BostonZest

The North End Two Ways from Matt Conti

Earlier this year, Matt Conti took over the site North End Boston. It is the perfect companion for his original site, North End Waterfront. Between the two sites, you can keep up with the latest news about this important Boston neighborhood and find the resources, places, and sites you want.

Matt, I'm thankful for all the hard work you do for your community!

North End Boston offers a set of resources for those interested in the North End as a place to visit or live. It can be a great site to send to anyone who is coming to Boston as a visitor or to find new places to go, things to see, and dining options in the North End. 

North End Waterfront is the site for news, information, and community conversation about the neighborhood. As large, mainstream media covers less and less local news, sites like this become more and more valuable to me. 

Keep up the good work Matt! And, please keep dropping in those great North End Waterfront puzzles from time to time. I appreciate a few minutes of fun every now and them.

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Happy Thanksgiving from the BostonZest Team!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from the team here at BostonZest!

We are grateful to all of you who follow along, send us emails, add comments, and follow us on Twitter. We send special thanks to everyone who supports this site by stopping here first before ordering from Amazon. 

And, we thank those of you who have signed up on Dropbox, Uber, or Zipcar (over in the sidebar) from here. In those cases, we can give you a bit of free service and get a bit for ourselves. 

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Holiday Gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

 Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 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.

A Case of Cava for the Holidays

Cavas, like this Dibon Brut Reserve, are some of our favorite value sparkling wines.

Having a case of a good wine on hand during the holidays can save time when you need a gift, have a reason to celebrate, or want to contribute something nice to a pot luck or BYOB party. Having a case of sparkling wine can add even more fun to those events.

Cavas come in white and rosé versions. Often, a producer will offer both, as is the case with Grand Sarao. 

These Spanish sparklers must be made by the traditional method or méthode champenoise, and they must follow the rules of the Denominación de Origen (DO) to achieve Cava status.

This is a great time of year to attend tastings at your local wine merchant to help you decide which wines are good values and which you would like to have on hand.

Remember our recommendation from this post about a favorite value sparkler from Italy:

"Please don't give your clients, business associates, and friends the wines you see in TV ads as holiday gifts. A good wine shop, like Bauer, can recommend a good wine value that you can give with pride. And, it will be one that will please both the occasional sipper and wine aficionado."

Take the time to find a good wine at a good price and then use sales and case discounts to make that a great buy.

Want to learn more about wine? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site! Here are three of our favorite wine books.

The Food Lover's Guide to Wine

The New Wine Lover's Companion

The Wine Bible

 

 Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2009-2012 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.

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Final Outdoor Markets of the Season

Today and tomorrow are the final days for the outdoor markets around Boston. We'll be stopping by Copley Square to say, "au revoir" to many old friends.

We'll be stocking up on a few more jars of Maine Homestead's sassy, Sweet & Spicy Pickles among other things. (Yes, the folks at Maine Homestead jumped through all the Boston bureaucratic hoops and the pickles are back!)

Take a walk to your favorite market, one more time, and be sure to ask your special vendors where you can get their products during the winter. Some have found a few, new options.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Holiday Gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 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.

He Roller Skied from Hopkinton to Boston

Over the weekend, we came upon this guy who told us he had roller skied from Hopkinton to the Boston Marathon finish line.

When he noticed Penny taking his photo, he asked if she could take one with his iPhone. She did and he gave it his thumbs up. Hope he had a ride home after his workout.

Update 11.26.13: The man in the photo is Ari Ofsevit . He left a comment here and you can learn more about his workout over on Universal Hub where he was kind enough to respond to all the questions and comments UH readers posted. 

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a holiday gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 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.

Poppy Thinks Autumn Is "Sniffing Season"

 

Our Westie Poppy is showing some signs of her entry into adulthood. Suddently, she is sniffing at things she used to walk by without notice. 

A pile of leaves is the perfect place to engage in some deep aroma therapy. She only comes up for air occasionally. And, even then, she often grabs a few leaves to sniff as she surveys her surroundings.

Poppy totally agrees with American writer Bertha Clark Damon who said, 

"Autumn is the best season in which to sniff, for this is the season of universal pungency."

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

Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.

Details:
Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Ed Cherubino

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See It All: A Curated Digest of Boston-Area Exhibitions Is Our Friday Link

See It All is the place to go if you'd like some insight into the current exhibitions on offer in the Boston area. We are fortunate to have so much choice but deciding which to see and learning a bit about the ones we put on our calendars can be daunting. 

And, in the case of smaller museums and organizations, finding out about something like the current Concord Museum's The Best Workman in the Shop show about clockmaker William Monroe can be difficult.

By selecting and concentrating on this local topic, See It All makes it easier for all of us to enjoy these temporary opportunities.

Each post gives you the basics including links, opinion, and the kind of insights and tips a friend might mention in a casual conversation about what they did last weekend. 

For the latest updates follow the author on Twitter or Facebook. Then, the next time you say, "What shall we do this afternoon?" you'll have a ready source of good information on possible exhibtions to view.

 

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Birthday or Wedding Gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

 Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 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.