BostonZest

What Are You Making with Sweet Corn?

Sweet corn is at its best right about now in New England. I always buy and cook more than we'll use in a meal. Leftover sweet corn is one of my favorite additions to summer foods.

Salsas, salads, cornbread, pizzas, and fritattas all welcome an addition of leftover corn.

But, there are some dishes where it is worth cooking and cutting the corn while it's fresh and warm. Especially dishes that use the "corn milk" you can scrape from the cob after the kernels are cut away.

Last summer I shared my recipe for "Summer Corn and Potato Salad."

It's one of my favorite salads for this season when we can buy fresh-from-the-field sweet corn and just-dug new potatoes. Corn milk adds moisture and depth of corn flavor to the finished dish.

"Summer Corn and Potato Salad" is perfect for your next picnic or grilling session. A big bowl of it will make you very popular at a pot luck dinner.

Here's my favorite knife for preparing something like this salad.

Maggie Mae Is Our Sunday Dog & Our Every Day Dog

Here's Maggie Mae's official 13th birthday portrait.  She is BostonZest's Vice-president for Security and Morale. And, she does her job very well.

With digital cameras, we all take many more candid photographs of our companions. But, take a moment, once a year, to create a birthday portrait of your dog. If you don't know your dog's birthday, take a "Gotya Day" photo- celebrating the day your dog joined your family.

For this newest Maggie Mae photo, we took her to Pawsh and had her groomed ahead of time so she could settle into her coat and look natural.

While we're all tempted to take a photo on grooming day, the real test of a great spa day is how your dog looks a couple of weeks later. It's better to photograph a more natural look.

Catch your pup in a setting where they're comfortable and often settle. Then get low. Put your camera on the floor or low as possible.

This was what I call a "grab shot." Maggie settled along the wall unit, and I grabbed my camera and started shooting. She moved before I could get a perfect shot, but this one is a good version of what she looks like at thirteen.

Maggie's portrait was taken with my Canon G10. One of the reasons I bought this camera as my "pocket" camera was that I could set it with the flash off as a basic setting. Turn your flash off! You won't annoy your dog with flashes, and you won't have to worry about red eye.

You will have to hold your camera very still (putting it on the floor will help) and you may have to add some light to the mix. You can do that by reflecting the light from above with a photographer's reflector or even a piece of white cardboard.

Some of the best pet portraits, I've created have been taken with the camera on the ground. Here are some examples:

Teddy the Terrier

Missy the Pomeranian

Reggie Bulldog Pup

Monarch Marching- Photo of the week

This monarch butterfly was enjoying a day at Allandale Farm. I was there to do a photo shoot for an upcoming piece for Serious Eats. Allandale is the last working farm in Boston and has lot's of fans in this area. Not only do they grow great food but they support local specialty food producers by selling locally made items at the farm stand.

Walk Score™ is Our Friday Link

Walk Score™ gives you a walkability score for any address. Aside from convenience, this score can help you make an important investment decision because homes in walkable neighborhoods are worth more money.

WorldChanging.com alerted me to new report from CEOs for Cities. The opening of the report says,

"More than just a pleasant amenity, the walkability of cities translates directly into increases in home values. Homes located in more walkable neighborhoods—those with a mix of common daily shopping and social destinations within a short distance—command a price premium over otherwise similar homes in less walkable areas. Houses with the above-average levels of walkability command a premium of about $4,000 to $34,000 over houses with just average levels of walkability in the typical metropolitan areas studied."

Walk Scores™ are also important to continued quality of life as we age. I checked the walk scores for the home addresses of three elderly women in my life.  

• The first woman is a neighbor in the Back Bay, her Walk Score™ is 97 out of 100. She is active, out and about running her errands and taking part in community activities.
• The second was my mother-in-law who lived in Westwood MA with a car dependent Walk Score™ of 29 out of 100. As she aged she became more and more isolated and had to move to an assisted living facility when she could no longer drive.
• The third is my mother who lived in a suburban neighborhood in Rhode Island. Her home had a somewhat walkable score of 66 out of 100. She was very car dependent. She simply had never learned to walk as a way of life. After an illness, she also moved to an assisted living facility where she has a higher walk score of 75 out of 100.

Naturally, other factors were at play in each of these instances. However, there is a case to be made for retiring in an urban setting for a high degree of independence when you decide to stop driving.

What's your Walk Score™? Was walkablity a factor in deciding where you live now? Will a high walk score be a factor in future real estate decisions?

I try to walk between 10,000- 15,000 steps a day around my walkable neighborhood. Here's the pedometer I use to measure my progress. This one has a big advantage - you don't have to clip it on, you can toss it in your pocket or purse. It also measure how many of your steps were aerobic. Omron even has one that links to you PC with health management software.

Details:

Photo: ©2008 Penny Cherubino

Walk Score™

Charles River Clean Up Boat Update August 2009

 

The tourists aboard this tour boat and the sailors enjoying a hazy day sail may not know what once the Charles River looked like this.

The Charles River Clean up Boat is the reason that the river, for as far as I could see, was free trash and debris when I took the top photo this morning.

Now I'll turn  the keyboard over to Captain Tom McNichol so that he can give you an update on the Charles River Clean up boat.

Charles River Clean Up Boat Update 

By Captain Charles McNichol

 
First of all, Things are going very smoothly this season.  Once we got the residue from the 4Th of July cleaned up we have kept the river looking beautiful, as it deserves to be.  During the rainy months of June and July we missed a few days, but at the same time, the use of the river and it's shores decreased.  The net was a wash and the river was kept clean.
 
Now that the sun is shinning at a steady rate we have a slightly different set of circumstances.  We get to go on every scheduled day, but we are only going 3 days a week due to Bob Gaffneys shoulder surgery.  So far we are holding our own, but I notice that I am getting more bags each trip.  This means Bob and his crews were earning their keep.
 
 Bottom line, the river looks good and If we get behind, we will schedule a few extra days.
 
 Which brings me to the schedule.  The first open date is Sept. 9.  After Sept 9 there are only 6 open days left in the season.  A number of folks who come each year have not made it yet.  Take a moment, visit..cleanupboat.org..pick a date that has no crew listed and call Robert Cantebury (phone number on every calender page).  Needles to say the volunteers have been great this year as always.  The only mess up was me....you don't want the sorry details.
 
Funding is a problem.  The reduced schedule mentioned above helps a little.  But we are behind and trying with Jonathan Burke's and Deb Howe's help, to get a couple of new donners.  We  will find a way.
 

I just reread this update and realize it is basically nothing new, which means we are doing fine.  Now that the sun is out, come on down and enjoy the river.

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Here's The BostonZest Amazon Selections of the Day

Four books about the Charles River

        

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Details:
(Photos first © 2009 Penny Cherubino. Second:courtesy of Charles River Clean Up Boat )

Charles River Clean Up Boat's website
http://rbcant.us/cleanupboat/index.htm

Here is the direct link to the donation form:

http://rbcant.us/cleanupboat/donationform.htm

Water for You and Your Dog

Universal Hub and Boston's Emergency Medical Services are reminding us to drink plenty of water during this heat wave. 

We'd like to add - make sure your dogs have plenty of water.

Our Westie, Maggie Mae will celebrate her 13th birthday tomorrow. She's never liked the heat so we have been very careful to keep our little senior citizen's outings short in this weather.

We walk early and late to avoid the hottest part of the day. We choose the shady side of the street and the canopy of trees on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall for our exercise.

We've always carried water on our walks because Maggie loves to jump up on a bench for a rest and to enjoy a nice cool drink. This clever dog has a special look she gives you when she wants a drink.

For the past few days we've walked out to a shady bench, give her a drink, and a rest, and then take a slow stroll home.

There are lots of products designed for dogs to drink from when you are out and about. Here are a few from Amazon.

If you came out without a special water dish for your dog, you can use a plastic bag. Just slide your hand inside, cup your hand and pour in some water. It won't leak the way your hand does without the bag, and you won't waste water as you would if you let your pup drink from a bottle.

In Boston, we all have to carry extra plastic bags because you must have one to show to an official if they ask about hit. Click here a link to the city's rules and regulations for dogs. You are not only required to pick up after your dog; you are required to have something with you to pick up after a dog if you are out with one. The site says,

"When walking your dog, the law necessitates you to be prepared for such occurrences and be equipped with a bag or some other means of feces removal. After it is removed, it is important to dispose of the feces properly, either in a toilet or in a trash container (after being secured in a plastic bag)."

City Hall Farmers' Market Over On Serious Eats

The Boston City Hall Farmers' Market  was the subject of my "Market Scene" report on Serious Eats this week. Chick here for the full report.

Beacon Hill resident, Linda Cox was my shopping partner for the day. In our busy lives one way to see more of the friends we love to spend time with is to do things, like shopping farmers markets, together. 

Here are more photos from the City Hall Market.

 

That's Kate Stillman of Stillmans Farm and Stillman's at the Turkey Farm. When you visit their stand be sure to ask about the "conscientiously raised, grass-fed and pastured, chemical free meats and poultry." They have it tucked away in a freezer to be certain it remains fresh for you.

Here's a good looking messenger bag to bring that meat home from the market. No one will guess that it's really an insulated cooler for bringing your lunch to work and your market products home at night.

The Sunflowers are from Stow Greenhouses. They have lovely cut flowers at great prices. While the sunflowers attracted my lens this time, they specialize in hybrid lilies.

Bean salad anyone? These snapping fresh beans were at the Stillman's Farm stand.

Details:

City Hall Farmers Market

19 Cambridge Street, Boston MA

Mondays and Wesnesdays until November 25, 2009

11:00 am to 6:00 pm