In her book Eat Pray Love (of which I only read the "eat" part), Elizabeth Gilbert talks about slowing down, so much so that you gain ridiculous, wonderful pleasure in small things. "The amount of pleasure this eating and speaking brought to me," she writes (in the Italy section), "was inestimable, and yet so simple." She forgets about her body image for a while, allowing her body to say, "Eat for today, we'll re-evaluate later."
Last week, I put aside my calorie-counting and slowed down at tables across New England.
Most of our food was of the sea variety, being so near the Atlantic. In Rhode Island I tried a clam sandwich for the first time, as well as jambalaya (which I love anyway) with oysters (which made it a fabillion times better). My first experience ever with fresh lobster was at a little lobster shack just over the border in Kittery, Maine. Simple things along the way: pizza at Mystic Seaport, hotdogs at Long Wharf in Boston, several Philly cheesesteak sandwiches (a personal vice), a reuben at an Irish pub in New Hampshire (another vice, sans the saurkraut), one night all we wanted was a milkshake, another night we stuck to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our hotel.
And of course, one can't venture to New England without getting several bowls of legit, creamy, un-canned clam chowder.
My favorite place, though: definitely the North End. Otherwise known as "Little Italy."
Just a jaunt over from the Old North Church is Hanover Street, the first place that I've ever smelled the transition from Chinese to garlic. Naturally there are tons of Italian restaurants throughout the North End, but we chose a place called Strega on Hanover. I had chicken covered in cheese, prosciutto, and a sauce that made my brain shut down. And if you ever travel to Boston, don't you dare leave without going to Mike's Pastry and getting a canoli. If you don't know what a canoli is (you should watch "Cake Boss" more often), it's basically a hard dough shell filled with cream or ricotta cheese (sounds nasty, it's not), and depending on what kind you order, a type of flavoring. We went there twice, and I got a florentine (the shell is made with honey) and a hazelnut (the cream is flavored with hazelnut and the ends are covered in grated coconut).
I read a quote in a book once: "The chocolate mousse made me happy to be alive." In Boston, the canoli made me happy to be alive.
Since I'm home I'm paying for my indulgence now, but it was vacation. It was New England. And it was awesome.
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