Monthly Roundup: May – 2025

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Warmer weather is here and I have to get in summer shape. I’m going to try to take it light this month so hopefully I’ll feature more home cooked vegetables. I don’t have any big plans for the month, but of course I’ll make something for cinco de mayo.

May 1
So maybe the first day of May didn’t start out light. I had a cheeseburger for lunch from DeNo’s. I stopped buy Lower Falls for a French spirits tasting where I tried a new gin. Then I took Kelly to Mario’s for our usual Mediterranean salad and meatball sub. The sub bread wasn’t toasted today like it usually is, but it was still good. After dinner we went to Via Lago for dessert, a delicious berry crumble with ice cream. I’ll do better tomorrow.

May 2
As of this morning I was eight pounds over my goal, but today I did a little better. I had a light lunch and a sensible dinner. Verrill Farm has started to harvest their first batch of asparagus so I got some. I also got filet from Concord Market. And I had a potato so I made a little mashed potato.

May 5
Happy Cinco de Mayo. Last night I made charro beans, and I’m going to share the process here so I remember the next time. I cooked pinto beans with onion, garlic, bay leaf, and a ham bone for about two hours. I fried bacon in a pan and then cooked onion, jalapeno, cilantro stems in the drippings. To that I added tomato, chipotle in adobo, and Mexican oregano. I cooked that for a while until it was thick and jammy. I combined the beans, ham from the bone, bacon, my vegetable mixture, and some fresh cilantro leaves and cooked that down for another hour.

So tonight, I made green chili chicken, Mexican rice, and plenty of margaritas!

May 6
I went to Riverside Pizza for lunch and tried the gyro for the first time. It was very good, worth getting again.

May 8
We had dinner at Karma tonight. We got shumai, beef teriyaki, and some sushi. Thomas ate the beef teriyaki which was exciting. I also tried a new gin, Hendrick’s Oasium. Afterward we went to Bedford Farms and got some ice cream for dessert.

May 10
I made breakfast this morning, bacon and scrambled eggs with toast. Michael stopped by and brought a bottle of gin back from his trip to Ireland, Nora’s Irish Dry. We also took Thomas to Karma for dinner. We got a lot of the usuals, but Harvey also gave us a complimentary yellowtail and jalapeno that was very good.

May 11
Happy Mothers Day! I took Kelly to Eva’s Little Kitchen for breakfast and we got a muffin and a breakfast sandwich. Very good as usual. For dinner, I got her Indian food from Holi. Keema mater is one of her favorites and it had great flavor but wasn’t spicy enough.

May 12
I got a lamb roast at Wilson Farms. It was priced at over $55 but was reduced to $15. That’s a steal. I should have bought more. Tonight I roasted half of it and served it with a tomato-asparagus-feta salad.

May 14
Tonight I made the second half of the lamb roast. I’m still shocked at the $3.25 per serving cost. Tonight I served it over mashed sweet potatoes and topped with a whipped feta sauce made with feta cheese, greek yogurt, rosemary, and garlic olive oil.

May 15
I had a meeting at the State House in Boston this morning. I’ve wanted to try Sam LaGrassa’s for a long time and so after the meeting I walked over and got the Pastrami Rueben. Very expensive but very good.

May 16
I made some pasta for dinner tonight. It’s one of my favorite ways to use up a bunch of random things in my fridge. I used chicken, cherry tomatoes, an onion, and some broccoli. Turned out great.

May 17
It’s hard to pick a single picture from today. Despite the damp weather we took a road trip up to Maine stopping in Wells and Kennebunk. Our first bite was at Billy’s Chowder House where we had some less than memorable chowder but a great fish sandwich and a lovely glass of rum punch. From there we went to Batson River Brewing in Kennebunk where we had a spectacular pretzel and of course a gin. From there, we stopped by The Clam Shack and got a blueberry hand pie that was pricy but worth getting again. Last we went to Allison’s Restaurant in Kennebunkport to get potato skins. They were great, but we should have skipped the blueberry brioche bread pudding and gone back for another hand pie.

May 18
Michael had us over for dinner tonight. He made lamb burgers, fennel-blood orange salad, and rice with tzatziki. We also opened a bottle of Gunpowder Irish Gin.

May 21
Tonight I made pork chops with mashed potatoes and roasted carrots. Simple but very good.

May 23
Sadly we found out that Via Lago is closing, even worse, they are booked up until they shutter and we couldn’t get dinner there tonight. So we went to Beijing instead. We went with the Peking Duck tonight but got buns instead of pancakes which was amazing. After dinner we went to Rancatore’s for ice cream. I got Bombay which had cardamom, saffron, pistachios, cashews, and almonds, crazy but good.

May 24
Pizza day, we got a chicken, ham , jalapeno pizza from New London. I also got another scoop of ice cream from Rancatore’s, strawberry.

May 28
I made dinner tonight and I have to be honest, it didn’t turn out that great. The brussels were underdone, the steak was overdone, and the mashed potatoes were just there. At least the Greek pasta salad I made for my wife to take to work turned out great.

May 29
I went to The Real Deal for lunch just to get a slice of pizza. I hadn’t been there in a long time, but was close by and remembered I liked the chicken-bacon-ranch. It’s expensive for a slice, more than $7, but it was tasty.

For dinner, I took Thomas to Bedford House of Roast Beef. He got a grilled cheese and I tried the Chicken Kabob Sub. It was different than I’m used to. The dressing was more oil based rather than creamy. The bread is buttered and grilled and the chicken is seasoned and tendered. We also shared some fries. It was a good dinner.

May 30
I took Thomas to get a donut before school today. I didn’t plan on getting one, but he wanted me to and I wanted to be a good dad. Dunkin’ makes a pretty bad jelly donut these days. I didn’t enjoy it. Maybe, I’m getting spoiled. He enjoyed his chocolate whoppie pie donut though so I’ll be back.

For lunch, Kelly and I went to Fishbones. I tried the chowder again and liked it better this time. I also got a tuna melt which was on their lunch specials list. It was good, but on ciabatta, which isn’t as good as on sliced bread. It also came with a little salad which didn’t excite.

I skipped dinner, but did share a strawberry-banana frappe from Kimball’s in Carlisle with Kelly.

May 31
I had Sotheara and Chovry over for dinner. It is always a risk making Asian food for Asians but I think they were impressed. I did green beans with pork, chicken and broccoli, and white rice. I need to work on my brown sauce, but overall it was great.

Best of the month
3. Charro beans
2. Pastrami Rueben – Sam LaGrassa’s
1. Spicy green beans with pork

hungrytommy links:
DeNo’s – quick bite
Mario’s – quick bite
Karma – quick bite
gin no. 109 – The Collection (new)
Sam LaGrassa’s – quick bite (new)
Billy’s Chowder House – chowder quest (new)
Maine Beaches Region – travel bite (new)
The Clam Shack – travel bite
Beijing – quick bite
New London – quick bite
Bedford House of Roast Beef – quick bite
Fishbones – chowder quest
2025 Gin


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