For Michelle’s 30 While 30 list, she wanted to go on a progressive dinner, with five different stops: cocktails, appetizers, entrees, desserts, and cocktails again. Over a month ago when we were trying to set a date to catch up, we started on the idea of dinner in the North End which turned into a progressive dinner. If you have an occasion where you need many restaurants close together, the North End is definitely it.

We ate, drank, and a laughed a LOT over the course of the evening. Like I said, it was exactly what I needed.

We kicked off the North End crawl with cocktails at Ristorante Fiore. I grabbed this photo to illustrate that when we met at 5:30, it was this bright out. Yay.

Fiore makes great cocktails and has a fabulous roof deck that is open in warmer weather, a great place to grab a drink and some oysters. On our progressive dinner agenda, we had time for a drink, and I had a cocktail made with gin and basil. It was delicious, herbaceous, and very strong. It definitely kicked off the night on a fun note and got me chatting away.

Next up was a stop at the recently reopened  Mare Oyster Bar. We are all oyster fans, so we ordered two each and enjoyed the briny goodness.

Oysters and bubbly go perfectly together, so we ordered a bottle of Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut. I became a fan of Schramsberg on our cave tour, and it was the perfect choice to go with oysters. What I love about this wine is how many layers of flavor it exhibits, starting with the yeasty brioche and moving on to  more acidic green apple and lemon. I thought it was divine.

Since we felt like we needed a little more food to add to our drinks, we also split the mussels at Mare and the polenta and clams. The polenta was so creamy and comforting. I tried to make some the next day, and it was gritty and not-so-great. If only I could make polenta this amazing!

I think we were all very happy with Mare Oyster Bar, and I am looking forward to returning for a date night.

With dinner on our minds, we moved on to Mamma Maria, one of my North End favorites. We have celebrated my birthday in their room for two, the Piccolo room, and we also celebrated our first anniversary there. The food is fantastic, and the interior is a quaint old house.

We moved on to red for dinner, Umani Ronchi Cùmaro, a wine made with 100% Montepulciano grapes. This wine packed a spicy punch! It also had a velvety mouth feel and a long finish and went so well with our Italian feast.

My photos don’t do it justice, but Mamma Maria’s pesto is bright, fresh, and bursting with flavor. A little of that on some bread, with a few olives on the side, is the perfect thing to curb hunger while waiting for dinner.

By the time my beautiful Bolognese arrived, I was starting to get full, but I carried on because it was just so good. Is there anything better than homemade pasta?

Prezza was our dessert stop. I had forgotten that I went to Prezza for marathon weekend dinner 2010 and thoroughly enjoyed it. The girls ordered Bailey’s on the rocks while I stuck with bubbles, a glass of  Bouillot Cremant.  Sparking wines from Burgundy are quickly becoming a favorite for me, and this copper hued beauty definitely went will with dessert. It had a creamy mouth feel but was also bright and fruity. It was love at first sip.

I don’t know how we ate more, but somehow we shared white chocolate bread pudding and fig and chocolate turnovers.

The turnovers had a slightly burnt taste to them, but I actually kind of liked it. It went well with the fig and chocolate and my Cremant.

Completely full, we made our way to our final stop, Bricco (with a stop at Stanza di Sigari, only to find it too crowded and just too smoky for us) for an after dinner drink. Bubbly was my choice there too; a Prosecco that was okay but not as memorable for me as either the Mirabelle or the Cremant. Prosecco just has too much of a pear flavor for me sometimes.

What a night. There was some out-loud singing of Whitney Houston songs as we tried to use social media to find karaoke bars in the neighborhood without luck. At least our fellow North End goers were treated to our beautiful song. I have to say that everything I ate and drank was really pretty great.  Girls nights out are an absolute must in life, and I am so lucky to have such fun friends!

What’s your favorite way to spend a night out with friends?

Technorati Tags: Boston, cocktails, dessert, Dining out, dinner, North End, oysters, prosecco, sparkling wine, wine

I love bubbly. It’s celebratory, great with food, and depending on what you buy, can be affordable to be a more frequent part of your dining. I happen to prefer sparkling wines made in the Champagne method because of the brioche or biscuit-like quality they can have.

We currently have about 100 bottles of wine in our house. About 90 of them are red. The whites and sparkling wine? Most of them will be coming with us for Christmas or consumed on New Year’s.

And as much as I love a good Cab or Malbec, for whatever reason the past few months have me going for a slightly chilled Verdejo, or even better, Cremant de Bourgogne. I have a really hard time pronouncing Bourgogne though, so I like when I can just point to the menu to order. Does that ever happen to you?

I have decided to go with what makes me happy right now, and that is bubbly

Luckily, thanks to this little blog, I have had the opportunity to taste some delicious (free) samples since my return from Ireland.

First we opened this Lamberti prosecco. While I enjoyed the bubbles and acidity of this prosecco, I have to say that prosecco is probably my least favorite of sparkling wines. There’s something about that pear aftertaste that is often there that I just can’t get behind. However, I do love my bursting-with-bubbles, Secco, which I purchased at The Urban Grape and enjoyed all summer long. Remember summer?

On the other hand, I fell head-over-heels in love with this Crémant de Bourgogne from Maison Vincent. This wine is crisp and bright and also offers that yeasty quality I love.

We also received a bottle of Pol Roger Champagne, which we are saving for New Year’s Eve and something new to me, a bubbly from Argentina, Trapiche Extra Brut. The Trapiche is aged briefly in stainless steel, which maintains the freshness of the wine. A lot of citrus came through in this bubbly, lemon and lemon peel, along with a bit of green apple. Though not made in the traditional method, I enjoyed this wine and its uniqueness.

Earlier in the month I was also able to take part in the TasteLive holiday sparklers event which featured wines we are very familiar with, from Freixenet, Segura Viudas, and Gloria Ferrer. These are the sparkling wines I speak of when I talk about value. The Segura Viudas, for example, retails for around $10 a bottle and is absolutely delightful. I also got a new photo editor, hence the Polaroid shot.

Pairing food with bubbly is a cinch. Anything from takeout pizza to a multi-course gourmet meal are great with it. For our Tuesday night TasteLive tasting with friends, I did a bunch of simple items, cheeses paired with jalapeno and fig jellies, and a Trader Joe’s red pepper dip with pita chips and baguette. Because the tastings are hosted on the West Coast, they start at 9:00 our time. We had already had dinner and just needed something to keep our evening hunger at bay!

This Vermont Harvest jam was incredible atop Neufchatel cheese. I ate it for breakfast the next day with bagel chips.

I look forward to a 2012 full of health and bubbly because they do go hand in hand!

Do you have any fun resolutions for 2012?

Technorati Tags: cava, champagne, prosecco, sparkling wine, wine, wine tasting

Wahlburger’s had other ideas. It was absolutely jam-packed with a line jutting out the door. Inside, lots and lots of screaming children. That’s Sunday for ya. I did enjoy listening to some NKOTBBSB blaring from the speakers. I think I will have to bring my sister here to relive our New Kids on the Block Days.

Instead of waiting and eating with the kids, we decided to head across the street to Alma Nove where we actually enjoyed our first outdoor drink of spring on my birthday back in March. How fitting that it was likely also our last time having a drink outside this year. The patio was empty, but we asked if we could sit there anyway. It turned out there was not a server for that area. It didn’t look good. Fast forward three minutes, and the manager was taking us outside to a sunny table, letting us know that they reassigned a server so we could sit outside. When we thanked her, she said it’s what they do. It was a very nice touch something they didn’t have to do. Still, we were incredibly grateful to be able to eat while taking in the sun.

I had a glass of Prosecco to start while my husband had their Bloody Maria, a spicy Bloody Mary made with tequila.

We decided we actually were in the mood for lighter fare which made us glad we weren’t having burgers and fries. We decided to share two salads and a side of mac and cheese.

Fall “Caprese”, fresh burrata cheese, eggplant, tomato confit, black sea salt – This plate was so full of flavor and texture! The burrata was heavenly, a pillow of cheese filled with creamy cheese and topped with a black salt. The eggplant was done so well it melted in our mouths, and the crunchy little parmesan crisps on the side were perfect for making little sandwiches with.

Alma Nove’s version of macaroni and cheese, truffled mafaldi, was earthy, dense, and hearty. This serving was more than enough for us to share as a side.

We also shared this salad: Roasted red and golden beets, aged goat cheese, endive, blood orange vinaigrette.

My husband’s love of beets continues to surprise and delight me. I enjoy them so much, and to see him get a kick out of a food item that isn’t beef smothered in cheese is exciting! The beets were super sweet, and the blood orange in the vinaigrette really accented that sweetness with a kick of citrus.

We swapped salads halfway through the meal so that each of us got a good portion of each salad. What a spectacular meal! The service was so friendly; we felt a little bad making someone come outside just for us, but our lovely server assured us it was nice for her to get to go outside.

Wahlburger’s will have to wait for another time; for delicious, higher end dining in Hingham, Alma Nove is it. Now we need to have dinner there.

Technorati Tags: Alma Nove, Dining out, Food, Hingham, Lunch, prosecco, Restaurants

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. . .

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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?

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