Just in time for the new year, I feel like I have been on an overhauling spree. First, you may notice the new design of my blog. I thought the header really captured the essence of a typical snapshot in my life … in my home office, with the city skyline in the background, always with a nice cup o’ joe within my reach, clunking away at the computer. It is not an exact depiction though, as I do not work on a Mac … I’ve been heavily trained as a PC girl (although that is slowly changing). Also, what you can’t see in this depiction is the large yellow lab sleeping on my feet, as he likes to do pretty much 70% of each day … as he is doing right at this moment! I don’t really think the girl looks like me … but oh well!
Besides the blog, we also spent the past 3 days redesigning my home office! This is the first thing we’ve touched in the house since we moved in, and it was long over due. The walls were painted this awful burnt orange color. The color was so bright that it was giving me a headache from working in here all of the time … I joked with Kevin I may have a stroke from the overwhelming orange glare. To avoid permanent damage to my brain, we (mostly Kevin) repainted, choosing a very calming, muted, light cream color called "Navajo White" from Benjamin Moore. I love it! I wanted the most opposite color I could find from the orange. We were using my office as the guest room, and it was just kind of annoying having a twin size bed in my office, so now that is gone. If you want to come and stay with us, you will be on the pull out downstairs! I repositioned my desk so I could easily look out the window at the dogwood tree that is filled with crazy tweeting birds most days. Kevin also moved his little desk, and large Mac up here, so that we are now set up as command central. Lots of good stuff is going to come out of this room … step aside Mr. Gates! 
With all these changes, I am super motivated for 2008. Watch out people … who knows what I might be overhauling next!!! Going to enjoy the last few hours of 2007 and am looking forward to ringing in 2008 with friends! Feliz ano nuevo para todos!
One of our favorite Christmas gifts was a 38 bottle, dual controlled, wine fridge. I had ordered some special wines from Greece, and we had about a handful of nice bottles we got as gifts for the Holiday Cocktail Party, so over the past few days, we have started to fill the fridge. As we were trying to find the value of some of our bottles, we came across this really neat little website call Snooth. It is attractive, well developed, and very "web 2.0" … the content in the site isn’t too shabby either! Actually, it was extremely helpful in finding the values of some of our wines, and we even signed up an account and used the feature, where you can add the wines to your virtual cellar. Kind of an online wine dossier. Along with the ability to give ratings on bottles, Snooth will also send you wine recommendations … the more wines you rate, the more accurate your recommendations will become.
Back to the architecture of the site. It feels like Ruby on Rails, but I’m not sure what it was developed in … maybe a mix of technologies. The fact that they are looking for a PHP developer does give something away. The look and feel is very slick. One neat feature is the ability to bump up and down the font size of the page. Also, when saving wines to your profile, instead of a clunky change of screen, it simply "blinks" … the screen darkens while it is saving, and when it is finished, it goes back to normal. Very subtle and sleek.
Last night we tried another new restaurant in town, with a couple of friends. One that I have been trying to get into for months, but they have always been booked up at the prime times. Toscano is in Beacon Hill, and just reopened in the fall. The north end has some amazing Italian places, but I have been wanting to try Toscano, because I’ve heard it has more authentic Tuscan style cuisine. Let’s just say you won’t find Chicken Parmesan on this menu, just like you wouldn’t find it on any menu in Italy! The atmosphere was cozy and rustic … but with an upscale feel. Our waiter was young, casual, and fun pronouncing all the Italian titles with a spirited Italian accent, although I’m not sure he actually could speak Italian. I started off with some yummy Prosecco, while Kevin opted for a glass of Morretti … one of our favorite beers on our trip. For an appetizer we shared the steamed mussels, which were delightful, and then I had the gnocchi … which is always a good choice in my book, covered in a lovely white cream sauce. We also shared a nice Sangiovese wine, which I prefer over the typical Italian Chianti Classicos. Their wine list was impressive by the way, as was the entire menu, and they also had about 7 different specials that night. For desert we split the cheese tray, with honey and truffles, but after a bad experience I had with truffles in Cortona, I wasn’t able to really enjoy the cheeses. Luckily we also ordered a blueberry tart which was a nice departure from the usual tiramisu. We capped the night off with a delicious glass of port, which I think put me over the edge just a tad, because I stumbled up the stairs and passed out when we got home! The prices were very reasonable as well … all the pastas were under $20, and entrees under $30.
All in all, I would describe Toscano as extremely authentic, and more specialized Tuscan Italian, than what you might find in the North End … although chicken parmesan is still my all time favorite meal …. EVER!!
Yep, I guess I do! I have been busy with some other projects the last 6 months, and have been neglecting the blog. This neglect was very specifically directed, so I am okay with that. I am reorganizing some things though … so the blog is back to being a priority. Some things I have been up to these past months include …
- Turkey Frying
- Writing a Rails App
- Traveling to Italy & Greece
- Trying some new restaurants around town: L’Espalier, Petit Robert Bistro, Cottonwood Cafe
- Planning a Holiday Cocktail party
- Researching the ancestry of our home at the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds
Some things I have learned in the last 6 months …
- Although it wasn’t needed, it doesn’t hurt to have a fire extinguisher handy when frying a turkey. Video available upon request.
- I hate Internet Explorer and how it renders (or doesn’t render) CSS properly.
- Greek wine is fantastic, but difficult to find at home! Boutari’s Vinsanto 2003 …. amazing!!!
- L’espalier is for special occasions, Petit Robert Bistro is reasonable and great for any night, Cottonwood Cafe should never be visited unless you are in to overpriced crappy tex mex food.
- Never use a giant candy cane as a stirer in a large picture of peppermint martini’s.
- The Charlestown Preservation Society offers these really cool bronze historical markers for houses that are at least 100 years old in town. You have to do a little research and send in an application to obtain a marker for your house, and it took about 5 months for our marker to actually come in! We just got it last week though, and it looks great! At the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds, I was able to trace our house back to it’s original deed and owner which was Weston and Mason Painters. These two guys seemed to build a lot of the houses in this neighborhood, and our specific property dates back to 1858. Now we are just waiting for the CPS to come around and mount the marker for us … and I would not be surprised if that takes another 5 months!