College Travels: Pastiche Fine Desserts and Cafe

Credit: pastichefinedesserts.com

There are many reasons to visit Providence, Rhode Island - museums, top-notch universities, and Waterfire, to name a few.

I am about to convince you that there is no better reason than Pastiche Fine Desserts and Cafe.

The mere memory of Pastiche's dopamine-inducing, rich and succulent cakes makes me swoon and drool all over my laptop. 

Pastiche is open every day of the week from morning til night. Its small European-cafe style creates a cozy atmosphere. My family took my friend and I on a Sunday night and it was packed. Although there were seven of us, we were seated in two booths within 20 minutes. The cakes arrived five minutes later. Cloud nine after the first bite!

After much deliberation, I chose a slice of the Chocolate Mousse Cake. It was simply divine. The texture was soft and light and the chocolate melted in my mouth. Needless to say, I finished it all.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

My friend chose the All American Chocolate Layer Cake. I tasted a bite and it was quite good. The star  was an adorable touch.

All American Chocolate Layer Cake

My aunt chose the Rasberry Almond Financier. I couldn't try it due to food allergies, but she raved  about it and the delicious sauce.

Rasberry Almond Financier

I hope these pictures convinced you to pay a visit!

Watch the following video of my Rhode Island trip! Clips of Pastiche's interior are included toward the end.

xxolivexx

College Travels: Waterfire in Providence, RI

The following photo essay accompanies this video -- watch it for my weekend traveling to Rhode Island!

Waterfire is a non-profit arts organization that transforms Providence with its summer celebrations. There are bonfires on the river, glowing koi, live music concerts, and vendors selling food. 

The following two photos are incredible pumpkin carvings!

xxolivexx

College Travels: Barrington Town Beach, Rhode Island

The following photos accompany this video. ^_^

Can you spot the fish?

xxolivexx

Taste Buddies Episode 1: Japanese Snacks!

Hi everyone! Welcome to the first episode of my new series called Taste Buddies! 

In this video Kait and I try Japanese candies and snack foods. We bought everything from Cherry Mart on Newbury Street in Boston. I highly recommend you go there if you want to try some authentic Japanese snack food.

Here's a little behind the scenes look at our trip:

Recognize the Caramel Corn from my other Japanese taste test video?

So many choices....

Lots and lots of nori (seaweed)

All the men watching the Olympic divers in the train station... haha

This video was so much fun to make, I look forward to making more episodes in the future!

xxolivexx

Florida tastes Boston

This past weekend, Nate's friend Mike from Florida visited Boston for the first time. We took him around Cambridge and Boston to give him an overview of the city. Mike's enthusiasm for everything made the trip even more fun -- it was great to see his reaction.

We rode the trains into Cambridge to show Mike Harvard University and Harvard Square.

Mike and Nate in Harvard -- very color coordinated!

Tradition dictates that visitors should touch the foot of John Harvard, but Nate told us the rushing frat boys pee on the foot, so Mike avoided physical contact.

Harvard library

Mike needs some ass stance.

Mike is majoring in Journalism, hence this picture. Now he can say he went to Harvard's writing program -- he went, took a picture, and left. :P

Of course, a mandatory visit to Newbury Comics, a quirky store with music, toys, and books.

Kait!!

I made them go to a Japanese/anime store across the hall from Newbury Comics -- Kait found this awesomely adorable hat!

The best part of the night was by far the cozy, personal concert performed by Kait and Mike. Both are amazing musicians and sang original acoustic songs. I was blown away!

Mike enjoying Kait's beautiful singing.

Nate listening and working hard on his poster for his research.

Saturday we went into Boston -- See the video at the top of this post for full coverage! I'm really happy with how it turned out.

xxolivexx