Two Days In Boston

This past Christmas Jeff and I had a hard time figuring out what to get for the kids. When they were little, it was easy to swing through the toy aisle and grab some Legos or Fisher Price toys and know that they would be thrilled. But now that Matt and Meghan are both teenagers, it’s a bit more challenging. That, coupled with the fact that they are both soon to be off to college, made us decide to DO something with them rather than buy them stuff.  We had pretty much just gotten back from Disney, so another trip was not in the cards, though we did consider driving to Québec for a couple of days (it looks so picturesque at Christmastime!). However, we concluded that being confined in  an SUV for eighteen hours with your parents might not feel like much of a treat. So in the end we decided to take advantage of living so close to the “Schitty of Bawston” (That’s a Kevin White impersonation, youngsters) and spend the day in town . We would divide among gender lines; Jeff and Matt would take in a showing of Blue Man Group, while Meghan and I would luxuriate at a Spa on Newbury Street, daaahling. After this we would meet up for a nice dinner together. We started the day by fortifying ourselves at the local breakfast joint.

We drove in parked at a neutral location. The boys escorted us girls through the Boston Commons before we parted ways.

 

Meghan and my appointments weren’t for an hour, so we had a little time to nose around the high falutin’ boutiques on Newbury Street. We first needed to make a pit stop. When my mom and I used to come here occasionally when I was a teenager, we would always try to use the bathroom at the swankiest place we could find. Weird I know, but there’s something about sneaking the use of the facilities at a five star hotel that makes me giggle like I’m getting away with something. I felt that I needed to pass this tradition on to my daughter. We ended up at the Taj Boston. How posh was it? The gift shop sold fur coats, just fur coats.

They lobby was filled with the aroma of ginger from an astonishing gingerbread Taj Mahal.

 

On to the stores then…

Several of the furriers and fancy handbag stores had well dressed secret service type gentlemen on the door guarding our entrance …and judging us. This shop was one of those. Can you guess what purveyor this might be?

At Ann Taylor Meghan managed to procure a cute red  belt and a sweater.  There was a pretty hefty sale. Times are tough everywhere I guess.

 

I love the way Meghan just waltzed right into Dianne Von Furstenburg like it was the Gap.

We unfortunately witnessed the final hours of Filene’s Basement, a Boston institution now gone. Another sad sign of the times.

 

It was quite enjoyable to take in all the Christmassy sights without the crowds…seeing as though Christmas was like, you know- over.

 

Our appointment time was upon us, so we found our way to Belle Santé Spa.

 

 

 

 

 

We got ourselves changed into robes and filled out some forms in the lobby. You wouldn’t think that there would be much risk of liability at a spa, but wouldn’t you know it, we did actually have an incident…

Our appointments were for a facials and manicure/pedicures. They do full massages there, but I wasn’t keen on that idea for my baby daughter. I thought we would be together but they took us to separate rooms,  which was fine. There wouldn’t be much opportunity to talk with a hot towel on your face anyway.  The space was super dark with flickering candles and new agey music playing. I felt a lot a pressure to relax! The steps of the facial went something like this: Hot towel, lotion applied,  lotion removed, face massaged &  steamed, repeated about twenty times.

Our faces felt like butter! Below is a rare shot of Meghan without -SHOCK-  make-up! You might think it’s risky putting that in here, but my children NEVER, EVER read anything I write. She’ll never know.

So, on to the pedicures. For this we got to hang together which was fun. We were chatting up with the technicians who were very nice and down to earth. I was a little concerned that a Spa on Newbury Street would be kinda snooty, but it wasn’t at all. Everyone was super friendly and warm. The ladies were doing a thorough job sloughing off our dead cells (gag!), and trimming our cuticles when the girl working on Meghan cut a little too close. Her toe started bleeding and it just wouldn’t stop. They tried everything from styptic to super glue but the blood just kept pumping. They finally had to give in and just bandage it up.

My pedicure, however, was coming along swimmingly!

The manicure yielded no casualties. They ended up giving us a gift card for twenty-five dollars off of our next visit. Unfortunately  twenty-five dollars off of about a gazillion dollars isn’t much help.

 

Meanwhile at Blue Man Group:

 

The boys had a blast at Blue Man, they absolutely loved the show. It got out a bit earlier than I had planned so they had to wait for us at the spa for about an hour, the poor dears. Jeff paid our bill and did a super job not having a heart attack over the final figure. Let’s just say that my first car cost less than our day of beauty. It was worth it though, the girl and I made some good memories together.

Believe it or not, that omelet did eventually wear off , so we headed to dinner. I had done some research on restaurants in the area, and discovered a place that made me very excited. I’m a fan of the Top Chef series  and this restaurant, Tico is owned by a Top Chef Master, Michael Schlow. What’s  even better is that it’s a tapas bar. Snap!

The style of the place was Spanish hipster. Very cool

 

 

I just love an open kitchen. It gives me confidence that we are in for something good. The dining room was very low lit, but the kitchen was illuminated like Fenway park. It looked like the “light” Carol Ann was supposed to walk into.

I think I became semi-obsessed with the cutlery because I took a ton of pictures of it. It was very classy.

 

I have this ritual when we go out; I like to ask the server or bartender if they have a specialty drink or something they just love to make. I usually get what they recommend   hopefully thinking that this time I’m gonna like it, but inevitably I’m disappointed.  Tonight it was the Tico-tini. I’m sure it was executed well, I guess I just have to come to terms with the fact that I don’t like fruity drinks.

The menu here consists of mostly tapas along with some heartier main dishes. They also offer up something interesting that we decided to go for. You can pay a per person fixed price and have the chefs create a menu of their choosing.  There are three tiers: “Kind of Hungry?” “Forgot to Eat Lunch?” and the  “Full-on Tico Experience!“. We went all the way, baby. I was so excited about what they brought out that I forgot to take a picture of the first dish,  Beef with Green Chile. I assure you it was fabulous. The next picture I took I forgot to turn off the flash, which makes food look horrid. I threw it in anyway, but my apologies.

Next were tacos that consisted mostly of bacon. Yup, this was turning out to be a great meal.

 

Next came some buttery skillet corn also with bacon. It was amazing. Everyone loved it, which was a good thing cause Meghan didn’t dig the first two dishes.

 

This one was odd. It was a green salad that had the usual suspects of lettuce, cabbage and onions, however it was spiked with mint. I’m still not sure if I liked it.

 

These quesadillas were crispy and delectable…

 

Let’s cleanse our palates with a Bass Ale, shall we?

 

This next dish is a good example of why an experiment like this is so fun. I would never order cauliflower, I don’t care for it one bit. However, this was absolutely delicious! The cauliflower was roasted and took on a this deep, nutty flavor. Then there were the Fava Beans (insert Silence of the Lambs reference here). They were almost dry roasted. Yummy! I never would have gotten this on my own devices.

As you can imagine, we were getting pretty full by now, but the entrées were now upon us. This was by far my favorite item. Look at the sear on this salmon, LOOK at it!!!!

By the time the steak hit the table we were ready to bust. I loved it, but Jeff felt it was a bit salty. I like a bit salty. The fries were perfection! Most of this went into a take out container.

Finally, dessert. This first item was not on the menu, so I don’t have an accurate description. Let’s just say it was all manner of peachy goodness.

We managed to hork this chocolate tart down despite being over-the-top full. The description is as it reads on the menu, not my editorializing!

 

Our adventures in Boston were an all around success. I consider it a privilege to have access to such a great city and  to be able to go back to our quiet country home. You may recall that this post is titled Two Days in Boston. Circumstances led us back to the Hub just a couple of days later, but the word count of this post informs me that I’ve gone on waaaay too long already.

 

Next Up:  Part II: “I can walk like a penguin!”