I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

brookline

The Pioneer Woman Sings!

To top off a relaxing day off from work yesterday filled with PJ’s, scrapbooking, eating cold leftovers, and a Jersey Shore marathon, I went to see The Pioneer Woman speak at The Coolidge in Brookline. The ever so lovely Ree Drummond was doing a stop in the area at Brookline Brooksmith for her new book, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier. She was first doing a talk at the Coolidge (the most adorable independent movie theater ever (that serves wine!)) and then a signing back at the Brookline Booksmith.

 

I attended the speaking arrangement with Lena, Amanda, and Megan, as well as my coworker Rebecca.  Rebecca didn’t know all too much about Ree so this was a perfect introduction to her as she explained her roots, 2-week obsession of Sun-in, and random musings along the way.

To start the night, Ree explained that she has been enjoying Boston but the stactic cling here is something she was struggling with. Her signature flowly tops just don’t work when they are clung to you. (I completely understand.) She shared her story of spraying starch all over herself, as well as her ride’s car, and rubbing her self down with drier sheets. I hope that she shares this on her blog. (updated! She did!)

Ree had a power point going on behind her as she spoke. Of course there was some Marlboro Man added into the mix.

And photos of the kids. As angels. From mall kiosks.

Ree explained that she started her blog in May of 2006 with some stories and basic photos from a point & shoot… and the rest is history. She explained how the blog grew from Confessions, to include Cooking, and more. At first she would start a new blog for new segments, like Cooking, but then she rolled it all into 1 place under the “The Pioneer Woman Umbrella.” The blog prompted 4 books, TV appearances on national news shows, and then her own cooking show on the Food Network.

To finish the night she sang to her One True Love… Charlie.

Amazing.

It was a fantastic experience and I am so glad that I got to attend the packed event. After Ree spoke at The Coolidge she went across the street for the book signing portion of the night. The line was insane so Rebecca and I grabbed her hubs from Sbucks and we had really good Thai food at a tiny shop down the road.

Perfect P-Widdy-Dub-Diddy-Diddy-Dub-Dub night.

Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos!- Boston Brunchers at Dorado Tacos and Cemitas

On Sunday morning 16 food bloggers, including myself, descended upon Dorados Tacos in Brookline, MA. We arrived an hour prior to their normal opening to feast on their brunch options. We snapped photos, discussed our blog’s point of views, talked camera settings, and what we did for work. We took video, shared plates of food, talked about events we have attended, and which restaurant offers the best{_fill in the blank_}.

Why did we do all that?

Because we are part of the community of food bloggers in Boston. But more specifically we came together through Boston Brunchers. Renee, the organizer, has put together a great schedule for people to to enjoy brunches at various places throughout Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge. Brunches vary from free to $ to $$$, limited by first come first serve sign up, or participants are selected by the restaurant based on reasons why they want to attend the brunch.

In this case Dorado limited the total # of people, while they threw in a few free meals for the people that won their approval. I was one of the first 14 people to sign up so I paid for my meal , which is no big inconvience since everything there is really affordable.

The group came together over plates of huevos rancheros,  breakfast quesadillas, patatas bravas, agua frescas, hot chocolates, and coffees. I enjoyed the house-made pork chorizo quesadilla with guacamole and a side of patatas bravas. The quesadilla was really good, without being greasy from the chorizo. The guacamole was inside th quesadilla so it was incorporated into each bite. The patatas bravas, a Spanish potato side dish that is similar to home fries, were so much more spicy than I anticipated. I really enjoyed them but I’m glad I listened to someone describe them before pouring hot sauce on them, like I typically do with home fries. I washed that down with my favorite cucumber mint agua fresca.

I’m looking forward to attending more brunch gatherings in the future with the great people I met. Plus great food doesn’t hurt!

PS- Whenever I hear about or have tacos I think of Terry on Reno 911. Any scene with Terry at Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos cracks me up.

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

row row row your boat

Where to begin?

Maybe Saturday morning when the rain started?

Or Sunday when the rain kept pouring down?

Maybe at the point when I’m just waking up Monday morning  to hear Price yelling,”the apartment is flooding!!!”

Yep, that is a good starting point.

So with those words our Monday began. And what a Monday it was.

6:20– I grab my glasses, or maybe they were already on, whatever, and run out of our room to see Price at the point where the water was in our living room. I run through the water to my scrapbooking paper tote on the floor, in the water, and hoist it up to the chair (yay, saved like $200 worth of paper!). Price is running around trying to figure out what the hell is going on. There is lots of yelling, and grabbing things off the floor.

“Is it coming out the windows? Is the printer ruined?”

“No, it’s not the windows, it’s not the walls.”

“Oh my god!”

“It’s in the office”

“Is the computer okay?”

I run outside, barefoot, in the rain, to the front of the house to get our landlord. Frantic door bell ringing does not work, back in the house to get my phone to call them.

“S, sorry to wake you but the apartment is flooding.”

Back down stairs there is running around in water trying to grab things and move them to higher ground.

6:30– The water was only an inch and a half or so but the area it is effecting was pretty big- whole living room, bathroom, office, closets- and it is spreading and rising (another 1 in the deepest area). With the homeowners witnessing the destruction of their property they got to work quickly helping us move things and figuring out what to do. Mission critical- get a sump pump. Since the basement* has never, ever flooded before they did not have one. It never even crossed their minds that it would happen, otherwise they would have never put hardwood floors in there, which S tells me as she is rolling up her pants. And these are not the pop in place home depot floors, these are the professionally laid, sanded, polished floors.

7.00– Finding a sump pump in a state that has been experiencing wide spread flooding due to rain amounts 8-10 inches in 2 days is nearly impossible. Luckily, G finds one at S’s office building. we can’t find the point of origin for the water. Clearly it is coming up but from where? Most of the water is in the middle of the apartment, but there is not obvious source there- no sub floor piping access.  One of the lowest points is checked, under the tub. Yeah, lots of water there. So the sump pump is put there and the garden hose is shoved in the tub so the water has a place to drain. This poor little pump is working hard to keep things at bay, and it seems like a losing battle as we discover water coming in from the South end of the house. Shit, move the bed! Our box spring is now wet.  Ahhhh! Chaos continues, G manages to get another sump pump one held for him in Worcester- a good 45 minutes away. Plumber is called to come to see if there is anything he can do.

8: 45- Calling work to let me know I’ll be late. Duh.

until 10– Price and I are “cleaning” things up as the 1 sump pump is chugging away. I drive the 3 blocks down(it’s raining!) to the best bakery ever to get breakfast and Price a big coffee. The rabbits have been moved. They are royally pissed because this is normally their out of cage time. Jack is scared/angry and protesting by picking up the castle with his teeth and slamming it back down.

On the bright side, Monday is trash day so I start carrying out some ruined items to the curb. Our living room rug, an otoman, a decorative pillow that became a sponge. The water went into our office closet. The one with all our architectural drawing and model materials. So I’m carrying out wood, large drawing pads, graph paper, and foam core to the trash. Price is wet vac-ing up the living room. We flip out bed up to let the box spring dry.

10: 45– Plumber comes. He does something under the floor where our book cases used to be. I am too distracted to care. (I later learn that he opened up some pipe causing the water to slowly drain directly into the sewer pipe)

11.05– Walking to the train to get to work. When I was first up in the morning I was sans shoes. Price made me get my rain boots on so I would not be in the cold water all morning. Well, I learned that my rain boots had holes in them. Unfreakin’ believable. I don’t even notice the wetness until I am calmed down on the train.

12.45– Price emails me saying that the water is generally gone because of what the plumber did and the 2nd sump pump G got.

4:15– Price leaves late for his 4pm class.

7:30– Price just beats me home since I stayed late to make up some hours from coming in late. He goes over the situation room by room. Our bed is flipped up so the box spring can dry, the office closet has been emptied out into the office, our tub is filthy from water the sump pump has been dumping in there.

8.30ish maybe, kinda a blur- Drinking wine. ServPro FINALLY comes. I get they are busy dealing with the other water damage in the area but thanks for being like 8 hours late. Plus, G had to commit to paying an extra $325 BS emergency fee. Total Servpro- $1525 . S is calling G to get to the house since he doubted they would actually show so he is at Home Depot buying 4 dehumidifiers. ServPro sets up 8 annoying loud fans, 2 huge dehumidifiers. No, wait, 1 keep tripping the fuse so now G sets up 2 of his to take the place of the 1 big dehumidifiers.  I’m busying my self on the phone outside and checking things inside- like the 1 non-plastic box I have of photos and scrapbooks I made during highschool- damp feeling but not ruined.

10:45– I shower. Quickly. I yank as much house out of the shower as possible, rinse out the dirt, and quickly shower.

11.45– After watching (can’t actually hear) the news I crash on The Cos’ (the sofa has a name, Emily named it).

4.45– I wake up. I tip toe around the apartment, load the washer with wet dirty towels, feeding the rabbits, find clothes to wear.

6.00-I move sofa cushions and make Price move over so I can lay next to him. I break down and cry into his shirt for a min. We finally get up at 6.20 with the alarm.

7.00– on my way to work. I get an iced DD coffee and spill some of it on the floor and my leg as I sit down on the train. FML

Now- drinking more wine. Trying to tune out the loud fans. The lights are flickering because 8 huge fans, and 3 dehumidifers are taxing the system. In all about 850 sq feet of our apartment was visibly wet. The floors are buckling/cupping and the doors are expanding so it’s hard to open/close them. The rabbits are out of the apartment because I did not want the fans kicking up dust making them sick and driving them BS crazy.

I can’t wait for Thursday night since I’m driving back to CT to stay over for the night before going on to Philly to spend the weekend with my friend Dawn. My mom is going to watch the rabbits so they are out of this insanity.

*Sure we live in a basement, but it is the most tricked out apartment ever. The place was renovated within the past 8 years- solid oak hardwood floors, amazing paint job, jacuzzi, dishwasher, disposal, washer/dryer, in total about 1200 sq feet. Plus there are legit full windows in the rooms and smaller ones through out so it is not a complete cave.