Friday
Waited until ~4:30 pm to head to our RI house. We decided to stop for an early dinner at Northern Spy in Canton to wait out traffic. Luckily, we arrived before reservations started showing up so they were able to seat us. I wasn’t hungry so I went with eggplant/chickpea fritters (way over-fried and over-salted but I didn’t complain). The purée on which they were plated was good, especially with the good fries and Iggy’s bread dragged through it. Roasted carrot side was too sweet for me but I ate ‘em (I should’ve known, because honey was an element). Oblivious server brought out the adult double cheeseburger for Spring Onion. (My dude, you clearly see how small our kid is, right?) Initially, SO was dubious about the toppings (lots of pickles) but he tried and—Mikey—he liked it! He could only manage half-ish, the leftovers of which B gladly took home. B loved his braised beef flatbread…with optional bacon. Jayzuz, who are these people that I live with?! My dreams of raising a vegetarian kid have long been dashed. 
We visited the upstairs gallery, which was fitting for Memorial Day weekend, with its many artifacts from veterans from the area. SO is fascinated with WWI history in particular. See his mini Lego battleship? He’s been working on it, making improvements, for weeks.
Saturday
We thought it would be fitting to visit Battleship Cove for Memorial Day weekend. There is a ceremony on Monday, but the weather looks iffy so went this day. SO was so excited! It’s a favorite place of his; I didn’t accompany the guys on the first visit but did this time (my first time since I was a but a Spring Onion). I barely remember anything but I could see how you could spend hours there. And the biggest surprise…there is a restaurant on board (the Morse Code Galley) and it’s a hoot! It’s located in the wardroom pantry where officers took their meals. It may be privately owned/operated (I think…I was trying to eavesdrop on the people in front of me). There are 2 women running the show, they’ve worked together for 35 years, so you could say that they are like sisters. The jovial ribbing, the jokes with customers…I was in love. The food items were the usual suspects (chicken tenders, burgers, fish and chips, etc.) but were better than expected; SO loved the food so there’s that. He got chicken tenders (B had to help him and said they were good). B got the grilled chicken sandwich which he said was fine. I nibbled on fries (wasn’t hungry yet). Photo with free bumper sticker given to kids.
Of course, as a card-carrying Hungry Onion, I was most interested in the galley areas. How the hell did the cooks make so much food under less-than-ideal conditions, which presumably was tasty enough to keep up the morale of the sailors?! I forgot to take a photo of the fake food, but it made SO hungry! We saw this sign in one of the galley areas.
We finally hit up Portugalia! It certainly is the treasure trove that @SuzieCK and @tomatotomato have described. The tinned seafood selection is over-the-top. Feeling overwhelmed, I left with exactly 2 cans (both tuna). House bread (which was just so-so), 2 cheeses (I particularly liked the manchego), lots of wine (helpful guy in the wine section). As Arnold says, we’ll be bahk.
Afterwards, we stopped at Troy City Brewing. Pleasant spot staffed by pleasant people (lots of board games, if you’re into that kind of thing) but the beer wasn’t to B’s liking. I had the house red, which was fine. But, no matter, we’d go back just to hang out after the battleship (I’m sure we will visit again).
Sunday
It ain’t officially summer until we visit Blount Clam Shack. And today, we did. we got there early enough that we could nab a table with umbrella. Food line is long, but, dang, those college kids are efficient. SO wanted to try a clam (WOT?! Ok, sure!), so I got an order of full bellies and chowder (wish they had the RI clear chowder on the menu, but maybe it wouldn’t sell?); SO got a smashburger with Cheddar and bacon; B had the giant lobster roll lightly-dressed with dill mayo. Everything was cooked well, clams were awesome, lobster tasted fresh and lively, SO loved his burger. He didn’t love the taste of clam that I gave him. We brought our own utensils from home so we didn’t have to use the disposable plastic ones and at least they don’t have much plastic dinnerware. Unicorn ice cream cone at the Wright Scoop trailer adjacent to Blount for SO.
Afterwards, I picked up another bulk frozen RI clear clam chowder bag from Blount market down the street. We then headed to Colt State Park in Bristol and had a nice time on the water, skipping rocks, scrambling over rocks, watching the folks fishing off the pier. The reason why I mention it here is that it is a nice food memory for me. When I was around SO’s age, the Koreans of RI would gather every summer at Colt State Park for a big cookout…man, there would be like 50, 75, 100 of us (at least it seemed like that). Most of them lived in Newport so Colt State Park was a convenient location. We would set up a volleyball net (because Koreans LOVE volleyball and badminton) and the food - oh man, the food was the reason for getting together. The grills would be started almost immediately and the women would set about getting the food out…a feast of banchan, rice, bulgogi, etc. At least at 1 picnic, I remember some friendly white folks walking over and asking what the delicious smell was and someone would fix them a plate. I tried to convey these memories to SO today and it’s sadly lost on him but it’s too abstract. 
Monday
At the last minute, we hosted a new friend and her 5-year old kid who we met at a cool now-defunct bar/live music venue/record shop in Warren RI back in Jan/ Feb (?) (Upside Bar/In Your Ear). She is a NYT-published food writer and she knows EVERYONE. And I fed her a vacation-house meal (cheese plate from Portugalia and cobbled-together simple tacos out of what we had, light Portuguese wines). Fun afternoon. And now we’re back home in Arlington without encountering an ounce/milliliter of traffic.
