Category Archives: Boston

Cheddar and Scallion Scones

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Another day, another amazing creation from the Flour Cookbook. These scones are delicious and super easy to make!

It’s as simple as combining the dry ingredients…

combining all the wet ingredients…

I am having a love affair with Creme Fraiche. So much more amazing than sour cream!

Combining the two together and placing them on a baking dish is a circle…

Brushing with yoke…

Wipe the drool with your apron…

and bake. Wait and wait and wait while your apartment starts to smell like cheese. These babies smell ah-maz-ing! And then, they are ready. Everybody out of the oven.

Again, wipe the drool off with your apron. Cut them up and enjoy the best breakfast ever.

This scone is really very light and had cheese melted in the middle. Does it get any better than that? Nope. I am surprised by how easy the recipes in the Flour Cookbook really are.


The treats are special and decadent but totally do able. It just goes to show how little ingredients, like creme fraiche, can make a dish unique and even more delicious.

Melted cheese, soft interior, and crispy crust.

I realize that this is like foodie torture, making such a good savory breakfast item and not sharing the recipe. There is a cure! Order the book and make them for yourself!

I am off to a pumpkin patch so that I can pretend like its really fall! Hope ya’ll are having a happy Sunday!

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And then there were cookies…

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As I announced yesterday, I got the Flour Cookbook in the mail. After scanning it I realized that I have to stock up on some basics (like milk, cream, cake flour). I did however have all the ingredients for peanut butter cookies…

I am not going to post the recipe. The book just came out and I want to entice you to buy it!

I will however, share beautiful pictures of butter.

Last night I gathered my ingredients, quietly stood barefoot in my kitchen at 10:30 pm and made these cookies. I have had them many times in Boston and was excited to reproduce them in LA.


Am I the only person out there who thinks the patterns hand held beaters make in batter are beautiful? I hope not.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

The dough had to chill so I put it away for the night at cooked these puppies at 8 am this morning.

I let them bake while I read for Evidence and then at 8:30 I ate a cookie and had a photo shoot.

I normally have peanut butter toast or oatmeal for breakfast so why not a peanut butter cookie, right?

Don’t worry, I had wonderful green things at lunch and dinner. One cannot live on a diet of cookies alone. Lord knows I would like to try. Plus, I had no trouble unloading these puppies at school.

Chewy, thick, buttery and delicious. The ratio of peanut butter to butter, sugar, flour and egg is, dare I say it? Perfect? It is.

Have I convinced you that you must buy this cookbook yet? Don’t worry. I’ll be back with more temptation this weekend. Muhahaha.

Quick announcement: One month from right now I will have completed my first Half Marathon! Eek! So excited for all the calorie replenishing I cannot even tell you.

It’s here!

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Today was a fantastic day!

First of all, I had an awesome breakfast. Oatmeal with peanut butter, cinnamon, and honey.

Later today in Wills and Trusts Professor Goodman gave us candy because it’s “that crappy time in the semester before finals and after law school is a fun novelty”. Apparently, he could “see our fatigue in our faces” so he gave our whole class candy!

Sweet. That makes the California Probate Code so much more interesting.

The best surprise of the day came when I got home from school.

For those that don’t know, Flour is an amazing bakery in Boston. I frequented Flour while I was in college and they literally have the best sandwiches, baked goods, and sticky bun on the planet. If I had one meal left I would have flour. In fact, the last time I was in Boston, I had an entire day where I ONLY ate Flour.

 

Doughnuts that are featured on weekends ONLY at Flour in Boston

 

Last summer I discovered that Joanna Chang, the owner of Flour and co-owner of Meyers + Chang, was coming out with a cookbook! I obviously got in the pre-order line right away and today it finally came!

I was so excited when I opened up the cookbook. Literally, all of my favorite treats were represented!

Reading the pages of this book was like going home. This food brings up so many memories. When I worked at the State House I always got a sticky bun on my way to work on Mondays. The week before I moved to LA my mom and I enjoyed breakfast there everyday. Some special Sundays I would go to Flour, read the paper, and enjoy their stuffed doughnut. I watched President Obama’s inauguration with a Flour granola bar. There have been numerous trips with my friends Brea and Carolyn. And for every trip with Carolyn there has been a moment where she and I have looked at each other and just known we were going to have to split a raspberry bar.

Food is love and having a bit of Flour in LA means a lot to me. I was actually moderately emotional flipping though the pages. I was homesick but overjoyed that I have all the recipes. Obviously I am breaking into the book tonight! I have a feeling this will end up being my Julie/Julia. Although it might take me longer than a year, I am going to cook everything at some point.

Off to my kitchen!

The Flour Day

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The last day that I was in Boston all I ate was Flour! I started early with Carolyn. We went to the Fort Point Flour which is bigger than the South End Flour and caters to a more commuter crowd so we had no issue getting seats.

TREATS!!!

I had a quiche with side salad for breakfast.It was literally the most light and delicious quiche I’ve ever had. It melted in my mouth and was probably the best ever!

Clearly I hated it...

Then we split this delicious raspberry bar…

Later I went to the South End Flour to pick up sticky buns for my family and a treat for the flight (roast beef sandwich and a brownie, which I only ate maybe half of). I also picked up some chocolate chip macaroons for the next day. While at that Flour location I had a half sandwich which was turkey with cranberries. It was an awesome day, this Flour day. I was very sad to leave Boston and all my great friends. I still love Boston and I want to get back soon.

JP Licks

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No offense LA, but I like my ice cream to be real. Not that I don’t have a place in my heart for Yogurtland and Pinkberry, but sometimes you just want REAL ice cream. My favorite place in Boston for real ice cream is JP Licks. There are a number of locations in Boston. Carolyn and I went to JP Lick, Harvard Square between happy hours.

I always order the same thing at JP Licks. I know its lame, but why should I mess with perfection? I always get oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips. The oatmeal cookie has oatmeal which I love but also has a slight cinnamon aftertaste which makes it even more delicious. The chocolate chips make me feel like I’m eating an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie (my favorite cookie!) It should be noted that this is a low fat hard yogurt so I suppose it isn’t really ice cream but its more like ice cream than tart yogurt!

YUM! This is for real my favorite ever! I could have it everyday all day. OK, maybe not all day but its soooo good. I need to have this more than once a year.

Carolyn didn’t love her selection so she went back for oatmeal cookie also, and it was much more satisfactory.

Wish I could have it all the time. More proof that I have to combine Boston and LA into one super city!

Triple the Happy Hour

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Lucky for me, Carolyn in a believer in multiple happy hours. First we enjoyed “two buck chuck” pinot grigio while watching this women:

Love barefoot!

After we took our party to Gredel’s Den in Harvard Square. I love Grendel’s because they have awesome happy hour food specials and wonderful drinks, which aren’t that expensive.

As mentioned above, Grendel’s has a superior drink list at low prices. I had a French 75, which I’ve had there before. It consists of gin, lemon, simple syrup and a champagne float! I love an added champagne float!

So light and refreshing! I also was eying a cocktail with lillet but I was glad I opted for the “75”. Its an all time favorite. Carolyn and I decided to split two options on the menu. First we wanted the panini because it contained prosciutto. This was clearly a no brainer because we love our prosciutto. The we split the Santa Fe salad and we added shrimp. Grendel’s has such awesome specials, it was only $1 to add shrimp!!

This was my portion. The panini also had sausage and the salad had cheese and a great dressing (which we obviously got on the side). It was a great deal and the food was only $8 total!!!

Once we completed our drinks we moved on from second happy hour…

And later went to Shay’s in Harvard Square for third happy hour! Shays is a great wine and beer bar. The patio was packed but there wasn’t anyone inside. We sat down and ordered the Hob Nob pinot noir. It was very good. Later I had a glass of the Stump Jump Shiraz. Both were good and the bar was perfect. No frills but good service and not too crowded and not too deserted. A great place to stop in for a glass of wine.

The Hob Nob.

three cheers for happy hour!

Then we headed back to Allston on the bus to Carolyn’s house. I love a Carolyn happy hour and I love it more when it involves three pit stops!

Sweet in Harvard Square

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On Monday I had an awesome brunch at Henrietta’s Table in the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square with my college mentor the amazing Theresa Perry. Henrietta’s Table is fantastic! Everyone check it out. Also, it was great to talk with Theresa (or as my family and I call her, Saint Theresa). It reminded me why I went to law school and allowed me to mentally refocus on what is important to me: legal avenues to comprehensive public education reform.

After I met up with Carolyn and she lured me into Sweet in Harvard Square. Actually, I was a willing participant who only needed a little coaxing. And by little coaxing I mean she said, “Oh look, its Sweet!”

Frequent readers know that Sweet is one of my favorite cup cake places. They first opened in Back Bay on Massachusetts Ave. and have now expanded to Harvard Square. I opted for the old favorite the coconut chocolate cupcake.

Oh man do I love Sweet! Light cake deliciousness. The coconut is a temporary thing and I highly recommend it. Sometimes they use too much frosting for some, but this has less frosting and it is so good. Clearly holds its own with cupcake shops of LA.

Food Tour with Carolyn

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I love hanging out with my friend Carolyn because we have the same objectives: treats (in moderation?), good restaurants, barefoot contessa viewing, wine, and frequent bathroom breaks. We also share a love of photographing everything we see. This image of a squirrel pretty much sums up what we did:

Treats! That’s pretty much our main priority! We also saw the Public Garden and the Boston Common.

And then there was a duck photo shoot which might be added at a later date. We had dinner at Figs which is an awesome and affordable restaurant in Beacon Hill. I got to meet Carolyn’s old roommate who just finished law school. She promised that there was a life after 1L. This made me happy.

Our visit wasn’t all treats and photo shoots. We also went on a two miler. Blog confession: my vacation working out has not really been happening. But I’ve been doing a lot of walking and also I kept pace with Carolyn which is awesome because she’s running a 1/2 marathon on Sunday!! WOOOO Carolyn! More specific food posts to follow…

Spending the Day with Shahrin

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Last Saturday and Sunday I spent the “day” with Shahrin. Technically, it was two days but sadly only ended up being a little of 24 hours. We made the most of it though hitting Harvard Square, Sushi, watching numerous TV shows, feasting on her mom and aunts excellent cooking, getting pastries in the North End, and shopping in Faneuil Hall. Whew. Here is a short recap:

First things first, Shahrin gave me back my copy of Unaccustomed Earth and in it she had a spare key from my Boston apartment. Cool, huh? Then we had lunch. First thing you have to know is that the food at Shahrin’s house is always amazing. I had five pieces of fish when I arrived Saturday. On Sunday I had this eggplant:

The sauce is so good! You can always count on flavorful food when you visit Shahrin. We also enjoyed raspberry tea. The tea is loose leaf so Shahrin and I bought “tea balls” for the tea (insert inappropriate joke here).

Then we went to the North End and I took this picture of the Custom House. The last weekend my friends and I were in Boston together we stayed with our friend Catie there.

I remember when the big dig was going on and this whole area was a dirt hole. Now its really pretty with grass, trees, and fountains.

We went to a little cafe in the North End where we could get canolli and tiramisu. There is a lot of talk about Mike’s Pastry and I will be the first to tell you that Mike’s is good. However, Mike’s is also busy and not really any better than any other of the amazing North End cafes. We went to a cafe further down Hanover, the main drag, which was less crowded and has delicious pastries. I had a chocolate covered canolli

Shahrin had a tiramisu and of course we ate off each others plates

and then we had a latte and an espresso

I love the North End, or “Little Italy”. I snapped some pictures on my way to Quincy Market. Here we have Modern Pastry and Paul Revere’s house:

Then we went to Quincy Market where we indulged in a little shopping and we got drinks at Anthem. I really loved their drink selections but the service was a little bit slow. Shahrin had a ginger margarita and I had a sparkler, which is a pear compote with a prosecco.

We also took a photo shoot because we waited about 45 mins for our drinks:

Finally we got drinks!!

While the service left a lot to be desired the drinks were amazing. My sparkler was really light and very summer appropriate. I love a pear cocktail because its fruity but not sweet. I really don’t like overly sweet drinks. Pear is a good fresh flavor without being too much. I also love ginger so the margarita was delicious. Then it was about that time when we had to say good bye and we were sad…

I hate saying goodbye to that face! I really miss Shahrin. I was a little misty eyed on the T after I left. Shahrin is an amazing friend who would literally do anything for me if I wanted her to. She has always been there for me. She really is my hero. After I left Shahrin I went off to Allston to spend more time with Carolyn.

Daedalus

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On Saturday afternoon I met up with Shahrin, one of the “firm”, in Harvard Square. We went to Daedalus in Harvard Square for a drink before dinner. We’ve hit up Daedalus before and I had a Southside the last time I was there.

The major highlight of Daedalus is that they have a roof deck. We opted to enjoy our adult beverages inside.

We were so happy to see each other! Since the last time I saw Shahrin she got engaged! Shahrin and Dan are an awesome couple and I can’t wait for the wedding. Clearly, we had a lot of catching up to do.

Check that blingage.

We both ordered sangrias. I think sangria is the perfect lazy afternoon drink. Not too boozy and there is plenty of fruit (which I consider to be a mild snack). After Sangria we hit up a sushi restaurant in Arlington near where Shahrin and Dan live. We had a great dinner but regrettably no pictures survived. Then Shahrin and I cuddled and watched Glee with Neil Patrick Harris and Grey Anatomy which was really intense. It was an awesome day!