New Boston-focused Blog

I've been pondering and planning this for a while and finally launched it, Beantown on the Cheap.

I know everyone's a writer these days, and readers are hard to find, but I've wanted to have a 'maketable' blog for a while. My adventures home and abroad keep me connected with friends and family far-flung, but as of late, I've become an expert on Boston. Boston, cheaply that is. Yes, I'm a cheapskate. I've made career choices in my life that give me enough money to be comfortable, but not drop big bucks having fun. I think there's a lot of others in my boat. (Though the boat surveyed is mainly the non-profit office where I work.)

Beantown on the Cheap will be the place to easily find my free & cheap events calendar (just scroll down to the bottom), get weekly updates on the hottest events and my tricks for seeing Boston like a cheapskate year round.

So if you live in Boston, or are planning on checking out my fine city sometime soon, make sure you follow Beantown on the Cheap. If you want to stay abreast of my personal adventures in this city, and others (summer vacation season is coming up soon after all) stay tuned here.

And hopefully see you soon in either case!

A Perfect Birthday (long) Weekend

Since I was marking my third decade on the planet, I decided to fill a long weekend with my favorite things. Strangely one day did involve a brown-paper package and lovely enough, the silver-white winter melted into Spring on Thursday. (Sound of Music fans will get those.)

Thursday was devoted to the sliver of Irish heritage that is no doubt somewhere in my blood from my father's side and definitely in my name (Megan Ryan) from my mother. Starting at noon with a great round of drinks at Stoddard's. We first attempted to test as many of the Harpoon specials that were on cask. Then another. Then (like last time) our waitress kept misinforming us about what beers were available. So the barkeep came over, looking straight out of a 1910's fancy downtown Boston establishment, and offered us a round on him. It pays to be smarter than your waitress, a lesson I relearn on Sunday.

St. Patrick's Day continued as we joined in the revelry at Faneuil Hall then drinking for free at Harpoon. We wrapped up the night with my favorite dish and local dinner joint - eggplant parm and Bella Luna.

Friday was brutal. 8 straight hours in the kitchen. Our first all-grain brew. Then more apps then you could shake a stick at for my evening shindig. Our first all-grain batch, a rye, will likely be low in alcohol and have a slight hint of burnt sock. (Our grain sock burnt to the bottom of the pot.) Oh well. What started off with hard work ended with many good friends gathered round the table at the Haven, being served kelp-chocolate beer by our local Scotsman.

Saturday, back to me time. I took a leisurely ride down to the Haymarket. If there's two things I love, it's slow cycling and Boston's Haymarket: the number one source for cheap produce. Some steals to be jealous of: ginormous bag of mixed greens for $2, 5 nectarines for $1, very large bunches of basil for $1, bags of onions for $1. I biked back on home with my load and then took myself out to get some pad thai and read a book I just got from the library. (Pad Thai and books are on my favorites list.) We ended the night with a bottle of cava and the best mussels I've ever had in my life at the bar at Bon Savour down the street. (Cava and mussels, also on my favorites list.

Sunday, more favorites: A belly dancing class at the adult dance school. A parade in Southie for St. Patty's Day.

Lastly, I donned my new red dress and Chris took me out to a very fancy, very expensive restaurant (with a Groupon). If you are in Boston, you must go to Aquitane. Without a coupon you can make it affordable by going 5:30-6:30 and doing a three-course, beat-the-rush menu for $30. It's worth triple every penny you spend. And when you're turning thirty, there's no better reason to spend every penny.

Fall has Come to Boston

A free food & wine event lured us out to Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain last weekend.

A Weekend on the Waterfront

It's really easy to forget that you live on a waterfront in Boston. Its a bit out of the way for those of us that work downtown or even Back Bay. Thankfully, for those of us with bikes, it's just a quick jaunt down to the water. With the big dig behind us and the Rose F Kennedy Greenway freshly green, there's no more pleasant place to be than the harbor.

First event on the water was Friday's Harpoon Oktoberfest which turned out to a

lso be under water. The event was held outside their waterfront breweryThere were three tents, with pools of water between them and rain pouring down. We tried to run between the raindrops, but without much success. So our pints had some Boston rainwater, but by the third we didn't notice. We were busy noticing the amazing German oompah band and folks in chicken hats.

Saturday I volunteered at the Boston Local Food Fest with Corporate Accountability, gathering petitions for their Think Outside the Bottle campaign. Right on the waterfront outside the Children's Museum we were afforded a beautiful view of downtown Boston across the water. We also got a ton of local, amazing food. This was the best free stuff event I've ever been too and I loaded up on samples of cheese, chocolate, crackers, pita, salads, apples and more.

But really, the waterfront is great even without big hullabaloos. Plenty of park benches and greenspace abound. Perfect for picnic lunches during the work week, or wine and cheese while watching the ships pass by at night.

Fall Adventures

It's been quite a few weeks here in Boston! The weather has swung back and forth between cold and hot.

Last Saturday we were left cold at Jacob Wirth's when Harpoon didn't show to give out free tickets to Oktoberfest and liter steins as promised. Thankfully we did get some excellent beer and german food and our complaints on facebook got us our tickets and stein. So now that they've made it up to me, I encourage you to become a friend of Harpoon. They have lots of free events and card holders get into Oktoberfest for 1/2 price. Go here to register.

This week I also snuck a tour to the Just Beer Brewery in Westport on the South Coast. I happened to drive past this sign on my way to a meeting.

Well, I had to stop on my way back. Just Beer is a fairly new brewery. The owners have been making wine for a while, and decided they needed something to drink during football games, I suppose. I tried for ales and the standout was their Harry's IPA. I bought myself a growler.

This weekend was JP Open Studios, always a fall highlight. We saw a lot of good and bad art, drank a lot of free wine and checked out sweet JP apartments. I really got a kick out of checking out others' gardens too. These guys gave me some great ideas.

We ended Saturday with a trip to the Amesbury Brew Fest, which was filled with strange red-necks and some decent beer. A good $15 spent overall.

For some extra dough you could get inside this thing and ride down the mountain.

Cops were on hand to flirt with, I mean keep the peace.

A big Red Sox fan.

By the end things devolved quite a bit. We knew it was time to hit the road.

Boston Ahts

Well, Boston is no Paris. We don't have the Met like New York or the Getty like Los Angeles. But Boston has 'ahts'. Yes, that's arts with a Boston accent.

This weekend is the annual Boston Ähts Festival. The event takes place this Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Christopher Columbus Park. (Just plug in 105 Atlantic Ave., Boston, MA into google maps.)

I haven't been before, but their website looks pretty cool. Their acts range from indie folk rock to ballet to New Orleans R&B. There'll be visual art from glassblowing to ceramics to metalworking with a lot of hands-on demonstrations. I'll definitely checking it out in between the Greek Festivals. (Somerville and Brookline)

And that's not all Boston is doing to celebrate the Ahts. Check out the Public Art Boston website they've got a great map you can download with all the public art like old statues, murals and modern installations. Lastly, another great resource is the Boston Open Studios Coalition - there's a lot! Though of course my favorite, of course, is JP Open Studios. It's totally homey and has lots of great snacks. It's September 25th -26th, so mark your calendars and I'll see you there.

Back in Boston

I'm back settled in Boston after a long summer of travel, some chosen places, some not. And last week on the hottest day of the summer, we moved. Not far, just a mile away. It was still hard work in the heat and my back is still a bit thrown out. But the new apartment is absolutely lovely; just a block from the best restaurant in JP and equidistant to two T lines.

I've missed most of the summer festivals, unfortunately, but I promise to keep up even better my Boston of the Cheap calendar. Here's a few of the delights I've taken in since I've gotten back:

Swimming at Blue Hills National Park

Lunch at the Clover Food Lab in the Rose Kennedy Greenway

View from Nira Rock, a Boston urban wild

View of the historic Shirley Eustis House from the public orchard there

Labor Day tour of Harpoon

Longest Days of Summer

I thrive on sun. I need it for survival. Now that I live in the upper part of our hemisphere and working an inside job I find myself craving the shiny orb. So that means weekends I am out all day. (Much to the horror of my dermatologist.)

My day started off greeting the sun by sunbathing at 6am in the park across the street. Its a good time to sunbathe in Boston since you'll draw less gawkers. In Miami you still would get harassed by the boys who stayed up all night at the clubs partying and then wanted to see the sunrise.

A long bike ride with a stop over for a tasting at Marshall's Fenway Farmstand.

My day ended at the Jamaica Pond watching the sunset. Not as dramatic as Santa Monica, but still nice.

Sunday there was another festival right across the street in the Southwest Corridor. The Green Roots Festival drew a fun bunch of hippies and bikers for a ride to benefit Bikes Not Bombs, based right here in Jamaica Plain. They even had a great little race for the tykes (and adults who thought they could fit on a tricycle.

Afterwards I headed over to the first free outdoor swing dance in Copley Square. They'll be happening every Sunday from 1-4pm this summer. I wished they had started before it got so damn HOT, but it was still a blast. Next time I wear as little as possible and bring a towel to wipe the sweat off. This was probably a better workout then the gym.

My bike home from the dance was slow and arduous. But I'm glad I made it. We ended the sunny weekend with a heavy thunderstorm and a summer bbq. Drinking watermelon beer and munching on potato salad and grilled tuna I wondered how much better the summer could get. What's your perfect summer weekend?

Aquitante Group

My latest love? The Aquitane restaurant group. I've particularly been in love with Gaslight since they donated to a silent auction I was running, but considered myself too poor to actually eat a meal there. Enter in Yelp. Gaslight was opening their patio and asked Yelp to hold a kick-off party. I got in and so Gaslight and I were finally introduced. It started off with very little food, but a very generous open bar, a great little jazz quintet and beautiful weather. After a few drinks our stomach began growling for food and we decided our feet didn't want to go anywhere, so we got ourselves a table and had one of the best meals I've ever had in Boston.

Then the parents came and I got to try Metropolis' $30 three-course menu. (Wine included!)

So that's it, I don't think I need to search anymore the perfect restaurants on this side of the river. And really, they aren't as pricey as I thought. Try the $30 three-course, have your dining partner get an entree and then just split the appetizer, dessert and wine. There, that's nearing affordable. And while they advertise this special as being 5:30-6:30 in all their restaurants I got it a 8pm on a Saturday.

Blue Hills . . . Brewery

By now, you know I love beer. I also love parks. So what happens when you combine beer and parks? Blue Hills Brewery!

Just a few minute drive past the Blue Hills State Park in a barely marked industrial complex you'll find this unassuming brewery. The place is small, I mean small. The 'tour guide' hanging out at the bar pouring from a few bottles. We got to try Watermelon Ale, Red Baron Ale, two kinds of IPA and Extra Pale Ale. We had to cajole the guy giving us our pours into giving us some history and tell us about the brewery. Turns out they're just about a year and a half old and run by one of the brewery suppliers for the northeast. They just do one tank at a time. And they hand-bottle everything. Here's the actual bottling equipment:

Growlers are only $9 here (vs $11-20 at the corner store), so the drive becomes totally worth it.

They also do four events a year. Check out their next event on my Boston on the Cheap calendar on July 10th: Summerfest. Music, beer, and beautiful blue hills . . .

The Groupawn Comes to Beantown

The Groupawn is arriving tonight in Boston. I've had fun living vicariously through his blog as he has given up every single worldy possession and given a stack of groupons to live off of for a year. (Oh if I didn't have life commitments.)

Let's see what he does! Maybe something from the Boston on the Cheap calendar? Maybe the Helicopter tour from today's groupon?

Free Tastings . . . of Alcohol!

This weekend I wrote about free food tastings. This week has also become one big alcohol tasting fete!

Last night I was inducted into the Secret Sherry Society. Which actually isn't so secret. Masks were provided, but most of us decided to show our own face. Not only did we get unlimited cocktails and shots, but also tasty tapas and a flamenco show! (Who knew sherry was Spanish?)

Tonight take your pick of events.

Friends of Harpoon Open House 6-8pm (Friends of Harpoon card or email required)

Scotch Tasting at Mantra 5-7pm

Boogaloo Event with free drinks at Salmagundi 5:30-9pm (password is Boogaloo)

Wine Tastin at rialto all night

More events abound at my Cheap Boston calendar.

Luck of the Irish

Only my name is Irish, but I seemed to have been touched by their luck. Just this week I won another contest. I recommend you get on the Daily Dig list yourself. It's funny, but I can't even find a link on the Weekly Dig website for this amazing deal-bringer. Here's the link from my email. Each day you'll get news on a couple events going on in town. The Weekly Dig often has tickets for the event you can score by being the 11th person to email them, or in my case, emailing them a name of a song from Jesus Christ Superstar.

My two tickets for Jesus Christ Superstar were in the orchestra and worth $186! That, and Ted Neely, who originated the role of Jesus in the movie was starring in it. (You don't even have to be a theater geek to appreciate that.)

Our pre-theater dinner was at Jacob Wirth's, a great downtown German restaurant with an excellent beer list. And our meal was $25 off, thanks again to the Weekly Dig. Check out Dig Deals to snag your own coupon for JW's and other local restaurants. Hot tip: forgo the shipping charge and waiting for your gift certificate in the mail. Email Amanda @ the Weekly Dig dot com. You can pay for your deals in cash and pick them up from their studio near the South End.

Happy cheap weekend adventures - I'm off to the Lilac Festival.

Free Weekends

Spring in Boston means free stuff galore. Keep your eye on my Boston on the Cheap calendar for future free stuff. Here's a sampling of my recent adventures.

Free doesn't get much better than free sailing. That's right, the hi-brow leisure activity which normally costs hundreds for lessons (let's not even talk about actually buying a boat), was free last weekend Courageous Sailing offered free trips around the Boston Harbor with a barbecue on the dock.

Monday I enjoyed the Museum of Fine Art, which has an extror extraordinarily dinarily high admission fee of $17 for free. The museum was celebrating it's annual event, Art in Bloom, in groups submit floral arrangements inspired by art in the museum. Yes, it's just as strange as it sounds, but really I'm there to see the art anyway. The new Tomb exhibit was amazing and well worth dodging the flowers for.

The world is practically your free oyster when you have a bike--any beautiful day turns into a bike ride into an event in itself. Friday I rode around the historic North End, picking up produce, fresh fish and spices for the weekend bbq. My search for phyllo dough led me to the Golden Goose on the waterfront. They had the phyllo dough I needed and a free wine tasting, hosted by a Southie-type, whom you'd expect to know about types of Miller than the Lorraine region of France. I topped off the beautiful day with a near free meal alfresco, thanks to my Groupon.

Saturday was Wake Up The Earth Festival - over 30 live acts of musicians, dancing, circus performers and all manner of hippie craziness right out our front door. I started off the day, though, with a free tour of orchards in Boston by Bike, which showed where I can get free fruits all summer long. Only the rhubarb is pickable, so far, but stay tuned for updates as I venture out picking in a few months.

Romantic Boston

What cities come to mind when you think romantic? Paris? Buenos Ares? Savannah?

Certainly not Boston.

But Boston can have it's moments. Here's my picks for romantic places around town this Valentine's Day.

Arnold Arboretum

During the Winter season, it's a cold desolate place, but when the lilacs are in bloom and the grass is green, this is a great romantic place to have a picnic. Better yet, sneak off the path on the hills in the woods for some alone time.

South End side streets

Wander down Boston's South End side streets, peek in windows and imagine the life you could lead if you had the money to live in these brown stones shaded by trees.

Charles River

Water is romantic. I believe Venice proves that. So get away from the joggers and stroll the bridges above the pools near the Hatch Shell to be Boston's own Venice.

Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum

Link arms with your lover and stroll through the decadent house and gardens imagining you're in the romantic Victorian era.

Boston Harbor

After dusk when the boat signals glitter and the office building lights make a pretty picture, Boston's harbor is an excellent place for a picnic. Plenty of benches offer perches, just pack your corkscrew, some wine and cheese.

Griggs Park

Carved out by a glacier eons ago, Griggs Park in Brookline with it's gardens and weeping willows is a lovely place to stroll with your partner.

North End

When the moon hits your eyes like a big pizza pie--that's amore. What better place to have a romantic dinner or get serenaded by an Italian Stallion (see above) then the little Italy of Boston? The Jersey Shore has given guidos a bad name, but old school Italians know how to do amore. Every restaurant is guaranteed to be candlelit and playing romantic music.

Events at MIT

College was great for free stuff. I joined the Commuters Club, International Students Club and the 8 Minute Abs Club. I wasn't a commuter, a foreigner or in possession of ripped abs. I was in it for the free food and fun events. My only weekly expense running the NYUSwings! Club? Brownie mix and milk.But now that you're out of college, what to do? I luckily have a college ID without any dates and a youthful complexion, so I save a lot of money on tickets for shows and museums. But there's more. I'm in Boston--this is college central. One of the best for events I've found is MIT.

That's right. The university of uber-nerds is actually a hub of social activity and free food. I suppose I've known this for a while. I've been a big fan of the Wednesday night free swing dance.

But there's also free tango dancing, movies and more. One of my favorites this year was the F.A.T. (Friday After Thanksgiving) event where 35 teams produce Rube Goldberg contraptions that are linked to create a chain reaction. You got to check out the video here.

A full events calendar is online at the MIT website. Sure a lot of events are MIT students only, but I doubt they'll check or just say you left your ID in your dorm room. (Better figure out the name of a dorm I suppose.) Here's some favorites: Annual Hummus taste-off (tomorrow), Fried Rice Iron Chef (tonight), MIT Charm School (this weekend). I'll be putting my favorites on my events calendar.

Yelp!

Yelp, is no longer the sound a dog makes, it's the sound of twenty-somethings writing mini-reviews of their most favorite and hated, restaurants, stores, salons, and just about anything else these days. If you're not on Yelp you are probably not going to the best bars, the cheapest eateries or the tastiest restaurants. Worse yet, you could be going to dull, over-priced places with bad service.

Since Yelp I've only had fantastic meals, drinks and massages.

Here's why Yelp isn't just another Citysearch:

1. The writers are snarky, clever, irreverent and often hilarious. These aren't Zagat's reviews here or even a Lonely Planet tour book. Each person has their own style and it's usually well-written and brutally honest.

2. The map feature is pretty cool - see what top-rated eateries are around where you are. Want somewhere else? Just drag the map over and new places pop up.

3. You can 'bookmark' places to try later and put notes with it. "To Try: Masa Note: $1 tapas on Thursday."

4. Many businesses offer Yelper's discount. Say you saw it on Yelp and at Blu you get 30% off your lunch or $15 off your Thai bodywork session at Boston Thai Yoga.

5. Events and community are also key on Yelp. Waste some time trolling the message boards to see some funny drama. Check out user-posted events like Paper-Rock-Scissors Tournaments. And if you're in the Yelp Elite Squad you get invited to free events put on by local stores and eateries where they wine and dine you to get your 5 star rating.

6. The reviews are usually right on. Folks are encouraged to use their real name and photo and write truthfully. There's also a ton of folks on the site. There's a graph that shows you how many people gave it 1, 2, 3, etc. stars and the average rating. So in the end you get a pretty good picture of if the place is worth checking out.

Hop on Yelp and be sure to friend me!

Highlights from Holiday Happenings

This is the first year that I skipped our paid vacation to Aspen. After my 3 week trip to Mexico I decided I'd had enough of planes for a while. And no matter--I planned a week full of exciting (and cheap!) events while most in the office were gone.

First off was the new Harpoon Beer tasting at the Kinsale and trying out Minibar's cocktails and Aspen-like interior decorating and fireplace.

The next day I organized a group to go the Wine Bottega's chocolate and wine tasting (free) and dinner in the Italian North End (not free).

More free booze on Thursday at Albert Winestein's tasting.

Then Friday I went to the Lexington annual Handel's Messiah. Now on it's 49th year, this is certainly the best sing-a-long Messiah there is. Many people there have been going, 10, 20, 30, event 40+ years! There was an air of camaraderie and a somewhat dorky love of singing aloud. At one point the bass singer finished a particularly good solo and I found myself grinning and nodding. I happened to look around and almost everyone was smiling and nodding in appreciation.

I spent Christmas at home in South Jersey, which is always a unique sensory experience. I spent most of the weekend being shuttled between relatives and family friends' homes. Because my father drove, I usually slept through the rides. It was if I'd magically awake in another strange house. Windows were small and it was dark out, so it was if the outside never existed--just funny knick-knacks, TVs always on and different people's wedding photos.

I'm used to being very aware of my environs. Up until recently I'd bike to work. Thursday I walked the 2 miles to the grocery store in the snow (safer than driving), stopping in shops and the library along the way. You notice the new art hanging in the gallery. You say hi to neighbors and you pet others' dogs. You notice a house's new paint job and feel the immediacy of the wind and weather.

The car to house, to car to house routine got a little surreal after four days. It's almost as if the state of New Jersey didn't exist, just a few folk's homes--and cars.

This week I returned to Boston with a vengeance. Went to Redbones for a beer launch. The wait was one cold, cold hour outdoors and the keg was kicked by the time we made it in, but the free appetizers of corn fritters, fried catfish, shrimp made a fine dinner. Partied perhaps a little too hardy for New Years with our home-made glögg.

I made up for January 1st's day of sloth with early morning sledding today, followed by more sloth.

Do holidays get any better than this?

Looking for Cheap Events in Boston? Look no further!

Goodbye Warm Weather, Goodbye Bike Rides, Hello Cold

Perhaps it is a bit cruel to go on vacation to a higher latitude, but the locale was not in my control. While beautiful this time of year, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine were best experienced from a window last week. It was the first time I had really experienced fall in a while. With the election last year, Barcelona before that and 2 years in Miami, noticing foliage being anything other than green has been half a decade past due. I'll admit it, mountainous drives through the reds and oranges were pretty, but all that ends when it's 34 degrees and sleeting on you.

Here's my homage to wonderful warm weather events gone by:

Wake Up the Earth Festival, Jamaica Plain

Revere Beach, Revere

First Thursdays, Jamaica Plain

Walden Pond, Concord

Lantern Festival, Forest Hills

Blue Hills Brewery and State Park, Milton

Minuteman Bikepath, Arlington

(too busy biking to take pictures)

St. Anthony's Festival, North End

Whale Watching, Gloucester

Riversing, Cambridge

Honkfest, Sommerville