Boston T Partyers

The internet is ever-expanding, and yet most people I meet only have the vaguest idea as to what a blog is, and how it differs from a website, and whether it’s worth reading. Say what you will regarding blogging’s effect on citizen journalism, but I think it’s one of the best ways to get to know people and places and lifestyles different from and akin to my own. When I first started this site, I knew nothing about the Boston blog scene, and now, two months later, though hardly full, my address book is certainly coming along. Because I’m sure a lot of you are at least somewhat in my shoes, I figured I’d try to spread their words, one blog at a time. If you live in this fair state and would like me to profile your blog, send me an email at claire@bostontparties.com.

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-Cave Cibum

[Photo Credits: Cave Cibum]

Cave Cibum (Latin for beware the food), was one of the first of Boston’s many epicurean blogs I encountered, and I was instantly drawn to it. Written by Pam Aghababian, an Armenian grad student and Bostonist contributor, CC is brimming with local restaurant reviews, recipes they inspire, and a generous helping of Armenian classics (vospov keyma, baraze cookies, even string cheese). In addition to substance, Pam has a very personable, introspective writing style, and she deftly balances the stories behind the food with mouthwatering, concise descriptions of the food itself. Buddha’s Hand, a citrus fruit native to central Asia, is

large and heavy and delightfully citrusy. Imagine what is so great about lemon peel – but all the way through the fruit. There’s no juicy pulp, and the white flesh beneath the peel is not remotely bitter. In fact, the Buddha’s hand is a bit sweeter than a lemon. It can be used wherever you would use lemon zest, and it can be eaten raw or cooked.

Or soaked in 100 proof vodka and left in a “cold and dark” closet for two weeks.

For students or any other impoverished gourmands, this site is a godsend, because the bulk of Pam’s reviews lie in the “cheap eats” category. Mexican, Thai, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, good ole American Diner, all are well, if not exhaustively, represented. Want banana pancakes at 3 am? Howsabout Vietnamese calamari followed by berries that “sang with summer?” Or $1 tapas? Or, or, or… whatever ye seek, ye shall most likely find. Happy hunting!

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Massachusetts 351

[Photo Credits: Massachusetts 351]

There is perhaps no better bay state-centered blog than Massachusetts 351, which chronicles the attempts of born and bred Massachusettlers Laura and Bobb to visit each and every town in our fair state. Starting with Auburn in November of 2006, the couple has traveled as far west as Williamstown and as far south as Yarmouth, though, disappointingly for me, no further southwest than Weston. The entries are charmingly anecdotal, rife with college and childhood memories, as well as current impressions and photographs. They’re also chock full of sites (the Little Red Schoolhouse in North Attleborough, Skinner State Park in Hadley), longstanding eateries (Four Seas in Barnstable, the Colonial Inn in Concord), gems well-loved (the Embassy Cinema in Waltham), and little-known (the Shaker village in Hancock, the Riverside Amusement Park in Agawam).

In addition to municipalities, Laura and Bobb cover quintessential New England activities -Christmas tree farms, holiday markets, antique fairs, in the same enthusiastic-yet-nostalgic manner. The overall effect is both insidery and wide-eyed, the best guidebook you never read. For those of you in need of an itinterary, brush-up, introduction, or just beset by armchair wanderlust, 351 is a veritable candy store, so check it out today!

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Punky Style

[Photo Credits: Punky Style]

If Vivian Westwood had been born thirty years later and had a blog (a bit of a tall order), I imagine it’d look a lot like Punky Style. Credit manager/bartender/vintage purveyor Amy Chase pairs old-school punk and grunge pieces -cropped motorcycle jackets, shreddy jeans, tights that are mostly holes, funky, chunky heels, with granny-chic praire dresses and chunky sweaters, patterned tulip skirts, and plenty of ethnic prints. In addition to documenting, with warmth and plenty of sartorial zest, her ensembles in violet-tinged photos, Amy fills her site with shop write-ups that lie beyond the Boston/Cambridge/Somerville radius (Spoil’d in Worcester, Henn House in Cataumet). And then there’s her Etsy shop, a collection of wares original -knitted neck warmers, aim-speak stencils, and thrifted -fur chubbys, crackly leather boots, doctor bags. For someone who wants to support local fashion, but scarcely knows where, or how, to begin, Punky Style is a godsend.

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Food on the Food

[Photo Credits: Food on the Food]

Food blogs, for me, are much more about the how than the what. Deep-fried spam ‘n’ fluff sandwiches? Bring’em on, as long as they have an appealingly narrated story. This is why I love Ray Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. Apart from her cornbread stuffing, I don’t think I’ve ever been tempted by her partially hydrogenated, crisco, butter, and cream-heavy recipes, but I read them anyways, because Ray’s voice, and indeed her life (as a midwestern rancher’s wife) are so addictive, and addictively foreign. Tammy Donroe, who writes Food on the Food, has a voice that’s every bit as colloquially friendly (minus the cowboyese) as Ray’s, though her’s is wryer, less deliberately cheery. And I actually want to make her lemony balsamic chicken, her cognac-spiked molten chocolate cake, her great great grandmother’s fried apple pie.

I also am inspired to clamber aboard the eat local bandwagon. Every year, Donroe, and, more impressive, her family (which includes two preschoolers), don’t eat anything that’s grown more than 250 miles from her home. Except coffee. And olive oil. The rest of the year, she still buys mostly local, and eats at greenmarket-loving restaurants, and works at a co-op. Her advice on how, and where, to do it without depleting your Santa Claus fund is helpful without being preachy -a scare quality among locavores.

Perhaps what I love best about FOTF though, is Donroe’s refusal to take herself, or her writing, too seriously. That and her rambling. “This is your brain,” she writes above a picture of a duck egg. “Actually, it’s not your brain. Just an egg. Not a run-of-the-mill egg, though. A duck egg. Ducks lay eggs? I know, that’s what I said. Apparently, they do. And they are delicious.” And she goes on, with many asides, to tell you how to fry a duck egg, and the not-too-easy-but-not-too-tricky way to flip it without breaking its yolk. Dunroe is also one of the few bloggers I’ve seen who incorporates old (like 1800′s old) family recipes, as well as photos and anecdotes, into her posts. Mouthwatering, inspiring, and educative, this is a blog built to last. And I hope it does.

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Mennonno Sapiens

Mennonno Sapiens is one of the blogosphere’s most interesting hodge-podges of Boston-related tales, trials, and tribulations. Kind of a vague description, I know, but this is a site that’s hard to pin down. Here are the (purported) facts:

• Mennonno Sapiens is written and run by Mike Mennonno, a self-described “manimal [who] uses his unusual shape- shifting abilities to fight crime, catch and devour small animals, pollinate flowers, and occasionally to spawn with dolphins in Boston Harbor.”
• His site is 23% irony, 19% bobmbast, 17% hyperbole, 15% effrontery, and only 1% self-aggrandizement. Most of it appears to be true.
• He does not like the MTA, corporate sprawl, conservative values, or corruption, though he often pretends to.
• He is scary smart.

In many ways, Mennonno Sapiens reminds me of the Colbert Report, only less over the top. Most of his posts are antiestablishmentarian tirades disguised as naive praise. Regarding Taco Bell’s rumored buyout of the Out of Town News in Harvard Square, Mennonno enthuses “at a time when the upscaling of the square threatens the very existence of the drug-addled rabble of runaway skateboarders, free-range schizophrenics, and old-school beggars in the famed Pit, the value meal will usher in a veritable Renaissance! “Chalupa Meals for the Masses!” could be the rallying cry of the New Revolution!“

On a few matters -Gay rights being one, the sarcasm is replaced with impassioned eloquence.
“If [Gay marriage] were just about “love” it would not be necessary to codify it in civil law. But marriage equality is expressly, fundamentally about equal rights in a secular society in which there is no real, compelling reason not to afford them to gays. If Leviticus 20:13 is your best argument against equal protection, I’m afraid it’s just not good enough. Let’s move on,” he writes in “Still Waiting for the Sky to Fall.”

Truth be told, these are not posts; they’re impeccably crafted, anecdotal essays that capture the state of our state through a cynic’s eyes. Yes, they’re full of humor, but it’s humor-as-social-and-political commentary. Mennonno’s is not the blog for idle scrollers, but if you’re craving uncensored Op-Ed-style brain food, it will more than hit the spot.

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The JQ Lounge

Outside of the political realm, bloggers are a notoriously friendly bunch, and Julie Q, owner and operator of the JQ Lounge, has got to be one of the friendliest. Which is difficult to attain when skewering reality stars provides the bulk of your mo. In addition to dishing on ATL housewives, the divine exploits of Miss Tyra, and how to Influence the Olsen Twins, the JQ Lounge serves up husbands in shrunken sweaters, Bassetthound/Rottweiler mutts, baby stilettos, and gratis Victoria’s Secret lip gloss.

Apart from Daily Intel‘s Gossip Girl Reality Index, JQL is the only tv-centric blog I read, and I think it’s due to the sprinklings of outside elements, and to Julie’s personable and bubbly way of presenting them. That and the layout -pink, brown, and polkadotted allover, with a sustained cocktail lounge motif, is so damn cute, and mercifully twee-free. Whether you’re just starting your foray into the pop-culture blogosphere, or you’re looking to round out (and sweeten up) your Go Fug Yourself/Jezebel/Dlisted trifecta, JQ Lounge’s offerings should hit the spot.

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La Tartine Gourmande

[Photo Credits: La Tartine Gourmande]

The first time I stumbled across La Tartine Gourmande, I was living in Paris and addicted to French food blogs. LTG’s author, Béatrice Peltre, had left a comment on Chocolate and Zucchini, and I clicked on her name to see who she was. Well I’ll be, I thought; Béa lives in Boston. And then la nostalgie commenced, as well as le drooling over Béa’s gorgeous, editorial-quality photographs and whimsical recipes. There is much passion and enthusiasm in Béa’s cheery, anecdotal posts -”I had not planned to bake during the weekend though, but then I kept imagining the taste of chocolate in my mouth. For sure, with many other things, bébé will have to love chocolate, dark more precisely,” she notes in the intro to her recipe for Dark Chocolate Cake with Buckwheat, Hazelnut, and Applesauce.

The bulk of LTG is devoted to des choses dulces -cakes, pies, petits pots de crème, fruit sushi, though there are also plenty of soups and stews, seafood, meats, adorabley runny ouefs en cocotte. Too, there are pictures of reddened maples leaning over the Charles, the stucco and rosy brick buildings of Athens, a solitary bicycle lolling against a guardrail in La Place des Vosges, while in the background a couple sprawls across the grass.

Reading this blog is like reading a mash-up of Condé Nast Traveler and Saveur, only smaller, and personalized. It represents, I think, an expat’s attempt to put down new roots, to connect the foods and memories of the old with the bounty and beauty of the new, and the end result is startlingly beautiful, warm, and inviting, a cup of chocolat chaud on a windy winter’s day.

New Brahmin

[Photo Credits: New Brahmin]

Since I started this site in September, I’ve come across several standout fashion sites, but New Brahmin is by far the most comprehensive, a one-stop treasure trove of local designers and where to buy their wares, scoop on upcoming fashion and trunk shows, exclusive discounts, style and beauty advice, and Sartorialist-esque street shots. There’s even a Boy’s Club, devoted to guiding the rougher sex through fashion’s fickle waters. NB is run by three stylists -Liana Peterson, Lauren Joseph, and Callista Wilson, and make-up artist Jeannie Vincent, and while each has her own specialities and personality, you’d be hard pressed to find chicer, wittier, and (shocker) friendlier bloggers anywhere along the river Charles.

Honestly, these girls know everything Boston and sartorial. Want a thirties-era yellow cloche? Or an ankle-boots manual? Or an invitation to an East-meets-West runway show? Now you know where to get it. And the writing is impeccable- sharp, conversational, enthusiastic. So check it out, and soon, as the season to be merrily spending is quickly approaching.

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Drink Boston

Because it’s Friday and I know some of you are already clock-stalking, I figured fizzy lifting drinks, via booze blog par excellence Drink Boston were in order. Lauren Clark is not one of Boston’s top bartenders; she’s merely buddies with all of them -John Gersten (Drink, No. 9 Park), Dylan Black (Green Street), Misty Kalkofen (Drink), David Cagle (Deep Ellum), Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli (Eastern Standard)… Part of her site pays tribute to these mixology maestros and their efforts in bringing back the art of the cocktail. The other part is a fleshed-out guide to the best local wateringholes and their goings-on; who’s leaving, who’s closing, who’s coming in.

Reading Drink Boston does more than make me want to go to Green Street; it makes me want to work there, makes me want to learn how to concoct tintures and froths and other Medieval-sounding fripperies. Even if you find cocktail purists obnoxious, DB is worth checking out, as Lauren is just as devoted to beer as she is to its harsher cousin. And she writes so well! She’s articulate, concise, inquistive and impassioned; a neophyte’s and a connoisseur’s dream. Whether you’re looking to expand your horizons, get re-stoked about an old favorite, or add some showstoppers to your cocktail repetoire, Drink Boston is where it’s at.

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Skrinkering Hearts

Skrinker: v. “to sneak around, meander about, go about in a sneaky way”

Skrinkering Hearts is the one of the best examples of chick lit 2.0 (3.0?). Narrated by Brooke, Skrinkering is a generous window into the life of one of Boston’s single(ish) twentysomethings. If it were a book, the jacket would be filled with blurbs like “hilarious,” “a spirited ode to pop culture,” and “an exuberant romp.” And they would all be totally true. Brooke has a fantastic voice, warm but slightly barbed, and, rare among life-bloggers, she knows how to discreetly divulge. “I’m not a girl who pretends to know what’s going on during a football game. I’m in it for the beer, the snacks, the men… I’m not a woman who really loves to have her ears kissed,” she writes in “Nots.”

On SH, stories are fleshed out in some parts, flashed over in others, and characters are given aliases. The places though, and the tastes and sounds and some of the feelings, are all there, narrated with enough appeal to keep her readers hooked. There’s also laughs to be had at the cheeky categories (how do you take your coffee my sweet?, boobs, now we sip champagne when we thirst-ay) and the weekly HOH, a photographic paean to Hollywood’s lushly locked. If you’re searching for your next Carrie Bradshaw-meets-Bridget Jones, and are cash-strapped/have lost your library card, I’m advising you to get yourself skrinkered. Sure you may not need another time-suck, but this one’s oh so worth it.

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Tales of the Basil Queen

[Photo Credit: Tales of the Basil Queen]

While politics may be the dominating topic for Boston bloggers, food isn’t far behind. Tales of the Basil Queen is one of my favorite mouthwatering holes, both for its recipes and for creator Adele’s friendly, anecdotal rhetoric. In her own words, Basil Queen is an “Unhappy law student. Aspiring chef. Unabashed glutton. Blogging to stay sane,” and I’m hoping for my sake as well as hers that she continues, because that Polpettone Ai Funghi Porcini – taken from La Cicala e La Formica, the Basil Queen’s lunchtime haunt in Rome, was fantastico. In addition to fun and far-flung menus, BQ serves up pictures of both the noteworthy components -“trippy” roman broccoli, dried roma tomatoes, and their results -”fishy pasta,” unruly plum crostata, “(Virgin in the) Volcano Souffle Cakes.“

Stylistically, Tales of the Basil Queen is quite similar to the immensely popular Orangette and Chocolate and Zucchini. Meandering introductions (the best sort) become stories become recipes, and because the
writing is just so good, I find myself reading every post, regardless of whether I want to make/ am capable of making fresh dill parpardelle with smoked salmon and cream or beef tongue with cornichons and capers. So go check TBQ out; whether your needs run to inventive dinner party menus or reminiscings of movable feasts, I’ve no doubt this site will slake and suffice.

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Dreamecho

[Photo Credit: Kristina Wong]

Combine Paper-style editorial shoots and introspective, dreamy odes to all things sartorial, and you’ll get Dreamecho. Among net-savvy fashionistas local and international, Kristina Wong’s blog is well-loved, both for its whimsical photographs of Wong twirling in gladiator heels and stomping in studded ankle boots, and for their accompanying posts, which range from interviews with Boston designers to meditations on time to celebrations of “tulle, tights, and leotards.”

Beneath each photo, Wong lists what she’s wearing, and her ability to merge, in one outfit, an “American Apparel black puff sleeve tee, Michele Lau ruffle top, Express black blazer, American Apparel navy corduroy shorts, Ferragamo navy suede pumps, feather fascinator from Bona Drag, [and a] Linea Pelle brown belt” proves that high-low works beyond the glossies. Check her out if you’re in need of some homegrown fashion inspiration, advice, or just some workday escapism.