Fairmont Copley Plaza

The elegant Oak Room at the Fairmont Copley Plaza

Next week I’ll be having lunch at one of the best restaurants in Boston, the Fairmont Copley Plaza’s Oak Room.  I’ll have a tough time deciding between the Chateaubriand sandwich, the Kobe beef burger (the best in the city) or the Maine lobster salad.  It’s a rough job but someone has to do it. 

Being at the hotel will give me a chance to see first-hand some of the restorations going on for this grand dame who turns 100 years old in 2012. 

The Fairmont’s owners, FelCor Lodging Trust, are planning a huge restoration of the property to celebrate its centennial.   

This won’t be a simple nip ‘n tuck or chemical peel or mini face lift.  What it will be is a $20 million dollar restoration of the hotels 300+ guest rooms and its already chic Fairmont Gold Lounge. 

FelCor is pulling out all the stops with new furniture, fixtures, air-conditioning, heating, and the addition of fresh, sophisticated designer colors.  They have contracted with Massachusetts based Parker Torres Design LLC  famous for their use of dramatic, sumptuous colors which they will blend with the Fairmont Copley’s elegant marble interior walls. To get a glimpse at what Parker Torres designers and architects can do check out the Hilton Back Bay, Cambridge Marriott or the Buckminster hotels. 

Something that’s already underway is the new state-of-the-art fitness center on the hotel’s roof.  The center, scheduled to open in this August, will have a 2,400 square foot space loaded with machines and free weights.  As if that’s not enough, before or after your workout you can relax and socialize at the 700 square foot deck equipped with lounges, chairs and tables.   

And, the restorations for the centennial do not stop inside the hotel.  Parker Torres will also be re-designing the sidewalk on the St. James Avenue front side of the hotel.  Who knows, maybe they will even design a new doghouse for the Fairmont’s famous black Labrador ambassador, Catie Copley.

Great restaurants in Boston and Cambridge

A sampling of the sandwiches offered at Flour Bakery

The best thing I make for any meal is reservations.  I love going out to eat, but, like a lot of other people I’m feeling the economy crunch.  Here are a few of my favorite restaurants that won’t break your wallet, just put a little ding in it. 

BOSTON

Flour Bakery

12 Farnsworth St., 1594 Washington St. Boston and 190 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

www.flourbakery.com

You can’t beat Flour Bakery for great food. Joanna Chang is a wizard in the kitchens.  At either location she makes sure that everything is made fresh in-house.  The salads are wonderful, the breads divine, the sandwiches terrific (try the turkey with cranberry chutney) and the pastries are heavenly. Her homemade Oreo cookies, layers of dark chocolate cake stuffed with crème fraiche are to die for.  But, the show stopper has to be her decadent, butter laden sticky buns.  How popular are they, if you’re going on a Saturday or Sunday call ahead to reserve how many you want.  Now you can make all these sweet creations at home Chang’s new cookbook Flour is available at her three locations.  

Petite Robert Bistro

480 Columbus Ave., 468 Commonwealth Ave., Petite Robert Central, 101 Arch St. Boston, 45 Chapel St., Needham

www.petitrobertbistro.com

Jacky Robert is a master of French cuisine.  Robert started his apprenticeship in his native France at the age of 15, working his way up to executive chef at such famous restaurants as Maxim’s in Paris and Ernie’s in San Francisco.  Forty years later he owns two bistros in Boston.  In each he specializes in wonderful French cuisine such as chicken crepe basquaise or tripe Provençale and his pan seared sweetbreads in a creamy leek mustard sauce. 

 CAMBRIDGE

Garden at the Cellar

991 Massachusetts Ave.

www.gardenatthecellar.com

Chef/owner Will Gilson learned about herbs and food growing up on his family’s herb farm and restaurant the Herb Lyceum in Groton Massachusetts.  In his tiny kitchen he puts all that he learned into his cooking whether it is his crispy chicken with sweet potatoes and kale or his grilled skirt steak with rosemary truffle fries or his steamed mussels with fresh tomatoes, saffron and yogurt.

Craigie on Main,

853 Main St

www.craigieonmain.com

Tony Maws, with many awards under his belt, two for excellence from Wine Spectator, and he was named Best New Chef of the Year for 2006 by the James Beard Foundation, is a master chef whose food is sublime.  His menu changes daily depending on what looked good at the fish and meat markets he visits each day at 5:00am.  Maws does wonders with anything from octopus to Vermont organic lamb to sweetbreads and short ribs. Have no fear, whatever is on the menu when you go there is sure to be fantastic.

Boston Tea Party 21st century style

Culinary Tea

Boston is famous for its Boston Tea Party of the 18th century where patriots dumped millions of dollars’ worth of British tea into Boston Harbor.  The difference with a 21^st century tea party is the elegant venues that offer them. It’s been a miserable, cold, snowy winter why not treat yourself to an afternoon of serenity, a mellow cup of tea or other liquid libations and some tasty treats.  

Known as “Boston’s living room” the Bristol Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel sets a wonderful tea tray of kir royale, exotic teas such as rose scented congou, jasmine, and green gunpowder accompanied by tea sandwiches, scones, Devonshire clotted cream.  Snag a window table overlooking the Boston Public Garden where you and sip and sup while enjoying the view. 

In Copley Square at the Boston Public Library is Novel Café where you can choose a book from the book-lined walls to enjoy with your tea.  That is, of course, after you have toured the stunning John Singer Sargent and Edwin Austin Abbey murals in the McKim Building.  At Novel’s you can choose from a selection of loose teas served with scones and clotted cream or finger sandwiches and an assortment of cakes and fresh fruit.

The Swan’s Café at the Park Plaza Hotel on Arlington Street is known for its sumptuous afternoon teas. This is where tea sommelier Cynthia Gold holds court.  Ms. Gold is one of the few tea sommeliers in the world. While learning the history of tea and how to serve it from her you can sip on a spiced apple mar-tea-ni made with vodka, black tea and pears; or a Keemun Cream made with Keemun infused vodka, Bailey’s Irish Cream and Keemun Hao Ya A tea. The cuisine ranges from wonderful tea sandwiches of jasmine tea cured gravlax to spiced orange tea roasted pork tenderloin served with mango chutney. Afternoon tea at the Swan’s Café is extremely popular, reservations are recommended.  Available in the hotel’s gift shop is Culinary Tea: More Than 150 Recipes Steeped in Tradition from Around the World co-authored by Cynthia Gold and Lise Stern. After your tea I’m sure Cynthia would be happy to autograph it for you. 

Bond at the Langham Hotel (the Federal Reserve Bank in a former life) serves afternoon tea in classic grand hotel style starting with a variety of specialty teas and including tempting scones with Devonshire clotted cream.  Also on the menu are mushroom and crème fraiche tartlet, ham roulade with cranberry relish and English cucumber sandwiches with Farmer’s cheese fresh dill.  Desserts of chocolate dipped strawberries and French macaroons round out the faire offered.

If your taste leans to something a little stronger than tea and fruity cocktails then take the Historic Pub Crawl offered by the Freedom Trail Foundation. Your costumed guide will regale you with the history of the city’s original Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773) while taking you to several Irish pubs where you can sample traditional Boston fare along with some of Boston’s own Samuel Adams ales and lagers.

Further information

Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau www.bostonusa.com

Bristol Lounge www.fourseasons.com/boston

Courtyard at the Boston Public Library www.bpl.org 

Swan’s Café at the Park Plaza Hotel www.bostonparkplaza.com

Bond at the Langham Hotel www.boston.langhamhotels.com

Historic Pub Crawl www.thefreedomtrail.org

Burdick’s Chocolates

I am a chocoholic.  I not only love chocolate, I adore it in any shape or form that’s why Burdick’s Chocolate shop in Harvard Square is a regular haunt for me. I love the tiny ganache filled chocolate mice. My favorite way to eat them is by holding one by its satin tail, dangling it over my mouth and nibbling from its head and almond ears upwards ending when I reach the satin tail.

Not into devouring mice? No problem, you can nibble on penguins. Nestled up against the mice in the gleaming glass cases are chocolate penguins, looking dapper in their dark and white chocolate tuxedos.  Don’t like penguins…then go for the white chocolate snowmen decked out in their dark chocolate top hats.  Linger in the cafe over a slice of Burdick’s homemade zuger Kirsch, vanilla tea cake with Kirsch and butter cream or Chocolate Mousse Cake, a dense chocolate cake layered with lingonberry jam.  Wash these down with a cup of mocha hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, an excellent way to warm up a winters’ day.

Burdick’s has three locations; Brattle Street in Harvard Square Cambridge, their signature shop in Walpole New Hampshire and their new shop on East 20^th Street in the Flatiron District of New York City.

Walk Boston’s Freedom Trail in Winter

Millions of visitors to Boston walk the Freedom Trail – a two-and-one-half-mile red stripe on the sidewalk that takes you to 16 historical sites pertaining to the Revolutionary War – our fight to gain our freedom from Great Britain in the 18th century. 

What most visitors don’t realize is the Freedom Trail does not shut down in winter. The Freedom Trail Foundation offers daily guided tours of the first mile of the trail, weather permitting, starting at 12 noon from the Boston Common.  The tours are given by members of the Freedom Trail Players who are actors and school teachers portraying historical persons from the time of the Revolution. 

If you can’t get a tour then purchase a map or a guide book at the visitor’s center and be your own guide. 

Each of the Freedom Trail sites is open year round.  The official start of the trail is the Visitor Information Center

Freedom Trail Foundation Players

near the Boston Common.  The trail is marked on the sidewalk by either a red stripe or red bricks that winds its way up to the gold-domed State House, then down to the Park Street Church.  Next to that is the Granary Burial Ground, across the street to Kings Chapel and burying ground, then down to the Old South Meeting House, around to the Old State House in front of which is the Boston Massacre Site. Then it crosses to Faneuil Hall, past the Union Oyster House, the oldest continuously operated restaurant in America, to Paul Revere’s House, then onto the Old North Church and Copps Hill burying ground.  The Freedom Trail continues across the bridge to the USS Constitution and the Bunker Hill Monument. 

Other advantages of following the trail in winter; there are no throngs of tourists waiting to get into the historic buildings, and, the cold is a good excuse to stop into a café along the way for some hot cocoa or a historic pub such as the Green Dragon for a pint of Samuel Adams beer. 

So, layer up your clothing, dig out the mittens, hats and scarves and take a walk on a winter’s day in Boston, one of America’s most historic cities. 

For More Information go to: The Freedom Trail Foundation or the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau.

African-American Patriots Tour of Boston – February is Black History Month

February is Black History Month, and a good way to observe and learn about African-American patriots in Boston is by walking the Freedom Trail

Routes of history 

During the tour he leads visitors past the Boston Massacre site in front of the Old State House, to Granary Burial Grounds (where Attucks is buried), past the Park St. Church, where William Lloyd Garrison later gave his stirring anti-slavery speeches, and to Beacon Hill. The tour ends at the Museum of African-American History on Beacon Hill.   

Tales of bravery

Woven throughout the 90-minute walks are stories of bravery and defiance by black Bostonian patriots. Other African-Americans whose deeds and lives are mentioned on the tour are the first published African-American poet Phyllis Wheatley, the prominent citizen Prince Hall, founder of the African Lodge of Freemasons in America, and Peter Salem, a former slave who was a veteran of the Battle of Bunker Hill and several other battles of the American Revolution. 

Tour details

Tours must be reserved 24 hours in advance. Tickets ($13.65 for adults, $11.55 for seniors and students, $7 children 4 to 12 years of age) can be purchased online, at the Visitor Information Center on the Boston Common, or at the Bostix booth inside the Quincy Market building at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. 

For further information; The Freedom Trail Foundation, 617-357-8300. www.thefreedomtrail.org

Independence Missouri – Leila’s Hair Museum

Mourning jewelry made from hair

If you’re ever in Independence Missouri and want to see museum pieces that are very different then head to Leila’s Hair Museum.

Leila Cohoon started collecting wreaths and jewelry made from hair, in 1956.  Twenty years ago she opened Leila’s Hair Museum in a tiny strip mall in Independence Missouri to house her growing collection.  A retired hairdresser Leila teaches hair weaving and is writing a “how to” book on the craft. 

What you see in her museum is both beautiful and eerie. These aren’t just clumps of hair that Leila shored off customers heads, it’s a carefully culled collection of 300 wreaths and 2000 pieces of jewelry containing human hair.  The fact that, for the most part, the people were dead when the hair was removed from their heads is the eerie part.   

The strands she is proudest of come from the pates of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan.  Being a stickler for authenticity Leila purchases most of her memorabilia of famous people through the Manuscript Society of which she is a member.  The society is an organization dedicated to the collection and authentication of photographs and manuscripts. 

Appropriate to the historical aspect of the collection is the hair of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, their infamous duel in 1804 was the cause of Hamilton’s death.    

There is even a little bit of Hollywood with pieces of Marilyn Monroe’s golden locks and a curl that belonged to Elvis.  All of these are displayed in frames, which along with the hair; contain photographs of the person and documentation.

A hundred years ago, to pass the time on a cold winter’s night, women would gather together to make hair wreaths, much like quilting bees. They created the wreaths by weaving strands of hair around wire, twisting that into various delicate shapes and embroidering family names, dates of births, deaths, and weddings onto the mountings.  Various materials were used; seed pearls, ribbons, strips of baby clothes along with white satin from wedding dresses.  It was a way of preserving the past for the next generation. 

A technique known as sepia was used in the jewelry pieces, this is where a scene is painted with a mixture of hair that has been mashed into a powder then mixed with acrylics. One brooch, a remembrance piece, depicts a man standing by a grave under a weeping willow tree that is woven from strands of his wife’s hair; she passed away at the age of twenty-five. 

During the tour Leila will tell you that her fondest wish is that if all the people whose hair she has in her collections could come back from the dead and tell her their stories.   

IF YOU GO

Leila’s Hair Museum

1333 S. Noland Rd., Independence, Missouri 64055

1-816-833-2955

http://www.hairworks.com/leila

Hours: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Tuesday thru Saturday

Admission: $5 adults; $2.50 seniors and children under 12

Nantucket Christmas Stroll

Carolers line the streets of Nantuckettown

From December 3^rd to 5^th the island of Nantucket, off the coast of Massachusetts, will celebrate what has become an island tradition – Christmas Stroll weekend.

The stroll began in 1973 when local merchants, in an effort to boost the island’s economy, kept their shops open late on the first Friday in December inviting Nantucketers to do their holiday shopping on-island instead of traveling to the mainland. 

Along with their crafts, books, clothes and wares shopkeepers offered samplings of wine, hot chocolate, tea, mulled cider, fruitcake, and holiday cookies. 

That Stroll, billed by the merchants as a “Christmas Stroll on Main Street’ lasted three hours and was a huge success with islanders. 

Fast forward thirty-seven years and that one night of holiday shopping and schmoozing has exploded into a weekend full of events that draws thousands of people. Whether you stay for a day or the weekend many of the island’s restaurants, inns, and bed and breakfasts are open for the stroll. 

On Friday night get in the holiday spirit by joining throngs of people (with flashlights and maps in hand) for the Holiday House Tour visiting six of the island’s historic houses, some of them more than three hundred years old, beautifully decorated for the season with wreaths and evergreens. The tour ends at the Whaling Museum with the Festival of Trees, one hundred Christmas trees decorate in island themes ranging from lightship baskets to buoys to the Nantucket firefighters’ tree dripping with Fire Department badges from around the world. 

On Saturday at the stoke of noon the town crier in Colonial dress walks down Main Street ringing his bell heralding the official opening of the stroll.  At 12:30 Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive the island way – by sea – on a historic Coast Guard vessel surrounded by a bevy of Coast Guard men and women decked out in red life jackets and red and white stocking hats.  After a horse-drawn carriage ride down Main Street Santa sets up shop at the Pacific National Bank where children (and children at heart) can have their pictures taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Learn about the ghoulish side of Nantucket town on an evening walk to several of the island’s haunted places with Nantucket Walking Tours.

If history is more to your interest then join the Nantucket Historical Association’s guided walking tours where you will hear about Nantucket’s years as a whaling port that supplied the world with sperm oil.  And, how over a hundred years ago Centre Street was called Petticoat

Row because all the businesses lining the street were owned and operated by women. It was Nantucket women who kept everything going at home while their men were away on sea voyages lasting three years.

There is an abundance of activities to choose from that will fill your entire day or weekend; concerts, theatrical performances, ice skating, wine and beer tastings, book signings, open houses, and, not to be forgotten, the shopping.  Nantucket has beautiful and unique shops and galleries offering art, antiques, books, leather goods, jewelry, clothes, and decorative things for your home. 

Cold sea air blending with the scent of pine from the decorated live Christmas trees lining the streets, carolers and bell ringers in period dress performing in the square make for a gorgeous setting.  The Nantucket Christmas Stroll is a lovely way to start your holiday season.

Sidebar

Nantucket Chamber of Commerce 1-508-228-1700, www.nantucketchamber.org

Image courtesy of Michael Galvin for the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce

Lulu Lemon

One thing I’ve noticed at Lulu Lemon stores; the staff  are always thin.  There’s the key word, thin.  I’ve been to several Lulu Lemon stores in various states and all I’ve ever seen are these size two staff members walking around.  Thinness must be a pre-requisite to work there. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Lulu Lemon Athletica apparel, I just can’t fit into any of it. I’m a full-figured woman who practices yoga (yes Lulu Lemon execs big women do exercise) but their stores carry nothing above a size 12.  I would love to be able to wear one of the great looking sports bras but I’m not an A cup so why not make one in a DD you know, one that will fit an average woman.  The same goes for your pants and tank tops, how about putting out some size 18′s or 22′s?

So here’s my shout out to Lulu Lemon execs “Hey, are the words “full figured” in your vocabulary? Take your heads out of the sand, look around and you’ll realize that plus size women like to do yoga too. And we like to look nice while doing it.  So, why not design clothes that are 1x, 2x or 3x? Not every body in this world is a thin body”.  

The only things that I’ve ever found in a LuLu Lemon store that fit me are the yoga mats, which, by the way, are great.

Flour Bakery in Cambridge

     

A display of the sweet delicacies offered at Flour Bakery & Cafe

 

Chef Joanna Chang has done it again, opened another of her fabulous bakeries, Flour Bakery & Cafe, this time in Central Square Cambridge.  This new addition to her two Boston locations is a knock out both in the menu and decor.  Her tarts, cakes, muffins, fruit breads, brioche au chocolat and croissants are displayed in sleek stainless steel cases all the better to drool over.  Sprinkled around the cafe are cozy tables and counters to sit at and enjoy your meal.    

I can tell you from experience that Chef Chang’s food is to die for.  A Harvard graduate who has a degree in mathematics Chef Chang left the high-powered financial world to pursue her passion, cooking. And, she is marvelous at it.  Everything is made on the premises; choose from sandwiches of smoked turkey, cheddar and cranberry chutney or hummus, cucumber, radishes, sprouts and onions or fresh mozzarella, basil pesto and tomato are served on country and multigrain rolls and slices.  Her Quiches filled with ham, cheddar, zucchini, spinach and parmesan are as light as air.     

Chef Chang is known for her talent with sweets, her sticky buns definitely will not disappoint you they sell out early so if going on a weekend order them in advance.  Her cookies run the gamut from peanut butter to oatmeal, raspberry crumb bars (my favorite) to almond biscotti to Belgain chocolate brownies.  And, the piece de resistance, Chef Chang’s homemade chocolate covered Oreo cookies, clearly a chocoholic’s delight.     

Run, do not walk to Flour Bakery in Central Square.       

Image courtesy of Flour Bakery.