Thursday, November 12, 2009

The MFA and Parish Cafe - hey, a rhyme!

Holy schnikes, it's been a while since I posted. Moving to Boston will do that to you.

Joe and I uprooted from Baltimore in June to pursue some pretty awesome career opportunities in Beantown. And the short story is, we're LOVING it. Couldn't be happier. Although what is UP with it getting dark at 4:00pm and snowing in October??? Our little Southern bodies are confused!

And low and behold, my little sister, E, helped us move to Boston, fell in love with it during her 4 days here, and four weeks later, she'd uprooted from Virginia and has started a new life of her own here too. Two cousins also moved to Boston this summer for law school and physical therapy school. Just too exciting! Having family so close is a first for Joe and I. Love it.

And last night was just one of many chances we've had to take advantage of that. Joe and I met after work for a double date with E and her bf at the Museum of Fine Arts. Once a month, the MFA has Free Community Day where they open the whole museum, including the special exhibitions, to the public until 9:45pm. Perfect!

We'd been this summer on another free day (cheap-os!), but we didn't make it through the whole museum. And we still didn't last night. But we did get to see The Secrets of 10A: Egypt 2000 BC. Very, very cool. The coffin on display is the most elaborate coffin that has been recovered to date.

And we finally toured the Japan and Korea wing. But I'm a sucker for Impressionist art. It's magical to be in the same room with Renoir, Monet, Manet, Millet...And for the first time I actually reveled in the old European wing, dreaming about my recent visit to the Uffizi and wishing I were back there.

I was happy to see so many young people at the Museum. Guess that's what happens when they let you in for free :)

Off we went to the Parish Cafe, a new favorite of ours on Boylston, but a favorite to all who live here. The concierge at Hotel Marlowe (my home away from home with visiting colleagues) recommended it, so we tried it out a few weeks ago. The menu is all sandwiches and salads, but the recipes are collected from chefs all over town. The top four sandwich items never change (get the Rowdy or the Zuni roll), but the rest rotate, so you can always count on something new.

I ordered the beet salad and tomato and rice soup. I was so excited to get to New England and find BEETS on the menu! Heaven forbid you see them anywhere in Baltimore or Virginia. What's up with that? I love knowing I don't have to rely on just cooking them at home - they're perfectly acceptable in menus all over Boston.

Joe got the Campbell, some veal sandwich that looked pretty substantial. And then we meandered home to the Navy Yard. Good times in Boston.