Sometimes I take post racing treats too far...

Shelburne Farm - Stowe, MA  
http://www.shelburnefarm.com/

              All week I've been battling with myself about this 6k we were having on Saturday morning. I was trying to eat the right things, drink enough water, take multivitamins in addition to my normal butt kicking at RBC. One thing that was helping me get through the week was knowing Saturday also meant cider and donuts. Emily planned a trip for the HPG women to go to Shelburne Farms in Stow, MA. Supposedly it was 20 miles inland, but I had no idea where we were going. It turned about to be a really cute farm with a bunch of stuff for kids to do and rows and rows of apples. I think it may have been the first you-pick orchard I had been to, so that aspect was pretty cool. We picked a bunch of apples including Empire, McIntosh, Fuji, Macoun and Cortland. I'd say around half of the apples I picked didn't make it to the bag... because my mouth got in the way every time. Odd. I think my favorite were the Macouns. Anyway, considering this blog sticks to kitchens, I must say that the cider donuts here were probably some of the best I've had. They were different. I'm not sure how they incorporate the cider part into the donut (in the batter?) but however they do it works. These were freshly fried, covered in cinnamon and sugar and handed to you in a super hot bag. Maybe that's why they were so good. They were perfectly warm and fluffy. I ate 3. I also got a granola raisin cookie. It was awesome. It was more chewy than cookies I normally make, but I'd like to try making something like that one day.

Boca Grande Taqueria - Brighton, MA
http://bocagrande.ypguides.net/

     Dave keeps raving about the tamales at this place on Washington. There's always people in there, so as my second reward for the 6k, I wanted a big, fat, stupid burrito full of rice and meat. I knew I had to try a tamale... at some point... but the lack of anything fried in my diet for the past couple weeks needed to end today too. I already had second dinner plans. So I just went with the normal size burrito. They had so many different kinds of meat you could choose from including Pineapple chicken, carnitas, chorizo, grilled stead, etc. Chorizo always seems to intrigue me. It was in those stuffed quahog clams my mom and I got at the Barking Crab that one time. It was great. I love the spicyness. Not too much. Yet, I still don't really know what it is. Sausage? Pork sausage? What spices give it that flavor? What processes does it go through? One day I'll remember to look it up. Either way, the chorizo they put on this burrito was....not soupy... but not like chunky of chicken. It was kind of in a thick stew form with chunks in it. I was confused but not concerned. It was still probably going to be good. It was. It gave the burrito such a good flavor as the juice ran through out, soaking into the rice and such. I had the man add lettuce, a tomato herb salsa, rice, and beans. It was simple, but just what I wanted. Such density wrapped up in a steamy tortilla... mmm! Once the brick was securely in my gut, I moved on to location #2.

The Proper Slice - Brighton, MA

        Recognized by their unique logo and black pizza boxes, The Proper Slice was always happening every evening. Malcom had gotten a chicken pesto pizza from there once before but I only tried a tiny tiny piece. I needed to experience it on my own with more substance at some point. This wasn't the time though. On my way to the Boca Grande I checked out their menu and they had fresh cut french fries tossed in sea salt for $4.  I ordered them to go so I could eat them with my organic ketchup. I opened the box at my kitchen table and the steam rolled out. I was pumped. This was happening. They were amazing. Generally I think my favorite french fry type is crispy on the outside but fluffy on the inside. But then I have fries like these and get confused again. Some were crispy, but some were.... not. Yet still awesome. A lot of them had browned giving them that burnt flavor, similar to burnt cheez-its minus the cheese (I love the burnt ones). One thing I liked about these were that they were real. They really did freshly cut them. They had fried this whole batch just for me and it had to be 5 potatoes worth. I had to force myself to stop. They tasted like potatoes... not like fries. Does that make sense? It's kind of how the watermelon flavored candy doesn't really taste like real watermelon. Sometimes fries don't actually taste like potatoes. They taste like fries. Weird I know. But some part of the flavor of these brought me back in an instant to the broasted potatoes from The Chicken King in Pontiac, MI. My dad and I used to go there all the time in my middle school years. It was our place and the broasted potatoes were our favorite. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a little sentimental while eating these fries because the flavor took me back to a different time.
         Malcom said he was going to have salad for dinner, but I heard him ordering pizza from his room. Sneaky. He told me I had to have some. He had ordered the one pizza I was drooling over while reading the menu and waiting for my fries earlier. It was bacon and potato with a garlic oil base, shredded sharp cheddar cheese with bacon, red bliss potato scallions and a sour cream drizzle. This wasn't pizza. It was art I tell you. First of all, the crust was phenomenal. It was on the thin side but not soggy at all like some other thin crust pizzas come. It was crispy and almost crumbly. No not crumbly, just perfectly crispy. I want to say it was airy, like a sponge but that's probably completely wrong too. Anyhow, it was perfect and mind boggling at the same time. Then the bacon. This wasn't the generic crumbly/itty bitty chunks of bacon you get normally on pizza. This bacon was cut into CHUNKS. Nice size chunks. It made biting off a piece with bacon on it so much more enjoyable because you had to chew it longer. Had more time to enjoy the flavors of the bacon. It seemed like quality bacon too. Not very greasy or fatty. Mostly meat. I had noticed while in the restaurant how they seemed to use a lot of quality oils and seasonings and such. You didn't see the milky white plastic containers full of mysterious yellow goo that most pizza places use. It made me proud to be supporting these people. The entire pizza was also covered with slices of the red bliss potatoes. They were done just right and made the pizza twice as filling. The scallions added a refreshing freshness to the pizza and the sour cream brought it all together. It seems to do that a lot. Or maybe when it just comes to bacon potato pizza and burritos. Maybe the crust was a little crumbly. Ugh... I can't figure out how to describe it. Needless to say, I was very excited and appreciative that Malcom made me eat some of his pizza because I had been dreaming about getting pizza there since we moved in.