It took me a pot of chicken soup, six large crab cakes and a pan of the Barefoot Contessa’s Salted Caramel Brownies to avoid shoveling the driveway today. I could have squeezed in an apple pie but I prefer to do back-breaking work in the daylight. “You haven’t shoveled yet,” asked my husband during an […]
I’ve judged dozens of contests in my day. Whether it was choosing readers’ best Christmas cookies, the hunkiest bachelor or crowning that year’s “Boston Pride Idol,” it was always serious business for me. Of course, I also got a chance to be on the other side of the judges’ table as a contestant on the […]
I love going to Tanglewood. It really doesn’t matter who is playing at the western Mass. summer home of the Boston Symphony — although I have a thang for violinist Joshua Bell. It’s all about the picnic on the lawn. Now, this isn’t tailgating. No one throws open the trunk of the Prius, pitches a […]
Call me contra mundum, but I couldn’t bear to drive in the parking lot of Anthony’s Pier 4, much less eat there. So don’t expect this girl to weep even a little bit for this circa 1963 restaurant that finally closed its doors tonight. Popovers, shmopovers. Before I begin this screed against ye olde seafood […]
My grandmother in Maine always talked a good game about the Down East tradition of serving salmon and peas on July 4. We never ate it, of course, because Grammie, who lived in Portland, would rather have hamburgers and Jordan hot dogs. And who could blame her? Like I said, she talked a good game. […]
Memorial Day, the official start of summer here in New England, demands a backyard barbecue. It’s time to drag the Weber out of the cellar and get your fire on! While burgers and hot dogs usually kick off the summer grilling season, I have been known to get a little crazy and skewer up some shrimp. […]