Firsts and Lasts

First off, I apologize for not updating this blog in over a month. I'm gearing up to move halfway across the country, and my plate be full. I do plan to keep writing this blog in Chicago and take the brunch blog more seriously AND possibly start a third restaurant-reviewing blog with my new roommate. BIG BLOG PLANS!  It's easy to have big blog plans when you're facing temporary unemployment in a new city and a recession!

This post is about some things I've been doing for the last time, due to the move, and some new things I've done for Boston bucket-list reasons. (Side note: a co-worker recently pointed out that the whole "bucket list" term/concept didn't really predate the terrible 2007 film, but we know seem to have forgotten that and it's become a culturally understood idiom. Weird.)

So last things first:

1. My last time helping out as a B-Cutie at The Big Quiz Thing in Cambridge. There has been talk of me starting up/hosting the Chicago edition of the BQT....which would be exciting. It's been a blast working with Quizmaster Noah for the past couple of years and I've even been "recognized" a couple of times by fans, which makes me feel like the awesome celebrity I've always suspected I'd become. Here's a fun video we filmed a little over a year ago in Harvard Square, promoting the show by asking people on the street questions in exchange for candy:

Skip ahead to 4:28 to see a creepy man ask how many questions he has to get right to win me!

2. My last class at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. It was a really educational experience for me and hopefully my students, of which there were 6 total.  My students ranged from stay-at-home moms, to poets with MFAs (a.k.a. as qualified as me to teach the course), to a 95-year-old man who said that writing was keeping him alive. I do really enjoy leading a workshop, so that was good to find out and keep in mind for the future.

3. My last time riding the Bolt Bus from Boston to New York and back. While I will miss the proximity to the Big Apple and all my friends there, I can't say I will miss anything about the 4-hour bus ride with spotty WiFi and prolonged bathroom breaks at an Arby's in Connecticut with a two-stall ladies' room. Yes, flying to NYC is costlier, but if I never ride another Bolt Bus, it will be too soon.  

4. My last brunch shift at Lineage. Ok, this hasn't happened yet, but it's coming soon. Maybe my last brunch shift ever if I manage to not need a restaurant job in Chicago. If I do end up getting a restaurant job, I will make sure to wear a cross around my neck to the interview and explain that my Sundays belong to Jesus.  

5. My last concert with The Oriana Consort. Singing with Oriana this past year has been a lot of fun. I sang in German, Latin, Old Slavonic, Hebrew, and English. Our last gig of the season was performing at the 50th Harvard Reunion, where we sang pieces arranged by famous Harvard grads. We closed the concert with a jazz arrangement of "Being Green" (by Joe Raposo, class of '58). So I went out singing Muppets. Click here to listen to clips from the 2011-2012 season.

And some firsts:

1. Visiting New England amusement parks. I went to Six Flags New England on Father's Day and am going to the amazingly named Funtown Splashtown USA, located in Saco, ME, this coming Tuesday. Funtown Splashtown USA, not the be confused with their sister park in Cambodia. I have been wanting to check out FTST ever since seeing a billboard for it on I-90 two summers ago. I love it when dreams come true!

2. Going to Massachusetts' South Shore, specifically Hull, MA. I had been to the North Shore (Gloucester, Ipswich), but never the South Shore, so when a deal for Memorial Day at a B&B in Hull popped up on Groupon or one of those other deal sites, I snatched it. Spent two lovely days near Nantasket Beach, sun-bathing, playing mini-golf, eating ice cream and playing Fascination. 

                                
Fascination is this totally addictive old-timey Boardwalk arcade game that's sort of a cross between Bingo and Skeeball. Best of all, you win money, not lame stuffed prizes. I won $4. It was a proud moment. Also debuted this season's bathing costume:

Huh. I thought I had more firsts to report....I did cook with a wok for the first time last week, but that's not that major.

I do have my first Chicago job interview on July 10 (after a good phone interview this week) -- and that's thrilling since I have been assuming I'll be jobless and spending my first month desperately sending out resumes. If I actually could secure a job before moving, that would be incredible. I don't want to say more for fear of jinxing it, but just send me positive vibes on the 10th if you think of it.

Boston, what do you have against brunch?

There is a dearth of brunch places in Boston. In NYC, brunch is HUGE. Entire weekends are planned around brunch. There are restaurants that specialize in brunch. There are hundreds of awesome prix fixe deals where you can get a cocktail, a coffee, and Eggs Benedict for under $15.

Brunch is my favorite meal. Like Christmas, it doesn't happen every day -- only on weekends. That's what makes it extra special. Brunch also combines three of my all-time favorite things: sleeping late, midday drinking, and breakfast food. Brunch is about freedom. It's about choices. You feel like a burger and I'm in the mood for french toast? No problem -- at brunch, we can both get what we want! Isn't freedom delicious?

And yet in Boston, home of the Freedom Trail, it is downright difficult to find a good brunch place. In Allston, there are breakfast spots (like Herrell's, which serves breakfast all day) but only one place that serves an real brunch and has a brunch menu. This, sadly, is Big City and the brunch is sub-par and geared toward extremely hungover frat boys. They have a horrifying egg-and-bacon-pizza that will raise your cholesterol just by looking at it.

You'd think in bourgeois Brookline, brunch places would be as common as baby strollers and cute dogs. I mean, brunch is obviously an upper-middle class invention. But shockingly, Zaftigs is really the only option -- and because it has no competition, the wait to get a table for brunch is often over an hour. And the food isn't even all that good.

There is a brunch niche that needs to be filled, Boston. I shouldn't have to go into a bar to get a Bloody Mary on a Sunday afternoon.