Fishing the Crystal Coast with Cap'n Jess

Could it have been only a couple of weeks ago that I was in North Carolina?  Pre-Irene, pre-move to Boston, pre-work?  It feels like ages ago.  But it's more than worth revisiting.

While we were there we went on a fishing tour with Captain Jess Hawkins.  Captain Jess has over 30 years of experience studying fish and marine biology and knows the North Carolina coast like the back of his hand.  As fish jumped out of the water, flashing only the briefest glimpse of scales, he could name them with perfect precision.

We went fishing and even us land-lubbing Yankees were able to catch a few.  Even I caught one, although I was mostly happy to be the expedition's chief photographer.  The key is to learn from the birds -  find where they are gathering for their meal and then fish for your own.

Once you've found your prey, just cast it out and reel it in.  Okay, it's not quite that easy, and we may have knotted up a fishing line or two, but we still managed to catch a nice variety.

Spanish Mackerel

Bluefish

Sea Robin

We also went to look for sand dollars and Jess brought us to a shallow area where the water is perfectly clear and we picked up one after another.  Together Jake and I found about 16, although most of those were his finds.  We gave some back to Captain Jess to give to kids who don't find any on their tours.  I still have a few that I plan to turn into Christmas ornaments and general keepsakes.

It was great fun and we'd do it again!

A Little Night Music

Last Friday after work I walked to the T station through the Public Garden and the Commons as usual.  I love that walk for all the entertainment it provides: the two college guys playing Taio Cruz on their violins, the old man with his accordian, the guitar player complete with amps, and even the ipod from behind me playing "Empire State of Mind."  It seems Boston is full of music and I love it. 

 

At night, Jake and I went out to dinner in Davis Square and were met by more musical entertainment.  Two men took shifts on acoustic guitars in the center plaza, but the best show was hidden behind the subway station.  A 13 piece band, complete with tubas, an electric violin, percussion and an assortment of other brass and woodwinds played Justin Timberlake classics and klezmer tunes.  The band included everyone from the dirty hippy in Tevas, the older man with the Hulk Hogan 'stache, the renaissance chick with purple hair, a hipster holding a tuba that looked as though weighed as much as him, and plenty of NSO types (for those of you who didn't go to Vassar I have two words for you: Magic Cards).  Most of them didn't even have sheet music.  Let me tell you, that is some badass nerdery. 

 

They had the crowd going.  An old man in a camouflage kilt was slapping his thigh and bobbing his head and a little girl in Dorothy red slippers and a bicycle helmet skipped around with her dad.  It was one of those perfect September nights, with only the best of late summer breezes.  Everything was just right and the band played on. 

Adventure 5: Old North Church

While in Little Italy, I saw the Freedom Trail and knew we were near Old North Church.  Here is the statue of Paul Revere that stands behind the church before the beautiful courtyard.  

I was happy to see that seeing the church, a real historical landmark, is still free.  We saw tour groups coming through with guides dressed in full revolutionary garb.  We stood in the church for a while and got a history lesson from a guide telling the story of Old North Church from the pulpit.  This is the church where Americans hung the lanterns to tell the people if the British were coming over the ground or by the Charles River.  

"One if by land, two if by sea."

Adventure 4: Little Italy

While we were at the arts festival, I saw signs saying that we were in the "Historic North End."  I knew that the North End was where Little Italy was, but I wasn't familiar enough with the area to find it.  However, when we exited the grocer's market I finally recognized the area and became pretty confident I could get us to the Little Italy area and I did!  The neighborhood is really cute with lots of interesting architecture and, of course, Italian food.

I remembered from a visit with a friend that there is a place in Little Italy where there are two competing and famous bakeries that are known for their cannoli.  As we walked around we were lucky enough to find them.  We got fresh cannoli (you would think the plural is cannolis, but cannoli already is plural and cannolo is singular - thank you Wikipedia) at Mike's bakery and they were so good.  Sweet ricotta cream is really the best.  

Adventure 3: Grocer's Market

We were starting to consider going home after the arts festival, but Jake suggested we explore one more side street instead.  We ended up in the cutest spot that was covered in cobble stone walkways and old brick buildings.

As we continued to explore, we saw yet another set of tents and stumbled upon a grocer's market.  It wasn't exactly a farmer's market because it wasn't all locally grown, but there was a ton of well priced produce and a few permanent shops selling cheeses, fish and meats.

Adventure 2: Boston Arts Festival

While we were walking around Quincy market, we could see that there were tents set up in the area behind us so we decided to check it out.  It turned out to be the Boston Arts Festival.  There was a full-day of musical acts, local artists selling their work, and art demonstrations, all taking place right along the water.

In addition to the artists selling their work, there were also artists making their work.  There was a woman doing a chalk piece based on Dali's famous clocks and a live glass blowing demonstration.

There was also this creature wandering around.  I'm not sure what he was supposed to be or why he was there, but I still like it.  

Adventure 1: Quincy Market

We set out to go to Quincy market.  It's one of my favorite places in Boston and it's full of fun things to see and eat.  We walked around the mall outside Quincy market.  We checked out one of those shops that sells Christmas ornaments all year long.  When we got our first tree I started a tradition of getting a new ornament each year that represents our lives that year.  Last year it was a New York ornament and this year it will be a Boston ornament.

Then we went inside the market and did a full lap to check out all the food.  How could I choose when there are corn dogs, lobster rolls and Chinese food all in one place?  Well, it actually wasn't that hard because I've been meaning to get clam chowder in a bread bowl for about seven years now.  I know, crazy.  The chowder was amazing, but the bread bowl was really just a novelty.