There is one well-known culinary specialty—New England Lobster.  For the budget conscious traveler there is another Boston culinary treat—Boston Baked Beans.  Who would believe that no store in Boston caries them?  I finally found one store that prominently displayed them.  The Boston Baked Beans serve, to those few who ingest the rotten peanuts covered in red molasses goop, as a pungent reminder of the “Great Molasses Flood of 1919” that killed 21 Bostonians (true story--check out the Smithsonian article).

 Anyway, I was inspired to get some candy.  I bought a 5^th Avenue bar…after all, I was on 5^th Ave in New York only a few weeks ago.  Also, I like the chocolate peanut butter bar.  Unlike the Boston Baked Beans, it does not taste like week-old possum vomit.  It was invented by William Luden, of Luden cough drop fame, and  no great tragedy has befallen the world on account of a 5^th Ave bar…it even “contributed to the war [World War II] effort.”

I went to a modern orthodox (mixed company and no black hats) Shabbat this past weekend.  It was great!

Boston lineage contains Paul Revere's Ride, founding fathers like Samuel Adams and Ben Franklin, and the Boston Tea Party.  There are sites all over downtown, and a great walking route that connects them for a self guided tour.  I enjoyed this much more than I anticipated, and would have enjoyed it even more without my 45-pound backpack.

The slide show includes many historical sights, including the church steeple that signaled the Colonial forces, Paul Revere's famous message, "The British are coming, the British are coming!"

The colors are setting in, but amazingly, these photos are taken before "Prime Foliage".  I am now in Maine, and will take more photos over the next two weeks as the foliage becomes even more colorful.  That is what I am told--it is hard to envision more color.

Maine:

Acadia National Park is a beautiful section of the Maine coast, and fall is a beautiful season to be there.  Fall in New England was worth the trip, although it did produce my biggest disappointment to date!

Dinner Impossible:

I arrived in the small town of Northeast Harbor, and walked down to the docks.  The small town is a combination of local lobster fisherman and wealthy summer residents.  There is a small boat that runs to the isolated small island town of Great Cranberry.  Unbeknownst to me, it was the day of the Annual Fall Harvest potluck, in which all the residents of Great Cranberry Island put together a large meal in the community hall.  I am sure it is fun, but probably not remarkable to the outsider.  This year was quite a departure from years gone by—a celebrity chef participating in a Food Network television show! 

The Food Network, home of the Iron Chef competitions, is filming a new show titled “Dinner Impossible”.  Celebrity Chefs are taken to a surprise location, and presented with a “mission” to complete.  In this case, it was to prepare a meal for 200 people on this remote island.  There was so much lobster and beef that most of the chicken wasn’t even cooked up!

To see who this chef was, and what he prepared, you will have to watch Dinner Impossible in January.  I cannot give a good description because the mail boat to the island left 5 minutes before I got to the dock.