Flour Bakery - Boston, Massachusetts

Flour Bakery is a well loved bakery and cafe with three locations in the Boston area. They're best known for their sticky buns, which are full of buttery, sugary, nutty, melt in your hands and mouth goodness. They have to be tried to be understood. These sticky buns are so popular that you need to get there early, or pre-order them so they hold some for you. We got there after 9am so had to drive to a second location to get our hands on this one, but it was well worth the drive!



There is much more to Flour than just their world famous sticky buns, however. Pretty much everything they make seems to have magical qualities. I'd never had a "muffin top" before but when I saw a Vanilla Berry Muffin Top in the window, I had to try one. I really love this muffin top idea. After all, the best part of the muffin is at the top where the sugar sort of crystalises and the muffin goes all golden brown. Not sure if anyone could do the muffin top as well as Flour. It was moist all the way through and full of berries. In fact, it was so good we had to go back and buy whatever was left of the batch. Luckily for our wallets and waistline - only one. Yes, please!



This breakfast sandwich was also incredibly tasty - eggs the way you like it (we got ours scrambled), ham or bacon, fresh lettuce and tomato and the most refreshing mustardy sauce on a soft but not too soft bread roll. Simple yet amazing stuff!



Flour Bakery - a must visit when you're in Boston.

El Super - Inglewood, California

Another gem we discovered in Los Angeles was El Super, an awesome Mexican grocery store. We visited the Inglewood store, but there are several locations in the Los Angeles area.


The name is pretty accurate. It was actually super. They have most of what you'd expect to find in a grocery store, plus a whole lot more Mexican stuff that you may have never tried. We loved it so much, we went back a few times during our stay.

The panaderia (bakery) selection was huge with all kinds of breads and cakes.


The prices were excellent. For example, we got a bunch of different flavors of Mexican sodas (mostly Jarritos brand) and I'm pretty sure they were 3 for $2.


They also sell cool stuff like nopales (cactus).


And they sell the most delicious gelatina mosaico from the deli. We didn't want this stuff to end when we were eating it, so addictive!


For a really fun, cheap and different grocery shopping experience check out El Super in Los Angeles.

Ricos Tacos El Tio - Inglewood, California

On arrival in Los Angeles and to start our latest trip to America in June, we went straight to In-N-Out Burger (see previous post), then to check in to our hotel in Hawthorne. Hawthorne is near the airport and not in the nicest part of town, but we were on a budget. In fact, Compton is only a couple of suburbs away. However, you never know where you are going to find great food and that night we found it at Ricos Tacos El Tio in the neighboring suburb of Inglewood at 4200 West Imperial Hwy. We followed the crowd and we weren't disappointed.


Side view of Ricos Tacos the morning after our introductory visit

Mexican Taqueria style food - the real stuff. I can't tell you everything on the menu, but the basics are tacos, tortas (Mexican sandwiches) and burritos. There are plenty of choices when it comes to meat - carne asada, bbq pork, chicken and several others. Most dishes are served with pickled carrots, radishes, jalapeños and lime on the side.


BBQ Pork Tacos

Prices are good, service is fast, opening hours are long and they're always busy. We visited a few times within the course of a couple of days and managed to sample several of their homemade aguas frescas - Tamarindo, Pineapple, Melon and my favorite Horchata (rice water). Definitely delicious and refreshing on a summer's day.


Taco, Burrito and Aguas Frescas

This place is definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the Inglewood area and want good authentic food on a budget.