I stopped dead in my tracks as I walked towards Kenmore Square and saw that Fenway Park now has an enormous ramp dominating the skyline! It’s humongous (140 feet), and I had no idea at the time what it was for. Now I know that “Big Air at Fenway” is this week … a huge snowboarding and freeskiing event. This article explains it better than I can.
I had a few minutes before meeting Brian in Copley Square, so I snapped a handful of photos of the lovely Old South Church. It was that perfect hour as it’s getting dark but the sky is still a deep dark blue, and I loved how the one stained-glass window above the door splashed flecks of colored light on the arches above the door. Yes, it’s an artificially lit stained glass window, but it was perfect.
Liz hosted a party for her and Jen’s birthday a month late, and a bunch of old friends got together to play with the kids, play in the snow and decorate cupcakes 🙂
Friends got a new dining room table so we let them make a delicious bolognese pasta dinner for us to try out the new table. We’re such good friends.
I walked over the Mass Ave Bridge on my way to meet a friend.
I got lots of amazing Christmas presents, and here’s one of them …. my soon-to-be brother-in-law got me a Leaning Tower of Pisa to put together. I love little art projects like this, and it was really well-made so it was a lot of fun to put together!
The pasta maker is still set up on the counter so what was I supposed to do? I took a break from playing with my new coloring book to make butternut squash ravioli, and it was delicious!
We had a delightful New Year’s Eve with a few friends who are all planning to celebrate wonderful milestones in 2016! And it was lovely to see our friend’s mom … it had been too long
On the drive home, I took a handful of terrible photos that show the Prudential Tower lit up with ’16’. Welcome 2016!!
I love making butternut squash risotto, but you only need a little bit of butternut squash for that … what to do with the rest of the squash? I’ve been meaning to find a use for the hand-blender that’s taking up space in our pantry so I made my first butternut squash soup! I used a recipe that called for just the right amount of ginger, plus a dollop of sour cream to round out the flavors, and of course it needs to be garnished with cinnamon. Absolutely delicious!
Brian’s not a huge fan of pine nuts, but we both love basil, so I broke out the pasta maker for a batch of fresh fettuccine, and tried out a recipe for basil walnut pesto. Pretty good! Definitely nuttier and a grittier texture than a pine nut pesto, so it needed more olive oil. Might need to try cashews next …
The girls took a short break from playing with their Christmas presents to listen to Uncle Brian read a story.
We took Brian’s mom up to Salem to visit her old neighborhood, see the Peabody Essex Museum, and have a delicious lunch by the harbor!
On Christmas Eve, Brian took over the kitchen to make an incredible chicken pot pie for dinner, and a delicious bread pudding for dessert. He used to make his bread pudding all the time when he was younger, so his mom and sister were very pleasantly surprised to enjoy an old favorite dish!
We had a great view of Old South Church from an office in Back Bay
When we were in Halifax Nova Scotia recently, we learned about the reason that Halifax sends a ginormous Christmas tree to Boston every year, so this year, we decided to attend the annual Christmas Tree Lighting in Boston Common, with a gajillion other people.
In 1917, two ships collided in Halifax harbor, and since one was fully loaded with explosives, this caused the second largest man-made explosion in history. Since the city of Boston provided lots of support to the devastated city, they have been sending us a Christmas tree every year since.
A lot of people gathered on the Common for a festive Christmas concert, followed by an exciting countdown, the tree-lighting, lots of fireworks right near the big tree that seemed destined to start another explosion, and then a Christmas carol sing-a-long. It was a lot of fun 🙂
The best kind of dinner party is when your friends come over and make amazing food in your kitchen, and all you have to do is clean up 🙂
