Random Friday Things

Well hello! This is the first Friday night in sooooo long that I've decided to stay home all by myself, and it is glorious!! I made a great dinner, caught up on lots of TV (Walking Dead is SO good so far), and now am writing this blog post! Here are some random things based on recent pictures in my phone:

How good are Dibs? I saw this at CVS the other day and had to buy it.

The pretzels at the Harpoon beer hall are SOOO good. This one was a little burnt but it was still great. My sauces of choice right now are IPA cheese and garlic butter. Yum.

There's this cool art installation on the side of my building. It's over 150 feet tall!

The other day there was an AMAZING rainbow and I had the perfect view from my office. We could see the whole thing from start to finish. I was so happy!

Last weekend I went to the Wellfleet oyster festival for the third year in a row! This is the only picture I took of the festival. It was hella crowded.

And this is the only picture of me from the festival in my phone...looking like a creature from another world.

Our house was soooo nice! These pictures don't quite do it justice. My little bed:

Living room and porch:

Kitchen area:

I've been going to so many work events lately, including this great "women of excellence" breakfast that honored some incredible women making a huge impact for young girls. I felt so inspired.

This dress from Target is my fave. I've already worn it a few times with different accessories! Bathroom pics at work aren't awkward at all.

You can't tell in this picture, but the sky and water were the most beautiful purple and blue colors on this night. Extremely peaceful. 

Ummm....!!

And finally...I need these little forks!

Progressive Blogger Dinner - Bel Ari & Les Zygomates

Last week I was so excited to attend my very first Blog and Tweet Boston event: a progressive dinner at Bel Ari and Les Zygomates. Both restaurants are located right near South Station, so it's a surprise I haven't been to either!

We started at Bel Ari and were led into a private room in the back of the restaurant. After a short welcome from Mark Tosi (who owns both restaurants, as well as the New England-based Pastene Companies), we were introduced to the chef, who gave us a rundown of the menu. From their website: "Bel Ari’s culinary inspiration comes 'from all over the boot' with both classical offerings and contemporary interpretations."

We started with shared plates of whipped ricotta and sunflower cranberry bread. The ricotta was so creamy -- it was the perfect start to the meal and went well with some extra bubbly Prosecco.

Our first course was Arincini Di Riso. I really liked the unique spin on this common dish -- I've never had arincini with goat cheese and an onion marmalade. The combination was delicious.

We each had a choice between shrimp and lobster gnocchi or penne a la vodka for our next course. I has to go with the gnocchi and was glad I did! The gnocchi were cooked well and I loved the lobster cream sauce. I only wish I had some extra bread to clean my plate with!

Since I was eating seafood I ordered the white wine pairing, which went perfectly.

Once we were all finished eating we grabbed our things and took a very short walk next door to Les Zygomates to finish our meal. By this point I was already full and didn't know how I'd possibly eat two more courses. Luckily, I tend to underestimate the extra room my stomach will magically create when there's delicious food in front of me. 

Out of the two restaurants I LOVED the vibe in Les Zygomates, which appropriately translates to "the muscles in your face that make you smile." I'd say Bel Ari is a better spot for an intimate, romantic date, but Les Zygomates is where you go with your girlfriends. A great jazz band was playing in the corner and local artist Janice Eve Dale was using the restaurant as her gallery, so her incredible, colorful artwork lined the walls. The whole restaurant just had a very cool feel to it.

For our main course of the night we had a choice between beef and fish. Since I had ordered the seafood pasta I went with the beef. Plus, I'm a sucker for mushrooms and foie gras.

The woman sitting next to me ordered the bass and I had to snap a picture. These portions were huge!

I was really impressed with the beef and loved the red wine it was paired with. I only wish I could have finished the whole thing!

Finally, it was time for dessert. I (of course) ordered the flourless chocolate cake. I thought I'd only take a bite or two but I finished the entire thing! AND I had a bite of my neighbor's creme brulee. To top it off, I downed my glass of Moscato for a last bit of sweetness.

Overall it was a fantastic event with great food and great people! I'm so glad I decided to attend and look forward to lots more Blog & Tweet events in my future!

Note: This event was provided free of charge. All opinions, whether you like them or not, are all my own.

It's Been A While

Anyone remember this song by Staind?

Welp, it has been a while since I updated. Life has been busy. And pretty dang fun! It's impossible to recap everything that's been going on the past few weeks, so I'll just give a few snapshots:

We celebrated Andy's birthday with lots of wine and apple picking at Nashoba Valley Winery! I made these amazing cake batter blondies with chocolate chips to bring.

I made a version of this INCREDIBLE chicken salad with the apples I picked. I ate this almost every day for a week and never got sick of it. I followed the recipe pretty much to the T except I skipped the raisins and added some red onion.

I've been hanging out with this little pup at my kickball games! He's my fave.

I went to my final Sox game of the season. The Red Sox actually won this game and it was a gorgeous day.

This picture makes me laugh.

I watched the supermoon eclipse from my rooftop.  It was pretty wonderful.

I went to Philly for a work event. I visited City Tap House for some brews and a delicious burger.

Our event was catered by Iron Chef (!!!) Jose Garces. The food was soooo good.

We also had special music guest G. Love perform. He was such a great guy and his music is pretty sweet.

After Philly I went straight to New York and spent the weekend with family. I ate lots of delicious food (as usual) and we went bowling!

My dad was an expert. Look at that form!

I was not as good.

I came back to Boston ready for a busy week. I went to my first Yelp event in a long time at Fleming's. I got this awesome throwback hoodie from '08 for being one of the longest yelping Elites at the event!

The next day was one of my favorite days of the year: the tasting for one of my biggest work events! Here's a sneak peek:

One of the best parts about kickball on Wednesday evenings is the beautiful sunsets on the walk over...

I randomly bought a papaya at Trader Joe's the other day and when I cut it open millions of these black seeds poured out! And guess what? I don't really like papaya. I actually think it tasted like savory Mexican food -- like the aftertaste of a burrito or something. Apparently lots of people hate the taste of papaya.

I finally got my hair cut and colored again. I was cracking up at myself under this cone ead-esque dryer.

It feels really short but I'm into it!

I attended my very first progressive dinner with the Blog & Tweet Boston group! More on that in another post.

I have sort of figured out why I hate fall so much -- I hate the transition between wearing summer clothes and fall/winter clothes. This year I bit the bullet and spent some money ahead of time so I'd be prepared. I bought the haul below plus a pair of jeans, a new pair of work pants, a few pairs of tights, a blouse or two, black boots and brown boots (I needed to replace both). This has seriously made my life so much happier and easier!!

These shoes are my roommates...I love them.

This isn't a great picture but I loved this whole outfit for work!

I attended one of the coolest, most interesting events of my adult life: Our Convention. It was hosted at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate which was absolutely gorgeous. After a number of keynote speakers, we broke up into groups of 30 based on the "pressing social issues Boston is facing" of our choice. I chose health. A panel discussed the issue broadly, and then we broke up into smaller groups for some design thinking. The problem my group identified was a lack of collaboration across sectors in the health sphere (hospitals, community based organizations, policy makers, etc.). We had to come up with a creative solution using the design thinking progress. I was worried about being in an intellectual setting again and feared that I wouldn't voice my opinions/feel like I had anything to offer. In reality, I was talking nonstop, felt extremely valuable to the conversations, and my group actually went with my original idea for a solution! This made me REALLY want to go back to school.

So that's about it, with a couple of other non-photographed activities mixed in, including visits to two new nearby restaurants: Coppersmith and Worden Hall.

Life has been treating me pretty nicely lately!