-
My Valentine’s Day
Lux and I listened to this all day, like the latin lovers that we are. (on Grooveshark. I couldn’t find it on Spotify, Rdio, or Last.fm. What, no kids music? Come on guys.)
I had a dentist appointment and they gave me a rose. Sweet, but the implication reminded me that I’m there a lot these days (sad but true) and neglecting my first love (my teeth) made room for our new relationship…Or some metaphor like that. When I walked home carrying the rose, people smiled knowingly at me, and I wanted to say, “it’s not as good as you think guys!”
A little vintage ring for me from Joe, from our local antique jewelry shop. With a background of aging roses from a friend who visited over the weekend.
This photo makes the ring look really nice, which it is, but Joe promises that it was not expensive as I have tragically lost rings before and neither of us want to worry about that. I love how the stone looks black but is actually a little red. It’s too big so I need to find one of those little adjustment-pieces that make rings smaller.
a little antique (not really) Scotch whiskey for Joe. He likes peaty stuff from Islay, and I’m running out of new brands to try as I basically buy him whiskey for all special occasions.
While I was at the dentist, Joe took Lux out and bought her a sneaky Sylvester. oh my gosh does she love balloons. And I do too. We had to bring him on our walk to soften the blow of being stroll-ered around. It worked!
In the evening after Joe got out of work, we met him midway to go to a favorite local wine shop that also sells chocolate, olives, eighty-five different kinds of cheese, and salami! On the T ride to meet him, the car was full of people holding bouquets of flowers, fiddling with their ties, or fixing their hair. When we waited for Joe outside there was a feeling of anticipation in the cold air and we watched as couples excitedly met up for the night. One corner of the T station was taken up with a bustling impromptu flower shop. It felt a bit like Christmas eve!
The wine shop was having a very clever wine tasting and oyster-eating event. For $10 you could try three different wines and have a small plate of three oysters. Lots of people were taking advantage of it. I loved how they gave you a slip of paper with the names of the wine, and the cost of the bottle, for easy reference.
Lux spent a lot of her time looking around for other baby friends, to no avail.
We used some Valentines money (thanks Mom! thanks Mimi!) and picked out a german champagne, soft cheese, a salami, homemade crackers, and homemade biscotti. It was all irresistible!
After we got home, we settled in with our snacks, and caught up on episodes of Downton Abbey. Joe said, “wine, cheese, and the aristocracy!” All and all, we barely noticed that we couldn’t go out to a nice dinner or a late night party.
-
WSJ on Boston
I love the Wall Street Journal‘s style of city reviews: asking significant locals about their favorite places.
They just did Boston.
(although it’s not a great sign when the significant locals cross-recommend each other’s businesses. Small town.)
ps: There’s an ORIGINAL Dunkin’ Donuts location? WHAT? I would post a photo, but turns out it looks exactly like every other Dunkin’ location. Extra credit for branding consistency.
-
Belgian in Boston: Saus
Over the weekend Joe and I were lucky enough to try out Saus, the new Belgian street food place down the street from Faneuil Hall. It was started by a couple of young people, who might be the same people working behind the counter when you are there, which is always cool. And they’re a non-bar open late every night, which is almost impossible to find right now.
First we tried the waffles which were made of hefty yeasty dough, edged with sticky caramelized sugar. Delicious. I got lemon curd sauce and Joe got berry berry mixed with salted caramel. I liked mine the best.
Obviously they immediately get points for serving it in a beautiful scalloped and lemon-curd colored dish. If you get it to go, which I will as soon as the weather shapes up, you just take a piece of tissue with it, street style.
We came back that night for fresh, house-cut, crispy frites. We tried the garlic mayo, truffle ketchup and chive sour cream dipping sauces. The truffle ketchup was the table favorite. I love that this is a place you can meet friends, spend a few dollars, shares some fries, and head out. A more savory version of the coffee shop meet-up.
AND: their walls are covered with Tintin comics.
Incidentally, they started tweeting their progress almost a year before they opened. If I hadn’t followed their progression on Twitter for so long, I don’t think I would have visited in the first week of their opening, or started telling my friends about them before they even opened. So, if you’re considering whether Twitter is worth your small business’s time: it is.
-
For sale: Boston’s Printing Plant
Joe and I spent the afternoon peering around the preview of Boston’s retired printing plant. The contents of the printing plant—previously used for everything from city employee’s business cards, voting ballots, and parking tickets—will be auctioned tomorrow.
The building is in one of my favorite neighborhoods: the North End, Boston’s little Italy. A former employee watching over the preview said they would have a pastry in the morning, garlic in the afternoon. He seemed to be feeling a little gloomy.
Most of the machines are enormous, some made of solid cast iron that will cost almost $1000 just to move from the building. (This linotype machine reminded me of Rabbit in John Updike’s books, who happily set linotype for a living in the first novel.)
The whole building felt like it had been a wonderful place to work–chock full of windows, warm yellow brick, breezy views of the North End on all sides.
City seals were everywhere.
No one seems to know how the auction will go tomorrow–the printers are afraid the metal will go to salvagers for scrap, but most printers don’t have the money or need for new machinery. To complicate matters, much of the letterpress stuff is being sold in large lots–meaning you can’t just pick up a few things, like this beautiful set of type drawers below.
The crowd at the preview was hushed group of respectful visitors—representatives from universities’ with print shops, mournful typophiles running their hands through the bins of metal slugs, experienced printers with their own shops eyeing the machinery, sightseers like us wishing we had more money and more space.
We’ll be at the auction tomorrow–I’ll let you know how it goes!
174 North St. Boston. Opens at 9am, open to the public.
-
The Thinking Cup
Finally someone noticed the great potential hidden in that desolate strip of businesses along the Boston Common on Tremont Street. The thinking cup opens today serving Brooklyn darling Stumptown Coffee, loose tea, mini cupcakes, sandwiches, the usual. Joe and I stumbled on their soft opening yesterday and were super impressed. They have lots of seating–small tables intentionally designed for lone customers with laptops–and it’s cozy inside, tastefully decorated, and spacious. Those of you not in Boston probably think new coffee shops are not that big of a deal, but remarkably, it takes work to find a good spot among the zillions of Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks downtown.
I rated this a generous-sized tea mug.
-
Somerville Illuminated
Tickets go on sale today for the Somerville Illuminations Tour. Annually I have wished to join the merry crowds on their trolley tour of Somerville’s most sparkly houses, but something has always come up. This year, I will not be deterred. Mark your calendars: December 18th; $10 a person. If you can’t make it, you can always buy the charmingly chintzy postcards inscribed with “Greetings from Somerville,” or the self-guided tour Map from participating stores.
Photo from the tour from Earkin.
-
Concert Alert: Tennis, Dec. 6th
-
A Letterpress Invite, for you
