I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

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I Love That Dirty Water

Because I love that dirty water
Oh, oh, Boston, you’re my home (oh, yeah)

Water surged from the ground at the site of the leak in Weston.

As soon as I heard there was a boil water order in effect I thought of the Dave Mathew’s Song “Don’t Drink the Water” but then I thought of the Dropkick Murphy’s cover of the song “Dirty Water.” That seemed so much more appropriate since Dropkick Murphy’s is a Boston band singing about Boston.

This map of shows the Massachusetts communities currently under the boil-water order.

On my way home from CKC Manchester on Saturday my friend called her hubs to let her know when we would be back. Hearing half the conversation of “we can’t use the water!?” seemed puzzling to me. Instantly, I think about a drought. How the hell could there be a drought when it rained so much that our apartment flooded last month?

A worker installed a pipe with compressed air on Sunday to blow out the water inside the section of pipe they were welding.

I found out the a 10′ water main ‘broke’. News flash… don’t drink the water!!! 30 communities are effected with this ‘boil water order’. So 2 million people or so in the metro Boston area have been effected.  Since the system is down they are now supplementing with reservoir water.  This means that water needs to be boiled for at least a min before it can be used; otherwise you run the risk of getting a bacterial infection or a parasite. You need to use bottled water or boiled water for drinking, brushing teeth, washing dishes, etc. ‘Luckily’ you can still use the water to shower.

Tunnel workers weld the broken water main

I have walked around the reservoir that they have hooked up to and the only thing I could think of while showering yesterday was ‘BIRD POOP WATER!’ When I had my dog up in Boston a few years ago I used to walk her around the reservoir and she would run to the edge and bark at the swans. So call I could think of was bathing in swan poo water. Last month I was showering with sump pump hoses in the tub and now I showered with ‘lake’ water!!!

So when you can’t use water normally you rush out to the store since the first reports say that things might not be fixed for more than a week. Well, let me tell you, the store was chaotic on Saturday afternoon. I got some of the last water at the store down the road. At first the Governor declared a State of Emergency to get things in order, including water distribution centers in towns going. President Obama declared a State of Emergency this afternoon, which will help cover the costs associated with the water crisis.

Water flowed from the leak at 8 million gallons of water an hour. It flowed down some hill into the Charles River, which rose 8″ in some spots. Crazy! Well, once they got the water turned off they figured out that some rubber seam under a collar that was supposed to last 50 years failed at 7 years. So they fixed the leak and are testing pressure and water quality. They estimate water to be back to normal within 48 hours.

Just when I think Boston is boring…

(all photos, with the exception of the store photo, are from Boston.com)

May- days of truffles, nurses, burgers and hugs

 May is the time of year when Spring really gets into full gear. The time to plant new flowers and enjoy the ones that are blooming now. I’m looking forward to the time to transplant my tomato plants. I countdown each day until Memorail Day. I love the 3 day weekend and the unoffical start of summer. I’m looking forward to a few of the weird ‘holidays’ that occur this month. Next week’s Cino De Mayo will be fun since it  is a ‘good’ reason to drink margaritas. ha!

May 1- May Day

Fresh Truffles from Earthy Delights

Black Chinese Truffles from Earthy.com

May 2- National Truffles Day (the mushroom, not the chocolate)

May 3- National Raspberry Popover Day

May 4- International Firefighter’s Day

May 5- Cinco de Mayo Day

May 6- Nurse’s Day

May 7- National Tourism Day

May 8- No socks Day

May 9- National Butterscotch Brownie Day

May 10- Human Kindness Day

May 11- Twilight Zone Day and Eat What You Want Day

May 12- Kite Day

May 13- National Dance Like a Chicken Day

May 14- National Buttermilk Biscuit Day

May 15- Straw Hat Day

May 16- Wear Purple for Peace Day

May 17- National Pizza Party Day\

May 18- Rooster Day

May 19- National Devil’s Food Cake Day

May 20- Flower Day

May 21- Armed Forces Day

May 22- National Maritime Day

May 23- National Taffy Day

May 24- Brother’s Day

May 25- Women’s Day

May 26- National Blueberry Cheesecake Day

May 27- Sun Screen Day

Eagles Deli in Boston seraves monster burgers that are 5lb, naming it the “2nd greatest place  to pig out” by the Travel Channel

May 28- National Hamburger Day

May 29- International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers

I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?

May 30- Hug Your Cat Day

May 31-National Macaroon Day

Bacon and Beer- the perfect marriage

 

This past Saturday Emily and I, along with our boyfriends Peter and Price, went to the first annual Boston Bacon and Beer Festival hosted by eatBoston. The idea was genius. I admit to being more attracted to the idea of the bacon based things more than the beer. I just don’t really like beer. I know, I know, you have to try it until you find something you like. Sure but when I am at a bar up here I am not about to plunk down $5-8 on a beer I might not like so I stick with the few I know I do like or just get water. Well I figured that going to this would give me the chance to try a few beers. If I did not like I could always pass it on to Price or just toss it out.

 

 Besides the event being cool for being about bacon and beer it was held in this really cool open air building. The vacant building  was built in 1891 as the Central Power Station for the West End Street Railway Company, the precursor to the MBTA. It was the world’s largest electrical power station at the time. Later on the building became a trolley barn. Now it is used by SOWA’s residents business owners for events, such as antique shows. The building is a mixture of The Romanesque and Gothic Revival styles.

So back to the food and drink…. There were 25 restaurants and 16 breweries. So there was a great selection of beer and bacon samples to try.  I tried a few breweries and the one that I liked the best was a beer called Brown Angel from Clown Shoes Brewing. I thought it was a nice rich dark color (so pretty!) and really refreshing. It was a beer that I could get to relax in the backyard or just drink any time. I stuck with wondering around and trying the bacon things. There were bacon caramel sauces that were served with vanilla ice cream, savory cheesecakes with bacon, beer and bacon cupcakes, and so many things that we did not even get to try. One of the most unusual was the bacon and chocolate shakes served by b.good. hands down favorite was the salad and portobello mushroom served with a bacon based dressing. This was from Henrietta’s Table, which is my favorite place in Cambridge, so I was really excited to try what they had to offer and not surprised that I loved it. There were crazy lines since the event was popular but mainly because it was not laid out well, hoping they fix that for next year.

 

Lastly, I got 3 things while there. 1) The bacon hot sauce we saw. That was kinda obvious since it’s a great combination of bacon and hot sauce!! The bacon flavor added a slight smokiness to the hot sauce. 2) I got a necklace from Black Sheep Designs. It was a pretty cool necklace since it had an old T token. I miss the T tokens and I know this will be a great thing to have around after we move. 3) Whenever I go out I’m on the look out for cute rabbit themed things. Well Price spotted this hilarious letterpress card from Ferdinand’s booth. He got it for us so I just need to get it framed now. Love it.

 

scrapbooking a tradition

I think that scrapbooking is a great way to be creative and to document events like birthdays, holidays, and vacations. These special events often involve a tradition. We have a tradition to open Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. A tradition that Price and I have is that we make pizza on my birthday. This past January was the 5th year together so 5th time. It really would not seem like my birthday without it.

I wanted this layout to be more about our tradition for my birthday than just saying what we did for my 25th birthday. I felt that documenting that this was the 5th year of our pizza dinner better told the story about my birthday and how meaningful those pizzas area. While I hate olives I used the stamp with the olive because I love the message and Price’s pizza always has olives on it.

 

All supplies are from Stampin’ Up! (contact me at nicole@spasiano.com if you are interested in their products)

Baby, I think we need a goat…..

Price is not all too excited about my new pet idea.

I went to the 23rd annual Sheep Shearing Festival with Emily and her boyfriend on Saturday morning. We saw hand and electric sheep shearing, historical reinactments, sheep hearding, apacas, chickens… and best of all Nigerian Dwarf Goats. Umm I’m in love. They were so tiny!! And not tiny like baby goat that will grow into a huge goat but tiny adult goat.

I think that I need a few acres for my chickens and Nigerian Dwarf Goats. Yep, that’s the plan.

Happy

Okay it’s been just about 2 years since I took this photo but I just can’t belive how much that time has flown by. For several years we went to Montauk for a boating rendezvous. This was the last year going there. We always had fun lounging around the boat, going into town for shopping, talking the bartenders into giving me more than the allocated drinks, and then dancing around buzzed off the tequilla sunrises.

I took an online scrapbooking class about using sketches to create layouts. I created this LO based upon one of the class sketches. I like getting to apply what I learn in the classes and use new scrapbooking stuff I just got. I had just received some Stampin’ Up! supplies so those things in the layout, including the cloud paper, shimmer paint, and the star and border punches. I was so excited to get the shimmer paint! I got it in Platinum and Frost White, which would work well for the color pallets I typically use. I used the platinum one for this layout when I painted the chipboard letters for the title and the accent stars (that I cut using my new punch!).

Supplies: Solid and Patterned Papers, punches, shimmer paint, chip board letters are all from Stampin’ Up! and the rub-on is from Martha Stewart Crafts. (All SU! products can be purchased through me.)

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

I made mini pineapple upside down cakes in a cupcake pan. I like turning full cakes into cupcakes, since they are fun to give out, it’s a perfect portion, and really cute. Well making a pineapple upside down cake into cupcake pan is really easy. So make them and you will happily enjoy some cake, as well as easily share with a friend.

 

I have this thing for pineapple. Love it. I put pineapple on my pizza. Love pineapple in fried rice. I always cook pineapple chunks with baby carrots. ( I learned it from my aunt and have done it like that since). Sliced pineapple is pure tart, sugary joy. Pineapple juice is great to start a mixed drink. My only beef with pineapple is how if I consume too much I quickly get canker sores. Damn you! Well, one of the standards is pineapple upside down cake; which I have never had before. How you ask? No idea but I decided I would need to have it before National Pineapple Upside Down Cake (today-April 20th) to understand the fuss. I now get it. Pineapple upside down cake is moist, sweet, sugary, and delightfully sticky. Sure you can avoid the stickiness of eating the cupcake  by using a fork but then you don’t get to lick the carmely brown sugar from your fingers.

 

 Now the standard is making this in 1 pan so you might be wondering about getting these cupcakes out. Well, don’t freight about getting them out of their cups- not really different than the standard cake. Instead of putting a plate on top of your pan and then flipping it, you use a cutting board and in 1 swift move flip it over. Ta-da, done. Don’t wimp out now. Give it a try and you will be happy you did.

 

 I used the pineapple upside down cake recipe from Ree Dummond’s cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Since getting this cookbook there have been quite a few nights sitting on the sofa while I flip through it and think how great it would be to make buttermilk biscuits, sunriser eggs, meatloaf, etc but I have finally made the jump and made her pineapple upside down cake. I divided the recipe in half to make the cupcakes, which perfectly equaled 12 cupcake, plus a tiny bit of extra batter to lick off the spoon. The only reason I made half the recipe is because I only had 1 egg in the house and I did not feel like going out for more eggs- ha! So feel free to make 24 cupcakes by doubling the recipe below. Ree has such a great book full of mouth-watering recipes. Can’t wait to try another thing in there.

 

 Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons of butter, divided into 2 and 4 tablespoon pieces
2 tablespoons shortening
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 oz of chunked pineapple* (half of a 20 oz can), reserve 2 tablespoons juice (drink the rest)
12 heaping tablespoons of brown sugar
6 Marcschino cherries, halved (optional)
 

To make the batter, cream the 2 tablespoon portion of butter and shortening with the granulated sugar. Once they have been combined add the eggs and vanilla. Alternate the addition of the flour with the milk. Mix until all are gently combined.

In a small pan melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Once the butter has melted divided it into the 12 nonstick cupcake cups. Add a heaping tablespoon of brown sugar to each cupcake cup. Add 2 pieces of pineapple* and cheery half (optional) to each cup. Divide the batter evenly, fill each cup just under the top of the edge. These don’t rise much but don’t do over the edge since they will rise a bit and make removal difficult.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until your toothpick is inserted and is removed clean. Run a knife around each cupcake to allow for easy removal. Take a cutting board and place over the cupcake pan. In one swift motion flip the pan over to invert the pan for cupcake release.  The cupcake generally invert easily, if you have any problems gently tap the tin for release. It is best to serve these warm, but don’t rush it and burn your mouth!!

If you happen to prefer, or have it and don’t feel like going to the store for anything else, crushed pineapple over chunks then use a bit of  that. Just do what makes you happy.

40 Cloves of Garlic Roasted Chicken

I have always wanted to make chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. The idea of using that much garlic had me so interested, like the time price ordered Garlic soup and it was AMAZING! I had seen several recipes for chicken with 40 cloves are garlic but to be honest they seemed like more work than what I wanted to deal with, like chopping up a chicken, dredging it, boiling the garlic, etc. So I opted for creating an easy version by using a whole chicken and roasting it along with the garlic. So this is my reworked version, simple, easy, and delightfully garlicy!

 

This recipe is more like a complete meal. I think it is essential to cook potatoes, maybe other root vegetables also, with the chicken. The potatoes take on the flavor from the chicken, wine, and, of course, the garlic. So just add a side vegetable or a salad and your meal is complete.

40 Cloves of Garlic Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken, 3 1/2 pounds
40 cloves of garlic
1 pound of small potatoes, such as fingerling
1/2 cup white wine
olive oil
salt and pepper

 Preheat your oven to 375.

Rinse and clean chicken. Dry chicken- very important! (A dry chicken equals a crispy skin) Put chicken into a pan and season with salt and pepper. Lift up the skin of the chicken and place several small cloves of garlic between skin and breast.

Clean and cut, if necessary, the potatoes. Combine potatoes and remaining garlic in a bowl to lightly dress with oil and season with salt and pepper.

distribute potatoes and garlic around chicken.

After chicken has been cooking for 30 minutes, toss potatoes and garlic, preventing burning. Add wine to pan.

Cook chicken until it is done, approximately another 45 minutes. You can use a pop up or a manual thermometer test chicken’s doneness. Let chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving to serve. When slicing keep skin intact to show the softened garlic layered between the chicken breast and skin.

Enjoy, and feel free to finish off the wine you opened for the chicken!

Quiet Corner Adventures:2

“hunny let’s go to Someplace Special….”

Like a moth to a flame…. Emily and I are drawn to the Quiet Corner of CT. This got started last year when she had to renew her licence and we went to the Putnam DMV outlet.  The DMV location is basically a permanent construction trailer plopped into a parking lot… so sad. We spend that wintery morning driving around Putnam and Pomfret, enjoying a good breakfast at The Vanilla Bean Cafe, doing some xmas shopping at small stores and galleries, and laughing our asses off at the DMV since they put her really old Washington DC address on the new licence… smmmart.

Well our fascination with the Quiet Corner has reached a new level. I wanted to go to Logee’s Greenhouse to get a little lime tree so that became a good enough reason to head down there. Some may think that driving an hour and fifteen minutes each way just to get a lime tree that I can order on-line is insanity but that is the type of thing that makes for our Quiet Corner Adventures.

Our first stop in the QC was Bill’s Bread and Breakfast. A breakfast place known for their muffins and english muffins. I brought Pricer back some muffins and english muffins, which really are not like english muffins but are damn good anyway. Then we headed back to Martha’s Herbary, just a town over in Pomfret. I could do some serious damage here because everything is so damn cute. I restrained myself from getting a lamp since Price would have killed me and instead got his mom her birthday present. (see you next week Elaine!)

Logee’s looked unimpressive when we pulled up. I as hoping that we did not just drive this far for no reason. Well, once inside the place opened up into several connected greenhouses. Row after row and aisle after aisle were loaded with flowering plants, ferns, cacti, and fruiting trees. I went with the goal of getting some citrus trees so I stuck with that but it was hard at times with beautiful begonias and hibiscus all over the place.

I purchased a key lime tree and a Meyer lemon tree. These guys are just little planting in 2.5″ pots. I’m hoping they will be big enough in a few years to product real fruit until then I will just enjoy them growing and producing tiny flowers.

Now one of the best moments of the day was getting ice cream for lunch from creamery I got too excited about as we passed by it. Quiet Corner Creamery is actually located in a landscaping supply store. We picked out flavors and asked about sizes. Why do we ask about sizes? We live in Boston where a small is teeny tiny and costs like $3. So the girl helpfully explained that smalls are huge and that would be more than enough. Okay great. Well, she when the total came to $4 we figured they were going to be decent smalls and to see what we get. Holy Hell. We ended up with 3/4 of a pint of ice cream. Of course this is hilarious to us. Emily lobbed off half of her ice cream in the trash while I was getting gas and I mine melted since I was driving. Still the half of a small we had was more than enough. Good ice cream at a cheap price… I sense a trip to the Quiet Corner Creamery on a hot summer day. ha

“Emily! You just threw out 75 cents of ice cream!!!”