Upstairs on the Square Experience

I went to the Monday Club Bar at Upstairs on the Square (that is Harvard Square in Cambridge) back in February for lunch.  They are doing Lunch and Dinner for Restaurant Week, but the menus just look so-so to me.

It is all Alice in Wonderland decorated.

Anyway, it's not too expensive for lunch - we had the following very yummy pasta dishes - quoting from the menu:

Handcut Spaghettini Putanesca - with olive-oil poached tuna, caperberries, chilies, and shaved parmesan.

Hand Rolled Fresh Ricotta Cannelloni - with seared mushrooms, savory walnut pesto, cream spinach, and aged gruyere.  This is pretty rich but yum yum nonetheless.

2010 Summer Restaurant Week Boston and Market by JG Experience

So Restaurant Week is coming up August 15-20 and 22-7 in Boston. It might be a bit difficult to secure reservations at the most popular places now, but I thought I'd do a preview of sorts, of some of the Restaurant Week restaurants I have tried in the past. First up is Market by Jean-Georges (W Hotel) in the Theatre District / Chinatown which I went to in April.

Inside is airy, and modernly gray.

This is our crab fritter appetizer - not on the menu anymore and that is a good thing.

These were very tasty - crispy clams with basil salt and a mousse-like aioli dipping sauce.

Pizza with fontina cheese and black truffles.

My entree - cod with orange / miso sauce, bok choy, and some fancy blobs of sriracha.  MEH.  I went to Market for lunch once in the spring and had a salmon dish that was superior.

The dessert cookie platter!  With chocolate truffles, a peanut butter French macaron, sour cherry marshmallows, and salty caramels.

I think it is worth it to go to Market for restaurant week.  I especially love the crispy clams and cookie platter.

Othello: 2010 Shakespeare on the Boston Common

Yesterday I went to opening night of Othello: Free Shakespeare on the Boston Common 2010.  It was a fun evening because we brought a picnic and we had seats with a good view.  I thought this was a decent production, with good lighting and sound, and free to boot.  It was sort of odd that they decided to go with 40's style costumes, but whatevers.

Here is the cast at the end of the show - see Othello in PJs and a post-drowned Desdemona.

Anyway, the show is about three hours long with a brief intermission.  It is showing till August 15, Tuesdays - Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 7 pm by the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common.  You can rent chairs for $4 (plus $6 upfront which you get back when you return the chair) - but beach towels work just fine too!  We had a nice potluck picnic with cucumbers, grape tomatoes, brie, crackers, orzo pasta salad, and olives.  Here was my freshly baked contribution.

Unii Palette & Shu Uemura Eye Shadows Depotting

Yesterday I received my Unii Palette in the color "Snow" which I ordered late last week.  The rave reviews I read about this product are pretty much spot on - it is definitely high quality and holds makeup securely.  I like the squishy little thumb rest and snap closure.  The only annoying thing is how you can't use alcohol and Windex, etc. to clean it (otherwise the metal part gets brittle I think).

So I depotted my six shu uemura eye shadows into this thing and here is the final result!  It will be great for travelling.  And obviously I should buy more makeups.

It's easy to depot shu uemura eye shadows.  I just used a flat iron, wax paper, a bobby pin, Goo Gone (a gummy stuff remover), and rubbing alcohol.  The flat iron step was shown on one of the YouTube videos on the Unii Palette website.

First, turn the flat iron on.  Cut a small piece of wax paper and put it on the flat iron.  Put the eyeshadow on the wax paper.

After 15 seconds or so, remove the eye shadow.  Flip it over and you will see a small circle on the label (I marked it with an arrow in the photo below).  Poke your bobby pin end through this circle and the metal eye shadow pan should pop right out.  This would probably work too if you first heated up the eye shadow back with a hairdryer.

The eye shadow pan will be gluey, so clean it up with some Goo Gone and then some rubbing alcohol.

Other makeup brands may be more difficult to depot than shu uemura, since you will need to pry out the eye shadow pan instead of just popping it out.

Pudding Hi-Chew

My friend brought me some pudding Hi-Chew from her trip to Taiwan; I thought it was too cute to eat but finally caved.  It's really good!  Very fresh vanilla tasting.  The chew is speckled, and there are some crispy sugary bits mixed in as well.

Easy Choux Pastry Recipe

Today I will share my favorite recipe for making cream puffs - the puff part.  This is a very nice recipe I found via Vic's Recipes, adapted from The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child, and it has consistently produced very tasty looking puffs for me.  The directions are very detailed and simple, so you can't mess up.  The first time I made these I did panic when I started beating eggs into the mix, but the eggs do eventually get absorbed to make a nice smooth dough paste.  I should note one change I made - I brush the puffs with half and half instead of egg wash as the recipe suggests.  Also I have never tried the chocolate sauce recipe.

I usually like to fill my puffs with ice cream - here is a photo with coffee, strawberry, and black raspberry flavors.

I have tried making cream filling too, but haven't come across a recipe I love yet.  Here is a photo of matcha cream filled choux.

Blank NYC Skinny Jeans Review

Since I'm going back to school this fall, I've been buying new casual clothes, like jeans.  I really wanted to try J Brand - but since I'm not going to have any monies in the next couple of years, I decided to be more thrifty.

Blank NYC (launched in 2007) promotes itself as "premium jeans" without the "premium price tag."  I am guessing they are cheaper than other designer brands because they are made in China. The butt pockets are plain, though there are some styles with studs.

I bought the Skinny Classique Jeans in "Ike and Tina" from tobi for $32 (originally $68!), using the coupon code "EXTRA20" for an extra 20% off the sale price (good till July 18, 2010).  My first thoughts (haven't worn them out and about yet) - the wash is an indigo rinse type color with no distressing whatsoever; material is on the thinner side but it's stretchy and so quite comfortable.  Sizing for this style is similar to 7 for All Mankind / Paige and the like.  The fit is flattering, but I will definitely need to hem these - am going to try to do it on my own.  All in all, for the price I am satisfied!

Twinkle Sews - Free Dress Pattern

So I just discovered that Wenlan Chia came out with a sewing book - Twinkle Sews!  And there's a free pattern available via CraftStylish - link below.  

"Love in the Afternoon" Dress (photo from CraftStylish)

I am so going to attempt to make this - I also found this very helpful post by Craft Passion providing detailed photos which I hear the actual pattern lacks.
 P.S. If you have trouble downloading the pattern through the link (which I did) - just right click and save.

Sewing a Camera Case

Hi!  I'm starting off this blog with a craft.

Recently I finished making a camera case for my new Canon S90, photos and details below.  It's my first real sewing project so it's not perfect, but I'm still happy about it.

Pattern: Cute Little Bag for Cell Phone/Camera Sewing Pattern from Napkitten Pattern

Exterior Fabric: Red City Scene Canvas from This and That from Japan

Double Fold Bias Tape: Black Polka Dot with Lace from Holland Fabric House

As you can see, I purchased most of the materials from Etsy.  For the interior fabric, I used some random red cotton leftover from another project - purchased from Jo-Ann.  For the lining, I cut up an old pair of jeans and used that.  Oh I also blew up the pattern by 123% so that it would fit my camera.  The instructions were easy to follow, and I think the results look pretty pro!  Of course, this is really just protecting from scratches and stuff, it won't really help if I drop my camera.  But so far so good!