02138.com blog

…Yes, there’s a smell emanating from West Cambridge, and it isn’t goats. But more later, after I look into it.

[Read more →]

Jody’s Lemon & Rosemary Chicken with herbs and garlic Haricots verts with kalamata olives and garlic sautéed in EVOO Heirloom tomatoes with local mozzarella [Fiore di Nonni] 2006 Jean-Luc Colombo Viognier “La Violette”

[Read more →]

[written 2009 July 31 Co-posted on the Per Diem blog] What is strange about produce shopping in France were all the apples available throughout the summer. I don’t know where they were coming from, as I didn’t buy anyway. My cling fruit juices were flowing as is appropriate. The pears were only barely beginning to […]

[Read more →]

The preponderance of the reviews here [on Yelp] appear to be from transients. This isn’t surprising as the neighborhood immediately surrounding The Biscuit is a haven for graduate students mainly from Harvard and Tufts. Though they’re smart enough, God knows, they make up for abundance of brains by a deficit of taste.

[Read more →]

Thanks to my friends Tse Wei and Diana, I got a little bit of heaven in the gritty wilds of Allston-Brighton.

[Read more →]

I keep forgetting to mention this. There’s a not so new any more fine culinary addition to the choices in Davis Square. It’s called Sagra and it’s Italian. http://www.sagrarestaurant.com/ I also want to say, thanks to Steve [Lipsey] for leading me there. The only other thing I want to say is: Gnocchi al sugo d’anatra*: […]

[Read more →]

Today’s NYTimes has 101 very quick (ten-minutes or less) “summer” meals (registration required to read NYTimes online)—one or two-line recipes—from Mark Bittman, the self-styled “Minimalist.” Basics are a necessity in the repertoire of anyone who makes any claim to being able to cook, but even the basics are elusive to a great many people. Bittman […]

[Read more →]

The local bakery, located just over the line in Somerville (zip code 02143), has changed its name. Originally “Toscanini & Son” (the first name change after the founding owners, who called their place Panini—yet didn’t sell sandwiches, even from their yeasty breads, until the very end of their tenure—sold to the present owners), the name […]

[Read more →]

While Linda and I were winding down our honeymoon in 1993 with a fare-saving detour to London (at her employer’s expense—we spent the honeymoon in Provence, and I groused about this callous interruption, but it did pay for her fare, at least to London and back, and gave us three days in a luxury hotel […]

[Read more →]