june visit, part 2

faneuil hall

Whenever my family comes to Boston, we include Faneuil Hall in our itinerary of places to visit. Yes, it's quintessentially touristy and kitschy, but eating at Quincy Market and browsing the shops is just fun. I never go there on my own, which is probably why visiting always feels a bit festive.

With its infinite variety of food and communal seating, Quincy Market feels like a permanent street fair.

Perhaps it's sacrilegious to say this now that I'm a New Englander, but I don't like lobsters rolls all that much. This shrimp salad roll, however, suited me just fine.

I eat fried dough about once a year, if that. It must be the most unimaginatively named food on the planet. But yummy.

My mom and I tend to have good luck finding cute and inexpensive summer clothes at Ann Taylor Loft. (Dad finds a comfy chair and naps in the meantime.)

We always visit the Clarks store, too, and as she does each time we get together, Mom bought me a pair of shoes. This tradition started back in my impecunious med school days, when, during one of my visits home, she was so aghast at the deplorable state of my loafers that she immediately whisked me to the mall to find a new pair. This expression of love in shoes has carried on even as my financial circumstances have improved. This time, it was a remarkably comfortable pair of sandals that have quickly become one of my summer staples.