Monthly Archives: June 2010

Meet Your Bartender: Craigie on Main’s Carrie Cole

Carrie Cole of Craigie on Main (Photo: Susanna Bolle)

With the sultry weather of summer now fully upon us, there are few things that offer such a stylish form of relief as an ice-cold, well-made cocktail. In Boston there are a number of truly wonderful bars, where you can cool off with a fine drink, whether it be a tried and true classic or a tasty concoction invented on the spot.

One of the best and most consistently inventive local bars is Craigie on Main in Central Square, Cambridge.  Carrie Cole is the senior bartender at Craigie, where she creates an array of artfully executed drinks that not only stand on their own, but also complement the restaurant’s eclectic menu. No mean feat. Continue reading

My Love Affair with Pici

Photo: fugzu/Flickr

Alexandra Dimodica

It was love at first sight.

The story may seem somewhat stereotypical: girl (or boy) goes to Italy and falls in love.  This was me last year when I arrived in Siena for my sixth-month sojourn, which is otherwise known as study abroad.  The catch? My love affair did not occur with a handsome Italian student in my letteratura contemporanea (contemporary literature) course. It happened with a pasta. Continue reading

Returning Tower Root Beer

Photo: Courtesy of Edible Boston

Ilene Bezahler, Guest Contributor
Edible Boston

Food memories, especially those from childhood, are so important to us all. Yet trying to recreate them later in life is sometimes very difficult. Thanks to Domenick Cusolito’s family, memories of Tower Root Beer in Somerville can be relived. With determination and luck, the originally recipe was found and Tower Root Beer revived. Genevieve Rajewski gives an account of their family’s story in the summer edition of Edible Boston. (You can also follow Genevieve through her blog Wicked Tasty Harvest).

..We All Scream (for crazily flavored) Ice Cream!

(jessicafm/Flickr)

(jessicafm/Flickr)

Talia Ralph, Guest Contributor

If there’s one thing in this world we can all agree on, it’s the awesomeness of ice cream.

Everyone — from my 14-year-old brother to Steve Grossman, the Democratic candidate for Massachusetts treasurer — has found joy in an icy, creamy treat on a hot summer day. (Maybe no one more than Grossman, actually, who has been conducting a state-wide ice cream tour throughout his campaign.)

But there’s a point at which we all diverge – which flavor is the best? Continue reading

Tonight's Meet Up CANCELLED

Sue McCrory, Jessica Alpert, Anastacia Marx de Salcedo

Hey all:

So sorry to do this, but we are cancelling tonight’s Meet Up on account of the pending storm. It looks pretty bad, which does remain to be seen, but we’d rather have this be a whiz-bang event for as many people as possible. We suspect that many of you have shopped and perhaps prepared already, but we hope you had taken the “no dough” part of the evening seriously and that not too much ‘dough’ or effort has been expended…

The good news is, we are in the process of re-scheduling the Meet Up ASAP (sometime next week). We will post that new date immediately.

Thanks so much, everybody, and again our apologies! We’ll be in touch soon.

Thursday Tidbits: Meals at Sea, On Land

Photo: karynsig/Flickr

Alexandra Dimodica

LOCAL BITES

Always dreamt of an adventure on the high seas and warm pie at the end of the day?
The Maine Windjammer J & E Riggin invites guests aboard for delicious getaways. Anne Mahle, the ship’s co-captain and beloved chef, also shares some of her favorite recipes on her blog.

Please try this at home!
Join Amy Cotler on June 27 for her Summer Feast Cooking Class in West Stockbridge, MA, to learn how to cook farm fresh food. And check out her recipes online. Yum.

Love fresh food?
Food and Wine with a Story blogger Rosie DeQuattro’s frittatas are for you. Ramp is involved here.

Seeing Purple: cooking . . . with lavender?
Learn how to cook with lavender at the Lavender Festival being held at Johnson Hill Farm in Buckland, MA, on June 27 & 28. It’s not just for potpourri or soap anymore.

Bottoms up
On June 27 visit Alfalfa Farm Winery from 1-5 in Topsfield, MA for a wine tasting. Enjoy this local product, unless you’re driving, of course!

Caffeine, Café, and Cycling
Coffee meets upscale bikes, and a café and cycling marriage begins at Ride.Studio.Cafe in Lexington Center. Hit the road with one of the store’s weekly rides and pop in for a cappuccino after.

CSA members: the lettuce is coming!
Cooking for the Week blogger shares a new use for lettuce – soup!

Hearty summer breakfast
A granola recipe from Ten Apple Farm, a homestead in Southern Maine.
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NATIONAL TREATS
Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food
While farm to table connections are typically of the local variety, the USDA Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food program promotes healthy eating nationwide.

Recipes from “the middle of nowhere”
Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, provides readers far and wide with a pineapple mango salsa recipe that can accompany nachos or even grilled chicken breasts after a few simple steps.

Tune-in to see fabulous farm living
Watch The Fabulous Beekman Boys, a new show featuring best-selling author, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, on Planet Green channel, Wednesdays at 9/8 c.  Keep an eye on the farm all week with this goat cam!

Beet Heaven

Photos: Courtesy of Powisset Farm

Meryl LaTronica, Guest Contributor
Powisset Farm

I love beets! I think beets are one of the most beautiful vegetables around! My feeling is that you can never grow enough. Every three weeks we are either seeding them in the greenhouse or planting them in the fields. In late March we broke the seal of the seed package and began dropping their small seed clusters into the cells of our planting trays. By mid-April we were transplanting the small plugs into the soil every six inches and set in two rows, with the rows about 18 inches apart. Continue reading

The Chocolate Tarte

  

How much is that tarte in the window? Photos: Sarah Knight

Sarah Knight, Guest Contributor  

Dreams do come true.  Flour-dusted, chocolate-filled dreams. After 20-plus years as a bankruptcy consultant, Linda Hein was ready to move on. And so she did. Beginning her business by baking wedding cakes, Linda now commands a busy wholesale and to-order business, as well as her new bakery, The Chocolate Tarte, in Somerville.  Continue reading

'Fresh' The Movie: Get Free Tix!

Freshen up your week with free movie tickets! The good-food documentary FRESH is giving away a limited number of free movie tickets to Public Radio Kitchen readers.

The film hits the big screen in Boston this week at the Brattle Theatre: Friday, June 16th-23rd (40 Brattle Street, Cambridge) Reply to jamie@FRESHthemovie.com by 2pm today with “Fresh Kitchen” in the subject line to grab yours!