BostonZest

Black Willow Frame

All texture and tones, an Esplanade black willow frames walkers on the pedestrian path along the water.

Need some Valentine's Day gift ideas? Click over to Amazon and do some planning, and if you do buy something there, they'll put a few coins in our tip cup.  

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

Just Add Cheese, a Delicious Friday Link

This week, we're sending you to a fun food site with a great philosophy: Just Add Cheese!

What Meesh & Jacki from "Just Add Cheese" say:

"Because we simply eat too much food to not talk about it, and it would be selfish if we didn’t share what we know with our fellow food enthusiasts, we’ve decided to track our adventures (and misadventures) in a blog."

"...who doesn’t love cheese? It’s like the never fail, idiot proof way to make a bad dish miraculously better. No individual can deny the power of melted mozzarella, creamy brie or some shredded Monterrey jack…on anything!"

What We Say:

Here are two food-lovers who really get around town and share their experiences with you.

You have to love any blog that has posts like:

Friday Food Porn | Cheese Me Please

Lamb Bam Thank You Ma'am

Chihuly & Cheeseburgers at the MFA

You can even follow them out-of-town to places like:

Mile End Deli | Brooklyn, NY

Duckfat | French Fry Nirvana | Portland, ME (one of our favorites)

East Side Pockets | Must-Eat Falafel in Providence

Enough said, click over and explore Just Add Cheese. We think you'll become another regular visitor!

Need some Valentine's Day gift ideas? Click over to Amazon and do some planning, and if you do buy something there, they'll put a few coins in our tip cup.  

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

Skating in Shirt Sleeves, Show This to That Groundhog!

Before we listen to the opinion of some silly rodent from Pennsylvania, I think we should slip Phil a copy of this photo of a guy skating in shirt sleeves on Boston Common on February 1, 2012!

There were also other strange phenomena in Boston yesterday. Everyone wanted to be outside to enjoy the weather. We have proof. We walked into Neptune Oyster at 12:19 pm and were greeted by one of our favorite Neptune bartenders like this! 

(Needless to say, these seats soon filled in.)

So Mr Phil, no matter what you say, we're going to enjoy each sunny day until it gets too hot to indulge in long hours outside. And, if it snows some more, we'll hold you personally responsible!

We told you this was not going to be an easy call for the rodent!

Groundhog Stressed Over 2012 Prediction!

Need some Valentine's Day gift ideas? Click over to Amazon and do some planning, and if you do buy something there, they'll put a few coins in our tip cup.  

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

Celebrating February with an Impressive Budget Sparkler– Dibon Cava

We’re toasting the arrival of February with a budget sparkler that has high-end taste!

Dibon Cava Brut Reserve ($9.99) is so impressive, you’ll want to share this find with every wine-lover you know.

If “balance” is a fault, then it’s this wine’s only fault! It will please of wide range of tastes– not too dry or too fruity. A light nose that reminded us of citrus? lemon curd? No, dried apricot.

It's light, refreshing, and inviting. Very food-friendly (spicy chicken wings, potatoes, roasted root vegetables worked for us). This cava also shines all on it’s own! And, it was still very good as it warmed.

Dibon Cava would be a perfect opener for a party, at a restaurant with friends, to begin a meal or an evening. And, a special way to celebrate the start of a new month. Salud!  

We found Dibon Cava at Bauer Wine & Spirits  

It's all part of Our Sparkling Resolution  

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Need some Valentine's Day gift ideas? Click over to Amazon and do some planning and if you do buy something there, they'll put a few coins in our tip cup.  

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

Voter Registration Deadlines & Election Dates 2012

Here are the deadlines you need to meet to vote in elections scheduled for 2012 in Massachusetts. 

From the Elections Division of the Secretary of State's Office and the City of Boston's Election Department.

• Wednesday, February 15, 2012: Last day to register to vote and change party enrollment for the Presidential Primary.
• Tuesday, March 6, 2012: Presidential Primary Election 
• Friday, August 17, 2012: Last day to register to vote and change party enrollment for the State Primary.
• Thursday, September 6, 2012: Voting day for the State Primary
• Wednesday, October 17, 2012: Last day to register to vote and change party enrollment for the Presidential Election.
• Tuesday, November 6, 2012: Voting day for the Presidential Election.

How to Register to Vote

If you're reluctant to register to vote because you think it will make you more likely to be called for jury duty, we've already researched that idea and learned that it is a myth. Click here for our full report.

• You can download a voter registration form here.
• If there is time, you can mail it to:

City of Boston Election Department   
City Hall, Room 241   
Boston, MA 02201

• The safest way to do it is to stop by the Election Department at City Hall and complete the form.
• The Boston Elections Department is located in room 241 at Boston City Hall and is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, except on city holidays.
• Complete information, including the identification documents you need, and other ways to register to vote can be found at The Secretary of State's Office
• Absentee Ballot applications are available here

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site and keep resource pages like this one coming your way!

Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2009 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 comments add 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.

Three Tips for Your New Camera

Here are a few tips for anyone with a new camera. We just added the Nikon D7000 to our photo fleet and here are some of the things we're doing in our first weeks of using it. 

First: Take a photo of the camera with your phone. And, take a close-up photo of the identification plate you’ll find on the bottom of most DSLRs, point-and-shoot, and camcorders. That will help you identify your camera and prove ownership if it's lost or stolen.

Second: Go to the manufacturer’s site and download a copy of your owner’s manual. Pop that into your Dropbox folder, and you'll be able to refer to it anywhere from any computer, tablet, or smartphone. Often, cameras get the most use when you are away from home and it’s great to have that reference on hand wherever you are. 

Don’t have a Dropbox account? Why not? It’s reliable and if you click here your first 250MB of storage is free. They'll also add 250MB to our account and we’ll say thank you. Then, you can add storage up to 8GB by referring your friends.

Third: If you have new Memory Cards, take a photo of your business card or write your contact information, including a cell phone number, on a piece of paper and photograph it. Then, lock the photo so it can’t be erased. Should you drop a memory card or leave your camera on a park bench, a good samaritan will have a way to reach you. If you format your cards rather than erase the photos, you will have to do this every time you format. 

Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Artwork: Courtesy of Dropbox

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

Groundhog Stressed Over 2012 Prediction!

Phil's Magic Touch! (photo by AlicePopkorn)

I can only imagine the excruciating stress Punxsutawney Phil must be feeling as Groundhog Day 2012 approaches. Let’s be honest, the little guy is faced with a very difficult prognostication! His job description states that he must work his magic to reliably determine spring’s ETA. But, this year, the question is not how much time until spring, but is there enough time left for a "real" winter!

Of course, this suggests that we’ve gone from fall to spring having somehow skipped right over winter. And, if winter finally does arrive, will there be another spring or an abrupt switch to summer? It’s no wonder rumors are spreading about Phil’s clandestine visits to a special therapist.

"Phil Who?" (photo by hynkle)

Since Phil hasn’t returned our phone calls, we’ve made repeated attempts to approach some of his rodent-relatives. After all, it’s not much of a stretch to see how the groundhog could be mistaken for a large squirrel. The problem is, all of the Boston squirrels we’ve asked don’t have any Punxutawney connections– where’s facebook when you need it?

It’s looking, more and more, as if we’ll just have to wait for February 2nd and hope that Phil comes up with a workable solution. He always does! Good Luck, buddy.

Sunday Dog will return to this space, next week. 

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Details:
Words: Ed Cherubino
Groundhog Photo: used under this creative commons license  Some rights reserved by AlicePopkorn 
Squirrel Photo: used under this creative commons license  Some rights reserved by hynkle

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.