Boston Part Two

On Saturday morning, Eric and I dressed up and got ready for our lunch with Giada DeLaurentiis and the Bella Sera crew. We were finished getting ready about fifteen minutes before the car was supposed to pick us up, and decided to sit down on a bench by the water.

I looked down at my phone and noticed I had missed a call from a few minutes earlier. I called my voicemail and was shocked to hear a message from Giada. She apologized for not being able to make it to the festival, and said she was trying to get back to New York City to be with her family during the hurricane.

No, I didn't cry when I heard the news, but I was very sad and disappointed. Getting to come to Boston is an amazing prize... I'm so happy and grateful for the experience. But what I was really excited for, was cooking with Giada. So I'm not going to lie, I was pretty bummed.

But hey, what can you do? It was nobody's fault. Well, except for Irene's. I don't blame Giada at all for wanting to be with her family in New York. It was just a bad situation for everyone. I know everyone from Bella Sera, and her fans at the festival were excited to see her as well.

And how nice of her to call me! She didn't have to do that! I have a voicemail from Giada DeLaurentiis on my phone right now! My phone allows me to keep voicemails in my archive for thirteen days, but then they get deleted. I'm going to have to save it every thirteen days. ;) Haha.

But guess what? Giada called me back a few minutes later and I got to talk to her on the phone for a little while! I was excited and I'm not even sure what we said to each other, exactly. Mostly just hurricane talk. She was very nice and pleasant on the phone... just like TV!

The car picked Eric and me up, and we went to lunch with people from Bella Sera. We ate at Nebo, an Italian restaurant on Boston's North Side. The chef/owners Carla and Christine Pallotta competed in a lasagna Throwdown with Bobby Flay and won!



Carla and Christine were very nice and had a warm, bubbly personality. I think they made everyone feel right at home in their restaurant. They spent a few minutes talking with me and taking pictures, which was nice of them.



Bella Sera rented out Nebo for our lunch, and Carla and Christine prepared a special family-style meal for everyone.







Cheers!



This meal was incredible. So incredible that I rushed taking pictures just so I could eat all of the food as soon as possible. That's an area I need to work on in food blogging... taking the time to take decent pictures at restaurants.

Olives with rosemary, orange zest and spices.


I'm crazy about olives. I get terribly excited when I get to try different kinds.

Grilled zucchini and eggplant.


Yum. Eggplant is underappreciated.

Prosciutto & burrata with balsamic fig glaze.


This was my first time trying burrata. I'm in love.

Arrosticini - grilled baby lamb skewers with rosemary.


Yum! I didn't know I liked lamb this much.

Arancini - fried rice balls stuffed with porcini mushrooms, mozzarella, drizzled with chestnut honey.


My favorite part of the meal.

Misto Fritto - fried calamari, shrimp, smelt, with Mediterranean aioli.


I wasn't going to try a smelt, but then I thought, what the heck, I might as well. And you know what? It wasn't that bad! I preferred the calamari and shrimp though.

Speck with arugula, goat cheese, and pine nuts.


I didn't really eat enough of this to decide if I liked it or not. I preferred the prosciutto, but this was good too.

Baby clams with lemon-butter.


My first time eating a clam!

Pizza!


Mmm. No words necessary.

The throwdown-winning vegetable lasagna.


This lasagna was incredible. I can't believe it's not made with noodles!

Veal Milanese with arugula, tomato, aioli, and parmigiano.


I can't remember the last time I had veal. This was delicious too!

Ricotta gnocchi.


Not made with potato! Only ricotta cheese and flour. Amazing.

Chicken limone made with artichoke hearts, capers, lemon butter sauce.



What a meal! I ate as much as I possible could. I don't know what I would have done if they served desert. Thank you so much to Bella Sera and Nebo for a wonderful lunch!



Oh, I forgot to mention we drank Bella Sera pinot grigio throughout the meal. It went well with everything we had, too. :)

Eric and I wandered over (or should I say waddled over?) to the tent where I would have cooked with Giada.





At this time, the hurricane started rolling in, and the rain began. We headed back to the hotel to stay out of the rain for a while. When we ventured back to the feast, later in the evening, all off the stands at the festival were completely gone. It was kind of eery. The sky was eery too.



We had dinner at Regina Pizzeria! If you're ever in the Boston area, I recommend it. The pizza was super fresh, flavorful, and served piping hot to us.

We were both very happy with what we ordered.

Eric's pepperoni, jalapeno, onion pizza.



My tomato, basil white pizza. Oh gosh, I love brick oven pizza crust.



Dessert for the evening was more gelato: gianduja and bacio. We love that chocolate-hazelnut combo, as you can see.





I don't have pictures from Sunday, because that's when the hurricane blew through. We camped out in our hotel room and survived on bottles of wine (not Bella Sera because the wine store didn't have any!) and pastries from Mike's. I bought rainbow cookies, a pistachio meringue cookie, peanut butter cannoli and a Boston cream puff. The Boston cream puff was the winner. One of the best things I've ever eaten in my life.


Classy.

When the storm died off, we wandered around Boston to try and find something to do. Unfortunately, everything was closed because of the storm. We did make it to a Whole Foods before we headed home on Monday morning. You know you have a good boyfriend when he takes you to the nearest Whole Foods and snaps a picture of you.



Love Whole Foods. Not as much as Trader Joes, though.

I had Whole Foods clam chowder for breakfast. When in Boston...



The End. Time for bed!