Tag: Boston

Old Friends Farm Organic Ginger Syrup

Tomorrow, at the Copley Farmers' Market, will be your last opportunity to stock up on Old Friends Farm Organic, Ginger Syrup. You'll find it and some of the local ginger that's used to make it at the Atlas Farm Stand.

I bought my first bottle a week ago and returned to the market on Friday to buy three more bottles to keep me sipping throughout the winter.

This is a simple mixture of organic sugar, organic fresh ginger, and organic lemon juice. It's made in small batches out in Amherst. I've transferred some to a glass dropper bottle and add a few drops to my seltzer in place of my usual bitters.

I've also used it to make a simple tisan by adding some to a cup of hot water. I like my tisan mild but you can make yours as gingery and sweet as possible.

Another early win for this product was drizzled over a scoop of a good vanilla ice cream. It seems that this will be the winter of experimenting with this lovely flavoring. I'm thinking up a salad dressing recipe as I write this post.

Ginger as a Tummy Soother

I also think that I'll be glad to have a supply of this when I have a tummy upset. Ginger is my tummy soother of choice. I have a supply of ginger gum, lemon ginger tea, and crystallized ginger for stomach upsets. I also think it might be a wonderful gift for someone undergoing chemotherapy.

But, and this is a BIG BUT, before you decide to use ginger as a form of alternative medicine, you must read all about it, the good and the bad, from a trusted source, and check with your own medical team to get their opinion. It does have side effects and can interact with other medications. It is not safe for everyone.

In additon to my doc, my trusted source for information on alternative healing substances is Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Here's a link to their page on ginger. You will have to read their disclaimer and agree to it before you click through to the information.

Update 03/24/16 Online Ordering!

On their website, Old Friends Farm has a note on their specialty products page:

Now you'll find items from their farm including ginger syrup in their Etsy Shop.

Here from back in 2008 is our first post on Local Organic Ginger from Old Friends Farm.

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

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: ©2014 Penny Cherubino

Related articles

More on Those Local Artichokes from Stillman's

What's Open in Boston on Thanksgiving 2014, Plus MBTA Schedule Changes, Parking, Trash & More

November 24, 2014
Confused Plants and More November Foliage

This geranium ground cover is confused about the season and was putting out blooms earlier this week. When I mentioned this to a garden expert, she said she's seen a lot of strange plant behavior this fall.

What have you spotted?

While elsewhere around the city the fall foliage is still putting on a show.

Yes, I do love to take photos of the big picture like this statue of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall with his backdrop of yellow and organge.

But, my favorite shots are of leaves as they gather in natural groups on surfaces like this granite. I enjoy the shapes and shades of individual leaves and their ever changing colors.

Or, when the family of leaves from one tree fall in profusion onto a surface like this evergreen hedge.

Are you a big picture or close up leaf lover?

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:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2014 Penny Cherubino

Related articles

November Foliage in the Heart of Boston

What's Happening Around Boston in November 2014

Lucy Stone and a Leaf (Part 2)

November 20, 2014
What’s Open in Boston on Thanksgiving 2014, Plus MBTA Schedule Changes, Parking, Trash & More
UPDATE: What's Open in Boston on Thanksgiving 2015, Plus MBTA Schedule Changes, Parking, Trash & More

What's open in Boston on Thanksgiving, 2014? What's closed?

Do I have to feed the parking meters? What about street sweeping? Are the liquor stores and packies open? When do I put out my trash? And, what changes are there to the MBTA schedules?

We have the answers for you, all organized on one post that we'll update as new information comes our way.

Here's a rundown of what's open in Boston on Thanksgiving, November 27, 2014.

We post these rundowns early, when we notice our readers looking for the information on older posts. Because it's early, we will update as new information is announced. So, bookmark this page and check back. We'll send out notice of updates on Twitter.

Restaurants, bars: Many will be open, check for special hours and menus. Here's our post on where to dine out on Thanksgiving.

Convenience stores: Many are open, check for special hours

Supermarkets: Closed due to Massachusetts "Blue Laws" (scroll to the bottom of the page)

Retail stores: Closed due to Massachusetts "Blue Laws"

Liquor stores: Closed due to Massachusetts "Blue Laws"

Financial Services: As the British would say, this is a Bank Holiday with both banks and the stock markets in the United State closed. International markets are open.

City, Town, State, and Federal offices and facilities are closed: This includes Schools, Libraries, and the Postal Service. Only emergency services are available.

Parking & Street Sweeping

Boston Parking: You don't have to feed the meters. Other parking rules apply.

Street Sweeping: The city says, "Daytime street sweeping is suspended on city holidays, but nighttime sweeping schedules remain in effect. Constituents are advised to call 617-635-4500 for exact details."

Trash Collection & Recycling

Boston Trash Collection for Thanksgiving week – The city says:

"Thursday, November 27, 6am – Saturday, November 29, 2014, 5pm

No trash or recycling collection will take place in all sections of the City on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 27th)

Thanksgiving week: Regular collection schedule on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in all sections of the City.

Regular trash collection schedule in the North End, Beacon Hill, Bay Village, Chinatown, Fenway South End, Mission Hill. Section of Roxbury, who have trash collection on Tuesday and Friday, no delay

Thursday and Friday recycling and trash collection delayed a day in Allston/Brighton, Dorchester, East Boston, South Boston, Jamaica Plain*, West Roxbury, Roslindale, Mattapan, and Hyde Park.

*If you live in Jamaica Plain and your trash is picked up 2 times per week [Monday, Thursday], Thursday collection day is cancelled. Back Bay, Roxbury and your trash and recycling is picked up on Monday and Thursday, Thursday’s collection is also cancelled, not delayed

MBTA information after the Ad from Amazon!

More information after these camera deals from Amazon. Order today and you'll be ready to record memories this holiday season. When you shop Amazon from here, you keep information like this coming your way!

MBTA Schedule Changes

Here is the link to the MBTA schedule changes. This link will change sometime after the holiday. We have created a PDF version of the page for the weekend that you can download if you wish.

Download MBTA Thanksgiving 2014

Here's a quick summary, but check the site or the PDF for details.
- Wednesday November 26th will have normal Wednesday subway, bus, and Commuter Rail schedules with extra Silver Line service to and from Logan Airports.
- Thanksgiving November 27th will have subways including the Silver Line on a Sunday schedule. Buses will run on a Sunday schedule with some routes not operating. Commuter Rail will run on a Sunday Schedule so some routes will not operate.
- Friday November 28th will have the Red, Orange, and Blue lines on a Friday Schedule and the Green Line on a Saturday Schedule. The Silver line will have extra service. Commuter Rail will run on a Friday schedule.
Special Plymouth Service:

The Commuter Rail will provide special seasonal weekend trains to Plymouth on the Old Colony Line during the weekends prior to Thanksgiving on Saturday and Sunday, November 15 and 16, as well as November 22 and 23. Details here.

For further information, check with the MBTA Customer Communications Department at 617-222-3200, TTY 617-222-5146, or visit them at: www.mbta.com.

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:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2014 Penny Cherubino
November 17, 2014
North Bennet Street School Open House in Their New Facility

We've told you about the open houses held at North Bennet Street School in the past. This Boston treasure trove is a place that turns dreams into reality. We have November 14 & 15 marked on our calendars because we can't wait to see the new facility at 150 North Street.

They say:

"Aspiring furniture makers, bookbinders, carpenters, jewelry makers – or those merely curious about the process of making beautiful things by hand – are invited to a special behind-the-scenes look at one of America's oldest schools of craftsmanship during a two-day open house at North Bennet Street School’s new facility at 150 North Street in Boston's historic North End."

We say:

This is a great way to spend some time meeting people who have gone after their dreams. Who knows, a door may open for you and you'll become a student. Or, perhaps you'll decide to explore one of the fine crafts they teach at a workshop or short course.

Or, you may decide to put someone's feet on the path to their dream with a North Bennet Street School gift certificate as a holiday gift.

Everything You Need to Know to Visit

As always, when the school provides us with information for an upcoming event, they think of all the little details that make it easy for our readers to get there and enjoy their visit.

Who: North Bennet Street School

What: Annual Open House and Open Studios

Where: 150 North Street, Boston, MA 02109 (North End, just off the Rose Kennedy Greenway)

When: Friday, November 14, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm; Saturday, November 15, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Cost: FREE

Handicap Access: Yes

Parking: Limited street parking (metered) and discounted parking at the Parcel 7 garage – http://www.nbss.edu/about/the-boston-area/visit/index.aspx#

Nearest T stop: Haymarket (Orange, Green lines)

Directions: via Google maps – http://goo.gl/maps/97sY4

More Open House details: www.nbss.edu/openhouse

More about NBSS full-time programs and workshops: http://www.nbss.edu

Contact: 617-227-0155 and admissions@nbss.edu

What's on your Artistic Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your arts & craft needs, and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: by Maureen Cotton, Courtesy of North Bennet Street School

Related articles

Tuning Pianos In The Digital Age

November 14, 2014
Veterans Day 2014 What’s Open or Closed in Boston Plus MBTA, Trash & Parking Info

UPDATE: Veterans Day 2015 What's Open or Closed in Boston Plus MBTA, Trash & Parking Info

Here's a rundown of what's open in Boston on Veterans Day, information on Boston trash collection, parking meters, and MBTA schedules for Tuesday, November 11, 2014.

(Civil war vets inspect huge German captured gun on Boston Common. Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection. Circa 1927)

This year, November 11th falls on a Tuesday. If you are one of the people who has the day off, you might want to take an extra day and have a four day weekend.

We publish these reminders before each holiday to help you make the most of your time off!

Restaurants, bars: Open

Convenience stores: Open

Supermarkets: Open

Retail stores: Are allowed to open if the owners choose

Liquor stores: Open

City, Town, State and Federal offices and facilities are closed: This includes schools, libraries, and the Postal Service (express mail will be delivered). Only emergency services are available.

Financial Services: As the British would say, this is a Bank Holiday with most Banks closed. But, we are noticing that some banks are keeping some branches open so check with your own institution.

Stock market: Open, as are international markets.

Boston Parking: The City says, "City of Boston parking meters are free on Sundays and legal holidays and no time limit is enforced. All other parking regulations, including rush hour restrictions at meters, remain in effect."

Street Sweeping: City says, "Daytime street sweeping is suspended on city holidays, but nighttime sweeping schedules remain in effect. Constituents are advised to call 617-635-4500 for exact details."

Boston Trash Collection: The City says:

Veterans Day: Tuesday, November 11, 6am – Sunday, November 16, 2014, 5pm

"No Delay of trash or recycling pick up in Back Bay, Bay Village, Beacon Hill, Charlestown, Chinatown, Fenway, Leather District, Mission Hill, North End, Roxbury, South Boston, and the South End.

Allston/Brighton, Dorchester, East Boston, Jamaica Plain*, Mattapan, Roslindale, West Roxbury and Hyde Park, delayed a day

*If you live in Jamaica Plain and your trash is picked up 2 times per week, do not delay."

The MBTA has posted its Veterans Day Schedule and, as in the past, the system is operating on a weekday schedule: Complete Details Here.

For additional information on routes, schedules, and fares, "please call the MBTA Customer Service Center at 617-222-3200 or 1-800-392-6100 (hearing impaired TDD 617-222-5146)" or contact them at www.mbta.com.

And, if you have to work: Holiday Pay Information For Retail Establishments from the Secretary of State.

"Retail establishments which operate on New Year's Day, Columbus Day after 12 noon, or on November 11th after 1:00 p.m. are required to pay their employees time and one-half regardless of the number of employees on their payroll."

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

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: (Civil War vets inspect huge German captured gun on Boston Common. Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection. Circa 1927) used under creative commons license

November 3, 2014
At the Market: Local Artichokes from Stillman’s Farm

This week, I could not resist buying a bunch of small artichokes from Stillman’s Farm at the Copley Farmers’ Market.

The first time I heard about the possibility of growing artichokes on local farms was in 2009 when I interviewed John Lee from Allandale Farm for a piece I was preparing for Serious Eats. He was studying and experimenting with an artichoke crop back then.

This season, Stillman’s has had beautiful, little artichokes like these on their stand.

In his book, 50 Foods: The Essentials of Good Taste, Edward Behr (publisher of the most wonderful Art of Eating Newsletter) writes of artichokes, “They lose quality from the moment they’re cut from the plant.” He goes on to describe what to look for when you purchase this vegetable, “Artichokes should be heavy for their size and the leaves tightly closed (not about to open into a flower) …”

These will be supper, as soon as I rummage through the books behind them to decide what prepartion will best highlight the freshness and seasonality of these beauties.

Remember, when you serve artichokes, they contain a chemical that makes wines taste sweeter, so choose a very dry wine to go with them. I’m going to follow one of Behr’s recommendations and serve an unoaked Chardonnay.

Many of our Farmers Markets are open until Thanksgiving so you have a few opportunities to try local artichokes. Here’s a link to the details on which markets are open.

Update 11/05/14: We did a follow up post on these artichokes showing the beautiful interiors during preparation and the folks from Stillman’s answered the Michelle’s question in the comments below in that post.

Here are more of our Local Food/Farmers’ Markets posts.

What’s on your Food Lover’s shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: ©2014 Penny Cherubino

Related articles

Artichokes Hot and Cold (with a Terrific Cheater Hollandaise)

KitchenWise: Tips for breaking through an artichoke’s armor

Growing Crops for a Foodie’s Garden

October 30, 2014
You Never Know What’s Under Boston Streets
In this case, an excavation project in 1900 uncovered an old fire reservoir in Maverick Square.

This photo is from the City of Boston Archives.

How many of these were there around the city?

Fire Reservoirs have a few mentions in The Boston Sparks Association's book, The History of the Boston Fire Department and Boston Fire Alarm System 1859-1973.
- Around 1826, the first reservoirs were put in place as a part of a reorganization of the fire department.
- In 1861, the Cochituate Water System began supplying water for 24 of the then existing reservoirs.
- After the great fire of 1872, the mayor ordered the Water Board to estimate the cost of more fire reservoirs.
- By 1888, there were 238 fire reservoirs.
I wonder if any of them are still in use or how many are great hollows below the streets of the city.

San Francisco Still Has Some of Their Fire Reservoirs

In San Francisco, they still have, "…175 independent underground cisterns (a circle of bricks at an intersection with a manhole in the middle usually gives them away), most of them holding 75,000 gallons in case of last resort/worst case scenarios," according to "In Case of Fire, Look to Twin Peaks" by Greg Pabst.

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:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photo: Fire Reservoir photo from the Boston City Archives is used under this creative commons license.
October 27, 2014
Where Is This Lion? Fun with Historic Photos!
This lion lives on a fairly busy street in Boston. Do you know where you'll find him?

Photo credit and links are below.

Photo credit and links are below.

Clues:
1. Over the years this building was used for a lodging house, church, undertaker, stores, day nursery, and apartments.
2. In 1943, repairs were made to the buidling after a fire.
3. Today, the building houses seven condominium units.
4. Leslie Jones took these photos.
5. It's in the South End.
Update: 10/25/14: We received a review copy of Dirty Old Boston: Four Decades of a City in Transition by Jim Botticelli, a great new book from Union Park Press and found the second photo on page 37. If you love these historic photos posts, you will love this book.

Here's a photo of the lion, today:

Are you ready for an answer?

This lion lives at 511 Columbus Avenue at the corner of Greenwich Park.

Here are the historic photos with their titles.

Both are: Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection, and are used under this creative commons license.

"South End kids pose on stone lion"

"African-American boy with Stowe lion"

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:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2014 Penny & Ed Cherubino
October 23, 2014
Exceptional Street Sweeping: Applause! Applause!

Yesterday, we spotted this gentleman from Public Works out ahead of the street sweeper on Marlborough Street.

He was sweeping the leaves away from the curb to enable the machine to do a better job at collecting them.

He coordinated his work with the driver of the street sweeper.

He also took a moment, now and then, to clear a sidewalk of leaves in front of buildings where the residents had not taken advantage of the street sweeping schedule to push their leaves to the curb.

As you can see in the photo above, this resulted in a great job! A big thank you to someone who obviously takes pride in his work.

If this is the new way of clearing leaves, we hope not to see a mess linger into the winter like we did last year. (See our post: The Case for Year-Round Street Sweeping.)

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:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2014 Penny Cherubino

Related articles

Then and Now: Back Street Was Once the Shoreline of the Charles

12 Inspiring Quotes About Doing What You Love

October 21, 2014
A Sunset Sail on the Charles

This crew from MIT enjoyed the last hour of light shining on the river and through their red sail.

There are a couple more Monday Night sailing events (October 20th & 27th, 2014) out of the MIT sailing pavilion. It's fun to watch these skilled sailors compete from either the Boston or Cambridge shore.

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:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2014 Penny Cherubino

Related articles

What's Happening in Boston in October 2014

October 20, 2014