Shopping

One thing I love about being from (or mostly from) the Boston area is that I know all kinds of little shops to get specific things. Usually, I much prefer to buy things from stores owned by people rather than corporate conglomerates, especially when it comes to food.

Of course, I will be sharing those places as I go along on this blog, and here are a couple more:

Christina's - They have some of the best ice cream in the entire Boston metro area. Try their seasonal flavors, they have all kinds of great varieties. Mexican Chocolate, a chocolate ice cream with a hint of chili pepper is their specialty, and it's amazing. 

And even better, they have a spice/ dry goods shop next door. They have great prices on all sorts of dried beans, mushrooms, spices, peppers, rice, and some hard to find baking ingredients as well. Spices that you can't find anywhere else, Christina's has. The spice shop closes way earlier than the ice cream side, so be forewarned.

McKinnon's - For meat, there is no more high quality, affordable place. They have almost all cuts of beef, pork, and chicken, a decent selection of lamb fresh. I mean, where else can you great filet mignon for $7 a pound? And hangar steak! No one carries hangar steak and it is a great, flavorful cut. Frozen they have duck, turkey usually around Thanksgiving, and all kinds of less common cuts of meat. 
Their deli selection is also great: all kinds of salami, cheese, good potato salad, pepper relish, the works. I wouldn't jump on the fish here (it's not bad, but I'm picky about fish), and I also freely admit, it's not all grass-fed, organic meat. If you want those things, there are better places.