Thai Sweet Basil and Some Gelato Too!

Today I headed up to Andover to go to my most favorite Thai food restaurant: Thai Sweet Basil. This place is amazing. The ambiance is great, there are tapestries all along the wall that make me want to go to Thailand just to get one of these things. The wait staff are very friendly too.
Here are my personal suggestions if you go:
This dish to the left is a must have for a starter. It is a Mango Cucumber Salad. Just a warning, the white squares are squid. But, really, I don't usually enjoy squid, but this is delicious.

For the main course, my friend and I tried two dishes. I had the Changmai Noodles. The picture is here to the left. This is delicious. I highly recommend this dish. It's mildly spicy, but not overly so. I beleive they are crispy noodles (not so crispy since they're in the sauce) but they sprinkle some crispy noodles on top too, which will soften once they are mixed in the sauce.
My friend tried the Crazy Noodles. These were excellent as well, although I liked my noodles better. These are pictured here to the right.

This restaurant is a 10 in my book :-)

Here's the address:
209 N Main St
Andover, MA
(978) 470-8098

With the scorching heat (97˚F in Boston today) we decided to get some gelato to cool down and relax. My friend brought me to yet another amazing place to eat. We headed over to Dolce Freddo Gelado in Methuen. I would never have found this place, it's just a small little café in a nondescript plaza but the gelato is amazing. They make all their gelato fresh every day, and evidently they have different flavors every day, there are over 100 that they make. Flavors include watermelon (and it actually tastes like a real watermelon, not some artificial flavoring), tiramisu, pistachio, and I tried a taste of something that I have never heard of before; chocolate with cayenne pepper. At first it tastes like chocolate, but then after a minute, you get a kick, right in the back of your throat. I don't think I could have eaten a whole bowl of that flavor, but evidently it's good with another flavor to clear the palate. Anyway, I would also highly recommend this gelateria.

Here is the address:
300 Merrimack St.
Methuen, MA 01844
http://www.dfgelato.com/