]> http://betsyblock.com Betsy Block en http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=05--Here_and_There&display=1600 For this clip, please go here. ... Fri, 21 Mar 2008 06:51:37 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=05--Here_and_There&display=1600 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=1175 For this clip, please go here. ... Wed, 04 Apr 2007 07:41:15 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=1175 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=1487 For this story about tapas, please go here. ... Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:29:01 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=1487 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=1472 For this clip, please go here. ... Sat, 23 Dec 2006 12:10:22 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=1472 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=1458 For this story, go here. NPR Online reader Wesley Hill of Alaska shared the following with me: "Many of the indigenous people of Alaska continue to use local berries as a major part of their diet. Unless you ve seen the "harvest" first-hand, you would f ... Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:21:23 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=1458 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=995 Yawkey Way, the street just outside Boston s fabled Fenway Park, is hopping. But folks are asking for the mustard, not the score. Who can blame them? They ve been bewitched by the smell of sausages and franks permeating the air. Given the aromatic circums ... Tue, 26 Sep 2006 16:58:47 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=995 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=563 A recent survey of moms at a Boston area playground revealed that 110 percent of them love chocolate. (Extra points were awarded for self-proclaimed "addicts.") So it s a fair bet that most moms would be happy to get some candy along with their bouquets o ... Sat, 13 May 2006 06:24:48 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=563 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=6 "Downcast eyes, a Mona Lisa smile and a slight blush are the proper responses to the flattery I receive when people see my homemade tarts." %2014 %2014 %2014 %2014 %2014 %2014- npr.org ... Fri, 16 Dec 2005 11:37:32 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=6 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=05--Here_and_There&display=78 Inuit Tea (Helicopter Optional) Dateline: Northern Canada If you think green, white, and red teas are so five-minutes-ago, perhaps you re ready to move on to the Crowberry, Cloudberry, or Labrador from Northern Delights. The tea is made by the Nunavik In ... Tue, 11 Oct 2005 19:19:52 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=05--Here_and_There&display=78 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=05--Here_and_There&display=44 Yefim Shubentsov has no fancy title, no special degree. But for most of the 16 people gathered inside his office on this chilly Wednesday afternoon in October, he is their last hope. They are all heavy smokers, drinkers, food addicts, or substance abusers ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:05:43 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=05--Here_and_There&display=44 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=05--Here_and_There&display=26 You know the scene. Everyone does. You re sitting in your favorite restaurant, tucking into a plate of gnocchi, when suddenly all conversation comes to a halt. All eyes turn to a table filled with two stressed-out adults and several kids poised at the bri ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:05:29 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=05--Here_and_There&display=26 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=05--Here_and_There&display=28 Take a boy who was born in Italy, give him a head for business and an eye for trends, raise him in the United States and what do you get? Joey Crugnale, restaurant mastermind and businessman extraordinaire. He turned Steve s, at one time a local ice crea ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:05:17 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=05--Here_and_There&display=28 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=29 Never underestimate the value of pennies -- or at least, of nickels, dimes and quarters. For casino operators, fortunes are built on pocket change. From 2001 to 2002, enough people wandered into Mohegan Sun and started pouring change into the video games ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:03:35 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=29 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=14 PROVINCETOWN - I have mixed feelings as we head over to the truck parked at the corner of Standish and Commercial Streets in downtown Provincetown. Were about to pay for an hour-long narrated tour of the historic Provincetown dunes at Art s Dune Tours mov ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:03:23 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=14 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=64 Now that everyone s headed back to school, I should be wistful about the summer past or the kids growing up. But instead I m reeling at the thought of nine long months of packing lunches: Mornings combing through the fridge for healthy options, afternoons ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:03:11 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=64 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=30 Im not proud of this, but when it comes to culture, I take the low road. In part I blame this on my kids: The arts keep me out past my bedtime. Or maybe I should go farther back and blame it on my parents. Yeah, thats it, even though I cant say exactly wh ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:02:55 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=30 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=27 "Who wants to go to a fast-food place that doesn t have french fries?," asks my second-grader, rolling his eyes. "That s not a fast-food place," he adds indignantly. I ve just told him we re going to eat at a "natural fast-food restaurant" called O Natur ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:02:41 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=27 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=9 Twenty years after the fact, Im still inordinately proud of having won a high school pie baking contest. Why? Because I have an unrequited passion for pastry. %2014 A highly unscientific survey of my friends reveals that I m not aloneOmicron almost all ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:02:29 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=9 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=70 Smoke rises up as chicken hits the grill, sizzling. Caterer Kenneth Perry is making lunch. The tempting smell wafts over to the nearby worktable where Kris Alden has laid out a handful of perfectly red strawberriesOmicron shes about to drape them in choco ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:02:16 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=70 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=04--Sidewalk.com&display=21 When people hear you re going to eat at Rubin s Kosher Deli and Restaurant, they ll tell you it s good, but it s not New York. Not New York? Honey, this isn t even Paris, Texas. If you re familiar with kosher food, then you may already know all about Rub ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:02:00 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=04--Sidewalk.com&display=21 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=04--Sidewalk.com&display=17 The man on the phone at Ristorante il Fiorentino said they were renovating, but still open. Renovating? It was a little worrisome. What if they had decided they needed to be more "respectable"? As we walked up to the restaurant s door, my friend sadly n ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:01:48 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=04--Sidewalk.com&display=17 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=03--Citysearch.com&display=22 We arrive at Bricco on a Friday at 7pm and are promptly whisked past the madness of the bar and up to the private club-like calm of the second floor as if we re VIPs. (The host asks us if we re staying at the Park Plaza, so maybe he s given us someone els ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:01:18 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=03--Citysearch.com&display=22 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=03--Citysearch.com&display=19 Let me make this clear right off the bat: the word "Fugakyu" supposedly means "house of exquisite elegance" in Japanese. No matter what it means, though, I love how it sounds and it s become one of my favorite meaningless expressions. But for Boston s sus ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:01:01 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=03--Citysearch.com&display=19 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=03--Citysearch.com&display=20 Andy Husbands is on the phone. "I ll be waiting for you," he says, and I catch my breath. Full disclosure: I have a little thing - a culinary crush, if you will - on the owner of Tremont 647. He s the perfect combination of hip and sensitive. He s got ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:00:20 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=03--Citysearch.com&display=20 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=03--Citysearch.com&display=18 Well, the Campbell s people had one thing right: Soup is good food. At least, it starts out that way. But imprison it in a can, store it on the supermarket shelf for a year or so, and let s just say you haven t done the soup lobby any favors. So it s luc ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:59:54 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=03--Citysearch.com&display=18 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=24 If I presented my friend Jon with a plateful of bread and called it dinner, he might just plant a big, joyous kiss of gratitude on my cheek. That s because most of his other friends serve him balanced meals when they invite him over. That means he must e ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:59:00 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=24 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=13 CINCINNATI %2014Sixteen years ago, the Bengals made it to the Super Bowl and my then-boyfriend, who grew up in Cincinnati, hosted a party. I dont remember much about the chili he served that nightOmicron I was too busy falling in love with the chef to car ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:58:25 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=13 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=7 Summer in New England sounds a Sirens call: its clambake season. Earth, fire and water transform a basic seafood dinner into an elemental ritual rich with history. Somehow, out of the blue, my husband is entranced by the romance of it all and decides that ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:53:14 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=7 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=3 Last summer, Fourth of July. We re invited to a party at the lavish, new home of some friends. I offer to bring drinks, my donation of choice at potlucks lately, but then my husband pipes up and says he wants to make potato salad. I understandOmicron as s ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:49:59 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=3 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=42 This summer, cameras captured the tortured opening of a New York City restaurant by chef Rocco DiSpirito. The show, aptly called "The Restaurant," was rife with made-for-TV contrivances: a poorly trained (albeit photogenic) wait staff mugging for the came ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:49:15 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=02--Boston_Globe&display=42 http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=2 NPR.org, March 5, 2005 %2014He s handsome, charming and charismatic. When he enters the room, heads turn, eyes widen. Is it suddenly hot in here, or is it just you? Because, ladies and gentlemen, the chef is in the house. You know, the one you ve seen on ... Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:47:59 EST http://betsyblock.com/index.php?page=articles&family=&category=01--NPR_Online&display=2