BostonZest

Popping a Bollinger Champagne Cork for July 2012

Tomorrow, we'll pop the cork on a bottle of Bollinger to celebrate July! "Happy New Month" to all. 

This month, we have a few extra reasons to celeberate, so we are splurging with a great bottle of French Campagne: Bollinger Special Cuvée. This is the standard that we use to measure all other French Blanc de Noir Champagnes. 

One of the nice things about Bolly (as the Brits call it) is the consistant taste through the years and its wide availability. The photos here were taken in Provincetown where we usually find it at Perry's Wine and Liquors. But, I also recall buying a bottle, years ago, at an A & P in a small town in Maine. 

This month's bottle is a treat. It is something we will enjoy at home or in a vacation cottage. If you hesitate to buy and enjoy a moderately expensive bottle of wine at home, think about what you have paid for wine in a restaurant. 

This is a toasty Champagne, full bodied, and ready to take on whatever you're serving with it. The blend is 60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Meunier. And, each release has been blended with reserve wines from the Bollinger cellars to achieve the famous Bollinger house style.

The next time you're in a special place or have a special reason to celebrate, invite Bollinger to the party!

Portrait from Bollinger's Life Can Be Perfect site. You can read more Bolly stories there.

We close with one of the great quotes about Champagne from Lily Bollinger (above) who managed this great house for many years and established its world-wide reputation.

"I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it—unless I’m thirsty." Lily Bollinger

Related Posts:

Here's a video that will tell you more about this great Campagne House.

Check out more of our Sparkling Resolution Winners among our Wine Posts. For years, we've kept our sparkling resolution to begin each month by toasting with a glass of sparkling wine. Some are special, some are bargains, all are delcious!

More about Our Sparkling Resolution

Finally, more of our Provincetown Posts!

We have a new, favorite wine book that we are not only recommending to our readers, but buying as a gift for wine-loving friends. It's a treasure and we expect it to look a bit worn and well-used pretty quickly. It may even suffer a few wine stains but we doubt that Karen and Andrew will mind.

The Food Lover's Guide to Wine

Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

 

Here are more books from this team:

The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs  

What to Drink with What You Eat: The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea - Even Water - Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers

Becoming a Chef

Details:
Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

Rhea Becker’s Short Attention Span: Our Friday Link

It's only fitting that we make "Rhea Becker's Short Attention Span" a Friday Link. After all, Rhea was the one who inspired our Friday Links a few years back. 

Rhea was supporting other sites and linking to them on Fridays, so I asked if I could steal the idea. She very graciously said, "Yes" and we have been passing on good stuff to our readers each Friday ever since. 

When Rhea said she was retiring her Boomer Chronicles site, I was saddened, but she promised a new outlet for her wit and wisdom. In a few weeks, she delivered with this great short format site. Follow along as this talented writer and fun woman drops interesting tidbits your way. 

Any writer will tell you that it is easier to write 1200 words on a topic than 150. Rhea's editing talent makes her a perfect short form writer. 

Click over and subscribe to her feed "Rhea Becker's Short Attention Span"

Or, follow her on Twitter.

What's on your Summer Fun shopping list? Shop Amazon - Get Ready for Summer - Everything You Need and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Screenshot: Courtesy of   "Rhea Becker's Short Attention Span"

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.

Esplanade Concert Stages before the Hatch Shell

Since 1940, Boston Pops Concerts on the Esplanade have been held at the Edward Hatch Memorial Concertorium, better known as the Hatch Shell. But, there have been concert stages along the river since July 4th, 1929.

(Photo courtesy of the Massachusetts DCR Archives)

The Hatch Shell replaced temporary music stages that had been used for Arthur Fiedler’s Esplanade concerts since the inaugural event. The first concert stage was a small platform backed by a shell-shaped sounding board made of wood. This structure was erected and dismantled for each season’s concerts.

In 1934, this was replaced by a temporary steel structure. While it was designed with an open back, it was described as, “insufferably hot” by Linda Cox in, “The Charles River Esplanade, Its Fascinating History.”

 

In 1939, the trustees of Maria E. Hatch’s estate entered into an agreement to give the Commonwealth of Massachusetts $300,000 to build a concertorium or music shell on the Storrow Memorial Embankment in Boston. It would be a memorial to her bother, Boston real estate auctioneer, Edward Hatch.

The agreement was very specific as to the use of the structure. It would be for “musical and artistic purposes... of general public interest and entertainment, except, however, that it shall not be used for sectarian, political or controversial purposes.”

What's on your Summer Fun shopping list? Shop Amazon - Get Ready for Summer - Everything You Need and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Postcards are from a private collection 

Greenough Lane, Then and Now....

Today, we nominate Charter Street Park and Greenough Lane (map) in the North End as a delightful pocket of serenity. Ever since we met Lynn Schweikart author of Peaceful Places Boston, we've been taking note of places to nominate for her consideration in a future edition. 

Running through Charter Street Park is Greenough Lane. Early records of Boston’s streets listed this as Greenough's Alley. In 1732, it was called Greenough’s Lane, which changed to Greenough's Avenue in 1848. Finally, the apostrophe "s" was dropped and it has been Greenough Lane, since 1858.

From the BPL collection used under this creative commons license.

As we were researching Greenough Lane, we came across this Henry Blaney sketch of the scene as it stood in July 1891. It is part of the Boston Public Library Collection. 

We'd also like to encourage our readers to stand up for and protect a few of these little gems. We need a few places where you can sit and enjoy nature without organized events, street performers, or other diversions planned by all the sad, little, busy minds who need constant distraction to keep from thinking.

Discover more peaceful places here and around the country. And, please nominate your favorite pockets of serentity for one of our upcoming posts.

For those who read us from other parts of the country, the publisher has some peaceful books for other cities.  

Peaceful Places: Boston: 121 Tranquil Sites in the City and Beyond

Peaceful Places: Chicago: 119 Tranquil Sites in the Windy City and Beyond

Peaceful Places: San Francisco: 100+ Tranquil Sites in The City and the Greater Bay Area

Peaceful Places: Los Angeles: 100+ Sites for Tranquility Across the City of Angels

    

Details:
Words: Penny Cherubino
Cover art © 2012 Lynn Schweikart 

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.

Get Your Fresh, Local Strawberries While They Last

We heard the first warnings that strawberry season may be short this year from Barbara Hamilton of Hamiliton Orchards last Friday at the Copley Square Farmers' Market.

 

We were telling her how much we've been enjoying this year's crop of super sweet, juicy berries when she said that with the heat, hers may be gone soon. (But, her blueberries are almost ready and a few may show up this week.)

As you can see from the photo, these strawberries are totally ripe and very delicate. Penny carefully carried this container home because she wanted to photograph these plump, rosy jewels in their wooden cradle.

But, most of the time, we tuck our own covered containers into our market backpacks to protect delicate items like berries, ripe tomatoes, or delicate pastries. We pick out the container of berries we want and dump them into a sturdy, sealed bowl for the trip home. 

We're also coming to the last week of the Mass Farmers' Market Association Strawberry Festival fund raising event. Choose a special strawberry dessert from a participating restaurant and they will donate to the group that helps our farmers and farmers' markets.

And, speaking of farms, here's a link to find the MassGrown map where you can search for places to pick your own berries.

Related Posts: Here are our Local Food & Farmers' Market Posts

What's on your Summer Food shopping list? Shop Amazon - Get Ready for Summer - Everything You Need and support this site! Here are the containers we use for berry transport. Perfect to keep in your market cooler or tote bag.

 

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 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.

Romancing the Rhubarb

It was a rhubarb spring for me. Looking at the photos I took during an early season trip to Provincetown, a big smile crossed my face as I recalled taking these pictures early one morning in our Chandler House kitchen, before enjoying a perfect breakfast.

That little, lovely jar, shining in the morning sun, was full of rhubarb preserves from PB Boulangerie in Wellfleet.

We always stop there on our way into P-Town to supply ourself with their crusty baguettes, buttery croissants, and bike trail cookies. 

These oh-so-satisfying, sweet/tart preserves (made by the owner's mother when she visits from France) inspired me to seek out rhubarb in other forms all spring.

I bought fresh rhubarb at the Copley Square Farmers' Market and, following my Grandpa's lessons, turned it into a rhubarb compote. He didn't actually use recipes. He just cut the rhubarb in his back yard, removed the leaves, washed it, chopped it, and then cooked it down with a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, and a touch of water. 

Here is a basic recipe. But, read the comments. There are great ideas there that I'm going to try.

I've spotted strawberry rhubarb pies at the markets. Barbara Hamiltion of Hamilton Orchards said she's planning to make some rhubarb preserves and may even make some with low sugar or honey for those who like a touch of sour.

On my tasting list are Fee Brothers Rhubarb Cocktail Bitters, Rhubarb soda, and– when she makes them– Vianne Chocolat's Raspberry Rhubarb Truffles!

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

     

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

Sunday Dog, Toby Has “the Look!”

Sunday Dog, Toby has “the Look,” but I’m not really sure what that look is. It’s what a critic might say about a successful fashion model, actor, or a best in show winner. It’s that special look that makes you pause and feel as though someone is peering inside your soul. Or, it just might be Toby’s way of saying, “What’s that strange looking thing you’re pointing at me?”      



Actually, he didn’t seem to mind our cameras and was happy to pose– nice profile!

At just a year old, this Basset Hound plays in spurts but sleeps most of the time– he “is” still a puppy! His person admits, “He does bark a lot, but he doesn’t know how to howl like a big boy, yet.”



While Toby can be very stubborn, he is a very good boy who loves to play and chase a favorite ball. Bassets need a lot of exercise, you have to "keep them fit and thin or they’ll have really bad back problems.”



This intriguing little character is already very well socialized– he’s being raised around a lot of people and other dogs. And, Toby is definitely one of the friendliest pups we’ve ever met, you can tell just by ... “the Look!”

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

We met Toby at the MSPCA table at a Dog Day event at the Greenway Open Market. He was a great ambassador for one of our favorite animal organizations.

In his honor, we are replacing our ad today with an opportunity for our readers and our neighbors to support the MSPCA just by shopping at the Whole Foods Markets Jamaica Plain & Symphony locations on Tuesday June 26th. When you do, 5% of the net sales will go to MSPCA Angell. Click here for more details.

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