Scholars Bistro in Boston has good food and service

At least that was my experience on Saturday evening with a bunch of friends. Scholars American Bistro and Cocktail Lounge just recently opened at 25 School St. in Boston near the Park Street T stop. Their wine is a little pricey (you can’t get a glass for less than $7), but I suppose that’s often the case in downtown Boston.

They have some unusual items on their menu, which I appreciated. Those dishes include rabbit fritters, braised beef tongue sliders, lasagna cupcakes, apple cider pork belly, and prosciutto pizza. I didn’t have the biggest appetite, so I just went with the mussels appetizer.

My mussels

From my experience, it’s kinda hard to screw mussels up. But the smoked salt, tarragon, and roasted tomato sauce made the meal tastier than your average mussels plate. Plus, they provide plenty of bread to dip in the sauce. My fiance had Tuscan flatbread pizza, which included sun-dried tomato, pesto, goat cheese, and red sauce.

My fiance's Tuscan flatbread pizza

He was quite a fan. Another friend of ours, who adores hummus, ordered the Za’atar flatbread pizza. That one’s made up of pine nuts, goats cheese, hummus, and labneh (Middle Eastern yogurt cheese). For an appetizer, another friend ordered some raw oysters. She let me have one, which is always a ton of fun.

Me slurping down the oyster

While staff didn’t seem 100 percent sure of the menu (that’s understandable as the restaurant just opened), they were nonetheless attentive. At one point, there were three waitresses serving us drinks and asking how things were going. When we first arrived (around 6 p.m.), we were practically the only diners in the whole place. But around 8 p.m. or so, things started picking up.

I think this would be a neat place to go for an after-dinner drink or two. Upstairs there’s a billiards room, comfy chairs, and dim lighting. It’s the perfect environment for enjoying one of their many creative cocktails. Beer fans will be glad to know they have 15-plus brews on tap. I will surely return to this awesome restaurant/bistro/lounge!

This chopstick company could use a copy editor

While out at the new Scholars Bistro in Boston last night, we noticed this funny language:

Spring has sprung

At least it was here on Thursday and Friday. I took advantage of the nice weather by walking around my neighborhood. Here’s some of what I saw:

Snow melting

Dirty snow

A bike path with no ice or slush

Crews working on this new residential building

High snowbanks

Clear sidewalks

The sun

Trash that had been hiding beneath snowbanks

During my outing, I had a delightful feta avocado salad at the Joshua Tree in Davis Square. In addition to marinated feta cheese and ripe avocado, it had toasted pistachios, mixed greens, white beans, and citrus vinaigrette.

And later in the day I got a surprise from my fiancee!

Tulips are my favorite flower.

This weekend I also picked up my engagement ring from Shreve, Crump & Low in the Back Bay.

They had resized my ring and made a new setting. Here it is now:

I’m a lucky girl

Most days I work from home, but once a week I go into the office. The office is in between Boston’s Downtown Crossing and South Station T-stops. As I was leaving work the other day, I realized how lucky I am to have such a nice walk to the T-stop. Here are a few of the sights I pass by:

A nice day in Boston

I just got a new camera so I thought I’d post some of its first pictures. Today I went to Beacon Hill to have breakfast at Cafe Vanille.

My boyfriend spotted the bakery’s croissants a few weeks ago and said they looked delicious. So he brought me along to try them. The cafe was so crowded we had to eat outside. I got a regular croissant and coffee and he got a chocolate croissant and iced latte:

Everything was amazing. The croissants were crispy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. Usually I have to dunk my croissants in coffee for them to taste delicious but with these there was no need for that. When we were done we gave our crumbs to all the birds eying our breakfast. This is them having a feast:

Here are a few other pics I took today:

Boston Common park

George Washington statue

Galleria Florentia on Newbury Street putting up holiday lights

John Hancock Tower

Trinity Church

Outside The Shops at the Prudential Center

For lunch I ordered a McGreevy’s Cuban at McGreevy’s pub on Boylston Street. My roasted pork, ham, turkey, Swiss cheese, pickles, and chipotle mayonnaise were supposed to come in a baguette but they did not:

That was disappointing. When a girl wants a baguette she wants a baguette!

A fun-filled Saturday

On Saturday I visited the New England Aquarium, took a Boston Harbor Sunset Cruise, and made a stop at the Boston Sail Loft, a nautical-themed bar on the water.

What a great medley of water-themed activities! I had never done any of these things before. Here are a few pics I took during the day:

Psyched for the day

This funny scarecrow is on the way to the Davis Square T stop.

The penguins were fun to watch, especially the little ones who fall onto their stomachs while landing from a jump.

Loved this fish

One of two sharks in the aquarium's biggest tank

I liked this sea lion room. What a great view of the sea lion pool and Boston Harbor in the distance.

The start of the sunset cruise

View of Boston from the ship

At sunset we saw crews fire a cannon off the USS Constitution.

Boston at night

The Boston Sail Loft had free Oreos at the bar! What a creative touch!

Love this hockey statue

I’m not a hockey fan, but I love this statue in front of TD Garden in downtown Boston:

It is made of bronze, and depicts Bobby Orr’s Stanley Cup-winning goal in 1970 (he played for the Boston Bruins). Apparently the statue was just unveiled a couple of months ago.

I just love the action that it portrays!!!

Fenway Park was drenched Saturday

The Futures at Fenway games were rained out. Check out some pictures from Fenway Park’s concourse:

Check out this video of water gushing into the concourse:

And a picture of some of the minor league players (from the Salem Red Sox and Potomac Nationals) waiting out the rain:

And this cool picture of fog between the Prudential Center and the John Hancock Tower:

Copley Square in Boston is a fun place to people watch

You sit in front of the Boston Public Library…

…and then you watch the people as they pass. Call me a stalker, but here are some people I captured on film (or should I say digital memory card):

Pretty Boston

I had a nice walk along the Charles River the other day. Most of my pics came out blurry because my camera has not been cooperating. Here are some of the better ones: