aroraborealis

Yesterday, I developed a sudden strong hankering for oysters. This is a little unusual, because I usually get hit with those when the weather's warmer, but, ok! I mean, oysters!

So, I dragged uberjay to Russel House Tavern, where we had awesome drinks and EXCELLENT oysters, including the mild in flavor but perfectly meaty tender Ichabods and the Island Creek and Pleasant Bay were both brinier and delicious. We would happily have eaten more Cape Codders, but they were our least favorite, so after the first round, we focused on the others.

How much can I not wait for summer and oysters and cocktails on a patio? Any patio will do, really, but I have some in mind.

Last night, my four (4) three-liter (3L) cocktail aging barrels arrived. Hooray!

Except, uhm, this means that I need 12L of spirits to start using them. If your typical bottle holds 750mL, this means I need 16 bottles, assuming I use the full contents of each. So, uh, I guess I'm investing in booze this weekend.

[Poll #1893020]

Are there particular flavors you look for in the description of coffees to try?

Paging cuthalion: Hash Brown Waffles

What is the best gummy candy shape?

1. What is the most boring food?

2. What is the most boring food you enjoy?

Where in the Boston area makes the best donuts?

Boston-area peeps:

Do any of you have a food dehydrator that moominmolly and I can borrow for a week or so sometime in the next month?

When you were little, did you like to put black olives and/or raspberries on your fingers like bizarre press-on nails and then eat them one by one?

Now that you're older and have grotesquely overgrown fingers, olives and raspberries don't really work as well. What do you use instead of olives and raspberries?

Cold weather has returned, and with it, the hot chocolate project!

First, a repeat: Cafe Zing in Porter Square. I really want this hot chocolate to be awesome, but it's merely okay. I had the spicy "Aztec" hot chocolate, and while I liked the level of sweetness, I found it lacking in chocolateyness and I wanted it to be spicier, and clearer in flavor. Overall: B-

Second, a new highlight!: Blue Tierra Chocolate Cafe in South Boston. This was my first time visiting here; until Saturday, I didn't even know this place existed! The hot chocolate was great: it was rich, chocolatey, with a pleasantly full-bodied mouthfeel, and a nice balance of sweetness and complexity. This gets a solid A.

Blue Tierra is a full-on chocolate shop, so in addition to a hot chocolate, I had a caramel-filled pyramid, which I found delicious. On the other hand, the default was to serve the hot chocolate in a paper cup, even though we ordered in. They did make it in a (very lovely porcelain) teacup for me on request, but not so with eestiplika's chocolate tea, which they would only serve in a paper cup. Also, the chocolate-enrobed cinnamon marshmallow she ordered was disappointing. I'd like to go back there and try other stuff here to see if it's all so hit-or-miss, but, of course, it's a bit out of the way, so it'll probably be a while before I get back there.