

Teddy and I had the pleasure of attending Paint Night at a local bar in Cambridge! We made this lovely picture, and I think mine turned out quite nicely 🙂
The set-up for the event was wonderful – there were small easels waiting for us when we arrived, along with brushes, paint trays, and aprons. The final picture was set up for us to take a look at, and we were ready to go!
Our instructor, Suriah, was really great – she showed us one step at a time, and we had plenty of time to complete it on our own. She encouraged us to take creative liberties, and also really discouraged any sort of critical thoughts about our work. I really appreciated that! This was intended to be fun, not a competition. She also was really great about explaining the reasoning behind decisions that were made. For example – why the mountains should be shaped in a certain way, or why we blend colors in different orders. It was nice to learn about the techniques we were using.
I’ve never been much of a painter, but I found this entire experience really relaxing, and so much fun. It was great to come home with something – I even hung it on the wall when I got home. Teddy and I had a blast exploring our creative sides – both of us would absolutely do it again. Thanks, Paint Nite, for a great evening!
Teddy and I had the pleasure of dining at Oleana, an Eastern Mediterranean restaurant in the Inman square area of Cambridge. The incredibly inventive food and the warm, romantic atmosphere combined to make one of the most enjoyable dining experiences I’ve had in recent memory.
We opted to enjoy 5 meze dishes, which were smaller but allowed us to try quite a variety. We enjoyed olives, whipped feta and peppers, spinach falafel, fried mussels, and kohlrabi pancakes, all served with excellent olive oil and bread. The meal was incredible – each dish was flavorful, unique and surprising. The flavors were bold but warm and comforting. Each new dish that arrived was exciting and unlike any other Mediterranean food that I’ve enjoyed in the past.
The atmosphere in the restaurant really contributed to our enjoyment of the evening. Live music, beautiful Turkish decor and warm lighting made this the perfect place for a special night out.
If you have the opportunity for a special, creative and absolutely delicious meal, I can’t reccomend Oleana enough. We will certainly be back!
This weekend wasn’t very glamorous, but sometimes that just needs to happen!
On Friday evening my parents drove into the city and we headed to Harvard for the annual Harvard-McGill Hockey game!
McGill and Harvard used to be in the same (Ivy) league, but since then McGill has had to stick to the Canada-only leagues. I earned my undergraduate degree at McGill, so was pleased to attend my very first alumni event!
The game was a shut-out, and McGill really wasn’t playing super well. Harvard certainly earned their 3-0 victory. Even though I didn’t get to brag about McGill, it was still a blast! I met several other alumni in the area, and had fun relaxing at the rink with my parents. I headed back to my hometown with them after, and had an early night.
The rest of my weekend was rather quiet – my parents are doing quite a bit of work on the house, so I spent a lot of time moving furniture, sifting through childhood things, and helping them get the chaos under control. I know they really appreciated the help, so it was time well spent.
I also had the pleasure of accompanying two choirs at their church on Sunday morning. It was a wonderful opportunity to play both flute and recorder again, and the community is such a receptive audience! It made me miss playing all the more. I must find a good musical outlet in Cambridge! Let me know if you have any suggestions – the more baroque, the better!
Did you do anything fun this weekend?
This weekend has been just excellent! Let’s back up to Friday…
My good friend Salka was in town for Honk!, a music festival in Sommerville. She lives in Burlington, VT, so we don’t get to see each other too much these days. On Friday evening her bus arrived, and I picked her up at South Station! She was busy for most of the weekend with festival activities, but we had a chance to quickly catch up over a fast meal. Then I was off to an awesome concert with my parents while she headed to the Institute of Contemporary Art. That’s been on my list for a while to check out, so I’m glad she had such a great experience there.
We met back up in Harvard Square a bit later, and stayed up entirely too late drinking tea and catching up. It was just so so great to see her!
On Saturday morning Salka and I headed to my local favorite breakfast place, Darwin’s Ltd. I’m always a fan of their fantastic breakfast sandwiches, and this time was no exception. I always love the atmosphere – I should go back in the evening to get some work done sometime!
I said goodbye to Salka for a bit, and headed home. Teddy and I had a cooking extravaganza! We made lovely apple crisp, some chickpea dahl for dinner, and the coup de grace – chocolate covered orange peals!
The peals were an adventure, and they took quite a bit of time, but ended up being well worth it. YUM! We roughly followed this recipe, but put our own spin on it. For one thing, it’s so much darn work, so we made a massive batch! We also ended up essentially dumping the chocolate on top of the peels, rather than dipping them. Since we didn’t candy the peals a lot, they were quite soft. We were concerned that they would break down during the dipping process. Instead we ended up with a chocolate bar with orange peals. It tastes awesome, but isn’t quite as beautiful as the way the professionals do it!
We ended our day by heading over to a co-woker’s Oktoberfest! party. It was a great time – they made some home brew which we got a chance to sample, and they really committed to the theme! It was fun to meet some new people and spend some time with work friends in a more relaxing environment.
I continued my Sunday morning of going for a run and doing a few errands before meeting up with Teddy in Harvard Square. We went to another Oktoberfest party – this time in Harvard Square! This was a massive event – a huge number of craft vendors, food samples, live music, and of course, beer. The Honk! parade ended right in the middle of the square, so we spent some time wandering around before watching the parade. We ended up finding a great place to stand, and saw the entire parade, including Salka! Always fun to watch her play. Both Teddy and I were so impressed with the creativity and passion put into the event. It was so fun!
After the parade we stopped by one of the vendors to get some Indian food. By this point we were both feeling a bit overwhelmed by the crowds (I’ve never seen Harvard Square so busy!) so we headed back to my house to eat it. We had a relaxing afternoon full of watching a new show, knitting, and more cooking.
Later in the evening we met up with Salka and made a lovely dinner while watching Friends – a Salka and Mary tradition. Glad we don’t let other weekend activities get in the way of it 🙂 We all went to bed very tired and very happy.
Did you do anything exciting this weekend? Any Oktoberfest themed events?