According to popular theory, parting your hair on the left reveals a tendency toward logical, left-brain thinking. Parting it on the right suggests a more artistic, intuitive bent.Just insert your own comment here.
But the modern man prides himself on drawing from both sides.
When Rachel Miller Munzer and Alon Munzer ran Rachel's Kitchen in Bay Village, they turned the postage stamp-size sandwich shop into a cornerstone of the neighborhood. They did it by serving great sandwiches, of course, but also by making everyone feel at home. If you'd been there once, they knew your face. Twice, they knew your order.
Now they've partnered with chef Barry Maiden and former Sel de la Terre manager John Kessen to open Hungry Mother, a not-quite-as-small marvel of a restaurant that expertly brings together Southern dishes and French technique.
NORTH ANDOVER - This time of year, Paul Boulanger remembers the first time heOne time back in fourth grade, we went on a field trip to a maple farm. We were promised a lunch of pancakes and popcorn. We got some silver dollar pancakes and a Dixie cup full of popcorn. Our stomachs were far from full.
made maple syrup. He was 12 and in his mother's kitchen. Boy, was she mad.
He
could have been doing far worse. But anyone who has ever made maple syrup can
guess what happened: "How do you remove wallpaper?" said Boulanger,
37.
Preparing the golden brown syrup involves a lot of boiling - and a lot of
steam. Boulanger had been cooking away with a gallon pan, entranced, and didn't
notice that his mother's wallpaper was peeling.
"It takes 43 gallons of maple
sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup," he said. "You are boiling away almost all
of it into a sticky wet residue."
Now Boulanger makes all the syrup he wants.
He and his partner, Kathy Gallagher, operate Turtle Lane Maple Farm in North
Andover, where state officials on Friday kicked off Massachusetts Maple Month, a
celebration of New England's sweetest native crop.
In the cooler months, when you have to close the windows and turn on the heat, indoor air quality suffers. That is to say, a lot of unwelcome aromas develop. And you have a choice: You can actually clean your home and find every last dirty sock, old banana peel, and pet-related disaster area, or you can search out sweet smells and give your nose some relief. We chose the latter.
Into the wild
Once upon a time, I had a house full of overgrown houseplants, which left my home smelling fresh and green. Several pets, three children, and a move later, they're all dead, except for a few spindly African violets with leaves full of puncture wounds from the cats' teeth.
My quest this day was to find places that would let me inhale the clean, healthy scent of growing things - from a place with reliable central heating. I set off for the suburbs, where wealthy widows with a fondness for flowers have endowed all manner of exotic plant zoos.
My first stop was the Margaret C. Ferguson Greenhouses at Wellesley College. Alas, the humid greenhouse rooms are designed to foster students' botanical educations, not their olfactory pleasures, and the place smells a bit like a wet rock.
I decided to try my luck with plants grown under less stringent conditions. A few minutes down Route 16 I reached the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, stepped out of my car, and smelled the richness of a sun-warmed field in autumn. I started wandering the paths through the meadow, sniffing the overripe wild grapes, mugwort, and goldenrod, made my way through a pine-lined forest path and a pond filled with sweet pepperbush and blueberries - and gradually realized that I had no idea where I was, or how to return to my car. I resolved that, instead of following my nose, next time I would follow a map.
On a hunch, I drove to the Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston to visit the Orangerie, a 4,000-square-foot greenhouse perched on a hill with a view of Mount Wachusett. When I stepped into the vast glass-walled room, I knew I had reached the perfect indoor oasis. The smell of orange, lime, and lemon flowers was sweet, but not overwhelming - as though you had just laid down on a tropical beach and caught the scent wafting on an island breeze.
The spice islands
On my second trip in search of the perfect scent, I decided to explore our heritage as a coastal city: importer of exotic substances from the Orient, host to the spices of a thousand lands, and distributor of stinky cheese.
My first stop was Formaggio Kitchen on Huron Avenue in Cambridge, known not only for its selection of cheeses but also culinary curiosities like fennel pollen and juniper berries. Alas, Formaggio Kitchen possesses a formidable ventilation system that sucks out the fragrance of cheese and the preserved animal haunches hanging on the wall. I crept over to a little pile of Livarot, a cheese I remember fondly from an ill-considered purchase at the Paris airport some years ago. The memory of that cheese lingers in my suitcase still. And one close-quarters sniff of that pile confirmed that yes, Livarot is just as stinky as I recalled.
SEOUL: When she returned to Seoul in 2000 after 10 years in New York City, Park Su Ji introduced her fellow Koreans to an exotic way to socialize over food: "brunch."
"I really missed brunch but didn't find any brunch restaurants," Park said. So in the spring of 2005, she opened Suji's, a restaurant that serves toasted bagels and blueberry pancakes, among other brunch staples, in a setting that features black-and-white photographs of the Chrysler Building and Union Square in New York.
Park said that she had thought her place would primarily attract Western expatriates. But two years later, scores of restaurants in Seoul offer, or even specialize in, brunch - and they are filled with South Koreans.
THE WAKEFIELD HOUSING AUTHORITY held its annual summer cookout for residents of the Hart’s Hill housing complex yesterday.
WHAT COULD be better than an early evening summer sail around Lake Quannapowitt?
Marcel Dawson can tick off a litany of dislikes about the South Bay Center: The press of swirling traffic and swarms of shoppers. The big box stores and concrete block architecture. The gritty setting that can be intimidating come nightfall.
Yet the 31-year-old mutual funds salesman, who recently moved to Boston from Charlotte, N.C., regularly finds himself at Target, loading up on necessities. And like many of the other thousands who churn each day through the 540,000-square-foot shopping center in a no man's land south of downtown, Dawson has developed a grudging affection for the place.
"It's almost like a train station. We are all here to pick something up," he said as he shopped with his fiancee for a clothing storage bin. "And because of that, you don't get the 'Don't cross into my neighborhood.' No one territorializes this place."
In an area famous for balkanized neighborhoods and clannish mentalities, the South Bay Center on the border of Dorchester has emerged as a melting pot uniting residents of South Boston, Dorchester, the South End, and Roxbury.
WITH SUPERB summer weather, Lake Quannapowitt was a beehive of activity this weekend.
Propping their elbows on the fence, three buddies watched Matthew Martelli carve the base of a 12-foot-tall sand pirate and offered hometown encouragement.
"Matthew, you're going too deep there," teased Bob Otolo, 54.
Not bothering to glance up, Martelli shot back, "Thank you." His friends cackled.
Martelli, 50, grew up in Revere, and his friends planned to trek to Revere Beach daily through Saturday as he tries to outsculpt nine professionals from across the country, all vying for the $10,000 grand prize in the New England Sand Sculpting Festival.
Pink ties are apparently in this summer.
From the Boston Globe:
In a menu likely to be welcomed by the U.S. beef industry, cheeseburgers will be served at the luncheon President George W. Bush is hosting for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday.
