New Thing #246: Mead

Way back at the beginning of the summer, when we were in Vermont and New Hampshire, my wife bought a bottle of mead. She thought it would be a fun New Thing to try.

She was right...except we didn't drink it right away.

In fact, we didn't touch the bottle we bought at the beginning of the summer until the last day of the summer. (Well, one of the last unofficial days - the day before Labor Day.)

I had no idea mead was still a thing. Isn't that what people sat around long wooden tables drinking from goblets in medieval days?

This was actually made in a meadery in New Hampshire (we bought it in Hanover, New Hampshire). It's honey wine fermented with vanilla beans...and it's pretty strong.

I described it as "wine for men." My wife called it "a combination of wine and scotch."

(And yes, I know men drink wine. But I don't love it. If wine tasted more like mead...well, maybe I'd drink it more.)

I couldn't have mead every night. (I'd either need to be living on a street corner near a convenience store or be the king of a 1300s nation for that to be socially acceptable.)

But I could mix it in as a rare alcoholic treat - especially around the holidays.

And to complete the experience, maybe next I'll work on getting a moat.

New Thing #244: Egg-In-A-Hole

I know I've championed a good breakfast on this site before and how much I've relied on one in recent years. Most of the time that good breakfast revolves around eggs.

Usually my go-to breakfast is three sunnyside up eggs and one or two English muffins.

This summer, my daughters have started to have some eggs in the morning - usually scrambled, sometimes hard-boiled.

But last week they were excited to tell me about something new.

My oldest daughter told me about it first.

"Daddy, Mommy cut a hole in some toast and cooked that with an egg inside!" she said. "You like toast, right?"

I nodded.

"And you like eggs. You'll love this!"

I was picturing a hard-boiled egg in the middle of some bread, but my wife clarified for me what my daughter meant - it was a fried egg.

This weekend, my wife was about to make some sunnyside ups and I told her I wanted to try what she had made the girls that week. I've never had it before.

So she made what you see above. (I didn't think the one egg and toast would fill me. I'm glad I had the other two eggs too.)

My favorite part, I think, was the cut-out circle of bread. (You can see that in the top right-hand corner.)

My least favorite part was there wasn't a lot of bread to dip into the yolk, which I love to do.

I looked it up online - it's called an Egg-In-A-Hole.

It won't replace my routine breakfast...but it's a good alternative to know about.

New Thing #237: Chick-fil-A

We're going to have to put the politics aside for this one. I went to Chick-fil-A while I was in Florida.

My friend Kevin told me I absolutely had to try their chicken sandwich.

OK...maybe one political comment: I do not agree with the company's political views.

But, man do they make a good chicken sandwich.

The place was packed.

Kevin and I planned on going in and eating there, but with the line nearly out the door we got back in the car and went through the drive-through.

That meant hungry old me had to sit in the passenger seat with a couple of chicken sandwiches and a bunch of fries in my lap as we drove.

I should mention this all took place while we were in Gainesville - and we did this before we hit the football stadium.

Our plan was to take the food into the empty bleachers and sit and eat.

Turned out, when we got to the stadium, there was a closed football practice going on. I forgot to mention that in the post about Gainesville. So we had an hour or so to kill, which we began by sitting on a nearby picnic table, eating chicken sandwiches.

My wife tells me, as I write this, that she's surprised I've never had Chick-fil-A before. She tells me there's one in the Burlington Mall food court. I don't spend much time there, so I didn't realize there was a location so close.

Still, I will not patronize them again, even if they open a location even closer.

I'm going to hop on my political high horse.

Boycott begins.......now.

New Thing #234: Buffalo Wild Wings

I probably gave you the impression a couple of days ago that Jacksonville was a mere necessity on my trip through Florida - the city from which I flew home and nothing else. Well, that's mostly true.

But we did do one New Thing in Jacksonville before heading to their beautiful airport.

For the first time in my life I went to a Buffalo Wild Wings.

I'm sure you're aware, if you've ever watched a sporting event - or television of any kind, really - of Buffalo Wild Wings. Their commercials are all over the place.

But there are none near me, so I've never been. (Surprisingly, there are at least 4 in Massachusetts. I just did a search on their website - it's one of those 'within ___ miles of [zip code]' searches, and there are 4 within 50 miles of my home. 3 within 30. There doesn't seem to be a list of locations anywhere on the site. I'm shocked there are 4 in Massachusetts - I didn't even think there were any in this region. Which always surprised me because of how many commercials are on. But I guess now all the ads make sense...even though I've never been, I certainly knew the brand.)

The only bad thing about the timing of our visit was that it was last Saturday afternoon, and there were hardly any sporting events on. There was the Little League World Series when we were there, and the Arena Bowl. I kind of wanted to get the full experience by watching some games while we were there...but I could also see it being one of those totally overwhelming game-watching experiences because of the quantity of TVs. (There was a fantasy football draft happening in the bar area while we were there. And Buffalo Wild Wings seems to cater to the fantasy football crowd - they are celebrating 'draft weekend' this coming weekend and inviting fantasy leagues to have their drafts there by reserving tables and such. Me from 10 years ago thinks all of this is very, very cool.) There were also a couple of trivia games on a few of the TVs. That seemed to have potential, though I didn't play.

Of course I had the wings. I went with the boneless option per my friend Kevin's suggestion, and I had a teriyaki sauce. It was delicious.

The service was great too. Very accommodating staff. (Interesting thing about Florida - they always ask if you want checks together or separate. In most other places I've been that feels like a burden. Every place we went to in Florida they offered to split the check. Buffalo Wild Wings even went a step further and rang up our order itemized so we could see exactly what we owed - so we paid a total bill but we could see it broken down by what we ordered.)

Overall a great experience...worth the drive if I was so inclined to visit one of the Massachusetts locations. But I don't know if I'm so inclined. (There are 8 locations within 20 miles of my parents' house in New York....)

The only other drawback of no games on TV while we were there - I couldn't employ the bartender to press the secret button that results in the delay of game so we could stay out longer.

I always wondered if that was a real thing.

New Thing #230: Fried Green Tomatoes

If you're like me, when you hear the term 'fried green tomatoes', you think of a movie starring Jessica Tandy and Mary Stuart Masterson. If you're like me, you've never seen that movie.

And if you're like me, you've never eaten fried green tomatoes.

Until last week.

This is another of my wife's new twists in the kitchen.

We got some green tomatoes in our farm share box, and she figured, "Why not fry them up?"

There is a definitive taste to the green tomatoes - I suppose it's a tartness, but I'm not sure that description accurately captures the taste. The fried aspect of it, obviously, helps dilute that tartness some.

It's interesting, though - it's kind of like apples. Red apples, like red tomatoes, are kind of just the default taste of those respective foods. Then the green ones have a bit more tartness to them.

Unlike with apples, though, where I usually prefer a Granny Smith to a red - though the sample size is small with green tomatoes, I'm a bigger fan of red than green.

Then again, I've only had fried with the green variety.

Maybe next time we should fry up some red tomatoes.

That will really put them over the top.

New Thing #225: Rox Diner

Though I like the area a lot, I don't spend all that much time in Newton, Massachusetts. The few times I've been there my wife has had a plan - either to go to a certain restaurant or a coffee shop or store - and I've just followed wherever she led.

On Saturday, though, I was in the area by myself, so I explored it on my own.

The plan was to drop off my oldest daughter at a birthday party, then take my two younger daughters for a quick Dunkin' Donuts lunch.

But after walking around and exploring we found the Rox Diner.

Some of you might be familiar with the Newton area without even realizing it.

If you've ever driven to Boston on the Massachusetts Turnpike (and I know many of you have driven this route) at one point you pass under a Shaw's Supermarket that hangs over the Pike.

The neighborhood where that Shaw's is located is exactly the neighborhood I'm talking about.

There's a Starbucks, there's a Great Harvest Bread Company, there are a couple of pizza places (yes, there is a Dunkin' Donuts too), and there looked to be a bar across the street from the Rox Diner.

(I should take this opportunity to lament the fact that there are not a ton of diners in the MetroWest area. New York City is rich in diners. That was one of the stark differences that stood out to me when I moved to Boston 15 or so years ago - very few diners.)

My daughters had mac and cheese and chicken fingers. (For what it's worth - both portions were too big. I probably should have wrapped up the rest, but we weren't heading straight home, so I didn't. Big portions from the children's menu - either a plus or a minus, depending on your perspective.) I had an avocado BLT...which came without bacon. I'm not sure if I didn't read the menu carefully enough to see if the avocado replaces the bacon by default, like for vegetarians, but I was fully expecting bacon and avocado. (It's not called an ALT, after all.) But the food was good.

It was crowded, but not cramped.

And - no small thing for a dad with young girls - they give placemats for the kids to color while they wait. That doesn't happen everywhere, and it's worth remembering the places that do it.

I love the Watertown/Newton area. I'd like to spend more time there.

If I do...I'd probably become a regular at the Rox Diner.

New Thing #218: Bacon Ranch Chicken Sandwich

At long last, I've tried the new chicken sandwich at Dunkin' Donuts. And, I'm sure you're not surprised to learn, I loved it.

I had the Bacon Ranch Chicken Sandwich - there's also a barbecue one that I have not yet tried.

Despite my love of all things Dunkin', I kind of had low expectations for this chicken sandwich.

Needless to say, it far exceeded what I expected - it was really good.

But I have some other things to tell you about this as well.

First of all, I find franchises like Dunkin' Donuts interesting.

I did a Google search to try to figure out if it was called a 'Bacon Ranch Chicken Sandwich' or a 'Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwich'. (Now that I think about it the latter sounds kind of ridiculous, but I thought that's what it was called.) The search turned up lots of different regional Dunkin' menus, including one from Alaska, where they have a chicken tikka sandwich. It's interesting to me that different regions have different types of sandwiches.

Also worth mentioning - this particular Dunkin' Donuts I went to has undergone a renovation - instead of the tables with chairs you're used to seeing at Dunkin' Donuts, there are different-looking tables and chairs, booths, and comfy couch-type chairs. Almost like a lounge. Almost like, dare I say it, a Starbucks. I wonder if this is a chain-wide change or just this particular location. (They also changed the menu at this location to one of those videoboard menus, which I've seen at newer locations. But the seating was totally different than what I've seen.)

Finally, as you can see in the top picture, I had an iced tea with my sandwich. Nine times out of 10, when I go to Dunkin' Donuts, I have a coffee. That tenth time is usually a coolata or something. Rarely do I get the iced tea...but whenever I do, it's the best iced tea I've ever had. That's not a New Thing...it's just a fact.

For what it's worth, the Bacon Ranch Chicken Sandwich, according to Dunkin' Donuts' website, when ordered with a French roll (its default), is just 250 calories. Which seems really reasonable to me for a fast food sandwich. But the other thing is it's not all that filling...so inevitably it's only part of a lunch for me. But, as with most everything else from Dunkin' Donuts - I really recommend it.

New Thing #216: Pate's Restaurant

One last recommendation for you from last weekend's Cape getaway. It's Pate's Restaurant in Chatham.

My wife and I were looking for dinner our first night on the Cape, and we figured we'd treat ourselves, since we were without children.

Our first choice was a seafood restaurant that, once we were inside, was deceptively small - so the wait was too long. (Truth be told, our first choice was a Cape Cod League baseball game...but it was a rainy night, so a nice restaurant it was.)

We left there and went to Pate's.

After a 5-to-10 minute wait, we were seated.

Pate's was the opposite of the seafood place - it is deceptively big - the dining area was huge.

Their website says they don't take reservations, but even on a busy Saturday night they say your wait won't be more than 10 minutes. (I believe it.)

Even though the sign outside bills Pate's as "Steak and Seafood", it felt more steak than seafood to me. So I did a steak...my wife did a salmon dish. Both were pretty good.

Now, while we were down there, we asked someone who spent significant time on the Cape about Pate's. First of all, we were pronouncing it wrong. We just assumed there was an accent on the e, and the a was short. Not so - apparently it's a long a, silent e. Which makes sense since I saw on the website it was just some guy's last name.

Secondly, though our source didn't name Pate's as one of his top choices for restaurants (top 3, at least), when we asked him about it he said he liked it. He did mention that it was an old crowd.

Sure enough, we realized, we were probably the youngest people in the place when we ate there.

It's not often my wife and I get out for a nice meal by ourselves. When we do, if we get the double of good time and good food, we're happy.

Pate's made us happy.

New Thing #214: Peach Ice Cream

When I was a kid, I loved strawberry ice cream. It wasn't chocolate, it wasn't vanilla - but it was often a third choice available.

And I guess I figured it would be good to try something other than the two main flavors.

Similarly, when I would buy iced tea, I'd usually wouldn't go directly to lemon-flavored.

Often, my choice was peach.

I love peach flavorings...but now that I'm writing about it, I don't know if I can think of instances where I've tried something peach-flavored other than iced tea.

But last weekend, I had some peach ice cream.

I feel like I MUST have had some peach ice cream at some point in my life....but after tasting it last week, I don't think I have.

I ordered the peach ice cream, but I was afraid the peach was going to taste too strong. So what I did was I ordered it with chocolate sprinkles (or "jimmies", as they - but not I - say in these parts) to dilute some of that taste. Then I started eating the cone before my wife suggested I could write about the peach ice cream as a New Thing. That's why there are no chocolate sprinkles on the bottom part of the ice cream. (I like to lick my way up the ice cream, so that it's not dripping down the cone. It looks weird in a picture like that, but it's very practical. And you don't notice how weird it looks while you're eating it.)

So, setting the scene a bit - this is another New Thing coming off of our Cape weekend - we went to the ice cream place 'Sundae School' in Harwich. They had a wide selection of flavors...and for what it's worth I'm pretty sure I saw a sign pointing to another Sundae School shop (shoppe?) nearby. You can not swing a stick on the Cape without hitting an ice cream shop.

Anyway, my strategy was effective. As I worked my way through the sprinkles I was telling my wife that the peach ice cream didn't taste any different from anything else. Then, once I got through the sprinkles and it was just ice cream I did taste the peach. It was really good.

Usually when I get ice cream these days I don't get too adventurous - my all-time favorite is chocolate fudge brownie, and if that's not available I'll go with chocolate chip or cookies 'n' cream...maybe Snickers if that's offered.

But now I'll have to start noticing whether or not peach is on the list of flavors...because I think I'm adding it to the rotation.

New Thing #209: Kream N' Kone

I told you the last time I was on the Cape that we were coming back. Well, that was this weekend.

Turned out to be a rainy first day, when I was hoping to hit the beach again.

But my wife and I were able to do some other fun, relaxing activities.

And eat a lot of food.

Our first stop for lunch on Friday - the Kream N' Kone Restaurant in Chatham...where we had nothing either kreamy nor in a kone.

What we were really looking for was something to hold us over - it was late for lunch and we were going to have a nice dinner, so we just needed a quick bite.

This place looked like it was going to fit the bill.

But before I go ahead and tell you about it, let me flash back once again to Montauk -  I told you the last time I wrote about the Cape that everything I do there gets measured up against Montauk...which, by virtue of being where I spent so much time growing up, I view as my ideal vacation spot.

One of my favorite things, food-wise, in Montauk was the fried seafood. Fried clams, fried shrimp, forms of fish 'n' chips...that was always my go-to meal whenever I was unsure what to get.

Especially at Gosman's Dock.

At Gosman's there was an outdoor stand where you'd get your food at a window and then sit on the water and battle the seagulls while you ate your food. Once in a while it would be tasty to get a burger or something grilled there, but 99 times out of 100 I got something fried in a basket with french fries.

And that's what I wanted on Friday.

And that's what I got.

It's been years since I had something that looked like this...and was also this good. And it brought me back to my Montauk vacations...which is always a good thing. The only thing missing was the seagulls swooping nearby.

New Thing #207: Sweet Spot Frozen Yogurt

I didn't think we'd be trying any more frozen yogurt places as part of '365 New Things In 2013.' After the last one I came to the conclusion that these places aren't all that different.

But we were out earlier this week and we decided to treat the girls to a dessert, and my wife convinced me to try Sweet Spot Frozen Yogurt.

And there's enough about this place to set it apart.

First of all, it's the most convenient of all the new places we've been to this year. It's located on Route 9 East at the Edgell Road exit, which is about two and a half miles from our house. So that's a bonus.

The frozen yogurt itself is not any better than the frozen yogurt at the other places...but it certainly isn't any worse. And there's the usual assortment of toppings - that's become pretty static from place to place too. So the product itself doesn't really set it apart.

The price does - this place was not as expensive as the others. (And for what it's worth they gave us a card where you get a free frozen yogurt for every 10 you buy. Since we did 4 in one shot, we're already almost halfway there!)

It's also across the street from Framingham State University, so they seem to want to be kind of a hangout -  there was a shelf with board games, there was a lot of seating, and there was a TV. (It was tuned to one of those A&E shows when we were there, though - something like 'Storage Wars' maybe. But this was when there was a Red Sox game on. So that seemed like a poor decision.)

My biggest gripe with the place is that the floors were terribly dirty. I chalked it up to the fact that it's still a pretty new place and maybe there is further construction or flooring to be done...but it was pretty gross. It was also a rainy day, now that I think about it. I'll have to check the floors the next time I'm there.

Speaking of the next time I'm there...the chances of a return visit are high. A few weeks ago I had a late-night urge for some dessert. I drove around and settled on an ice cream place where I hadn't been in years. I think I would have been happier had I gone here.

It's so close...making it pretty convenient for frozen yogurt at the drop of a hat.

New Thing #202: Shake Shack

Over the All Star break, my wife and I tossed around the idea of going to the Mets-Phillies game on Saturday. We really enjoyed taking the family to Citi Field last year and wanted to re-create that experience.

We called around and it looked like my parents and siblings were also going to be able to make it.

Then there was some rain in the forecast, and we started to second-guess a 3-hour ride into 90-degree temperatures and a rain delay.

We cancelled the trip.

But my wife suggested that in honor of Citi Field, we check out the new Shake Shack in Chestnut Hill.

We've had Shake Shack at Citi Field - it's the only place we have, actually. (There are 10 locations in New York State, a few in Florida, a couple in Connecticut, and the one in Massachusetts, which opened up just this past March.) And the first time I realized Shake Shack extended beyond New York City was a year ago at this time, when I was in Washington, D.C. I saw there's one at Nationals Park - that's one of three Shake Shacks in the DC area.

Anyway, as many food options as there are at Citi Field, it's a credit to how good Shake Shack is that there's always a really long line there - by far the longest concession line in the park. And we'll usually wait in that line too. The burgers are so good. And the fries are excellent too.

Saturday night my wife and I got burgers, the girls had hot dogs, and we got an order of regular fries and an order of cheese fries, figuring the girls might not like the cheese fries. They ate almost all of them. (Next time it'll be two orders of cheese fries.) And then, of course, we topped it off with some shakes. (My wife had ice cream, actually, which she thought was better than the shake.) At some point I'll have to try their 'concrete', which is ice cream with toppings blended in. It looks like a dessert you have to eat with a spoon, though, and Saturday night I was only interested in a shake.

If you're familiar at all with the Chestnut Hill Mall (and The Mall at Chestnut Hill, which are two separate things, as far as I know, on opposite sides of Route 9 in Chestnut Hill), there's a whole lot of work being done in that area. They're building a Wegman's and there's a whole bunch of other construction there too (the Wegman's is the only site that's labeled), and the Shake Shack is part of a stretch that's completed, called 'The Street'. It's next to Legal Sea Foods, there's a City Sports and a Sports Club LA there, a Pottery Barn, a couple of other restaurants, and a movie theater that we couldn't tell was open or not yet.

It's a pretty hopping area right now. We went for Shake Shack and discovered a whole lot else was happening.

Which is good. Because it's only about a 30-minute drive to have a little bit of New York City here in my current home state.

And it sure is worth the drive.

New Thing #198: Broccoli Fritters

I think it's the smell of the oil that gets me salivating. I'm like Pavlov's Dog with the oil in the pan - once I get a whiff of that smell, I don't think it matters what's being cooked in the oil, I'm already conditioned to like it.

That was the case last week when my wife cooked up some broccoli fritters.

That's the early stages of the cooking process pictured above. (Also shown, but not featured, is our new frying pan. As part of our kitchen work recently we bought a few new pans. New Things! There is nothing quite like a new non-stick pan.)

The cool thing about this fritter recipe is that it came from our farm share - they linked to it in their weekly e-mail newsletter, which came in tandem with the broccoli that came in last week's box of veggies. Here it is if you're interested.

The recipe yields 9. As you can see, my wife made 10. She's so great.

I liked my fritters with a bit of salt, but they were tasty even without it.

The kids liked them too, which is always a bonus. And, despite my belief that my wife made these so I could experience another New Thing, she says getting the kids to eat the broccoli was her inspiration for doing this.

New Thing #195: Odwalla Food Bar

Last week I needed to grab a lunch on the way to work. I stopped by the supermarket and picked up a pre-packaged sandwich but decided I needed something else.

I wasn't feeling like potato chips - I wanted something a little more healthy...like a granola bar.

But I didn't want to buy a big box of them.

And then I came across the Odwalla food bar stand.

As you can see in the picture, the bars were two for $3. So I got two. I probably should have tried two different ones, but I got two of the same.

And actually, I meant to get the 'super protein' one. Because, you know, I recognize the importance of protein and all.

But I got the 'superfood' one - it says original on it. I think that might have been what swayed me - I figured if I'm trying something new I should start with the 'original.'

It has 500mg of spirulina! (I don't know what that means!)

But then, when I opened it...it. was. green. Green!

(I apologize for the blurry picture, but I took multiple pictures and they all had trouble focusing. It seems even my camera had trouble accepting the color.)

My stomach turned instantly. I just wasn't expecting green snack food.

But, being 2013 (New Thing!) I pushed through it. I took a teeny bite. It wasn't bad. It kind of tasted like other types of nutrition bars I've had. So I nibbled my way through it and finished it. I just didn't look at it.

I had the second one the next day. They were good. And they held me over pretty well, which was the whole point.

There's certainly a wide selection of the Odwalla food bars, as you can see in that top picture - I wonder if they're all green. Just in case, next time I might go for one of the chocolate ones.

The chances are slim I'll nibble anything with chocolate.

New Thing #190: Na'an Pizza

I was the beneficiary of my wife trying out a New Thing a week or so ago. The genesis, she says, was seeing some na'an in the grocery store.

She walked by it and thought, "That would make a good pizza crust."

And that night she made na'an pizza.

It was very good.

I should tell you, right off the top, that I love na'an. Usually when my wife makes na'an it's with a chicken tikka masala dish she makes.

So this was different - and I knew something was afoot when I saw the na'an in the closet but knew we weren't having chicken for dinner.

It took my wife no more than 10 minutes to prepare - from sauce and cheese to cooking time in the oven. She made four total - and those four went a long way.

It not only fed us (we're a family of five) - but I was able to take a full na'an pizza with me for lunch the next day.

A brilliant idea by my wife, and a New Thing food for me that I can actually make myself.

New Thing #180: Jamba Juice

I guess there was a part of me, deep down in my subconscious, that was missing my alma mater after spending time at my wife's reunion. Because last week I had some time to kill between doing some work at school and needing to be back at the school to pick up my daughter from day camp.

So I decided to spend that time near Boston University, going for a run along the Charles River.

And as I drove there I developed a plan which worked out so well for me it's almost unbelievable.

I left work at about 12:30. I intentionally didn't bring anything for lunch, figuring I'd grab something near BU after my run. But as I drove from Belmont to Boston I couldn't think of anything healthy enough to not negate the workout I was driving all this way to do.

My mind kept coming back to burgers and pizza - two of my favorites, for sure, but not what I was really in the mood for on this particular afternoon.

I thought about what I would be having if I was doing lunch at home, and my mind went to smoothies. It was perfect - I convinced myself then and there that somewhere on BU's campus was going to be a smoothie place (you know, catering to the health-conscious college students) where I could grab something healthy after my run.

I kept an eye out as I looked for parking. Nothing. I walked to the Esplanade and looked up and down Commonwealth Avenue where there might have been a place. Nothing.

I ran from behind Marsh Chapel, down about a mile to a turnaround point, and then ran back until I exited near the School of Education. (I give these specifics for the BU readers. They'll know what I'm talking about.) I walked up a part of Commonwealth Avenue I hadn't checked out before...still nothing. Then I crossed the street in front of Warren Towers, and lo and behold, in the last place I would have expected to see one, there was a smoothie place.

It was a Jamba Juice, which I had never been to before. As much as I fully expected to find a smoothie place, I was taken aback when I finally did. This little storefront is located on the ground floor of one of BU's signature dorms. When I was there it was a little sandwich/bagel/coffee place, and I think it has also been a burrito place. It has never been a recognizable franchise like Jamba Juice, as far as I know.

I looked at the menu, but I wasn't really registering what I was seeing. I feel like I settled - I wish I had a chance to re-order. My smoothie was fine, but it was nothing extraordinary. I want to go back and get something a little different from something I could easily create at home.

I ended up having an "Orange C-Booster" smoothie. It was essentially a fancier, thicker orange juice. It's advertised (right there on the menu!) as a Vitamin C and zinc boost as well as an antioxidant boost, and it's made with orange, peach, and banana. (On this day 'peach' served the same purpose for me as 'avocado' on a food menu - it looks so good to me that whatever I ordered had to have that in it.) It was refreshing enough, and it held me over until dinner time, and I did feel healthy having it. So it served its purposes.

The smoothie was 350 calories. They sell 3 sizes of smoothie - "sixteen" (16), "original" (22), and "power" (30). I had original and I'm not sure I needed anything bigger.

I'm not sure how familiar you are with Jamba Juice, but they also have sandwiches. I'm not sure if I'm in the market for a sandwich that this would be my first stop, but it's nice to know it's there.

I can easily see myself swinging by Jamba Juice on my way to Fenway Park the next time I head to a Red Sox game and grabbing a smoothie.

Maybe it'll make me feel a little better about shoving my face full of crap at Fenway if I have a smoothie first.

New Thing #178: Gatorade Energy Chews

I saw that Kevin Durant - Dwayne Wade Gatorade commercial about a million times before I watched it for content rather than story. I liked the circular idea of it the first time I saw it...and then shortly after saw it start with the opposite point of view.

Then I started ignoring it.

Then during the NBA Finals I watched the commercial and realized it wasn't just about the energy drink.

I thought I saw one of those guys pop something into his mouth.

And then I went to a sporting goods store and I saw the energy chews.

I had to at least try them.

The chews come 6 to a pack and they cost $1.99.  I went with the strawberry, since if there are flavors offered of something I haven't tried I usually try to go red for my first taste.

This was a day that I was going for a run at around lunchtime, and I figured I'd pop a chew right before I worked out. Then I read the directions.

"Eat 6 chews 15 minutes prior to exercise or competition."

I was taken aback. Before I had even read the directions I was thinking about eating all six - I wasn't sure for a second if I was just reading it the way I wanted it to read.

But no, that's what it said - go ahead and eat all six. (Six pieces is a serving size, and there's 100 calories per serving, in case you're wondering.) So I ate all six. And I waited 15 minutes, and then I went for my run.

It was a good run. I'm not going to sit here and tell you it was great because I had a handful of energy chews beforehand.

But I kind of like the idea of acceptably having a form of candy before working out.

Although, as my wife cautioned when I told her it was "only $1.99!": "Watch out - $1.99 can add up fast."

Maybe I'll just stick to the usual, free, water before I run in the future.

New Thing #177: Caked By Kate

I'm no expert in the kitchen. (Well, there are a lot of places I'm no expert. The kitchen is just one.)

But I'm not jealous of people who are experts in the kitchen.

Interestingly, and I'm just coming to this realization as I write this, this is one of the few instances where this is true.

Sometimes I watch certain people who are in a different profession than me (like broadcaster, say) and jealousy creeps in: "I can do that," I think.

But bakers? Chefs? Cooking hobbyists? I support their work and appreciate it tremendously.

Such is the case with my friend Kate.

Within the past year Kate has begun a little baking business - and I can't even begin to tell you about the amazing artistic ability she has in designing and making cakes and cupcakes.

But I'll try.

First I should tell you that we ordered a cake from Kate for our youngest daughter's second birthday last week - we ordered a rainbow cake with chocolate icing. You see the outside of the cake in the picture above. As for the inside:

Pretty cool, huh?

And believe me when I tell you that probably falls into the 'easy' category of cakes Kate has made.

I've seen Goodnight Moon-themed cupcakes for a baby shower, birthday cakes ranging from Spongebob to race cars to baseball diamonds to Legos.

They're all amazing.

'Caked By Kate' is based in Sudbury, so if you're within driving distance, it's definitely worth checking out. (She delivers all her cakes.) Her Facebook page features all of her creations, so you can see the designs I told you about and get an idea of pricing and such.

And, oh yeah - the cake tasted pretty good too. But I feel like that's almost secondary when you get such a good-looking cake. But we enjoyed it and, if it's possible, liked it even more the next couple of days as we had leftovers from the party.

We'll be repeat customers...my other two daughters already have thoughts on what kind of cake designs they want for their birthdays in the fall.

New Thing #173: Vicki Lee's

I met a friend for lunch the other day. She suggested a place which, as it turned out, we had both heard a lot about, but had each never been.

It's called Vicki Lee's, and it was delightful.

Vicki Lee's is located at the corner of Common Street and Trapelo Road in Belmont, Massachusetts. That also happens to be the town in which I work, but this restaurant is in a further south part of the town from where I work. It's not a spot where I spend a lot of time.

It's a really great little establishment.

We got there at about 11:30am, grabbed a table, had a couple of sandwiches, and were able to chat. Even when the place got pretty crowded it never got too loud. (I had my back to the door, but it did get crowded after 12 as the lunch crowd arrived. We didn't linger long after we finished eating so as to make sure we didn't take a table from someone.)

It's open, though, seven days a week through dinner time. Not necessarily for dinner, but through dinner. They have a good dinner menu, but the menu states that there is only so much of a given item, so once they run out they're done serving that item for the night.

It's an interesting place - it's like a hybrid cafe/breakfast place/lunch place/sit-down restaurant.

It's kind of hard to describe. (Here's their website if you're interested.) But I'm interested in what dinner would be like there - lunch was very good.

Next time I'm staying late at work for a meeting or something I might have to swing by and see what's left over from the dinner menu.

New Thing #167: Vegetable Tofu Cream Cheese

I accidentally did a New Thing on Thursday morning. Before the funeral, my brother was responsible for bringing some bagels by my parents' house.

When I got out of the shower, there was quite a spread of bagels and spreads.

There was butter, plain cream cheese, and veggie cream cheese.

Or at least, so I thought.

Turns out what I thought was veggie cream cheese was vegetable tofu cream cheese.

I spread it willy nilly on my bagel thinking it was your run-of-the-mill veggie spread, and then my brother slapped me on the back. "Hey! Good for you for trying the tofu!"

"The what?"

"Don't you read labels?"

I had read the label. All it said was 'Brooklyn Bagel' - you may remember I wrote about that place before. I love it. (But it turns out they could do a better job of labeling their cream cheese containers.)

I didn't love the veggie tofu. It was OK, but it wasn't as flavorful, I guess, as the regular veggie cream cheese.

It was probably healthier, though. And the bagel was good.

I guess next time I'll take a closer look at not just the label, but the consistency of the cream cheese as well.