Moon Brine Pickles

Presenting Moon Brine all natural pickles! Previously handcrafted and sold in Boston for seven years before owner and pickle fanatic Stew Golomb transplanted the company headquarters to Portland, Oregon. I scored a jar of the Pretty Hot! (they also make a Super Dill!) variety thanks to my friend DeMane who is a good friend of Stews. There is no turning back now. Once you taste pickles this good - delightfully crisp, bright and crunchy, amazingly spicy and sour at the same time, you will only want to eat these pickles forever more. Moonbrine Pickles are fermented and brewed in small batches with no preservatives and are gluten free and fat free.The Pretty Hots pack a kick that's bold yet bearable and balance it out with all natural briny goodness. So good is the brine in fact that its highly encouraged to prepare anything from cocktails to salad dressing, short of drinking it straight from the jar. I personally prefer to add a little vodka to mine for The Pickletini. Simply combine one parts Moon Brine with two parts vodka. Shake over ice and serve straight up garnished with a pickle slice.

 I spent my weekend celebrating a birth announcement with friends at Delux. We're a tight knit group with interesting senses of humor....

I spent the latter half with some of my favorite extended family as this weekend marks the annual trip my sister and I make to Granby, Connecticut. My cousin Meg owns a Dance and Theater Company and the performance this year featured choreographed dances and musical theater inspired by cities across the world! I didn't take pictures to do our time there justice but let's just say I still wish I was sipping mimosas on this lawn in the sunshine.

P.S. Don't forget the pickles.

P.P.S Happy National Hamburger Month! The Daisy Burger graces the menu at The Four Seasons today - for one day only. Looking forward to seeing some of you there tonight!

All We Need is Love

Road Trip! I love adventure weekends.

Sometimes it's nice to get out of the city and it's always nice to see family. I have LOTS of family. This Connecticut trip my sister and I were visiting my Dad's older brothers family; my Uncle Steve and Aunt Donna, whose kids are Jen, Amy, Billy, and Meg. Though none of them are actually kids anymore. Between Jen, Amy, Billy and their spouses, they have 10 kids of their own! The oldest is 18 and the youngest are 2 year old twins. Meg has over 100 "kids" whom she teaches dance at her company: Nutmegs Dance & Theater Co. This includes some of the 10 kids referenced above (her nieces and nephews, my second cousins.) We were lucky enough to score tickets (awesome seats, thanks Jen!) to the Company's Saturday evening sold out performance of "All We Need is Love."
Besides the obvious, teaching dance, Meg is the artistic director / choreographer / mastermind behind it all. However, each family member plays an integral role in putting on the show. They have been coming together to make this magical event happen every year since 2003.
The choreography was absolutely incredible. The songs and costumes were so much fun. The dancing was spectacular. From the two year old twins in their first stage performance, to the younger girls carefree numbers like "Escapade" (Janet Jackson) & "Send me on My Way"(Rusted Root), followed by a Hairspray Medley that fills my heart right up (something about the motion of the ocean and the rain from above that puts a huge smile on my face every time.) There were some intense Bollywoods, some moving contemporary pieces, and the older girls lit up the stage in Broadway numbers like "You Make My Dreams" (Hall & Oates) and "Don't Stop Believin" (GLEE). The younger boys had a rockin "Bye Bye Bye" ('NSYNC) hip-hop routine and there was even a re-staged "Put a Ring On It" (Beyonce) number staring Nutmeg herself. There were all those and so so many more amazing dances! The finale had the Senior boys and eventually the whole company dancing to Thriller. I was hooked from beginning to end, awed and inspired. All interested parties can get their fill of DANCE via my facebook album.
The wrap party was held at Rome's Place where much to my amazement, some of the girls who just put on a 3 hour performance, continued dancing till the wee hours of the night. These kids eat sleep and breathe dance. I think it is awesome. I ate some fresh veggies, delish homemade pizza, some fried dough, and we drank Coronas.

I had a blast catching up with my older cousins and enjoying the continued dance performances by my younger (second) cousins and their friends. We spent the night at Rome Farm where Jen + Rob own a Farmhouse and multiple barns on 40 acres of land. I love it here. Enjoy the tour!

We spent a lot of time here with our little cousins Frankie, Alexis, Haley and Jackson as kids. Leah and I didn't want to leave Granby but after a few more hours of visiting we knew it was time to hit the road. We made a smart move and stopped at Target for gallons of water. In CT we didn't have to fight anyone for these! The Weston water main break has left oh just about 2 million of us in Boston and surrounding communities without clean water. Should be an interesting week!