Kat's 9 Lives

This is my first time in Massachusetts and we took a trip to the Berkshires.  We stayed in a bed and breakfast inn for the night.  On our way back to Boston, Gourmet Pigs wanted to visit a local distillery and they recommended Rubi's Coffee & Sandwiches. Be sure to keep an eye out for this location as it is tucked away behind their market.  It can easily be missed, so if you can find their market then they can direct you to the right place.
The Grilled Cheese with comte grilled on pullman was nicely grilled on the outside but lacked a little oomph for me.  I like stronger cheeses and taste.  The comte they used was very light and subtle that is almost drowned out by the bread.  This was definitely too bland for me.  They should consider adding another stronger cheese to add flavor or a more aged comte.
We decided to share two sandwiches.  I wish I looked closely at the other board that had a grilled cheese with beef.  For the other sandwich we chose the Alpine with alpine cheese, cornichons, and dijon mustard on pullman.  This grilled cheese sandwich was much more flavorful and very tangy.  The cornichons added a nice crunch and made me shiver a little from the sourness.  I thought this sandwich was much better but I am not sure if it was really worth the price difference.  The regular sandwich was $5.50 and this one was $9.50.  It's definitely not that much better to be double the price.  Honestly, I would just buy all the ingredients from their adjacent market and make it myself as it would be much cheesier and tastier.
They offer a wide variety of baked goods that looked very tempting.  The cookies were nice and plump for about $2.50 each.  I thought the cookies were not bad but I like the inside to be a bit more soft and chewy on the outside.  This could also be that we ate it the next day since we were filling up on goodies all the way back to Boston.  I think I was also spoiled by the cookie I had at Ame's Street Deli in Boston.
I got the corn muffin as well because I was craving corn bread.  To be honest... I haven't even eaten it yet because I bought so many goodies from Boston! lol  It looked tasty.
As a picker upper, we both tried their fresh brewed coffee.  I decided to have the macchiato for that extra punch.  The coffee was strong but be warned about adding too much sugar.  I overestimated how many spoons and made my drink super sweet.  Luckily Gourmet Pigs had coffee and we ended up trying to blend the two drinks to even out the sweetness.  =D
All in all it was a cute place and I am glad we got to try it.  As for price point, I guess it isn't surprising for a tourist area.  Personally I like their store much better and would definitely shop there!

Rubi's Coffee & Sandwiches
256 Main St,
Great Barrington, MA 01230
(413) 528-0488

The first place I stopped inside the Boston Public Market was actually at the Red Apple Farm.  They had some tasty looking donuts laid out that I had to try.  Since I wanted to try a bunch of different places here, I couldn't spare too much tummy room.  I only got one mini cider donut to try.  It was a tasty morsel and a great way to start the day off.
They offer many apple-licious treats.  I was tempted to grab a chilled apple cider to drink.  Before checking out I saw that they had some apple bread/cakes to sample and I must say it was DELICIOUS! Sadly, I wanted to behave and didn't grab one.  Also, I am only visiting Boston for a short time and so many places to try out that I would not be able to eat the bread/cake by myself.  If you are there, pick one up and enjoy it for me!
At the check out stand they had McCrea's handmade caramels in classic caramel and black lava sea salt caramel.  I only recently opened the treats up and they were delicious too! Albeit a little pricey at 75 cents a pop but at least they were tasty.  I kind of wished that I bought some more.  =D
Red Apple Farm at the Boston Public Market
100 Hanover Street
Boston, MA 02108

 I decided to stop by Taza for a drink.  They specialize using stone ground chocolates.  We later actually went to the factory for a tour, which will be a later post ^_-.

The place was packed to the brim.  Even though it is already brisk outside, it does not stop patrons from coming by for a quick bite or drink.  They offer two types of caramel, burnt or salty.  I decided to get their infamous B3 (Brown Butter, Brown Sugar, Brownies) and one of the caramels.  Can we say sugar overload? lol
There were many delectable flavors to choose from.  I couldn't decide and due to the limited time, I had to maximize the visit.  The staff was friendly and I tried a bunch of flavors.  There was one that was totally named for me that I was tempted to get but so many choices! lol The Black Kat pictured above was very tasty and chocolatey.  Later I realized that it was a Kit Kat bit inside to give the extra oomph and bite.
All in all the texture was very smooth and Toscanini's had a lot of fun tasty flavors.  It was too bad that there was no space for us to sit and relax in the cold winter night.  The ambiance was very hip and a great place for friends to hang out.

Toscanini's Ice Cream
899 Main St,
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 491-5877