Juniper Disco

First off, this was all totally unintentional.

So you all know Tiffani Faison from Top Chef, right? (She was a finalist in the first season. She has red hair. Yeah, her!) She has an awesome BBQ place in Boston, Sweet Cheeks, that we finally went to for Date Night on Friday.

But first, we stopped at Michael Schlow’s Barrio Cantina for some pre-dinner drinks. He was on the first season of Top Chef Masters. We didn’t plan to go there, but it is so close to the restaurant. And there were seats at the bar.

I had a Dark n Stormy.

The Mr. settled into a Narragansett, which is disappointingly now brewed in Latrobe, PA.

When it was time for our reservation, we shuffled down the street to the overwhelmingly PACKED Sweet Cheeks.

Every seat, every bar stool was taken, and a line was forming outside. But somehow all that activity gave the place great energy!

Everything about the place was spot on for a joint serving some down home BBQ.

Even the wall decorations!

The large windows were open to the outdoor bar area, which helped with the noise and with the temperature.

I ordered me a spicy tequila drinky drink!

Served in the requisite mason jar. 

We were given a tip to be sure to order the biscuits. Sooooo good! The honey butter just melted on those warm biscuits.

I opted for the burnt ends sandwich with a side of macaroni and cheese. Both were fantastic — the sandwich was on Texas Toast and the mac and cheese had plenty of crunchy panko on the top.

The Mr. ordered his meat by the pound. He had both pulled pork and short ribs. He included a side of baked beans, which we both agreed were underdone — the only blemish on an otherwise perfect meal.

We finished with the most amazing dessert. I did take a photo of it but it is so dark. You’ll have to imagine it for yourself. Butterscotch. Pudding. With a salted caramel glaze. Speechless. 

On Friday, I had the most spectacular Green Grass Day! I finally hauled myself over to the Gardner Museum (Gasp! I know! Bad me.) AND I went to the MFA to see the awesome Samurai! exhibit, among a million other things. So I am sharing it all with you! And I mean ALL. Lots of photos ahead! (I’d make a terrible curator. I’d want to put everything out on display. And I’d group it by color or texture — The Blue Room, The Sparkly Room, The Things You Really, Really Want to Touch Room, etc.)

Both of these places are on my Boston Undone list. No matter where you live, I highly recommend you make one of these for yourself. I put all mine on Pinterest and I made a Tripline for it. If you ever have a free day, it makes planning really easy. And it’s FUN! (This is totally going in my ebook.)

The Gardner, from the new wing …

Link to the old building where you cannot take any photos. Such a shame because the courtyard is spectacular!

The Tenshi-en Garden outside the MFA. I made a little Vine of it, too. Such a wonderful day to sit in that space!

And the MFA …

I immediately locked on to these sparkly numbers accented with mother of pearl!

I was the only one taking photos of the shadows cast by the uniforms (outfits? costumes?). I thought they were super cool!

Can you imagine facing these down?

I LOVE the horse’s dragon helmet! And chuckled a bit at the samurai’s mustache. So inappropriate. I know.

More horse helmets …

Honest to God, I would run so fast in the other direction! 

Notice the detail and the lovely shell decoration.

So Orc!

Oh, hey, a Blue and White exhibit! Maybe I wouldn’t be such a bad curator after all!

This hallway is my favorite! Neon signs, tall glass ceilings, flying people … soo great! Here’s a little Vine so you can see it all together.

DARN IT! You can’t touch the neon! Well, I’d put these in my Things You Really, Really Want to Touch room.

And, oh my!, I love this Ridley Howard painting, Holly, Rose Dress. Mostly because I think she’s me and I can actually pull off wearing that.

And THIS, friends, is a giant beaded curtain that you can walk through. As much as you want. While you run the beads through your fingers. And swing around on them. Just sayin.

And we will end with something I would put in the Sparkly Things Room, a beaded Ritz Cracker box by Linda Dolack. LOVE!

Some of the randomness on my mind lately …

Arrested Development Season 4 starts May 26 on Netflix! — Did you know it’s been 10 years since this series premiered? 10! And we’re still clamoring for more. Cannot wait!

Cheap sandals — So I may have mentioned that I own a large number of sandals. Most of them are lovely little leather numbers, but lately I’ve been talking myself into buying some that aren’t quite so damaging to the budget. Because they are cute. Those blue and white striped ones? I could wear them as a necklace around my neck, I love them so much! Old Navy does an excellent cheap sandal, by the way.

North America on Discovery Channel— First off, I LOVE that Diddy’s “Coming Home”  (“It’s easy to be Puff, it’s harder to be Sean”) is used in the promotional ad. Second, WHAT is that fox doing jumping in the air and doing a face plant into the icy snow? Hilarious! I’ll be watching tonight when the series premieres on Discovery.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist — Even though my book club won’t be reading it for a few months, I really wanted to read it now. I think I was looking for some answers, post-Marathon bombing. The narrator is a young Pakistani man who came to the US to go to Princeton and is working on Wall Street when 9/11 happened. The book is both subtle and an incredible page turner. It’s also short, my ADD friends. SO worth a read! 

We FINALLY got to see who The Mother is on HIMYM! — Thank the Baby Jesus, it isn’t Robin!

(photo: Justin Barrett)

The #birdathon Twitter feed — For 30 years, the Mass Audubon has held a bird-a-thon fundraiser. Teams of birders compete to spot the most bird species in a 24 hour period. Check out the feed! Lots of happy spotters and some great photos. 

My cute lobster and pot salt and pepper shakers — Honestly, how cute are these? So cute that they are sitting on my desk rather than in the kitchen.

For more like this, see last week’s Random.

I am certain you are wondering why on earth I am including PSY in my Smaht People series. Absolutely everything about him and that evening was nothing like I expected it to be. Including the location.

Usually when people come to Harvard to speak they use Sanders Theater in Memorial Hall, so I headed there and, just in time, too! It started to POUR the minute I ran through the doors. And then it seemed rather quiet. Poo. I got it wrong. Memorial Church not Hall. And I got soaked as I raced out.

Despite my confusion, I ended up being early enough to get an aisle seat. As the evening began, it was clear we would have to sit through some professorial banter before the man would appear. Even after all these years, I am still fascinated by people who see the world exclusively through an intellectual lens. This time, though, it was painful. Too much blah blah blah!

When PSY was finally introduced, this huge bank of photographers ran towards the center of the aisle looking towards the back. So what did we do? We ALL got out our cameras and watched the back door expectantly.

Honestly, how hysterical is this?? But I was right there with everyone else!

Finally, he arrived! Totally red carpet style. My photos are blurry but you get the idea for sure!

Notice his awesome pop of color on his sleeves!

Seriously, is this not the most insane thing? Memorial Church (where I have also seen the guys from MythBusters) and the paparazzi!

And when PSY finally stood at the PULPIT to speak, he did so with a deep voice and in almost perfect English. WHAT?? Turns out he went to BU! And he was hilarious! I was in a sea of giggling girls. (OK, fine, I was one of them.) I love self-deprecating humor. It is one of the most endearing qualities a person can have. 

He proceeded to tell us about his arrival in Boston and an unfortunate incident with a case of diarrhea. He told us about meeting Madonna. He told us about his first encounter with his agent, Scooter Brown, at the man’s house with Usher (who PSY claims is beautiful) and Justin Bieber. He told us why he made the “Gangnam Style” song (to make people laugh!). He made fun of us for not knowing any of the words to the song except, “Oh, sexy lady!” He also told us about the expectations his parents had of him to follow in his father’s footsteps leading a business that makes a “semiconductor thing” — a running joke throughout his whole speech. He told us about his 12 year career in Korea. He told us we all looked so smart and his nickname in college was WWF (withdraw, withdraw, fail).

What came across to me the most was that this man gets that he is a commodity. He shared that he knew he was chosen, not for his “special body shape,” but for what he brought to the table as himself. And that “Gangnam Style” was an abnormality. It was clear to all of us that he was wicked smaht about playing the game and taking the opportunities as they came.

I walked away totally loving the guy and even more so because he bought us all dinner that was waiting outside in takeaway bags. All 1,000 of us! Totally Gangnam Style. Oh, and watch his new video for Gentleman. He doesn’t want to be a one-hit wonder.

Other posts in the Smaht People series: Seth Godin at MIT

The Mr. and I have a shared lifetime goal of getting enough club points to get our faces (in caricature) on the wall at The Palm. So when the Boston location closed down for a year, we were pretty disappointed. Last week, the newly relocated and completely fabulous new Palm opened at One International Place. As committed Palm fans, we were lucky enough to be invited to the soft opening.

As soon as you walk in, you know this is a totally different Palm. The tall, tall, TALL ceilings and large windows are fantastic!

The bar, complete with The Palm’s signature cartoons, is gorgeous. Comfortable yet inspiring, like a cathedral!

I ordered a Moscow Mule, one of my go-to drinks, since the bar menus had not yet been printed.

And you all now I am a huge lighting fan, and these cozy little orbs were lined up all around the bar.

Some funny little Boston humor …

We were seated in the main restaurant area along the front windows. Such amazing space!

And, oh gosh, how cute is this butter cover? Perfect use of white space in its design!

We’re huge fans of the half and half side dish — half fried onions, half fried potato chips.

We both ordered an 18 oz. (gulp!) New York Strip. We both love steakhouses that request you cut into your steak while the server is standing there and The Palm always does this. They ended up taking mine back for a little more cooking. Honestly, this happens more often than not for me since I like mine medium well. And I totally do not care. I’d rather have the steak cooked to my liking than have it right the first time. The people at The Palm were so gracious about it, though! Love them!

We ended the evening with our usual, tawny port for me and an Irish Whiskey for the Mr.

Our fantastic server, Victoria, talked us into this decadent chocolate cake. She was so right! It was incredible!

And this is the thing about The Palm. Even though it’s a high end steakhouse with white tablecloths and servers in jackets, it is the most down-to-earth, welcoming place. We have always felt really comfortable here!

And the service is the best! I mentioned Victoria (and if you go, you should try to get one of her tables). Here’s a little exchange that shows you what I am talking about.

After I ordered my meal and my wine selection, she looked me in the eye with a bright smile and said, “Ohh, you have excellent taste!” Which is the best thing someone can say to me. The Mr. tried to convince me that she says that to everyone. I’m sorry, no, she doesn’t.

And then, at some point the Mr. and Victoria were talking and I heard this:

The Mr.: Word.
V.: Did you just say “Word?”
The Mr.: Yep.
V.: I like you guys even more.

Now she’s a favorite of BOTH of us! Go to The Palm, people! (And I’ll stop using exclamation points now.)

Oh my gosh, what a weekend! Every year, the family converges on Central Mass for my niece’s arts extravaganza weekend. My Dad even comes up from Pennsylvania!

I started Friday morning with a new-to-me yogurt, plain FAGE Total with a sprinkling of granola and a drizzling of honey. Which was out-of-date. Hate when I do that, check the expiration AFTER I’ve eaten something. Plus, who knew that honey expires?

I then needed to get my nails done and chose this fabulous Essie color, which I highlighted in Sunday’s Random post. Hands are done in a sparkly silver glitter color, of course.

By afternoon, I headed to Harvard Square, and ran around picking up sandwiches for the car from Cardullo’s, the flowers I ordered for my niece from Petali (I always order my flowers from them. They are fantastic!), hit the bank, and hopped in a cab to Belmont where I met the Mr. for our drive to Central Mass.

Despite a few sections of awful trafic on Rte. 2, we arrived in good time to meet my sister and the rest of the fam for my niece’s debut (and SOLO!) in the Wizard of Oz. She was so fantastic! She’s always been into music since she was a baby in diapers bopping around to my sister’s favorite hair band songs.

Afterwards we hung around at the post-production ice cream social and then headed to our cozy accommodations for the night at the Wachusett Village Inn. 

The next day, we took our time getting ready, checked out, and walked towards the Black Diamond Restaurant for lunch. Such a beautiful tree!

We had a cute seat next to the fireplace.

Since it was grey and rainy, the Mr. and I both ordered some delicious comfort food. I ate the ginormous bowl of mac and cheese and he had a sliced london broil sandwich with caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, and boursin cheese. 

Luckily the flowers survived the night, including those wonderful smelling lilacs!

We sat through 49 dance numbers, which I have to say were pretty good this year. She was, of course, fantastic, and managed four costume changes with ease. And, for the first time, without my sister having to go back and help out!

She told me this performance, learned in her modern dance class, was her favorite.

Afterwards, we headed to the Old Mill for dinner. Our entire family always meets with one of my niece’s friend’s family every year for a celebratory meal for the girls. 

We were slightly early so a few of us hung out in the Cracker Barrel Pub, drank Wachusett Brewing Company Beer, and exchanged Boston marathon week stories, since this was the first time we had seen each other since that happened.

My favorite thing about the Old Mill is that they serve corn fritters and pecan rolls with every meal! Complete with syrup and butter!

After saying goodbye to everyone and handing over my packed summer bags to my Mom to take back to Ptown (YES!), we drove home to Boston that night.

Exhausted, the next day we spent most of the time on the couch, clicking through Pinterest and watching Tony.

Weekends can be pretty awesome, can’t they?

Full disclosure: I was given a free coupon to purchase the FAGE Total Greek yogurt. 

I wasn’t going to do a Summer List this year. Life’s been creating enough drama for me without having to go look for it. But summer is sacrosanct in this household and my ideas for the season just started flowing as Memorial Day Weekend grows closer on the calendar.

Mostly I want to embrace each day — the warm temperatures and the long daylight hours, wear every item in my extensive and ever-growing summer wardrobe, get my feet sandy, and eat lots of lobster. There are a few other things I’d also like to do …

1. do a bunch of fun things on my Boston Undone list (DONE: visit new wing of the Gardner Museum; see the Samurai exhibit at the MFA)
2. make lots of sorbet
3. play bocce
4. make coconut butter
5. replant my palm tree
6. make boozy slushies in our ice cream machine
7. collect and dispose of entangled balloon debris from the wrack line on Herring Cove Beach
8. chase fireflies
9. go swimming, swimming, swimming and water aerobics-ing 
10. make my own salt from saltwater
11. drink Dirty Shirleys and Pimm’s Cups all summer
12. do the Historic Provincetown walking tour
13. see a movie at the Wellfleet Drive-in
14. finally go to Drag Brunch at Victor’s
15. schedule the annual family barhop around the Monkey Bar
16. create a new summer photo series (Already working on this one. It’s going to be awesome!)
17. watch the Perseids shower in August
18. work on my e-book
19. trips (besides the weekly treks to Ptown): spend the weekend in Old Orchard Beach, Maine; attend the PGA Championship in Rochester with friends; attend the Martha Beck workshop at Kripalu in the Berkshires
20. find the perfect set of tortoise shell highball glasses
21. read, read, read
22. wear every pair of sandals and flip flops I own (um, it’s a lot — I won’t tell you the exact number but it’s more than 30 but less than 50!)
23. build a fire on the beach
24. go on a moon walk during a full moon
25. take naps
26. wear lots of red, white, and blue striped nautical outfits

If you are curious, here are my lists from previous years. You may notice a few repeats on there that I can’t seem to accomplish. Until THIS year!

• Summer 2012 List 
• Summer 2011 Lists: new and traditions

Some of the randomness on my mind lately …

The Central Park Five — Have you watched this Ken Burns doc yet on PBS? In my heart of hearts I like to believe that law enforcement works like it did with the Boston bombers, not like it did with these five kids, wrongly accused of raping the Central Park Jogger. Definitely make some time in your life to sit down and watch this!

The color of the swimming pool — Isn’t that the best color in the world? So unusual this year to to be able to see it in it’s lovely state because the trees in front of it are usually lush with greenery. What a weird spring. I’m ready for you, summer!

Essie “Butler Please” Nail Polish — Yeah, I’m loving this color, too!

HBO Docs line-up for this summer — Summer TV usually sucks (except for Pretty Little Liars!), and HBO has been filling the gap for several summers now with their awesome line-up of documentaries. A lot of these films have been making the festival circuit and I am most interested to watch The Crash Reel, which was at Sundance.

Dots app — This is such a pretty, pretty app! And it’s easy, too. Perfect for that space between work and home!

“How J. Crew Stays White Hot” in the May issue of Fast Company — OK, I’ll be honest. Jenna Lyons kinda scares me. But, after reading this article, I’d totally work for her!

Helvetica vs. Arial — Finally, I can sleep at night! Honestly, this is good stuff for us font nerds.

For more like this, see last week’s Random.

Bostonians, have you noticed we went from 3.25 Mexican restaurants to 562 in less than a year? How lucky are we? With so many options to choose from, the Mr. and I decided to have Date Night, Tres de Mayo style at Rosa Mexicano in the Seaport area. 

I ordered the El Mezcalito, which was so yummy, I ordered another one! I’ve recently discovered the smoky goodness of mezcal. We all know how much I love smoky snacks and libations. AND we also know how much I love spicy, sweet drinks. This one had all three — smoky, spicy, and sweet! (I had to look up how to spell “smoky.” Doesn’t that word look totally weird?)

On the wall behind me was this awesome army of swan-diving men. I wish I had a better angle so you could really see it!

Let me just share that I devoured my meal! I ordered the carne asada — marinated skirt steak served “skillet style” over Chihuahua cheese with grilled Mexican street corn, chorizo chili and warm corn tortillas. So delicious!

The Mr. ordered the alambre a la mexicana (mixed grill brochette) — grilled filet mignon, chorizo sausage, tomatoes and serrano peppers, served over herbed brown rice with tomatillo and tomato-chipotle sauces. I tried some of the chorizo — also fantastic!

And we ended our meal with churros en bolsa — churros served with three dipping sauces: chocolate, caramel and raspberry guajillo!

Boston, I get pretty down on you during the winter. But you are really outshining yourself these days. Between Boston Strong, our kickass mayor who is like the energizer bunny, and all this public ART and DESIGN, my chest is swelling with pride to call you my home.

As if giant pink tigers AND fuzzy benches weren’t enough, our awesome mayor started a new program called ArtBarrier, “which will add color and vitality to the often-overlooked concrete Jersey barriers located on public roadways.”

I encountered these by accident right outside The Barking Crab. While I was admiring them and taking photos, a man came up to me and asked me what I thought. I told him I thought they were brilliant! And then he introduced himself as the artist, Vaclav Sipla. I now wish I had asked to take a photograph of him with his artwork!

Isn’t this just a wonderful spot of color?? Love this idea!

As if giant pink tigers weren’t enough, the Design Museum Boston sponsored a contest for artists and designers to reimagine the humble public bench. Seventeen finalists had the chance to build and install their entries along Fort Point Channel. I had an opportunity to see a number of them on a sunny gorgeous day in the city.

Note that there is a mobile app that you can download that does all sorts of cool things, like change the color on the signs after sunset, as well as helps you locate the benches in the area.

I still have a few more benches to locate and I cannot wait to see what the other designers have come up with. Wonder which one will win?

One of the most amazing places in Boston is the 14-acre Christian Science Plaza, which is in the Fenway area, bordering the Back Bay. The Mother Church (is that not the best name for anything, ever?) overlooks the entire area (to the left in this photo) and is one of the coolest structures in the city. 

Well, everyone, it has just gotten a million times more awesome! There are now 25 contemporary public works of art installed around the plaza. “Convergence,” jointly sponsored by the Boston Sculptors Gallery and the First Church of Christ, Scientist, will be on display through October.

And I was able to experience it on an amazing, sunny, bright blue sky kind of day — perfect for spending a few hours exploring! I took a ton of photos. Hope these give you a sense of what it’s like!

Tiger Mothers, Donna Dodson

One Bright Morning, Mary Dewart

Waterforms, Marilu Swett

Poised, Myth Makers: Donna Dodson & Andy Moerlein

Loving Stones, Joseph Wheelwright

Christian Science Coral, Michelle Lougee

Green and Brown Landscape, Jim Henderson

Grotto, Christopher Frost

This was inside the trailer.

As I approached, I could totally smell the sheep!

Wave Cloud, George Sherwood. This is one of my favorites! See it in action here on Vine.

Liminal Bloom, Andy Zimmerman

The Space Within, Gillian Christy

Templum, Margaret Swan

Sentinel Stand — Chester Lindsay Churchill, Architect, Leslie Wilcox

Impossible, Andy Moerlein

Inner Eagle, Peter Decamp Haines

Reclining Blade, Peter Decamp Haines

Bag Lunch, Laura Evans

Nave, Rosalyn Driscoll

Arabesque, Eric Sealine

And my absolute favorite work follows. Just stunning!

So what do you think? Pretty incredible, right? And it is FREE.

Some of the randomness on my mind lately …

Blackfish — I have not been able to shake this film that I saw this week. Tilikum, the killer whale who killed his trainer in 2010, actually killed two people before that incident. Did you know that? I didn’t. While he is at the heart of the story, the film addresses just how inhumane and horrible it is to keep these deeply social and intelligent creatures in captivity. Like The Cove, this one will haunt you. 

My “Boston Undone” Pinterest Board — I walked all over Boston on Friday and realized so much has changed since I last ventured out like that. Seriously. Somehow I’ve disappeared into my well-worn paths and stopped exploring. Even though I thought I was out there and absorbing it all! So I started a new Pinterest board with things I have yet to do or want to do anew in this city. 

“99 Days of Summer” in the May issue of Coastal Living — Every year, this magazine creates a list of things to do each and every day of the summer. Some favorites from this year: Day 59 — Make grown-up ice cubes (freeze mojitos) and Day 77 — Celebrate the Perseids meteor shower (August 11-13 — I’ll be in the Berkshires then!)

Flamingo Pants — I now own these pants with flamingos all over them. I’ll try not to wear them every day. But I totally will anyway.

The opening sequence of Resident Evil: Retribution — Time for another confession: I love the Resident Evil movies. Yes, I do. I’ve watched every single one of them. But that opening scene of the lastest installment? Whoa. It’s an intense and complex action scene. That is run BACKWARDS. In slow motion. I had to watch it like 5 times before I let the rest of the movie run. And in case you aren’t as big a fan as I am, you can just watch that part of the film here.

The Big C: Hereafter — I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who is watching this show but I do not care. Laura Linney and Oliver Platt are so damn funny and yet the the show is so, so sad. Man, how do they make me laugh and cry at the same time? Only 4 episodes until the end. I’ll be laugh-crying the whole way.

That moment when the miniature sombrero you bought in Mexico finally proves its worth — Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone!

For more like this, see last week’s Random.

Two years ago today, my vibrant friend, Sarah, died of ovarian cancer. In my grief, I’ve written about her a few times: here and here. 

Her greatest gift to me has been a strong belief that life is meant to be lived with gusto, no matter what happens. 

Today is also a Green Grass Day. After a special Sarah Sadtler Feather dance party complete with glow sticks, glitter shoes, and disco balls, I’ll be leaving the house to embrace this city we both loved, immerse myself in some art (also a shared love), enjoy something really decadent (chocolate milkshake, maybe?), and live a full day. With gusto.

A few things on my calendar this month …

Boat to Ptown starts running! — Really, this is the only important thing that happens this month (except our anniversary, which is today. Happy Anniversary, Mr.!) I am really, really, really, really, really looking forward to summer this year!!

Johnny Marr — Smiths fan that I am, I bought tickets to see him as soon as they went on sale!

Food Truck Throwdown — Boston vs. New York food truck showdown on the Greenway!

Cinco de Mayo Block Party at Taza Chocolate — Now that we realized we are within walking distance of the Taza Chocolate Factory, this looks like as good a time as any to go visit!

Colin Stetson at the MFA — That baritone saxophone fascinates me! And he is continuously making sounds with it by simultaneously breathing in AND out at that same time. WHAT?!?

Soft opening of The Palm — We are huge fans of The Palm and have been secretly hoping to get enough points over the course of our lifetime to get our faces on the wall! They moved to a new location and we were invited to preview it before it opens to everyone else. Can’t wait to see the new digs!

Duckling Day — A Boston tradition I have never witnessed. Parents dress their kids in cute duck outfits and parade them towards the Make Way For Ducklings statue in the Public Garden.

Alt Summit Online — Remember in January when I was sulking because all the bloggers were in Salt Lake City for the awesome Alt Design Summit? WELL, they are having an online conference in May. And I got my spot!

Japan Festival — This looks pretty fun! I’m most looking forward to eating some mochi.

Kevin James — This man CRACKS me up! Cannot wait to see his show at the end of the month!