Castle Island Burgers and Mike's Pastry Cannoli

Towards the latter half of my trip home, my wonderful boyfriend came to visit for his first trip Massachusetts EVER! So I was very excited to show him around and of course, introduce him to some delicious local food. After a fun night at Fenway and a trip to Scusset beach by the Cape Cod Canal, we headed into Boston for the day with my family. Our first stop was to Castle Island, home of Sullivan's. Castle Island is a great summer spot right on the water and home of a very historical fort originally built in the 1600's. Sullivan's is a Castle Island staple consisting of fast-food style ordering, with downright delectable burgers, hot dogs, etc etc. The food just tastes like it came right off the grill in your backyard and your Dad cooked it with a whole lotta love. I got a cheeseburger and it was mouth wateringly delicious. It was greasy - but not too greasy, the cheese was perfectly melted and the bun smooshed everything together to form a harmony of happiness in my mouth. The four of us (Mom, Dad, Trav & myself) also split an order of onion rings and french fries. The onion rings are probably the best I have ever had - very crunchy on the outside, but not too heavy, with a soft mild onion on the inside. Their french fries are standard crinkle cut fries but also come with a fantastic crunchy outside and creamy potato inside. The weather was beautiful, our lunch was delicious, we really couldn't have asked for a better afternoon.

After soaking up some sun at Castle Island, we made our way to the North End, my absolute favorite part of Boston. I was super excited because there was a festival going on this weekend for Madonna Della Cava. The North End festivals are a great big celebration with lots of food, drinks, games and entertainment. Mike's Pastry is one of the most famous bakeries in the area and is one place I always try to get to when I am home. Their cannoli's are my favorite - very large with crunchy shells filled with thick creamy ricotta. I always get the chocolate chip cannoli - the ends are sprinkled with little chocolate chips. The line to get into Mike's was literally out the door and down the sidewalk so we got in line knowing that the wait would be worth it. My Mom ordered a bunch of cannoli's for us to take home - traditional ricotta filled, pistachio, florentine, and chocolate dipped. She also got a lobster tail, an extremely large pastry in the shape of a lobster tail filled with a lighter ricotta filling almost the consistency of whipped cream. I absolutely could not wait until after dinner to eat a cannoli, so I ordered a chocolate chip one to go for my boyfriend and I to split. Mike's cannolis are never a disappointment, time and time again they remain the best cannoli I have ever had. I am sad to say I was so excited about eating them that I forgot to actually take a picture of one, but I did take a few inside the pastry shop and at their stand on the festival street (which they humorously decorated with the advertisements pictured above). They do have a website so feel free to check that out, you can actually order cannoli's online and they will ship them to you!
http://www.mikespastry.com/