The Turkey That Keeps on Giving

What a great Thanksgiving break!  Four work-free days of pjs, apple pie, and shameless tv viewing.  This Thanksgiving was wonderful.  Even Kavan took a day off from studying! (which was more than deserved) Of course the holidays aren't complete without barely avoiding disaster, and this Thanksgiving was no exception.  Come Thanksgiving Day around noon -- turkey-less -- I planned to meet Kavan in front of the Shaw's Super Market to buy the turkey that I should have already been cooking. 

CLOSED in big bold letters was printed on a piece of paper taped to the door. There must be another store that's open right? I bet the other super market, Stop N Shop, is open, or Trader Joes, or Whole Foods, or maybe the Greek grocery has turkeys??? Nope. I walked home chilled to the bone still turkey-less with tears welling up in my eyes. I felt defeated. How was I going to break the news to my roomies who were expecting a turkey for Thanksgiving?? Kavan, however, was still out in full force biking to any grocery or convenience store that showed up on the google map search. He was determined to be the victor of this Thanksgiving Day fiasco.  As the day went on, the probability that he would even find an open grocery store was diminishing by the minute.

Who would have thought that the turkey-that-almost-wasn't was the best Thanksgiving turkey I have cooked to date.  A little over 2 hours into the search, Kavan rang with good news. He had found a turkey, and better yet, the turkey had been killed under kosher rules the day before. (The owner of the Middle Eastern hole in the wall grocery had a few no shows for their turkey orders this year.) SUCCESS!!! Kavan saved the day, and in all of the excitement even remembered to get the ingredients for our Salty Chihuahuas and Cranberry Spritzers. That's my man <3

I don't know if it was the salty chichuahuas or the cranberry spritzers, but I didn't manage to get a picture of the crispy brown turkey when it was all said and done. Luckily at dinner Kavan mentioned how his Mom, Kate, makes broth out of the turkey carcass and creates unbelievable soup from it. I had just found my new project for the break! :) Kate was kind enough to send me her recipe on how to make broth, and now I have 5 frozen ziploc bags of yummy broth stored in my freezer, in addition to the broth used in the soup.  For the soup recipe, I didn't really use one. I looked up some recipes online, and kind of did my own mash up of their ideas.  I remembered my mom always fixing soup with wild rice when I was younger so I wanted to incorporate that into the soup, plus of course the usual carrots and beans and chunks of turkey.  Add some seasoning and Voila! Turkey Soup :)

Luckily, I has not had any salty chihuahuas before cooking the soup, and happily captured some images of the after-turkey cuisine. 

Carrots

 and green beans

and rice

 makes TURKEY SOUP!

MMMmmmmmmmm :-9

Museum of Fine Arts: Exhibit A

as in Avedon, Richard Avedon.  One of the most iconic fashion photographers of the 20th century, Avedon's career spanned from the 40s to the early 2000s.  He began his career at Harper's Bazaar and later moved onto Vogue where he produced most of its covers during the 70s and 80s.  His edgy photographs pushed fashion the world over, while at the same time documenting the ever evolving world of celebrity and glamor.  I was amazed the entire time I was touring the Avedon Fashion: 1944-2000 exhibit.  Here are some of my favorites, starting with the picture that towered over me, which literally made my jaw drop.

 I admire any woman willing to make that jump in heels.

 Love the eyeliner and the beehive...

 This lady means business; I wish casinos were still this glamorous.  Did I just come up with my next party theme?

I highly recommend checking out some of the other pictures highlighted at this exhibit at the Boston Phoenix's website, http://thephoenix.com/boston/arts/106507-photos-richard-avedon-at-the-mfa/ .

Leeeeaves

So I'm pretty bummed that I didn't make it out of the city to see the peak of the New England leaves this year, but I did manage to find some awesome landscapes on my walk to the Museum of Fine Arts last weekend (more to come on that later). I felt like I was taking a stroll through Sleepy Hollow.... too bad Johnny Depp couldn't join me.

I love the way the leaves scatter on the path.

 

The yellow is so bright!

I usually don't like squirrels, but this one was pretty cute hehe

 The cutest park.....

This was my view when I was walking to work one morning, it's my background on my work computer.

Now I can look forward to the winter wonderland :)

Zaftigs - the only name in brunch

I have quite possibly found theee best brunch place I have ever patronized.  Zaftigs Delicatessen, I know we just met, but I have a crush.  Please don't mind my ogling eyes or the dribble slowly leaking from my mouth.  The thought of your Banana Stuffed French Toast made with boubon-vanilla batter topped with date butter and berries sends my heart soaring.

Of course, the view of across the table might play a part in that as well ;)

Turkey hash, potato pancakes, fried matzo, challah B.L.T..... with so many new and interesting flavors to add to my palate, I am willing to bet Zaftigs will be a weekend staple from now on :)

And really, where else does your busboy have on a t-shirt that says "Knish Me I'm Irish"? 

Holy Cannoli

What better way to break the silence from my long hiatus from blogging (and almost all other leisurely activities) than to dabble in the indulgence that is Mike's Pastry cannoli.

This was the first time I had seen Mike's without a line around the block! I felt so justified refusing to wait in line all of those other times... 

 

Of course once Meredith and I got inside there was no refuting there was a crowd. Ahhhh so many pastries so little time.

There is a big battle in the North End on who has the best cannoli. It basically comes down to Modern and Mike's, and after that night all I can say is, mike's Mike's MIKE'S! After giving up on cannoli from Modern, I thought I would give it one last chance... I will never doubt my instincts again ;)

 Ricotta filled chocolate dipped with chocolate chips = heaven

Freedom Trail.... the untold story

Wow, what a week..... it's Saturday night and I am officially done with my first week of work (more to come on that later). I've racked up a total of 56 hours this week, and am setting aside tonight for some meeee time, along with my favorite man of course :)

And now let's get to it...... the Real-story of our Freedom Trail excursion.

 I don't think I've ever seen a living a breathing swan until this day. I feel so deprived....

A nice surprise on the Boston Common. A game of Qudditch anyone? I bet by the time I have kids this will a varsity sport. 

 We (and the other 10 people in line) were so excited to sit on the donkey we never actually looked to see what it was there for hehe

Us Lewis's love our British heritage ;)

Whoa Nelly!

Some graffiti on the bridge to Charlestown. After this, we were not sure exactly what we would find there....

Pucker Up

Mere at the Navy yard

I thought this was a pretty cool view of the sparkling, modern bridge from the inside of the former, antiquated one.


And finally, part of the Boston skyline...

Beeeeautiful :)

Freeeeeeeedom!!!!

Ok so not exactly a movie about American Freedom, but Mel also did the Patriot so that counts right?

Ohhhh why did you turn crazy on me Mel???

The Freedom Trail is one of the biggest attractions in Boston, mainly because it is an attraction made up of multiple attractions.  I'm not usually into all of the historical colonial stuff, but for some reason I was really pumped for the freedom trail.  Believe me, the Site of the Boston Massacre and the USS Constitution are waaaaaaay better than watching someone dip candles in a bonnet. Here's some of the highlights:

The  Soldiers and Sailors monument at the Boston Common was beautiful.

The frog at frog pond, reminds me of a Muppets' song :)

 John Hancock's tombstone.

 The Old State House was the seat of the British government before the Revolution.

 This is where Paul Revere lived when he set out on his famous ride.

Here we have the pipe organ in the Old North Church, the oldest church in Boston.

One if by land, two if by sea. The Old North Church's steeple is where the laterns were hung to warn that the British were coming.

Four hours later.... we finally made it to the last stop on the Trail, the USS Constitution.  It was dark and the museum was closed, but I am coming back to visit this place without a doubt.  If you look closely you can sort of make out the cannons, which are illuminated on the side of the ship.

As horribly touristy as the Freedom Trail is, I would most certainly recommend it as a must-see for anyone visiting Boston.

HONK!

No, I'm not obsessing over ducks again.  This honk refers to the annual HONK! Festival made up of activist street bands.  I knew this would be theee perrrfect thing to do with Merey in town.  Being a trumpeter herself, Merey loves the brass band scene, as do I.

Last Sunday, Merey, my roomie Amelia, and I headed to Harvard Square to see what HONK! had to offer.  In addition to the bands there were also several street merchants and some AMAZING mimes.

 When I first saw the Wicked Witch I thought she was a statue! Too bad I didn't have a spare dollar to make her move.


One of my favorite bands was Environmental Encroachment from Chicago. They were so much fun!

I love the green rabbit!

Reason #2 this band is awesome..... rubber chicken trombone hehe

However, the band that stole the show by far was the What Cheer? Brigade out of RI.  We stayed at their spot for 30 minutes or more listening to their New Orleans style jazz.

They put the HONK in HONK!

Everyone was having a good ole' time :)  There is no way to describe how much energy this band disseminated into the crowd without a video.

After the show, we grabbed some iHOP (a guilty pleasure) and walked around Harvard Yard for a while.  What a great day :)

Merey's Visit

How wonderful that my first visitor in my new home of Boston was my sister, Meredith.  I had been looking forward to her visit ever since we discussed a trip back in July, and after it was finalized (as in her plane ticket was bought) I was jumping for joy.  A lot has changed since I last saw my sister.  I moved to Boston.  She transferred to EKU.

We needed a weekend together; the kind that reminds you of movies like Little Women or The Parent Trap; the kind where you stay up until 3 in the morning each night laughing at each other's jokes, reminiscing through each other's old stories, and attentively listening to each other's new stories.  This weekend was just that and more. 

My next few blog posts are going to cover some of our adventures, but in no way can they capture the overall spirit of sisterhood we felt last weekend.