Cooking for a Cause 2012 Recap

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blogger events, boston, boston chefs, boston events, cooking, cooking for a cause, event, food, food events

I mentioned last week that I was going to Cooking for a Cause again this year.

Cooking for a Cause is an annual event held to benefit the East End House, which, in the words of the organization, “provides support services to a diverse population, from infants to seniors, to strengthen family and community.”

When you check in at the event, you’re given a bidding number, which you use for both the silent and the live auctions. The silent auctions included gift certificates to restaurants, cookbooks from the chefs in the room, wine baskets, gift baskets, and more. The live auction included a trip to Bermuda and a Red Sox/Yankee game. And like I said, all proceeds from the auction went to the East End House.

As for the food itself.

Oh goodness.

It was wonderful.

I would say it was equally on par with the event from last year.

The picture above is one of the first things I tasted from Craigie on Main. Beet Pasta. That’s right, pasta made out of beets. It was superb…and though I wanted a giant plate full of it, looking around the room at all the other food to sample, I knew I had to stop at one bite.

Brace yourselves.

I’m going to take you on a tour of everything else I ate and drank (yes, the drinks! They were so…dangerously good, too.)

This dish is from Catalyst: A mini tuna steak on a bed of sticky rice with a mango salsa. Again, hard to stop at just one.

Blue Inc. was serving a pork dumpling on a bed of coleslaw. There were a  lot of people hovering around this station

Bistro Du Midi was serving their octopus crostini. I tasted this last year, and it was just as delicious this year as it was then. Though I do wish they served would’ve served up something different for the event.

That, my friends, is pork belly from Aura. It’s on a nice slaw bed. It was juicy and fatty and finger-lickin’ good.

Rialto was serving a nice chowder, but I wanted to sample their lighter fare which was a char crudo — a new item on their menu that they were actually debuting at Cooking for a Cause — made up of pickled rhubarb, parsnip chips, and pea shoots.

This is a crab salad shooter from Island Creek Oyster Bar. They’ve never done me wrong, and it wasn’t about to start here.

Harvest was serving up a crab, garlic, pea, and mint salad. They went the extra mile and had their own little wooden serving dishes and spoons. Check Plus.

Green Street also got creative on the serving front. They had a salad with white fish meat (similar to flounder, the chef described), on endive for the “dish”. Clever — and tasty!

Fuji was serving up their sushi. And honestly, I could’ve just sat in front of this table all night stuffing their spicy California rolls into my face. But I, again, resisted and ate just two rolls. And they were good. Sushi is either a hit or a miss for me — they were a hit.

And let’s not forget the drinks. From top to bottom: The Hawthorne, Eastern Standard, and Tamo Bar. Lots of wine was being served, as well as craft beers, such as beer from Pretty Things.

And last but not least, the dessert:

Kickass Cupcakes made an appearance, however I was disappointed with their cupcake selection — only chocolate and vanilla and a few red velvets on their display.

And Area Four was serving up caramel corn mini cupcakes. Unfortunately I wasn’t a huge fan of these, which was a bummer because dessert is my favorite meal

Other sweets there included Taza Chocolate and Dancing Deer Baking Co.

I was also happy to bump into Elizabeth from Free Food Boston and Jen from Tiny Urban Kitchen

Overall, a great event. If you’re looking for a fun and filling night out with proceeds going to a good cause, consider Cooking for a Cause next year. Your stomach and tastebuds will thank you later.

Note: This is the second of two posts on Cooking for a Cause. My ticket to this event was provided to me free of charge from East End House, but all opinions expressed in this post are my own. 

Second note: It is unclear to me how I am not obese after realizing just now how much food I ate at this event.

Bokx 109

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bar review, bars, boston, drinks, food, restaurant review, restaurants, review

I don’t have a “cocktail”, “margarita”, or “going out” budget. At least not a very big one.

So when I do go out, I try to make sure that the 10-12 dollar drink I’m ordering is way above par.

And I think Bokx 109 meets those standards for me.

I’ve been eager to try out Bokx 109 for about 2 years now. It’s located close to where I live, and whenever Chris and I drive past it we’re always like “yeaaaaah we need to try that place out….sometime.” So when Rachel from BostoNite suggested she and our friend head over there after work the other night, I didn’t think twice about the suggestion. Now was my chance to try it out!

Bokx 109 is located inside Hotel Indigo, and my first thought when I walked in was “ooh. Ritzy.” And I don’t usually get that posh feeling when I walk into hotel bars. Usually my thought is “stuffy”.

We sat at a high-top table and our server greeted us with a wide smile and the drinks menu. My eyes widened when I saw a drink called “Blueberry Lemon Drop” (pictured above). The description was crisp, romantic, and simple, “Stoli blueberry, lemon, Creme de Cassis”. Rachel put in her order for “The Pick Me Up” (pictured above), which is a pretty fitting name for an after work drink (did I mention we went on a Monday…? ) “The Pick Me Up” was composed of apricot brandy, orange, lemon, grenadine, and Prosecco. Our friend ordered the “Easy Like Sunday Morning”, which was made up of Bombay Sapphire, pineapple, lemon, and Angostura bitters.

I tasted the other two drinks, and they were great, but my blueberry cocktail was by far my favorite. The glass came sugar rimmed, and the drink was sweet, but not overly sweet — nor did it have a sour or bitter after-taste like a lot of cocktails do. It was delicious, and though I was having a perfectly fine day, I finished the drink pretty quickly.

We were each presented with hor d’oeurve bites (on the house — thanks to Rachel’s celebrity status). On the left was a tuna tartare, the middle — a fresh oyster, and on the right was a scallop on a bed of roasted veggies that included corn and Brussels sprouts.

As you can see, a nice presentation with the food (i.e. that bent spoon was a nice way to show off the tartar).

 

But they were only bites, and we all have fast metabolisms and large appetites, so we ordered the duck fat fries off of the menu as well as the flat bread with basil.

And though they were good, I will say that those items were nothing exceptional. I don’t think the fries being fried in duck fat made any difference on the taste. And the flat bread to me didn’t taste any more special than a pizza I could make at home. I think my expectations were running high after a beautiful presentation from the drinks and the appetizers, as well as the high-end taste, texture, and flavor.

I know it’s just bar food, so technically I shouldn’t be surprised.

Overall, I’d go back to Bokx 109 for a Friday night drink when I’m feeling fancy.

Yes, fancy! Dress up a bit when you go here — you’ll find yourself among many men in suits enjoying their afternoon Heinekins and women in their pencil skirts sipping their drinks and gnawing on the duck fat fries.

P.S. Clever name

Note: The photos taken here belong to the unnamed friend who was with us and were not taken by me. She has given me permission to use these and post them. She shall remain anonymous.

Thinking Cup

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boston, boston cafe, cafe, drinks, food, restaurant review, thinking cup

Happy Friday

The other week I was at Park Street and had an hour to kill. One of my friends suggested I check out Thinking Cup on Tremont St right next to the movie theater. There was a big chill in the air, and a hot cocoa did sound like the perfect thing to warm up my nose.

The atmosphere of Thinking Cup is just what its name describes. The lights were dim, giving off a glowing yellow hue to the cafe. And everyone was huddled into a booth or casually slouched in a chair with their laptops, iPads, and books, sipping their tea or cocoa, munching on a cupcake or pastry, fully engrossed in their own worlds, full — and quite content.

The array of sweets laid out at Thinking Cup was extensive. They had whoopie pies, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, pie — everything. But I was craving a hot chocolate, so ordered their French Hot Chocolate at the counter. The cashier warned me that it was rich, very rich. But I said I could handle it.

If only he knew my heavy addiction to chocolate…

I took a seat, whipped out The Hunger Games (which, by the way, if you haven’t read yet…you have to. It’s a necessity), and a few minutes later my cocoa was ready. As I walked back to my seat, I noticed they had swirled a heart into my cocoa.

I smiled. It was exactly what I needed after a long, cold day…a stranger swirling a heart into my drink.

Then I took a sip. And I think my heart melted into a chocolate puddle on the floor. Rich, creamy, silky, pure chocolate. I had to drink it slowly, savoring every ounce of chocolate from that cup.

So next time you’re near Park Street and have a few hours to kill, or just want to hang out and chat with a friend, I recommend Thinking Cup.

(And someone please tell me how to make one of those heart swirls…)

Brunching at the Harvard Common Press

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boston, boston brunchers, boston events, boston food, Breakfast, brunch, cookbooks, events, food, harvard common press, publishing

Last Sunday, the Harvard Common Press (HCP) invited 40 Boston Brunchers to brunch at their office. This event sign up was first come, first serve. So when I saw Renee tweet about this, I immediately grabbed a spot.

What food blogger doesn’t want to go chat with some cookbook publishers? (especially the brunching kind…do I smell a Boston Brunchers cookbook in the future…?…?)

I have been in contact with HCP before. A few months ago I introduced myself to them and my blog, and Emily from HCP sent me some cookbooks! (That’s where these deviled eggs came from—) I was happy I got a seat, and was eager to learn more about them.

First, it sometimes amazes me that hard copies of cookbooks sell so well in the age of food blogs, iPads, AllRecipes.com, Pinterest, The Pioneer Woman, StumbleUpon—the works. With so many other outlets for recipes, who needs a cookbook?

We discussed just that, though, at the brunch. Adam and Bruce at HCP explained that we the food bloggers are a big chunk of their audience now. And it’s true. I love cookbooks. If I see one, I want it. I want to flip the pages and look at the pictures. I like to take them out of the library and turn to the wrinkled pages—which indicates that those are the good recipes. It makes me smile when I see my mom take out my Great Aunt’s cookbook for her famous baked beans recipe—spine worn and torn, language old and classic. And most bloggers will agree with me. Yes, we find great recipes online, but we’ll always drool over those cookbooks.

So naturally our mouths began to water when HCP announced we could take a few books from their stock room. Like hungry puppies, we swarmed around their shelves and flipped through their vast array of great cookbooks. Eyes sparkling as if it were Christmas morning, I happily walked away with three: Not Your Mother’s Weeknight Cooking, Not Your Mother’s Casseroles, and New England Home Cooking. And I made the Hungarian Paprika Chicken that same night.

As for the brunch, the staff made an array of dishes from the books they publish, including pear ginger bread, spinach and cheese strata, raspberry cream cheese coffee cake, fruit and nut muffins, fresh fruit, and more.

Lots and lots of pictures were taken. (That’s Amanda from Tales from a Kitchen Misfit.)

All in all, a happy happy day for these folk!

Thanks, Harvard Common Press!

Temple Bar Brunch — Cambridge, MA

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blogger events, boston, boston bloggers, boston brunchers, boston food, Breakfast, brunch, food

It’s brunches like these that make me wish I lived closer to Cambridge. I mean, Newton has its fair share of good restaurants, but Cambridge’s food scene is quite wealthy as well.

Saturday the Boston Brunchers headed over to Temple Bar for their brunch. I was lucky enough to snag a seat at the table, and as always, eager to see what they had in store for the brunchers.

The wait staff was incredibly attentive at Temple Bar. My water glass was never half empty at any point during the meal. And right after we sat down, they came around with those pretty drinks above. What service!

We got to order one item off the menu (check it out—you will drool immediately). I decided to go with the Bacon Cheddar Biscuit Breakfast Sandwich. The bacon drew me in, also the egg in the sandwich. And a side of home fries.

The sandwich came with a side of red jalapeno jelly, which was sweet and spicy all in one, adding a great zing to the sandwich (and of course the home fries). The biscuit had little bacon bits and cheddar cheese baked into it. So not only was it buttery and flakey, just the way a biscuit should be, but it also included two of my favorite things — bacon and cheese — roll that into one bite? I’m afraid I’ll never go back to a plain ol’ buttery biscuit again.

And after the main courses were sitting happily in our stomachs, the wait staff came out with an array of desserts to sample. Above, a creme brulee with a hint of ginger and nutmeg — also laid out on the table was a chocolate bread pudding, pumpkin parfait, and a raspberry cake. My favorites were a tie between the pumpkin parfait and the chocolate bread pudding.

Overall, as usual it was a wonderful brunch. I always have a great time meeting bloggers and brunchers I haven’t met before, and of course catching up with the old ones.

Looking forward to the next excursion!

“Om Nom Nom”–Boston Brunchers Dine at Om Restaurant

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blogger events, blogging, boston, boston brunchers, Breakfast, brunch, dining, dining out, events, food

Lately I’ve been lucky. I’ve been picked (by random–not bribing anyone!) to brunch with the Boston Brunchers almost every month!

And I love it. It gives me an opportunity to go out. My food blog is based mostly on homemade food that I make for me and Chris on our fairly low budget. We don’t have a lot of extra money kicking around to dine out at fancy restaurants, or restaurants in general. For us, it’s a treat. I want you all to know that I really love dining out, but money is the main reason why I don’t do it that often. I get a lot of weird looks because of it, too–from foodies and non-foodies everywhere around the Boston area. “Have you been there?” “Don’t you just love this dish of theirs?” “No!? Well, then where do you eat out?!”

So when I do get out. And when I do dine with food connoisseurs much like myself, it is indeed a treat.

This past Saturday, the brunchers were invited to dine at Om Restaurant in Harvard Square in Cambridge. I absolutely love Harvard Square. I don’t go out there that often because it’s inconvenient to get to from Newton, but when I do it’s such a treat. There are so many awesome restaurants and shops around–it’s hard not to find something to do!

Om is right across the street from Upstairs on the Square on Winthrop St. We were greeted by our smiling hostess and seated upstairs by the windows (perfect for blogger pics )

I was lucky enough to attend this brunch with my pals Kathy and Amanda. We oogled at the menu while the other brunchers trickled in at 11 (including Audrey from Boston Food Finds who I’m SO happy I finally got to meet!) Our server started us off to drink with a lovely Lychee Bellini. This drink is 11 times better than a mimosa. And all it is is pureed lychees with champagne. Sweet. Succulent. Superb. I didn’t know what a lychee was either (for those of you who are thinking–what the heck is a lychee?) It’s a berry. And it reminded me of a mix between a pear and a pineapple when I sipped it. They actually look like raspberries in their full form, but have a white pulp in the center. The drink looks and tastes upscale, but it’s incredibly simple to make on your own. And I like that.

So most people would be satisfied to order just one thing off of the menu, right? Not hungry food bloggers. Amanda, Kathy, and I were determined to get the Stuffed French Toast (stuffed with bananas and chocolate…hellooooo beautiful) as an appetizer BEFORE we dove into the egg selection on the menu. And guess what? Om was one step ahead of us. They informed us they were already planning on giving us a French Toast sampler before we ordered our own dishes. I could sense I was going to like this place…

The French Toast, by the way, was excellent. I’ve never had or made stuffed French Toast, but imagine the possibilities with this idea at home! Apples, blueberries, peaches…the bananas were perfect, though. There was not a single bite of these left at the end.

We also decided to try the Lemon Buttermilk Pancakes with Orange Honey Butter (what?!) These pancakes were also filled. With lemon cream. And you could actually see the lemon zest in the filling. So much salivating happened. All of that was consumed, too.

Then the tough choice came along. Ordering our individual main meals. Should I go with the Duck Confit Hash? (pictured above with a poached egg–) The Biscuits, Egg, and Cured Ham? The Hangover Burger? The Country Style Breakfast? More Pancakes?? Amanda and Kathy chose the Duck Confit Hash, which to me is such a novelty for brunch. They absolutely loved it, and Amanda let me try a sample of hers. And look at that egg. That perfectly poached egg!

I decided to go with the Biscuits, Egg, and Cured Ham with Tomato Salsa. I know exactly what you’re thinking, “That’s a biscuit?!!” Actually, there were two pancake-sized beautifully buttery biscuits on my plate, and I’m proud to say I ate the majority of them. The biscuits were so buttery and flaky that  they fell apart when I tried to eat them. I didn’t mind. I like playing with my food. The tomato salsa was a nice pairing with the biscuits–especially when you’re so used to the regular raspberry jam or jelly. The cured ham didn’t really suit my palette, though. But that didn’t phase me. The home fries made up for it. Doused in pepper and spices, these puppies were cut and fried to perfection.

And so, another Boston Brunchers event has come and gone Thank you to Om Restaurant for hosting us. Everyone was beaming when they left–full–yet wanting more (or maybe that’s just the bottomless pit talking over here…) I’ll definitely go back to splurge on brunch again here, whether or not my wallet can handle it. It’s such a delight to go out to eat with your friends, and then spend the rest of the afternoon in Harvard Square.

Note: This brunch was provided to me free of charge from Om Restaurant, but all of the opinions expressed here are my own. Neither Om Restaurant or the Boston Brunchers asked me to write a review of my experience there.