Tag: Boston

Jazz Week 2012, April 27 to May 6: Our Friday Link

The sound of Jazz will be in the air around Greater Boston for the next ten days as we celebrate Jazz Week 2012. In addition to many ticketed events, you'll find lots of opportunites to enjoy free or low cost events.

Boston resident and Jazz musican David Bond on sax (above) says, “Boston is such a vibrant community because of the students, and because of the concerts, and Jazz Week is a perfect way of promoting it."

JazzBoston says, "In observance of UNESCO's November 10 decision to proclaim April 30 of each year as International Jazz Day, JazzBoston has adopted an international theme for its 6th annual presentation of Jazz Week throughout the Greater Boston area this spring. For 10 days from April 27 to May 6, Jazz Week '12 International will put the spotlight on the cultural diversity that gives the Greater Boston jazz scene its unique flavor. Hundreds of talented musicians, both home grown and from around the world, will perform in over 90 venues in and around the city, and special cross-cultural collaborations will highlight the power of jazz to create unity from diversity."

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Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photo: courtesy of David Bond
Screen Shot: courtesy of JazzBoston

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 a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

April 27, 2012
Mother’s Day Dining in Boston 2012

Time to make reservations, if you plan to treat Mom to a meal out on Mother's Day, May 13, 2012.

This is an outdated post, click here for our Mother's Day Dining 2014, Reserve Now for May 11th

Keep in mind that in Boston, this "treat Mom to a great meal day" falls at the beginning of graduation season in Boston with Emmanuel College, Boston Conservatory, Fisher College, Emerson College, and Berklee College of Music holding commencements that weekend. (Here's the full list of Spring 2012 Commencement Dates for planning purposes.)

If your budget is tight, take Mom out for breakfast or treat her to breakfast in bed!

For Mother's Day dining ideas, here are three excellent lists of restaurants with special menus and hours for May 13, 2012.

Don't be surprised if some places require a credit card to secure the reservation. This is the type of holiday when people may book multiple restaurants and decide where to go at the last moment. That can make the restaurant turn away other potential customers, so a guarantee may be needed to reserve.

OpenTable always does a great job guiding you to the right reservation. What's more, you can just click through and reserve from this list.

Boston Chefs has a list of specials for the day from list from their members.

Gayot lists favorite brunches.

Our picks

With a gathering of family members with different food preferences, it's great to know about a place like Eastern Standard where they can please the cocktail lover, the meat and taters brother, and the family epicure.

Sometimes, family meals can use a bit of entertainment mixed in with the food. The Top of the Hub is perfect for this. They'll have prix fixe, 4-course brunch and dinner menus on Mother's Day with live jazz in the lounge for both meals. You'll also receive complementary passes to the Skywalk Observatory above the restaurant on the 50th floor. That will give part of your day a 360 degree view of Boston and the surrounding area.

If Mom is a seafood lover, call now to secure a table at Island Creek Oyster Bar. This Kenmore Square restaurant has established itself as the best fine dining seafood restaurant in Boston. Your family will enjoy the best in seafood, in a big comfortable room, with reservations, and service that will make Mom feel spoiled.

And, for the best gift, let her choose something from her wish list. Get an Amazon gift card! You can send it by email or print it out to tuck into a greeting card.

Details:
Writers: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photo: 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 a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

April 26, 2012
Artu’s Roasted Lamb & Eggplant Sandwich: A Boston Essential

The "Agnello Arrosto" or rotisserie leg of lamb with marinated eggplant sandwich at Artu in the North End and on Beacon Hill is one of those menu items that you really should try if you want to understand the range of Boston food options.

"Agnello Arrosto" or rotisserie leg of lamb with marinated eggplant sandwich at Artu

After some sandwich chatter on Chowhound, we stopped by the bar at Artu on Prince Street and ordered this Boston classic. It's one of those old favorites that slipped off our mental menu list.

This side of the sandwich showed the lamb better.

This experience gave us the idea of changing our Food: Best Bites category to Food: Best Bites & Boston Essentials. We'll be covering more area classics, like this, in the months ahead. It will give us a perfect excuse to forgo the new and visit old favorites.

If you are new to Artu, you should know that they have a reputation for making customers happy by letting them customize their food when possible. The Chowhounds have added things like provolone, roasted pepper, and broccoli rabe to their Artu selections.

What you get if you go for the straight-off-the-menu version is a soft grinder-style roll, filled with a pile of thinly sliced lamb off the rotisserie, moistened with a bit of au jus, and covered with strips of slightly spicy, marinated eggplant.

Add a nice big pour of a Primitivo or Chianti and you have a great meal.

Related posts: More of our Food: Best Bites & Boston Essentials.

What's on your Amazon shopping list? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Artu (North End)

6 Prince Street, Boston, MA 02113 (map & reviews)

(617) 742-4336

Artu (Beacon Hill)

89 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114 (map & reviews)

(617) 227-9023

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 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 a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We reserve the right to edit ads out of comments.

April 25, 2012
Don’t Wait for Lilac Sunday, Plan an Arboretum Visit This Week

Walking around the city last weekend, we noticed the scent of lilacs in the air. We enjoyed seeing some wonderful, old bushes at Titus Sparrow Park. And, a recent post by A Proper Bostonian also featured lilacs.

If you look forward to Lilac Sunday at the Arnold Arboretum each year, we suggest you schedule two visits this spring. One this week or weekend to see the lilacs, and one on May 13th to enjoy the events planned for Lilac Sunday– also the only day of the year when you can have a picnic at the Arboretum.

Related Posts:

Lilac Sunday- So Many Good Reasons for An Arboretum Visit

Lilac Weekend at the Arboretum

Here's a link to a book on Boston's Gardens and Greenspaces from one of our favorite publishers, Union Park Press. Plus, The First Fifty Years of the Arnold Arboretum.

Details:
Arnold Arboretum

125 Arborway, Boston, MA‎ (map & reviews)

617-524-1718‎

www.arboretum.harvard.edu

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: © 2010 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 a 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.

April 24, 2012
Financial District, Milk & Kilby: Where to Find Food Trucks

As these rolling restaurants expand their reach and numbers throughout the Boston area, we’re Food Truck Tracking– checking out some of their favorite nesting spots, and what you’ll find when you get there. -The BostonZest Team!

Financial District, Milk & Kilby

Location: Walk across the street to the traffic island at the intersection of Milk & Kilby and order up. (map)

MBTA LINK: Close to State Street, Downtown Crossing, and Aquarium T-Stops.

More info @ Boston Food Truck Schedule

How many trucks? One or two-at-a-time are scheduled here with different trucks on different days and each day of the week. This spot has trucks Tuesdays through Fridays.

Who's scheduled here? Go Fish!, Cupcakory, Momogoose, Roxy's Grilled Cheese, Kick**s Cupcakes, Froyo Truck, Redbones Barbeque, Bon Me

What we had: Fish & Chips, Miso Seared Salmon Rice Paper Wrap with ginger/wasabi dressed Asian Greens, Radish and sesame shiitake mushrooms and lemonade from Go Fish. For dessert, we shared a Lemon and a Salted Caramel Cupcake from the Cupcakory.

Update: Go Fish is no longer servign up food on the Boston Streets.

Hours and dates: No mornings here. This spot has trucks Tuesdays through Fridays.

Tips: Figure out what side of the hulking advertising sign is the order line and which is the waiting-for-pick up line. We almost cut the line by mistake because we approached from the wrong side.

Where to Eat: The wonderful Norman B. Leventhal Park at Post Office Square is just a block away. As the weather warms, they'll have cushions and books you can borrow at lunch time. And, 12:00 Noon – 2:00 PM, June through August they have a summer music program. There's even free WIFI if you want to surf while you eat.

Three blocks to the East is the Greenway with benchs and some tables and chairs. Beyond that is the HarborWalk.

Where to eat inside! The nearest spot on cold or rainy days is South Station, about half a mile from these trucks.

Restrooms: South Station. And, you can always use Universal Hub's Guide to Boston Restrooms to add a few other places if you know of them.

Bonus points for: Making the best use yet of an unattractive traffic island. Now, if one of the nearby businesses whose employees enjoy this food truck spot would add a bit of greenery and maybe a couple of tables, this could be a pocket park!

For more of our Food Truck/Street Food coverage: click here. Or, anytime you visit BostonZest you can click on the "Food Truck/Street Food" tab at the top of the page.

Link: Boston Food Truck Location Map

Did you know you can buy groceries from Amazon? Have them ship what you need and have more time to check out food trucks.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Ed & 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 a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We reserve the right to edit ads out of comments.

April 17, 2012
Sunday Dog, Odis “Loves Everyone!”

We always look forward to seeing Odis– this Sunday Dog loves everyone! He always has a way of making you feel special, as if you’re the only one in the room.

Odis was catching some spring rays in the park, the other day, and didn’t see us approach. As soon as he realized he had company, this spunky little guy grabbed his toy and rushed over to greet us.

While Odis loves toys, his favorite is “anything new.” His person explained that he gets a new toy every couple of weeks. Like so many of us, he loves presents, and even knows the word!

Did somebody say, "Present?"

Odis also loves cheese, doesn’t like skateboards, treasures walks, and always wants the bed to himself, “He’s a Dachshund, so he likes to burrow.” And, “he messes up the bed pretty well.”

Odis will turn six in June, so we’re guessing that’ll mean another present…

Uh-h-h, sorry boy… But, June isn’t all that far away. Happy Birthday, Odis!

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

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Details:
Words: Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 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 a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

April 15, 2012
From the River to the Dome

Springtime view across the parkland,

From the Charles River Esplanade,

To the Massachusetts Statehouse,

Sunlit like a Beacon on the Hill.

What's on your Spring shopping list? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:
Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 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 a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

April 14, 2012
The Freedom Trail: Our Patriots’ Day Friday Link

Have you ever walked The Freedom Trail? I know that I walked parts of it years ago, but I've never walked the entire length. If you're looking for a nice, long tramp some lovely spring weekend, follow the red line and explore that route that brings visitors to Boston.

The Freedom Trail Foundation has every type of tour you might want from maps and self-guided walking tours to ticketed guided tours.

What's on your Boston History shopping list? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 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 a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

April 13, 2012
Routes for Visiting Runners – Boston Marathon Weekend 2012

Whether you're coming to run or watch the 2012 Boston Marathon, or just want to log some miles, it's an exciting time to visit the city.

UPDATE: Routes for Visiting Runners – Boston Marathon Weekend 2016

Exiting the Mass Ave Tunnel – Less Than a Mile to Go!

I remember my first Boston Marathon– as a spectator, I've yet to put in the training needed to actually compete. Penny and I booked a hotel room for the weekend and left the car parked. We took in the runners' expo, pasta supper and other pre-race activities, then watched a spectacular Boylston Street finish.

As an out-of-state runner staying near Faneuil Hall, I still wanted to get in a run or two, but wasn't sure where to head.

Now, as a Boston resident, I can recommend a couple of my favorite routes.

Charles River Run

If you're a visiting runner staying anywhere near the finish line, you can't beat a daytime run along the Charles River. It offers great views and a more open course without having to constantly cross roadways. This multi-use path is shared by bikes, blades, skate boards, dogs and walkers. It can get congested as the day wears on, but who knows, you may find yourself sharing the trail with some famous elite runners. It's easy to make any number of loops between the Boston and Cambridge sides of the river by using the many bridges along the way.

From Back Bay you can access the Charles River Esplanade from Massachusetts Avenue, Fairfield, Dartmouth and Arlington Streets. If you head West from the Massachusetts Avenue ramp you can also use the parcourse workout station that's located just up-river. Click here for photos and details including a map to find it.

Almost There! It's a Great Feeling!

Parks in the Heart of the City

For a tree-lined route, try the Commonwealth Avenue Mall– not a shopping center, but a park that runs down the center of this residential street. At Commonwealth and Arlington you can enter the pristine Public Garden for a slower pace. Moving through the center of the Garden will lead you across Charles Street to the Boston Common.

Inside tip: Localisms-

Mass Ave = Massachusetts Avenue
Comm Ave = Commonwealth Avenue
And, it's Boston Common – singular, not Boston Commons

Related Posts:

Tracking a Boston Marathon Runner 2012

Parking Your Car for Boston Marathon Weekend 2012

What’s Open in Boston on Patriots’ Day 2012

How to Get to the Esplanade from Boston

Here are some Photos from past Boston Marathons

The View from Hereford Street

Marathon Kisses

Just Hangin on Hereford Street

Other Resources:
Here's a great site. You'll find dozens of local running routes, including along the Charles River.

Details:
Writer: Ed Cherubino
Photos: From the 2008 Boston Marathon © Penny Cherubino

April 12, 2012
Marathon Food Truck Move

Yesterday, we found The Dining Car, a food truck that is usually in front of the Library on Boylston Street, nosed into the pod of trucks around the block on Stuart Street near Dartmouth.

On Tuesday, The Dining Car joined Staff Meal and newcomer Chubby Chickpea over in back of the Hancock Tower. This move clears the Food Truck space on Boylston Street for the Boston Marathon finish line, grandstands, and photobridge.

Lunch seekers seemed really happy to have a cluster of choices.

What's on your summer holiday shopping list? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 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 a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

April 11, 2012