Sunday, December 9, 2012

Eat Boutique, a Christmas Food Story Boston 2012

I'm Back!!!!!!!! and the Holidays are here!

Today was a wonderful day in Boston.   Especially for a hungry girl who had just come from yoga.

So great, it inspired me to write a new blog post.    I've been out of touch for a LONG time!

I read about this Eat Boutique at the Artist's for Humanity spot in South Boston a few weeks ago.  The Eat Boutique is a gathering of food artisan's peddling their yummy edible wares to the masses.   I was really psyched because AFH is right on A street in Southie, but then I realized we were supposed to be away this weekend.   Lately I feel like so many great things are happening in Boston, and when we leave for the weekend, I miss out!   I guess I have the dreaded FOMO (fear of missing out).

Late Thursday, however, we had to cancel our plans because Lou realized he had a class on Saturday for work.  There was no way he could miss it, so the Eat Boutique was back in the plans!

I went to yoga early this morning and was famished by the time I got home.   The event started at noon I got home about 12:30 so I thought "Perfect time for sampling good food", but then we got there and I saw thousands of people with tickets in hand.  OOPS It turned out you have to buy tickets ahead of time...UGH HUGE FAIL for someone who is starving and not thinking straight.  I needed to EAT!!!!   The next available tickets were for the 3 to 5 time frame.   Thankfully I had Lou there to talk me down from the ledge.   He said, "Buy the tickets now, we will go check out KO Pies in Eastie, and we will come back:)" Ah the voice of reason.   We bought the tickets and headed through the Callahan Tunnel to seek out KO.

We will get back to the Eat Boutique, but have I told you about KO pies?  Yes I have,  in an earlier blog post!  That post is about the KO in Southie though.   The one we were headed to is in Eastie on the waterfront.    Sam Jackson, yes that is the Aussie's name, did so well with his first pie place, he opened a second, larger place in the shipyard in Eastie.   The menu is a bit different, there is more seating room, and he has a liquor license at the new place.  They even serve a Sunday Brunch.

The cool thing about KO Pie's in Eastie, is you get there by water taxi and you can catch a water tazi from several spots in the harbor. We didn't do this today.  It was a little cold and we had a time crunch, but I couldn't help but think what a cool thing to do in the warmer months.

KO is in the shipyard in Eastie.   Sam says it is reminiscent of the Sydney Harbor before it became what it is today.  Honestly, the shipyard is pretty cool.   There is art throughout it, and there were plenty of people seeking out KO.  KO has seating inside and out, and today was just warm enough that people were still eating outside.  I think it would be a really cool spot for a small company party.

When we left KO, we still had some time to kill so we checked out the new coffee shop, Barrington Coffee  on Congress St.  It is across from Lucky's and was delightful.   They only do coffee and it is top notch.

The most interesting thing about our trip to KO and the coffee shop was a random event that occurred.   When Lou and I were walking into KO there was a party of 4 in front of us.  2 girls, 2 guys, may have been couples, I don't know, but when we left KO, we wondered around Eastie a bit to check it out and eventually made our way back into Boston.   We contemplated getting coffee at Sorrelle, another great cafe on Congress St. closer to the city, but there was no parking, so we checked out the new spot, Barrington.   When we walked in, there was that party of four from KO Pies!  Seriously!  Lou and one of the guys exchanged cards.

Ok back to the Eat Boutique!!!!   We finally made it back to AFH at 3 pm, and it was completely worth the WAIT!!!   Look at my haul!

I got this amazing log of ginger bread caramel from Suss Sweets out of NH, Pure Maple syrup, the hard stuff at the end of the season from Nutting Farm in Vermont, I got a bunch of Ana Sortun meals made with quinoa, bulger and couscous.   I got a delicious nut blend from Fastachi out of Watertown, Ma, a POUND of fresh honey.  Honey comb and all.  Honey never goes bad did you know that? AND I got Saint Nicholas and Cha Cha cookies from Lark.   Basically you totally want to come to my house this Christmas because I have some killer snacks!  I am so excited you get two pictures!

Our last trip today was to Social Wines, the new wine store at 52 West Broadway in Southie.   The owners Chris and John were smart enough to have one of the employees, Jeremy stand outside the AFH, Eat Boutique and let people know they could go to Social Wines to get some hot cider and buy all the stuff they weren't allowed to buy from the vendors inside the AFH.  ( I guess you can't sell alcohol at a holiday market)

Chris and John were completely welcoming as we walked in the door.    They offered us cider, they were a wealth of knowledge about their products.   Their prices are inexpensive, and their selection is vast.   Not only do they have an amazing wine selection, they have just as big of a beer selection.    What is really cool though is, they are going to get us Jean Leon wine!   When we were in Spain this year, Lou and I went on a vineyard tour with my parents at Jean Leon.   It was a really great day, and we have been searching for the wine ever since.   They are going to get us some just in time for Christmas when my parents get here!!!!!



Happy Holiday eating everyone!!!

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