I took a vacation day on a late summer Friday and spent it exploring Boston's North End.  I love the North End for shopping and eating, people-watching and just exploring. I love the narrow back alleys and the smells and the sounds, and the shops cluttered with all sorts of good stuff that I can't get anywhere else.

I visited a number of favorite shops, including:

• Maria's Pastry Shop (I had a seed cookie and coffee),
• Polcari's Market (where I got chestnut flour and a recipe for Castagnaccio),
• Monica's Mercato (where I learned when to buy the cotecchino),
• Alba Produce (where I learned when to expect the cardoons),
• Salumeria Italiana (half a pound of Parmigiana Reggiano), and
• Cirace's Liquors (a bottle of Aglianico grappa from my grandfather's neighborhood).

It was a lot of work, trekking about the back streets of that small neighborhood all of a hot August afternoon, so I had a nice dinner at the Pulcinella Mozzarella Bar e Ristorante - a dinner of the sort we don't see often in Plymouth!

This adventure required somewhat less driving than our typical expeditions, but it sure was fun. I'll have to do it again as we get closer to Christmas, for that cotecchino and the cardoons!