Boston blogger

You are currently browsing articles tagged Boston blogger.

Local Beer: True West

December 20, 2016 in Food, Restaurants by traveleatlove | 2 comments

The beer scene in Massachusetts has become so great that we rarely drink beer that’s from outside the state! While we should expand our horizons outside of our beautiful home state, it’s hard to when we have places like Dorchester Brewing Co. right down the street.

Recently our travels took us to lovely Acton to visit friends. We met at True West and discovered even more great Massachusetts beer.

True West is a beautiful, airy space that was perfect for lunch with the most adorable baby. Who doesn’t love a kid-friendly brewery?!

I found it impossible to decide on a beer flight at True West and asked them to send out whatever they thought would be best. They did a great job of giving me a diverse lineup to taste. Being a fan of darker beers, I loved the Dubbel the most, but I really enjoyed all of the beers, including the Ruckus, which was a super balanced IPA. I am not always a fan of IPAs, so it says a lot when I like one! I also liked their pumpkin beer, which I haven’t been able to say in a while. Most pumpkin beers end up tasting like potpourri to me (not that I have ever eaten it), but this had a nice blend of spice with a touch of sweet.

True West beer

Tasty pub food paired well with the beer and chilly day. I went for the turkey BLT and the homemade tater tots.

The BLT was on a great, hearty white bread and was well-stacked with bacon and turkey, and the tots. . . well just look at them! They were huge and homemade, served with a great house ketchup. I usually don’t like to veer away from Heinz, to be quite honest, but this was so flavorful and the perfect dip for their tater tots.

homemade tater tots

Everything from the space to the beer to the food at True West flowed together really well and made for a great drinking and dining experience. I hope we have more opportunities to visit in the future, and if you find yourself in Acton, definitely stop in.

Tags: acton, beer, Boston blogger, brewery, Food, food blog, food blogger, local beer, Massachusetts, weekends

Prosecco Superiore Seminar

December 7, 2016 in events, wine by traveleatlove | No comments

You all know I love bubbly, but I’ll let you in on a little secret; Prosecco isn’t always my favorite. But then again, up until recently, I didn’t really know Prosecco. For me, Prosecco always brought to mind a pear-flavored, sort-of-sweet wine.

All of that changed a few weeks ago when I attended a Prosecco Superiore seminar at The Middle Gray in Brookline (which I love, by the way). It was a great afternoon of learning and tasting, and below are some of the highlights.

There’s more than one Prosecco. Did you know that? There are actually three designated types of Prosecco, and they are classified based on where the grapes are grown. Prosecco Superiore comes from Conegliano Valdobbiadene, a hilly area in North-East Italy, 50 km from Venice and around 100 from the Dolomites. Here, for over three centuries, people have grown the grapes that produce Prosecco Superiore, whose success began with the founding of Italy’s first School of Winemaking in 1876. The wine is hand-harvested only, due to the extremely steep nature of the hillsides. The vineyards have been so trained and shaped to the contours of the land that the area is being considered being named a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Below you can see the buckets of grapes being moved from the vineyards. It’s a precarious undertaking! Unfortunately my camera failed me during the event, but there were some gorgeous photos. The region looks absolutely stunning.

Prosecco Superiore can be dry or sweet or anything in between. Prosecco that is called dry is actually the sweetest, and the Brut Prosecco is the least sweet. As I mentioned above, I expect Prosecco to be sweet and was surprised at how most of the ones we tried were not.

We also learned that there are three types of Prosecco when it comes to bubbles; spumante (sparkling), frizzante (fizzy), and tranquilo (still). Still Prosecco, you might ask? Yes! Tranquilo is actually the oldest but least known type of Prosecco.

We tasted the following wines. With so many wines, so much information, and great conversation with the group about food, travel, and wine, I was once again bad at tasting notes. I will let you know that I enjoyed all of the wines we tasted and would absolutely seek out the Brut Proseccos for future enjoying. Prosecco, even at top quality, is a great value and food-friendly, making these wines approachable and appropriate for everyday, not just special occasions!

Astoria Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG Extra Dry – $20

Perlage Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG Extra Dry “Col di Manza” – $18

Mionetto Valdobbiadene DOCG Superiore di Cartizze Dry “Luxury” – $22

Adami Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG Asciutto “Vigneto Giardino” Rive di Colbertaldo 2015 – $22

Borgoluce Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut – $25

Mongarda Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut – $15

Ruggeri Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut “Vecchie Viti” – $21

Bortolomiol Valdobiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut “Prior” Millesimato 2015 – $15

Biancavigna Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut Rive di Soligo 2015 – $18

Plan your own Prosecco travels with these wine tourism itineraries.

Thank you to Prosecco Superiore for hosting me!

Tags: Boston blogger, bubbles, bubbly, events, Italian wine, Italy, prosecco, wine, wine events, wine tasting

Eataly Boston – A Sneak Peek

November 28, 2016 in events by traveleatlove | 5 comments

It feels like a little bit of a dream and a bit of a whirlwind. Right before we left for Ireland (like four hours before we boarded the plane) I had the amazing opportunity of getting a sneak peek of Eataly Boston, which opens this week! Due to a late start and my hard stop to leave for the airport, I didn’t even get to tour all of Eataly, but everything I saw was simply incredible from start to finish.

I think I love Eataly Boston even more than I loved my first Eataly experience in New York City, and I still have so much to see and taste and enjoy!

Eataly Boston, from the very first glance, is simply gorgeous, clean, fresh, and European-chic. I entered via Boylston Street and was like a kid on Christmas morning as we awaited our tour.

Chef Mario Batali, in his signature orange Crocs, welcomed all of the media in attendance, and then led half of the group in the tour.

Eataly is designed to be like an Italian town center, with all of the little shops and restaurants you need to eat, shop, and learn. Chef Batali noted that it’s a place where you can pick up a coffee in the morning, grab lunch later in the day, and stock up on ingredients for dinner and entertaining at home later.

I love the concept of going from specialty store to specialty store – when we are in Europe we employ this practice, visiting quality butchers, cheese shops, etc. for everything we need for a memorable meal, and Eataly will make this all possible in one place. From beautiful produce to crepes, a huge cheese counter to award-winning pizza to a gorgeous wine store and so much more, Eataly will blow you away with its offerings. For full information, visit the Eataly Boston website.

With winter coming to Boston sooner rather than later, Eataly will feel like a mini getaway to Italy without having to dig into our wallets for the airfare, and it will be a most delicious place to come in out of the cold.

As I mentioned earlier, I couldn’t stay for much of the tour, but I raced through and grabbed as many photos as I could before I left. Feast your eyes on the beauty that is Eataly Boston in the below photos. . . but be sure to pay this new Boston gem a visit as soon as you can!