BostonZest

Tour Boston's Beautifully Decorated Hotel Lobbies

Today, we suggest a walking Friday Link and a tour of Boston's beautifully decorated hotel lobbies. We try to visit some of our favorites each year to see what they've done and enjoy the various ways each place shows their holiday spirit.

From a beautiful gingerbread house reaching to the ceiling in the Sheraton Hotel on Dalton Street (above) to a gingerbread village at the Taj on Arlington (below), these hotels and their talented staff members work their magic to make a holiday traveler feel at home. And, we've found most to be very welcoming to neighbors who stop in to take a peek.

We always find the Lenox hotel lobby with its seating area around the fireplace to be a warm and welcoming place, but this time of year it sparkles with holiday decor.

The Fairmont (above from 2011) glows with golden trim and holiday red and green.

The Mandarin Hotel and the Four Seasons both opt for a more contemporary take on the season.

Over on BostonInno, we read about (but haven't yet visited) the Christmas trees hanging upside down from the lobby ceiling at the Liberty Hotel.

These are great places to take a break on a chilly winter walk. And, during events like First Night, they can be more stops on your schedule. 

Do you have a hotel lobby to add to our list? What's your favorite and how is it decorated?

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: © 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.

Sunday Dog, Lucas Has a Nose for Fashion!

We all excel at something, especially Sunday Dogs like Lucas, who has a nose for fashion! This two year old Cavapoo (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel/Poodle) first showed an aptitude for the business while working part-time last summer at a clothing shop on Nantucket.



Besides attracting customers to the store, Lucas loved the attention from everyone who stopped by. This little one did such a great job, he was promoted to the company’s Boston location – Skirtin Around on Newbury Street – where he can often be seen peering out at passersby.



When we stopped in to say hello last week, Lucas was on a break in one of his favorite out-of-the-way spots. He hadn’t quite finished stringing all the holiday lights, but found time to mix it up with our Poppy – he loves it when other dogs come in.



We also discovered that Lucas likes to sit on the counter in the shop. He’s found that people pet him longer because they don’t have to bend down – this guy will be running the company before long!



Before coming to work, Lucas enjoys visiting his nearby dog park most mornings to get a good workout. And, occasionally, this spunky little CavaPoo can be found next door at Fish & Bone, looking for cookies from one of his favorite employees there.

Apparently, Lucas not only has a nose for fashion, but also can appreciate the aroma of a good cookie?


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

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: © 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.

Related articles

Sunday Dog, Ruby - Just Call Her "Perfect"

Sunday Dog, Zoe - the Cutest "Morkie" We've Ever Met!

Sunday Dog, Mack - an OEB that Loves to Snuggle!

A Sunday Dog Alert on 911 Emergency Calls

Is Your Sunday Dog Traveling for the Holidays? Reserve Now! Plus 8 more Tips

Sunday Dog, Cozmo - Lifelong Sockoholic!

I'm Ready, "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!"

This Back Bay miss is ready to ski her way around the neighborhood if only it would snow. 

Right now, she's all dressed up in her pretty hat decorated with a bright green cabbage rose, her leafy scarf, and lacy skirt with no place to slide her glittery skis. But, she's brightening the day of those who walk by her spot in a front garden.

Thanks to Francine Crawford from The Garden Club of the Back Bay for pointing our cameras towards this display! Be sure to stop by their blog to see some of the gorgeous wreaths they created this year. 

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: © 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.

 

Related articles

City Sidewalks, Pretty Sidewalks, Dressed in Holiday Style...

Tip for Cleaning Hands Stained & Sticky from Holiday Greenery

Snow: How Do snowflakes form-any in sight

We Recommend Drinking Boston (The Book!)

Did somebody say snow?

Organ Donation, Have That Talk with Your Family & Friends

They say we will all know someone who will need an organ donation or we will need one ourselves sooner or later. Back in 2008, we did our first post on this topic – How to Become An Organ Donor.

Since then, thousands of readers have found that post and spent time reading the details and using the provided links to learn more. Thank you to everyone who did that. Thinking about it, along with research, is the first step.

Back then, a friend in another part of the country had a family member who needed a heart to live. This year our inspiration is closer to home. We ran into a fellow dog lover and former neighbor on Boylston Street. She told us she may soon be a candidate for a heart and lung transplant. This time the need is closer to home and we are thinking of her, her family, and her pups often.

Have you talked to your family about becoming an organ donor?

Perhaps this holiday season, when people gather in the spirit of giving, would be a great time to express your wishes and fill out the necessary forms. 

Here are the links you need to become an organ donor.

It can be as easy as scanning the QR code on the poster above. That will link you to the national site.

(Since many of our readers are from other parts of the country, we've included the national resources.)

Here's the page where the Massachusetts Registry answers questions about organ donation via your drivers license.

Here's the link to the New England Organ Bank. They have a page where you can sign up online. And, they provide links to other resources here.

Here is the United States government's site on organ donation.

Here's a link to all the state tissue donor registries.

How to bring up the subject?

• You could say that you read this post online and want to talk about it. 
• Announce that becoming an organ donor is one of your New Year's Resoutions for 2013.
• Ask if anyone in your group knows someone who has had or needs an organ transplant.
• Register yourself before hand and pull out your drivers license to ask who else is an organ donor. You may be surprised at the response!

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: © 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.

Related articles

Spain has the highest number of organ donors

Pro or Against Organ Donation?

Brookline Winter Farmers' Market in the Arcade Building, Coolidge Corner

The Fenway Studios Door - Before and After!

Seafood Feast for Christmas Eve

Lobster photo by Man Pikin. Link in details below.

While you may think of lobster as summer fare, around our house it's a Christmas Eve tradition. Think about it, the reason Maine Lobster is so good is those freezing cold waters that make swimming from Maine’s ocean beaches a shocking experience. This time of year, water temperatures drop throughout our area and lobsters have better flavor. 

Our Lobsters will come from James Hook & Company (below) on the Waterfront.

Do you have a traditional Christmas Eve meal? Please share it with us and our readers in the comments or via Twitter.

 

Feast of the Seven Fishes

For many Italian families, the Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes, or La Vigilia di Natale, is a tradition. And, because preparing this meal at home can be daunting for the cook, it’s a good time to invite guests who will bring a dish or help in the kitchen – especially if your family’s version actually calls for 9, 11, or 13 fishes. 

(Update 12.20.12 @ 5:12 pm) Just found this coversation over on Chowhound's Boston Board about other places doing the Feast with some reviews on past feasts. Feast of the Seven Fishes on Chowhound

Get the Salt Cod Early

One element of most traditional Christmas Eve feasts is salt cod or baccalà. This is the one product you need to buy right away. Soaking it, to rehydrate and remove the salt, can be a long process and is best begun at least a couple of days before you plan to use it. 

We’ve purchased excellent salt cod from Salumeria Italiana in the North End. Baccalà is one of those products you want to buy from a trusted specialty shop or fishmonger. There's a very wide range of salt cod quality and if this is for a special occasion, why not buy from someone who's made sure you will have the best. 

There was a discussion with Boston Chowhounds about a good place to buy salt cod, earlier this year. Lots of good advice there. 

Join a Restaurant Feast

For the non-cooks, there are area restaurants serving their versions of the feast this year. Grotto in Beacon Hill has had rave reviews of their special feast menu in past years. Sister restaurant Marliave is also joining in the feasting with their own version.

Other places for fish feasting are Dante in Cambridge, Davio’s in the Theatre District, and Legal Harborside out in the Seaport area. The North End’s Neptune Oyster is doing it tonight (12.20.12) for those who have to be elsewhere on Christmas Eve. For all these places, reservations are recommended.

Upddate 12.20.12 one of our favorite places, Coppa has added a feast and they are doing prixe fixe or a la carte.

Make Up Your Own

You might decide to have your own taylor made seafood feast during the holidays. You can buy and cook your favorite fish or dine out choosing the menu items that appeal to you. Another option is meeting up with friends at a great seafood restaurant like Island Creek Oyster Bar and sharing a bunch of items that appeal to the group. That could help nudge you out of your seafood comfort zone.

The nice thing about menus for this holiday is that they are less prescribed, letting you start your own traditions. Let us know what you decide to create for your own Chistmas eve menu.

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: Lobster photo by Man Pikin. Used under this creative commons license. 

Crab photo: © 2012 Penny Cherubino   James Hook photo: © 2008 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 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.

Related articles

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Dining in Boston 2012

Christmas in Italy

One fish, two fish: Seven fishes for Christmas

The Great Phone Book Dump Is Underway!

For the next few weeks, we'll be looking at piles of phone books as they disintegrate on doorsteps around the city. Another year has passed without a law that would require these businesses to change to an opt-in system. Naturally, the pubishers are fighting this at all levels, even calling phone books free speech.

Large buildings will pay employees to move the material from where it was dumped to the recycling or trash area and then out for curbside pick up. In smaller buildings or those with absentee landlords, the materials will sit through rain, snow, and ice becoming more of an eyesore each day until someone volunteers to trash them.

What will seldom happen is for one of these books to be invited into someone's home and used for something other than paint brush cleaning or craft projects. Perhaps we could get the artists in the city to come and take the phone books away for use as raw material for art projects.

The Boston based Product Stewardship Insititue had taken the lead in working for a solution to this problem. They have a page devoted to what you can do about phone books.

Related Posts:

Phone Book Attack: Here's an Opt-Out Link

Another use for Yellow Pages????

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: © 2011 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 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.

Related articles

When Will We Finally See the Death of the Phone Book?

Not the Package Label to Leave on a City Doorstep...

Citizen complaint of the day: Why are the suburbs dumping their crappy news boxes in Boston?

Gift Ideas: 5 Little Kitchen Luxuries We're Glad We Bought

Think of the things you use all the time in your kitchen but had to think about before buying, because they were little luxuries. We bet there are a few that fall into "things you don't know how you did without."

These items can give you ideas for great gifts for those close to you or something to splurge on with a gift certificate. Please tell us what falls into that group for you in the comments section or on twitter. 

For us, here are 5 things that we love and don't regret spending the money on for a single moment. In fact, some of these have saved us money in the long run.

1. Home Espresso Machine

Ours is a Breville Cafe Roma Stainless Espresso Maker that we've had since 2008. Since buying this, we've had our coffee drinks at home most of the time and that's saved us hundreds of dollars we would have spent at coffee shops. We actually bought a reconditioned unit so it cost us much less than a new one. You can look for bargains like this at the Amazon Warehouse Sale.

 

2. Burr Coffee Grinder

If you are chopping coffee beans with a blade coffee mill, think about saving that for spices and trading up to a burr grinder. We decided on the Capresso 565 Infinity Conical Burr Grinder. You can pay more for a more serious grinder or you can use more human power and buy a hand cranked item. Those are also great to use on the road. One example is the Hario Mini Mill Slim Coffee Grinder.

   

3. Good Quality Heavy Pots and Pans

Over the years, we've replaced the thin-walled pans we thought were a great buy when we set up housekeeping, with heavy, substantial pans from Le Creuset and All-Clad. No more burnt, scorched food or pans, and more home cooking which does save cash.

     

4. Great Wine & Barware Glasses

This is one area where we've gone a bit overboard and have too many great wine glasses for people who live in a small space. We have Riedel wine glasses, Schott Zwiesel Tritan Crystal glasses and Reed & Barton barware. We both use crystal double old fashioned glasses as our daily water glass and it really gives drinking your water a lift. Anyone want to buy some glassware? One 2013 resolution is to thin our collection.

    

5.  Wedgwood Nantucket Basket Bone China for our everyday dinnerware. You've seen it all over these pages in our food photos. We were tired of replacing our everyday dinnerware every few years because of chips, crazing, and broken dishes. But, since Penny had once sold china for a living, she knew that bone china is vitrified like steel and is highly resistant to these problems. 

We invested in a service for 8 about 16 years ago and have only had two or three pieces replaced since then. Since it's all white with no gold, silver, or pattern to damage, it is totally dishwasher safe. And, it looks great on our table. A little luxury with a long life span.

Remember, we'd love to hear what's on your list of the top 5 kitchen luxuries that you don't regret buying. Send us a tweet or post a comment.

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

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.

Related articles

The Secrets To Making a Spectacular Cup of Coffee: The Best Barista Reveals All! - Food News

10 Gifts for Coffee Lovers - Holiday Gift Guide from The Kitchn

Would you spend $40 a pound for a killer cup of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee?

Surryano Ham from Virginia is Peanut-Fed Berkshire Pork

Formaggio Kitchen's "Staff Picks" 2012 - Friday Link