Light 'em up!

Salem will be hosting its annual Christmas Tree Bonfire on Thursday, January 8 at 6pm at Dead Horse Beach off the road to Salem Willows. Free hot chocolate, music and a public burning! Fun for the whole family

You can drop off your tree (sans lights and ornaments) starting January 2 at DHB, or leave it for curbside pickup which also begins that day.

Rain/snow date is the following day, Friday, January 9 and if you have any questions you can get in touch with Ellen Talkowsky, Special Projects Coordinator at 978-745-9595 ext. 5676

Light 'em up!

Find Local Cheap Gas Online!

Noticed this today at Salemnews.com. Find the cheapest local gas around town.

Happy New Year!

Find Local Cheap Gas Online!

Sad Sign of the Times

Christmas Eve, Chris and I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and make the pilgrimage to Edaville Railroad in Carver MA and in the course of the 2.5 hour drive I think I heard variations on the term "difficult economic times" approximately every 45 seconds. Still, nothing brings it home like a store you walk by almost every day suddenly going out of business.

New Civilitea on Derby Street in Salem send out an email blast last night stating that it would be shutting its doors on New Years Eve for good. (Except for a brief inventory sale)

I tried to stick to my guns this year, and only shop in Salem,but if I had to get something and was certain that I could only find it at the mall then I'd get behind the wheel. I tried it couple of times but it was so depressing that I came home before I was done and spent the rest of the evening worried I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Picture a recently laid-off car salesman launching into an obscenity-laced tirade on his cell phone next to a long line of exhausted kids strung out on candy canes waiting to see Santa while some food-court queen storms out of Belden's Jewelers screaming at her boyfriend that she's really going to get that restraining order "this time" and you get the idea.

Shopping in Salem is actually fun. Most of the stores are staffed by the business owner and/or their family and it's almost like shopping in some country where it's traditional to welcome a customer like a long-lost relative. People discuss their vacation plans with you while they ring up your items and then ask if you are related to someone they know when they see the name on your debit card. I actually had a Hallmark Movie moment when I had driven to three different chain stores in a quest for a real christmas tree stand and been told by three different sad-looking men with Santa hats and nametags that they were sold out. I noticed a little garden store on 107 called Highland Gardens and not only did they have tree stands in spades, but a life-sized animatronic Santa that actually wasn't as creepy as it sounds.

Just to make conversation while my card was being approved, I asked if they were open year round and next thing I knew, the owner was proudly describing her part-time geneaology business followed by a brief rundown of her family history back to the Mayflower. I almost expected her to whip out a PowerPoint presentation. I had been stressing out over what to get my mother for Christmas and as she talked on, she reminded me of the way my mother could go on about her family for hours if you let her. I realized that the only thing holding her back from the book she was always hinting about was the fact that she didn't have a computer to type it into. So I did the "Gift Ticket" thing and promised to transcribe her stories that she would write up and add family photographs.

Despite the crappy weather and trying to complete three projects at once for various clients, I did manage to get out and get some last minute shopping done the day after Christmas and since my dad's a tea freak, I stopped into New Civilitea and found his entire gift there. I even grabbed one of their cards to put into a tin of color-coded tea-timers since he comes up here quite a bit. Maybe the spartan appearance of the store should have tipped me off, but it always looked really spare which is why I liked it in the first place. Once you become so surgically attached to a large Graco stroller that your friends don't recognize you without it, it tends to limit your shopping to places that can accommodate its wide displacement. This ruled out stores with narrow aisles crammed with tchotchkes. So, I'll miss this store and my 2009 resolution is to keep buying as local as I can so I don't get any more of those depressing emails.

Sad Sign of the Times

In With The New, Recycle the Old: Part 1

Life Hacker published an article about melting down crayon bits and pieces to make new ones with a double boiler fashioned from an old tin can and silicon triangular ice trays. Not a bad idea. When everyone in my family asked what to get my daughter for Christmas, I said "art stuff" thinking that it's the type of thing that's broad enough for her to get a good variety of stuff and doesn't sound greedy. So now we have about 6 sets of various types of "washable" markers and "mess-free" poster paints scattered around the house, but at least everything's a pretty color.

Also, if you have a girl and she received any sort of doll, chances are high it came cocooned in a few dozen industrial sized twist-ties. Don't throw them away! They make great A) Computer cable/AV cable-tamers B) Closures for bags of beans/sugar/pasta and C) Climbing plant tethers

In With The New, Recycle the Old: Part 1

Google.org Launches Site To Track Flu

As reported on the BBC's website, Google.org has compared billions of searches that occurred over the years during various flu outbreaks and developed a way to triangulate what is breaking out where based on search data. (Sounds like fun, no?)

Anyway, Flu season is here, kids are snuffling everywhere like bloodhounds, every other parent I know has some kind of cold going on and a couple have had sinus infections, so at least this could help you determine if you have to wear the bunnysuit to to the grocery store.

Google Blog Article

Google Blog Article On An Arenavirus That Could Turn Your Hair Gray

Who Is Sick.org (another sniffle-tracker)

(Thanx to Modern Mechanix for the photo!)

Google.org Launches Site To Track Flu

Shop Local: Cornerstone Books

1) They have hot drinks, baked goods and a fireplace.

2) They will honor Barnes and Noble coupons.

3) They sell their own gift cards.

4) They also have an online retail store.

There's also a great kid's corner and no matter how crazy my toddler acts, I never get the "look" from the staff.

Shop Local: Cornerstone Books

Mantis Sighting!

-Right here at the Gonyea Park playground! The warm weather seems to have confused some of the local insect life. We currently have a resident fly that seems to have Alzheimer's slowly buzzing around the house. I almost considered keeping the mantis as a pet to catch insects, but our cat might not want any more affection competition!

Mantis Sighting!

Shop Local for Christmas! 5 Reasons

1. You'll save on gas.
2. You won't run the risk of giving "that special someone" a gift that looks like anything but.
3. No hours wasted sitting in traffic, finding a decent parking spot and then waiting in line.
4. It will keep your local economy going strong.
5. It's more fun!

I tried doing this last year and had a great time finding comics for my niece and nephew at Harrison's (who else would be able to recommend non-naughty age appropriate but not brain-mushing manga?). Some other good places:

Derby Bookstore
Cornerstone Books
Pamplemousse
Bunghole Liquors (fun t-shirts)
PEM Gift Shop

Shop Local for Christmas! 5 Reasons

Pardon the Witches!

And by that, I don't mean just that drunk chick and her friends in the glittery witch hats with the price tags still on 'em. I mean the group in Great Britain that is seeking to gain an official pardon for all the hundreds of people that were executed over the years for various completely ridiculous reasons.

Pardon the Witches!

Vida Local: todo el año!

In Season, a locally sourced grocery delivery service, has a great blog with a lot of useful articles and recipes featuring locally produced comestibles. I read this post about eating locally all year today and it helps cheer one up on a dark, cold October day. (makes the foliage more intense right?)

Vida Local: todo el año!

Vida Local: Homegrown!

Since the farmers' markets are starting to become scarce, I've decided to try a little indoor gardening this winter. I am cursed with a black thumb, but hopefully after doing a little research, it will get a little greener. I'm starting with a little counter-top composting rig that I came up with while cleaning the kitchen. Basically it's a half-gallon milk carton, opened at the top with a plastic produce bag liner. It's easy to scrape things into and the Adult Services section of the Phoenix makes a handy resource for the "browns" layer. There are way cuter versions available online. But hey, Christmas is coming and it's the gift that keeps on giving!

Vida Local: Homegrown!

Little Cider Donuts

Local-made doesn't have to mean carrots with dirt all over 'em and kale recipe searches. It's cider donut time!

Best Local Cider Donuts: Brooksby Farm Bakery
The first thing that hits you when you get out of your car is the perfume of cinnamon, apples and frying dough. These come off the oven racks all day and to get one fresh out of the oven is worth the, uh, dough. $1 per donut fresh, $5 for a half dozen. Best deal, if you can resist this long, is to get the bag and then pop one in the toaster oven when you get home. If done right, these are the kind of donuts that will make a grocery bag turn clear in about 15 seconds, so you might want plenty of napkins to blot off the fat. Crispy outside, with a nice blend of apple, cake and nostril-tickling cinnamon.

Little Cider Donuts

Vida Local: Beverly Farmers' Market

This is a farmers' market run by the Food Project and since yesterday was the last scheduled day for the Beverly location (right across the street from The Golden Hanger) and the weather was a little crazy, there were a couple of stalls open and that seemed to be it. The proprietor of one of the stalls said that Green Meadows Farm is usually there as well, but it is getting pretty late in the season. I bought two adorable little eggplants for $1.25. They had some peppers that looked pretty good and some delicatta squash. Here's a summary of the Food Project flyer:

Beverly
Ellis Square-Cabot and Church Streets
3:30-6:00pm: Mondays, June 30th to October 6

Lynn
Ingalls School, Collins Street Terrace
1:30-3:00pm: Tuesdays, September 9 to October 28

Central Square, Corner of Union and Exchange Streets
11:00am-3:00pm: Thursdays, July 3rd to October 30

Gloucester
Harbor Loop
3:30pm to 6:30pm: Thursdays, July 10 to October 9

Marblehead
Veterans Middle School, 217 Pleasant Street
9:00am-Noon: Saturdays, June 14th to October 5

The Food Project accepts WIC and Senior coupons, Food Stamps/EBT, cash and Debit cards

Vida Local: Beverly Farmers' Market

The Answer to a Vexing Question...

The Hawthorne Hotel's blog has a category called Flags of the Week. So the next time you go by the hotel and see some flag you can't identify and it keeps you up at night, you can find the answer!

Not a burning issue, I know, but maybe it will come in handy for impressing that date/relative/client who happens to ask.

The Answer to a Vexing Question...

Online Photo Diary of Bypass Road

Found this while searching around for my latest project. Salem resident, David Moisan, took photos of every stage of the new bypass road's construction and completion. As someone who lives right on the end of Northey Street, this road is sort of a double-edged sword. While it is awesome to be able to make a left turn onto Bridge Street in less than 5 minutes, sometimes the motorcycles drag racing down the strip at 2am can seem like a little much. I love the little grassy area they created in front of the old Salem jail and the bike path that runs up to the Carlton School playground is nice too.

Online Photo Diary of Bypass Road

Halloween Parade Kicks Off The "Frenzy"

Broom: Walgreen's $3.99
Belt: Gift from relative
Cauldron: CVS $1.99
Child sized witch's hat & Black kitty: Salem Witch Museum Gift Shop $2.99 & $5.99
Dress: Wahlum Kung Fu shirt turned inside out.
Seeing your little one gettin' her spook on: Priceless

Halloween Parade Kicks Off The "Frenzy"

Vida Local: Spaghetti Sauce!

I made spaghetti sauce last night with the carrots and plum tomatoes I got at Brooksby Farm Tuesday (see previous post). I'm too impulsive to follow recipes in a book so I made this up on the fly and it came out better than I had hoped for! All you need is a blender, a big skillet or heavy bottom sauce pan and an appetite.

Ingredients:

5 or 6 plum tomatoes
2 or 3 carrots, peeled
3 cloves garlic peeled
1 TBS olive oil
fresh basil
oregano
1 can tomato paste
1 cup of vegetarian "crumbles" (I used Morning Star Farms)

Directions

Chop the carrots and tomatoes into medium size chunks and reserve about a cup of the tomato pieces for the sauce. Place the rest of the tomatoes and the carrots in a blender with the garlic cloves. Chop until you have a puree.

Heat the oil in the pan and add the crumbles. Stir until browned and cooked. Add the puree and the chopped tomatoes and a pinch of basil and oregano. Add the can of tomato paste and about a 1/2 can of water. Lower the heat and cook, stirring occasionally while you cook the pasta.

Total cooking time, about 1/2 hour. Makes about 4 adult servings.

Vida Local: Spaghetti Sauce!

La Vida Local: Peabody

So I had a few hours to kill this afternoon and decided to check out what's available in Peabody for fresh produce. It was my lucky day since there were 3 places that I could hit all of of Lowell Street. The first was the Peabody Farmers' Market which is located behind the District Courthouse off Railroad Ave. in downtown Peabody. I had to go to Market Basket in the morning for my mom, so I took notes on some of the prices in their produce department to compare.



There was a good variety of stuff for sale, with beets, lettuce, apples and plums and nectarines laid out under a pop-up tent next to the little yellow diner. I had noticed that beets were $1.99 a bunch in Market Basket and here they were $2.50. Apples and pears were $1.79 a pound. The people running the stand said they did a brisk business with all the assisted living centers in the neighborhood and they were pretty cool about having photos taken as well. A little more expensive than a chain store maybe, but the stuff all looked like it had just come out of the ground and you can't beat the proximity to Salem.

Next was Chris's Farm Stand up on Lake Street in Peabody. For those of us who make the pilgrimage to the Ross Memorial Playground, it's located a short ways away off of Lowell Street where it makes a left at the Hannaford's Plaza. No beets here and the apples were $1.89 a pound and corn was $6.50 for a baker's dozen. LOTS of pumpkins though, if that's your thing.




Last stop on the tour was back down Lowell Street to Brooksby's Farm which is located about 4 minutes from the North Shore Mall. It's like a smaller version of Russell Orchards, with farm animals (in pens) pick your own apples and even emus! My daughter loves coming here to visit the "baa-baa's and doo-doo's" but I hadn't really checked out the produce for sale before. The first thing I noticed when I got out of the car was the unbelievably appetizing smell of frying apple cider donuts. I couldn't leave without a half dozen ($5 for 6) and they are worth every penny. Fresh carrots were $1.39 for a bunch of about 5, apples were $1.69 a pound, (the best price out of the 3) and vine ripened tomatoes were $1.99 a pound. I splurged and got a bar of Ipswich Bay Soap Company soap in Tea Tree and Peppermint since Irish Spring is a little harsh on the face. They take debit cards too which is a nice convenience.



All in all, it was worth a little driving around to get a feel for what was going to be the best selection and the best prices. My pick for the day has got to be the Peabody Farmers' Market. It's close, the prices were mid-range and they had a decent variety of fruits and vegetables. I forgot to ask, but my guess is they operate on a cash only basis. If you are making something that you want to taste as fresh as possible, plan your shopping for Tuesday afternoons 1-6pm.

Another alternative that's even closer to home is Jr. Busters which is located just before the Salem Beverly bridge. They are open every day of the week and offer a wider selection of local produce as well as Richardson's Dairy products and a good selection of groceries as well.

La Vida Local: Peabody

Livin' la vida local: Part 1

I think I'd much rather be doing other things besides running all over the North Shore in search of that perfect bunch of fresh kale that just came out of the ground. I would like to eat something a little fresher than that bagged spinach you get from the grocery chain store that goes bad after 2 days in the fridge. When I started looking into the idea of buying locally grown produce, I realized I had stumbled into a netherworld of farmstands, markets and co-ops that were obscure and all but impossible to compare. So for the next month, I'm going to be your personal guinea pig and attempt to check out a variety of local venues for buying home grown vegetables and fruits.

The first step was to try and get beyond those occasional trips to Russell Orchards to buy raspberry wine and cider donuts. I decided that in order for the idea of buying local produce to be practical, it had to be less than a twenty minute drive away so that the high cost of gas wouldn't counter-balance any money saved by buying direct from the farmers or picking my own stuff.

Here's my map, which is a work in progress, but at least it should guide one through the maze of information out there.

CommunityWalk Map - Local Food around Salem

Livin' la vida local: Part 1

Lizzie Borden Museum (finally) Open!

After almost an entire summer of walking by their enormous brown paper covered windows, the Lizzie Borden Museum is open for business!

Because of its strong year-round base of tourists looking for the darker side of history and Halloween seasonal traffic that rivals any place on the planet, Salem is the perfect location to maximize exposure for Lizzie’s story to be told.

Which,kind of, explains why the museum is in Salem and not Fall River, where it actually happened. But then again, Danvers is where most of the accused of 1692 and their accusers actually lived so touche.
Anyway, their gift shop window is another awesome addition to Salem's gallery of horrors located precisely at a stroller-bound toddler's eye-level.

Lizzie Borden Museum (finally) Open!

Playgrounding

Thank god for the warm weather so we can get out of the house! (See previous post)
Now that Chloe's back in her spring/summer routine of errands/playground visit once a day, here's some things I wish more playground designers realized:

Slides are great for almost any age, but try not to have them terminate in a two foot drop. Kids are freestylers by nature and I've swapped a few stories with other parents about head-first or belly-down runs going heartstoppingly wrong.

Those big habit-trails for kids need a little baby-proofing. I've never seen a toddler take the plunge off the side(knock on wood), but those sudden openings into a sheer 6 foot drop to the ground need to go.

One thing the much-maligned Salem Common Tot Lot does right; the little chain & post fence next to the swing set. Nothing like seeing your kid make a beeline into a row of accelerating human pendulums to get your heart going!

Got any ideas for making playgrounds around here better? Let me know!

Playgrounding

How to handle a harrassing neighbor

So, this week I found out that:
1) There is very little useful advice online for how to handle a neighbor that harasses you.

2) You cannot file a restraining order against a neighbor. You can only file one if the person actually lives with you.

3) The police will come and take a report, but the only thing they will tell you to do is call them to come when the neighbor harasses you again. Which is good to know, but doesn't really help when your kid has already seen the neighbor scream at mommy and call her a bitch.

In case you are wondering why I found this out, click here

How to handle a harrassing neighbor

Toilet Humor

The comments section on Apartment Therapy's post on the pro's and con's of bidets yielded this link to CIH's unintentionally hilarious site featuring smiling animated yuppies and baby boomers extolling the virtues of hosing down after doing your business. Firefox warning, the bandwidth needed to view the site does induce a little address bar freeze.

Muchos gracias to Pam's Mondoboston.com, for pointing out this commments thread to their readers!

Toilet Humor

Just when I thought I was out...

They pull me back in. In case you've noticed the rash of articles recently about the burgeoning film industry in Massachusetts, here are my insider tips on the reality of working in the movie business:

1) Watching movies is fun, making movies is actually pretty boring. Hours of preparation equals 2 minutes of screen time. But if your idea of excitement is watching 50-70 people walk around in circles trying to find decent cell phone reception/their next gig, then knock yourself out.

2) "Movie stars" are usually just about the least visible people on set. It's amazing how many people will park themselves on the edge of a film set for hours, hoping to get a glimpse of So and So as they run from their minivan to set, usually hidden from view by umbrellas and nervous PA's.

3) Working on a film set, the average crew member has 2 states of existence: 1) Rushing around frantically with about 50 other co-workers wielding big pieces of equipment in a very small space or 2) Sitting around eating yet another bagel/donut/handful of M&M's because they are so damn bored. Also, they rarely have any interaction with the Big Star, so stop asking them what So and So's really like because they don't know.

4) Teamsters may appear to be big fat semi wiseguys who sit around all day and get paid a lot of money for nothing, but there's a reason that guy's sleeping in the cab of his truck in the middle of the day; he was probably up at 5am driving the truck to location and he'll have to drive it back around midnight. They also drive the actors back and forth to the set and it wouldn't be good for business if one fell asleep at the wheel with So and So in the back seat now would it?

5) Thinking it would be cool to allow a film crew into your newly renovated home to show it off/pay the contractor bills? Just close your eyes and imagine a chapter of the Hells Angels led by General Sherman camped out in your home for 16 hours a day. Movie crews don't want to destroy your home, but the combination of 18 wheelers, damp New England weather and sleep deprivation can produce some frightening results.

Just when I thought I was out...

Nook! Nook!

"Penguin now?" "Penguin now?" "Penguin now?" "Penguin now?" "Penguin now?" "Penguin now?" "Penguin now?" "Penguin now?" "Penguin now?" "Penguin now?"

It started so innocently. I saw the little segments entitled Winter Warm-Ups with Pingu in between episodes of "Choo Choo" (AKA Thomas the Tank Engine) and thought to myself, "kids like penguins, maybe Chloe will enjoy this." The fishing episode triggered 6 straight minutes of belly laughing and now when I go to sleep at night, all I can hear is the little house music number from the show.

I think of it as the "methadone" to treat what was becoming a serious Barney addiction.

Nook! Nook!

3 (cheap!) things to do with a toddler in the winter

1) Salem Public Library kids' room
370 Essex Street Salem, MA 01970. Telephone: (978) 744-0860
Free, books, toys, lots of room to run around and a very welcoming staff.

2) Bonkers
Even if they are too young for video games, it's still fun for them to run around and the "tot lot" off to the side has tumbling mats, a slide, "hamster trails" and lots of PVC structures that make their hair stand out straight, which is fun.

3) Chuck E. Cheese
Great if you need to go to Market Basket in Danvers and want them to get rid of some energy first.

3 (cheap!) things to do with a toddler in the winter