Boston's North End plus baseball

The essential utensils embedded in a Salem Street sidewalk are emblematic of the importance of food to this vibrant neighborhood.

We walk past dozens of restaurants on our afternoon stroll and are reminded of some favorite places: Florentine Cafe, Veneto, Lucca--names of cities that conjure up good food and good times. The scents wafting from the open doors mingle and form a giant pot of ragu in the atmosphere. It smells like a Nonna's kitchen, mixed with a touch of city funk.

We stop for a glass of wine at the Florentine Cafe--steely chardonnay from Veneto for me, Barbera for Joe--then head to our reserved table at Trattoria di Monica, where we enjoy a feast. For me, roasted veal braciole stuffed with cheese and herbs and surrounded by salty prosciutto, atop a bed of house made green fettuccini.

Joe had fresh spinach and ricotta gnocchi topped with a peppery pork ragu. A bottle of Salice Salentino from Puglia gave us the top to toe all-Italia experience we were craving. Oh, did I mention that the primi was fried pumpkin blossoms stuffed with goat cheese? No? Silly me.

After our early dinner, we boarded the Green Line at Haymarket for a trip to Fenway Park--game 2 of the American League Division Series. Happy to say that the full-house crowd was electric and helped spur our Red Sox to a 7-4 victory over the Rays.