The Boston Public Market is OPEN!

Whenever I visit a new city, one of my favorite things to do is see the local public market. I've always been sad that Boston doesn't have one of its own (unless you count Quincy Market, which I don't), but finally, my dreams have come true!

The Boston Public Market opened to the public yesterday and I was lucky enough to squeeze a visit into my work day! From their website:

"The Boston Public Market is a permanent, year-round, self-sustaining market featuring fresh, locally sourced food brought directly to and from the diverse people that make up Massachusetts and New England. At the Boston Public Market, farmers, fishermen, and food producers from Massachusetts and throughout New England offer the public a year-round source of fresh, local food and an opportunity to taste, buy, and understand what our region has to offer. The market houses over 35 vendors selling locally produced items such as farm-fresh produce, meat and poultry, eggs, milk and cheese, fish and shellfish, bread and baked goods, flowers, and an assortment of specialty and prepared foods."

What I really like about the market is that the folks who run it are making a conscious effort to make it available to people of all backgrounds and income levels. While farm to table food is always on the more expensive side, the delicious and large sandwich I got was just $8.50 -- which from what I remember is about the same price as a Burger King value meal these days. And plus, every part of the sandwich came from local farms, which I'm more than happy to support vs a multi-million dollar fast food corporation. The vendors at the market also accept SNAP/EBT (Boston's version of food stamps) and they are offering free/inexpensive fitness and cooking classes to individuals and families. Furthermore, the market association itself is a nonprofit so they're making a sincere effort to spread the word to ALL types of people and are partnering with a number of other local nonprofits involved in food justice. It could really be something great for the city, and at the very least, I think it's smart that the local government is thinking about new ways to make healthy options available to people who live here while supporting local farms and businesses.

Anyway, let's see some photos!

Amazing free sample!

Beer alley!

Big crowd watching the opening ceremony

Cookbook exchange -- so cool!

Can't wait to try the Noodle Lab

The cutest little eggplants

Amazing sandwich from Wolf Meadow Farm

I can't wait to visit the Market again. It will definitely be my go to every time I'm downtown during lunch!

Blue Apron

I'm so excited my friend gave me a free trial of Blue Apron! I've been wanting to try the service for a LONG time, but just never got around to it. I scheduled a delivery for just a couple of days after I signed up.

So what is Blue Apron?
Blue Apron encourages people to cook at home by mailing recipes and ingredients to subscribers each week. Recipes are seasonal, are never repeated in the same year, are 500-700 calories/serving and take 35-60 minutes to prepare.

Most ingredients are pre-measured so there's no (or very little) waste. You choose the delivery date you want, and the items are delivered (free delivery) in a refrigerated box so the food stays fresh even if you're not home.

Right now there are two pricing options:

- $59.94: Three meals/week for two people ($9.99/person)

- $69.92 or $139.84 for two or four meals/week for a family (4-5 people; $8/74/person)

I had my meals delivered on Monday and was so giddy when I got home from work to my box waiting for me! Everything was packaged nicely and still cool in the box.

I took everything out and checked out the recipes (you can see them online beforehand).

I got started right away on the first meal: sirloin steak with mashed purple potatoes and summer vegetables.

This is definitely one of the best home cooked meals I've ever had. It was so delicious and I completely cleared my plate. And how beautiful are those purple potatoes?? Since I'm cooking for one, I got to eat all of the meals twice. This was just as good the next day!

The next meal I made was salmon ceasar salad with homemade sourdough croutons.

I ended up bringing the salads to work for lunch. They were very good, but I think I overdid it on the lemon in the dressing. I really liked the homemade croutons!

The last meal I cooked was chicken and basil fettuccine with mascarpone and plum tomatoes. 

This was a perfect example of a recipe I would have loved to cook, but would have definitely skipped out on some of the ingredients. The sauce in this dish was so incredible and made my kitchen smell amazing for hours. These meals are meant to be for two people, but this was a huge amount and I ended up eating it for three meals. Stretching that dollar!

I plan on keeping my membership for Blue Apron and trying to do one shipment a month. I skipped the last few weeks but have another shipment coming soon. 

Pros:

- Pushed me to cook outside my comfort zone again

- Super clear, easy to follow recipes (with beautiful photos)

- Very fresh, seasonal ingredients (and you can check the website to see where they come form)

- Delivery was easy and included

- Not THAT expensive comparably

- Meat and fish are air sealed so it stays fresh even if you don't cook it immediately 

- You can cancel at any time or skip meals at any time, there is no minimum or fee to sign up

- Website is very easy to navigate

Cons:

- I worry about my box getting stolen because I don't have a foyer

- Still have to supplement your week of food, and I ended up spending more money because of that...I think

- All of the recipes took me ~20 minutes longer to cook than it said on the card

- Not really a con, but you still have to do work like chopping vegetables. It's not all done for you!

Obviously the pros outweigh the cons here. I can't wait to keep trying new recipes!

10 Things I Did This Weekend

1. Evacuated Quincy Market with about 1,000 other people after a fire alarm went off. 

Pre-evacuation

2. Sang the first 4 verses of "We Didn't Start the Fire" in the rain to prove I was the biggest Billy Joel fan of all time. Kind of sounded like this:

3. Met with 5 potential new roommates. This process is so GD annoying.

4. Opened a Roth IRA account! Adult status.

5. Played "bear pong". College status.

Not me or my photo

6. Spent four glorious hours alone on the beach with just myself, a book, and a gatorade.

7. Went out in Central Square for the first time in...a year?

8. Ate Dominos cheesy bread and watched Wedding Crashers at 3 am. And was the last [wo]man standing awake! High school status.

9. Played softball and kicked ass on first base.

10. Opened up my super old laptop and transferred everything over to a hard drive (have been wanting to do this for over a year -- go me).

I do0o0o0o0on't want to go to work tomorrow...!

Nothing to say

Well here I am again, at a crossroads with this blog. I feel like I have nothing to say. I sit down to write over and over and come up with nothing but a few sentences painfully strung together. There are plenty of things I could talk about, but everything seems unimportant and silly. Whatever. I suppose this is my outlet to be whatever I want it to be...which at the moment is not much.

I spent the last two days working from home which was great. I watched A LOT of episodes of The Office while working. Like an embarrassing amount. What's also embarrassing is how much I cry during sentimental Jim and Pam moments. Even if you didn't watch The Office (if you haven't, drop whatever you're doing and start now!!!) how can you not tear up at this??

Where is my Jim?

I've done a couple of fun things this week...

Watched the Bachelorette. This girl is starting to annoy me...! The two guys who are left have been annoying me for weeks.

Attended my first Harpoon X Night:

Went on a very fun harbor cruise:

Matching smiley octopus tattoos

Ate Chinese food whilst being drunk (haven't done that in a long time!)

Shopping spree at Sephora:

Cooked my first Blue Apron meals! More on that later.

Tonight I'm going to a going away party for a friend and am hoping to have a great weekend with nice weather!