Some of the things kips love about the Boston area is that there are so many places to pick up yummy things. Here is a sampling:

• ClearFlour bakery (Brookline) – Best croissants this side of the Atlantic! The line around the block starts forming on weekends before they open at 9:00, but it is well worth the wait.
• Kotobukiya grocery and shops (Porter Square) – Where, in the words of Ming Tsai, you can “get a bowl of ramen the size of your head.” This is where we stock up on all our Asian staples: miso paste and tofu, shrimp chips (yum!), sushi rice, eel, seaweed salad, triangle rice lunchies, an pan and other yummies from the bakery, rice crackers for the babies, etc. etc.
• Formaggio Kitchen (Huron Village) – As the name implies, where you can get tasty, tasty imported cheese, as well as salami, olives, and other essentials.
• Arax market (Watertown) – One of the 3 or 4 Armenian shops along Mt. Auburn, where you can pick up the best hoummus, olives, labne, pita, all kinds of spices, as well as baklava and other sweets.
• Karl’s sausage kitchen (Saugus) – This one is a little farther away from the action, but worth the drive if you are having a craving for anything German: homemade sausages, potato salad (real, like in Germany), all of your typical selections of Sauerkraut, Rotkraut, Senf, Schokolade, Keks, usw.