My first Clif Z Bar! In honey graham flavor. I had my doubts of the quality of this particular bar that I've been lugging and jostling around in my backpack for days (usually snacks don't last that long in my bags) in 90-100 degree weather, including to New York and back. The fact that I enjoyed the bar despite its smushedness makes me all the more eager to try another one in pristine condition. I use honey often as a topping/dip for toast, bagels, nuts, yogurt, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, and a variety of other meals, so I liked that the bar was honey-sweet rather than the more common fruit-sweet of other energy bars. Clif Z Bars are marketed towards kids, are smaller than the "adult" versions, and are topped off by a fun icing drizzle. The company really just has the chewy/crispy texture down pat for me, so I didn't care if I was eating "kid" food.
My rating: 4/5.
The rest of the day we walked around the Downtown neighborhood. I was especially excited to experience America's birthday in Boston, as it is one of the oldest cities in the country and the site of all the revolutionary events that led to U.S. independence (again, I'm not so great at history.)
People staked out a spot for the Boston Pops/fireworks show early in the morning. I don't know how they managed to kill the 10-plus hours waiting for nightfall.
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| Love the colorful umbrellas |
We walked around Government Center station, where a military band was playing.
This Starbucks, out of the gazillion that pepper the world, caught my eye. It had a teapot that was smoking! Cute eye-catching storefront. It's funny because a lot of the cheap chains i.e. Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, etc. here are housed in old, imposing brick buildings with gold metal letters spelling the restaurant name, so they manage to look mighty classy and high-end despite their franchise quality.
Break time! I will never get tired of the feeling when you duck into a room blasting cold AC from the hot humid outdoors. Especially when the room serves ice cream/froyo! Actually, I've been hitting a personal froyo threshold (gasp, who knew there was one?) since it's been a common go-to summer treat here, so opted for a raspberry smoothie.
I thought that it would be a fruit-based smoothie and was saddened to see the server immediately squirt a sizable tower of plain froyo into the cup and mix raspberry topping with it together to make the drink upon my ordering it. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? Certainly not waste food.
I'm going to digress slightly here: lately, I've been a bad lactose intolerant person. I've eaten froyo practically every other day, yogurt in the dining hall, cheese occasionally, and have consciously begun to disregard or deny my dietary limitations. As a result, I've not only been more gassy but overall less energized and pumped for each day, which I believe is my body's way of telling me that I'm not providing it with optimal fuel. Perhaps this negligence has been a result of the limited food options available to me on a daily basis; during the school year, I was very strict with myself, even buying soy yogurt or vegetable-based butter spreads when I craved those foods. After all, Berkeley Bowl is just a few blocks from my apartment, so I could run over whenever I wanted something scrumptious and non-dairy. It's hard to diversify day-to-day eating at the dining hall here, and the boredom with meal choices has led me to diverge from the best diet for me. From now on, I resolve to return to my dairy-conscious ways. A rare indulgence is allowable, but it's important not to get carried away. Avoiding dairy is of course a sacrifice, but I think that I will be in a better physical and mental place for it.
Now back to the Independence Day recap: after dinner at the dining hall, we walked back out to the Esplanade and listened to the Boston Pops concert, including music composed by John Williams and performances by Jennifer Hudson, through a nearby speaker while waiting for night to fall.
Unfortunately, they delayed the show due to incoming rain (we had already been seeing lightning in the distance for some time) and recommended that we all find shelter temporarily until the storm passed. Some of us, including me, returned to a dock right outside our apartment to wait for the show to recommence. At about 10:30pm, the fireworks started! And the downpour! I guess the rain passed the launching site for the fireworks, but for us spectators, the thunderstorm was ironically aligned perfectly with the fireworks display. After approximately 20 min, a sparkly grand finale ended the show (and the rain) and we slowly walked in a massive soggy crowd back to our dorms.
I was soaked to the skin, but happy that I witnessed one of the most famous July 4th celebrations in the nation.
I thought that it would be a fruit-based smoothie and was saddened to see the server immediately squirt a sizable tower of plain froyo into the cup and mix raspberry topping with it together to make the drink upon my ordering it. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? Certainly not waste food.
I'm going to digress slightly here: lately, I've been a bad lactose intolerant person. I've eaten froyo practically every other day, yogurt in the dining hall, cheese occasionally, and have consciously begun to disregard or deny my dietary limitations. As a result, I've not only been more gassy but overall less energized and pumped for each day, which I believe is my body's way of telling me that I'm not providing it with optimal fuel. Perhaps this negligence has been a result of the limited food options available to me on a daily basis; during the school year, I was very strict with myself, even buying soy yogurt or vegetable-based butter spreads when I craved those foods. After all, Berkeley Bowl is just a few blocks from my apartment, so I could run over whenever I wanted something scrumptious and non-dairy. It's hard to diversify day-to-day eating at the dining hall here, and the boredom with meal choices has led me to diverge from the best diet for me. From now on, I resolve to return to my dairy-conscious ways. A rare indulgence is allowable, but it's important not to get carried away. Avoiding dairy is of course a sacrifice, but I think that I will be in a better physical and mental place for it.
Now back to the Independence Day recap: after dinner at the dining hall, we walked back out to the Esplanade and listened to the Boston Pops concert, including music composed by John Williams and performances by Jennifer Hudson, through a nearby speaker while waiting for night to fall.
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| Lots of people along the Charles and on rooftops/balconies |
Unfortunately, they delayed the show due to incoming rain (we had already been seeing lightning in the distance for some time) and recommended that we all find shelter temporarily until the storm passed. Some of us, including me, returned to a dock right outside our apartment to wait for the show to recommence. At about 10:30pm, the fireworks started! And the downpour! I guess the rain passed the launching site for the fireworks, but for us spectators, the thunderstorm was ironically aligned perfectly with the fireworks display. After approximately 20 min, a sparkly grand finale ended the show (and the rain) and we slowly walked in a massive soggy crowd back to our dorms.
I was soaked to the skin, but happy that I witnessed one of the most famous July 4th celebrations in the nation.
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