Farmers' Market Flowers

I'm hurrying across the bricks of City Hall Plaza. I'm late for a meeting down by Science Park.

And then I get really, really distracted and I'm another 10 minutes late, because I have to stop. The City Hall Plaza Market, organized by the Boston Public Market Association, is so gorgeous. You would stop too.

Piles of When Pigs Fly bread stacked up high, green beans, yellow squash, and, at the Noquochoke Orchards stand, vibrant flowers in blue ceramic jugs.

I buy three flowers -- all of them pink -- for three dollars and I ask if I can take a photo. The lady behind the table -- short with a great, big smile and grey hair -- says, "Sure, whatever turns you on!"

By this point, I've totally forgotten about my meeting.

Sugary Sugar: a Cupcake from the Kickass Cupcakes Truck

Cupcakes have come to Boston in a major way (only a few years behind New York…). There’s Sweet, Isabelle’s Curly Cupcakes, and many others. And then there are cupcakes on the go. When I passed the Kickass Cupcakes truck outside the Boston Public Library on Friday, I started thinking about cupcakes.

Why do I like cupcakes? They're pretty. They're whimsical. And there are so many different elements: you've got the cupcake, and the icing, and then there might be sprinkles or something sweet inside. I don't remember my mom making too many cupcakes (she's a brownie, cookie, lemon tart kind of mom... the best kind of mom!), but I still feel like a little kid when I have a cupcake. 

I woke up Saturday still thinking about cupcakes (this happens pretty often). 

Later that day, I was on the Greenway and I could have looked for the Cupcake Cart. But I’ve read that the cart carries only two flavors – chocolate and vanilla – and, ever since I made the chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes, I’ve been into filled cupcakes. I guess they’re called filled. Or stuffed? All I know is I really like cupcakes with something at the center.

According to Kickass’ Twitter feed, the truck had moved from Kenmore to Back Bay. I get off the T at Copley and find the truck parked on Clarendon between Newbury and Boylston, just as advertised. (I stop to take a photo of the "Come N Get Em" sign and a big, burly guy goes, "I like it!")

I have a hard time deciding. There’s the cappuccino, and the mochiatto, and the crème brulee…. Or I could just get a side of frosting for $1 (yowza). I stick to my game plan and order the cookie dough cupcake for $3.

It’s cute. So cute. Just look at that blob of icing!

I take a quick bite and it’s like being hit in the face with sugar. I’m trying to walk and eat and carry my bags of produce from Haymarket ($7.25 for a pint of raspberries, a pint of cherry tomatoes, an avocado, a pineapple, one squash, and a half pound of cherries) and it’s not working. I decide I need to sit down and make a serious study of the cupcake.

It’s a vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream, glistening in the heat, and a little bit of cookie dough tucked under the frosting. It is unbelievably sugary. And, to be honest, I’m a little disappointed.

For all of the hype, the cupcake tastes like… well… every other vanilla cupcake. I do like the cookie dough, but there’s not that much of it. And the truck staffers looked totally demoralized… maybe it was the heat? Maybe they don’t like cupcakes? Sad. 

There are a few redeeming qualities: The cookie dough cupcake is super cute, it’s from a local business, and it’s from a food truck. Food trucks are so damn cool (and I’m glad Boston now has its own fair share). I love Clover Food Lab, and I’d like to try the Dining Car (best name ever) and Staff Meal.

When a food truck gets it right, it’s exciting and fun and you feel like you spent your money on something interesting and, in many cases, organic. But, in this case, I walked away with a too sweet taste in my mouth, wondering whether I ordered the wrong cupcake... or went to the wrong truck. 

* For more on food trucks in Boston, check out the list of food carts on the Greenway.

* And I have to ask: What are your favorite food trucks in Boston? 

A Walk, a Snack, Dinner, and a Movie

I find A on a bench in front of City Hall. Right away, I ask if we can check out the fruit and vegetable stands at Haymarket.

The prices are always good. But it’s about 4:30, near the end of the day, so the prices are dropping even more. The vendors are yelling and the shoppers are shoving. I keep turning to A – “It’s one dollar! One dollar! Do you know how much it is at Shaw’s? Three dollars!”

I buy three bags of baby carrots for $1, a pint of blueberries for $1, and a pint of cherry tomatoes for – you guessed it – $1. I sling the heavy plastic bag over my shoulder and we walk towards the North End.

We’ve had this day planned for weeks: an afternoon walk through the North End followed by dinner.

We head up busy Hanover Street and we use a smaller side street – I don’t remember the name – to move away from the crowds. The line outside Mike's Pastry is already epic.

Our walk is circuitous: a few stops in little boutiques, a few minutes in the Old North Church. I get hungry and I realize I’ve got snacks. I rip open a 33 cent bag of carrots and, eating carrots, we lope around the perimeter of Copp’s Hill Burying Ground and move towards the water.

  

Do you ever forget that Boston is on the water? I don’t mean the Charles. Or the Mystic. I mean the sea. The expanse of blue water reminds me that we’re not so far from the ocean.

But it’s hot along the water, with little shade, so we cut back across the North End. At times, we’re on Commercial Street; at others, we’re on Prince, Salem, Hanover, in alleys and tiny streets. I can’t tell you our route. Because I can't possibly remember it. 

It’s time for dinner. We split a spinach salad, gnocchi with tomato sauce, and saltimbocca di pollo at Antico Forno. 

We forgo dessert because we’ve got other plans. Mike’s. Of course. The line is still long and we decide to make things more complicated: We give ourselves a deadline. There’s a 8:15 showing of Bad Teacher at the Lowes near the Common. We’ve got to get two chocolate-chip cannoli and be on the T by 8.

We do it. We get inside, we push our way to the counter, and A, like a good New Yorker, flags down a woman behind the counter. 

With the cannoli and my plastic bag of produce (the corners of the plastic blueberry box are now cutting through the bag and stabbing me), we hustle across the Greenway to the T, stand impatiently on the Green Line until the train pulls into the Boylston stop, and then sprint across Tremont to the movie theater.

We don’t relax until we’re sitting in the movie theater and I’ve opened the box of cannoli.

5 Reasons to Go to Istanbul

1. The pomegranates. The ones at Whole Foods will never measure up.

2. The third courtyard of Topkapi Palace. Forgo the long lines at the royal treasury and head to the library instead.

3. Cay or black tea. I like mine with two sugar cubes and some atmospheric fog.



4. A ferry ride. Bring a few squares of sugary, oozy baklava, your trenchcoat, and two ferry tokens (for the round trip).



5. The whirling dervishes. Maybe they could teach this former ballerina a trick or two.