Let it snow!

Happy Saturday, friends! I hope you are having a good day. We have had a series of great days this week. I can not even tell you how much I enjoyed writing yesterday’s Craigie on Main post and reliving the experience. And, the post made it to Boston’s Where the Locals Eat! Hearing that was definitely an exciting way to start a Saturday.

Speaking of great ways to start a Saturday, I met with Allison and Elina for a 6 mile run this morning, and it felt great! I always get nervous before long runs, but having fun people to run with makes all of that go away. I am not tired or sore at all, so I am feeling good about my marathon training thus far.

Last night I snuck out of work a little early (shhh) and met the hubs for drinks and appetizers at Masa. They have great happy hour Southwestern tapas, ten for $10. I started with a habanero watermelon margarita. Holy yum! It started out sweet and finished with a fiery spice in the back of the mouth. It was really fun to drink and went well with our little appetizers which included a fire roasted sweet corn taco and a queso fundido jalapeno empanada. Everything was so good that we went for a second round 🙂

It was still early when we finished our appetizers, so we decided to head to Bin Ends to pick up our fine wine flea market orders. On the way home, we decided to stop at Gypsy Kitchen in Quincy. My friend Meghan has been telling us about Gypsy Kitchen for years, and I can not even believe I waited until now to go! It is a beautiful gourmet and wine shop with all sorts of things like olives, cheese, and crostini in addition to the wines. The owner was doing a tasting of cheese, wine, and her homemade hot sauce, gypsy juice, so we joined in.

We tasted some really interesting wines including a festive sparkling shiraz and a decadent chocolate port. Along with the wines, we tried the gypsy juice which is incredibly delicious and spicy, even for me, who can handle the heat. I am dipping crackers in a little bowl of it as I write this, and I am sweating! We also sampled a runny, gooey double creme brie which we ended up buying as well. We passed on buying any wine as we made quite a few purchases at Bin Ends, but with such a great selection and a passionate, knowledgeable owner, plus so many great recommendations from my friend, I know that it won’t be long until we return. If you live in the Boston area, it is definitely worth a trip down to Quincy. If you don’t live in the area, there is an online shop, Dr. Hot Online Store, and they also have a recipe blog.

Everyone is talking about snow tonight, but we haven’t seen it here in Boston yet. We spent the day wine tasting, first in Newport and then at Travessia in New Bedford, and now we are in for the night. I am ready to sip on some wine, watch Christmas movies, and work on formatting blog posts on traveleatlove.com. It is a little bit behind in posts, and for some reason, the posts are scrambled, but it will be ready soon, and I am REALLY excited!

Have a great night everyone, stay warm and safe on those wet and slippery roads!