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Easy and Fun! Create a Strawberry Shortcake Dessert Bar for Your Summer Party

Entertaining this weekend? How about a "build-it-yourself strawberry shortcake table" for dessert? We've done this for years, and our guests love it! (We've refreshed this post from our archives for everyone who is wondering what to serve after the fireworks on July 4th.)

It's easy on the host and fun for the guests. Here's the step-by-step on how we do it:

• Buy the best berries you can find, preferably fresh from a local farm or farmers market.
• Here's a link to Boston area farmers markets.
• Here's a link to farms where you can pick your own strawberries.
• Reserve the most perfect berries for dipping in chocolate and eating out-of-hand. Put a shaker of sugar near the plain berries for those who would like to sprinkle a bit on their choices.
• Slice and sugar the rest and allow them to form a natural sauce overnight in the refrigerator.
• Collect a variety of bases – dessert cups, short cake, biscuits, ladyfingers, cookies, and angel food cake are a few I've used for this.
• For July 4th, add a big dish of blueberries for red, white, and blue creations.
• Add a fondue pot of dipping chocolate, and you'll have guests swooning.
• Arrange a selection of toppings. I've set out whipped cream, yogurt, ice cream, creme fraiche, and fudge sauce.
• For something tall on the table, add wine buckets filled with bottles of sparkling wine that guests can pour over a few berries in a champagne glass.
• Set up a tray of "special enhancements" (rums, liqueurs, and dessert wines) to drizzle on the cakes or sip with the shortcake. Most popular around here was limoncello.
• Add big napkins to protect clothes; spoons, dishes, or wine glasses to hold your guest's creations; and let everyone have fun with the fruit.

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

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Doing Donuts on the Public Garden Lagoon

Early on Tuesday morning, this worker was doing donuts with his boat on the Public Garden Lagoon. 

As he circled, he was spraying something with a hose from the barrel he had on-board. 

Penny chatted with his co-worker on the shore who said they were killing the weeds that were making it hard for the Swan Boats to navigate their route.

We photographed an algal bloom on the lagoon back in February, so Penny asked if that was related to the current problem. The worker said it would take care of that. He also said they were using a safe product.  

Update 06.29.17- Penny was able to catch some morning light in a way that shows the weed growth in the lagoon from the bridge.

Nonetheless, we wanted to alert everyone that there is something in addition to water in that little pond. With all the people who ignore the signs and keep feeding the ducks and geese, we know there is a lot of bacteria and fertilizer in the water. For example, each goose attracted to the lagoon by people who feed it can produce up to 1.5 pounds of waste a day.

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

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Clear Flour German Rye

We have set ourselves a quest to try all the rye breads on Clear Flour Bread's list. We started last week with a loaf of their German Rye.

Here's the German Rye which they describe as, "... a hearty and moist whole grain rye with a touch of honey." We describe it as full of rye flavor with an incredible aroma, crust with a bit of chew, and a lovely crumb. 

It's a great bread to have with cheese or toasted with a bit of butter and a bit of preserves. We went with apricot!

It also made an appealing base for an open-faced egg salad supper.

Our eggs are chopped with a handy egg cutter (like this one) then mixed with crème fraîche, celery, scallion, curry powder, salt, and a bit of aleppo pepper.

Always ask, because Clear Flour may have a bread that is not on the usual list. They do make seasonal breads, and I think they occasionally make something special, just because they feel like it. That's the beauty of patronizing a small, artisan business. 

You'll also find that they can tell you more about each bread than the simple description on the list.

Here is a direct link to the Clear Flour bread list. You can see, we have a bit of eating to do.

Pay attention to when each bread is available and schedule your visits to the bakery around what you want to buy. 

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

How to Follow Pet Food Recalls to Protect Your Furry Friends

We have a friend who carefully follows pet food recalls and issues, and lets her extended, online community of dog lovers know about each one. (Thanks Carol!) Not everyone is so fortunate.

Today's Sunday dog feature is short and sweet. If you feed any commercial product to your animals, you need to follow the recalls of those products. We make homemade food for Poppy, she loves it and is thriving on it. After more than 3 decades and 3 Westies, she's our healthiest. But we spread the word on recalls on behalf of friends who are not fortunate enough to have the time and resources to feed their dogs a wholesome, homemade food.

How to Follow Recalls

As of this writing, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is still reporting pet food recalls and withdrawals. You'll find those updates at this page.

In case a food you are feeding is found on one of these lists, here is a link to a page from the Humane Society of the United States that covers what you should do when you discover you have fed a food with issues.

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.

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

Make Universal Hub a Morning Habit

We all have morning routines. Universal Hub (UH) is part of mine. Since keeping up with local news is important to me, I read newspapers and each morning I visit Universal Hub to get a very local update on what happened overnight or the latest on first responder incidents that I heard on our scanner.

This late day incident in Chelsea is a great example of why you want to check UH when you hear more sirens than usual, see helicopters circling, or smell smoke. When this was taking place, someone over on the Reddit Boston forum asked about all the state police vehicles on Route 1. Another forum member said that they found out what was happening by going to UH! Good to know I'm not the only one. 

In addition to the great work of Adam Gaffin and a few regular posters, this can be a good source of crowdsourced information. Regular readers know the commenters with good, reliable information and those with a worn out drum that they beat at every opportunity. 

As more so called news operations become promotional vehicles for network shows or sports teams, it's important to find your own sources of local news. Universal Hub is one of the best. 

Support Universal Hub

As with many other sites, Universal Hub is supported by advertising, affiliate programs, and contributions. 

There is a link that asks readers,

"Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) donation."

You'll find the place to click by scrolling down in the right hand sidebar. The next time you get a great, timely, local answer to your question, "What's going on right now in Boston?" click the link and drop a few coins in the UH tip jar. 

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!

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Words: Penny Cherubino
Screengrab from Universalhub.com 

Where Would You Find This Bracket? Play Attention to Detail

Let's play Attention to Detail! We give you a close-up clue and you have to figure out where you've seen it around Boston. 

Today's clue is a bracket. Wikipedia explains that in architecture a bracket is, "... a structural or decorative member. It can be made of wood, stone, plaster, metal, or other mediums. It projects from a wall, usually to carry weight and sometimes to ... strengthen an angle." 

Here are some hints about this one:

• You'll find it in the Fenway
• It is at a major intersection
• The building looks very much like it did when it was built in 1904.
• The aroma of great pizza may be in the air nearby.

Ready? Click through or scroll down past this great book about Boston for the answer.

 

The Canteen for Wonderful Take Out (or Eat In) Options in Provincetown

We had a bunch of excellent meals from The Canteen on our last trip to Provincetown. We highly recommend this wonderful spot if you are visiting our special place by the sea. 

One of the best pieces of news we heard before arriving in town was that The Canteen was open year-round. They're open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner – and they deliver! "What more could you ask?" you say. "Great food," we say and they deliver on that wish as well.

It was rather cold on our visit, so we really appreciated the rotating list of wonderful soups they offered. The one above is a spring minestrone.

We had to try it, since we had just finished one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns about minestrone and had ended it with information about a spring version! This one was rich and lovely.

We told you about their great lobster rolls and fabulous clam chowder the first time we reported on this gem by the sea. 

Another favorite was a soup with greens and chicken meatballs. 

Of course we had sandwiches too. The Cod Bánh Mì was a big hit with us. Since we were not always on the same eating schedule, they were gracious about preparing a deconstructed version of Ed's favorite pulled pork sandwich that we could reconstruct when he was ready to enjoy it.

There are a few seats out front and a larger seating area in the rear. Like many outside eating places in Provincetown, The Canteen is dog friendly. So if you're day-tripping with a furry pal, grab a seat and send one of your group inside with your order for great food. You'll get a number and the staff will find you when it's ready.

 

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino