Author: Ed

Encore Presentation: Show Dog “Harvard” Insists He’s Just a Regular Guy

We ran into former Sunday Dog "Harvard" recently and this handsome guy looked just as buff as the day of our original photo shoot 2-years-ago.

Since that feature continues to be a fan favorite, we'd like to share it with anyone who might have missed it or those of you who just want to see it one more time!

Enjoy this Sunday Dog Encore – Show Dog “Harvard” Insists He’s Just a Regular Guy

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.

Time to think about what your dog will wear to all the Halloween events that pop up around the city. Amazon has a great selection of Halloween costumes for dogs to give you some ideas.

Details:
Words: Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2011 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers’ comments, we welcome hearing from the people that are part of the places and services we cover. Often, those comments add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

October 27, 2013
Follow the Fall Foliage into the City of Boston

We've been following the colors of fall as they tiptoe their way into the city. Yankee Magazine's foliage map now has our area shown as peak color. Our guess is that, here in the city, you'll still see some stunning scenes into November. We're still seeing lots of green as a backdrop to those early show-off trees.

Here are a few links that will prove useful for planning a leaf peeping excursion.

Please tell us where your favorite foliage spots are and let us know if you have a resource to share. You can add it in the comments below or send it via Twitter.

Perhaps the most complete roundup of New England foliage information can be found on jeff-foliage.com.

This is a comprehensive site with a discussion forum, photo galleries, festivals, multi-media, webcams, predictions, reports, touring ideas, and safaris. All this with a big dose of expert tips on how to do everything from catching peak foliage to practising the art of getting lost.

For the latest updates, follow Jeff on Twitter, @Foliage_Report or on Google+, Jeff Foliage.

While we're at it, here are a few more links that we've collected as New England Foliage resources.

Massachusetts Fall Foliage Fun Planner - You can add your photos to their collection or enjoy some armchair leaf peeping as you enjoy the photo array.

Yankee Magazine's Foliage Guide

50 Fun Travel Ideas for the New England Fall Foliage Season

We'll update with any new sites we find. Get out there and enjoy the peak of foliage season!

Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. It doesn't cost you any more but they put a few coins in our tip jar.

What's on your Fall Shopping List. Click here for Fall Season Savings over at Amazon.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

The Apple Lover's CookBook by Amy Traverso

New England Fall Foliage Update 10/17/13

October 25, 2013
Follow the Fall Foliage into the City of Boston

We've been following the colors of fall as they tiptoe their way into the city. Yankee Magazine's foliage map now has our area shown as peak color. Our guess is that, here in the city, you'll still see some stunning scenes into November. We're still seeing lots of green as a backdrop to those early show-off trees.

Here are a few links that will prove useful for planning a leaf peeping excursion.

Please tell us where your favorite foliage spots are and let us know if you have a resource to share. You can add it in the comments below or send it via Twitter.

Perhaps the most complete roundup of New England foliage information can be found on jeff-foliage.com.

This is a comprehensive site with a discussion forum, photo galleries, festivals, multi-media, webcams, predictions, reports, touring ideas, and safaris. All this with a big dose of expert tips on how to do everything from catching peak foliage to practising the art of getting lost.

For the latest updates, follow Jeff on Twitter, @Foliage_Report or on Google+, Jeff Foliage.

While we're at it, here are a few more links that we've collected as New England Foliage resources.

Massachusetts Fall Foliage Fun Planner - You can add your photos to their collection or enjoy some armchair leaf peeping as you enjoy the photo array.

Yankee Magazine's Foliage Guide

50 Fun Travel Ideas for the New England Fall Foliage Season

We'll update with any new sites we find. Get out there and enjoy the peak of foliage season!

Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. It doesn't cost you any more but they put a few coins in our tip jar.

What's on your Fall Shopping List. Click here for Fall Season Savings over at Amazon.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

The Apple Lover's CookBook by Amy Traverso

New England Fall Foliage Update 10/17/13

October 25, 2013
At the Market: Stocking Up for Winter

Carrying home farmers' market shopping bags can be a workout this time of year because Ed and I are toting a few extra items to fill our pantry for the winter months.

Local Honey

Honey is the number one item on our list. We buy the majority of the honey we eat from Foppema's Farm. We love the flavor and appreciate the fact that it's a local product, simply collected with all the phytonutrients and traces of local pollens.

Honey stores perfectly well in a cool dark spot and will last for years, so we never worry about buying too much. Our only concern is making sure we have enough to get through the months when we can't get our favorite.

Young, Fresh Ginger

Local, young ginger from Old Friends Farm is another fall favorite around here. Penny recently read this page on the Old Friends website about freezing this lively, full-flavored alternative to the dried-up ginger you often find in mainstream stores.

She tried it and is thrilled to know she can have a supply of great ginger until next September rolls around and it appears again at the corner of the Atlas Farm stand devoted to products from their neighbors at Old Friends Farm.

Maple syrup is available all winter but if you like to buy it at the market, you can stock up. This jug came from Boston Organics and we keep it in the freezer. Pure maple syrup has no additives or preservatives. It has a higher water content than honey, so it can and will grow mold if you don't use it quickly.

In the freezer, it never becomes solid so you can still pour out what you need and return the jug to it's chilly storage spot.

Pumpkins and Winter Squash

More cooks are discovering the golden goodness of winter squash, and pumpkin. Food sites like The Kitchn are showing us how to make the most of the harvest while it's in season. Here's a recent post they did on "Two Ways to Freeze Winter Squash."

What will you be taking home to store for winter use? How will you store it? How will you prepare it? Are you making jams and jellies? Apple butter? Hard cider? Tell us about your favorite stockpiles!

Click here to read more of our At The Market Reports.

PRIME
What do you know about Amazon Prime? We use it and love it. You pay once a year for free 2-day shipping delivery charges. Amazon throws in access to instant streaming movies and TV shows and they let you borrow a free ebook each month. They will even give you a one month free trial. Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 24, 2013
At the Market: Stocking Up for Winter

Carrying home farmers' market shopping bags can be a workout this time of year because Ed and I are toting a few extra items to fill our pantry for the winter months.

Local Honey

Honey is the number one item on our list. We buy the majority of the honey we eat from Foppema's Farm. We love the flavor and appreciate the fact that it's a local product, simply collected with all the phytonutrients and traces of local pollens.

Honey stores perfectly well in a cool dark spot and will last for years, so we never worry about buying too much. Our only concern is making sure we have enough to get through the months when we can't get our favorite.

Young, Fresh Ginger

Local, young ginger from Old Friends Farm is another fall favorite around here. Penny recently read this page on the Old Friends website about freezing this lively, full-flavored alternative to the dried-up ginger you often find in mainstream stores.

She tried it and is thrilled to know she can have a supply of great ginger until next September rolls around and it appears again at the corner of the Atlas Farm stand devoted to products from their neighbors at Old Friends Farm.

Maple syrup is available all winter but if you like to buy it at the market, you can stock up. This jug came from Boston Organics and we keep it in the freezer. Pure maple syrup has no additives or preservatives. It has a higher water content than honey, so it can and will grow mold if you don't use it quickly.

In the freezer, it never becomes solid so you can still pour out what you need and return the jug to it's chilly storage spot.

Pumpkins and Winter Squash

More cooks are discovering the golden goodness of winter squash, and pumpkin. Food sites like The Kitchn are showing us how to make the most of the harvest while it's in season. Here's a recent post they did on "Two Ways to Freeze Winter Squash."

What will you be taking home to store for winter use? How will you store it? How will you prepare it? Are you making jams and jellies? Apple butter? Hard cider? Tell us about your favorite stockpiles!

Click here to read more of our At The Market Reports.

PRIME
What do you know about Amazon Prime? We use it and love it. You pay once a year for free 2-day shipping delivery charges. Amazon throws in access to instant streaming movies and TV shows and they let you borrow a free ebook each month. They will even give you a one month free trial. Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 24, 2013
Mas Marcé El Set: Milk from a Rare Breed of Sheep

El Set, a sheep milk cheese from the Mas Marcé area of Spain is our latest taste delight from Formaggio South End.

With a pretty basket pattern, El Set looks great on a cheese tray. Its dry texture and herby flavor will please many a cheese lover. This is not an overwhelming sheepy cheese like many of the ones we love. But, we planned to enjoy it with a piece of fresh pecorino and didn't want something that would mask the flavor of the milder cheese.

This is a "hero cheese," in our opinion, because it's made from the milk of a rare breed of sheep that's native to the Catalan region of Spain. And, it is a vegan cheese since the cheesemakers use thistle rennet found in the same pastures where the sheep graze. When you buy this cheese, you are helping to preserve the sheep whose milk production is too low for mass producers.

We are so fortunate to have cheese shops like Formaggio Kitchen and Formaggio South End where you can find a new cheese with a great story each time you visit. And, if you follow them online, they will tell you those stories one wedge at a time. You'll find links to their facebook and twitter pages on their website links above.

Here's an example from their Facebook page.

And, here are other items from our Cheese Tray!

What's on your Cheese Shopping List? Here are some great books about cheese. These make wonderful gifts for a cheese lover. And, when you shop Amazon from here, they put some coins in our tip jar.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 PennyCherubino , Shreenshot courtesy of Formaggio South End

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 23, 2013
Mas Marcé El Set: Milk from a Rare Breed of Sheep

El Set, a sheep milk cheese from the Mas Marcé area of Spain is our latest taste delight from Formaggio South End.

With a pretty basket pattern, El Set looks great on a cheese tray. Its dry texture and herby flavor will please many a cheese lover. This is not an overwhelming sheepy cheese like many of the ones we love. But, we planned to enjoy it with a piece of fresh pecorino and didn't want something that would mask the flavor of the milder cheese.

This is a "hero cheese," in our opinion, because it's made from the milk of a rare breed of sheep that's native to the Catalan region of Spain. And, it is a vegan cheese since the cheesemakers use thistle rennet found in the same pastures where the sheep graze. When you buy this cheese, you are helping to preserve the sheep whose milk production is too low for mass producers.

We are so fortunate to have cheese shops like Formaggio Kitchen and Formaggio South End where you can find a new cheese with a great story each time you visit. And, if you follow them online, they will tell you those stories one wedge at a time. You'll find links to their facebook and twitter pages on their website links above.

Here's an example from their Facebook page.

And, here are other items from our Cheese Tray!

What's on your Cheese Shopping List? Here are some great books about cheese. These make wonderful gifts for a cheese lover. And, when you shop Amazon from here, they put some coins in our tip jar.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 PennyCherubino , Shreenshot courtesy of Formaggio South End

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 23, 2013
Beanstock Coffee’s Ethiopian Amaro Gayo
We have been trying to expand our coffee horizons by selecting one special blend each time we reorder our coffee from Beanstock Coffee Roasters. This month, they were featuring Ethiopian Amaro Gayo and it was an instant hit around the BostonZest office.

Beanstock says:

"This outstanding coffee is full-bodied and juicy with luscious notes of blueberry and blackberry, but it's best feature may well be that it is exported through Ethiopia's only female miller/exporter, Asnakech Thomas. Many social programs are in the works though support of this coffee including job creation, school creation and medical care. A high end coffee and certified organic."

We Say:
- Smooth, rich, nice crema
- Penny likes it for her second cup in the morning after her favorite Black Fish Creek robust blend wakes her up for the day.
- Ed is a big fan of the flavor notes in Ethiopian coffees. His regular blend is Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. So, this falls right in his sweet spot.
- We're both happy that Beanstock tells us the story of the people they support so that we can enjoy the coffee knowing about the producers.
Here it is made into a cortado for Penny with equal amounts of steamed milk and espresso.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
October 22, 2013
Beanstock Coffee’s Ethiopian Amaro Gayo
We have been trying to expand our coffee horizons by selecting one special blend each time we reorder our coffee from Beanstock Coffee Roasters. This month, they were featuring Ethiopian Amaro Gayo and it was an instant hit around the BostonZest office.

Beanstock says:

"This outstanding coffee is full-bodied and juicy with luscious notes of blueberry and blackberry, but it's best feature may well be that it is exported through Ethiopia's only female miller/exporter, Asnakech Thomas. Many social programs are in the works though support of this coffee including job creation, school creation and medical care. A high end coffee and certified organic."

We Say:
- Smooth, rich, nice crema
- Penny likes it for her second cup in the morning after her favorite Black Fish Creek robust blend wakes her up for the day.
- Ed is a big fan of the flavor notes in Ethiopian coffees. His regular blend is Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. So, this falls right in his sweet spot.
- We're both happy that Beanstock tells us the story of the people they support so that we can enjoy the coffee knowing about the producers.
Here it is made into a cortado for Penny with equal amounts of steamed milk and espresso.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
October 22, 2013
Would You Love Taking Care of Roses?
Did you know there are roses in Boston just waiting for you to volunteer some time to deadhead, prune, and care for them?

One thing people miss when they move from the suburbs to the city is gardening. Yes, some folks have a small front or back yard garden area, but others find themselves without plants to tend.

Community gardens are one answer if you have lots of time to tend a plot of land. However, there are alternatives for those who would enjoy an occasional garden chore in the company of other rose lovers.

The Boston Public Garden Rose Brigade

The Friends of the Public Garden has a group of volunteers called the Rose Brigade that has cared for the four rose beds for decades. Click on the link to learn how to join this group on a one time or regular basis.

Kelleher Rose Garden, Back Bay Fens
Here, it's the Emerald Necklace Conservancy that organizes the volunteers. You can join them deadheading and pruning roses and weeding the rose beds and borders on Tuesdays. Details are at this link.

If you know of other opportunities for the occasional gardener, please share in the comments below. It doesn't have to be a rose garden, some folks might like to grow tomatoes or tend hostas!

What do you know about Amazon Prime? We use it and love it. You pay once a year for free 2-day shipping delivery charges. Amazon throws in access to instant streaming movies and TV shows and they let you borrow a free ebook each month. They will even give you a one month free trial. Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
October 21, 2013