Category Archives: dining out

Event Recap: Spoonful of Ginger

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My love of ginger is well documented here, here, and here. I constantly refer to my love of it – the sharp flavor, the spicy finish, the texture, ginger is just a flavor I can’t get enough of. So, of course, when an invite came through my email for A Spoonful of Ginger, the annual benefit for Joslin Diabetes Center to raise money for their Asian American Diabetes Initiative, I said yes.

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Spoonful of Ginger is a wonderful event – held at the MFA, this event is gorgeously laid out and endears itself to me even more just by it’s location.  The MFA is a lovely spot and so many wonderful chefs and people came out in their finest.  It was a remarkable evening and I can’t recommend attendance highly enough. Pictured in this post are just few of the outstanding nibbles I tried at the event – everything was wonderfully prepared and had that perfect ginger bite.

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I was invited to attend Spoonful of Ginger free of charge, but all opinions listed here are my own.

Dining Out: Treat Cupcake Bar

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Last week I was invited to try out a Treat Cupcake Bar cupcake party with the Boston Brunchers.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I am not the biggest fan of the “Cupcake trend” that’s been pseudo-taking over recently. And Treat is not the most convenient of places to get to, but the party – was FUN. I loved being able to go and play with frostings and candies and fondant (note: I LOATHE fondant) with out having to make all of those ingredients myself.  The party was very streamlined from decorating cupcake boxes, to decorating aprons, to decorating cupcakes everything lead into itself in a very smooth way. I thought Treat’s cupcakes were fine in flavor and texture but the experience was SO MUCH FUN. I would totally set this up as a kid’s party, with mini cupcakes though – the ones we left with were HUGE (and there were six of them!). You can learn more about Treat parties here.

This Baby.

This Baby

This cupcake party was provided free of charge by Treat Cupcake Bar in exchange for this post.  All opinions here are my own.  I did receive six cupcakes but gave one to my cabbie on the way home, as a thanks.

Dining-Out: Common Ground, Allston

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Common Ground Sweet Potato SoupI cast a fairly critical eye on everything. Yeah I eat out fairly regularly but I don’t do so lightly. BF makes most of our income right now which means that I’m (we’re) extremely tightfisted with spending. For me to put the effort in to go out on my own dime the food has to wow me. Common Ground did not. I could see what Common Ground wanted to do, I could even appreciate it, but I found their food to be mediocre at best and a tad pricey. In essence I wasn’t a fan. I enjoyed the very first taste, Sweet Potato soup (not too sweet and still solidly filling and creamy) and that was pretty much it. They also whipped cream perfectly – which is something I always look for, so kudos to that. For a more comprehensive grasp of my feelings on Common Ground check out this review of the brunch and lunch that the restaurant offers.

I was provided a full six course tasting menu by Common Ground in Allston free of charge. I was not compensated in any way to write this post. I really did find the food totally unremarkable.