Big things!

As I hope most of you already know, I have officially accepted a position as Admissions Counselor at Northeastern School of Law! I'm very excited about this new opportunity, and while I will surely miss Maine, I am eager to return to Boston. My first day is August 23rd, which means that I have a lot to accomplish in the next couple weeks! Luckily, I already have the perfect place to live: with Hakim in Union Square! We're really looking forward to be able see each other every day (definitely won't miss those Sunday evening drives back to Maine!). And it's also good news for this blog because we'll be able to do a whole lot more cooking and eating together!

In other news, we just had a really nice weekend in Massachusetts. On Friday I was able to get to the city fairly early so we could try out the new BBQ place in the neighborhood, The Bearded Pig (it is literally one block from the apartment!).  I went with the pulled pork platter accompanied by corn bread, mac n cheese, and creamy slaw.  Hakim opted for the full rack of ribs with beans (as well as mac n cheese + corn bread). The food was hearty and filling, but not the best we've ever had.  Still, I think we may become regulars due to sheer proximity and the cheeriness of the staff!

The next day, after a morning of separate endurance (I hit the road for a 14 mile jog in the heat while Hakim tackled a mountain of school-work), we headed south to Lakeville to spend time with Mama Lakhdar and Hakim's Nana. We had a delicious lunch of meatball subs and tuna sandwiches and got to catch up for a bit (and admire the new windows Hakim had put in the cottage!). Mama Lakhdar also surprised me with a lovely cake, card, and gifts (incl. framed photos from our Florida trip) to congratulate me one my new job! So thoughtful! Despite myriad technical difficulties a la Comcast (are you really surprised???), we had an enjoyable time at the cottage and the next morning came far too soon!

After a cuppa tea/coffee in the morning, we headed back up to the city to meet Hakim's cousins for brunch at S&S Diner in Inman Square.  S&S is fast becoming our go-to brunch spot for out of town guests due to the fact that it's spacious, has plenty of parking, and they take reservations...Oh, and they have pretty darn delicious food (maybe we'll take you if you come to visit)! It was great getting to meet Hakim's cousin Raquel, her boyfriend, Scott, and his two kids, Liam & Wade; and Hakim's other cousin Andriana (Raquel's sister), her husband, Nick, and his brother, Andrew.  We all had fun meeting each other/catching up, eating, and sipping mimosas and delicious peach bellinis (mine was frozen!). We then split ways, so Hakim could take his quiz. Once finished, it was time for a much deserved beer, so we headed to Faneuil Hall to meet back up with Andriana, Nick, and Andrew for snacks and beverages at Cheers. I would have liked to stay longer, but it was time for me to head back up to Maine. It's nice knowing that next time I'll get to stay!

This weekend we're going to Alec & Sara's wedding in Maine! We're looking forward to helping them share their special day. I'm also very excited to catch up with friends from college who are coming from around the country and across the pond! And on Sunday we will be meeting Hakim's mom and nana to visit Stone Fox Farm Creamery at the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbor show in Rockland!

Vacationland

Yikes! It has been awhile since our last post.  And there's lots to catch up on! Since recovering from our Florida vacation, we've enjoyed quite a few fun weekends.  From hosting an impromptu indoor picnic at Hakim's apartment in Somerville, to seeing Ted Nugent along with Styx and REO Speedwagon in Bangor, working on the cottage in Lakeville, and eating lots of lobster in Maine, we've been rather busy!

Most recently we spent a few days in Franklin, ME for my family's annual lobster bake and blueberry pancake breakfast.  On Friday (July 20th) we headed up to Monroe where my Dad cooked up about half a dozen soft shells (although I guess not soft enough as Hakim sustained a minor injury cracking a claw - the lobster's final revenge!) and some corn.  Saturday brought us to the Maine Celtic Celebration, where we scooped ice cream with my Mom and our WWOOFer, Zach, while listening to the dulcet sound of live Celtic music.

After the festival we headed Downeast to Ellsworth where we stocked up on all the necessities for the rest of our long weekend and then we were off to my grandparents' camp.  We then got our tent set up and spent a relaxing evening trying to catch fish and catching up with my Nana and my Uncle Joey and his lady, Jo-Ann. Sunday dawned bright and beautiful - a perfect day for a family lobster feast! Hakim spent the morning studying for his exam, while I set to making citrus squares and a quinoa salad. After Hakim completed his test, we headed over to my Aunt Deb's camp on the other side of town for a few lobsters and some fun times with family.  We ate a lot of lobster, steamers, interesting salads, amazing German chocolate brownies, s'mores, ice cream (of course!), and more.  We also played a round of Polish horse-shoes and a large game of Killer around the campfire. which is a card game involving "death-winks." Hakim was wonderful when it came to meeting the family, especially after he started handing out 8 oz cans of Bud Light!

On Sunday we woke up early and took the boat out fishing on the pond.  Unfortunately, Hakim didn't catch the salmon he was hoping for, but I did manage to land a bass and about a million sunfish! Brought back some fun childhood memories and we had a great time on the water! After that, we headed over to the Pape-Calabrese camp and had a ton of fun tubing at the mercy of Uncle Freddie.  We also caught some rays on the dock (okay, maybe a I caught a few too many!) and hung out until it was time to head over to 2 Loons for dinner with Uncle Jeff, Uncle Sam and his lady, Catherine, Nana, Aunt Sandra, and Aunt Paula.Then it was back to our tent for a few hours before a terrific thunder storm blew in and forced us into the camp right before the downpour began.  In the morning we rose early and headed over to the 2 Loons again for the blueberry pancake breakfast organized by Aunt Paula.  I took a turn flipping pancakes while the sausages cooked.  Then helped myself to a plateful and dug in while watching the old family movie footage that was recently digitized - amazing to see the Leavitts (and DiBellas and the rest of the gang) as kids! Sadly, we had to leave right after breakfast to return to the real world....

But the fun continues this weekend when I head down to Massachusetts to spend some time with Hakim's mom and Nana at the cottage.  Then the following weekend we'll be back in Maine for our friends' wedding (congrats Alec & Sara!), where we're particularly looking forward to surf & turf rehearsal dinner featuring Stone Fox Farm Creamery ice cream for dessert! And after that we'll be looking forward to a quick trip to Treasure Island (just outside of Tampa) for a few relaxing days on the beach!!!  

Hakim in his SFFC shirt!

Pemaquid oysters at Three Tides in Belfast, ME

best biscuit ever w/ honey butter at Sweet Cheeks BBQ in Boston

Lobster with the family

Jim serves Manny some lobsters!

even more lobsters!!!

bass!

dessert at 2 Loons w/ SFFC sorbet

Our Florida Vacation - Part 1

Well, it has been two weeks since our South Florida vacation. It was an action packed Friday to Friday trip and I don’t think either of us could have hoped for more or even fit more into the busy week we had. We did so much, saw so many people and of course, enjoyed soooo (too) much delicious food!! 

Our meals at Marco

Caitlin got in town Thursday night and I surprised her with dinner at Marco in Boston’s North End. We had a nice late dinner, European style, with a wonderful bottle of montepulciano d'abruzzo (red) wine and we started off with goat cheese stuffed/prosciutto wrapped figs and some calamari. Caitlin then ordered the orecchiette alla salsiccia and I got the tagliatelle alla bolognese. Both dishes were so good and we wrapped up the meal with some sorbet and cheesecake. We enjoyed every bite and every sip of wine as we thought about the next 10 days of vacation together.

Fort Lauderdale beach at twilight

We started the trip by catching a stand-by flight on Jet Blue out of Boston on Friday morning (June 1st). We even got complimentary extra leg room window seats and we were in Fort Lauderdale by lunchtime. For a quick tasty bite we decided it was only appropriate for our first stop before we got home to be Publix for a classic Publix sub. Caitlin got her chicken tender sandwich and I just got good ole turkey. Went home, gave a good round of hugs and kisses and introduced Caitlin to my dad and my parents’ humble abode. We enjoyed our subs on the patio and had a nice dip in the pool while we waited for Samir (and Ian) so we could all go get Joel at the airport around 4:30 pm. Once we got Joel, the weekend was officially initiated and we all met Tim down at the beach for drinks while we waited for others to show up and the party crew to grow. Natasha, Josh, Amy, Jason, Angel, Naomi, Robbie, Rebecca, Mike, and others showed up and we had a nice little wild welcoming evening before the BBQ the next day. 

Setting up the shelter

Saturday’s Reunion Rager, as it was called, was understandably a little slow to start, but once final supplies (i.e. chicken and keg) were secured we headed over to Markham Park and met Gareth to setup the 80 person shelter with all the goodies we had. People slowly started showing up around 11:30 am or so and the BBQ was underway. At one point I looked up to see what looked to be a truck, on fire, plowing down the street. It turns out it was Brandon with his smoker securely fastened to the truck already filled with logs, heated up and smoking. The day was a HUGE success with friends and family from South Florida all in one place enjoying the rainless day, playing horseshoes, ladderball, volleyball, eating, drinking and chatting and laughing it up. We had people from SC, NC, TX, CO, ME, MA and all the regulars from back home. We had a keg and hunch punch, but people brought local craft brews from

Brandon making his entrance with the smokin' smoker

wherever they were traveling from (Caitlin and I had attempted but broke one in our bag before even leaving the apt, so we aborted). Ryan, working at Nantahala Brewing Company brought a plethora of beers, which were enjoyed by all. We had corn on the cob, smoked pork, chicken breasts and thighs, potato/pasta/macaroni/broccoli salad, homemade guacamole made with 20 avocados, stuffed burgers, beer brats, hot dogs, buffalo chicken dip, cakes and cookies. It was truly unbelievable. Needless to say, we all drank and ate very well that day. We even wrapped up the day with a little physical activity to burn some of those calories off…a massive adult and kid combo kickball game!!

Almost the whole gang!

The next day, as if we hadn’t had enough eating and drinking on Saturday, my parents hosted a 61st

Backyard at the family BBQ

birthday party for my aunt and welcome home for Caitlin and me. It turned out that nearly everyone from Saturday decided to show up and we were even able to repurpose some leftovers. My mom had herb roasted chicken legs that were gone in a matter of minutes, beef teriyaki skewers, tilapia with fresh (our own tree) mango salsa, baked beans, salads of all kinds, corn, burgers and dogs and an assortment of desserts. We all splashed around in the pool, nursed our beers after Saturday, and enjoyed all the  food and wonderful company. We relaxed in the grass in the backyard under the tree catching up while we ate and drank -- the day was another wild success.All the friends began to trickle out, as did the aunts/uncles, cousins, etc. and once the remaining group of us (Ian, Ryan, Joel, Samir, Caitlin, Nana, Auntie Beryl) were the ones left…..we busted out the Stone Fox Farm

Enjoying SFFC ice cream

Creamery Ice Cream that had been so graciously sent by Caitlin’s parents via dry-ice-packed cooler. They sent us Bananas Foster, Pistachio, Chocolate, Mango Sorbet and Grapenut…Everyone got a taste, but that is about all that was had because before we knew it we had devoured it. It was all delicious, as it always is. We wrapped up the night at Ian’s just hanging out like old times, feeling good about the weekend. 

Monday was a much easier day, with a slow easy morning picking up Ian, Ryan and Joel at Ian’s and heading over to the West Coast to see Mike, Jamie and the baby, Camden. Of course, we had been eating grillables all weekend so the only thing we all wanted was a Publix sub. We drove across Alligator Alley and by the time we got to Marco Island, we were starved. We snatched up our Publix subs, grabbing one for Mike, and we were on our way to the water. We enjoyed our subs, complimented by Sun Chips and jalapeño Cape Cod chips, with every single bite. Once we were fed we decided not to wait 30 mins before going in the water and instead decided to hop on two fully gassed wave-runners that Mike’s parents so graciously let us use. Caitlin and I on one…..Joel, Ian, Ryan on the other. Haha…such a sight. We enjoyed 3 fun-filled hours of wave running and came back to spend time with Mike’s folks, Jamie and the baby. We were kindly treated to pizza, we all talked for a bit and headed home. Once back on the East Coast (of FL) Caitlin and I said our good-byes to Joel and Ryan who would be leaving on Tuesday.  Luckily, we still had until Friday to continue our adventures!

Cardboard Pete and I wave-running!