Don't Back Down

While this isn't the fanciest of places by any means (two hand-written signs on the wall proclaim "no cigar smoking in restaurant"), the food is quite decent. Also be forewarned, this is certainly a local hangout, and as such you won't find niceties such as a hostess (you have to seat yourself) and they don't have a non-smoking section (all tables are smoking). That's the way that the clientele likes it, and if you can get past those things, the prices are decent, the service quick, if not exactly stellar, and the food hot.

Read "Liberty East Restaurant" »

This funky little eatery in the South End has grown quite a bit (not in size, but in appeal) over the last few years. What started as not much more than a rather ugly yellow cinder block building on an oddly-shaped lot is now that and more - they've added some landscaping, a paved lot instead of the gravel parking and a nice outdoor eating area too. Inside the food is the same great, simple combinations you're used to getting.

Read "Phat Burrito" »

Lexington isn't a large town, so there aren't a ton of options when it comes to eating - and there are even fewer when you remove the barbecue places. When you want pizza, you do have a couple of non-chain places to go, but the best of the choices is probably going to be Christo's. The original location offers a buffet if you're eating in, and this is a good choice, as it has quite a spread.

Read "Christo's Original" »

While it's true that the Fried Twinkie originated at the Park Slope Chip Shop in Brooklyn, which is most definitely not in the South, most would have to agree that the denizens of the Southern part of the US are more likely than those in any other part of the world to drop about anything in the hot oil and make it even tastier. Last year, for instance, we saw the North Carolina State Fair add fruit to the menu of items dunked in batter and fried to a golden brown. This time around, they've truly taken a monstrous step, and gone beyond solid food entirely.

Read "Southerners Will Fry Anything" »

Towards the end of August, I wrote about our experience with Blockbuster Rewards. I'm sad to say that this has not improved much. But I do have some interesting news to report. I can't yet say if I've cracked the code, but during the month of September, I was able to make some progress, and we came home with the coupon that allows us to get a free rental during the month of October. Now we just need to see if we can keep track of the thing and remember to take it back next month. So without further ado, a quick refresher, and then how you can try and get yours.

Read "The Elusive Blockbuster Rewards Certificate" »

We tried The Chateau early one evening in what would probably be called the "early bird" hour, and there were plenty of other people there as well (there were in fact several other diners there for the aptly-named special). Since we just stopped in for a quick bite, we didn't really have a full-blown meal, but we did try a few things.

Read "The Chateau" »

We just happened to be staying in one of the hotels in Norwood, and were looking for something quick, cheap and even greasy to eat, and saw a sign directing us to pizza just across the way. The only problem is that it took us a while to find the place.

Read "Royal Pizza" »

After a late night of work, we found ourselves looking for something a bit different along the highway and there weren't a lot of options - especially because we had already had Italian twice in the last 24 hours and we didn't want fast food. There were a couple of places that are typically considered "family style", but we can typically get those at home, so we looked for something different.

Read "Old Country Buffet" »

While looking for a place to stay during our recent trip to the Norwood area (a business trip - there really isn't much to see for a pleasure trip), we decided to see what there was in the area. The map shows several hotels clustered around I-95, but I'm not usually a fan of being right there on the Interstate, though that's not always a bad thing, either - and it does offer plenty of options if I needed it, so I decided that we could come back if needed.

Read "Courtyard Boston Norwood" »

While we were trying to figure out the bizarre looping detour to get back to the airport one morning (luckily we allowed plenty of time), we happened to notice a diner sitting there on the street corner, right in the midst of all the buildings. Talk about out of place. Since we had been around the block several times and had to get out of the rut, we decided to park and try and get our wits about us. Probably the best decision we made.

Read "South Street Diner" »

With the (final) release of the new 2.0 version of the Firefox browser, I've updated the Bloglines Toolkit to a new version. If you're using the auto-update feature, you should be prompted when you install, or when you check if you've already installed.

Read "Bloglines Toolkit 1.6.4" »

While Firefox 2 was actually released yesterday, it's still pretty decent news, because a lot of folks have been waiting for a while, and the improvements are decent. Thus far I'm not certain that I would say that it deserved a jump all the way to version 2 (it seems more like a move to 1.6 was in order), but it's an improvement, from what I can tell.

Read "Firefox 2 Released" »