September 16, 2015 Lizzmonade
Lizzmonade is located at Pier 1, under the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO. When we got off the water taxi, we were looking for place to get a cold drink. A classic lemonade is $4.50 and add-ins are an additional fifty cents. In addition to lemonade, they offer coffee, tea, and sorbet.< a href=”http://www.dgrubs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/IMG_2259.jpg”>
We went with the classic lemonade and a blueberry lemonade (with whole blueberries). The drinks are made to order and you pick him up at the window on the other side. The lemonade hit the spot, tart, and not sweet. If you want your lemonade sweetened you can choose between sugar, stevia or agave.
Lizzmonade
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1, Brooklyn, NY
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September 15, 2015 Buffy’s Ice Cream Shop
Buffy’s is the quintessential Cape Cod ice cream shop. Located on Main Street in Chatham, this is the perfect place to take a break from all of your shopping! All of their ice cream is housemade, super creamy and delicious. You know they have delicious ice cream because the line is out the door on a hot summer day! There’s no seating inside, a bench out front and a few picnic tables around the side.
While their ice cream is delicious, I also had a raspberry lime rickey which was another great way to beat the heat! Prices are on par with other Cape Cod ice cream shops, about $5 for a small cone.
Buffy’s Ice Cream Shop
456 Main Street, Chatham, MA
Check out their Facebook page here.
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September 14, 2015 Pantry
I know you have seen the hype over those new meal delivery companies like Blue Apron, Purple Carrot (vegan), Plated and Hello Fresh. Well Pantry just opened in Washington Square about a month ago and like the companies I mentioned before, they offer complete meals – ingredients and step by step recipe cards, but you can walk into the store and pick them out yourself.
Here’s the kicker – they sell beer and wine pairings for all their recipes. I’ll wait while you pull your tongue off the floor!
The bi-level space is open and bright – the space is very visual – all the ingredients are laid out for you to check out and large posters showcasing the ingredients. They are offering about 8 recipes at the moment and hope to work their way up to 20 at a time. They change recipes frequently, don’t worry. You can purchase the recipes to have 2 servings or 4. They are affordably priced and work out to about $8-$10 a person.
You pick your recipe, here we chose the Moroccan Chicken, and all the ingredients are pre measured for you. All you need is a pan, a knife and some olive oil and you are ready to go. As you can see, the recipes have step by step photos so you can easily follow along!
Even the spices are measured out for you!
While our photos don’t look as pretty as the ones on the recipe card, it gives you an idea of what it looks like when you attempt it at home.
I chose this recipe because it uses ingredients that I wouldn’t normally cook with (as el hanout and currants) – this way I can try out flavors and if I like them, can go ahead and buy again in a larger quantity.
The finished product was delicious. I loved the cauliflower “cous cous” and the chicken was super tender, who knew I was capable of making such a gourmet meal!
Next we tried our hand at sweet potato flautas, again, not something I would know how to make at home so this was great! Note that I left the cilantro out of my recipe (I’m in the ‘it tastes like soap’ category).
The sweet potato mash was super simple to make – pop those potatoes in the microwave for 8-10 minutes are viola! I would eat this just as mashed sweet potatoes by the way! Again, very approachable, super simple to make, in fact, I’ve had a request to make them again!
I don’t think I had ever tasted jicama before and I am pretty sure I’ve avoided radish all together. But I have to say that the side salad was crisp with a little bit of a bite. The vegetables take on the sweetness of the honey and the spice of the chili powder.
The final product – and let me tell you – the lime zest crema MAKES this dish! Really delicious! Looking forward to heading back and checking out some other recipes – they have me inspired to start cooking again!
Pantry
1622 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA
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September 13, 2015 Revere Sandcastle Festival
Wow, this summer flew by! And per usual, some posts just get away from you! In July, we went to the Revere National Sand Sculpting Festival. We hopped onto the blue line and headed to the beach. The sculptures were amazing! For more information about the festival, you can check out the website here.
In addition to the great sculptures, the next big draw are the food trucks! We were able to check out some new ones that we don’t normally see.
Teri-Yummy offers teriyaki bowls served with rice and vegetables. You can choose from a variety of meats including: chicken, beef, shrimp, tofu or a combination plate.
After lunch we treated ourselves to a frozen hoagie. The truck opened in 2011 and serves hand scooped ice cream (Chilly Cow) into freshly baked cookies. We had the mint chip with chocolate chip cookies – YUM!! Really great treat on a super hot and sunny day (ok, it’s great even on not sunny days).
As we were heading out, the sopapillas were up and running (they had a rough start). So how could we leave without trying one right? Papi’s Stuffed Sopapillas are hand made to order. Never heard of a sapodilla? It’s a type of fried pastry or quick bread. The deep fried dough puffs up with a hollow pocket in the center, making it perfect for fillings! They offer both sweet and savory sopapillas. We had the bulgogi kimchi fusion – made with spicy Korean rib eye steak, sweet chili cream cheese, and kimchi cabbage and scallion slaw. A little on the messy side, but really quite delicious. I love re-imagined ways to serve my favorite dish, bulgogi!
Tags: asian, events, food trucks, ice cream, revere
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September 12, 2015 OMG! Bagels
It’s funny how small the world is. OMG! Bagels is owned by Ana Maria Vinha and her husband Jorge. Ana Maria used to babysit me when I was a kid! She happened to stop over to my parent’s house to share some tomatoes with my dad and they began to talk. He mentioned I was a blogger and that I would love to try out her product! So that’s how it happened. Later that week, I had more bagels in hand than I knew what to do with! Talk about a carb lovers dream! (And that was after my dad helped himself to some bagels and conveniently kept the bread for himself!) So of course I shared some with my friend Leah of Leah’s Life. And she already knew about them!! She said that the challah bread by OMG! was her go to for French toast! Will certainly have to pick some up and try it for myself! (or convince Leah to invite me over for breakfast!) 😉
Ana Maria grew up in a suburban town west of Boston and Jorge in Brasil. It all began when the two met while working at a bagel shop. You can read more about their story in an article in Edible Boston.
Everyone talks about the perfect New York bagel and how you can’t find one in Boston. I’m convinced it’s something in the New York water, but that is for another day. OMG! is the closest thing to a New York bagel that I have found in Boston, crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside.
The bagels come in delicious flavors like French Toast, honey oat, jalapeño cheddar, and a seasonal pumpkin raisin as well as traditional flavors like onion, poppy, garlic and cinnamon raisin. The bagels are made with premium ingredients and their veggie bagel is made with only fresh veggies, not canned or frozen! (Can’t wait to try the veggie bagel with my favorite begin cream cheese from Cape Cod Bagel!) So after reading the Edible Boston article, I HAD to try the cinnamon raisin, which is Jorge’s go-to. It certainly did not disappoint! The test of a truly good bagel is, ‘does it taste good on its own?’ Any bagel can taste good if you schmear enough cream cheese on it or load it up with enough meat and cheese. These bagels were so fresh – light and chewy. My favorite was the cinnamon and raisin, the flavors were really distinct.
OMG! opened a wholesale bakery about 2 years ago and now have over 21 varieties of bagels. They are in 14 Whole Foods and 4 Roche Bros. around Massachusetts. To find out where you can try these delicious bagels for yourself, check out the “where to find us” page on their website. You can also find them at local Farmers’ Markets: Tuesdays in Newton, Wednesdays in Wayland, Thursdays in Framingham and Saturdays in Ashland and West Newton.
In the meantime, visit their website, like them on Facebook and drool on your phone while checking out their Instagram page.
Disclaimer: I was provided bagels to sample for this post. (And bread, but you’ll have to ask my dad about that!) All opinions are my own.
Tags: bagels, farmers market, makers
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September 12, 2015 Molly’s
My co-worker went to Dartmouth and when she saw we were in Hanover, sent me a text saying we HAD to go to Molly’s for their cheap margaritas and the best bread in town. The bread is served warm and comes with a side of honey butter. She might seriously be right about the best bread in town…I can’t imagine how deadly this must have been after a hangover!
The buffalo ravioli ($11) was lightly breaded and served with red sauce. The special appetizer was enough to be a meal. They encourage you to share plates at Molly’s, so don’t be afraid to get a few small apps for the table instead of everyone getting their own entrees.
The chicken salad wraps($12) were tasty and came with a healthy little salad on the side. The lettuce was a bit flimsy, so we ate the chicken salad with a fork instead – no big deal! (Although, to be honest, we were picturing PF Changs chicken lettuce wrap style when we ordered.)
Monster Mud Pie ($7). Monster doesn’t even begin to cover it. We were almost embarrassed at the size of it when it came out. Almost. We were polite though and left the whipped cream on the plate so people didn’t think we were complete pigs. 😉
Molly’s
43 S Main Street, Hanover, NH
Tags: casual dining, new hampshire, outdoor seating, restaurant
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September 11, 2015 A Tour of the Blackstone Valley
Who knew that the Blackstone Valley, just an hour a away from Boston, had so much history? Not me obviously. In addition to all the historic sites, they have a lovely vineyard, Diamond Hill, that offers tastings all year round! The Blackstone Valley is also home to the Stadium Theatre that offers education programs for students, McCoy Stadium that is home of the Pawtucket Red Sox, and the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, RI. While you’re there, you have to try a “dynamite” sandwich in Woonsocket! In addition to the sites, they offer culinary tours, a fall foliage train ride (October 24th), a Polar Express train ride in the winter (weekends, November – December), and an American Girl train ride to celebrate American Girl’s “Girl of the Year” who grew up in the Blackstone Valley.
Our first stop was the Woonsocket depot for a visit with Hachiko. The dog met his owner, a professor in Japan, at the train station at the end of each day. Even after his owner’s death, the dog continued to go to the train station every day. The Japanese people were inspired and Hachiko became a national symbol of loyalty. In 2009, they filmed “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale” in Woonsocket, and this statue stands where the movie was filmed.
Our next stop was the museum of work and culture. This adorable pup was waiting to greet up when we arrived!
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, immigrants came in droves to Rhode Island for work in the mill towns. Through the nine immersive exhibits at the museum you are able to take a step back in time and see what their home lives were like, their work lives, and their schooling. The museum is open Tuesday – Sunday.
We then drove to Cold Spring Park for a cruise on the Explorer. The riverboat does a 45 minute nature cruise down the historic Blackstone River. Rides are free on the 4th Sunday of the month, check out their website for more information.
Tours run on Sundays from April to October and are affordably priced at just $10 for adults.
The river was once one of the dirtiest due to all the mills disposing of their waste directly into the water, but they are working hard on cleaning it up – we even saw someone fishing!
It’s customary at the end of your boat ride to ring the bell if you enjoyed your trip.
Every trip needs a break for snacks – we stopped over at Wright’s Dairy Farm and Bakery. Wright’s has been in business for 5 generations, since the 1900’s. They are a working dairy farm and have over 100 cows that they milk daily. No trip to Rhode Island would be complete without coffee milk, and Wright’s sells it along with other milk, cream, cheese and ice cream products. (If you save 100 caps from the milk, you get $5 off your next purchase!) When you walk into the retail space you are immediately greeted by the smell of delicious baked goods and cake frosting. There are far too many choices here and everything looks delicious.
You can watch them milk the cows daily from 3-5pm. Did you know that a baby cow weighs 80 pounds at birth? I’m pretty sure I’m not complaining ever again about childbirth!
The most picturesque stop on our trip was the Manville Dam. Check out Jeff Culter, pictured above, his photos are amazing!
This is a great spot for a picnic!
The last stop was the Kelley House, located along the Blackstone River Bikeway and the canal. The house was owned by Wilbur Kelley , a ships captain and mill owner. Did you know that in 2014, President Obama signed legislation that established Blackstone River Valley a National Historic Park? It’s the 402nd park in the system! The good news is that there are park rangers here and on the bike path to answer all of your questions! Speaking of bike paths, there are 5 great ones in the area, the East Bay bike path, the Washington Secondary bike path, the Blackstone River Bikeway that runs by the Kelley House, the Fred Lippitt Woonasquatucket River Greenway and the South County bike path. For more information about the paths, check out the Bike RI website. There’s not better time than the fall to go for a nice bike ride!
Tags: events, rhode island, trips
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September 10, 2015 Molly’s Cupcakes
I had head about Molly’s Cupcakes from their win on Cupcake Wars. I decided to head over to their New York location to see what all the hype was about!
I loved the feel of this place – and was surprised that more people weren’t hanging out here (I could spend all day here!) I picked up a few cupcakes for the girls at my office – they were pumped!!
(Clockwise starting at the top left) Cake Batter: vanilla confetti cake, raw cake batter, vanilla buttercream, festive sprinkles, Cookie Monster: vanilla chocolate chip cake, raw cookie dough center, buttercream, mini chocolate chip cookie, Flourless Chocolate: flourless chocolate cake, dulce de leche ganache filling, french vanilla buttercream, chocolate drizzle, Bimi’s Butterscotch: vanilla cake, butterscotch caramel pudding, salted vanilla buttercream, caramel drizzle, Strawberry Shortcake: vanilla cake, fresh strawberries cooked in brown sugar, vanilla buttercream, fresh strawberry topping, Chocolate Decadence ($3.75)
Lemon Mreingue ($3.75) lemon cake, lemon curd center, meringue. I loved this cupcake, from the light cake to the little bit of a crunch when you bit into the meringue.
Peanut Butter Nutella ($3.75) peanut butter cake, nutella filling, nutella buttercream frosting, with a dusting of cocoa. Check out their full menu here.
What’s your favorite flavor?
Molly’s Cupcakes
228 Bleeker Street, New York, NY
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September 9, 2015 Hyatt Regency Boston
Last week I was invited to check out the newly renovated Hyatt Regency Boston, conveniently located in Downtown Crossing.The area is definitely changing with recent additions such as Roche Brothers, Ogawa Coffee, Caffe Nero, Legal Crossing and the Boston Public Market. I drove my car, but the hotel is located near the T station – the silver line provides easy access to and from the airport, the red and orange line (Downtown Crossing/Park Street) are just steps away from the hotel, allowing you to explore the city and the green line is a couple of blocks away as well. The hotel offers valet parking and self parking options.
We head up to our room to settle in before we head down for dinner. The view from our room overlooks the hotel’s patio (where we will have dessert later in the evening) and showcases Boston’s skyline.
Every part of the hotel has been renovated, the only thing left to be completed are the elevators and the parking garage. The rooms are beautiful – spacious and comfortable (oh that bed!!). The rooms have a comfortable couch/sitting area and has a fridge if you want to bring leftovers back to your room!
We were greeted in our room with fresh fruit and perrier, a lovely touch for this (weary?) traveler!
We headed downstairs to the meeting/function rooms for cocktails and dinner. The appetizers were delicious, lobster with a corn salsa, cheese with lavender and cocoa and pate.
We were in luck that the Hyatt’s two resident pups were in the house and they came down and made a special visit. Meet Rocky, a two year old Boston Terrier, Remi’s brother. The pair couldn’t have been more adorable!
And this is Remington, “Remi” as his friends like to call him. He is the Canine Executive Officer (CEO) here at the hotel, a four month old Boston Terrier. He was named one of Boston Business Journal’s “Hardest Working Dogs in Boston” and is a Freedom Trail Foundation’s Tourism Ambassador. If you want to send him an email – he can be reached at remi@hyattboston.com (this dog has his own business card!) and you can follow his adventures by checking out his hashtag: #remiboston.
We headed into the Adrienne Salon for dinner, an oval shaped room next to the grand ballroom. The room is beautiful and would be perfect for a cocktail hour before a wedding. The other rooms have capacity for anywhere from 12 to 700 guests and they are named after Massachusetts towns: Duxbury, Dedham, Plymouth, Lexington, Concord etc.
Meet Executive Chef Kelly Armetta. He was in and out of dinner, explaining the dishes and threw in a few fishing stories here and there!
Dinner was served family style. The evening was casual, like you were at Chef Armetta’s house, guests cut bread, served salad and poured wine. Starting at the top left and moving clockwise: Cucumber Bulger Salad with micro cilantro and pickled vegetables; Local Feta with organic olive oil, red pepper flakes and grilled lemon; Roasted Beets with goat’s milk ranch dressing; green and white asparagus; Guinea Hen with fava bean and a sherry vinegar essence.
The dinner showcased the freshest ingredients of the summer. All the items were savory and approachable. Not pictured (but delicious) was the Roasted Atlantic Halibut with garlic leek ragout. It was perfectly cooked!
Meet Terry Dunbar, the Hyatt’s General Manager. Terry had a great sense of humor and rolled up his sleeves to carve the enormous Tomahawk Chops.
The chops had a Tunisian spice and were served with an heirloom tomato salsa, a perfect pairing.
The obligatory photo, someone had to do it. Thanks Dan!
After dinner I was completely stuffed! We rolled out to the beautiful outdoor private patio for dessert. Again, a great space for cocktails or dessert on a summer evening.
There was a wonderful selection of desserts, and for “research” I felt the need to have a little taste of everything…you know, to let you all know what you were missing! (You’re welcome!) There was a blueberry cobbler (far left), a molten chocolate cake that was served warm in mugs (and if you added some of that fresh whipped cream you would be in heaven), Ricotta cookies – Chef Armetta’s mother’s recipe, that were light as air with just a touch of sweetness, blackberry pudding cake with fresh berries picked from Chef Armetta’s garden. and honey roasted nectarines with fresh whipped cream. It was a delightful evening, the food was delicious and the company was even better, it was nice to get the chance to get to know some of the staff!
The next morning we headed down to breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant,
Avenue One. If you don’t have time for a sit down breakfast there is an Avenue One Express where you can grab a cup of coffee and grab a breakfast item to go! The restaurant has a full hot buffet that looked delicious.
I had the caramelized onions and roasted portobello omelet ($15) that had Grafton cheddar and came with a slice of delicious cranberry pecan toast, potatoes and seasonal berries.
We went with the steel cut oatmeal ($9) that comes topped with roasted bananas and strawberry, honey, almond granola and brown sugar. The dish is a Hyatt Stay Fit option. Hyatt’s Stay Fit program is designed for fitness conscious guests. In addition to offering healthy meal options, there is a fitness center and pool located in the hotel.
The fitness center has all new equipment by Life Fitness and is open to guests 24 hours a day. There are chilled towels, a sauna, a eucalyptus steam room and much more. The salt water pool was just heavenly, who doesn’t love a heated pool!
Disclaimer: Hyatt Regency invited me to be their guest and provided me with a room and all my meals. All opinions are my own.
Hyatt Regency Boston
1 Avenue de Lafayette, Boston, MA
http://regencyboston.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html
Tags: downtown crossing, events
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September 8, 2015 The Good Ones: Candy Land at the W Hotel
The Good Ones held their signature event of the month at the W Hotel. The theme was Candy Land. Guests arrived in bright colors and enjoyed the works of two local artists. Pictured above is Christy Chow’s “lollipops”, thin forms on the inside, layered with liquid sugar to ultimately form these zaftig women doing head stands. The pieces are 3,000 calories each! Christy was born and raised in Hong Kong and until recently she was based in Boston (now she is based in NY). Christy transforms mundane and tacky objects through mismatch of materials, tools and processes to create surprises and new definitions concerning humanity, sustainability and social justice. Her practice is interdisciplinary and involves video installations, interactive sculptures and performances. Chow holds a BA from The University of Hong Kong, a BFA from RMIT University and a MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Local artist Markus Sebastiano was at the event, getting interactive by creating this piece live! Markus is a mixed media artist who specializes in exclusive large scale installations in restaurants, hotels, commercial spaces and homes. His latest works can be seen in The Gallows, Tavern Road, Crudo and Banyan. His mediums include a blend of multidimensional elements and textures with the incorporation of reclaimed materials as often as possible. Check out his website to see him in action. It was amazing to watch him work.
The evening’s sponsors were Corn and Co. and Bixby Bars. Corn and Co is one of my favorite brands, they are a local company (based in Lowell) that makes flavors like birthday cake, s’mores, caramel, dill pickle and pizza (don’t worry they have your classic flavors as well!). Bixby Bars are reinvented premium chocolate bars. Each bar contains a handcrafted, artisan blend of organic chocolate, fruit, nuts, spices, and brown rice crisps creating a light and truly unique indulgence for the health-conscious consumer. All Bixby Bars are non GMO certified, vegan verified, earth kosher certified and gluten free. Basically guilt free chocolate right? 🙂 Bixby Bars come in delicious flavors like crystalized ginger and pecan, goji berry cardamom, bing cherry chipotle pepper peanut, and blueberry black pepper walnut. Check out their website for all their delicious flavors. The W was serving two specialty cocktails, Skittles, Stoli raspberry, citrus vodka, triple sec, apple liquor and red bull; and a lychee bellini, sparkling wine, lychee and raspberry puree.
(L-R) Carolyn Meenan, Co-Founder of the Good Ones; Ben Uyeda, Founder, HomeMade-Modern.com, which has reached over 10 million people worldwide; Tania Green, Founder, PMS Bites. You can pre-order Ben’s new book, hitting shelves on November 17th!
(L-R) Carolyn Meenan, Co-Founder of the Good Ones; Wayne Chang, serial entrepreneur and angel investor; Jennifer Brooke, Co-Founder of the Good Ones; Giuseppe Stuto, Co-Founder at http://www.smackhigh.com and Mentor.
Good One, Iva Nikolau.
(L-R) Deerdra Cetoute, Student and Dancer; Djenaba Takahashi, Head of Marketing at OneGigCo.com.
(L-R) Marisa Lopez and Ayesha Wilson, both Teacher Counselors for The Work Force Program, a youth serving after school program of the Cambridge Housing Authority.
(L-R) Sarah Friedman, Customer Success Manager at Millward Brown; Jennifer Brooke, Co-Founder of the Good Ones, Alessandra Maahs, Scientific Writer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
Alessandra in her “arm candy” outfit and Jennifer in her “Peppermint Patty” outfit!
(L-R) Alessandra; Sean Wan, Portfolio Analyst, Trader at Convexity Capital Management; Nathan Green, Product Manager, GMAT/GRE at the Princeton Review.
(L-R) Steve Osemwenkhae, Photographer and Filmmaker (check out his recent piece on the Good Ones); Iva Nikolau, Good One; Kupah James. Kupah is the owner of Klass Universal Entertainment (you can catch him at Highball Lounge), but so much more than that. He works at Equinox, as a trainer and he teaches cardio dance fusion, You may recognize him, as he was cast on Season 11 of The Bachelorette, and voted by STUFF magazine as one of Boston’s Sexiest (2011).
Interested in attending an event? Join the waitlist!
Tags: back bay, events, good ones, theater district
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