Shared posts

06 Jul 21:59

Wild in the Streets: A 24-Hour Field Guide to New York City

25 Jun 18:11

If only the Sox were as amazing as the sky over them

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

Photo credit for first caption!!!

Curt Nickisch watched the sunset at Fenway tonight.

Of course, it wasn't just over Fenway that the sunset was amazing.

Rachel Anne Miller took in the sunset over Kendall Square:

Sunset over Kendall Square

JB Parrett watched the clouds at sunset on the North Point Park bridge:

Sunset over North Point

George Cumming watched the sun go down over Suffolk Downs:

Sunset over Suffolk Downs

Eileen Murphy bathed in the golden light over South Boston:

Sunset over South Boston

Jed Hresko watched the sun go down over Fort Point Channel and Boston Harbor:

Sunset over Fort Point Channel

And Seri Horner had quite the view from Hyde Park:

Sunset over Hyde Park
25 Jun 16:46

Serial restaurant operators could get liquor license intended for small entrepreneurs for new Dorchester eatery

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

Adams Village/Neposet has been earmarket for gentrification, because it is far enough away from Black people

The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to grant a liquor license for a proposed restaurant at the site of a long abandoned video store in Adams Corner in Dorchester.

Julian Bolger and Shawn Ahern, who operate several liquor-serving restaurants in the city, including Tavern in the Square in Allston, Cityside in Brighton and the Playwright in South Boston, say their 200-seat Sam Maverick's would serve up family fare at 11-13 Granite Ave., where the Hollywood Video store used to be.

The mayor's office and several city councilors supported the proposal - as long as the restaurant is not allowed to stay open past midnight. Bolger and Ahern want permission to stay open until 1 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

At-large Councilor Ayanna Pressley, however, opposed granting the license, which would be one of the 25 new licenses approved by the state legislature to spur restaurant entrepreneurs in traditionally underserved neighborhoods in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan as well as in "Main Street" business districts. Unlike other liquor licenses, these cannot be resold, which would save new restaurant owners the costs of buying a license on the open market - where they can now fetch more than $300,000.

Eric White, Pressley's neighborhood liaison, told the board Pressley has nothing against Bolger and Ahern, but that giving people who already own several liquor licenses goes against the spirit of the legislation - which grew out of a home-rule measure she'd proposed to help budding restaurateurs open up in areas away from Boston Proper and the waterfront.

Nearby resident Sean Pugsley, who at first rose to speak in favor of a midnight closing time, stood again after White spoke to support Pressley and say he actually opposed granting any liquor license at that location. He said it's unfair that none of the new licenses have gone to places such as Mattapan.

Board Chairwoman Christine Pulgini said it's not the board's fault that nobody from that neighborhood has yet to apply for one of the licenses - the numbers for which will grow to 75 over the next two years - and not the board's job to try to stir up interest in them. Besides, she added, "it's been in the newspapers," so it's hardly a secret.

If the board does grant a license, it will be the second time an established restaurant operator has gotten one of the new licenses. In April, the board let Estragon on Harrison Avenue in the South End sell its existing license to a Roslindale restaurant and then gave it one of the new restricted licenses. Last fall, the board granted licenses to the owners of two existing restaurants in Roslindale Square for two new restaurants in Roslindale and Hyde Park.

Immediately following the Sam Maverick's hearing, the board heard a request for a liquor license for a proposed Nigerian restaurant in Roxbury.

25 Jun 16:45

City's Nigerian-food shortage set to ease

by adamg

The Boston Licensing Board tomorrow considers whether to approve a proposed Nigerian restaurant in Dudley Square. And a second Nigerian restaurant, in Mattapan, could come before the board within a month for permission to open.

Cecelia Lizotte is seeking an all-alcohol restaurant for her proposed Suya Joint at 185 Dudley St. Lizotte had operated the restaurant in Roslindale until closing it in January. Her lawyer told the board the Roslindale space was just too small. The new Dudley location will have 80 seats.

Lizotte, who moved here from Nigeria, in 1999, is seeking one of the new liquor licenses intended for Boston's outer neighborhoods.

The mayor's office and City Councilor Tito Jackson supported the license request. One nearby resident, however, opposed any liquor licenses on the street, saying it's already too congested with traffic.

Also in the works is Safari African Restaurant, 1336 Blue Hill Ave. in Mattapan. Owner Rokhaya Sillahndiaye is seeking only a food-serving license. At the request of the mayor's office, the board last week put off a hearing for a month to let her meet with neighboring residents.

25 Jun 16:45

City shuts Dorchester garage that was repairing dirt bikes, ATVs

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

Fight the real enemy

Boston Police report its officers and officers from the state Environmental Police raided a garage on Hancock Street in Dorchester yesterday afternoon and seized all the vehicles whose owners did not arrive in time to haul them away - just for safekeeping, police say.

Police say that as part of a crackdown on offroad vehicles being ridden illegally on roads, officers went to Castillo Tire, 233 Hancock St., around 12:15 p.m. to conduct an inspection. They found "numerous off-road vehicles, scooters, and motorcycles in various states of repair on the property and inside the open bay door," but no city permits to run a repair facility there. A Boston Fire Department inspector ordered all the vehicles removed.

Police add:

Officers requested a tow to have all vehicles removed for safekeeping until the owners could retrieve them, as the repair shop did not keep a repair log with the owners’ information. The owners of several vehicles made themselves known and were allowed to remove their vehicles at their own labor and expense upon providing documentation proving ownership. The 24 remaining vehicles were removed from the premises until the owners could arrange to retrieve them.

25 Jun 16:43

Back Bay could get all-day breakfast place

by adamg

The Friendly Toast, which has an outlet in Kendall Square, wants to move into space being vacated by a Mexican restaurant at 76 Stanhope St.

The Boston Licensing Board considers the Friendly Toast's request to buy Zocalo Cocina's liquor license at a hearing next Wednesday.

According to its application, the Friendly Toast wants to keep Zocalo's 2 a.m. closing time. It would have 161 seats indoors, room for 45 more people to eat standing up and an outdoor patio with 46 seats.

The board's hearings begin at 10 a.m. in its eighth-floor hearing room in City Hall.

22 Jun 22:23

Boston's affordable housing supply: a cup half-full

by JohnAKeith
SuburbanKoala

What say you, Middlesex County?

Good news: Suffolk County (Boston, Revere, Chelsea, & Winthrop) leads the nation in the percentage of housing considered to be affordable to those in "extreme" poverty (earning no more than $28,300 for a family of four).

Bad news: Only 51 extremely low-income families out of every 100 in Suffolk County are able to access safe and affordable rental housing.

Source: Urban Institute, The Housing Affordability Gap For Extremely Low-Income Renters In 2013

19 Jun 13:44

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TOWN’S WARRIORS!!!TODAY’S VICTORY PARADE...

SuburbanKoala

please marvel at the clumsiness of this person's attempts at slang neologisms



CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TOWN’S WARRIORS!!!

TODAY’S VICTORY PARADE OUGHT TO BE A BALL…

16 Jun 20:18

A Gray Ice Cream That's Anything But Drab

by Lindsay-Jean Hard
SuburbanKoala

Teacher, I am so hungry

There are those things we eat, make, read, and gush over that are just too good to keep to ourselves. Here, we resist the urge to use too many exclamation points and let you in on our latest crushes.

Today: The case for loving a dessert that looks like wet concrete.

Black Sesame Seed Ice Cream

I don’t like smothering winter squash in brown sugar, and you will never catch me putting marshmallows on my sweet potatoes. I like fruits and vegetables to stand as they are, not disappear under a veil of cloying sweetness. This holds true for desserts just as much as it does produce, which is why I felt right at home in Japan—well, as far as desserts go anyway.

The average Japanese palate is accustomed to far less sugar in their sweets than we are: A run-of-the-mill (i.e. not one sprinkled with fancy flaky salt) American cookie or slice of cake is likely to elicit murmurs of ama sugi (too sweet) or “American taste.” (Not surprisingly, some of our technicolored candies elicit a number of less than complimentary comments as well, but I digress.) 

I like sweets with red bean paste and I love anything with matcha in it, but my Japanese dessert soulmate is anything of the black sesame-flavored variety (and I’m not the only member of the Food52 team that’s fallen under its spell). Like white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds have a pleasant nutty flavor, but taste again and you’ll see they’re a little bolder and more assertive. It’s like watching the quiet guy next door stand up to a neighborhood bully and realizing there’s more depth there than you thought.

Black Sesame Seed Ice Cream

If forced to choose one black-sesame-studded gray dessert, I’d admit my predilection for black sesame seed soft-serve (known as soft cream in Japan). Soft-serve shops are almost as prevalent in Japan as are their famed vending machines, so it was easy to feed my addiction wherever my family and I traveled. Visit a shrine, eat soft serve; feed sacred deer, eat soft serve. And yes, you can get vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry, but why would you when you can get soy milk, grape, kabocha squash, or any number of regional specialty flavors? 

In my home base of Nagoya, I went to the zoo and botanical gardens often, not just to visit the tanuki (both a real animal and a popular statue outside of bars and restaurants), but also because they had my favorite spot for soft serve.

I visited frequently (thanks to a very reasonably-priced annual pass) and could lose hours walking the grounds. On nice days I'd often treat myself to a black sesame soft-serve, but even ordering in Japanese I wasn't always convincing enough—sometimes the worker would come out of the stand, around to me, and physically point to the picture to make sure I really knew what I was getting myself into. Yes, yes I did. Black sesame, onegaishimasu

Black Sesame Seed Ice Cream

Back at home, where black sesame soft-serve is not as pervasive, I make a version that’s more ice cream than soft serve. I like not feeling like I have to be in such a rush to eat it before it melts into a gray puddle. It starts with a less sweet, more salty version of Jeni's Ice Cream Base with black sesame seeds (of course) and vanilla bean seeds. Yes, I'm sure you could substitute a small amount of vanilla extract for the vanilla bean seeds, but it makes my soul sing to know that some of the flecks are vanilla bean seeds are mixing in, becoming friends, with the sesame seeds—delight in the little things and all that.

Black Sesame Seed Ice Cream  

Makes about one quart

5 tablespoons black sesame seeds
1 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened (3 tablespoons)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 inch of a vanilla bean, split and scraped

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Do you have a favorite food that tastes better than it looks? Tell us about it in the comments!

Photos by Mark Weinberg

16 Jun 19:25

Mumbo sauce gets gentrified

16 Jun 18:15

themercuryjones:John Waters commencement address RISD 2015.

SuburbanKoala

can't verify that this is real. But I really like John Waters' public persona and I like this.



















themercuryjones:

John Waters commencement address RISD 2015.

16 Jun 15:14

Mimi O Chun

by russiansledges
SuburbanKoala

via RussianSledges

Stuffed Hipster Emblems is an experiment in media and meta-narratives — soft sculpture replicas of iconic goods using the very levers that invoke such fetishism among their artisanal, small-batch enthusiasts (scarcity, tactile materials, hand-made processes).
15 Jun 18:26

Man Grilling Guinea Pig In Prospect Park Is A Hero

SuburbanKoala

which jerk called the cops on this guy?

15 Jun 18:03

RETRO 2005 Brag It Up Post K Style in New Orleans

06 Jun 15:59

Police seize nearly two dozen dirt bikes, scooters in Dorchester

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

Finding the real criminals

Seized bikes. Photo by BPD.

Boston Police report officers seized 22 motorcycles, dirt bikes and scooters and one ATV on Tuesday on Lincoln Street in Dorchester.

Police say they got a tip about several "improperly stored" dirt bikes in the rear of 23 Lincoln St. With help from Boston firefighters, ISD inspectors and state environmental police, officers secured 11 bikes there.

While on scene, officers observed an additional twelve motorcycles, scooters and an ATV being improperly stored in a neighboring yard and were able to impound those as well.

Earlier:
Cops call on jakes to help seize dirt bikes at Mission Main.
Police seize more scooters, this time in Dorchester.

21 May 20:51

Police release photos of Orange Line jorts-and-a-BJ guy

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

he looks like a charmer

Frontal views, this time, only he's zipped up. That bit of oral satisfaction at State Street last week could lead to a criminal sentence and permanent status as a sex offender.

20 May 15:55

The Genius Secret Ingredient Your Sautéed Mushrooms Are Missing

by Kristen Miglore
SuburbanKoala

will try.

We're bringing back this hit recipe from spring 2015, while Genius sleuth Kristen is on vacation after wrapping up the Genius Desserts cookbook. (It's not a dessert, but feel free to eat it like candy.)



Dill pickle brine's chief function is to preserve cucumbers into infinity. Its reason for being is utility; its food class: byproduct. When it escapes the jar, it's most often served on the side of a cheap shot of whiskey.

So I don't blame you if you tend to eat all the pickles and then throw the juice away—at least, not until right now I didn't.



Maybe nobody told you that tossing pickle brine is just like tipping a perfectly good bottle of vinegar or fish sauce or Worcestershire down the drain. Maybe you never heard that you could cook with brine, not just use it as a bracing, salty slap to chase your sorrows. Or maybe you assumed that brine would always take over, setting its vinegar and salt and spice on top of everything else. You might even have slipped some pickle juice into potato salad or Bloody Marys, where blandness signals a crushing defeat.

But as I learned from Stuart Brioza, chef-owner of State Bird Provisions in San Francisco, brine could be doing so much more. He splashes dill pickle brine into buttery sautéed mushrooms—refined, seasonal, expensive mushrooms. And it makes them even better.



Unless you're approaching the proportions used for pickles (i.e. literally swimming in brine), it's just a contained burst of acid, salt, and mulled seasonings that together work background magic. Used in tablespoons, not pints, it doesn't announce itself, but somehow makes the butter and mushrooms speak louder and more clearly.



"I love pickles. I love mushrooms," Brioza wrote, in explaining how he came up with the idea. "We like to ferment turnips at the restaurant, and it's a great way to use that brine (though dill pickle brine would work just as well)." Imagine what pickle brine could do for your other fine spring vegetable hauls—your ramps, your delicate greens, your radishes.

 

 

As for the mushrooms, they're pretty ethereal all on their own, but they'd sit nicely with steak or roast chicken, or in a bowl of lentils or grains. Or, per Brioza, "One great way to eat them would be as 'bread and butter pickle mushrooms': Serve them warm on crusty buttered bread."

Stuart Brioza's Mushrooms in Pickle-Brine Butter

Adapted slightly from Food & Wine and State Bird Provisions

Serves 6 to 8, but scales down well

1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 medium shallots, thinly sliced (1 1/2 cups)
3 pounds mixed mushrooms, such as cremini, oyster, and stemmed shiitake, thickly sliced or quartered
3/4 cup brine, strained from a jar of dill pickles
Kosher salt
Pepper

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Got a genius recipe to share—from a classic cookbook, an online source, or anywhere, really? Please send it my way (and tell me what's so smart about it) at kristen@food52.com. Thanks to Associate Editor Ali Slagle for this one!

The Genius Recipes cookbook is finally here—and a New York Times Best Seller! The book is a mix of greatest hits from the column and unpublished new favorites—all told, over 100 recipes that will change the way you think about cooking. It's on shelves now, or you can order your copy here.

Photos by Mark Weinberg

19 May 23:24

Peck, peck, peck: Turkeys trap woman in car

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

'line as hell

In Brookline (last item), needless to say.

19 May 22:02

A Shibori and Indigo WorkshopIf you’re in Southern California,...

by derekguypto
SuburbanKoala

ATtn: RUssianSledges



A Shibori and Indigo Workshop

If you’re in Southern California, you might be interested in a workshop happening at the French General, a speciality shop in Los Angeles selling new and vintage crafting supplies. The owner of the store, Kaari Meng, will be teaching people about indigo dyeing and shibori – a Japanese method of tying and binding fabrics so that they result in the beautiful patterns you see above. Tickets are $85 and all materials will be supplied, although you’re welcome to bring things from home if you want to dye specific items (maybe a pair of canvas sneakers?). At the workshop, you’ll be learning how to prepare vats of indigo, how to dye things, and of course the Japanese method of tie-dye. 

Note, there are only four spaces left for this event, as French General tries to keep their workshops limited to sixteen people. If you miss out, know that they hold events every weekend. The ones on shibori and indigo happen about once every three months, and this October, they’ll be holding a darning workshop with Luke Deverell from Darn & Dusted. You can stay up-to-date with their event schedule by visiting their website or emailing them at notions@frenchgeneral.com and asking to be put on their email list.  

16 May 00:29

Just in time for summer: New ice-cream place in Fields Corner wins approval

by Shelagh Dolan
SuburbanKoala

This has already been open for two weeks

The Boston Licensing Board today approved a license for Chill on Park, an ice cream shop at 142 Park St. in Fields Corner. Read more.

Neighborhoods: 

Free tagging: 

Topics: 

11 May 22:45

Flaming Bolt shuts two lanes on the turnpike

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

burn, netwon, burn

Tyler captured the flaming, exploding Bolt bus on the eastbound turnpike in West Newton. State Police report two lanes are shut - and that no one was injured.

Kaboom! Russ Nelligan captured the bus exploding:

Bolt bus explodes on the Mass Pike eastbound in the West Newton section of Newton #wcvb pic.twitter.com/oRXWcRjgZG

— russnelligan (@russnelligan) May 11, 2015

09 May 14:46

Police: Bad penny from Braintree screams at T workers, then moons them for good measure

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

Brad Penny?

Remember the Braintree guy who waltzed across the Red Line tracks just as a train was entering Andrew after the St. Patrick's Day parade?

A judge ordered him to stay out of South Boston, but didn't order him to stay away from the T, which might have saved him some trouble Wednesday night, when, as Transit Police report, he was in a foul, foul mood around 11 p.m. at Park Street station:

Upon arrival officers were met by a T employee who informed them of the following; a male, later identified as Patrik Finnerty (YES !! that Patrik Finnerty), 19, of Braintree was on the Red Line platform yelling at and threatening passengers and employees. Finnerty, when informed TPD were on their way, exited the station and attempted to enter into a taxi. However prior to doing so Finnerty, while issuing expletives to the MBTA customer service agent, dropped his pants and exposed his genitals. Finnerty then turned his body and exposed his backside.

Police arrived in time to stop the taxi and arrange alternate transportation for Finnerty to TPD HQ for arraignment on a charge of indecent exposure.

Innocent, etc.

07 May 17:16

Feds: Man charged with pimping teen continued to try to run business from behind bars

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

maine :(

Three men are charged with bringing Maine women - and one teenager - to the Boston area to serve as prostitutes, the US Attorney's office charges.

One of the three, Tyrell Gorham, allegedly kept trying to run his prostitution business - and to threaten witnesses - even after state authorities locked him up in the Nashua Street jail, the FBI says.

Gorham, a.k.a. Sheek, 30, of Lewiston, Maine; Chelanjei Greene, a.k.a. Young, 32, of Brockton and Lee Young, a.k.a. Chop, 32, of Brockton, all face federal charges of sex trafficking of a minor across state lines and sex trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion.

According to federal officials, the three scouted for troubled teens and women in the Portland, ME area and convinced them to come down to Massachusetts to turn tricks for them. One of the people they convinced was under 18, according to the federal complaint against them.

An FBI agent involved in the case detailed the February operation that led to the three men's downfall in an affidavit: FBI agents and Revere and Woburn police officers scouted Backpage.com for young-looking women and arranged "dates" with them.

After checking into the Best Western Plus Roundhouse Suites in the South End on Feb. 22, the teen and a woman were driven up to the Fairfield Inn in Revere, where a man agreed to pay them and they undressed and "engaged in sexual activity with one another" - until the man told them to stop because he was an undercover agent. The two then agreed to talk to investigators.

The next day, the affidavit continues, the law-enforcement officers arranged a similar meeting with two other women working for the three - one of whom told officers she was plied with heroin in an attempt to keep her alert for the 10 to 15 sexual encounters a day the men required her to perform.

The affidavit says Gorham was arrested on local charges on Feb. 23 and put into the Nashua Street jail. Based on the intercepted phone calls, the agent wrote, Gorham told another woman to forward nude photos of one of the three women to her boyfriend in an attempt to get her to stop cooperating with authorities. Also:

GORHAM also told Bloomquist “I left Chop with two able bodied girls who are willing to work” and inquired as to why YOUNG had not sent GORHAM money while he was in custody. Bloomquist told GORHAM that “they got [Minor A] and [Woman A]. GORHAM asked Boomquist why “Chop” wasn’t also in custody then. Bloomquist had no answer, but told GORHAM that she had two “girls” she could put to work to raise money for him.

Innocent, etc.

06 May 20:59

Mayor wants thousands of housing units built near the T

by JohnAKeith
SuburbanKoala

So do I! Theya re building something huge near JFK

The city of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development has filed legislation (sponsored by Mattapan's State Rep. Russell Holmes) that would allow the MBTA to sell land along its rail lines to developers at discounted rates, according to Scott Van Voorhis at the Globe. A second proposal would allow the city to offer property tax incentives to developers in order to encourage them to build housing affordable to those with low and/or moderate incomes.

05 May 17:09

Police in Gloucester to get opioid users who turn themselves in into treatment, not a holding cell

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

dude. awesome.

Gloucester Police say the opioid crisis, which is killing large numbers of users, has convinced them to try treatment first instead of arrests. Starting in June:

Any addict who walks into the police station with the remainder of their drug equipment (needles, etc.) or drugs and asks for help will NOT be charged. Instead, Gloucester Police will walk them through the system toward detox and recovery.

"We will assign them an 'angel' who will be their guide through the process. Not in hours or days, but on the spot," Chief Leonard Campanello said.

Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester and Lahey Clinic have committed to helping fast track people that walk into the police department so that they can be assessed rapidly and the proper care can be administered quickly.

Also, the department has an agreement with Conley's Drug Store to make nasal Narcan, which can revive a dying user, available without a prescription at little or no cost. It's working with CVS on a similar deal. The department will pay for providing the drug through money seized from drug dealers.

05 May 15:17

Morrissey on Morrissey

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

Dorchester/Morrissey autoshare

04 May 23:22

zachsweedler: Okay, you caught me. 📚 follow me on Instagram...

SuburbanKoala

boyfriend



zachsweedler:

Okay, you caught me. 📚

follow me on Instagram @zachsweedler
04 May 23:21

Photo



04 May 23:21

theearlofmelancholy: This is how they do a Mint Julep @ Drink…...

SuburbanKoala

Drink hitting this non-boston tumblr.



theearlofmelancholy:

This is how they do a Mint Julep @ Drink… #mintjulep #beenhad #plantlife @bonjouraddy

04 May 23:02

If you're going to slam your truck into a Storrow overpass, do it right, we always say

by adamg
SuburbanKoala

Bridge can-opener autoshare

Tamra Carhart shows us what happens when a truck that doesn't belong on Storrow Drive gets up to ramming speed before tearing itself apart at one of those quaint little overpasses leading up to the Fenway and Kenmore Square.

Rory Nolan gives us another view.

Wonder what that "Clearance" sign in the photo by P. Cheung reads:

Storrow truck crash