While we didn’t have them over as much as we usually do in the summer, the twins were game for one last weekend of fun before the fall season starts officially. Noah was available for a trip to Boston, so we drove over for Labor Day weekend – as was our previous tradition. (Emi will join us for this weekend’s visit and a trip to Vermont.) Now that they are sixteen years old, it’s sometimes easier to do separate visits with them, as there is less competitive in-fighting and more quality one-on-one time. In this instance, Noah and I made the most of a pretty fine weekend in my favorite city.
Like any good Guncle worth his weight in retail therapy, I took Noah shopping along Newbury Street to get our bearings. It was actually his idea, as he wanted to find some clothing items after my questioning what his fall fashion theme was going to be (and insisting that he have one).
We stopped in a vintage shop, along with Arc’teryx and Uniqlo, and then began the walk to Chinatown where we had our stomachs set on Peking Duck. First, however, we found a matcha ice cream place and decided that no one was going to stop us from getting dessert first. That’s the beauty of these last weekends of summer – there are no rules, and anything goes. It would set our adventurous tone for the weekend.
Grateful for the walk to burn some of this matcha and taro swirl off, we made our way past the Public Garden and Boston Common, then took a careful perusal of Chinatown to see where we might find Peking duck.
As we passed the best place for pho (Pho Pasteur), Noah said maybe we should get that. I mentioned that a bowl of pho is always the kick-off to fall for me, so I was game, but we were both still torn between that and the duck. As it was getting late – and apparently even Chinatown closes up early these days – we ran the time down and ended up finding the last few minutes of food service at Pho Pasteur, which decided the dinner.
So it was that my first bowl of pho for this fall season was shared with my nephew Noah – and I can’t think of a finer dining companion. We had a good talk – and it set the practice for several good talks over meals, one of my favorite things to do. Noah seemed to enjoy it as well, and after finishing our bowls we each felt stuffed enough to warrant a walk home. We fell asleep almost immediately after the long day, preparing for the next morning…
Back to Blog
