the hawthorne & the secret rooftop garden

This week I checked out the newest addition to the bar/lounge scene in Kenmore, The Hawthorne. The teams behind Eastern Standard and Island Creek Oyster Company have created this suave joint filled with calming colors & mood lighting. The nearby BU students may not be fully aware of the gem of a cocktail-scene they have right under their noses. The hours are 5pm-2am daily, and they are right next to the Kenmore stop. When you walk into the Commonwealth Hotel's front doors, turn right and step down the stairs to your newest go-to cocktail lounge. They have an outdoor area with a daily-changing cocktail booklet, along with extensive wine & beer menu. Also offered is a food-menu filled with differently-sized plates, from small bites to lunch-sized portions. I went with the thinly-sliced chips with green onion dip (since I can't turn down a good portion of chips)!  

 

After we had our fill of chips & drinks, we headed out over the Charles to the secret garden at Kendall Square. At the Hotel Commonwealth's entrance we were reminded, once again, that Boston loves their dogs!

We headed towards 4 Cambridge Center, Cambridge (a .1 mile walk from Kendall/MIT T stop, if you aren't in the mood to walk across the city)...the location of the roof garden! Head to this address and take the elevator to the top floor, to the garden that is opened from dawn to dusk as a nice respite from the busy ultra-modern Kendall Square below.

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simple weekend recap: edition 6

This Labor Day weekend was packed with some city-outings as well as home improvement/domestic experimentation. Saturday T & I went to the Taj Afternoon Tea. Since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to walk down Newbury & cut across the city to Kenmore to visit the cocktailers at the new bar & restaurant, The Hawthorne (details on both events later this week, as always).

 

 

We kept the stroll going across the Charles, over the sailboats, through MIT, to Kendall Square for a sunset in a secret rooftop garden (directions later this week).

 

After a long day of walking & exploring new places, we headed home to some chicken tetrazzini. If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting my old pal, chicken tetrazzini, you are in for a super basic & tasty tasty treat that has been in my life since elementary school. I will reluctantly be sharing this recipe later this week, as well.
 

 

The next day was spent home improving, testing some vanilla syrup, and making sloppy joes for me (and a bacon, mushroom, cheeseburger for T) using locally-raised & humanely-treated ground beef from Pete & Jen's backyard birds and farmyard in Concord.

 

 

 

I will share most of these recipes (including the 4-ingredient chocolate soufflé shown above) & events throughout the week. Just 2 fun announcements before I prepare for the busy upcoming week:

 1. Heading to the Brimfield Antique Fair on Wednesday (hopefully it isn't raining too hard for pictures) for it's final show of the year & I'm pretty giddy about it.

 2. I was invited to the 3rd Brasstacks dinner on Monday, September 24 featuring late-summer goodies. I am unspeakably excited, and if you are interested (& lucky enough to snag one of the limited tickets being sold), tickets go on sale this coming Friday (the 7th)! I hope to see you there!

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