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Dogs and wine, wine and dogs, what’s not to love? This past Friday evening I finally had the opportunity to go inside the much-anticipated Urban Hound Hotel in Boston’s South End. I don’t even have a dog, but as a dog lover and MSPCA dog walker, I couldn’t wait to see the inside of a building I had been passing by for so many months.

The Urban Hound

Luckily, The Urban Hound Hotel’s open house was open to everyone, dog owners or not, and I made plans with a fellow Boston blog lover, Shannon, to meet at the open house. Before going in, I snapped a shot of the brick exterior and minimalist outdoor signage.

Once inside, I found Shannon and we went for a wander. There were tables with snacks for the human party guests. . .

The Urban Hound

And the doggie spa area featured a tub filled with bottles of Secco Italian Bubbles Prosecco. . .

prosecco

There were also a myriad of doggie delights for sale. Kneecap anyone? Winking smile

The Urban Hound

While wandering, we ran into Natalie with her husband and their dog Weber, a pooch I had been hoping to meet. I can’t believe I didn’t get a photo, but he is an adorably fluffy, friendly, and gentle Portuguese water dog.

We also met an Irish wolf hound who weighed in at 285 pounds!! He was like a small horse but completely sweet and gentle as well.

The Urban Hound

The hotel and daycare digs at The Urban Hound Hotel are cool enough to be part of a hotel for humans, but these are just for dogs. Hotel rooms feature bright and comfy furnishings.

The Urban Hound

The Urban Hound

But dogs aren’t spending all their time lounging in their hotel rooms! There is plenty of indoor and outdoor play space.

The Urban Hound

Dogs played until they were tuckered out. It was quite the scene!

The Urban Hound

 

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Dogs at The Urban Hound enjoy the following daily schedule:

Morning
6:00am
Rise and Shine! Breakfast and out!
Rest time until 7:30am then PLAY!

8:00am – 5:30pm
day care session

(organized according to dog size, temperament and age)

Evening
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Dinner, out, snuggle time.
8:00 Lights Out!

Sounds like a fun day, doesn’t it!

I won’t lie when I say I was blissfully happy surrounded by all of those dogs. I could have played with and watched them for hours. The Urban Hound is a very cool place, and I also love that they often do activities that support the Animal Rescue League of Boston and other organizations. As a longtime volunteer in an animal shelter, I have seen SO many abandoned, neglected, and abused dogs of all breeds and ages up for adoption. Due to the poor economy, these organizations are almost always full of homeless pets and can use all of the help and awareness they can get!

The Urban Hound Hotel gets two thumbs up from me, and it seemed like it got two paws up from its four-legged guests! If I had a dog and was taking a trip or needed doggie daycare, I would definitely consider this place!

 

Do you have a dog or are you hoping to be a doggie parent in the future? What kind of dog, and what is his/her name?

Tags: Boston, dogs, events, prosecco, South End, The Urban Hound Hotel

Beach Day

True bliss for both my husband and I always involves the ocean, and more specifically, an West coast ocean, either on the West coast of Ireland or the West coast of the US.

It was no surprise, then, that on a perfectly sunny, 80 degree November day on our Foodbuzz Festival trip to San Francisco, we chose to head away from the city and down along the coast for a day of wine tasting and beach lounging. I’ll have separate posts about our tasting at Bonny Doon Vineyards and the Santa Cruz Brewing Company and the various other delicious things we consumed on our journey West, but today’s post is all about beachy bliss.

Our trip South toward Bonny Doon included a dip in the Pacific Ocean, just my feet, or so I thought Smile It crept up quickly, and before I knew it, my pants were soaked to my knees. But I was on a beach on the Pacific Ocean!

Pescadero

Pescadero

Pacific Ocean Pacific Ocean

footprints in the sand

Don’t the photos just speak for themselves? My shoulders dropped a few inches, I can breathe *almost* freely again, and my appetite is back! I credit the fresh sea air and sunshine Smile

After our tasting at Bonny Doon, we decided to head to the former hometown of my friend Chef Robin White to check out some of her old haunts. With the sun blazing in the sky, we wandered around Half Moon Bay checking out its quaint shops and beautiful streets. I fell instantly in love and could see why Robin missed it so much.

Half Moon Bay Half Moon Bay
Half Moon Bay Wine and Cheese purple flowers
Half Moon Bay Wine and Cheese Half Moon Bay Wine and Cheese

After drooling over all of the cheeses, meats, chocolate, spreads, and of course wine, we decided on a soft goat cheese, toasts, and a small bottle of Prosecco.

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Ahhhhh. . .

Prosecco picnic goat cheese

Our beach picnic was one of the most perfect moments of my life. The crashing of the waves, the sun, delicious, dry Prosecco, and of course, the company of my wonderful husband. I love vacation!

Kelly over at She Wears a Red Sox Cap is doing something fun, 30 Days of Blogging, and while I may not blog every topic every day, I thought a lot of them were fun, and I also love hearing from readers.

So today, since I will be meeting so many people at Foodbuzz Festival, I thought I would share the thinking behind my blog name.

As you know, I started out as Travel Eat Love. The day I started writing my blog, I didn’t think much about it to be honest! I love to travel and eat, and to encompass all sorts of other fun things, I added the love.

Enter the movie, Eat, Pray, Love. As I was NOT a fan of the book, it became nightmarish every time I told someone my blog name! I changed the name, but not the URL, to Travel, Wine, and Dine, a name that is still kind of in limbo. I love to travel, wine, and dine, but travel has taken a back seat to other things in recent times, and not having a job will probably make that more so.

And so my blog name struggle continues!

If you are a blogger, how did you decide your blog name? If you aren’t a blogger, tell me a fun fact about yourself for this fun Friday! Smile

Tags: beach, California, picnic, prosecco, San Francisco, Travel

I love my Boston blogger friends. There’s nothing quite like a night out eating and drinking with them, and when you add in a delicious, hospitable North End restaurant like Villa Francesca, you have the best Monday night ever.

I left work on a very humid, cloudy evening and wandered over to the North End in what ended up being our first rainy evening in quite awhile. As a result, I was early for the event, just to get out of the rain. I ran into Alicia and Michelle at the bar which was a perfect way to kick off the night.

Kristen soon came up to meet us, and as organizer of the event, she was a fantastic hostess. The downstairs setup was pretty sweet with oysters and Prosecco waiting for us.  Two of my favorite things!

prosecco

I ate several deliciously briny oysters washed down by a glass and a half of Prosecco, all while checking out Villa Francesca’s beautiful wine cellar. It’s quite wonderful to find such a wine cellar in Boston. . . it looks like it should be in a Tuscan villa.

Villa Francesca wine cellar

After mingling with some of my favorite bloggies like Katie, Megan, Daisy, Lara, Renee, and Twitter friend Justin, we sat down for a dinner of never ending delicious food and wine.

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I had started upstairs with a Nero D’avola and kept sipping that downstairs while also trying a sample of the white which was a pale in color, grapefruit-y delight whose name I can’t remember.

Villa Francesca Wine

We all shared a family style antipasto, and the spicy salami was the perfect counterpart for salty cheese and fresh tomatoes and basil. The vegetarian in me looks away when antipasto is served. . .;)

Antipasto

I thought we were all set with appetizers when we were EACH served this Fettucine con Gamberi, homemade pasta with shrimp in a light, flavorful tomato cream sauce. I could have been done eating here, satisfied with delicious homemade pasta. . .

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But there was more! Sole served with some of the best potatoes and escarole I have ever eaten. Everything tasted so delicious and delicately flavored. I was stuffed by the time my plate was taken away. . .

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But homemade, filled to order cannolis were next. And who am I to say no to a cannoli? Especially one made to order. I had mine with ricotta, chocolate chips, and powdered sugar, filled by the owner of Villa Francesca himself.

cannoli

I loved meeting Bill, Villa Francesca’s owner, and hearing about the restaurant’s quality, homemade ingredients. Dining in the North End can be overwhelming with so many choices, so being able to try out a new restaurant at last night’s event was pretty amazing. I for one can not wait to explore their wine cellar more and to eat their food again. It was a delicious evening that I was privileged to be part of.

Grazie to Kristen for inviting me and to Bill for hosting us!

If you live in Boston, do you have a favorite North End restaurant?

Don’t forget to enter my CSN Stores giveaway contest. I can’t wait to hear how you all get ready for fall!

Villa Francesca on Urbanspoon

Tags: Boston, cannoli, Dining out, Nero D'avola, North End, oysters, pasta, prosecco, Restaurants, Villa Francesca, wine

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