Felipe's Taqueria

Harvard Square
83 Mount Auburn St
Cambridge, MA 02138
http://www.felipestaqueria.com/


It was recently pointed out to be that there's food in Harvard Square, and not just coffee. Wow! Who knew? With Peet's Coffee and Tea, a Starbucks, boba shop Boston Tea Stop and new-to-me Tea For All, I tend to overlook the actual food in the area.

I checked out Felipe's Taqueria mostly based on the amazinf smells coming out. Felipe's is a taco / burrito assembly line, with a Mt. Auburn Street entrance and Garage mall entrance. I was glad to see a lot vegetarian options, not just a half-hearted salad, but I wasn't feeling it today, and tried the pollo tinga tacos.

Prices were pretty inexpensive (Well, for Boston, that is. About the same as table-service Casa Margarita and Los Tres Magueyes in North Carolina. But, hey, I'll pay a LOT more to finally be in a place that doesn't overlook a parking lot.), ingredients tasted fresh, and everything's put together in front of you, so the chicken is hot and the tomatoes are cold.

There's also an amazing fixings bar. My standard for awesome, flavorful salsa is the salsa bar at La Veracruzana in Amherst. Veracruzana's salsa bar includes killer Salsa Diablo and a fresh tomatillo salsa. I've often gone for Mexican food in other places, looked over at the Boy, and told him how much better things would be with Vereacruzana salsa.


But Felipe's put them to shame. Classic salsa, tomatilla salsa, radishes, jalapenos, lime wedges... anything you could think up to make your tacos even more delicious.

It was extremely crowded when I went in, but the line moved pretty fast. When I got to the front, I realized this was because the servers were efficient, even if they communicated mostly in grunts, and seemed to get annoyed when customers wanted to slow their progress by asking about the ingredients. Don't be deterred by a lack of seating, the Newton Market green is just across the street, and it's a perfect spot to eat and peoplewatch.

Boost Mobile

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.

Boost Mobile offers flexible payment options with Re-Boost, so instead of getting a bill in the mail and looking for your checkbook and your stamps, you can pay over the internet, in person, or over the telephone. You can also set up automatic, recurring payments from your credit or debit card so you won’t be late on any payments, and when you set up automatic payments, you’ll receive a $20 credit. There is an unlimited plan, for unlimited talking and text messages, and a pay-as-you-go system so you can decide how you want to pay, and you can control your cellphone costs.

Boost Mobile phones offer the ability to update your social media profiles wherever you are, just like with an iPhone or Blackberry. You can update your Facebook status or tweet, so everyone can know where you are and what you’re doing. And, let’s be honest, reading FB and Twitter is much more important that posting. (I’d much rather see what everyone else is doing right now that tell you that I’m waiting in line at the post office. ) It’s easy to use on a Boost Mobile phone, and you can while away the time on the bus checking Facebook. Speaking of playing with your phone, you can also download ringtones and games from the Boost website. I saw Bejeweled and Ms. Pac-Man available.

Tangerine Cafe

2422 SW Cary Pkwy
Cary, NC 27513
(919) 468-8688
http://www.tangerinecafecary.com/

I might have mentioned before that the Boy is not so fond of Asian food, but we both loved Tangerine Cafe. We started with Thai iced tea -- I've recently discovered that the secret to Thai iced tea is just strong black tea with consensed milk stirred in, instead of rainbows and magic dust, but that doesn't make it any less delicious.

The menu is Asian food's greatest hits album, with winners like chicken satay, pad thai, nasi goreng... What was I saying? Sorry, when I went to the webpage to check their menu, I got sucked into feeding the fish again.

Tangerine offers vegetarian and non-veg options for almost all their dishes. Shrimp-haters like me can also get a just-chicken version as well. This also means that they're cooking it up fresh when you order it, it hasn't been sitting under a heat lamp all day.

An amazing layout with mirrors and bamboo plants helps the small space avoid the cafeteria feel, and Asian decor -- including my favorite, the waving cat -- make it unique. We're planning a spring trip to visit out-of-state friends, and I look forward to reviewing a local eatery that isn't in a strip mall. The staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and food arrives quickly. A perfect spot for lunch or dinner.

Martin's Curry Rice

9549 Chapel Hill Road
Morrisville, NC 27560
(919) 349-2363

We checked out Martin's Curry Rice the other day. This is a brand-new restaurant on the edge of Cary / Morrisville, specializing in -- guess what -- curry and rice!

You design your own curry from a buffet of cold ingredients, including chicken, tofu, fish, mushrooms, chickpeas and veggies. There's no limit to the ingredients, so if you're planning on a chickpea and mushroom curry, but then you decide to try some chicken and broccoli too, that's fine.

There are three levels of curry, a sweet, a mild, and a hot. The mild is a great cilantro-y green curry, but it is quite mild, I'll probably try the hot next time. (Usually a hot curry in a place that specializing in curries is just too much for me) Custom curries come with rice and a salad side dish.

One side dish was amazing chunks of seed-free cucumbers and tomato in the cool cilantro yogurt. We called this Raita on Steroids since "yogurt salsa" didn't do it justice. The curry was delicious, but it's the killer raita that will bring us back.

The location is brand new, and the set-up and decor reminded me so much of Chinese fast-food, cafeteria style dining. The owner later said he was inspired by Japanese curry shops when designing his place.

Great food, not expensive and a lot of options, including vegetarian options. We'll definitely be back to try the dinner tapas.

Ramblers Way

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Ramblers Way. All opinions are 100% mine.

This isn't my usual post here, but I'm interested in sustainable, environmentally-friendly products, even when you can't eat them. Yes, I know, you're shocked that I'm interested in things other than food!

Ramblers Way Farm is a family business -- from the founders of Tom's of Maine -- making thin, soft wool clothing. They promise that their soft woolen clothes can be worn next to the skin, unlike a lot of my favorite wool sweaters.

I'm most interested in either the thin wool cami in this picture, or a long-sleeved thin wool shirt. I did a lot of backpacking in China and in the UK, and I always wanted something that was warm but didn't take up a lot of space in my bags. You know, I'd try to pack lightly so I wouldn't be hauling a huge bag through train stations and around town, but then it would be cold and I'd have that interesting fashion ensemble known as wearing every single t-shirt and henley in in my backpack at once. (For the full effect, I would try to snatch a couple hours sleep on the bus or train, and wake up with bedhead as well. I'm overwhelmingly sexy.)

Anyway, these superthin wool shirts should also dry quickly, which will be useful for all those times I end up doing laundry in the hotel sink and then hanging my clothes up to dry around the bathroom (Oh! Speaking of that, remind me to tell you a story). The shirts are also nice blonde color, and we all know that when you're packing light, you need go-with-anything neutrals for wardrobe versatility.

The reason I decided to take this sponsored post, and not one of the gazillion pharmacy or refinancing posts, is because all the products from Ramblers Way Farm are produced with an eye towards the environmental impact and humane treatment of all livestock. This is an environmentally sustainable company, and they participate in all parts of the production, from raising the sheep to finishing the clothes.

Jitters Coffee

920 Kildaire Farm Rd
Cary, NC 27511
(919) 468-5454

Since the sad end of the Chocolate Bean, I've been looking for a new Cary coffee stop. I am a fan of the Maynard Street Caribou, but so is everyone else, and the lines are usually too long to make it a practical stop.

When we lived in Amherst, there was an indie drive-up coffee hut... the name has slipped my mind because the rainbow-painted coffee hut on Route 9 was such a landmark that no name is needed. Jitters is a similar small coffee and tea hut in the Food Lion / Unaabi Grill / Los Tres Magueyes parking lot.

Jitters gets all the basics right: Staff say good morning without that scary, crazed I-have-to-smile-or-I-get-fired expession. (We're looking at you, Walnut Street Starbucks.) When I ask for no whipped cream, I don't get whipped cream in my coffee. Coffee is served quickly. Everything is clean.



And Jitters gets the extras right, too. It's no secret that I love coffee drinks. I tried their minty Valentine's special, and I'm currently drinking a St. Pat's Nutty Irish. Both are delicious in the way that makes it hard to remember that coffeedrinks are supposed to be a special treat for me, not an every day stop. Jitters also advertises a bunch of flavorshots, black cherry for example, for other fans of coffee drinks. The Boy is more of a plain latte drinker, and he really enjoyed Jitters' latte.

Jitters might not have the wild rainbow paint job of the Route 9 stop, but it has it's own personality, with a painted coffee-drinking kokopelli on the side, and coffee-loving slogans, stickers and poems all around the Jitters hut. Coupons say Get the Jitters and feel great!

We love getting the Jitters, and we want you to know about them... but please don't tell anyone else, ok? The wait has been very short, and we want to keep it that way!