The Long Way Home

So I took the train home last night and after the morning’s commute in via the ferry, the hot, sticky crowded station full of grumpy sweaty would-be passengers seemed extra-depressing. By the time I slogged through the heat to get to North Station, it was so jam packed that I gave up trying to press through the crowd and took a spot near the McDonald’s. The 6:10 was called 5 minutes after it was scheduled to leave the station and I noticed a couple of people who looked too purposeful to be tourists taking photos of the swarming crowd with professional-looking cameras. I think they were taking photos for the story linked to in the headline of this post.

By the time I made it home, I was too exhausted to do anything but pop the cap on a beer and wait for my husband to come home after picking up the baby. We had made plans to go out to eat at Fresh Taste of Asia because they had outdoor seating, which I have found is the best solution for taking a baby to a restaurant, at least in the summer. Usually you can sit near the edge of the sidewalk and park the stroller so it’s out of the way.

Fresh Taste does a great job living up to its name. We decided to go with the traditional Chinese Restaurant Experience with tropical drinks (the Zombie), scallion pancakes, an order of rice and two entrees to share; the Broccoli with Garlic Sauce and the Home Style Tofu. The drinks were larger than the ones I was used to from the Kowloon and a lot more potent. It had an aftertaste that reminded me of rubbing alcohol but in a good way. On top of the beer and combined with the heat, I knew I had to visit the restroom while I could still negotiate my way through the restaurant without making too much of a fool of myself.

The ladies room was a pleasant experience and when I got back to the table, serendipitously the scallion pancakes had arrived. They were a big improvement over the flat, tough greasy ones I was used to getting at a takeout palace. This was a big doughy silky righteous pancake cut into 8 pieces. It was so good I almost didn't have room for the entrees and I felt bad since the Broccoli & Garlic was so good and peppery that I really wanted to eat it all right there. It was such a warm night that everyone was out walking around and as we sat back under the Christmas light-festooned trees, slurping our Zombies and stuffing our faces, I could have convinced myself that we were in a restaurant in Hanoi. (Not as grim as it sounds, Hanoi has sections that are almost glamorous.)

All said, I think we've found our Kowloon right in our own backyard, minus the tiki room and the colored fountains,even though the Essex Street fountain outside Rockafellas is a pretty good substitute.

The Long Way Home

Getting There is ALL the fun.

Today I turn 37 and to cheer me up, Chris said he could use one of his 10 Ride ferry tickets to get me on the ferry to Boston. We dropped Chloe off at my mom's in Beverly and then raced back to Salem for the 7am departure. Derby St. is a one way where the ferry docks, so it was a few frantic, French Connection-like minutes before we found a street that would get us pointed the right way on Derby and we screeched to a halt in the parking lot with 2 minutes to spare.
It's definitely a big improvement on taking the train. The pilot yelled at us to slow down as we raced for the dock. As we ascended the stairs to the top deck with coffee purchased at the snack counter, blithely tuning out the mumbled announcement (something about life jackets, whatever), and settled into a bench, I was already sold. Unlike sitting in an un-airconditioned commuter-rail car crammed up against fellow cranky commuters, it is really hard not to feel good when you are flying along the open seas with the wind whipping your hair around. (Mental note, bring a jacket next time) As we raced by Marblehead, then Lynn, Nahant and Revere I kept running around the deck like a complete tourist, taking pictures. (I wish I could post more right now, but Microsoft's Windows XP imaging doesn't let you rotate photos(!) and I took a lot of portrait ratio ones) We landed at 7:50 on the dot right next to the seal tank at the New England Aquarium, surprising a couple of trustafarians communing with the seals.
All said, it was well worth the extra dough and nothing beats going to work with salt spray in your hair on a beautiful summer's day.

More photos soon, I promise.

Getting There is ALL the fun.

Feliz Latino American Day!

Saturday was the Latino-American fiesta day on the Salem Common. Last year it took me by (pleasant) surprise as it's held in the same location where I went running, so I decided to take Chloe by there and let her check it out. The day started out really foggy.
In addition to sausage carts, bandstands and an inflatable moon-walk castle, they also had people dressed up in these amazing costumes running around scaring kids. Hopefully, I didn't warp my child's mind.

Feliz Latino American Day!

Eating my way through town

Saturday is pretty much always Taste of Thyme day for us, but Sunday came and I kept thinking about the crepe place on Essex St. I think of crepe places as being in the same category as Indian restaurants: You see the new one open, it looks great, you've read a couple of good reviews and you promise yourself that you'll check it out "soon" only to have it close down due to slow business before you've had a chance to darken the doorstep.

I vowed this wasn't going to happen and I shook my husband awake, got the baby and all of her many acoutrements into the stroller and we headed out. 10 minutes walking later, we were standing in the Z Crepe cafe trying to figure out how to place an order with the lanky young man lurking behind the counter talking on his cell phone. I got Chris's order and mine all set and stepped up to the counter, guessing that this was the way to obtain one of the crepes advertised. Without warning, a European tourist couple swooped in from the other entrance that opened out into the Essex Place shopping mall and the kid on the cell phone was so flustered by their direct assault that he turned to them and began taking their order. Oh well. I didn't feel like bitching about it since we had the entire day ahead of us, but it was a hilarious exchange to watch for a variety of reasons. 1) The kid behind the counter managed to pour two cups of coffee without getting off of his cellphone, 2) The female tourist became very protective of her money and kept reminding the clerk that she had given him 4 dollars as if he was about to shortchange her and he became thoroughly confused and 3) They asked for the coffee to-go and the kid said they didn't have any cup covers so they ended up gingerly tiptoeing out onto the cobblestone street with coffee all over their toes. We placed an order and went to sit outside with the baby.
We both got the "Zen" crepe (cucumber, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, basil)and coffee. Chris had been cajoled into eating a crepe in Paris about 10 years ago on the street and he warned me to expect a greasy, egg-y morasse of doughy goo. So it was a nice surprise when what actually showed up was a chewy, thin and light pancake wrapped around a mass of gooey cheese, crunchy cucumber and fresh tomato chunks. I cleaned my plate and we staggered around downtown Salem with no particular plans until Chris decided that he wanted another cup of coffee. We ended up at Jaho's on Derby St. and I checked out their cappuchino macchiato gelato. Jaho's actually had enough space for us to bring the ginormous Graco stroller inside since the weather looked kind of dicey and Chloe had a great time entertaining the outside patrons through the window.
I felt like a boa constrictor after Thanksgiving for the rest of the day but it was worth it.

Eating my way through town

MBTA ROLLS OUT NEW SAUNA CARS

Got to North Station in plenty of time to catch the 5:55pm train but it was delayed as usual so we waited all jammed up in the vestibule, I mean, station. The train finally showed up on track 6 and there was a mad rush to get on. I stepped into the nearest car and began the long trek up the aisles of the different cars trying to find a seat that wasn't already taken up with either an obese perspiring office worker or an overworked yuppie hammering away on a laptop. Finally I reached a car with lots of empty rows but when I stepped into it, I could tell why.
There should have been a pile of white towels by the door and a ladle for pouring water onto hot stones. The car had been traveling back and forth all day in the hot sun and it felt like a schvitz on wheels. Still, I took a seat and sat there fanning myself for the entire ride with one of those flyers for a mcCollege that promised degrees in fields that would be really depressing, like law enforcement. I reasoned that at least when I finally got off the train, the air would feel that much cooler in comparison to the air in the car. Also, the conductor never came around to take tickets because he probably didn't want to listen to everyone bitch so I got a free ride. AGAIN.

MBTA ROLLS OUT NEW SAUNA CARS

Finding the Ferry

Saturday was a busy mommy day. Chloe to the doctor's office for a quick weigh-in (11 pounds, 7 oz), late breakfast at Taste of Thyme, and then off to the mall to get new cell phones since my husband's got soaked on the job last week. The Red Sox were in town for a 7pm game and he desparately needed a new phone so he could meetup with his friend and they could catch the ferry into the city. All he knew was that the only shot they had to get to the game in time was the 4pm departure.
After 45 minutes at a cell phone kiosk going through the rigamarole of setting up two new cell phones, my mind was a bit numb but I knew that we would be lucky to pick up the friend in Salem and find the ferry landing in time for them to be off. Finally got on the road at 3:30 to go back into Salem, quick stop at the house, swung around to Big Sammy's Roast Beef (surprise! It was "Big Fred's for decades but it's under new management now), grabbed the friend and set off in search of the ferry landing.
All I knew was that it was somewhere down off of Derby St. I had seen the location on Google Maps and I had seen a few small tasteful signs around town, but having never been to Blaney St. before, I was traveling down Derby in the hopes of finding something like an obvious ferry landing, i.e. something like a big dock with a large ship that said "FERRY". We drove past the House of Seven Gables, then past a couple of tiny side streets. The street was becoming narrower and narrower. Finally we saw a small sign saying, "Salem Ferry" with an arrow pointing to the right and turned to follow it.
Suddenly, we seemed to be driving straight into the water. "Do they want us to friggin' SWIM to the boat?" my husband asked. I saw a small band of people wandering somewhere to my left and turned the car to follow them, hoping they were heading for the ferry and they had a better idea of where it was than we did. We followed them into a haphazard looking parking lot, bordered by a rusty half swung open gate and there it was. Eureka. Our friend put it best; "Jesus, you would really have to know your way around to find this thing." Luckily we had found it in time and they were off. I was back to the mall, now in the beginning of a low blood sugar meltdown, with a screaming baby in the back seat, going back to pick up the photo ID I left behind and ask about something called a sim chip that didn't seem to be working in one of the phones.
8 hours later my husband was back from the game. "How was the ferry?" I asked. "Awesome" he said, "You can drink beer and check out the planes coming into Logan."
We'll try it again and maybe take the baby in for a festival in the North End. I went to the official web site and it's a little shakey, but you can get most of the important info here. It's strange that it's tucked away so far down Derby St., but at least that should keep it from getting as crowded as the commuter rail.

Finding the Ferry

MBTA HACK

After lots of experience and math, I decided since the daycare/commuting schedule will be so crazy in months to come, that the best thing to do is to buy the "12-ride" ticket every other week or so. I travel from Zone 3 somedays and Zone 4 other days. So for 45 bucks, Zone 3 and 54 bucks, Zone 4, I don't have to fumble for cash or go to the wasteful expense of buying 2 separate T passes. I don't take the subway since I'm trying to lose some baby weight, so even with one zone it would be a waste of precious $$$.
By sheer serendipity, this is a great way to save on commuting costs. To explain: On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, Chloe goes to her grandma's in Beverly and I walk to the station at Montserrat for the 7:20. Most of the time the conductor is too busy getting ready for the Beverly Depot stop and they don't bother going through the car to check tickets. After Beverly, they are so busy dealing with the people that just got on that they can't get to where I sit before the Salem stop. By the time everyone at the Salem stop crowds on, the conductor is now so overwhelmed by the number of passengers standing in the aisle that most days they just give up completely on collecting fares, assume everyone has a T pass anyway and hide somewhere for the rest of the ride.
Today being Wednesday, I got on at Salem. For once, the 7:29 express had come on time so a lot of people had missed it and there were a lot of people. So we all tried to cram onto the 7:34, politely asking people if we could squuuuuueeeeeze into the seat next to them. I actually got a seat and sat down, wallet in hand, waiting for the conductor. I could here the little "click click" sound of the ticket punch about 12 rows back. Then the train made it's stop at Swampscott and everything went to hell. People crowded on, resigned to standing for the rest of the ride, except for one woman. Wearing blue nurse's scrubs, she plowed through the people entering my car, complaining to everyone that the AC wasn't on in the next car and now there were no seats and it was FRIGGIN' RIDICULOUS. She took her position about 3 rows in back of me and kept bitching. The conductor asked her for her ticket and she says: "WHY THE HELL SHOULD I PAY? THERE'S NO AC, NO SEAT AND IT'S LIKE THIS EVERYDAY! WHO CAN I COMPLAIN TO?"
I think at this point I would have suggested to her that she go on the MBTA's website and register a complaint. I've heard other conductors tell passengers to do it when the train is running its usual 5 minutes behind schedule. Instead, this guy started telling her that it says somewhere that buying a ticket doesn't entitle you to a seat. Things went back and forth until the conductor started screaming at the woman to not touch him. At this point people started to actually turn around to see what was going on. The woman, playing to the entire car now, yelled even louder, "WHO CAN I COMPLAIN TO??" "LADY, YOU CAN COMPLAIN TO THE LYNN POLICE!" he yelled back. By now the train was at Lynn station and the woman was hustled off the train Gestapo-style, leaving the rest of us to gossip freely about her.
But the best part is, the conductor was so freaked out at a passenger actually refusing to pay for late, crowded, uncomfortable service that he didn't continue to go through the car and I got a free ride AGAIN!
So it was a good morning.

MBTA HACK