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A Weekend in Boston

August 18, 2014 by Jennifer Che 8 Comments

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View from the Boston Tea Party Museum

Happy Monday!

This summer has whizzed by, and I’m already mourning the fact that August is coming to an end. What a summer it’s been! After spending an incredible week at the end of June in the Canadian Rockies (still one of my favorite places on earth), we explored New England in July. We took a food-focused trip to Portland, Maine one weekend and spent an extended weekend in Cape Cod and Nantucket with college friends.

August?

I got to be a tourist in my own city of Boston.

image
My parents, aunt and uncle, and cousin drove all the way from Ohio (after three days of not being able to drink their tap water – yes, they all lived in THAT county with the water crisis) to visit Boston.

Of course, the first thing I had to do was give them a tour of MIT and Harvard.

The following day, we signed up for a Cityview Trolley Tour, which was reasonably priced and really fun. My parents had already been on the Duck Tours in the past, so we wanted to give them something different.

I was surprised because I (a local!) actually learned quite a bit about Boston history from the tour. It made me appreciate the historical significance of our city so much more.
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View of Boston from the Boston Harbor Cruise

A 45-minute Boston Harbor Cruise was included as part of the tour. It was a beautiful day out and I loved seeing our city from the water. It’s so beautiful.
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Bonus! We passed by the filming of the new Ted movie happening out on the water. If you look really closely on the boat at the right, you can see the stuffed teddy bear.
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Close up! As our boat went by, Ted even waved at us!

Hee hee.
Xiao Long Bao
My relatives only wanted to eat Chinese food, so we ended up eating all our meals in Chinatown. After waiting unsuccessfully for a table at Taiwan Cafe (heh, we were a party of nine), we hopped over to Dumpling Cafe for lunch instead, which had a large table that could fit all of us..
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Crispy Duck with Taro

For dinner we decided to go Cantonese, and visited Peach Farm, where we enjoyed steamed whole fish, a LOT of vegetable and tofu dishes (my cousin is vegan), Bryan’s favorite, Crispy Duck with Taro (pictured above), and my uncle’s favorite, Braised Pork Belly with Preserved Mustard Greens (pictured below). Everything (well, except for maybe one or two of the vegan dishes), was really good.
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Braised Pork Belly with Preserved Mustard Greens 
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Of course, you have to stop by a bakery, and there are tons of good ones in Chinatown. We stopped by Hing Shing Pastry for Cantonese style items, and 101 Bakery for Taiwanese style baked goods. My relatives went crazy and picked up a ton of stuff for the long car ride home.

I loved peering in through the open door to watch the old Chinese bakers making everything by hand. I so wanted to take a photo, but they wouldn’t let me.
image
We ended the weekend by grilling up a storm for my relatives. Grilled King salmon, crispy kale chips, grilled prime ribeye steak, Taiwanese grilled corn, grilled asparagus, cold Asian cucumber salad, grilled pineapples, grilled peppers & eggplant skewers, and broccoli with horseradish.
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It was fun visiting my own city as a tourist for a weekend. I really learned how to appreciate it. I saw so many beautiful parts of Boston that I still have still not explored, such as the USS Constitution, Charlestown, East Boston, and many of the historical buildings in Boston City proper.

It’s fun when friends or relatives visit, because it actually gives you a chance to enjoy your own city.

The weather will be really nice in Boston for the next several months (September and October are the best!), so I encourage you to come visit our beautiful city soon if you’ve been thinking about it. Otherwise, winters can be brutal here.

🙂

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All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Boston, New England Trip Report, Trip Report, US Travel

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Comments

  1. Alvina says

    August 18, 2014 at 12:38 pm

    Aww I miss Boston!!!! Great pics! AND got to see filming of TED 2! Boston sure gets a lot of movies!

    Your BBQ goods looked fantastic!

    Log in to Reply
  2. Jennifer Che says

    August 19, 2014 at 12:26 pm

    Thanks! It was so cool to see the filming of TED 2. Lots of filming going around in Boston in general. I think we give good tax breaks. 🙂

    Yes, the BBQ was awesome. It always is. Love summertime. 🙂

    Log in to Reply
  3. braveamethyst . says

    August 25, 2014 at 5:00 pm

    Wow! I’ll definitely make a note of these

    tips for my next stay in Boston.

    River cruise is on top of my list!

    I also found this blog worth reading about traveling to Boston.

    http://www.gonomad.com/5615

    Log in to Reply
  4. braveamethyst . says

    August 25, 2014 at 5:15 pm

    Wow! I’ll definitely make a note of these

    tips for my next stay in Boston.

    Boston Cruise is on top of my list!

    I also found this blog worth reading about traveling to Boston.

    http://www.gonomad.com/5615

    Log in to Reply
  5. braveamethyst . says

    August 25, 2014 at 6:10 pm

    Thank you for these tips! I will consider them the next time I travel to Boston again. Boston Cruise is on top of my list.
    I found this very helpful too http://www.gonomad.com/5615

    Log in to Reply
  6. Christine Ko says

    October 28, 2014 at 1:11 pm

    I want taro duck.

    Log in to Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Happy New Year - A Look Back at 2014 (Part I) - Travel - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    February 28, 2015 at 12:37 pm

    […] from Taiwan to come visit Boston. It was their first time ever visiting Boston, so it was fun to show them around. We did the normal touristy things for Asians (visit MIT and Harvard campuses), as well as took a […]

    Log in to Reply
  2. Jen's Top Restaurants in Boston says:
    July 7, 2015 at 3:16 am

    […] are Taiwan Cafe, Gourmet Dumpling House, and  Dumpling Cafe. For Cantonese fare, we also enjoy Peach Farm, Winsor Cafe, and Hei La Moon. In Cambridge, Dumpling House, whose menu is quite similar […]

    Log in to Reply

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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