« May 2005 | Main | July 2005 »
June 25, 2005
fish heads fish heads roly poly fish heads...
well maybe not fish heads but food all the same. Joe and I are planning a fun little food/wine adventure that we'll let you all in on in the future but in the meantime I wanted to share some of our favorite little places to go nosh and sip.
Cosmo Deluxe Ice Cream and Cupcakes: My new favorite place. YUM! Some of the best ice cream in the city. WAY better than Rancatores if you want my opinion. It's located in a little tiny shop on Mt. Auburn Street around the corner from the other venture of its owners--the Watertown Diner, which btw, is next on my list...
The Deluxe Town Diner: Joe and I are here every weekend for breakfast. If you go early you can avoid the line. Sweet potato pancakes are one of my faves. They also have great burgers and their evening crowds are slim.
Sushi 21: Another spot in Watertown (54 Mt. Auburn Street) that we really like. We meet Paulette here for sushi a lot since it's close to her house. It's small and well-priced. Sushi is very good and the best part about it is that it's so friendly. Whenever we leave all the chefs make a point to say goodbye.
The Red House: This gem of a place is tucked away in Harvard Square. I'm partial to the food but what we really like is the cozy bar. In the winter there is a roaring fire. It's small and intimate and we know the bartenders. Has a great patio.
The Blue Room: We ate there last night, actually. Peter, one of the bartenders there, always gives me the dregs of their Lindys in the summer. Food is wonderful, atmosphere is an A+ and if you peruse the menu thoughtfully, you can eat for under $100 even with a bottle of wine. Plus they have the one perfect cheese...
Craigie Street Bistro: is probably Joe's favorite place and I'm rather partial to it as well. Food is quite literally some of the best in town. Chef Tony Maws was just named one of the ten best newcomer chefs by Food & Wine magazine so unfortunately, we expect that the place will be more difficult to get into, sigh.
Laurel Grill & Bar: One of the cheapest fine restaurants you'll ever find. Excellent food and although they don't seem to have as many $10 plates as they used to, $15 a plate is still a damn good deal for the caliber of food they serve.
Matt Murphy's Pub: Probably my favorite restaurant in all of Boston. Cozy, incredible food and super nice people. Expect to share a table with strangers and that the wait could be quite long.
Tu Y Yo: It's hard to find a great Mexican place in Boston. Coming from the West coast I didn't realize how spoiled I was. Authentic Mexican food...so much so that they have a sign on the door that says that they don't serve burritos! Super tasty sangria is worth the trip alone.
Posted by crystallyn at 07:05 PM | Comments (2)
June 24, 2005
Does he do the dishes?
From the Week Magazine:
Spanish lawmakers introduced a new marriage contract this week that stipulates men must do half the housework. The new vows will be used in civil marriage ceremonies starting this autumn. Wives won’t be able to take their husbands to court for being lazy, but in the case of divorce, a husband who has done less than his share will have to pay more alimony. “Men have to learn to start taking more responsibility in the home,” said Margarita Uria, the member of parliament who authored the bill, “and women have to help them do it.” A recent survey found that 40 percent of Spanish men do no household chores whatsoever, even if their wives work outside the home.
I feel really lucky. When I'm at the gym or in social settings and hear wives complain about their husbands how never cook or clean I just sort of shake my head and feel fortunate. Joe cooks--half the time dinner is on the table when I come home from work! And it's delicious, plated beautifully and easily fine restaurant quality. No shit-on-a-shingle in our house (although I grew up on it and love the stuff).
But we also are pretty good at sharing the house responsibility. Well mostly. I would say he's better at it than I am. I'm definitely lazier. But we share doing the dishes, share the laundry, share the cleaning before guests come over, share all the basics. It's just a part of how we work--in a partnership. I'm always amazed at how many conversations I overhear where the wife or the husband is ripping on their spouse for not being more domestic. Half of those husbands are complaining because the poor woman isn't waiting on him hand and foot while holding down a job and taking care of the kids. And I hear wives digging in about how their husband wouldn't know a vacuum if it bit him in the ass. I feel so sad for people like that. I just find conversations like that to be such a dishonor to their partner, regardless of any truth or validity. And then I realize how really and truly lucky I am, to find such sharing, partnership and true bliss in my marriage that most people can probably go find a bucket before I cause you to puke now...
Posted by crystallyn at 07:13 AM | Comments (1)
June 20, 2005
spell with flickr
Check out this very cool little web tool for spelling out things with flickr images:
Posted by crystallyn at 06:49 AM
June 13, 2005
random misfirings
~Michael Jackson innocent??? *boggle*
~I forgot to put suntan lotion on my left arm when I was at the beach with Paulette. I think I did one arm, got distracted and thinking I needed to do one more arm, did the same one again, not realizing I already did that one and not the other. Hurty hurty!
~Last Friday, Joe and I met up with the beautiful Redpanda and her boy Sean for some yummy Redbones BBQ. We had a great time--very cool people they are. We didn't end up going to the Redbones Underground, but you should check it out--the puzzles section is nifty.
~The other morning I was getting ready to enter my code to the gym parking lot and there was a sign saying to watch out for the turtle! So I punched the code in and drove through and sure enough, a huge snapping turtle was moving super slowly across the parking lot. I parked and got out and stood a little ways from it. It tucked its head and legs mostly into its shell and just sat there. Crazy big huge turtle it was, with a nasty looking beak. When I came back out an hour later, it had only managed to move about 15 feet. I imagine that people kept stopping to look at it. Poor turtle. There is a stream next to the gym that I'm sure he wanted to get to.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:01 PM | Comments (3)
June 06, 2005
lend a helping hand?
In case you want to be extra nice to me, feel free to visit ChangeThis and vote for my manifesto proposal. If enough people vote for the proposal, then I can submit my finished manifesto. Would be a great way to share some of my Critical & Creative Thinking knowledge, so if you are up for it, go to:
http://www.changethis.com/proposals/452
and vote for my proposal!
Posted by crystallyn at 07:14 AM | Comments (2)
Now Doesn't That Make You Feel Much Better?
Yes, this does...
Posted by crystallyn at 06:29 AM
June 02, 2005
womply
is a great word. My friend made it up. I sort of ascribe different meanings to it depending on the mood. Tired, sad, depressed, lethargic, apathetic, but most especially when you feel sort of down but can't really put your finger on why. Been feeling that way a lot lately.
The weather is changing, however, finally, after weeks and weeks of record-breaking cold and dreary rain. Maybe that will help.
Maybe graduating will. Joe scores his M.A. in Education and I walk the line for my M.A. in Critical & Creative Thinking tomorrow. I'm not sure if that's going to be as interesting as watching Steven Tyler get his honorary degree.
Turning older definitely isn't going to do anything to change the womply. It could make it worse. But I suppose that with Mr. Wahlberg I'm in good company. Perhaps I should go to Dorchester and celebrate. Nahh, maybe not.
But I will share that day with my little nephew Clement, who turns 5 on the 8th. He gets pirates on his cake. Lucky him. :)
Posted by crystallyn at 06:59 AM | Comments (5)