Month: October 2016

Today is getaway day.  We had a wonderful time in Boston but 40 degree temperature (72 in Los Angeles) will keep me on the west coast.

Going through TSA presented its usual challenge.  As usual Patrice was stopped.  I don’t know what the deal is with this woman.  When we fly internationally she is always singled out for extra scrutiny (something about her fingerprints not matching).  On our way here from LAX they questioned the size of her carry on luggage.  To me it looked the same size or even smaller than mine and many other passengers entering the aircraft.  And today was not different.  TSA insisted that she had too many bags.   So she then put her purse in her carry on and we were on our way.

No comments to yesterday’s post?  Are you getting bored with me?  Can’t blame you if you are.  If not, I love to hear your comments so please let  me know what you are thinking, even if it is “Robert, who cares what you have to say!”

Back to reality and work tomorrow.

 

Another relaxing day in the city.  After a leisurely morning in which we planned our day we first headed for ………………………. you guessed it…………… food.  We made a reservation for brunch at the Atlantic Fish Company.  I immediately felt at home when I saw flowers adorning the front matching my Alma Mater’s colors (see below).

Patrice had the french toast and graciously offered me a taste.  I had the Lobster Eggs Benedict and offered her some as well.  She declined and asked, “You were hoping I would said no, weren’t you?”.   I said yes, but wanted to know how she knew what I was thinking.  “Well it was the way you asked me, ‘You wouldn’t want to try any of this would you?'”  I really married a smart one didn’t I?

Then it was off to a “Boston on Foot” tour.  This was something Patrice found online. Patrice is such a great travel partner, she lets me go to baseball games and finds all sorts of other cool things for us to do.  We were getting close to the time when were supposed to meet the guide so I asked Patrice to go ahead so I could go to CVS and buy some dental floss. Some of the Lobster Benedict was still caught in between my teeth and causing me great discomfort.  At CVS I found the floss quickly but had a problem getting it out of the packaging.  I asked one of the employees if he had something sharp to help me open it.  While helping me out he asked, “What is this?” to which I answered dental floss to which he asked “What is that?”  I further explained it was for the teeth.  He then replied, “Oh!”  I moved on thinking this might be a good town for a dentist.

We then took our Boston on Foot tour.  If you have been following this blog for a while you might recall that when we signed up for our BBQ tour in Memphis we were the only people who signed up and our guide (now friend, Lance) gave us an incredible “private” tour that led to us becoming Memphis in May BBQ judges.  Then in New Orleans we were the only ones who signed up for the NOLA movie tour.  Well today we did it again. Tom and Teresa were our guides for the Boston on Foot tour.  We were the only people who signed up so again we had a private tour.  If you visit this town I would recommend you sign up for one of the Boston on Foot tours.  We did a lot of walking (very good since we have done a lot of eating) and found out a lot of fun facts about the city.

When we told our guides about our BBQ Tour in Memphis they said they were thinking about a “Cannoli Tour” in the North End of Boston.  We told them that we enjoyed our experience at Mike’s (thanks Ben for that recommendation) and Tom explained he thinks Modern Pastry Bakery is just as good if not better.  Tom went on to explain that Modern Pastry Bakery has two locations right next to each other.  One with a long line and the other with no line but the exact same products.  Of course we needed to confirm these claims for ourselves (and our tummies).

Line outside Modern Pastry Bakery.

Patrice and I agree with Tom that the cannolis at Modern Pastry Bakery are as good as or even better than those at Mike’s.  Modern makes a very attractive and appetizing product.  Look below and see if you concur.

We leave for home tomorrow.  Time to start planning our next trip.  Any recommendations?

 

The conference is over and I was able to sleep in this morning.  The past 3 days I had to get to the conference at 8 AM (5 AM Los Angeles time) so today was a welcome relief. Unfortunately my first free day was greeted with rain and a significant drop in the temperature.  That being the case we were in no hurry to head out the door.  When finally ready to go we headed to Cambridge for lunch at Mamaleh’s Delicatessen in Kendall Square.  This was not your typical deli.  You know the kind of place I am talking about. Lots of waiters yelling at customers.  An Abe Vigoda look-alike, old man hunched over at the cash register. The hostess (if there is a hostess) looks like someone’s grandma.  First of all this place is located in a hi-tech haven.  Google, Facebook, Microsoft and a variety of bio-tech companies including Amgen all have offices in the complex.  The restaurant/deli was also very hi-tech.  First you are greeted by a guy who looks much more like a Harvard MBA than your Abe Vigoda double.  He then checks you in on an iPad and soon after you are escorted to your table.  The food was great but marble rye bread with dijon mustard is not acceptable for a corned beef sandwich in my world.

After lunch we headed over to the Calderwood Pavilion to see the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of “Tiger Style”.  This was a two act play about a Chinese American brother and sister  who are trying to cope with their dual ethnicity.   It was supposed to be a comedy.  Patrice liked it but I thought it was a bore.

Feeling guilty about the amount of eating we have been doing on this trip made us decide to work out.  We headed to the hotel gym.   As you can see from the picture below the gym was very crowded.

I tried to find an available machine for my work out but only found the one below.

As you can see the machine was out of order so I decided to go take a rest since we were leaving for dinner soon.

Dinner was a very special event.  We walked all the way from the hotel to Abe and Louie’s.  This place had been recommended by 2 different people and it did not disappoint.  Patrice had salmon and I had blackened halibut on a bed of lobster risotto. We shared butterscotch bread pudding for dessert.  Patrice is a little jealous of my quest to see baseball games in all 30 MLB stadiums so she has developed her own little life challenge.  She wants to eat bread pudding in every state in the USA.  So far she has accomplished this feat in 7 (out of 50 for those of you a bit weak in US Government information) states.

After dinner we walked all the way back to the hotel so as to work off some of those calories.  The restaurant is 0.2 miles from the hotel so we might be a little on the plus side tonight.  If being cold helps burn additional calories we did fine tonight.   There is no risk of me moving to this lovely town anytime soon (or ever).  It was 45 degrees tonight (68 in Hermosa Beach) and that is one low number.  We came here in 2012 and went to a game at Fenway Park.  It was a day game and we thought we dressed appropriately.  It was so cold there we had to buy jackets to put over our sweatshirts.  We got a second chance to wear the jackets tonight (see below).

Tomorrow is our last full day in Beantown.  We will try to have lots of fun for you.

Well today was the last day of the conference and overall it was excellent.  I learned a lot of new information and that much of what I do in the office is also done by the experts. For example we were told using Neosporin is unlikely to be helpful and very likely to be harmful (Neomycin ranks 2nd and Bacitracin ranks 5th among allergic producing substances in patch testing) and antibiotics are grossly overused (they gave us a strategy to try to convince patients that avoiding antibiotics is a good thing).   In addition to these gems I learned a bunch of other pearls.

The one thing that disappointed me was that I got a certificate saying that I completed 19.25 hours of continuing medical education but I didn’t get a Harvard diploma.  Actually that doesn’t really bother me because I have something much better than a Harvard diploma, I have a daughter-in-law with a Harvard diploma.

After the conference finished we decided to explore the city.  The weather has been perfect since our arrival. Well I should say, had been perfect.  The conference ended at noon and the first time I had to walk around town it was overcast and drizzling.  We did get to see a few nice things.  We were looking forward to seeing the fall colors and we got a taste of that today.  (see below)

 

We had a wonderful lunch at the Union Oyster House.  It purports to be the oldest restaurant in the USA open continuously for business since 1826.  It was apparently a favorite of JFK’s and now it is one of ours.

We saw the Old North Church and a statue to honor the man who made it famous.

I am sure you all remember the Longfellow poem about Revere’s ride to warn of the British invasion.  Apparently there were several riders that night and the most important of them was a man named William Dawes.  I suppose Longfellow felt that if he wrote, “Listen my children and you will hear of the midnight ride of William Dawes” it wouldn’t work so history was changed in the name of poetic license.

One thing that we have repeatedly heard in this town is that they love their Bruins (Boston not UCLA), Celtics and Red Sox.  The one thing they don’t like here is the Yankees.  (See below).

 

We haven’t made any plans for tomorrow but I am sure food will somehow be involved.

 

 

 

Today found me up early and hard at work learning all sorts of new things about medicine, such as ……………………. well more about that later.

I told Patrice that I wanted to relax tonight and watch the baseball playoffs on TV to which she said “Yo Mama!”    Immediately my blood began to boil. My days at Dorsey High came back instantly.   At Dorsey, people went to the hospital after saying things like that.  You can say anything you want about any topic but don’t you ever say anything about anyone’s mama.  So needless to say I was very angry and said, “What are you saying about my loving mama?”.  To which she said, “No, not yo mama, Yo-Yo Ma!  Don’t you know who he is?”  “OOOOOhhhhh, yes, sure, of course, yes, oh yea, sure, yes, of course you mean Yo-Y0 Ma, The Chinese American cellist born in Paris, France October 7, 1955.  Graduated from the Julliard School of Music and Harvard University and has enjoyed a prolific career as both a soloist performing with orchestras around the world and a recording artist. He has recorded more than 90 albums and has received 18 Grammy Awards.  That Yo-Yo Ma?” (thank you Google for saving me).

Patrice bought tickets to see and hear Yo-Yo Ma perform with the Boston Symphony. How could I deny Patrice this pleasure when she has been such a great sport and indulged me with my quest to visit all 30 MLB baseball stadiums.  So it was off to the symphony for us.  Boston’s Symphony Hall is a beautiful structure that was built in 1900. The architecture and decor are magnificent.  The building is lovely but it would have been nice if the seats were a little more comfortable.  After the orchestra played a brief overture out came the main star to a tremendous ovation.  Mr. Ma (that just doesn’t sound right) performed Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor, Opus 85 (I am sure you are all very familiar with that piece).  I enjoyed listening but it looked like the star was in incredible pain while playing.  Is it possible that he too wanted to be watching the baseball playoffs but his wife said no?

We are now back in the room talking about our day.  I did break one of my Cardinal Rules today and was duly punished.  I make it a rule to never eat a food that is typically the specialty of another type of restaurant.  For example, no steaks at a fish house, no fish at a steak house, pasta only at an Italian restaurant and of course curry only at an Indian restaurant.  Last night we had a wonderful meal at Neptune Oyster and we decided to return today because the Thursday special is Shrimp and Grits.  Our friends, Steve and Becky introduced us to that Southern delicacy in 2014 in Charleston, South Carolina.  That was on our trip from Washington D.C. to New Orleans and I had that wonderful concoction two more times during the week following my first experience.  I liked it so much and it has been so long since I got to enjoy that heavenly dish I decided to take a chance.  I won’t say tonight’s serving was bad but it just didn’t measure up to the Southern version.  I guess we just need to plan another trip south of the Mason Dixon line for some more S&G.

Enough about music and food, let’s talk about the conference, after all that is the reason we came to Boston.  So today I learned about ……………………………. oh well let’s talk about that tomorrow.

Today was day #1 of my Harvard education.  What a great day  of learning for me.  But before we talk about school let’s talk about food. I had a brief amount of time alloted for lunch (We Harvard students are so dedicated we don’t waste time eating).  Patrice kindly found a local treasure called The Met Back Bay.  We ate outside on a beautiful day here in Boston.  After ordering our food we relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of the fall foliage.  One problem is sometimes the foliage wants to get a closer look at your food.  (see below)

Our leaves came down before our food arrived.  The two people next to us weren’t as lucky.   When our food arrived our waiter quickly removed the leaves as if it was business as usual.   We were very pleased with what he left in their place.  (See below)

Eggplant and mozzarella sandwich for me and an ahi sandwich for Patrice.

After lunch it was back to WORK for me and Patrice lounged around the hotel and city. She had a nice work out in the gym and then went to the Museum of Fine Arts.  When my course ended and my intense work for the day had come to an end we headed for a special dinner.  We were told that a can’t miss restaurant was the Neptune Oyster.  This place does not take reservations.  When we arrived they estimated a wait of 60-90 minutes.  We gave them our name and phone number and decided to explore.  We had a very enjoyable walk that took us by the Boston Commons, Statehouse, City Hall and the Old Granary Burial Ground.  Old Granary is a cemetary where you can find the remains of Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere and the 5 victims of the Boston Massacre. By the way, the Boston Massacre happened on March 5, 1770.  March 5th is also my sister’s birthday (I am NOT trying to make an association).

Ninty minutes after we left our name at the Neptune Oyster they called and said it was our turn.  We hurried back to the place only to wait another 15 minutes before we were seated.  The wait was well worth it.  The place is known for its oysters (hence the name). They gave us a choice of about 20 different presentations for raw oysters.  We decided to get the oysters but we wimped out and got them fried. (See below)

The oysters were great and we had a great dinner.  But wait, Neptune Oyster is also known for their Lobster Roll.  We couldn’t possible have a Lobster Roll after sharing these oysters, could we?  (See below)

The lobster rolls were fantastic.  I am totally stuffed as I write this but remembering the rolls is making my mouth water.

Enough about food, let’s talk about all I learned today.   There was…….

Give me a day, I will think of something.

Many years ago while waiting for my car to be washed I wandered in to the attached convenience store.  In it, I found a red t-shirt with HARVARD written out in big block letters.  Upon closer inspection I saw in tiny print above HARVARD the wording, “I never went to”.   The shirt seemed perfect for me.

I am very pleased with the education I got at USC but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that somewhere deep inside my brain there is that desire to say that I attended an Ivy, with Harvard of course being the ultimate of that group.  Well tomorrow my time will have come.  The next three days I will be a Harvard student and get all the up to date information that the Harvard medical school faculty has to offer.  I might not get a Harvard diploma but I will get a certificate with the name of that illustrious institution.

You might be saying to yourself why travel all that way when everything you need to know is at your fingertips on the World Wide Web.  That comes to the real reason for the trip, my intense desire to blog.  I’ve always been envious of people who have real passion in their lives.  You know the types, the guy with all the fancy tools in his garage and makes amazing furniture.  Or the person who is always on the golf course (although I agree with Mark Twain in that golf seems like a good walk ruined).  Then there are the collectors:  stamps, coins, rare books, you name it, there is someone passionate about collecting stuff. Even my young son has developed a hobby of tinkering with electronics.  It makes me very envious.

Well my time has come and it is this blog.  I love writing about our travels and really enjoy all the comments people post and positive feedback I hear about our adventures.  The blog has become my passion.  As we travel I am constantly thinking of what to write and what to show.  So we are off to Boston to have some fun and possibly even learn some medicine.

Bye for now,

Robert Reiss, Harvard pseudograd, Class of October 19-21, 2016