Stephanie B.'s Profile

Yes! Happy, friendly Thai yummies right down the street from me! I had the deliciously fattening lemon chicken (so lemony and good), tom yum fried rice (can't even tell you how fab this was), and the requisite Thai iced tea. Easy to find on 1A, just up from the beach and totally on my way home from work. Oh, I'm sure we'll meet again, my little Thai Cafe.

2nd largest city park in the Boston area with 2200 acres of trails and history, and Lynn Woods totally rocks. Easy to find, even for the directionally inept like me, with a big sign pointing out the Great Woods entrance off the main drag in this coastal city. Yeah, it could be funded better, with maps and trail blazes, but the map is downloadable on line and the hikes and the views kick ass. Have been here several times and still haven't seen all the trails. This place gets plenty of traffic all year round. Bring your friendly beasts, cuz there are lots and lots of dogs here, but please pick up after them ok? Anything else would just be rude.

Wow, what a great resource and so close to home! Popular year round and for good reason. You can hike to your ability and motivation, with the vigorous Skyline Trail (blue dots mark the trail!) affording simply amazing views. Yesterday a hiking buddy and I climbed Buck Hill in a snow squall, with our Stabilicers of course, and just as we got to the top the snow cleared and allowed a wonderful view of Boston, all lit up in the sunshine just like the Emerald City. With fishing and biking in the summer, and snowshoeing and XC skiing in the winter, this is just an awesome park. Make sure to grab a map for $2 at the ranger station.

Large seafood Pho = happiness.. and new addict. I understand the obsession now! I get it!

The restaurant itself is great -- friendly service (my waiter helped me out with my order, the manager/host guy explained the pho to me, and even the guy filling my water glass asked how the food was:), the mai tai kicked my ass, and the veggie fried rice was the best I have EVER tasted. We tried the veggie spring roll to start, which had tofu and avocado, spicy basil, and the most delicious peanut sauce. Inhaled!

Sugar Cane, you will get your 5th star when I come back:)

Things I lurved about Masa:
1. the waitress was sassy.. and we lurve us some sassy waitresses
2. the margaritas were strong.. and we lurve us some tequila -- especially spiced up, as in the Tres Chiles Margarita was the best part about dinner
3. can I have some more bread please?
4. the mirror over our table and all the Mexicano decor
5. anything Tex Mex and authentic-y is marvy
6. don't let me forget about the corn chimi app.. yes, oh god, yes.

Things that were disappointing about Masa:
1. our main courses were luke-warmish and not sure why, as the joint was mostly empty on this Christmas Eve Eve night (the night before Xmas Eve), and so was our coffee!!
2. dessert, and I normally lurve me some caramelly sugary banana-y goodness, but the burnt caramel tasted, well, burnt in our bread pudding diablo.

So there you have it. I would recommend Masa and their delightful tequilas and cocktails They were also flexible with the veggie boy in our group.. who had the flautas on the menu, but was offered other options as well. Thx!! Brunch sounds awesome!

Yeah, I was underwhelmed, too. I snagged my best gal pal and hit the road from Salem.. which, believe it or not, took like 1.5 hours -- thanks to the asinine pothole guys on 128. So since we were too late for breakfast, we still got coffee, a cup of their seafood stew (du jour), and then I had the salmon club and she had the bbq chicken quesadilla. The place was nearly empty and they sat us in the back table next to the noisy kitchen. It is cavernous and therefore feels (and sounds) like a cafeteria. We barely saw our waitress. She never asked how our food was. My salmon club was supposed to be on a panini, but instead it came on grilled Portuguese sweet bread, which ordinarily would be ok, but the bread was enormous compared to the little piece of burned salmon, even with the bacon. And it got soggy in about 5 seconds flat. I chose the corn and bean salad, over other side options of cous cous or the ubiquitous pasta salad, and found it terrible. The coffee is just that New England Coffee Co. stuff, nothing special and nothing to write home about. I don't know if they have anything dessert-like, since it was never mentioned. She just tossed down our check while we were mid-sandwich. The seafood stew was not bad, but we were bitterly disappointed otherwise, considering the distance to the end of Cape Ann.

Yay! An Asian restaurant that delivers and has veggie options (tofu:) to choose from! Boo:( Sometimes it takes them so long the food is barely luke warm when it gets to you.

Yay! Sushi! Delivered! Boo.. only average, the kind that's loosely packed and falls apart on your chopsticks.

Have only used their delivery options, and have to say, they are super friendly and manage to find my apartment every time. But their menu can be difficult to decipher, the food only average (seriously, I make better tempura, I really do -- and their veggie fried rice.. ew.), and we are always left wishing there were better Asian options in our neck of the woods.

Wow, loved this place. Visiting Mom in Milwaukee and saw an article in the paper about some funky artwork showing here, so motored over to check it out. Holy Moly, is this place awesome. Rivals only a funky place we stayed at in Montreal -- and really hoping to stay here next time we visit. It's in an awesome location, right near the Third Ward and not far from the river and the lake. We were happy to find this beautiful hotel to be completely accessible, so were able to park right out front, and ramp it up, and all the way through the gorgeous library, where the majority of the art was, and into the really cute bar. Everyone was so friendly, from the doorman, to the front desk staff, and especially our waiter. He told us all about the history of the joint and seemed to really enjoy himself. Excellent menu, and we had to try the DLT (duck confit with bacon and lettuce and tomato.. OMG it was so amazing), some truffle/parmesan chips, and the chef totally accommodated the veg BF. The drink/wine/beer menu is also super extensive -- I had a Door County Old Fashioned and it was really quite good (and I consider myself kind of an OF expert;). We noticed they have covered parking for motorcycles, too, which is handy for bikers, that's for sure. Man, what a cool spot.

This truly is a Micro Spa! I first went here when Mom got me a massage for my birthday a couple of years ago, and it was so memorable! Gaia is a tiny little hole in the wall in tiny "downtown" Greendale, but with big city service and a great decorator. So since I'm home for the holiday, I decided to try them for a new hairdo.. and they did not disappoint. Able to get me in on Friday morning, served me hot coffee when I walked in, and gave me a friendly stylist, which I love. All the Aveda products are here. On my walk back to Mom's, I snagged some fresh kringle and crullers at the nearby bakery, too. Could not ask for more!

Thanks, Megan! Still looking good;)

Totally funky and super cool location and the food and bevs are great! I had some luscious potato all day burrito thingie, so hot and soooo good, and served with fresh grapes and pineapple! Yum! The peeps who work here have great energy, and although a little crowded (not sure how we'd ever get my Mom and her wheelchair in here), the set up really works. Can't wait to come back in the summer -- love that they have Memorial Union Terrace chairs here:) I wanted to do more shopping, and they did suck me into some mint African-origin cocoa.. next time, Alterra, more stuff!

Note: I had to go back and bump this up to 5 stars. I mean, what was I thinking with 4? The green promotion, the walk over to the lake.. even on a cold Wisconsin day in November, this was a great coffee shop stop. Thanks, Alterra. And BTW, the coffee rocks.