On the Road: Worcester

We've just returned from our not-quite-annual-but-frequent Thanksgiving trip to Worcester, Massachusetts. Worcester is home to English Prof and The Playwright, two of My Wife's closest friends from her Chicago days. We all live pretty far from our family home bases so we've gotten in the wonderful habit of spending Turkey Day together. Our plans don't work out quite every year, but more often than not they do. My Wife and English Prof are both culinary masters so they spend a lot of time in the kitchen creating minor miracles. In addition to the benefits of good food and good company, we all get to wallow in the joys of The Playwright's voluminous DVD collection.

First, the food. Turkey before:


Turkey after:


The pies, English Prof's specialty:


Pecan:


Apple:


Butternut Squash:


Prepping MORE pies for Friday night:


In total, five pies were produced, plus extra squash filling for the road. We were visited by a mysterious green ghost at dinner. A new Thanksgiving tradition, perhaps?


The Worcester area contains two of our favorite retail establishments: That's Entertainment, a comics shop and general collectibles mecca (more on that visit in a separate post), and Trader Joe's in Shrewsbury. We don't have a Trader Joe's in Vermont so it's always an important stop on our Massachusetts trips. We were also introduced to Annie's Book Swap, a used book store in Marlboro. If you're a romance novel fan, Annie has an astonishing collection. There's a decent children's selection, too.

We had some good out-of-the-house meals, too. On Saturday, we went to Fugakyu in Sudbury, a very nice sushi place. I'm a big maki fan and their menu is impressive. Even with endless variety at my disposal, I tend to keep it simple: just tuna, cucumber and Alaska rolls for me. On the way out of town, we stopped at Chipotle Mexican Grill in Shrewsbury for lunch today. I'd been a couple times before to locations in other cities and hadn't been overly impressed but I really enjoyed my steak burrito today. Perhaps it was just a matter of ordering well.

Finally, some photos from EP's and TP's apartment and the neighborhood: