Category: City Life

Summer 2013 Courtyard Concerts at the Boston Public Library

We love the Courtyard at the Boston Public Library (BPL) any time of the year. But when this beautiful space is filled with music, it is magical. Once again this year, there will be a full summer of free, lunchtime concerts. And, it all begins next week, so mark your calendars!

The great sounds start at 12:30 pm on Friday afternoons from June 7th to August 30th. If the weather turns bad, performances will be moved inside to Rabb Lecture Hall, located on the lower level of the Johnson Building.

As longtime fans of Brazilian Jazz, we are especially looking forward to the Fernando Holz Band on August 2nd. With music ranging "from jazz to classical and from folk to funk," you're sure to find a lot to like on Friday afternoons.

Here's a link to the Full Schedule.

So, go visit a food truck or pick up a bite at the farmers' market and enjoy BPL Courtyard Concerts along with your lunch on Fridays this summer.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Graduation or Wedding 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.

May 30, 2013
Summer 2013 Courtyard Concerts at the Boston Public Library

We love the Courtyard at the Boston Public Library (BPL) any time of the year. But when this beautiful space is filled with music, it is magical. Once again this year, there will be a full summer of free, lunchtime concerts. And, it all begins next week, so mark your calendars!

The great sounds start at 12:30 pm on Friday afternoons from June 7th to August 30th. If the weather turns bad, performances will be moved inside to Rabb Lecture Hall, located on the lower level of the Johnson Building.

As longtime fans of Brazilian Jazz, we are especially looking forward to the Fernando Holz Band on August 2nd. With music ranging "from jazz to classical and from folk to funk," you're sure to find a lot to like on Friday afternoons.

Here's a link to the Full Schedule.

So, go visit a food truck or pick up a bite at the farmers' market and enjoy BPL Courtyard Concerts along with your lunch on Fridays this summer.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Graduation or Wedding 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.

May 30, 2013
Summer 2013 Courtyard Concerts at the Boston Public Library

We love the Courtyard at the Boston Public Library (BPL) any time of the year. But when this beautiful space is filled with music, it is magical. Once again this year, there will be a full summer of free, lunchtime concerts. And, it all begins next week, so mark your calendars!

The great sounds start at 12:30 pm on Friday afternoons from June 7th to August 30th. If the weather turns bad, performances will be moved inside to Rabb Lecture Hall, located on the lower level of the Johnson Building.

As longtime fans of Brazilian Jazz, we are especially looking forward to the Fernando Holz Band on August 2nd. With music ranging "from jazz to classical and from folk to funk," you're sure to find a lot to like on Friday afternoons.

Here's a link to the Full Schedule.

So, go visit a food truck or pick up a bite at the farmers' market and enjoy BPL Courtyard Concerts along with your lunch on Fridays this summer.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Graduation or Wedding 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.

May 30, 2013
At the Market: a Visit to the Prudential Center Farmers’ Market

One of our walks this week took us to the Prudential Center where we picked up a few items for our supper from the specialty food vendors. The Prudential Center Farmers' Market is open on the Bolyston Street side of the complex from 11 am to 6 pm each Thursday.

We'd been missing the pretzels, and pretzel rolls from swissbäkers. We know they have a new shop on Western Avenue in Allston, but we haven't made it there yet! We'll add it to one of our Watertown runs. For now, it's great to have them back in the city at the Prudential and Dewey Square markets.

We enjoyed our pretzels with cheese and zingy pepper jelly from Stir It Up. We took our cue from the sample they were offering and their famous savory cheesecake torte baked with a glaze of their pepper jelly (below). Think about picking up one of these the next time you need party food.

In addition to chilled goat cheese with a dollop of "sweet heat" (as they call it), we also warmed some brie and spread the lime pepper jelly on that. It was a big hit!

This market will be another source for fresh-from-the-boat fish this summer with Cape Cod Fish Share on hand.

While we do occasionally visit the Coolidge Corner shop for a When Pigs Fly bread fix, it's good to have them back in the neighborhood on Thursdays!

We also stopped by the Copley Square Farmers' Market on Friday and picked a great dinner from the vendors there including a fine fillet from Red's Best seafood. Looks like it will be a summer of healthy eating!

A special thank you to Dave Gilson from The Herb Lyceum for bringing some chervil clippings to town to share with cooks like Penny. She sprinked rouchly chopped chervil leaves on that moist flakey fish before serving it. Perfect!

In Season Right Now!

We also saw: mushrooms, swiss chard, spinach, green garlic, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, lots of annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants, hot house tomatoes, scallions, and cucumbers.

Enjoy now before it's gone!

Asparagus and early hoop house strawberries.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Market and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

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 & 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.

May 29, 2013
At the Market: a Visit to the Prudential Center Farmers’ Market

One of our walks this week took us to the Prudential Center where we picked up a few items for our supper from the specialty food vendors. The Prudential Center Farmers' Market is open on the Bolyston Street side of the complex from 11 am to 6 pm each Thursday.

We'd been missing the pretzels, and pretzel rolls from swissbäkers. We know they have a new shop on Western Avenue in Allston, but we haven't made it there yet! We'll add it to one of our Watertown runs. For now, it's great to have them back in the city at the Prudential and Dewey Square markets.

We enjoyed our pretzels with cheese and zingy pepper jelly from Stir It Up. We took our cue from the sample they were offering and their famous savory cheesecake torte baked with a glaze of their pepper jelly (below). Think about picking up one of these the next time you need party food.

In addition to chilled goat cheese with a dollop of "sweet heat" (as they call it), we also warmed some brie and spread the lime pepper jelly on that. It was a big hit!

This market will be another source for fresh-from-the-boat fish this summer with Cape Cod Fish Share on hand.

While we do occasionally visit the Coolidge Corner shop for a When Pigs Fly bread fix, it's good to have them back in the neighborhood on Thursdays!

We also stopped by the Copley Square Farmers' Market on Friday and picked a great dinner from the vendors there including a fine fillet from Red's Best seafood. Looks like it will be a summer of healthy eating!

A special thank you to Dave Gilson from The Herb Lyceum for bringing some chervil clippings to town to share with cooks like Penny. She sprinked rouchly chopped chervil leaves on that moist flakey fish before serving it. Perfect!

In Season Right Now!

We also saw: mushrooms, swiss chard, spinach, green garlic, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, lots of annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants, hot house tomatoes, scallions, and cucumbers.

Enjoy now before it's gone!

Asparagus and early hoop house strawberries.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Market and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

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 & 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.

May 29, 2013
At the Market: a Visit to the Prudential Center Farmers’ Market

One of our walks this week took us to the Prudential Center where we picked up a few items for our supper from the specialty food vendors. The Prudential Center Farmers' Market is open on the Bolyston Street side of the complex from 11 am to 6 pm each Thursday.

We'd been missing the pretzels, and pretzel rolls from swissbäkers. We know they have a new shop on Western Avenue in Allston, but we haven't made it there yet! We'll add it to one of our Watertown runs. For now, it's great to have them back in the city at the Prudential and Dewey Square markets.

We enjoyed our pretzels with cheese and zingy pepper jelly from Stir It Up. We took our cue from the sample they were offering and their famous savory cheesecake torte baked with a glaze of their pepper jelly (below). Think about picking up one of these the next time you need party food.

In addition to chilled goat cheese with a dollop of "sweet heat" (as they call it), we also warmed some brie and spread the lime pepper jelly on that. It was a big hit!

This market will be another source for fresh-from-the-boat fish this summer with Cape Cod Fish Share on hand.

While we do occasionally visit the Coolidge Corner shop for a When Pigs Fly bread fix, it's good to have them back in the neighborhood on Thursdays!

We also stopped by the Copley Square Farmers' Market on Friday and picked a great dinner from the vendors there including a fine fillet from Red's Best seafood. Looks like it will be a summer of healthy eating!

A special thank you to Dave Gilson from The Herb Lyceum for bringing some chervil clippings to town to share with cooks like Penny. She sprinked rouchly chopped chervil leaves on that moist flakey fish before serving it. Perfect!

In Season Right Now!

We also saw: mushrooms, swiss chard, spinach, green garlic, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, lots of annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants, hot house tomatoes, scallions, and cucumbers.

Enjoy now before it's gone!

Asparagus and early hoop house strawberries.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Market and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

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 & 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.

May 29, 2013
Fenway Victory Gardens Spring Scenes

Many a walk takes us through this main path of the Fenway Victory Gardens that runs parallel to Boylston Street. But, once in a while, we like to spend time exploring the rest of this historic complex of gardens and gardening support areas.

Update: We read on thier Facebook Page that they are having: "OPEN GARDENS is Saturday June 1st (11am to 3pm)" What's more they have posted their 2013 Calendar of events.

They have a great history page on their site explaining that, "The Fenway Victory Gardens are the nation’s only remaining, continuously operating WWII Victory Gardens." This garden was founded in 1942.

(Click on any image for a larger view.)

This is a community and we've always found the "resident gardeners" friendly and open to answering questions for visitors. If you visit their Facebook group, you'll find the same sharing attitude among the members.

The gardens can feel like a world apart. You can easily forget that they are so close to the heart of Boston.

With a well-established group like this one, you see evidence of shared equipment and resources, including well-organized composting locations.

They even have their own bee hives, a teaching garden, and an accessible garden designed to be enjoyed by persons with disabilities.

Each garden plot has its own personality and it's the details that make this a great location for a photowalk.

Each week the scene changes, new plants come into bloom, and the path you walked a week ago is renewed. It's a place to visit often, walk through slowly, and enjoy with your favorite people. We also highly recommend that any gardener visiting Boston add this place to their trip agenda.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Graduation or Wedding 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.

May 28, 2013
Fenway Victory Gardens Spring Scenes

Many a walk takes us through this main path of the Fenway Victory Gardens that runs parallel to Boylston Street. But, once in a while, we like to spend time exploring the rest of this historic complex of gardens and gardening support areas.

Update: We read on thier Facebook Page that they are having: "OPEN GARDENS is Saturday June 1st (11am to 3pm)" What's more they have posted their 2013 Calendar of events.

They have a great history page on their site explaining that, "The Fenway Victory Gardens are the nation’s only remaining, continuously operating WWII Victory Gardens." This garden was founded in 1942.

(Click on any image for a larger view.)

This is a community and we've always found the "resident gardeners" friendly and open to answering questions for visitors. If you visit their Facebook group, you'll find the same sharing attitude among the members.

The gardens can feel like a world apart. You can easily forget that they are so close to the heart of Boston.

With a well-established group like this one, you see evidence of shared equipment and resources, including well-organized composting locations.

They even have their own bee hives, a teaching garden, and an accessible garden designed to be enjoyed by persons with disabilities.

Each garden plot has its own personality and it's the details that make this a great location for a photowalk.

Each week the scene changes, new plants come into bloom, and the path you walked a week ago is renewed. It's a place to visit often, walk through slowly, and enjoy with your favorite people. We also highly recommend that any gardener visiting Boston add this place to their trip agenda.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Graduation or Wedding 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.

May 28, 2013
Fenway Victory Gardens Spring Scenes

Many a walk takes us through this main path of the Fenway Victory Gardens that runs parallel to Boylston Street. But, once in a while, we like to spend time exploring the rest of this historic complex of gardens and gardening support areas.

Update: We read on thier Facebook Page that they are having: "OPEN GARDENS is Saturday June 1st (11am to 3pm)" What's more they have posted their 2013 Calendar of events.

They have a great history page on their site explaining that, "The Fenway Victory Gardens are the nation’s only remaining, continuously operating WWII Victory Gardens." This garden was founded in 1942.

(Click on any image for a larger view.)

This is a community and we've always found the "resident gardeners" friendly and open to answering questions for visitors. If you visit their Facebook group, you'll find the same sharing attitude among the members.

The gardens can feel like a world apart. You can easily forget that they are so close to the heart of Boston.

With a well-established group like this one, you see evidence of shared equipment and resources, including well-organized composting locations.

They even have their own bee hives, a teaching garden, and an accessible garden designed to be enjoyed by persons with disabilities.

Each garden plot has its own personality and it's the details that make this a great location for a photowalk.

Each week the scene changes, new plants come into bloom, and the path you walked a week ago is renewed. It's a place to visit often, walk through slowly, and enjoy with your favorite people. We also highly recommend that any gardener visiting Boston add this place to their trip agenda.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Graduation or Wedding 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.

May 28, 2013
Memorial Day: Time for the Seasonal Shift!

If you’re like us, you view Memorial Day as the official start of summer. Even the runners on the Esplanade seem to shift to summer speeds. Sometimes, if you sit along one side of a lagoon or canoeway, the people on the opposite side seem to be moving in slo-mo!

It’s time for long walks around the city, visits to area beaches, clam shacks, and farm stands. Daytrips and weekends away are on the calendars.

What are your favorite things to do in and around Boston in the summertime? Do you have tips for free or inexpensive things to do in the city?

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Graduation or Wedding 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.

May 27, 2013