Free Access to Selected Journals in Physics - SpringerLink

Some good physics reading materials available online for free until November 30th. I hope a few people out there can enjoy it as much as I do.


Gracie.

Free Access To Selected Journals in Physics

Boston: The Chart House

Chart House is located in Boston’s Financial District by the Harbor. It’s interior felt colonial although with a very classy touch of chandeliers and the likes. The wait staff were fine, although I did have a hard time understanding her. It would have been nice had she answered our questions directly when we inquired about the soup being a part of the entrée or a separate order. She skimmed over it with giving the day’s selection and made no mention of it being a separate order.

We had dinner with my Friends who were visiting from NY: Chris, Courtney and Dan (L-R). I wish I had a better picture of them, this picture isn’t too clear.


As I had mentioned earlier about the soup, it was the first thing served. The Lobster Bisque was served in this adorable petite kettle/cobbler. According to the description given on the menu, it was laced with sherry which may have been the reason why it was so delicious that I had nothing short of greatness about it from the three.


Chris and Courtney split the Miso Glazed Salmon which they raved about it for the entrée. The salmon was wrapped in prosciutto with miso maple glaze, finished with a mango and balsamic glaze drizzle, served with lemon shallot butter and Asian green beans.


I’m pretty sure that it tasted quite heavenly from this picture alone. Is anyone else surprised that the salmon doesn’t have pink color like what I had imagine all salmon meat to look like when cooked?

They also split the salmon with a cold appetizer of Crab, Avocado and Mango Stack. The crab meat were tossed in remoulade and layered with avocado and mango.


I’m not sure what’s the stuff on top is. The consensus I got from the both of them was that this was certainly delicious. Though, on a random side note, I thought it was interesting that Courtney at the stack in tack while Chris broke the stack down and mixed everything together. Difference between men and women?

Dan got (what I thought was) the Mixed Seafood Grill, which was suppose to come with bronzed mahi, shrimp scampi and a jumbo lump crab cake, served with fried rice. But that’s clearly not what’s picture below… at least I don’t think so. Not sure where the fried rice is!


I believed he thought it was okay, not as tasty as the restaurant we had tried the night before. Dan sat a bit further away from me and we were both primarily focused on eating our food.

I had another cold appetizer served as an entrée. I got the East Meets West, which was a variation on the seared tuna I had at the McCormick and Schmick restaurant and it was paired with a tuna tartare.


The zesty tartare was drizzled with Wasabi cream mixed with finely diced tomatoes and basil. It had a bizarrely good reminiscent of a bruschetta mixed and worked amazingly well together. I thought the tartare was out of this world delicious and didn’t think the seared tuna could be nearly as good. My my, was I wrong. The seared pepper tuna and avocado with the kimchee slaw was mind blowing. I literally cannot stop my self from eating and eating. I personally do not like avocado or slaw but this dish has changed me. It was by far the best tuna dish I’ve ever touched, and that kimchee slaw is burned within my memories. I wasn’t sure what to do with the plantain chips, but they were a nice crunch after I had finished savoring every tiny little bit of that dish.
 
The Boyfriend’s meal which was a simple Grilled Chicken with Mash Potato, which came a bit too meager with just a thin piece of grilled chicken. It wasn’t very filling to look at or after eaten.


The mash potato wasn’t the best and the asparagus was chewy. I was peeved that they added something extra to his dish, asparagus, despite him telling that due to allergies, he just want grilled chicken and mash potatoes.

Overall, I think the Chart House was decently good. Service was okay and they had some hits and misses. I still would recommend this place to other people when they’re visiting Boston and is around the New England Aquarium. It’s a nice short walk over for the dinner.

Graice

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Information:
Chart House Boston
60 Long Wharf
Boston, MA 02110-3602
Phone: (617) 227-1576
Fax: (617) 227-5658

Best Burger of My Life thus Far.

I just had the most incredible burger of my life….
I think what made it this incredible are the condiments:

• Jalapenos peppers
• Hot sauce
• Onions
• Lettuce
• Pickles
• Ketchup
• Cheese.

The tartness of the pickles and jalapenos lends itself to the onions which reduces the bitterness down to mild. The combination combine with the spiciness of the hot sauce and peppers is out of this world delicious. It’s not too spicy because the cheese tame down the flames. My only regret was that I didn’t get a whole burger. I would take a picture except before I got to my camera, it was gone. =(

I’m going to try to make it this weekend.

Nom nom nom….

Time to throw in Jillian’s 30-Days shed. Gotta be able to walk to more goodness!

P.S. Does anyone else have a mild addiction to Jalapenos peppers? I’ve gone out of my way to cater my meals around it. I’ve made pizza and got burgers just so I can pop them into my mouth without feeling like a crack addict!

November: Happy 75th Birthday to Schrodinger’s Cat

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

 

If you’re interested in reading about one of physics’ most famous pet: Click Here

Enjoy,

Gracie

Ann Taylor Loft Flats!

So I went to Barnes and Nobles to do work because I couldn’t concentrate. Instead of actually getting much work done as I had hoped, I spend time pondering on these flats I found at the Loft. There’s also the extra 30% off on sales items going on at Ann Taylor Loft… which only means they’re more affordable!

This is the Fran Brooch Metallic Snakeskin Flats. I don’t really like the front because I don’t particularly like how the toe box is slightly rounded and appears more vintage pointy like. I like my pointy shoes to actually have a bit more definition as it comes into a point.

Photo taken from Ann Taylor Loft.

I think I prefer the ballet flats below a bit more, because it’s suede and round toed. I also like the feather design. However, I just feel as if they’re slightly boring and typical because I have so many pairs of round toed ballet flats.

Photo taken from Ann Taylor Loft.

They’re both in size 6! I haven’t gotten the chance to try them on, because I was rushing to meet the Boyfriend. I’ll probably go back tomorrow to see if they’re still there, although I’m not even sure if I should get them! It’s going to be winter soon and I most likely will need boots more than flats.

sigh…I love shoes.
Thoughts and opinions?

Mccormick and Schmick– delightfully delicious

My friends and I went to McCormick and Schmick following the disaster at Durgin Park. It was quite a contrast, as we walked in, ushered to our table which located downstairs right by the seafood bar. The wait staff were incredibly quick and personable. Courtney got her jokes on and we all enjoyed much laughter conversing with the waiter and amongst ourselves. 
Having been filled from Durgin Park’s appetizers, I opted out of the raw oysters. I have never tried them and debated on perhaps trying some in the future. Courtney and Chris (also her Fiancée) educated us about oysters and the specialties lying in the lacquer. It was interesting, and perhaps I’ll start a series on discussing foods in the future.



I believe that’s ketchup and horseradish that they stirred together to make cocktail saw. Another interesting tidbit I learned during that dinner.
For dinner, I actually took an appetizer as an entrée. I had the Yellowfin Tuna Seared Rare with Ginger, Wasabi and Soy Sauce. I had actually expected something slightly different, but this was still incredible. I especially love the salad, which is a modified version of a seaweed salad. The soy sauce was a bit heavy on the salty side, but the tuna more than made up for it. I actually didn’t care much for the ginger or wasabi and soy sauce. I felt that the seaweed salad with its spicy note  worked really well with the tuna.
The salad consisted of chunky cut cucumbers, refreshing balance with the spicy note, and stripped of small seaweed and red onions were tossed with a soy sauce sesame oil vinaigrette added with chili flakes.



Delicious is an understatement. I even had the red onions, and that’s a rare thing for me because I hate raw onions. I was stuffed like a turkey and passed on the deserts. However, I did have to take a picture of the baked caramel apple Chris and Courtney shared. It was too gorgeous to pass up, and the word is that it was as delicious as it looks.

  

The Boyfriend loved his Crème Brulee.  So much that we’ve decided this will be the designated celebratory restaurant for special occasions. I’ll probably treat him to here after his midterms. I know he’s been stressing over the Algorithms class and what not.
Just for perks… check this picture out. I have no idea who he is, but as I was taking the picture, he continued to stand there almost posing. LOL




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Information:
McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant
1 Faneuil Hall Market Pl
North Market Building
Boston,MA 02109
Restaurant: 617.720.5522

Durgin Park - Boston's Historical Landmark Fails quite Miserably

Durgin Park prides itself in being established before you're born... 

Durgin Park is the first of a few restaurants we tried in Boston's historical district of Quincy Market. It's conveniently located across from Faneuil Hall, the actual Hall, where streets are cobblestones and lights hanging from trees. Very very aesthetic. Durgin Park is had been a landmark of the Downtown Boston since the 1800's, however, reviews for the restaurants has progressively gotten worse and worse each new century.

The night started out promising, because I heard a couple of older gentlemen walking out with nothing but praise for this place. We enter, and I see gigantic chunks of meet by a window, and a sign at the bottom of the stairwell that asks you to wait to be seated. The host called us up the stairs to be seated, and I found the place to be lovely and quite endearing. The kitchen located in the center and was open to the entire restaurant. This may have been a spiraling down fall at this point.

Courtney, before the near two hours wait. You can see the open kitchen behind her.

As we sat down, our waitress threw us our settings and napkins so that we settle ourselves... which is fine had she been a bit nice with a pleasant smile instead of a grump face. Then came the possibly best part of this fiasco, the cornbread with a mild nudge from the waitress to my friend to get his attention. She didn't quite distribute it, more so handed to us as we pass the bread along.

 Not gonna lie, I devoured the cornbread like no tomorrow. I even had the Boyfriend's servings. It was delicious... but I'm going to attribute that to the fact that I was just plain hungry.

The cornbread was followed by our appetizers, baked potato skins and friend calamari. The potato skins were interesting; I didn't like it. I thought the onion overpowered everything from the cheese (non-existent maybe?) to the tomatoes. It was actually tough and a bit leathery as well. The fried calamari was undercooked and came a marinara sauce as well a slightly spicy cheesier sauce. It also came with this surprise that none of us tried...

Almost an hour after the appetizers.... we're left with an empty table and no water. The waitress by this point has done everything from yelling at other waitresses and lifting her skirt up for the world to see, but she conveniently forgotten about the "just a minute" wait on the entrees... or the salad or everything. Our patience depleted by now, fed up with the staff, not because we're expecting to be catered to... but just hungry... and the fact that now we see the wait staff manhandling other people's food with their hands, cleaned, I'm not even sure.

I can only envision what they've touched and now is touching our potential food; the  Boyfriend's allergies... we joked that by the end of the night if he doesn't fall over from some allergic reaction, we should count graces.

Anyhow, we called the Manager, told him we've been waiting for almost two hours and still is salad-less much less our now supposed entrees. Manager inquired about the salad, asking what kind only to signal to us from the kitchen (after a brief discussion with his wait staff) that the appetizers and drinks were on him.The alcoholic beverages were clearly made for the lightweight... much like grape fruit juice and fruit punches for children then adults.

All in all, what I can only say about this place is non-existence because we got no food; what we did get was much below par for a restaurant. Which leads me to think that the Boy they're talking about in the poem in the back of the menu was a foreshadow that despite being long established before our birth, Durgin Park is still a boy, and is asking to be forgiven...

P.S. I later read in reviews that the wait staff is purposely snippy to customers as a joke... that you pay for great food not great service... ironic Durgin failed on both front. Wait staff weren't snippy rude, they weren't there and food was nothing beyond edible... clearly if we had to pay, we were paying for manhandled, self-served leathery chews.

Frommer's Three Stars for this place should be highly questioned.

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Information:

Durgin-Park
340 Faneuil Hall Marketplace
Boston, MA 02109
Webstite: Durgin-Park

Any Recommendations?

The Boyfriend and I are taking some friends to the Italian District in Boston for dinner, but we don't have a restaurant in mind. Does anyone have a recommendation for us?

On another note, I promise to be back with some updates on life, food and maybe fashion.

Gracie.