all in the Neighborhood...

Before moving to Cambridge I used to get up early in the morning, catch the C-line to Cleveland Circle where I would then catch the 86 bus to Union Square. Why, one might very legitimately ask, would anyone willingly get up early on a Sunday morning to take a nearly hour-long trip to Somerville? The answer is Neighborhood Restaurant.

I now live within walking distance of this wonderful Portuguese breakfast spot so there's no need to spend the bus fare or get up quite so early. What is so special about this restaurant? It's all in the food. Arrive early on the weekends or you'll be spending most of your time waiting on the sidewalk. There are no reservations and there is no hostess waiting at a greeting desk. You simply walk up to the front door and sign in your name on a sheet of paper, grab a cup of complimentary coffee and a pastry and wait your turn. Once inside the tiny restaurant (or the outdoor grapevine covered patio open only in summer) you will be faced with the daunting task of choosing your breakfast. You can't go wrong with any of the standards, although I usually opt for one of the specials (Belgium waffles with strawberries and whipped cream or lox eggs benedict.) Be forewarned, a seemingly harmless order such as pancakes comes with what looks like a second breakfast. All meals are served with fresh unlimited coffee or tea, fresh squeezed orange juice, a choice of fruit or hot cereal, homemade pastries, breads, and some of the best homefries I've had in Boston. Depending on what you order, this is often accompanied by some delicious tasting sausage and two eggs. Then you'll get your pancakes.

Don't expect anything less than a no-nonsense welcome from this family run business. Neighborhood is not the place to dawdle and read the paper, someone will be ready to take your order as soon as you sit down. That being said, you will feel as though you are having breakfast at a family home. The food is filling, homecooked and amazingly good. The atmosphere is warm and friendly despite the hustle and bustle of the Sunday morning brunch crowd. Good food, good crowd, good times. You can't get more neighborly than that.

The Neighborhood Restaurant and Bakery, located at 25 Bow Street, in Somerville, is open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Call (617) 628-2151.

Macaroons

A good friend of mine just referred me to one fabulous food blog called Taste Spotting. Click on any one of the gorgeous food photos and read about all sorts of interesting, delicious or useful food tidbits on any number of blog sites. My current favorite is a link for these little Macaroon candles. I have had many discussions about how to make these heavenly biscuits and have yet to find a better place to have them with tea than the Ladurée tearoom at Harrods in London. (Although, they did serve them at the French patisseries in Dakar, Senegal, where I used to order them by the half-pound.)

Australian licorice

Kookaburra licorice, imported from Australia, in my very biased opinion, is possibly the best licorice ever. I had my first taste this past year when a friend of mine brought in a bag of the Kookaburra Red. It was AMAZING. Unlike Twizzlers, which admittedly have their own appeal (more on this later,) Kookaburra Red comes in big, fat pieces that are just the right texture for munching. The licorice is soft and chewy with a good strawberry flavor without being overly sweet. In a matter of minutes the bag was emptied and we were left with the question, "Where do we find more?" Sadly, Kookaburra is not available in Boston (at least to our knowledge.) You can buy it online at any number of shops, including amazon.com and the Kookaburra website. Whew!

While at a local Trader Joe's in Boston I came upon tubs of what looked to be a Kookaburra licorice look-alike! Darrell Lea makes a red licorice in the same size and shape as Kookaburra and get this, it's also from Australia! The flavor is not *quite* as good as Kookaburra, but for the convenience, it will more than suffice! I'm not sure what it is about those Australians, but they sure know how to make a damn good licorice!


~flutterbyblue

Bratwurst Hot Tub

Here's a great 4th of July recipe from UBarbeque with Steven Raichlen. One of my good friends went to college in Wisconsin and had Bratwurst all the time. They're good on the grill and even better grilled then simmered in a beer bath!

Method: indirect grilling

Serves 4 to 8

Ingredients:
8 Johnsonville bratwursts
2 cans pilsner-style beer
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
1 white onion, cut into thick slices, skewered and grilled

For serving:
Hard rolls or a baguette
Mustard
Grilled red peppers
Grilled onions
Sauerkraut

1. Set up your grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium. This works best in a charcoal grill.

2. Arrange the bratwursts on the grate over the drip pan. Toss the wood chips on the coals, half on each mound of coals. Cover the grill and adjust the vent holes to obtain a temperature of about 350 degrees. Smoke-roast the sausages until golden brown and cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, combine the beer, butter and grilled onion slices in a large grill-proof pan large enough to accommodate all the brats (I like to use a large aluminum drip pan.) When the brats are cooked through, transfer them to the beer bath, then put it on the grill.

4. Keep the brats warm in the beer bath as long as you like, replenishing the fire with a couple extract coals on each side if needed to keep it smoldering.

5. Serve the brats as they would in Wisconsin, on hard rolls with yellow ballpark-style mustard, or do them up BBQ U®-style, with brown mustard, grilled onions and peppers and sauerkraut on a cut-up baguette.

NOTE: Even if you're a diehard gas griller, I recommend investing in an inexpensive, charcoal-burning kettle grill. It's very difficult to get great smoke flavor from a gas grill.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

slug lights

Candeloo lights are my new useless household item of choice! Designed by Andreu Oaika in 2002 these magical, rechargeable lights are sure to inspire even the most grown-up almost-grown-ups among us.

Candeloos come in blue/green or orange/fuschia and are guaranteed to add a bit of impractical flavor to your home. You can buy them online at any number of online retailers or at select local shops such as risd|works in downtown Providence (see previous blog.)

We use our little lights (affectionately nicknamed, 'the slugs.') for those times when we can't be bothered to turn on the lights for that late-night bathroom trip. The nightlights are also particularly helpful in the event of a blackout as they automatically turn on when they are disconnected from their powersource.

So maybe my favorite useless household item isn't so useless after all!?

~flutterbyblue

and the beads have it...

I did my best...but sometimes your best just isn't good enough.

There is only so much one can do with polymer beads...

Although, this one isn't TOO ugly...in fact, I kind of like the bright turquoise color:

I ended up hand wiring the beads to silver coated rings and stringing them on silver plated chain. The round beads were made into nice long necklaces (suitable for summer outfits) and the orange and yellow beads were put onto vintage-y brass chain and paired with vintage yellow glass beads. I'll hand them over to Maria and hope that someone decides to fork over the $10 for charity.

cold brewed iced coffee

The other day there was an article in the NYTimes on how to make cold brewed iced coffee. The recipe is seemingly quite simple:

1. In a jar, stir together 1/3 cup medium-course ground coffee and 1 1/2 cups water. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight or 12 hours.

2. Strain twice through a coffee filter, a fine-mesh sieve or a sieve lined with cheesecloth (I just used my little french press.) In a tall glass filled with ice, mix equal parts coffee concentrate and water, or to taste. If desired, add milk.

Yield: Two drinks.

NOTE: To make hot coffee, dilute concentrate one-to-one with water and heat in the microwave.

This recipe is really hard to screw up. I added way more water than the recipe called for and didn't dilute down the next morning. The coffee came out perfectly - flavorful, without any bitterness. A great way to start off a summer morning!