Photo: Flickr/SpaceAgeSage

Abby Conway

It’s that time of year again; when the beer flows green and cabbage is suddenly a hot commodity in the grocery store. Looking to ditch the traditional celebrations this year? (Did you know that what we American’s consider traditional is in fact far from how the holiday is celebrated in Ireland? Read more here.) Check out what PRK has dug up (it aint’ spuds) on what’s happening Marh 17th, or what to do if you’re staying in.

Whiskey time…

The Boston Center for Adult Education is hosting Irish Whiskey tasting from 6:00p-7:30pm. Learn the difference between the two major styles of Irish whiskey and discover “pot still” style, plus “peated” and “in-peated” single malts. 

If you’re not up for heading out on one of those nights you’re bound to bump into someone who’s had a few too many (more likely, they crash into you), you can still learn about a variety of Irish whiskeys by perusing Saveur’s online guide. Home is under-rated.

Vinho Verde

Whiskey not really your thing? The Second Glass is hosting a special Green Wine Tasting for St. Patrick’s Day. Attendees will learn about the thousands of vineyards worldwide owned by the Irish, review organic and sustainable wine info and get the lowdown on Vinho Verde (green wine) from Portugal. The event will take place at Downtown Wine and Spirits in Somerville from 7:00-8:00pm. $10 will do it.

Guinness and chocolate and beef, oh my?

If you’re in need of a unique meal for St. Patrick’s Day and you’re not interested in stinking up the house with corned beef and cabbage, we’ve got an idea for you. How about a unique take on the classic beef stew? This beef stew recipe is prepared in the slow cooker with Guinness and bittersweet chocolate. Weirded out? Read the recipe for explanations and for tips on which type of Guinness and chocolate to choose to make sure your stew comes out just right. Prep ahead: this version takes about 9 hours in the slow cooker.   

The Paddy

Cooking 4 The Week suggests a whiskey cocktail to calm your ‘Irish’ cravings. The cocktail of choice? “The Paddy“.  The Paddy is a variation of the sweet Manhattan that uses Irish whiskey instead of rye or bourbon. To make The Paddy you will need Irish whiskey, sweet vermouth and Angostura bitters.

Photo: Andrew Kelsall/Flickr

Jessica Alpert

I learned most of my cleaning techniques from my mother.  I always hated emptying the dishwasher but loved loading it (well, sorta). For the record, I still hate emptying the dishwasher.  In college, I was amazed by the amount of people who just didn’t know how to work a washing machine.  PARENTS: DO YOUR KIDS A FAVOR….make them learn to do their own laundry before heading off to college (WE do indeed MAKE FUN OF THE CLUELESS).

Honestly though, it seems we may all be a little bit clueless.  A recent article by Alina Tugend in the NYtimes breaks it down….how much detergent do you really need for your washing machine and dishwasher?  She make a great point: we learned how to measure these liquids and powders from our parents…but appliances have changed quite a bit since then.  We must evolve! 

A full scoop of Tide for your next load is just….well, so 2009.

Check out the article HERE.

Abby Conway

I hope you’ve all made your Restaurant Week 2010 reservations! The 2-week long event (so why are we still calling it restaurant week as opposed to weeks?) starts this Sunday, March 14th. Spots are filling insanely fast! Last week I decided to try and make a reservation for Market by Jean Georges at the W Hotel; I had to settle for 9p on a Sunday.

This year’s citywide winter restaurant week will run  3/14 thru 3/19 & 3/21 thru 3/26. Participating restaurants are offering prix fixe menus. 2-course lunches are $15.10, 3-course lunches are $20.10 and 3-course dinners are $33.10. Check out RestaurantWeekBoston.com to preview menus and OpenTable.com to make reservations.

I spent a little while (okay, a long while) sorting through some menus and trying to decide what restaurants were doing something a little different than the norm. Here is what I came up with…

• Post 390, a slightly newer addition to Boston’s restaurant scene, is offering a different menu during the second half of restaurant week than the first.
• Upstairs in the Square is charging the RW standard of $33.10 in the Monday Club Bar dining room but if you prefer to dine in the more swanky Soirée dining room, you’re going to have to cough up an extra ten bucks.
• Union Bar and Grille is offering a complimentary glass of wine with their dinner menu, making the $33.10 three-course prix fixe dinner an even better deal.
• Tremont 647 is offering way more choices than most restaurants. Also, if you dine on a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, they are offering an additional two choices for each course.
• While most will keep the same menu for most or all of RW, L’Espalier will change their menu daily. On the downside, their three-course dinner is $42 rather than the RW standard of $33.10.

No matter where you decide to dine for Restaurant Week, Lingbo Li, a Harvard undergrad and local food blogger suggests you do your research before making your reservations. Well, actually she suggests skipping it all together.

“My advice: do your research. If the price cut is significant, the sample menus look right up your alley, and you don’t mind dining on a busy night, RW may be a good deal. But for most people, a little research and planning goes a long way. Most restaurants offer lower prices at lunch anyway, and you won’t be competing with the masses for limited spots, or dealing with stressed-out waiters.”

If two weeks of restaurant deals isn’t enough, you’re in luck! The North End is launching it’s own restaurant week this year. The North End Restaurant Week will immediately follow the citywide RW from 3/28 thru 4/2 and 4/4 thru 4/9. Two more weeks of good food and great deals!

Photo: DNAMichaud/Flickr

Susan McCrory

Maple: the “First Harvest” of the Season
March is Maple Month in Massachusetts. You can tap into this longstanding tradition by checking the directory put out by the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association of sugar houses for the visiting and sugar house restaurants for, well, the obvious. Make it a family affair! And here’s a primer on how pure maple syrup is made.

Need Brisket for St. Patty’s Day?
Put in your order now via Cuisine en Locale. This “Meat Meet” happens Monday, March 15th, again in Cambridge.

Afternoon Espresso Love at Marliave’s
That’s espresso, not express, love and it’s yours for the taking at Restaurant Marliave in downtown Boston. The cafe at the Marliave is extending its hours past 1 PM and offering a savory tasting menu as well. Erstwhile & dear has written it up, hailing Marliave’s as a veritable oasis for espresso in the Park Street area.

Save the Date
Massachusetts Agriculture Day at the Statehouse will be held April 8th. This is a chance to hear and be heard about the issues facing state farmers and the long-term health of  the agricultural industry in Massachusetts.

PRK can always count on the fabulous ladies of North Shore Dish to keep us posted on the latest news and discoveries north of Boston.  The sunny days of late make me want to take a road trip and a little jaunt to Gloucester seems just about perfect.

In my mind, this town is always a destination….great food, cute shops, a stroll along the beach.  In this post, North Shore Dish gives us a great new gem-of-a-cafe to start our day.

The ever-so-charming Joey C. of Good Morning Gloucester steered us to

 Fort Square Café last weekend when we were looking for a casual place for breakfast. Not surprisingly, he was right on the money. With great food, local specialties, and counter staff that greets you like a long-lost sibling, this place is right up our alley.

The breakfast menu at tiny Fort Square is extensive and served all day. It includes eggs, omelets, and pancakes served with various breakfast meats and choice of hash browns or home fries. We tried two specials that day and loved them both. Crispy french toast ($5.50) was coated in crushed Honey Bunches of Oats and perfectly cooked. A side of bacon was crispy and flavorful. The tasty Portugese scramble with peppers, onions, and chorizo, home fries, and toast is $8.50, but we guarantee you won’t need another meal that day.

Read the Rest of the post HERE

Image via RetroThing.com

Emma Jacobs
How many of our baking readers made their first cookies in an Easy-Bake oven?
Ronald Howes, the inventor of the Easy-Bake, passed away a few weeks ago, setting off a splash of nostalgia across the blogosphere. The inspiration of millions of chefs and at least one  cookbook, the Easy-Bake Oven Gourmet, the original Easy-Bake Oven debuted in 1963 with a 100-watt incandescent bulb to heat pizza and cakes. Howes had also redesigned the formula for play-dough and he would work for the United States Defense Department, but the Easy-Bake Oven was his shining achievement.
That didn’t mean Howe gave up tinkering on successors to his great work. From Howe’s obituary in his hometown  of Cincinnati:

“We no longer have a garage in our house – it’s a physics lab,” his wife said. “You can hardly walk around in it.”

Odds are, a lot of American garages have one of Howe’s inventions in them. Twenty million Easy-Bake ovens have been sold since 1963. By now, if it did its job right, a lot of those cooks have probably moved on to bigger and better appliances. Did you?

Adam Ragusea, PRK Guest Contributor

Too. Much. Lamb. Between last weekend and last night, I’m totally lambed out.

Standout chefs from the American Lamb Jam included: Ben Knack from Sel de la Terre, for the best hunk of loin of the night; Thomas Rice of Clio, for a dish involving edible flowers that was so pretty I almost didn’t care if it tasted like, well, meat and flowers; Toby T. Hill from Pain D’ Avignon, for his lamb confit burger with a slab of melting brie on brioche. (Of the latter, one of my fellow judges asked “where were you at 2 am last night?”)

Many thanks to the American Lamb Board and BostonChefs.com for putting on a great show!

Photo: Courtesy of Union Park Press

Susan McCrory

All of you out there with young kids, take note: there’s an event happening tonight at Aura Restaurant, nestled within Boston’s Seaport Hotel, that you may want to head to. Fast. It’s not often you find family-friendly, gourmet dining complete with arts activities so that you can enjoy your meal while the kiddies stay occupied in a way that won’t give you agita.

PRK caught wind of Aura’s “Fine Dining, Family-Style” events held each month on a Friday night 5:30-8pm and decided to delve deeper into tonight’s feature: a celebration of the release of Boston Baby: A Field Guide for Urban Parents written by Kim Foley MacKinnon, who bills Aura as “the perfect double date for two families with kids.” Kim, mom of one, will be on hand tonight to sign copies of her book and chat with parents about her take on where to go and what to do around town with kids. In keeping with the family-friendly character of these monthly Fridays at Aura, folks from Artbeat will run an arts n’ crafts table for the kids. A little more distraction means a little more quiet time for Mom and Dad. Aaaaah.

PRK contacted Kim to ask her a few questions about eating out with kids and why Aura, in particular, got her backing.  

PRK: What do you look for when you are trying to decide where to dine out with your family?

I have to admit that I don’t go out with an eye to pleasing my daughter necessarily. If I did that, we’d only eat in the North End since she’s a pastavore! My husband and I like a diverse range of cuisines and we like to try new places. Even if a restaurant doesn’t appeal to her, we can always cobble together elements from different dishes for her.

PRK: What are some challenges you have faced while eating out as a family?

My daughter is a vegetarian, and has been from birth, so most kid’s menus are out for her. I have never agreed with the chicken fingers/hamburger/fish sticks and fries model for kids anyway. Where are the veggies? I’ll often just order sides for her and make that into a dinner.

PRK: Why did you choose Aura as the perfect place to dine out with kids?

Aura has made having a really nice meal in an upscale spot a possibility for families on Friday nights. When the kids inevitably finish eating before their parents, they can go play or do a craft in a dedicated space right there.

PRK: What about the experience at Aura is unique to other family-friendly restaurants in Boston?

I think a lot of people are afraid to go out with their kids. They worry about noise or mess or dirty looks from other diners. Aura has literally laid out the welcome mat for them. You can eat out and it doesn’t need to be at a chain restaurant with mediocre food.
PRK: What do you recommend when eating at Aura on Fine Dining, Family Style night–for adults? For kids?

The menu changes monthly and seasonally, so if it becomes a tradition in your family to eat there you’re always going to find something new. That said, the baby and children’s menus have more continuity. There will always be fresh purees for babies and a pasta option for the older kids. Chef Rachel Klein does twists on popular kids’ foods, such as a grilled cheese with sweet potato fries. I don’t know anyone else who offers actual baby food, as in fresh purees.
***
Tonight’s menu? For adults it includes corn chowder, pork tenderloin, roasted chicken with gnocchi and shallot cream, a roasted salmon dish with parsnip puree and, for dessert, rosemary apple pie. Babies and toddlers have their own respective menu offerings. No teeth, a few teeth or the whole lot, here’s some of what’s being served: seasonal purees, a bread and banana plate, chicken in a basket, broccoli flowerettes, peas and corn and chocolate chip cookies. As a mom of two little-ish ones myself, I’ll pass on to you what Kim wrote to me when I confessed how, well, ‘chicken’ I am about taking my kids out to eat: “Don’t be afraid!”

Photo: norwichnuts/Flickr

Abby Conway

Just two of my favorite things…
I love making cupcakes and I enjoy the occasional cocktail. So this course caught my eye. The Boston Center for Adult Education is holding a class entitled ‘Cupcakes and Cocktails‘ on March 12th. The class, which is set up like a cocktail party, starts out with cupcake flavored (and shaped) drinks. Participants will then take part in preparing various alcohol-themed cupcakes. Think: red wine and cosmos! The single session class is $68.

Grass-fed meat delivered directly to your door
Last week the Boston Globe published an article about the growing popularity of purchasing grass-fed meat via the web. With concerns about the practices of factory farms on the rise, consumers are looking for alternative sources for meat. During the warmer months you can usually find grass-fed meat at local farmer’s markets, but when the number of such markets in Massachusetts drops from about 200 in the summer to about ten in the winter (rough estimates based on information from the MDAR website), your best bet is to turn to the web. The convenience of web-ordering can be beneficial to both sellers and buyers, since managing an on-farm store or traveling to weekly farmer’s markets can be cumbersome. Ordering online also allows customers to choose locally-sourced meat, rather than meat that, for all intents and purposes, needed a passport to make it to your local supermarket.

Speaking of locally-sourced meat…
The next “Meat Meet” with goods from Stillman’s will be held this Saturday, March 6th, at 3pm in Central Square. Get your order in early and/or get in line and get yer meat!

Cooking for a Cause
Two food-focused fundraisers are happening in the next week to support local institutions:  

Today, March 4th, the Friends of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute will hold the 12th annual Chefs Cooking for Hope event. The Friends is an all-volunteer organization that provides patient services, educational activities and fundraising. Monies raised by The Friends are distributed to research fellows and treatment programs in all departments at Dana-Farber. This year’s event is featuring as Honorary Chefs Jody Adams of Rialto and Jeff Fournier of 51 Lincoln for their support of the cause over many years. Over 50 chefs from throughout the city will be on hand to dole out some of their specialities.

If that isn’t enough foodie fundraising for you, the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts will be holding an event on Tuesday, March 9th, at the Boston Center for the Arts. A number of South End restaurants will be serving up bite-sized versions of favorites from their menus. The event will also feature live cooking demonstrations, a silent auction and raffle, plus wine tasting and beer sampling. All proceeds from this event will fund the AAC’s mission of haulting the spread of HIV/AIDS by providing free support services to men, women and children living with AIDS and HIV, as well as educating the public about how to prevent HIV transmission.

Cuffs does St. Patrick’s Day
The Passionate Foodie got a sneak peak at the St. Patrick’s Day menu from Cuffs at the Back Bay Hotel. This one-day-only menu features such creations as Guinness-poached prawns (the prawns are actually served in a fresh glass of Guinness). As it turns out, the Back Bay Hotel (where Cuffs resides), is owned by the The Doyle Collection, based in Dublin. Perhaps they know a thing or two about traditional Irish fare.