I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

boston

Quack Quack Quack- Boston Duck Boat Tour

What feels like a million years ago, I went on a Duck Boat Tour with my mom when she came up to visit at the end of March. In fact, on that day we accepted the seller’s counter offer on the place that we just moved into. Crazy to think of how things are so different 2 months later. Anyway…

Going on a Duck Boat ride is one of the big things to do when in Boston. Well, after 8 years in Beantown I finally got my chance to do it. We had brunch at Max Brenners and then headed over to the Pru to take the tour from there. (The other options are to depart from the Museum of Science and the New England Aquarium). The tour is 80 minutes long and zigs and zags it’s way through Boston, Cambridge, and Charlestown passing by close to 40 sights. And the coolest part is that it takes place on land and in the water as it uses DUKW’s from WWII.

Hey Mom! (email telling me to take this photo down in 3, 2, 1…)

Our tour guide M.C. History

We started off going down Boylston Street. Passed by Old South Church (my graduation ceremonies were held there.)

Old home to the New England Museum of Natural History (1863-1940’s)

Their version of Kilroy Was Here!

Boston Common on the right!

We passed by the State House, the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, and the Mary Dryer statue… whoa! I pass by her statue all the time and had no idea she was a martyr- hung because she was a Quaker, which was banned in the colony then.

A reflection of the old West End… doors and windows cast into the underside of the ramp from Storrow Drive to 1 North. You can see this if you take a drive on Red Auerbach Way.

splash!!!! Into the Charles River!

M.C. history let people take turns driving while we were on the water.

Longfellow bridge aka Salt and Pepper Bridge

Community sailing on the the Charles with the Citgo sign in the background.

See that tall rust building… I work there!

A 4-ton chunk of the Berlin Wall outside the North American Headquarters for EF, a travel, international language education, and cultural exchange company.

As we would our way thruough Charlestown, we passed by the Bunker Hill Monument and the USS Constitution, aka Old Ironsides, the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat. I previously went on a tour of her- a cool must see.

Boston City Hall (background) is argued to be a major eyesore in Boston, even being included in the “The World’s Top 10 Ugliest Buildings and Monuments” list. (I don’t have an issue with the building so much as the plaza and adjacent T station) The steaming kettle is a leftover advertising tool for the Oriental Tea Company.

Zooming by the Mack Way for Ducklings statues in the Public Garden before was passed by Cheers, and hooked over to Newbury Street (NO Quack Zone), before our tour ended.

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I really enjoyed the Duck Boat Tour. Even through I’ve been in Boston for years and year I learned a lot about the great history of the city. It was really informative and a lot of fun. I would suggest this for people visiting the city. Shoot! I would even take it again!

The only thing that I found really annoying was that they don’t sell tickets to take the tour at the shed where they depart. I had to run like a maniac to the the kiosk in the mall (.4 mile round trip sprint) to get tickets for us, just to run back take the tour. Dumb!

It was hot standing in the shade!! {Boston Marathon 2012}

I don’t get Patriots’ Day off at work, but I occasionally take the day off to see the runners instead of just crowding around the TV to see the top finishers and to watch a bit during lunch. I took yesterday off because some awesome Boston food bloggers, such as Amanda and Meghan, were running and I was hoping to cheer them on. Or at least the rest of the thousands of runners.

When the weather reports were shifting the temperatures from the 60’s to the 80’s I was ecstatic. I love hot weather and I was getting a special treat on my day off! Ah, a real shorts and tank top day!! While I might have been so excited about it, the thousands of runners making their way on the 26.2 mile course were not. This was going to be safety issue for a lot of people because their bodies have not trained for this sort of heat before. It resulted in some people deferring to race next year.

I’m really glad that I was able to cheer on the runners as it is always so much fun. Sure the city is a zoo and it is horrible to get around but it’s still a lot of fun to experience something that is the result of a lot of hard work and dedication for a lot of people. Like Ashley of Hither and Thither in her post about the NYC maration I get a little “verklempt” watching the runners. There is something so special about the day watching these runners accomplish something so great. They are tired, hot, weary, but they push on and you can see it in their eyes how happy, exhausted, and proud they are when they continue on to pass the finish line.

Alright, here is a little recap of my day…

Got off at Arlington T stop and walked up the Pru side. I had to get as far over at Huntington to continue my making my way up. When I was in the Copely area the women’s top finishers were starting to cross.

 

I continue up and crossed through the Prudential Mall and exited on Boylston St. This area was pack of people and tents giving out food and drinks = mad house (Why must you grab 6 10-pack boxes of energy drink mix? WHY?)

 

I ended up stationing myself right against the fence right in front of Hynes Convention Center- intersection of Gloucester and Boylston Streets. This put me right about at the 26 mile mark.

When these 3 soldiers were approaching in full gear the crowds cheering picked up and it was deafening. These were the first of many soldiers to be in full gear. I can’t imagine that because was so hot (hot even in the shade) and so heavy.

The Syracuse ROTC also made an appearance marching along.

This guy was in support of USA as well, but in his own unique way.

 

This moment was so sweet. This guy was running by and his cheering family caught his attention so he ran over and was hugging his son and talking to him about doing it. Just a few seconds but totally unforgettable.

I’m impressed he didn’t loose his Minnie Mouse ears.

  

Patriotism on Patriots Day.

High-five!

 

The women around me were tracking and cheering on their husbands. When they were approaching I just starting snapping pics. Good job #6634 and #1859!!!!!

Shortly after the husbands of the wives standing next to me ran by, I decided to move on to another area to get another vantage point. I walked up to Mass Ave, turned down on Newbury and then found a spot on the West side of Hereford Street. (The big concrete building on the right edge of the photo was my college) I ended up being next to a group of guys who were so loud cheering everyone on. They would read the names written on their arms, text on their shirt, or just start screaming “GO BLUE SHIRT GUY!!!! ALMOST THERE!!!!!!” It was awesome. I don’t think they’ll have voices today.

This guy was running barefoot! Crazy!

 

Amanda… this one’s for you!

 

This little guy stole the show at this point because he was running along side his mom(?) and was going crazy getting the crowd to cheer.

At around 3.15 I left to head into work for a brief 4pm meeting. The T was crazy. The MBTA did a good job (at least from what I saw) of handling the influx of passengers. There was a lot of traffic underground because of all the trains so my ride took so long but it was still very orderly and all the instructions were very clear.

Although I didn’t get to meet up with my friends as planned because of the crowds, road closures, and timing it was a perfect day.

Bakers’ Best with Boston Brunchers

Being part of Boston Brunchers has given me the opportunity to win quite a few fantastic brunches in the past year. Each one different, unique, stunning and fantastic in it’s own way. I left February’s brunch at Bakers’ Best a happy woman.

Bloody Mary Shooter and Sour Cherry Martini

To say that I was excited at winning a brunch spot at the Bakers’ Best Catering Headquarters would be an understatement. Last summer we moved to Newton and were happy to find a place that we could enjoy a leisurely brunch spot 2 blocks away, which happened to be the Bakers’ Best restaurant. Our hearts broke after a few months because it closed up shop. But why? It was always busy? Don’t they understand I need my breakfast when I can’t deal with the thought of dirtying any dishes? I wrote about my love for their sweet potato and corned beef hash previously, even trying to come up with a justifiable substitute sweet potato hash.

As we gathered upon arrival in the catering offices of Bakers’ Best we were greeted with the Bloody Mary Shooters and the Sour Cherry Martinis. I could have easily enjoyed a dozen of the shrimp topped Bloody Mary Shots, but thankfully I restrained myself so I would have room for everything to come. While we enjoyed the drinks we were introduced to some of the team behind Bakers’ Best. Specifically Michael Baker spoke about founding the company, the history, business, opening of this catering kitchen location, and the sad closure of the location that started it all. At that point I could understand his passion for food, his business and the heavy decision he had when closing the cafe. Over the course of 27 years the business shifted from the cafe to cafe with some catering to extensive catering, and in the end the cafe was only about 10% of their multi-million dollar business. While I miss our brunches at the cafe I completely understand where Michael was coming from, plus I could not help admire this savvy business and dedication to doing what is best for the company and ultimately the customers.

Just as a tour was beginning we were halted with the passing around of these to-die-for “everything” bagel gravlax bites. Michael soon learned the food bloggers take a lot of photos of their food and was a good sport about the frequent breaks. It is hard to not photograph great food! As well, I enjoyed Michael’s tour of the kitchen because of how well it was design and maintained. They moved in 5 years prior and you would not have known it was 5 years to 5 weeks… Spotless. Being in the design profession, I thought the design of the catering kitchen was done well, and was really impressed with it.

full rack oven and work space

dry ingredients and storage of kitchen supplies

produce and prepared food

preparation of chicken skewers at one station and miso sesame cups at another

The staff was hard at work preparing food for Oscar parties

Sweet Potato Corned Beef and Asian Tuna Tartare bites

The ‘eye openers’ we enjoyed while on the tour were really eye openers! They were 1 or 2 bites each, making for the perfect food to enjoy while on tour, or at a catered party. I obviously loved the sweet potato hash cups because of my love for the hash I used to get, but what made this appetizer more incredible was bacon… The cup shell itself was made with the maple bacon. Details like that really set Bakers’ Best above the competition. Similarly, they made the shell of the gravlax bite with everything bagels and the tuna tartare was made with a miso and sesame paste. From crunchy bacon to crispy miso the flavor spectrum was hit with the 3 passed hor’ d’oeuvres we had.

beautiful place settings and the fresh pastry basket

After the tour we sat down at a few tables to enjoy the main part of the brunch. As we chatted, drank mimosas, and swooned over the youngest bruncher… Tessa who was just 12 days old! We were so glad to see Jessica and her new daughter doing well. A quick hush came over the group when the bite sized waffle egg sandwich was placed in front of us. A flurry of tweets and photos were taken and then enjoyed dug into waffle sandwich. The waffle was warm, sausage perfectly seasoned and the quail egg was still runny. The accompanying Camembert and tomato jam added perfect level of saltiness and sweetness to the sandwich.

brunchers taking photos of the buffet

quiches and beet ravioli

challah french toast and the accompanying bananas foster topping

Shortly after we enjoyed our amuse plate, the buffet was ‘opened’. The staff at Bakers’ Best commented on how we all stood around taking photos at every angle of the food. We only began making our plates once we made sure everyone was satisfied with their photos. It was interesting to see the world of catering as well as enlighten them on the world of blogging.

I stuck with a savory brunch with the salad, beet raviolis, and quiches. The beet ravioli were nothing like I had ever had before with their thin slices creating the pasta portion of the ravioli. They were unique but the salad pair with them really tied the whole thing together. The fennel and the citrus really brought the beets to life. The trio of quiches was my favorite part of the buffet. I love quiches but these were out of this world with their filling combination and their pastry shell. I have never had such a buttery, flaky crust like that before. Each quiche was better than the last.

A huge thank you to everyone at the Baker’s Best for welcoming us for such a great brunch. We really appreciated the warm welcome and the amazing food. I highly suggest Bakers’ Brunch Catering for your corporate or personal events.

*While I did recieive a complimentary brunch from Bakers’ Best Catering these opinions are entirely my own.

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Burrito Bowl Numero Dos

I had such a great time at the first Burrito Bowl last year that when this year’s event was announced I knew I had to go. Emily and I ended up buying tickets for the Feb 4th event right after they went on sale, which was a good thing since this was a sell out event. As with last year we arrived nice an early and still had to wait in long line to get into The Rattlesnake Bar and Grill, the hosting restaurant. It was clear that people were amped to attend the Burrito Bowl 2, and rightfully so!

Like the first year, there were several stations set up around the restaurant for people to chat with the chef and grab a burrito. There were 9 stations set up featuring places such as Boloco to Taranta.

Great Presentation for the Texas “7 Layer Dip” Burrito from Chef Jon Gilman from Church.

 

It was really obvious that this burrito was themed around Seattle because it had a spicy seafood mixture in there and was accompanied by a salsa roja. Andy Husbands (Tremont 647) is from Seattle so maybe he had unfair advantage getting a city that he knows so well, but in the end I am glad because it was so good. And I was not the only one to think so being that Andy’s burrito won Judge’s pick! Congrats!

 

Since The Rattlesnake is one of our favorte places to eat it was no surprise that Brian Poe made a great burrito. This had Velveeta in it! ha!

This ‘burrito’ was made to represent Pittsburg. hmm this? Pittsburg? Well, the Steeler’s heavenly locked Troy Polamalu is Samoan, which is what inspired this burrito. It was not my favorite because the pineapple pork was a bit hard to eat without cutting, however itw as vary flavorful.

Both Emily and I voted that the Korean-inspired burrito from Marc Orfaly of Pigalle was our favorite. We enjoyed the kimchi and soy aioli that topped the pork burrito. I have not had much kimchi before but really liked the flavor it added to the burrito. It was clearly Asian but still very subtle.

Brian Roche of Lolita Cocina and Tequila Bar made a San Francisco-inspired burrito, which was voted by the crowd as the favorite securing his win for Burrito Bowl II! Congrats!

I already can’t wait to attend next year’s event.

BTW… here I am (with my Heidi braids) on the Boston.com website 🙂

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive. 

Won’t you be my neighbor?

photo unrelated to blog. I took it yesterday and just love it.

As much as Price and I would love to get the hell out of Dodge (Boston/New England) we have been coming around to the idea of sticking around for a bit longer than we originally planned. So we calculated what we would be spending on rent over the next few years and what we realized is that is would basically suck to continue to rent. Sure there are benefits when it comes to maintenance, such as the woman upstairs from us flooded her apartment and the building management is dealing with the damage to our apartment. But at what cost does that come to?

We decided to do some online searching for what and where we could afford in the Boston area and have begun to look at places. We saw 3 places this past weekend in East Boston.

First Listing: This was actually a single family house.  It is located behind another house that has 3 units in it. This is 2 story, 3 bedroom + 2 bath house. I like this most because of the face that there is so much room in it, including a full basement and pull down attic. The kitchen layout is horrible which I really dislike but still trying to envision how we would make it work. This was the most expensive one we looked at but again, it was the largest.

Second Listing: This one looked like it could be viable option because of it’s price, it is a 2 bedroom + office, the kitchen is old but the layout would make for an easy update, and there are washer dryer hook ups in the unit. However, after further discussing it, we decided that it had a weird layout, no view (balcony looked onto a parking lot), and a 3rd story walk up. Yes, we would hire movers to haul all those boxes and furniture up there but I am more concerned with the day to day stuff requiring trips up the flights of stairs… like my heavy purse, groceries, and baby carrier.

Third Listing: Right away we dismissed this last one because of the uneven floors. It had new flooring, kitchen, bath but the bones were not good.

So it was an interesting start to our search process.

Besides looking in East Boston, we are going to drive to other areas that we are unfamiliar with this weekend so we can see if we would want to look at any houses/condos in that area. I have to admit that I am being a bit stubborn about looking in different areas. Not because of any good reason, only because of commute times. Our current commute is 35 minutes on the train so I would like to reduce that (by a lot) if possible. The train ride from Maverick (in East Boston ) is 6 minutes, but could be a longer walk. Places like Malden only have an 11 minute train ride so we are going to look there as well as Chelsea, which would only have about a 20 minute. Oh the possibilities.

These are the things I have been considering for each of the places we look at…

we are looking for a 2 bedroom, 1 bath places in the 850+ sf range

within a mile of a train station or bus stop

house > 2nd floor > 1st floor > 3rd floor

laundry in unit > laundry in building’s basement

deeded parking > resident permit parking (long shot)

old kitchen  + low price > new kitchen + high price

With all that said…

What things did you consider when buying your place? What were your must haves and wants? What suggestions do you have? What did you learn from the process? Did anything scare you that you were not expecting?

I’d love to have some input.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive. 

The Lansdowne Pub with Boston Brunchers

Irish pubs are synonymous with Boston. Just as much as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. So it’s no surprise that Boston Brunchers was able to put together an Irish brunch at The Lansdowne Pub near Fenway Park last month. The brunch as paired with a fundraising effort for Amanda, who is raising money to run the Boston Marathon. I secured 1 of 3 spots available to be purchased by donating $25 to Amanda, the rest of the spots were raffled off from the rest of the brunchers who entered to go.

As the group arrived one by one we began to order the usual coffee and juice. But what is a brunch without a cocktail?!? While brunching I enjoyed a Muddy River and a Liquid Caramel Coffee. I loved the Muddy River was a lovely concoction of coffee brandy and half & half over crushed ice. It was very heavy and rich.

While the Irish Breakfast sounded good, I ordered the crab cake eggs benedict which did not disappoint. I try to order Eggs Benedict ever where I go because it is my favorite brunch dish and I love to compare it from place to place. The crab cake was very flavorful and did not include very much filler. Tender pieces of crab were gently held together with a flavorful binder. On top of the crab cakes sat poached eggs that were covered in a lovely lemony Hollandaise sauce. I love a lemony Hollandaise sauce and this was perfect. The intense lemon flavor paired nicely with the crab cake as well. One of my poached eggs was over cooked a bit but I will take an over cooked egg over an under cooked egg any day. They Eggs Benedict was served with home fries, which always act as a great medium to scoop up Hollandaise sauce.

Shortly before we were leaving the musicians started to practice for their afternoon performance. Live music begins every Sunday for brunch at 1pm. We were lucky to experience a little bit of it as our meal winded down.

I highly suggest going to The Lansdowne Pub for brunch to enjoy some live Irish music, amazing food, fun drinks, and great service. Head over there for their brunch from 10am- 4pm and you will enjoy yourself and get lost in the Irish feel of your meal.

*While I did recieive a complimentary brunch from The Lansdowne Pub these opinions are entirely my own.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive. 

Apple Picking at Mack’s Apples

I love apple picking. I really do. I remember this one time when my mom took my dad brand new WHITE Acura and took us apple picking. Well it got suck in the mud. Ruh-Roh! Even with a car wash there was still evidence that car was filthy from our muddy shoes. Needless to say that my dad was less than excited when we got home. Ha!

 

Well, thankfully my recent apple picking trip did not involve any stuck cars or really messy shoes. Instead we had a great time at Mack’s Apples in Londonderry, NH. I had sent out a tweet asking for some suggestions for places to go to that is a quick drive from Boston. Rachel (Baked by Rachel) responded by telling me about the great time she just had at Mack’s Apples. Then she posted a blog post about it and I was hooked.

 

Outside of the Farm Market, they had wooden bins of pumpkins and squash, as well as pallets of autumnal flowers.

This “Know Your Apples” chart was very helpful. I took a photo of it just so that I could remember which were the best apples to get for baking pies.

 

The Farm Market is opened a bit earlier than the U-Pick fields so we wandered around the store looking at all the different books, plates, jams, fruit butters, pickles, and decorations that were available for purchase.

 

While Mack’s doesn’t make their own cider donuts WITH sugar, they have donuts on hand that they have some brought in from the Chichester Country Store. We picked up a pack of them because cider donuts without sugar are just plain old boring.

The Honeycrisp… it seems to be the ‘it’ apple in recent years. Look how big these beauties are!

 

Breakfast of champions… splitting a chocolate and a pumpkin whoopie pie that we picked up from a school fundraising table.

The directory outside the store explaining which U-Pick field had which apples directed us to U-Pick Field #3. We went there because we wanted to focus on getting baking apples and this field had a large variety of apples that suited our needs.

 

U-Pick Field #3 is really 2 fields on either side of a road. We parked on one side and headed over to the farm stand that was set up. We wandered around that field for a while with little success since most of the apples had been picked over and the remaining ones were too high, even for Price to reach. Thankfully, when I went over to ask the woman working there a question about squash blossoms I overheard her telling another family that the field across the street had JUST opened so there would be a lot of apples there. So I hurried back to Price and told him the good news.

The other field was PACKED with apples. We were able to wander around while having a lot of options at our finger tips. I really appreciated that they stagger the opening of fields so that fields are not picked clean so early in the season.

The only real criticism we had of Mack’s was that the steaks at the end of the aisles indicating the type of apples were not really labeled. There were plenty of markers but not all of them were actually labeled. We wanted only baking/pie apples so we did not want to pick anything that was more for sauce or salads so the selection was very important to us. We would have to walk to the front of the orchard to see what each aisle was labeled and then to continue back down them looking for apples. I think that if they were to improve their signage it would make for a much easier apple picking experience.

 

We sampled some of the different varieties of apples that in U-Pick field #3. All here delicious and sooo fresh. You can’t beat an apple that you just pull off the tree and then bite into.

I’m not always such a smirky jerk… the sun was in my face.

 

We highly suggest going to Mack’s if you are around Boston or the border of New Hampshire. It was a large beautiful place that was very affordable. The selection of apples allows for the opportinuty to be able to pick ones that will use your needs.

Mack’s Apples

603-434-7619

230 Mammoth Road
Londonderry, NH 03053

Boston Brunchers 1 Year Birthday Bash at ICOB

Having the opportunity to attend the Boston Brunchers 1 year Birthday Brunch was a little dream come true. Getting to eat an amazing brunch with new bruncher friends I have met over the year while celebrating the success of the group that the very talented Renee (Eat.Live.Blog) started… Sign me up! I can’t lie… I really did set an alarm so that I could grab one of the 20 tickets released at first. I ran over to the computer to get to sign up while Pricer was looking at me like I was crazy. “but it’s the birthday brunch!!!!”

This brunch at Island Creek Oyster Bar live up to the hype. Great company, -amazing food, and a fun filled swag bag.

I was so tempted to only post the above photo because I could have written an entire blog post just about that lobster roll. When Renee released the menu options prior to the event I was really excited because everything sounded amazing. I don’t even like smoked salmon but the dish including the homemade bagels even intrigued me. But the obvious choice for me was the Lobster Roll ($19). I’m glad that I made that choice! The lobster roll was so jam packed that I needed to eat some of the lobster out with a fork before I could attempt to pick it up. The sweet lobster meat was lightly dressed and served on a buttery, toasted rosemary roll. As you can see, the lobster roll was served with a side of creamy coleslaw and super crunchy potato chips.

As a thank you to Renee for all the hard work she puts into the group, Katy (RecipeCan) organized donations to get some gifts. Renee quickly put on the apron while continuing to open the rest of the goodies, including some mini Le Creuset pots

The photo on the right shows what food bloggers do at every chance… Snap photos. Even Tom (BostonTweet) had to snap some pics.

Each table was greeted with a basket of pastries ($11) that included some scones, cinnamon rolls, and muffins. I selected the donut muffin, which reminded me of the ones I’ve made before.

My runner up choice for entree was the French Toast, which Sean (BostonMo) picked. The generous serving looked decadent with its large slices of bread that were soaked in a sweet egg mixture and the topped with caramelized bananas and crunchy almonds.

While I have really enjoyed the various brunches I have attended, this brunch at ICOB stands out for it’s fabulous food, attentive service, and heat packing Bloody Mary. Pricer and I have been on the search for the best Bloody Mary in Boston ever since we took a trip to NOLA and had incredible ones at The Absinthe House. While the Bloody Mary I had was very different than those infamous ones in NOLA, I can say this was one of the best I have ever had. I know I need to come back with Price so he can try the ICOB Bloody Mary’s an weigh in.

A HUGE thank you to Renee, Island Creek Oyster Bar, and all out of fantastic sponsors:

America’s Test Kitchen
Barefoot Wine
Biba
Biltmore Bar & Grill
Boston Ballet
Boston Center for Adult Education
Boston Food Finds
Cow and Crumb
Cumberland Farms
Dorado Tacos & Cemitas
Dore Creperie
Doves and Figs Kitchen
Eversave Boston
Foodies of New England
The Four Seasons Boston
Haircuttery
Harvard Common Press
iParty
Klout
KO Catering & Pies
Langham Hotel Boston
Phillips Candy House
Pinkberry
Pretzel Crisps
Popchips
Stages of Beauty
Stonyfield
USA Pears

Techmunch: Top 5

I attended Techmunch in Boston on Sunday. It is a food blogging conference hosted by the site Bakespace. The conference consisted of several classes that focused on such things as marketing, making connections with Brands, and SEO.

 

meeting people at the mixer after all the classes/ a caramelized onion & goat cheese tart

I took a lot away from Techmunch. I could talk and blog for hours about it.

But I leave you with this:

1) Be yourself! 

Don’t tailor your blog to fit into something you are not. Find you passion and your voice. It will make blogging easier and a lot more fun. You will connect the people because you are being real.

2) You photos need to say ‘eat me’.

Take a step back and look at your photos. If you saw them, would you want to eat the thing you are looking at? There are simple tips and tricks to folow that will help you. Stobist was suggested as a site to learn food photography.

3) It takes time. 

Be patient. Things take time. The people that have successful blogs took their time, learned from their mistakes, and improved things from writing, layouts, graphics, and photography to get where they are today. They are passionate about what they do, if you are and you stick to it then you will find your own degree of success.

4) Traffic isn’t the end all and be all in sponsors.

While you can worry about your site traffic all day long it won’t be thing ONLY thing that sponsors look that. Absolutely, sponsors are looking to pay you for reviews or host giveaways if you have a lot of traffic, but there are other factors in place. Are you a good fit for their brand? Are you just generally a nice person? Is there potential?

Additionally, you can’t just agree to all sponsorship. You should not host giveaways or write reviews if it doesn’t fit you (see #1). Does it make sense for you to give ________ away? Is there a conflict of interest because you are supporting another brand?

And last but not least…

5) SEO! SEO!! SEO!!!

There are things you can do on your blog to make your site come up in searches a lot easier. They are fairly simple. They are kinda obvious once you think about them. Do them! You can refer to this PDF for some help.

 

books to win through Harvard Common Press/ Sharon Sprague and Justin Ide chatting

I had a wonderful time on Sunday.

Thank you Babette and the rest of the Bakespace team

Thank you Kitchenaid for giving away a variety of kitchenwares. I won a hand mixer!

Thank you Harvard Common Press for giving away books. I am enjoying the Dark Spirits book already.

Julie, Rachel, and myself

Avenue One with Boston Brunchers

I shall keep this post short and sweet so that you can focus on the pictures of this amazing food.

I had never even heard of Avenue One  before getting an email about it. It’s a hidden gem in Boston. Located at the Hyatt Regency Downtown, Avenue One offers a lot of dining options, including live music on The Terrace after-work Tuesday- Friday. While being smack dab in the City the Terrace offers a quiet outdoor setting to enjoy food and drink, which we really savored.

As soon as I heard that Avenue One was going to host a preview of new brunch menu items for Boston Brunchers, including some dishes like Lobster Eggs Benedict, I knew I would have to clear my Sunday morning and sign up. Plus, for the first time, they were going to put the brunch spread outside on The Terrace for us too!

 

The pancake and french toast station featured cooked to order french toast with stone fruit and a triple chocolate pancake.

This bread and fruit station offered fresh danishes, muffins, and croissants. The fruit was stunning with a variety of melons.

 

Executive Chef Kelly Armetta explained that he goal is to keep things fresh, local, and seasonal. The majority of the fresh fruit was local, including the freshest strawberries.

I am still dreaming of this bowl of granola, fresh yogurt, and jam. The granola was amazing. Plus gluten free!!! Chef Armetta explained that he makes the granola gluten free to have something for people with Celiac or a gluten sensitivity. The dried fruit, including apricots, textually played well with the crunchy oats and nuts. I wish I could by this buy the pound to take home. Maybe I’ll have to work something out with the Chef

 

The new take on a carving station. Tired of typical roast beef and ham? This charcuterie spread put a big spin on the typical meats offered at brunches.

Out of every amazing thing I tried at brunch, I have to say that this poached egg salad was my least favorite. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing particularly awful about it. It was down right amazing with it’s poached egg, fresh greens, and fresh fruit. I did not like it because of the dressing. I felt it was unnecessary and made the salad soggy.

 

I was in awe of the teeny tiny fresh strawberries.

 

Standing tall… the Bloody Mary and the muesli shots. The Bloody Mary was enjoyable with a bit of a kick from horseradish. The muesli shots were a bit hit because they were super rich from the addition of heavy cream to the muesli.

I highly suggest Avenue One to travelers, as well as Boston locals. You are going to leave full, happy, and grateful that you spent your morning at Avenue One because of such a fanastic experience.

*These opinions are my own. While I won a $25 gift certificate for future use, I paid for my brunch.*

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B-lieve!

Let’s go Bruins!

Game 7 is tonight. Let’s hope that the Bruins kick some Canuck ass. I’ll be out celebrating Bonus Day from 5-7 with coworkers and then heading to The Rattlesnake for a good-bye party for our friends Jason and Natalie. I’m sure both settings will be a buzz about the Bruins. I’m ready to sit there in amusement watching people scream at TV’s.

Raise you hand if you think I’ll be at work hungover tomorrow? <raises own hand!>

NKOTBSB @ Fenway {2}

It was a packed house for the NKOTBSB concert!

As Amanda noted, “I don’t think Fenway park has seen so many vaginas at one time.” I woud have to agree. you think restroom lines are bad at a Sox game. Ha! these lines were 100+ ladies deep.

I created this medley of little spinets of video I took during the NKOTBSB show at Fenway this past weekend. I love getting to hear bits of the both bands at once.

 

 

This photo is specifically for Amanda!

And this photo is for me!

 

Check out the guys wearing Bruins jersey’s since the Bruins are playing in the Stanley Cup. (Go Bruins!) A check wardrobe change, and NKOTB put on Celtics jersey’s and BSB put on Orlando Magic jersey’s to represent each hometown.

Backstreet Boys played Everybody for their encore. Classic. Check out the video below.

In middle school I used to go over my best friend’s house and we would watch their concert DVD’s while doing homework. Often the DVD’s have instructions on how to do some of their dances, including Everybody. We might have tried the dance, might have…

The NKOTB did their encore on the Green Monster. BSB then joined them to do a mash up of their hits, similar to their one they did at the AMA awards when they first announced their collaboration and upcoming tour.

 

They were selling shirts that said ‘Once in a Lifetime’ about having them play together at Fenway. As much as I enjoyed the shirt I decided to save my $40 and just rely on my memories, photos, and videos. Obviously, I will be scrapbooking this!

BSB “Everybody”

NKOTB “Hang Tough” and encore Medley