The Impression That I Get

It's Spring Break and some of the roommates and I were persuaded to make it into a roadtrip to visit some friends, celebrate a birthday, and of course, revel in St. Patrick's day. And the food was damn good too.

So I may love New York City, from expensive prices to dirty hipsters, but sometimes you just have to get away from it all, spice things up. So when we were offered a place to crash out in Boston, we agreed.

So Monday night, Alex and I pack our shit and wait for Kyle to come home so we can catch the sketchy (but less than Alex expected/hoped?) Chinatown Fung Wah bus. $15 to Boston, leaving hourly, no advance reservations required make it a staple of the college traveler. But before we left, because we're good roommates, we gave Alex his bday present a day early (Julia was with us in spirit): A monogrammed flask and personalized zippo lighter! The perfect kit for the traveling degenerate!

Anyways, Arvel bandmate and good friend Darrell met us at the bus stop (he happened to be joined by another friend, Danielle who coincidentally was meeting other friends up in Boston). So we all caught the 8pm bus heading into South Station, with a stop off at McDonald's halfway through (though we didn't actually eat anything).

Madelyn (TNBC member, Arvel bassist, and best friend) drove the 45 minutes from Franklin to come pick us up at South Station, THEN drive us BACK to her house. All at like 1am in the morning (redundant, but force of habit).

In the morning, though Mad had a few appointments in the morning, we awoke to the treats of a fresh pot of coffee and a loaf of Irish soda bread for breakfast (I did mention it was St. Patty's right?). We lounged about, cleaned ourselves up, and got decked out in the green. Upon her return, we were ushered into the car and off to her favorite brunch place: King Street Cafe. I can see why it's her favorite, with a menu carrying a deliciously genius item: Apple Crisp Waffles! Crisp waffles topped with sweet carmelized apples, brown sugar, and and whipped cream. It's like you're getting away with eating apple pie for breakfast. Actually, you are exactly getting away with eating apple pie for breakfast. Kyle's banana nut pancakes were similarly amazing, and the home fries were most savory and well seasoned potatoes I have had in some time. AND things are so much cheaper when you aren't in NYC!! This was truly the perfect way to start an amazing day.

We headed back to Mad's casa for a while, enjoying the warm weather and sunshine, throwing the football around, jumping on the trampoline, and being boys outdoors again. I just wish we were BBQing some dogs to finish this picture of Americana.

We hopped on the train into boston to meet up with Mad's friend Claire (who visited the week prior and graciously offered her floorspace to our soon to be drunkenly sleepy bodies). When I had mentioned a list of places I had read about as excellent burgers (it being Tuesday and all) in the area, everyone immediately recognized that I had said the magic words of Sunset Grill and Tap. Not only does this place have amazing burgers, ridiculously succulent pulled pork sandwiches, but carries over 100 beers on tap and 400 different bottles. You can't beat that. Anyways, my burger came topped with jack, avocado, and spicy refried beans. Even on the east coast I can't quite leave behind that southern california taste. It was delicious and the pulled pork and burger combination that night left me full late in the wee hours, even after lemon drops and glasses of Jameson. For the record, Mad (founding member of TNBC) did NOT have a burger that tuesday at it had been suggested to me that "she should be kicked out of the band" for such an infraction. This happens a lot.

I also had several delicious beers, many I had never heard of. Kyle had mead because he thinks he's a cool viking and has deluded himself into thinking it was good. It was not.

The morning after, we headed to Bagel Rising for a satiating and quick breakfast. Always love a good bacon egg cheese on a bagel. You have all your major food groups: bagels, grease and salt. Add an OJ to wash it down for some vitamins. We had to eat on the run though for all of us to catch our respective transports home. The T crawled into South Station, we said our goodbyes, and got back on the chinatown bus to go back to NYC. Mission accomplished.