The Boston Marathon (of Food)

Stuck at a conference, at the back of a hotel hallway for 3 days in Boston, it’s no wonder I started to fixate on food.

It all began with our flight: we were served coffee, tea or water while the tv screens played episodes of Eat Street. It was a pretty mean thing to do, United Airlines - not even a measly MSG coated pretzel!

The first night in Boston we went to Tapeo - a Spanish tapas restaurant. We had Beef tenderloin with figs and apricots in a cream brandy sauce and  pork tenderloin with mushrooms in a  blue goat cheese sauce. Much better than the virtual snacks on the airplane.

Unfortunately day two started with a hotel-banquet-style continental breakfast. I eschewed the powdered eggs and greasy baby-pigs-in-a-sack but I did find a new brand of no-fat yogurt I would highly recommend: Chobani.

I’ll spare you the rubber chicken lunch details.

But after lunch came the Red Sox-themed hot dog bar.  Along with the “dawgs” came a “sports bar” - a whipped icy-creamy petroleum product covered in waxy “chocolate”. A chemical concoction called “fluffy stuff” rounded it off .  (You know it's "good" if you have to describe it with quotation marks.)

I’m pretty certain no plants or animals were harmed in the making of these items.

At the end of the hot dog bar was a warming plate filled with peanuts in the shell. 










Under different circumstances, I might have enjoyed these. 

Ironically, my booth buddy - Gretchen - had only hours earlier become my instant friend when she opened a church-roasted jar of peanuts from Madison North Carolina. 

These were large, crispy-yet-chewy morsels, the likes of which I had never tasted. After that, the hotel peanuts were doomed to be a disappointment.

 

That evening we went to a gala mix-and-mingle event at the top of the Prudential Center.  The view was spectacular, the entertainment odd, and the food quite good. For once, I have to agree with cousin Lorna - the scallops would have been better without the bacon wrap. But the vegetable table was a crunchy goodness of  hippie carrots - purple, orange, green, yellow and white.


The antipasto martini - tapenade, salami and cheese in a martini glass, topped with an olive and a bread (swizzle) stick - was very elegant. There was something magical about being at the top of Boston, looking down onto Fenway stadium, beside an actor pretending to be a statue of a ball player, sipping merlot and eating antipasto out of a martini glass.

Collector bottles.
Only available in Boston

Day 3 coffee break consisted of tables laden with cans of S-Bucks double shot espresso, Coke and chocolate covered espresso beans.  By the end of the break the joint was hopping.

 





The afternoon  snack was a popcorn and cupcake bar.  

The popcorn was meant to be mixed with strips of parmesan cheese coated in a spicy salt.

The lemon, mocha, chocolate and carrot muffins had dried fruit toppings.
Still never met a cupcake I liked.

When in Boston, you have to eat seafood, so we went to Atlantic Fish restaurant. Here’s where we tasted some awesome regional cuisine. Paul’s sweet potatoes were seasoned with cinnamon and the haddock was fresh and tasty. I had huge grilled scallops with a creamy corn pudding - literally corn pudding with chunks of corn. I’m going to have to find a recipe for this pudding. So good. 

Paul also ordered clam chowda with yummy chunks of clam and potato. It was creamy and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.  

Hey, I’m in New England.

I was, however, puzzled by the little cap my lemon was wearing. 

Has it really come to this? Lemons in hats?

The final culinary treat came at the banquet on the final night - lobster rolls. They are the New England take on po’boys with lobster -instead of catfish - in a brioche-like bun. I had them for dinner and dessert. It was the perfect ending for my 3 days of the Boston food marathon.