head of the charles

Despite not meeting an important deadline yesterday and having to work this weekend, I am in an excellent mood. I got a lot done at work yesterday, and the deadline shift apparently won’t affect much after all, so all is well. Last evening was a perfect fall New England evening, with a heavy gray sky, changing leaves, and very chilly temperatures. As I walked through the South End after work, I could smell fire places and crunchy fallen leaves. It was truly exhilarating, and unlike most days, I easily shook off the work day. I met the hubs at the dog park on Washington Street, a place that I love to go to watch every breed of dog imaginable play. We walked a bit through the South End and decided to have a drink and some food at The Butcher Shop. The Butcher Shop is just another one of Barbara Lynch’s great Boston establishments, and as always, it was a great experience. We were only there for a short time, but I enjoyed a glass of sparkling wine, and we shared the antipasto della casa. It was a last minute outing, so I did not have my camera, but the antipasto was beautiful. It offered mortadella, prosciutto, salty, nutty parmesan, crispy pickled vegetables, and hummus, in addition to some other meats. We also had some nice Italian bread and fruity olive oil. My only complaint is that the antipasto had a LOT of meat compared to the amount of cheese and vegetables. But I guess at a place called The Butcher Shop, meat takes center stage. After our snack, we popped by Brix for their Oregon wine tasting. We tried August Cellars Riesling and Pinot Noir  and Portteus Vineyards Merlot and Bistro Red. The Riesling was really good, nice and sweet and perfect for a summer meal. But we decided to buy a bottle of the Pinot and the Merlot. The Pinot is smooth and elegant while the Merlot offers very big, bold flavors all the way through until the finish. Our night ended with Teriyaki House sushi and catching up on the DVR. I just love low key Friday nights. Anyway, I completely digress from the point of this post, which was to cover my Wednesday night out. Going out on a Wednesday is quite the risqué move for someone my age, but it was my good friend and college roommate MVO’s  (Her initials, her name is also Meghan. We had so many Meghan’s in college that we needed nicknames. I went by my last name or “little Meghan”) birthday and it was time to celebrate her entrance into the final year of the 20’s. For her birthday night out Part 1 (Part 2 is Halloween) we went to The Jury Room in Quincy. By the time you read this post, The Jury Room will be closed as it is going out of business. The Jury Room offered pretty decent bar food and an extensive, excellent beer list. On this night, they were having a free beer tasting of a variety of beers, and it promised to be a fun night. Hubs and I arrived first and looked through the beer list to make our choice. Our waitress took about 15 minutes to come over, and when we tried to order, she shut us down. Basically, they were going through their beer supply because of their closing. Fine, really, we understood, but her attitude was horrendous. I don’t even know what I ordered because she was basically yelling at us. I didn’t like it and didn’t drink it. The beer tasting included (in HOT out of the dishwasher glasses. . . just the way one likes a beer): Sebago Full Throttle Double IPA – VERY malty and hoppy, too strong for me, who likes strong flavors   Newport Storm Amber Ale- Love it, I have tried this before, at the Coastal Wine Trail Kickoff and also at the Newport Marriott Unibroue Apple-Éphémère – Also love this, normally. It has a beautiful tart apple taste and is a very crisp beer. However, the glass was so hot that the beer was kind of disgusting. We also ordered a couple of other specialty beers which were $3 because of the imminent closing. I enjoyed a Gulden Draak from Belgium:   This was excelente! A strong dark Belgian ale with a yeasty, appley, tart taste. I loved it! Throughout the night our waitress continued to show us why she should not be in the service industry. Ignored us, snapped at us, and at one point when the hubs ordered a beer, she opened it, let the foam and beer spill all over the floor, reached across me spilling beer and foam on me and my Blackberry, plopped the beer down, still dripping, and stomped off. Half of it or more was on the floor. A good waitress would have apologized and brought another and a towel. Needless to say, we had a tip for her, but it wasn’t monetary. We still had a very good time, and I was very happy to see my friends who I had not seen since June (!), but the waitress’ attitude was unnecessary. I guess that she looked at the fact that she was losing her job in a few days and just didn’t care. I would think the other way, that I would want to earn as much money as possible before the job ended. Plus, you never know when your next employer will walk through the door! What do you do when you receive bad service? Do you complain? Does it affect the tip that you leave? I feel like the service industry is definitely not for everyone, and if it is not for you, you should probably get out of it! Overall, it was still a great night. There may have been a stop at Wendy’s on the way home, but I’ll never tell 😉 Since it is Saturday, I am off to the MSPCA to walk dogs, then we are going to the Head of the Charles rowing event to cheer on the Galway Rowing Club which the hubs used to be a part of!  I think a fall shopping trip is in my future as well. I am not at all prepared for winter weather, and I need both work and running gear for the cold. I will also be scheming up some recipes for the POM Wonderful shipment I received yesterday. Thanks, Lindsay!!! I have 8 bottles of POM just waiting to be used in yummy recipes. I am already thinking POM pancakes, muffins, and pizza. And of course POM mojitos 😉 I hope you all have a great day! Be back later!