Boston Busy Girlz

Brunch and a stroll

While you may have missed Lilac Sunday at the Arnold Arboretum, the lilacs are still out in full force in Jamaica Plain and this weekend is supposed to be beautiful. JP also has some wonderful places for brunch so my suggestion if you are not going away for the long weekend: Brunch and a stroll in JP.

Here are my suggestions:

Centre Street Cafe - there is always a very long line on Sunday mornings for brunch but it is absolutely worth it. Fresh, surprising (but not weird) dishes that are as big as your head. Come hungry!

Bon Savor - small place on the corner of Centre and Pond street with a basic array of french toast, pancakes, and omelets.

Cafe D - One of JP's favorite bistros - a little more high end than the average JP local but cool atmosphere and tasty food.

Doyle's - old style Irish pub. I can't vouch for their brunch but they do have it.  Bangers and mash anyone?

My Favorite Cookbook

A good cookbook is worth millions.  So many are too simple, too complicated, too gourmet, too esoteric, too ethnic, too bland... it's very hard to find just the right mix.  And while my right mix may not be yours, Ellen Helman writes wonderful cookbooks under the brand of "The Uncommon Gourmet". 

I like her recipes because:

• I can find all of the ingredients at my local store
• There are typically less than 10 ingredients
• All the recipes are well laid out, written - and they fit on one page
• The recipes add just a bit of the unexpected, making the dishes much more interesting than your old standbys but not any more difficult to make

That, and many other fine cookbooks can be found at my favorite cookbook site, Jessica's Biscuit.

Frugal Yankee

Tripped across this site this morning which has some great information about New England, local humor, ideas for 'frugal' gifts and activities, recipes and more - all with great local flavor.

I particularly liked their page on 'The Savvy Consumer'

My Favorite Work Jackets

I travel out to San Francisco a lot - and I often shop when I go because there seems to be a wider variety of women's business casual clothes.  I splurged about a year ago on this great jacket that fit perfectly, was a neutral  color, but had  a lot of unique features.  Now I wear it all the time.  Any regret over the price is long forgotten.  I've since bought more jackets from the same designer.  Who is it?

Nanette Lepore

A dirty secret?  A colleague of mine gets her's one season old on eBay.  Now that's a strategy that I think I may copy.

Try it - you may get addicted.

Get Outside!

With everyone online all the time (I admit that this often describes me) we all need to get a first life.  But without a lot of planning or a couple of good local guide books it can be hard to just pick up and go.  L.L.Bean has a Park Search site that I love.  It allows me to filter by state, type of activity I'm interested in, and available services (important if you are towing a few kids who are likely to need food/bathrooms/distractions at random intervals).

While this weekend may not be the weekend to do it (will it stop raining already!), we all need reminders to get out and ways to find convenient and interesting places to explore. If you don't have the time to drive very far, a few suggestions for Bostonians:

- The Fells
- The Arnold Arboretum
- Blue Hills Reservation
- Community Boating
- Boston Harbor Islands
- The Minuteman Bikeway

If those are too much...take a walk by the Charles, around Fresh Pond in Cambridge, Jamaica Pond in Jamaica Plain, the Fenway...or hell take a ride on the Swan Boats but that may make you feel like a wimp! Regardless, in Boston there are few excuses to stay inside if you have a few minutes.

photo by Caro Sheridan

Photos, Photos, Everywhere

Now that many people have digital cameras and cameras are even invading or mobile devices, photos are everywhere.  Undoubtedly there are probably many that don't need to be kept but what about all those others?

Here are some of my favorite tools, depending on what you want to do with your pictures:

Photo storage & sharing: Flickr - I love that your friends (or anyone if you choose) can comment on your photos.  It's what we used to do anyway, sitting with friends and family and passing photos around.

Photo printing and photo gifts: Shutterfly - I love that it is now possible to publish your own picture books with commentary.  After being treated like royalty at an Indian wedding, I took my photos and made a gift for the bride's parents which was very well received and much better than if we had spend 5x the amount on some other gift.

Stock photography: iStockphoto - for $1-$20 (depending on the size) you can get stock photography for a graphics project, your blog, a presentation... I love it.

Online Presentation: Pagii - Do you love to scrapbook? Want to display your photos in a creative way for family and friends?  Pagii is like an online scrapbook that allows you to do all sorts of creative things with photos (the screenshot on this post is a Pagii page).