Charlie, with a blender in his hand, full bar and 8 thirsty patrons. Jim and Rick finally arrived and the Cajuns made them feel right at home. Dinner was heavenly and after we had all eaten way too much, Sharon brought out her bread pudding. It was heavenly. After the cleanup, Rick, Jim, Brenda, John and I went back to our coach and stayed up talking and drinking. What an evening!

Friday- Time for the Cajuns to leave. We guided them to 128 South and said our goodbyes. The silence back at the motorhome was deafening! With our normal lives returned, we did the logical thing—NAPPED!

Boston- Meet the Cajuns!

Home…we had the typical queasy stomach driving through the city. But, once we hit Winter Island Park and pulled into ‘our’ spot, we were ‘home’. We decided to come in a day early to give ourselves a chance to get ready for the Cajun invasion. And then they arrived. John and Brenda came in about 11:00, EJ and Sharon at noon. The train station was in motion. We met them at the 128 exit ramp and guided them through the tangle of streets to Winter Island Park. The Cajuns had fought our guided drive- but grudgingly admitted the wisdom of our recommendation after they arrived.

With the pending arrival of Ernesto and the probability of several days of rain and storms, we decided to take the Salem Trolley Tour and give them an orientation to Salem. Our driver was full of interesting antic dotes.

True to prediction, Ernesto arrived the next morning with a bit of drizzle and cloudy skies. The guys took off for Logan to pick up J.C. and Carol Ann while I took the girls to downtown Salem for a bit of shopping. We met up in Marblehead at the Landing and had a great lunch of chowder and crab cakes.

Sunday- and Ernesto was at full force with heavy rain and chilly weather. But, we decided to persevere and drove to the Salem Witch Museum. A new experience for all of us- it was a bit like a low-tech Ned Kelly. The story of the Salem Witch Trials was well told- but really kitschy- lots of bad mannequins and a narrator with a voice like Boris Karloff. The rain was a bit lighter after the show, so we walked to Derby Street and had lunch at “In a Pig’s Eye” – more chowder. We ended the afternoon at Finz where we met a group of local Bostonians celebrating a birthday. Michael –owner of a chain of Laundromats in Winthrop- had the Cajuns going. But, his wife, Maria (the ‘pit bull”) really got the guys going. She was a stunner- and the boys were in heaven. We were having a great time- but John (Dippa) decided that it was time to leave…we left in such a hurry that we left our camera on the table….(Note: camera found – in the motorhome two weeks later…) That night, we had po-boys made with a roast that J.C. had cooked. It was excellent!

Labor Day Monday- and the sun was out. We got everyone out and headed to the train station for our first day in Boston. We did a full day tour of Charlestown, the Navy Yard and the North End. It was strange to be back “home” with a group of Cajuns. More chowder at the Warren Tavern. We took Chestnut Street down to the Navy Yard and saw the changes to our old street. Our house was looking very tired- the shrubs were unkempt and paint was peeling from the front door. It was sad to see. After a stop at the Constitution, we had a drink at Tavern on the Water.

The girls got a taxi to the North End, the boys hoofed it. We met at Café Paradiso and headed to Pagliuca’s for dinner. This was a recommendation from Michael- and was he spot on! Maria, one of the owners greeted us--Michael had called to let her know we were coming. We had a huge corner table and after getting wine, the food started flowing—bread, antipasto, salad, veal parmesan, chicken cutlets, shrimp fra diavlo… A success!

Tuesday and another sunny day. At last, we were experiencing typical September New England weather. Another Boston day- train to North Station. From there, we picked up the Old Town Trolley and got an orientation to downtown Boston. We hopped off by the Boston Common and walked through Beacon Hill. Hitting all of our old hangouts, we had lunch at the 7’s. We picked up the trolley and took it over to the Back Bay. We took a self-guided tour of Trinity Church and walked through the Public Gardens. At this point, the guys went on strike and found a spot at Joe’s on Newbury while we shopped. Newbury was a bit high style for our motorhome taste, but it was fun to walk and people watch. We couldn’t let the Cajuns leave Boston without a dinner at Addis Red Sea- so we walked over to Tremont and let them experience Ethiopian cuisine. Remarkably, they liked it!