donut shops: rated by a new englander

Here in New England, Dunkin’ Donuts has quite a monopoly. Which is – let’s face it – a pretty good thing.

You feel like you’re home when you see one on every corner. And the familiar tastes and smells do wonders to remind you of home when you stumble across one in some far-away land, like Virginia or Dubai.

So what are the other choices? What else is out there?

We all know Krispy Kreme didn’t fare too well in the Boston area. Personally, the donuts are just too sweet for me. Like a tiny bit of dough coated in an entire sugar bowl.

Honey Dew. Meh. If there’s nothing else, and I really need a fix,they can suffice.

But if you head south to Rhode Island, west out to the other end of New York State, or of course up north to Canada, you will find another wonderful, amazing donut chain that can – at times – make you cry out in delight when you see one of them from the highway.

I’m talking about Tim Horton’s, a Canadian chain that has stolen my donut-loving heart. Light, fluffy Timbits (aka Munchkins to the Dunkin’ lover in all of us), tasty sandwiches on nice baguettes, and flavorful coffee that lives up to their motto toujours frais – “always fresh.”

This morning, I drove a little over an hour to Woonsocket, Rhode Island to see if they lived up the expectations I had built up in visits to shops in Toronto, Toledo, and Rochester, and, mm-mm, did they ever.

I will always be a fan of DD, but a piece of my heart now belongs to TH.

complete-your-draft (YA) contest!

Today is the last day to enter the second annual CYD contest for Young Adult manuscripts, hosted by annemariewrites on livejournal:

http://annemariewrites.livejournal.com/45428.html

She’s got a ton of cool prizes, plus the additional incentive of having a finished draft at the end of the month. Word requirement for the month of September is 25,000. Totally doable! (assuming you have something started of course)

Happy writing!

book review: Secret Keeper (Mitali Perkins)

I’ve been meaning to read some books by Mitali Perkins for a while, since she is an active and helpful member of the New England SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators), and since I am always interested in books with an international flavor.

I started with Secret Keeper, an amazing young adult novel set in Calcutta, India, in the 1970s. The heroine, Asha, is at once steeped in her life in India, and desperate to escape. She is strong and sympathetic, and you can tell that there has got to be something great in store for her, even though everything is pointing to the opposite. Without spoiling the ending for anyone, she gets both her shares of joys and disappointments, including some absolutely heart-wrenching disappointments, told with absolute authenticity.

Mitali’s beautiful writing, along with her interesting insights to life in India as a teenage girl, made this book a page-turner for me – I breezed through it in just two evenings.

I can’t wait to read more of her books! So excited about the launch of Bamboo People in a couple of weeks!

alexander kemp playground (cambridge)

If you happen to be in the Boston area, and want to visit one of the most unique (and awesome!) playgrounds around, head on over to the Alexander Kemp playground on Cambridge Common. Easily accessible from the red line (Harvard stop), take a quick stroll through the park to see:

where Washington gathered his men
the golden horseshoes memorializing William Dawes’ ride
a memorial to Irish famine victims

Next you’ll probably pass by several patches of students hanging out, playing games etc., and then finally you’ll make it to the playground.

Even before entering the gate, you’ll notice from the outside that this playground looks a little different from the ubiquitous primary-colored plastic slides and swings you see in most modern playgrounds.

These things inside here seem to be made of wood and ropes and – almost too crazy to believe – real trees.

There’s a wooden boat climbing structure that actually feels like a boat, woven swings and a circular merry-go-round that can accommodate a wheelchair. Best of all for the tiny tots, there is a series of metal troughs where you can regulate the flow of water from pumps above to spouts below, along with a huge sandy area with buckets and pulleys, and there are large wooden blocks and a conveyor belt to move them.

I’ve read some articles about the dangers of this park – sure, someone could get hurt (clocked in the head with a block, or falling off the top of the boat they scaled), so it definitely makes you stay close to your little one(s), which – the other downside – can be hard to do when it is teeeeming with people on a beautiful summer day. But it is so beautiful and rewarding that it is totally worth it.

Ah, and a tip: bathing suits for the little ones so they don’t get their clothes soaked/filthy when they sit in a trough and then in the sand. Not that something like that happened to one of my children! Er, um, yeah …

a visit to dubai

A few months ago, I had the chance to hop over for Dubai for two weeks for work. Who was I to say no? I’m always up for going someplace new.

And now that I’ve been there, everyone’s been asking me, “Dubai! So what was it like?”

My reply is generally, “It was … interesting,” followed by any number of details, depending on the audience:

It was perfect weather in January – sunny and 85 degrees pretty much every day (in the summer, apparently not so nice, unless you like it hot-hot-hot).
Amaaaaazing souks, with just about any beautifully exotic trinkets you could want: scarves, spices, shirts, jasmine perfume (my favorite!), and tons of gold jewelry. You can definitely get some deals if you know how to bargain.
Delicious food, especially Indian, Pakistani, and Moroccan. Not exactly the best places for the squeamish as far as cleanliness of eating establishments goes, but you can test out your stomach of iron here.
No alcohol. No kidding.
My co-workers and I were pretty much the only women we saw out on the streets. And I couldn’t figure out where the kids go to play – didn’t see a single playground.
All that half-finished construction makes it feel a bit like a ghost town. Besides the Burj Dubai towering over the rest, there are dozens of other high-rises downtown, but it sure looks odd when you get up closer and see that so many of them aren’t close to done, and that they are surrounded by abandoned cranes. Will they ever be finished?

Let’s face it – it’s this last point that makes current-day Dubai so distinctive. Several articles have been written about the high level of bankruptcies and desertions, and the sad state some of the guest workers are in – who came there to work and are now stuck there, many without work. Seeing all those empty and unfinished buildings definitely hits it home, since these signs of the economy’s downturn here are too big to hide.

best croissants in boston

I’m always skeptical when I hear from someone that this or that bakery actually has real croissants, like they have in this little place called France.

So far I’ve only come across one place that meets that bill in Boston, and, well, I haven’t come across any others in other parts of the US. Please shout out if you’ve found one somewhere, and I’d be happy to try it out (road trip!).

First off, you can rule out grocery store bakeries, even those like the unique Trader Joe’s, which has many delicious things, but not authentic croissants.

I heard about a couple of bakeries in Arlington that supposedly had European-style croissants, but they just didn’t do it for me:

Quebrada: good butter ratio, but too dense and heavy, more like a flaky roll than a croissant
Bella Moto: nice and flaky, but waaay too much butter – these things were greasy!

Nope, there’s still only one place for me, even though it often means waiting in a long line outside of the store on a cold or rainy day. Clear Flour in Brookline, right over the border from Allston: http://www.clearflourbread.com/

Oh … my … God … get me some of those croissants!

soni yoga (cambridge)

Found my new yoga home!

Last year, I tried out and liked a Community Yoga class for only $5 in Davis Square (Somerville), but they are now called Samara Yoga and don’t have that dirt-cheap weekly class anymore. It still sounds like a cool place, and I’d probably go back if I lived in the neighborhood: http://samarayogastudio.com/

But since I also wanted to find something a little closer to home, I started poking around and stumbled on some reviews of this place in Huron Village, my favorite neighborhood in Cambridge: http://www.soniyoga.com/

So I went there and tried out the Hatha for Women class, and holy cow, was it amazing! Soni, the studio’s owner, was the teacher, and she was there to meet and greet the students, including me and one or two other first-timers. They recommend on their website that you get there early, both for the parking situation, and because they actually close the doors before class starts so it’s not disruptive to those on time, and I was glad I had followed the advice, so I had some time to settle in and pick a good spot.

They loan out mats, blocks, straps, and blankets, and there is beautiful hardwood flooring, low lighting, and a very subtle scent of incense in the background. One of the reviewers mentioned that they designed the space without the typical huge mirror, and I have to agree that although it had seemed odd at first, I was totally fine without it. It was good to concentrate on feeling instead of seeing the poses.

I’ve done a fair bit of yoga at home, and some in classes, and I was pleased to feel like I actually got a real workout, both for body and mind. Granted, it was like 90 degrees on the evening I took the class, but it broke a sweat on me, and I hardly ever sweat. At the same time, it was also relaxing and refreshing, so it was the perfect match for me.

Soni has a radiant smile and demeanor, and is an excellent teacher. I will definitely be taking a class there again. Now to find a babysitter …

Tortilla Española

Every time I make a tortilla, I am amazed how six of the most simple ingredients in the world can come together to become something so delicious. All it takes is:

potatoes (3 large)
eggs (8 large)
onion (about 2/3 of a medium-sized one)
garlic (1 large clove)
olive oil
salt

Not only is it made up from simple ingredients, but it’s pretty quick and super-easy to prepare. The only challenging part is the flipping. We’ll get to that in a minute. The first thing to do is to prepare the potatoes. Peel and wash them, and then cut into small thin slices. With a large potato, cut it in half lengthwise, and then cut each half in half lengthwise (so you have 4 long quarters), and then just start slicing away.

Start heating up a pot of olive oil on high temperature when you start slicing the potatoes, so that it’s hot and ready as soon as the potatoes are. The oil has to be deep enough to cover the potatoes, so make sure your pot is deep enough. Get all the potatoes in the pot, and then carefully scrape the bottom of the pot so that things don’t start sticking right away. You’ll need to do that every few minutes to make sure all your slices are evenly cooked and that none of them are sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Once they’re on the stove, dice your onion and finely chop your garlic. Your’re ready for your nonstick frying pan now. The size of the pan is important here too – I use a 10-inch pan, which is perfect for an 8-egger with the proportions listed above. Grab about 2 tablespoons of olive oil from your potato pot (reuse, recycle), and coat the bottom of your frying pan, and set it on medium-high heat. Throw in the onion and garlic, and just give the pan a shake every now and then to make sure it’s not burning. Don’t forget about checking on the potatoes!

Things are starting to come together now, so it’s time to prepare the last 2 ingredients. Crack your 8 eggs into a large bowl, beat them with a wisk, and then add a good heaping teaspoon of salt. This is a little hard to judge at first, since you can’t taste it in the raw eggs, and you can definitely adjust to taste the next tortilla you make, so make a not of how much you put in if you are the sort who measures.

By now, the potatoes and onions/garlic should be done, so carefully spoon them all into the egg mixture (use a straining spoon for the potatoes so you don’t take the whole pot of oil with you), and stir up your mixture a bit before pouring it into the pan.

Add another 2 tablespoons of your potato-oil into your frying pan, and then pour everything right in. Give it a stir or two with a wooden spoon and then pat it down to settle it into a good position. It should still move slightly at the edges when you give it a little shake – this will be important for the flipping. Start it off on medium-high heat, and then reduce it to medium once you flip.

And the flip! This is pretty much the only time when you can mess up your tortilla, so good luck! Once you start to see browning at the edges or smell cooked potatoes, you know it’s time to flip. You’ll need a fairly light plate that is the same diameter as your frying pan to cover the pan. Place the plate over the pan, and flip the tortilla right onto the plate. If all went well, you can place the pan back on the stove, add a bit more oil if you have a free hand, and then slide in the flipped tortilla, uncooked side down in the pan.

However, there are times when things can go terribly wrong:

You could get burned by the pan, oil, or tortilla. To avoid this, you can place a towel on the top of the arm holding the plate. It definitely helps with minor accidents.
Tortilla on floor, stove, or everywhere. Sigh. This happens to everyone from time to time, especially if you are on the tiny side and your tortilla is heavy. To avoid this, you can ask a bigger friend to help you out. This is the one part I ask my Spanish husband to help me out with often. Additionally, you can normally repair missing chunks of tortilla by sliding them back into the pan underneath the main chunk of tortilla.
Huge chunks of tortilla on floor, stove, or everywhere. If the above doesn’t help, you can quickly beat up another egg and use it as glue to pull the chunks you’ve gathered back together in the pan. Obviously this should only be attempted if you have a very clean stove or floor, or if you don’t really like the people you’ve invited over.

¡Buen provecho!

a coffee addict’s dream

If you find yourself in Spain with a hearty coffee addiction, you will feel like you’ve finally come home.

To begin with, the sheer number of coffee varieties will amaze and astound. I’m not talking about the double-shot-grande-no-foam types of choices, but a panoply of completely different ways to transform a simple espresso into something magnificent. Choices include:

café solo (espresso – the simplest and sometimes most delicious choice)
café cortado (espresso cortado, or “cut” with milk)
café con leche (espresso with milk – similar to a latte, this is the typical breakfast drink in Spain)
café bonbon (espresso with sweetened condensed milk)
café del tiempo (espresso served over ice)

If for some terrible reason you must resign yourself to a decaffeinated coffee, never fear. Ask for a café descafeinado and when they ask you de máquina o de sobre (“from the machine or a packet”), make sure to request de máquina, and you might not even be able to tell the difference.

st. peter’s fiesta

A little bit about Gloucester …

First off, it’s pronounced GLAH-stah (and not GLAW-ches-ter or anything similarly ridiculous). Second, the city’s claims to fame are all closely linked to the sea. Gloucester is known as:

America’s oldest seaport
The home of the Gorton’s fisherman
The home base of the ship and crew of the Andrea Gail, lost in the Perfect Storm.

For residents of Gloucester, MA, the most important festival of the year occurs in late June: St. Peter’s Fiesta, honoring the patron saint of fishermen.

If you want to spend some peaceful time strolling along the Boulevard overlooking the harbor or contemplating the city’s rich history or surrounding natural beauty, then don’t go during fiesta.

Events include religious activities, such as a procession, Mass, and the blessing of the boats. To lighten up the mood, there is also a whole lot of craziness.

Starting with one of the craziest things ever imagined, you can’t make it through fiesta without witnessing the Greasy Pole Contest off Pavilion Beach in the harbor.

All year long, the wooden platform in the harbor just off the beach stands there menacing with an attached telephone pole hanging out parallel to the water below. This is not just any pole, but the infamous Greasy Pole.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings during fiesta, hundreds of locals and tourists line the Boulevard, the beach, and the side streets to catch a glimpse of the contest. From a distance, you can see the thick coat of grease slathered over the top of the pole.

Boatloads of eager young men are ferried over to the platform, where they crowd for a space while waiting their turn to try and capture the flag at the end of the pole. Once the contest begins, cheers and cries erupt from the crowd, as some of the contestants run, slide, or crash various body parts into the pole on their way down to the water below.

If that isn’t exciting enough, there is also the thrill of watching the Seine boat races or riding on any of the various amusement part rides.

As for food, you can find just about the best festival food anywhere here. Everything smells soooo good, from the chocolate-covered fried dough to the sausage and peppers to the chicken parm. And once you’re clogged up with enough grease, they have delicious slushies in really great flavors like watermelon, mmm.

It’s definitely a must-see if you happen to be up in Gloucester in June, but don’t worry, the craziness is still there the rest of the year too. Just remember the famous line from The Perfect Storm: “They’re always from Gloucester …”

Yep, they sure are.