#28 Boston - Winter Wonderland - Dec 16, 2007

http://www.mybostonyear4.blogspot.com/

Well, this second snow storm was supposed to pass right by Boston, and hang out a bit more north - so the meteorologists said yesterday - and when I woke up this morning my first thought was “ Hmmh, I wonder if and when it was going to snow today.” A second later, I heard the sound of a shovel on asphalt, and I carefully peeled back the blinds to take a peek. “Holy Sh…..” was the next thing I not only thought but also loudly proclaimed into the cold morning air. This is the second snow storm in three days, just right after Thursday when Mother Nature provided an impressive display of speed-snowing. I was having a business lunch with some visiting scientists from Denmark at the Longwood Grille in Boston, and when we went in to start out lunch, things looked a little gloomy outside but no snow flake was in sight. 45 minutes later as we emerged from the lunch place, and I am not kidding you, it looked as if the mighty God of Snow had emptied a giant bucket of White over the poor city of Boston. The snow fell so hard and so quickly, that commuters did not have enough time to get out of town, and as a result the streets were chockfull of cars, the snow plows could not get anywhere, intersections were completely jammed, and horror stories of 8-hour commutes were heard the next day at water coolers all over town. Now mind you, it did not snow that much, and for cryin’ out loud, this is New England, we should be used to this kind of weather, but somehow the whole system collapsed and there were quite a few unhappy people out there, stranded, cold and grumpy.

Today’s weather calls for some more indoor time, finishing up some home-made Christmas presents, watching another video or two, right after we do some shoveling outside. Thursday night’s shoveling extravaganza took about three hours – mostly because I helped out my 84-year old neighbor Irene and her grandson, who have the driveway adjacent to my house. Irene is unbelievable and is out there armed with a shovel and tons of determination every time the snow hits.

Needless to say the snow had thwarted some of the social plans this week, and a proposed dinner this Thursday evening with Darrell and Susan at the Beacon Hill Bistro had to be moved to Monday. Good thing the Bistro is not going anywhere. This past weekend, sans snow, had afforded a bit more flexibility, and Saturday I headed off to my ushering gig at the Lyric Stage Company, where Mr One Man Show, Nick Casey, performed “This Wonderful Life”, a superb take on the Jimmy Stewart holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. This was absolutely swell – Casey plays pretty much all characters in the story and at the same time narrates it. For my non-US friends who may not know this popular Christmas flick – directed by the famed Frank Capra, it depicts the story of George Bailey, a small town banker who gets himself a bit into a pickle. Things are not going so well, and George contemplates suicide, wishing he was never born. Clarence, a down-on-his-luck bumbling angel-in-training is assigned the project of saving George Bailey showing him what life would be like in Bedford Falls if he would have never existed. If Clarence succeeds, he will get his wings, and since this is Hollywood, you bet he does. The movie is a pretty solid tearjerker, and the King of Sappy, Mr James Stewart elevates this to formerly unknown heights, but I have always liked the message displayed here – we create our own communities and we all touch the lives of others in so many positive ways, and just like George Bailey, we do make a difference. If you are in Boston, take the time and visit the Lyric Stage Company (http://lyricstage.com/) and see the show – 70 minutes of great and heartwarming fun. If you own snow shoes you could even go today.

Sunday was spent lazily and only interrupted for a brief get-together with Ellen and Pauline for the most gigantic cup of hot cocoa I have ever had. Pandera Bread at the Arsenal Mall in Watertown does quite a number on the hot cocoa, and supplemented by their pastries that I am increasingly fond of, this was a worthwhile excursion.

Monday night I became one of Santa’s aides, as my running group, Community Running (www.communityrunning.org ), sponsored 20 gifts for Christmas in the City (www.christmasinthecity.com) , an organization that provides homeless children and families with a memorable holiday experience, gifts and all. Many of my club members pitched in and here I was with a car full of fabulous gifts for all the kids on our wish list.

Tuesday night I met up with my second dinner group which consists of my former landlady Marsha and her newest tenant and fellow German Dagmar, and for the first time in my almost four years in Boston, I went to Legal Seafoods (I know I can’t believe it myself that it took me that long). Highly recommended, Boston’s premier seafood place did not disappoint a bit, and my herb-encrusted tuna on a bed of mushroom ravioli and bacon-infused collard greens was just absolutely fabulous (http://www.legalseafoods.com/) and is to be praised.

Last night dinner group( #1) met for our Christmas get-together at the Litman’s house in Malden for a fabulous evening, which included absolutely wonderful food, ornament-guessing contests (I won, I won, I won, I won a candle, I won, I won, I won….), an impressive reenactment of Michael Jackson’s video “Thriller” by the very foxy Waleed, spirited discussions (during which at least one of the husbands was socked in the stomach for a comment regarding a wife’s subservient behavior), a Secret Santa exchange with some very lovely gifts (mine included hot chocolate and marshmallows, which happen to be two of my four food groups during winter season) and of course, quality time with The Peanut, Amy and Dana’s charming Chihuahua, who has us all wrapped around his paws.

Alrighty, time to go snow shoveling for a bit, and then retreat to the couch for some R&R, maybe accompanied by the above mentioned hot cocoa.

Talk to you next week - right before I am about to embark on a two-week trip to Germany to spend time with the family and put my feet up big time.

Stay warm!

PetJ

A couple of things for you to look at:

Yesterday, as every year was the time for the annual Santa Speedo Run (http://www.santaspeedorun.com/ ), a Boston tradition, where men and women clad only in speedos and bathing suits, run through downtown Boston in icy freezing weather. I am not kidding you, and just to put it in perspective – it was 12 degrees out there (minus 10 Celsius) - http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/specials/holidays/gallery/santa_speedo_run_2007/ . Only in Boston!

Picture on the Boston.com website from Thursday’s storm - http://www.boston.com/news/weather/gallery/131207snowgallery/ - I’ll send some from today’s storm separately later!

#27 Boston - I Smell Goulash - November 8 2007

I Smell Goulash

Yes, I did smell Goulash and wouldn’t you believe it, it was at the Ritz Carlton in Boston. The Ritz is now called the Taj, but it will always stay the Ritz for us; and here we were - Hannah, Holly and I, hanging out at The Bar or the Café or whatever the place was called, and I swear to you I kept smelling goulash, beef stew or something like it. Granted we came from a wine tasting and had moved on to cocktails and bubbley, but it was all within limits and my sense of smell should have not been affected in any way; bottom line – I have no idea what’s going on in that place and why they are cooking Hungarian dishes at 11 PM at night.

The evening started out innocently enough with a Holiday Wine Affair at the College Club of Boston, a snazzy little place on Commonwealth Ave that I would just love to call my own (I think several million greenbacks would have to be involved). It is the oldest women’s college club in the US of A, and is housed in a lovely Victorian Brownstone (http://www.thecollegeclubofboston.com/). The wine event was hosted by a group called Boston Uncorked (http://www.bostonuncorked.com/) and this was our little wine group’s first foray into the uncorked zone. Two tables were loaded with wines from Portugal, California, New Zealand, and a third station was featuring ports and tawnies. It was quite the happening crowd, a bit on the yuppie-ish side, but the wine loosened everyone up sufficiently and we did have a good time. The food served was fabulous, the ambience great, and some of the wines decent enough. I am not a big friend of the ports so that effort was pretty much lost on me.

Well, once we were done with the uncorked people, the girls and I, as mentioned, headed to the Taj/Ritz, which means the evening got even better. Partly this was Holly’s fault who regaled us with stories about her recent trip to Arizona, which involved these creatures called javelinas (http://fireflyforest.net/images/firefly/2005/September/javelinas.jpg ), apparently some kind of crazy looking pig located just a step below the boar on the evolutionary ladder. Actually, I was just reading up on them and they are not really pigs, some kind of collared peccary (you following?), and they have razor-sharp tusks. Apparently they smell quite strongly (musky if you must know), breed all year like bunnies, and are quite unpredictable. You are not supposed to feed them or they will return as a posse and as one website stated “they will get into your garbage cans, dig holes in your yard, knock over your potted plants eating the entire plant AND eat your vegetable, flower and cactus gardens.” Hannah, having several moments of clarity that night, was mesmerized by this topic – “What do you mean? You can’t be trapped in your house by pigs!” “You mean, people just chill in their living room until the pigs go away?” The discussion then moved on to the topic of health spas in Arizona (makes sense), and we were particularly enticed by Holly’s story about being wrapped in wax paper during one of the beauty sessions. Hannah, to use one of her own expressions, is too freakin hahaha , one of the funniest people I have ever met. She just makes me smile – it may not always be politically correct, but hey, if it’s funny, it’s funny (“Wine in Ethiopia? They don’t even have food there….”). Hats off to you, my most spirited and exquisitely funny friend!!

It is now the pre-Christmas social crunch time, and there is pretty much an event every night. Monday night I had dinner with my friend Linda at a Greek restaurant in my neighborhood (http://www.desfina.com/), and despite the fact that it came highly recommended it was not a culinary experience I would like to repeat. Wednesday was the uncorked thingy, and Thursday I joined the Community Running gang for our first social dinner outing. Close to 20 of us squeezed into the Delux Café, right on the edge of Boston’s South End – it had a bit of the feel of a student pub to it, but it was quite cozy, filled to the brim with people and the food was pretty decent (except for the homemade cheesecake – not like any other cheesecake I have ever tasted, and I don’t mean that in a nice way). Last night, accompanied by my lab colleague and friend Susan and her sister Anne, I did engage in some retail therapy around Faneuil Hall, trying not to take any spills on the quite icy slippery streets of Boston.

This past week has been cold, chilly; we had snow, ice, sleet, you name it. This would usually not be something I would gripe about (oh, well, maybe I would), but after a visit to the sports medicine clinic to see what can be done about my continued issue with the plantar fasciitis on my right heel, I left sporting a surgical boot on my right foot (http://www.buyaircast.com/sp-walker.htm ). This, my friends, is the Hummer of boots; I think it would be possible to navigate up sand dunes with that baby. I did reasonably well limping through the icy and cobble-stoned neighborhoods here in the hub and will have to continue to do so for about the next month or so. At night I am wearing a night splint also, which seems to help quite a bit, and hopefully with some more effort there we will be able to get Petra back into fighting shape (at least walking shape is all I am asking now).

It is 1 PM now and I am sitting here in my PJs, but I am due to usher at the Lyric Stage Company this afternoon for a rendition of “This Wonderful Life” – a one-man show based on the classic holiday tear jerker “It’s a Wonderful Life”, so I think taking a shower and getting dressed would be in order. Off I go!

Pet:)

#26 Boston - Third Encounter of the Close Kind - Dec 1 2007

Third Encounter of the Close Kind

Ever had one of those? I thought I did, until Stephanie again alerted me to the fact that I stepped full-force into a Petraism. You see, what I was trying to describe at this particular moment was the scene last Sunday night in Foxboro, Massachusetts when my friend Chris and I attended the game between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles. Smoke, loud music, fire pits and eerie flood lights gave the appearance of either Armageddon or the recent landing of an alien spacecraft. And this being Massachusetts, I know either scenario seemed quite possible. The football game was a first class nail-biter, and thanks to a couple of heaven-sent interceptions, the Pats prevailed and remained undefeated, and the Eagles were sent packing. Chris and I sat up in the nosebleed section wrapped in a blanket – it was about 30 degrees Fahrenheit (around 0 Celsius) and up where we sat it was a bit windy. Just to illustrate the kind of fashion effort that is required to attend a professional sports event that is played outdoors in winter, here is what I wore: long underpants, winter running pants topped by my fleece-lined ski pants, long tech fabric shirt, topped by fleece, topped by sheepskin-lined vest, topped by down jacket. Head band, wool hat, two pairs of gloves, handwarmers, toewarmers, and blanket. I bore a striking resemblance to the Michelin Man ready to go an expedition to Antarctica.

Only thing we did not enjoy during the game, and there is an entire section on the upper deck who will back me up on this, were the Philadelphia Eagles fans, who (as I subsequently learned) are not even nice to their own team. Not far from us sat a whole gaggle of them who were so unbelievably rude, insulting and obnoxious, it was a miracle that they got out of the stadium alive. Hats off to the Pats fans who kept their tempers in check and proofed that they were clearly above such unmannerly behavior. If a fan of the opposing team would exhibit such behavior in my old hometown of Oakland, I don’t think the Raider Fans would show the same kind of courtesy (not really something they are known for).

Well, what I can say. They lost, we won, they gloated about the fact that they messed up the point spread, and we are going to the Superbowl.

The Ice Zone

That would be that little Commonwealth of ours, who has started winter pretty early this year. Temperatures have been quite nippy around here, with the occasional decently temperatured day thrown in for good measure, but today with 10 degrees Fahrenheit (= Minus 11 Celsius) and 35 mph gusts of wind, it was a bit on the chilly side. I was on my way back home on my bike early this afternoon, and was a wee bit worried that my nose might not survive the trip home (fall off or retreat back somewhere) and sans face mask I was not a particularly happy camper. I know I know I could have taken the caaah…. so just shut up….

It is supposed to stay cold; snow and wintry mix is expected late tomorrow or Monday – I guess it is December alright.

Veggie Heaven

A drastic change has occurred this week in Casa Petra. I am now a happy and content member of Boston Organics (www.bostonorganics.com) and every Wednesday, or miracle of miracles, a nice box with fresh organic fruits and veggies appears at my doorstep. Similar in concept to CSAs (community-supported agriculture), where one subscribes to a farm, Boston Organics provides all organic fare, and that all year round. Most CSAs in New England do not deliver during the cold seasons, which can come as no surprise to anyone (remember the Ice Zone? Nothing grows here – the produce sections in the store look as if they have been robbed). When my first box arrived this week, I attacked the fresh Arugula as if I had never seen anything green in my life before and then continued to eat three apples, an orange and a tangelo, just because I was on a roll. My body must have been in complete shock.

Bring me the Damn Quail













Here I was on Thursday night with a group of new friends at Restaurant EVOO (stands for Extra Virgin Olive Oil – woohooo) in Somerville
(http://www.evoorestaurant.com/) , where eclectic American cuisine is served, or so they promise. Actually the food was pretty eclectic, come to think of it, I had a soup made from sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes - a tuberous gnarly ginger-ish looking root), a main dish that involved a quail, and a superb Apple Butter Crème Brulee. The wine was decent and priced accordingly, the company mostly entertaining, except for one guy at the table who without missing a beat or even introducing himself to the rest of the gang dove head-first into a story about how his lovely and high-quality wool overcoat was almost stolen in the airplane. This seemed to be quite an important story in his life, as it came up again later as we were about to leave the restaurant, and said coat emerged from the closet. Now the wait staff in this place was somethin’ else – apparently emphasis is placed on eating slowly and savoring the experience, so things moved a little sluggish at EVOO. If you are hungry, this is not the place for you. It took the waitress several attempts just to get the drink orders, and she kept coming back telling us yet again how special and unique the chef was and that everything at EVOO is created “in the moment”. She failed to convince us to order the “in the moment” chef’s special, a kind of mystery meal I guess, and after eating three hand fulls of breadsticks and half a baguette, I was so hungry, I was just waiting for her to come back and say one more time that the chef is spending his time “in the moment”. I felt like yelling across the restaurant “just bring me the damn quail” I was so hungry. She also did not quite get all the orders right, and I had to ask for the crème brulee twice – she may have been “in the moment” and forgot.

“I have no Friends”

Community Running, that wonderful running club of mine (that I have not been running with for 4 months on account of my ongoing plantar fasciitis which shows really no signs of improving at all), hosted one of our monthly trivia runs, and I had kindly volunteered to be one of the quizmasters. 20 Runners braved the chilly weather and ran from quiz station to quiz station in either Cambridge or Boston, and answered questions in a quite interesting variety of categories such as Middle Name of Presidents, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Endangered Species of Massachusetts, Phish, the 1980s, the Wives of Henry VIII and so on. One has to collect as many “smiley face” points, which are then heaped upon your fellow contestants during several penalty point rounds. Whoever ends up with the least amount of penalty points wins. Let me tell you, not everyone plays nice, or as Robin said quite frankly during a particularly rowdy bit - “I have no Friends” (not surprisingly enough she was one of the two winners).

Petra’s Precious Pug Palace

Just a thought, but I would really like to get a pug and name him Walter. Stephanie has agreed to get a pug girl named Penny. We’ll have them breed like crazy, and will all move to the country and open a pug farm. As I said, just a thought.

Aspiring 30-Year Old Artist

To boast a little and toot my own horn, another six of my photographs have been accepted for the next Illuminations exhibit at the MGH Cancer Center. Come February you can see more of my work exhibited there. I will keep the Boston contingent posted as to when the reception is (free wine). In the meantime, I will spend my inheritance at the art store.

I am heading off with Hannah shortly to help someone I don’t know decorate their Christmas tree; we’ll see how that goes.

Stay warm, stay dry.

Happy pre-Holiday season.

Pet