Citrus & Salt

We celebrated my first Mother's Day with brunch at Citrus & Salt. The vibe is coastal Mexican. My vibe is tired but still up for having fun in the city! We ate in the back room with cozy couches and ottomans - it felt sort of speakeasy-ish. It also felt perfect for dining out with a baby. I had a delicious Brunch Chimichanga ($13) containing scrambled eggs, refried beans, poblano queso, salsa and home fries. 

After brunching we emerged into the bright floral and skulls space for a cocktail at the polished marble bar. We had a little more time to spend before our ticketed time at Happy Place just down the street. A fun interactive exhibit, we strapped Cam in the Ergobaby and did all the pose-for-cute-photos and laugh at ourselves things. 

The margaritas here are really good, however, I sipped on a Rosa Spritz ($14) served in a dainty etched coupe glass. Codigo Rosa Tequila, Aperol, hibiscus, lemon and rose cava was a very good cocktail indeed. I'm a lucky Mom!

Citrus & Salt

142 Berkeley St

Boston, MA

Aquitaine | Chestnut Hill

Camden's NanaK visited and we took her out to Aquitaine for Mother's Day! 

Perfectly cooked Seared Duck Breast ($36) with a crispy skin encasing tender meat parades around a luscious madeira jus with artichokes and fava beans. This was a memorable entrée.

Profiteroles ($14.50) are a revelation sandwiching a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, drizzled with Belgian chocolate and a topping of powdered sugar.

This little video is a boomerang look at the piping hot Escargot Bourguignon sizzling in butter, garlic, parsley and pernod. ($15.50). A must order appetizer!

A classic French bistro atmosphere and well executed cuisine to match, Aquitaine Chestnut Hill is one of our favorites!

Aquitaine

11 Boylston St

Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

cape & islands spring

Cape Cod and the Islands in the springtime are a lovely place to be. I feel like I packed in an entire summers worth of favorite places after back to back weekends in May. There was lots of quality time with Mom - dinner at Brewster Fish House for Mother's Day, grilling on her back deck and long beach walks in Dennis. Memorial Day Weekend saw opening night at The Beachcomber, a bike ride to Chatham Light and lunch at The Squire, and a spontaneous day trip to Nantucket to party with the Figawi Crowd. 

Also, I just spent four days on Martha's Vineyard, so, a lot of that coming up next....

1. The bar at Brewster Fish House 
2. evening walk on Corporation Beach
3. Pan-Roasted Skate Wing w/ marcona almond puree, pea tendrils, maitake & curry vinaigrette
4. Blue Haired Ladys at The Tavern on Nantucket
5. treasures from Chapin Beach in Dennis
6. Harpoon IPA at Chatham Squire | Lobster Roll at The Tavern
7. Chatham Lighthouse Beach
8. a morning on Chapin Beach in Dennis
9. dunes at Chatham Lighthouse Beach
10. salad and grilled pizza on my mom's back deck in Yarmouthport

Nauset Beach

Last Sunday afternoon Mom and I made our way to Nauset Beach in Orleans
One of the most beautiful beaches on Earth if you ask me; where the deep teal surf retreats from the smooth sandy shores, and the navy ocean waters meet the vast azure sky.
Where the Atlantic Ocean and Lower Cape landscape stretches for miles and miles, as far as the eye can see. Where white dunes layered with sharp green beach grass are perched above tan grainy shores and  pale nickel colored flats at the waters edge are dotted with stones and shells....Excuse me, did I say dotted with? I mean coated with. This beach is a rock collectors paradise! 
We came across large patches of rocks just waiting to be collected on this gorgeous Mother's Day. We walked for miles, watched some brave surfers, and soaked in the adventure of a beach hike. 
It has been a pleasure, Nauset. I hope to see you when the summer sun graces us.

Inaho | Best Sushi on Cape Cod

The sushi: further down in the post after I recap our day!! 

I arrived mid-afternoon to a cold and drizzly Cape Cod. I was here to celebrate Mother's Day! My Mom and I headed to see a movie at the Cape Playhouse Cinema in Dennis.
We saw a documentary called Babies. I went in with no expectations and an open mind. It was incredibly captivating! The Cape Cinema is also a treat - the painted ceilings in the theater are stunning. 
We exited the theater to find the rain had passed and the sun was out. We headed to Corporation Beach in Dennis.

It was high tide on the other side of that jetty where we wanted to hike so we drove over to Chapin Beach. Chapin was WINDY. To let you know just how much, I took this video.

My hair should look great at dinner tonight!
I also documented the tide coming in and our huge shadows in the dunes. We headed home to freshen up for dinner at our all time favorite restaurant Inaho. Located in Yarmouthport center my parents have been coming here for as long as I can remember. They introduced Japanese food to my sister and I when we were kids. We would eat: California rolls, white rice, bento boxes and miso soup, before branching out to sample tastes of raw tuna or octopus! Inaho has always been our family favorite, our restaurant of choice for birthdays, graduations, anything that was deemed celebration worthy. We believe it to be the best sushi on Cape Cod, without compare!

Mom and I settled in at the sleek lacquered wood bar, reminiscing how they used to have a tiny 3 seat bar in the corner where waitresses poured their own sake and cocktails were essentially non existent.
Impressed at how Inaho has kept up with the demand and changing times we sipped on some fabulous drinks. I had a Murai Nigori Unfiltered Cold Sake ($9).
I had been craving cold unfiltered sake ever since my friend DeMane served it to me at her place last month. I love it!
My Mom had a cocktail crafted special for her with a new Asian sake liqueur called Ty-Ku.
The rim lined thick with the finest sugar crystals and the double lemon/lime garnish were exquisite touches on this Ty Ku martini. Shortly thereafter we were offered seats at the sushi bar. This could not have worked out any better as the sushi bar is my Mom's favorite seat in the house.
We immediately ordered two carafes of hot sake. Hot sake must always accompany our sushi. 
Our miso soup came steaming hot with the thickest chunks of tofu and long wide strips of seaweed. This is the perfect bowl of miso.
We ordered a salad we had never tried before: Hijiki Salad - cooked hijiki seaweed, carrots and tofo. This unique looking salad was lightly bathed in a warm seaweed broth and topped with sesame seeds. The dressing as a simple broth served to highlight the mild flavors in the dish. I like how the bowl cradles the salad and the single piece of lettuce sits at the top adding a pop of color to the dark intimidating seaweed.  Next out was the Vegetable Salmon Jalapeno Roll ($12). I consumed each larger-than-a-proper mouthful roll all in one bite. The crispy tempura battered jalapeno and flaky fish drizzled in a sweet sauce was savored and worth every awkward mouthful.Our next maki roll was the Orange Dragon ($16). Have you ever witnessed a more beautiful maki presentation? With well proportioned pieces of fresh fish to avocado in a roll so tightly adhered you can't tell where once rice kernel ends and the other begins, where colorful pyramids of roe and tempura flakes piled atop the glistening orange salmon not only look phenomenal but add a burst of flavor and a pop of crunchy texture.

My picture taking sparked the couple who sat next to us interests. We chatted with them on and off the entire evening. We learned Don and Joyce own a B&B on the beach in Falmouth called the Beach Breeze Inn. (Gosh, it looks adorable.) They were super friendly and expressed how they could not wait to see my sushi pics when they checked out the blog! I hope they are happy their picture made it up. Don was laughing so hard at himself (Why am I looking in the opposite direction?!) Somehow, we were laughing with them non-stop! Mom and I were on our second carafe of sake. Don was on his second pot of magic tea.

"What do they put in this green tea anyways?" ~ Don

Now the sushi chefs were chuckling at our antics; and those chefs never crack! They are serious and focused the whole night through. To make sushi as good as pictured, I don't doubt you have to be. It is truly an art.
How I love a piece of tender on the inside, sweet glazed crispy skin on the outside piece of Unagi Nigiri . There was also a Yellowfin Tuna Nigiri and lots of fresh wasabi. 

Idaho's modern atmosphere is tasteful and subdued. Japanese lanterns hang in wooden booths with woven mat seats. A deep red wall with a bamboo window separates the sushi bar area from the main dining room. The exterior is a charming white house with black shutters and a red door, surrounded by a zen garden with large stones placed throughout and marble benches lining the brick walkway.

It has been way too long since I visited what still remains as one of my all time favorite sushi restaurants. It takes me back to the days of Dad's spicy tuna handrolls, Leah's "tails in the air" tempura shrimp, days of Bento Box chicken, fears of wasabi, and learning how to use chopsticks. Present day, I have really come to appreciate a perfect slice of raw fish or really good maki roll. Inaho does it best. All of it.

Happy Mothers Day, Mom!!