Category: City Life

  • This Sidewalk’s Made for Exercise Biking…

    IMG_7016 - Version 22013-12-04© 2011 cherubino, exercise-bike-25

    First, some city worker decided to plant a pole in the pedestrian space on this sidewalk rather than putting it in the utility strip near the curb. Then, someone locked an exercise bike to the pole to take up a bit more of the sidewalk.

    Hope the new city administration reads Jeff Speck's book, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time, and starts thinking about how each small decision impacts pedestrians. 

    Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Holiday Gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

     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.

  • Where to Dine on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day 2013 in Boston

     

    UPDATE: Where to Dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2015 in Boston

     

    Where can you dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the Boston area? There are a few great choices! But, if you're planning to dine at one of Boston's fine restaurants over the holidays, make a reservation!

    6a00e54fc42bb888340120a6fe484b970b-800wi

    Don't be surprised if a deposit is required to hold your reservation or if there are special menus and seatings for these special holiday meals. Unfortunately, restaurants have been forced to do this because of people who make multiple reservations so they can decide at the last minute where to go. This leaves other diners without choices and the restaurants with empty tables.

    What's Open on Christmas Eve?

    There are more choices on Christmas Eve than on Christmas Day. Some of our favorite, special places have wonderful holiday meals planned for those who reserve for the 24th.

    • The legendary team from L'Espalier offers a prix fixe Christmas Eve menu.  
    • La Morra in Brookline is an ideal spot to meet friends or family from that side of the Boston area. They are offering family style dining, "sharing traditional dishes of Piedmonte."
    • Meritage at the Boston Harbor Hotel has a four course prixe fixe menu set for the 24th.
    • The Petit Robert Bistro locations will be open with regular meals and specials. We like the one on Columbus Ave in the South End.

    At the early date of this posting, some places have not announced their traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes events for Chistmas Eve. Check back or follow us on Twitter for updates on this fun holiday dining option. 

    • Grotto has their Feast listed on Boston Chefs. This tiny Beacon Hill gem was one of the first to present this holiday tradition.
    • Kitchen and Marliave, Grotto's siblings in the South End and Downtown, are joining in the festive fish feast.

    What Boston Area Restaurants Are Open on Christmas?

    Hotel restaurants, since they must serve the hotel's guests, are normally open on holidays.

    In Boston, hotel restaurants open both the 24th and 25th include some excellent choices:




    Other places open on holidays would include chains like Legal Seafoods and many restaurants in Chinatown. We once asked a long time Boston cabbie where we could get something we needed on Christmas, and he said Chinatown was the place to go.

    Here are some conversations on Chowhound.com and Trip Advisor about Christmas dining. We'll add more as we see them pop up this year.

    Trip Advisor on Christmas Dinner (2013)

    Eater Boston's Christmas Map (Updated 12/16/2013)

    What Chinese Restaurants are Open On Christmas Day– (2012)

    Christmas Day Brunch (2012)

    Open on Cape Cod on Christmas Day (just in case you're going there) (2012)

    Xmas Lunch in Boston  (2012)

    Restaurant open Christmas Day in Newton or nearby (2012)

    Other resources:

    The reservation site, Open Table has a feature list of its member restaurants with Christmas Eve Specials and Christmas Day Dining. 

    But, you can also input information on the reservation you want on Open Table and come up with a list of restaurants open at that hour. Change the hour and the list will change and some are not on the featured lists. It's a good place to start.

    The Boston Chefs site has posted a list of its participating member restaurants with special features for the holidays. Here's the Christmas Eve List & the Christmas Day list.

    From Last Year: Eater Boston has a list of Where to Eat on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We'll update with the new one when it's available.

    They have many good choices to add to your holiday options. We'd particularly like to recommend:

    Island Creek Oyster Bar for Christmas Eve. It's one of our favorite places, and I can just imagine what a happy scene it will be on that evening. 

    Eastern Standard: They will be open Christmas Day for breakfast and then for a special 3-course prix fixe meal. 

    Market by John-Georges: They will have a la carte items from their regular menu in addition to a special holiday menu on Christmas Day.

    Subscribe to the comment feed of this post or follow us on Twitter, and we'll notify you of updates to this post.

    Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

    Details: 

    Writers: Penny & Ed Cherubino

    Photo: from iStockphoto.com

    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.

    Enhanced by Zemanta
  • Where to Dine on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day 2013 in Boston

     

    UPDATE: Where to Dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2015 in Boston

     

    Where can you dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the Boston area? There are a few great choices! But, if you're planning to dine at one of Boston's fine restaurants over the holidays, make a reservation!

    6a00e54fc42bb888340120a6fe484b970b-800wi

    Don't be surprised if a deposit is required to hold your reservation or if there are special menus and seatings for these special holiday meals. Unfortunately, restaurants have been forced to do this because of people who make multiple reservations so they can decide at the last minute where to go. This leaves other diners without choices and the restaurants with empty tables.

    What's Open on Christmas Eve?

    There are more choices on Christmas Eve than on Christmas Day. Some of our favorite, special places have wonderful holiday meals planned for those who reserve for the 24th.

    • The legendary team from L'Espalier offers a prix fixe Christmas Eve menu.  
    • La Morra in Brookline is an ideal spot to meet friends or family from that side of the Boston area. They are offering family style dining, "sharing traditional dishes of Piedmonte."
    • Meritage at the Boston Harbor Hotel has a four course prixe fixe menu set for the 24th.
    • The Petit Robert Bistro locations will be open with regular meals and specials. We like the one on Columbus Ave in the South End.

    At the early date of this posting, some places have not announced their traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes events for Chistmas Eve. Check back or follow us on Twitter for updates on this fun holiday dining option. 

    • Grotto has their Feast listed on Boston Chefs. This tiny Beacon Hill gem was one of the first to present this holiday tradition.
    • Kitchen and Marliave, Grotto's siblings in the South End and Downtown, are joining in the festive fish feast.

    What Boston Area Restaurants Are Open on Christmas?

    Hotel restaurants, since they must serve the hotel's guests, are normally open on holidays.

    In Boston, hotel restaurants open both the 24th and 25th include some excellent choices:




    Other places open on holidays would include chains like Legal Seafoods and many restaurants in Chinatown. We once asked a long time Boston cabbie where we could get something we needed on Christmas, and he said Chinatown was the place to go.

    Here are some conversations on Chowhound.com and Trip Advisor about Christmas dining. We'll add more as we see them pop up this year.

    Trip Advisor on Christmas Dinner (2013)

    Eater Boston's Christmas Map (Updated 12/16/2013)

    What Chinese Restaurants are Open On Christmas Day– (2012)

    Christmas Day Brunch (2012)

    Open on Cape Cod on Christmas Day (just in case you're going there) (2012)

    Xmas Lunch in Boston  (2012)

    Restaurant open Christmas Day in Newton or nearby (2012)

    Other resources:

    The reservation site, Open Table has a feature list of its member restaurants with Christmas Eve Specials and Christmas Day Dining. 

    But, you can also input information on the reservation you want on Open Table and come up with a list of restaurants open at that hour. Change the hour and the list will change and some are not on the featured lists. It's a good place to start.

    The Boston Chefs site has posted a list of its participating member restaurants with special features for the holidays. Here's the Christmas Eve List & the Christmas Day list.

    From Last Year: Eater Boston has a list of Where to Eat on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We'll update with the new one when it's available.

    They have many good choices to add to your holiday options. We'd particularly like to recommend:

    Island Creek Oyster Bar for Christmas Eve. It's one of our favorite places, and I can just imagine what a happy scene it will be on that evening. 

    Eastern Standard: They will be open Christmas Day for breakfast and then for a special 3-course prix fixe meal. 

    Market by John-Georges: They will have a la carte items from their regular menu in addition to a special holiday menu on Christmas Day.

    Subscribe to the comment feed of this post or follow us on Twitter, and we'll notify you of updates to this post.

    Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

    Details: 

    Writers: Penny & Ed Cherubino

    Photo: from iStockphoto.com

    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.

    Enhanced by Zemanta
  • Where to Dine on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day 2013 in Boston

     

    UPDATE: Where to Dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2015 in Boston

     

    Where can you dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the Boston area? There are a few great choices! But, if you're planning to dine at one of Boston's fine restaurants over the holidays, make a reservation!

    6a00e54fc42bb888340120a6fe484b970b-800wi

    Don't be surprised if a deposit is required to hold your reservation or if there are special menus and seatings for these special holiday meals. Unfortunately, restaurants have been forced to do this because of people who make multiple reservations so they can decide at the last minute where to go. This leaves other diners without choices and the restaurants with empty tables.

    What's Open on Christmas Eve?

    There are more choices on Christmas Eve than on Christmas Day. Some of our favorite, special places have wonderful holiday meals planned for those who reserve for the 24th.

    • The legendary team from L'Espalier offers a prix fixe Christmas Eve menu.  
    • La Morra in Brookline is an ideal spot to meet friends or family from that side of the Boston area. They are offering family style dining, "sharing traditional dishes of Piedmonte."
    • Meritage at the Boston Harbor Hotel has a four course prixe fixe menu set for the 24th.
    • The Petit Robert Bistro locations will be open with regular meals and specials. We like the one on Columbus Ave in the South End.

    At the early date of this posting, some places have not announced their traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes events for Chistmas Eve. Check back or follow us on Twitter for updates on this fun holiday dining option. 

    • Grotto has their Feast listed on Boston Chefs. This tiny Beacon Hill gem was one of the first to present this holiday tradition.
    • Kitchen and Marliave, Grotto's siblings in the South End and Downtown, are joining in the festive fish feast.

    What Boston Area Restaurants Are Open on Christmas?

    Hotel restaurants, since they must serve the hotel's guests, are normally open on holidays.

    In Boston, hotel restaurants open both the 24th and 25th include some excellent choices:




    Other places open on holidays would include chains like Legal Seafoods and many restaurants in Chinatown. We once asked a long time Boston cabbie where we could get something we needed on Christmas, and he said Chinatown was the place to go.

    Here are some conversations on Chowhound.com and Trip Advisor about Christmas dining. We'll add more as we see them pop up this year.

    Trip Advisor on Christmas Dinner (2013)

    Eater Boston's Christmas Map (Updated 12/16/2013)

    What Chinese Restaurants are Open On Christmas Day– (2012)

    Christmas Day Brunch (2012)

    Open on Cape Cod on Christmas Day (just in case you're going there) (2012)

    Xmas Lunch in Boston  (2012)

    Restaurant open Christmas Day in Newton or nearby (2012)

    Other resources:

    The reservation site, Open Table has a feature list of its member restaurants with Christmas Eve Specials and Christmas Day Dining. 

    But, you can also input information on the reservation you want on Open Table and come up with a list of restaurants open at that hour. Change the hour and the list will change and some are not on the featured lists. It's a good place to start.

    The Boston Chefs site has posted a list of its participating member restaurants with special features for the holidays. Here's the Christmas Eve List & the Christmas Day list.

    From Last Year: Eater Boston has a list of Where to Eat on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We'll update with the new one when it's available.

    They have many good choices to add to your holiday options. We'd particularly like to recommend:

    Island Creek Oyster Bar for Christmas Eve. It's one of our favorite places, and I can just imagine what a happy scene it will be on that evening. 

    Eastern Standard: They will be open Christmas Day for breakfast and then for a special 3-course prix fixe meal. 

    Market by John-Georges: They will have a la carte items from their regular menu in addition to a special holiday menu on Christmas Day.

    Subscribe to the comment feed of this post or follow us on Twitter, and we'll notify you of updates to this post.

    Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

    Details: 

    Writers: Penny & Ed Cherubino

    Photo: from iStockphoto.com

    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.

    Enhanced by Zemanta
  • The Case for Year-Round Street Sweeping

    -street-sweeping-case-for-year-round-

    Yesterday, we walked by gutters filled with leaves and trash. The City of Boston forgot to tell Mother Nature that we only clean the leaves until November 30th, so she'd better make sure they all fall by then.

    Even if our fall leaf season doesn't extend into December, the litter season in Boston is year-round. We also have a natural phenomenon called snow that makes its appearance from December 1st to March 31st.

    Now, imagine what the city could look like and how easy it would be for everyone to get around and park cars to the curb, if the streets could be cleared to the curb on the next street cleaning day after a storm.

    With the city's excellent notification system, it would be very easy to cancel street sweeping any time the conditions would not allow it. It's far more difficult to get cars to move with less warning in order to remove snow or give the streets a sweep when weather permits.

    What's your take on year-round street sweeping?

    Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Holiday Gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

     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.

  • The Case for Year-Round Street Sweeping

    -street-sweeping-case-for-year-round-

    Yesterday, we walked by gutters filled with leaves and trash. The City of Boston forgot to tell Mother Nature that we only clean the leaves until November 30th, so she'd better make sure they all fall by then.

    Even if our fall leaf season doesn't extend into December, the litter season in Boston is year-round. We also have a natural phenomenon called snow that makes its appearance from December 1st to March 31st.

    Now, imagine what the city could look like and how easy it would be for everyone to get around and park cars to the curb, if the streets could be cleared to the curb on the next street cleaning day after a storm.

    With the city's excellent notification system, it would be very easy to cancel street sweeping any time the conditions would not allow it. It's far more difficult to get cars to move with less warning in order to remove snow or give the streets a sweep when weather permits.

    What's your take on year-round street sweeping?

    Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Holiday Gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

     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.

  • The Case for Year-Round Street Sweeping

    -street-sweeping-case-for-year-round-

    Yesterday, we walked by gutters filled with leaves and trash. The City of Boston forgot to tell Mother Nature that we only clean the leaves until November 30th, so she'd better make sure they all fall by then.

    Even if our fall leaf season doesn't extend into December, the litter season in Boston is year-round. We also have a natural phenomenon called snow that makes its appearance from December 1st to March 31st.

    Now, imagine what the city could look like and how easy it would be for everyone to get around and park cars to the curb, if the streets could be cleared to the curb on the next street cleaning day after a storm.

    With the city's excellent notification system, it would be very easy to cancel street sweeping any time the conditions would not allow it. It's far more difficult to get cars to move with less warning in order to remove snow or give the streets a sweep when weather permits.

    What's your take on year-round street sweeping?

    Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Holiday Gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

     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.

  • The North End Two Ways from Matt Conti

    Earlier this year, Matt Conti took over the site North End Boston. It is the perfect companion for his original site, North End Waterfront. Between the two sites, you can keep up with the latest news about this important Boston neighborhood and find the resources, places, and sites you want.

    Matt, I'm thankful for all the hard work you do for your community!

    North End Boston

    North End Boston offers a set of resources for those interested in the North End as a place to visit or live. It can be a great site to send to anyone who is coming to Boston as a visitor or to find new places to go, things to see, and dining options in the North End. 

    North end waterfront

    North End Waterfront is the site for news, information, and community conversation about the neighborhood. As large, mainstream media covers less and less local news, sites like this become more and more valuable to me. 

    Keep up the good work Matt! And, please keep dropping in those great North End Waterfront puzzles from time to time. I appreciate a few minutes of fun every now and them.

    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

  • The North End Two Ways from Matt Conti

    Earlier this year, Matt Conti took over the site North End Boston. It is the perfect companion for his original site, North End Waterfront. Between the two sites, you can keep up with the latest news about this important Boston neighborhood and find the resources, places, and sites you want.

    Matt, I'm thankful for all the hard work you do for your community!

    North End Boston

    North End Boston offers a set of resources for those interested in the North End as a place to visit or live. It can be a great site to send to anyone who is coming to Boston as a visitor or to find new places to go, things to see, and dining options in the North End. 

    North end waterfront

    North End Waterfront is the site for news, information, and community conversation about the neighborhood. As large, mainstream media covers less and less local news, sites like this become more and more valuable to me. 

    Keep up the good work Matt! And, please keep dropping in those great North End Waterfront puzzles from time to time. I appreciate a few minutes of fun every now and them.

    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

  • The North End Two Ways from Matt Conti

    Earlier this year, Matt Conti took over the site North End Boston. It is the perfect companion for his original site, North End Waterfront. Between the two sites, you can keep up with the latest news about this important Boston neighborhood and find the resources, places, and sites you want.

    Matt, I'm thankful for all the hard work you do for your community!

    North End Boston

    North End Boston offers a set of resources for those interested in the North End as a place to visit or live. It can be a great site to send to anyone who is coming to Boston as a visitor or to find new places to go, things to see, and dining options in the North End. 

    North end waterfront

    North End Waterfront is the site for news, information, and community conversation about the neighborhood. As large, mainstream media covers less and less local news, sites like this become more and more valuable to me. 

    Keep up the good work Matt! And, please keep dropping in those great North End Waterfront puzzles from time to time. I appreciate a few minutes of fun every now and them.

    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