A Platform for Cheese

Hola.

This weekend was relaxing and simple and I loved it.

Saturday, I met this guy:

here:

I went to Healthworks first, but after barely breaking a sweat on the elliptical, I decided my time was better spent outdoors than on a machine in an empty room.

After b-ball, I showered and waited for the bus to Harvard Square!

Cambridge Common has been on my list for a looong time and a reader also recommended it recently. And, ohhh man, will we be going back soon!!!! The rotating taps list was overwhelming and it was only a portion of the offerings…

After Friday’s beer let down, I knew this was a prefect opportunity to make amends with pumpkin beer. This is the Southern Tier Pumking and it.was.pure.heaven. And by heaven I mean gingerbread-pumpkin CAKE in a glass. I will find this beer and consume it again.

I’m usually not one to order foods in fried stick form, but Matt and I have a thing for fried pickles. Since they are typically found only in the south, we have to order them if we see them on a menu up here. We also enjoy having the spear versus chip debate while we wait for them to arrive (spears are better because there’s more pickle and less breading). Needless to say, these were awesome spears and the breading actually had some flavor to it.

The main event was a black bean burger with spicy aioli and avocado AND seasoned curly fries. What more could you ask for on a chilly Saturday night? Let’s just say I had to unbutton to breathe after this…

After dinner, we made the trek to Somerville to see some music by a friend from college. We kind of underestimated the walk and arrived right when he finished playing 🙁

But, we got to see two other cool bands perform!

AND, I won the raffle prize and scored CD’s from all the bands!!!!

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Today, we went on a gi-normous grocery trip and had a late lunch with the goods:

Remember this guy? He made an appearance at dinner. I was inspired by Kath’s eggplant parm and decided to attempt it myself. And by attempt, I mean I didn’t grill the plant or make my own sauce to save time.

I used Kath’s salting method…

And then baked the eggplant slices for roughly 25 minutes (flipping half way though) at 400 degrees. When they came out, I covered them with three-cheese tomato sauce and shredded jack cheese. I forgot that we are out of parmesan. Whoops.

These guys went back into the oven for about 15 minutes…

…and were enjoyed over spaghetti.