Becky's photoblog

When three of your cousins have all moved far away from home, and they’re all home at the same time, it’s a reason to throw a party! We drove out to State College, PA for a weekend filled with family, food, farm animals, fire … and bagels! We also got an architecture tour of Penn State from my cousin, an architect who graduated a few years ago.

Click here for more family photos (password protected)

Alex is learning how to make bagels and she’s gotten really good at it!

[Not a valid template]For the first time today, I tried a recipe that I found on Pinterest, and it was delicious! This recipe is perfect for a girl who loves avocados, and also loves creamy pasta sauces too much. What can I say? I was raised on mac & cheese! Creamy texture without actual cream … why didn’t I think of this? I have a few ideas for enhancing this recipe with rosemary tofu and sun-dried tomatos. More on that another time.

Click here to check out my For the Love of Pasta board on Pinterest and click here to visit the recipe for 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta on the Oh She Glows blog.

We spent the day in Deering, New Hampshire to visit the house that my aunt and uncle have right on Deering Lake. It rained for most of the day, so we spent most of the day playing games, but we decided not to let a little drizzle keep us from going out on the boat … even though it was windy and probably in the high 40s. We bundled up, and Captain John (right) gave us a tour of Deering Lake.

We also got to meet our newest cousin, Ted. Between Brian and me, three of our first cousins had babies this year, so we get to hang out with lots of adorable infants. This was Ted’s first time meeting several of his relatives, so we took lots of pictures.

Family and friends, please click here to see photos of Ted. The password is his middle name (all lowercase). 

After a long Spring semester and very long weeks leading up to Commencement, we took a much-needed getaway weekend on Cape Cod. Brian found a place in Falmouth (Sea Crest Beach Hotel at Old Silver Beach) which gave us exactly what we wanted: easy access to a quiet beach where we could sit and read and listen to the ocean. It was incredibly relaxing and refreshing!

Some of the photos below are from two churches that we saw while we were wandering around before an incredible dinner at the Glass Onion in Falmouth. We could hear the organist practicing as we got closer to St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, so we wandered around and discovered a beautiful little secret garden next to a chapel behind the church. There was no one else around and it was almost as if it appeared out of nowhere!

After a nice long Sunday morning reading on the beach with my coffee, we took a drive further down the Cape towards Chatham, passing through a memorable stretch of Rt 28 in Yarmouth where I’ve stayed a few times. Of all the little towns with cute little shops and galleries, Chatham is one of my favorites. We hit a few little gems – Yankee Ingenuity, Chatham Art Gallery – gazed longingly at the Impudent Oyster where we had an incredible meal last year, and then turned around and headed back to Boston.

Photos from our visit to Chatham in May 2012

Tons of delicious food for a wonderful Mother’s Day Brunch.

Also, here’s some photos from a very memorable Mother’s Day 2011, when we got our parents and grandparents together for the first time.

Snapped a quick picture of a really pretty flower in front of New Leaf, which is right next to Ten Tables where Merry and I celebrated our birthdays (2 days apart) together for the 20th time. The two of us and our boys had an incredible meal!

It was a madhouse at the MFA today. Gorgeous day, the semester’s almost over, the terrorists have been caught, the Samurai exhibit just opened, the Michelangelo exhibit just opened, and Art in Bloom is happening. For three days, gorgeous floral displays are placed throughout the galleries near the work of art that they were designed to be displayed with. They’re absolutely gorgeous, and it draws a huge crowd. In fact, I left just as a huge school group was arriving.

If I could have avoided the crowds, I would have, but I couldn’t wait another day to see Michelangelo’s drawings. Usually, I miss out on seeing Art in Bloom because I would rather avoid the crowds, but this year, I was right there with all of the other ladies oohing and aahing and taking pictures. The flowers were gorgeous, but my favorite shot from this group is the one on the right. The pattern created by the shadows of well-lit flowers, juxtaposed with the tile pattern of the fireplace behind it, took my breath away.

I learned a long time ago that when Mel has a good idea, you should just let her run with it. She wanted to host a family-dinner style potluck because friends and comfort-food are exactly what we needed after a crazy week of bombs and lockdowns. So she invited a bunch of people to our house, and everyone brought deliciousness, and it was awesome.

[Not a valid template]Every year, the Gardner Museum’s talented gardeners grow long vines of nasturtiums and hang these bright orange beauties in Mrs. Gardner’s gorgeous courtyard. Why? Because Mrs. Gardner did it, and it’s a wonderful tradition that the museum keeps up. It’s not Spring in Boston without the nasturtiums or the return of the Red Sox. These delicate flowers will hopefully hang in the courtyard until the annual celebration of Mrs. Gardner’s birthday on April 14th.

No photography is Isabella’s palace, but her brand new greenhouse in the new wing is fair game.

Passover 2013:

Click here for my photoblog entries from

• Passover 2012
• Passover 2011
• Passover 2010
• Passover 2009
• Passover 2008 1st night and 2nd night

[Not a valid template]A year after our wedding, we can look back and honestly say that we would not have done anything differently. Our wedding weekend was truly joyful, and we returned to the Hyatt Harborside to celebrate our first anniversary and enjoy those wonderful memories. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and breakfast at the Harborside Grill, and we still can’t get enough of that spectacular view! Brian’s family surprised us with a delicious antipasto platter and a bottle of champagne, which was a really sweet treat.

Brian planned a wonderful surprise of his own. He ordered a mini-version of our wedding cake from the bakery where our wedding cake was from, and we picked it up on our way to my parents’ house. He tried to get the bakery to decorate our cake with the same leafy design as our wedding cake, but it didn’t work out quite as he had planned. Instead, it was even better. They frosted the cake with the leaves of two full trees meeting in the middle. We had lunch with my family, and shared the cake with them.

Click here to see Maureen’s wonderful video slide-show from our wedding.

Not a bad way to start a Saturday …
I volunteered this morning at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the light pouring in to the greenhouse was absolutely gorgeous.

Look at this beautiful creature …

Trying a little experiment — this is pasta dough with herbs and spices mixed in
(salt, pepper, garlic and my favorite Italian seasonings grinder). It smelled amazing!

Now we’re getting somewhere … and I’m getting pretty hungry

You gotta love a machine that does its job perfectly every time, without being plugged in to a socket

Until we get one of those fancy drying racks, the backs of chairs will have to do.

An hour later, into the pot they go. Did I mention how wonderful this smelled?

Seasoned pasta with butter and parmesan cheese. Success!!

Who was I kidding when I considered giving up chocolate for lent? My sweetie and I shared a brownie with caramel, chocolate sauce, chocolate covered pretzels, and salted caramel ice cream for Valentines Day

Melissa decided that she wanted to bake, and we there is no better excuse than that to throw a party! Mel spent the afternoon in our kitchen making the house smell amazing, and then a lot of wonderful people came over to eat!

Spinach noodles in peanut sauce with garlic, onions, carrots, chicken and my newest favorite ingredient, ginger

My mom makes the best latkes in the world 🙂

To celebrate Other Becky’s birthday, we visited a few of our favorite bars in JP. This is the gorgeous Christmas tree at James’s Gate, and my sangria at Canary Square.

I think this might be the start of a series. How gorgeous is this tree?

Brendan’s sister and her friend were in town during Canadian Thanksgiving, so they went all out 🙂

Finally found a moment this week to stop and smell the roses. Or whatever flower this is.

[Not a valid template]We spent the weekend at Cedar Lakes Estate in Port Jervis, NY for my cousin’s wedding. I didn’t get any good shots at the wedding (other than the shot on the right of the lovely table centerpiece), but we got a handful of lovely shots as we wandered around and explored the lake and the beautiful fall foliage.

Photo by Brian

Four friends out to dinner on a Friday night, after a very very long week = four incredible desserts. Fancy chocolate mouse, brown butter tart, hazelnut cheesecake and … I forget the rest. It was amazing!

[Not a valid template]Photography is permitted on the first floor of the Gardner Museum‘s new wing, and I finally got around to snapping a few of my own photos. I have a ways to go because the new wing is gorgeous, but let’s start with the greenhouse. The first thing I see every time I arrive at the Gardner Museum is the new greenhouse. The flowers for the museum’s signature courtyard used to be grown and cared for at an off-site greenhouse, but one of the many gems of the new wing is an onsite greenhouse, complete with a greenhouse classroom for teaching school groups about Isabella’s gardens. And my favorite, purple orchids.

[Not a valid template] Another groupon, another important item checked off my list. To honor the national holiday that is Mel’s birthday, we had afternoon tea and scones at a fancy cafe on Newbury Street (using a groupon).

Before that, we played tourists in our own city and crossed yet another item off my list — we visited a Boston landmark: King’s Chapel. Mel used to work at King’s Chapel, one of Boston’s oldest churches, so she knew the inside scoop, but she had never been on an ‘official’ tour. Only recently, they have started offering a special tour called ‘Bells and Bones’ — up to the bell tower and down to the crypt. I probably should have asked a few more questions to get a better idea of what I was in for, but instead I decide to follow along. First we went down to what is possibly the creepiest basement in Boston. Dead Bostonians in bricked-up vaults partially blocked by filing cabinets, rubbermaid bins of office supplies, clothing racks with Christmas pageant costumes and stacks of broken antique chairs. Also, it was extremely warm. Then, up a few flights of steep stairs to yet another flight of steeper darker dirtier stairs to the refreshing cool breeze of the belltower and a 2437 lbs. bell cast in 1860 by King’s Chapel parishioner Paul Revere.

Then we sat down for a nice cup of tea.

[Not a valid template]This lovely lady just moved in with this handsome gent. We have a scheduling conflict for their housewarming party, so we spent the afternoon visiting them in New Hampshire. It’s hard to see your friends once or twice a year when you used to see them all the time, but if it’s seven hours or not at all, then I’ll take it! I’ve known her 22 years longer than I’ve known him, and we all got along like old friends. How great is that?

We were originally planning to help them with a project, but it was way too hot to work, so instead we ate all afternoon — starting with incredible cheese samples at Grafton Village Cheese Company. My friends really know me 🙂

I had a groupon for a Cape Ann Whale Watch, and we used that as an excuse for an incredibly pleasant daytrip to the beautiful town of Gloucester, MA (click to see google map). One of the many things I love about living in Massachusetts is that there are gorgeous vacation spots right under our noses. Gloucester is right on the ocean, and the weather was picture-perfect.

First, we wandered around Rocky Neck, one of American’s oldest artist colonies. I went to art school, so I have some idea of what it’s like to be surrounded by artsy-types. This is much different. These are serious and talented artists running cozy galleries, and living the good life in quaint houses with incredible views.

Then, we crossed an item off of our list by visiting the Sargent House Museum. The house was built for Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820), who was (among many other things), the great-grand-aunt of John Singer Sargent (one of the few artists that Brian and I can truly agree on). The house was lovely and the tour guide really knew her stuff, but we had to duck out before the tour was over because the whales were waiting.

We boarded the Hurricane II, and enjoyed the views, the wind and the salty air as we headed out to visit the whales. It was such a clear day that we could see Boston in the distance the whole time we were out there. Brian actually listened as the guide taught us about the different whales that we saw, so you’ll have to ask him. I just wanted to see something you don’t see every day — an animal so huge that it reminds you how small we are, in its natural habitat, an ocean so huge it reminds you of how little we know.

After the whale watch, we decided to take a little drive and ended up in Rockport, MA (click for google map), another great town with lots of galleries, cute shops and beautiful views. After some wandering, it was time to find some dinner. We had just stopped in to a small restaurant to try their chowder and their seating area was crammed with picnic benches and loud children. That’s exactly what I didn’t want for dinner, and I was getting frustrated with the tiny keyboard on my phone, searching among an overwhelming array of local options. So Brian said “let’s just try this place” and we walked in to the restaurant across the street.

I can’t say this enough: we are two incredibly lucky and fortunate people. The hostess at Brackett’s Oceanview Restaurant apologetically offered us the last available table at the restaurant – a tiny, out of the way, private room with a big window. The table was perfect, the room was perfect, the view was perfect, my drink was perfect, the fried seafood was perfect, the lobster ravioli was perfect and my husband is perfect.

Then we walked off dinner on Pier Avenue, just in time to catch a beautiful sunset over Sandy Bay.