Sunday, December 20, 2009

Christmas Spirit, Part 2

Good morning! A blizzard came while I was asleep and I am officially snowed in. Normally I'd be a little annoyed, but I have so much to do at home today that I am sort of thankful to have an excuse not to leave :)

Yesterday was another busy day in the world of Kelly and Eric. Fortunately, my day went uphill after my annoying errand running experience yesterday morning. Eric and I decided that this year we would give his Dad an "event" Christmas present instead of giving him a present. We thought it would be more fun and we knew he had wanted to go to Harpoon Brewery in Boston for a long time. We originally wanted to do the Brewery tour and then go to dinner, but we were afraid the Brewery tour would sell out if we didn't get there early enough.

We decided to go early, buy tickets for a later tour and eat lunch in the meantime. I asked Meghan for some food recommendations in the area because I consider her my restaurants in Boston expert. She recommended Yankee Lobster for lunch, but Eric and his mom don't eat seafood so Eric suggested we do Legal's Test Kitchen instead. Ironic, I know that a restaurant affiliated with Legal's Seafood would be better for people who don't like fish, but I think Eric just liked the non-fish options better. At some point I'll be back to try Yankee Lobster, with some fish loving friends :)

Legal's Test Kitchen ended up being really good. I have been a huge fan of Legal's forever and I never even knew that LTK existed!

Look at these amazing looking rolls with a bean dip/olive oil on the side...

For lunch I ordered Lobster Linguini. I haven't had lobster since the summer, and it's definitely one of my favorite foods.

It lived up to all my expectations. No one can say I have not eaten delicious food (and a lot of pasta) this weekend.


After filling up at LTK, we headed back to Harpoon for the brewery tour.

Harpoon does a half an hour tour through the brewery/explanation how they brew the beer, and then a half an hour tasting. Usually a tasting will include a small sample of different beers, but at Harpoon they have nine or ten different beers on tap and they will let you try as many as you can drink before they have to leave for their next tour. It's pretty sweet.

I think in the future I am going to give more "event" gifts. It makes a lot more sense to spend quality time with people rather than standing in line at the mall. I think sometimes I just get wrapped up in, "but will they have enough presents under the tree?" But that's probably silly.

Last night Eric and I headed back into South Boston to go to Katie and Adam's apartment. Katie was throwing Adam a birthday party, his b-day is 2 days before Christmas. You may remember the awesome party she threw for me.

Katie had beautiful Christmas decorations set up, and made tons of dinner options. There were also lots of cookies...


I ate one of those in the back with the red and green sprinkles and some coconut. Like I said, no one can say I have not had some delicious food this weekend.


Now I find myself on yet another Sunday wondering how I can make up for all the eating, drinking and lack of sleeping (actually I did get to bed early last night, yay!) of another weekend. I plan to detox my body a little bit before next weekend, not in any traditional sense of the word. I am just going to eat really healthy and make sure I get in some exercise every day.

I don't remember the holidays being so crazy in other years, but maybe I just block it all out come January :)

How was everyone's weekend? Anyone in a place warm enough to go to the beach right now? If so, would you like a visitor?


20 comments:

  1. event gifts are great! I do one every year for my dad, because he's tough to buy for and doesn't want "stuff". also he buys whatever he really needs so things like tickets, museum trips, and fun outings always work.

    looks like harpoon brewery was fun!

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  2. Looks like a great time! I love event gifts. With my sister and brother in law, we have started just going out to a nice dinner together, and with friends, I have always done a gourmet at home dinner or holiday tea or something.
    I am glad you had a good experience at LTK. We had the worst meal ever there about 2 years ago and it has scarred us from going back! I will have to try it again.

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  3. I'm all about event presents also...for the past two years I've been giving my parents and my sister tickets to see a broadway play...this way we all get to get into the city and continue the celebration another day

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  4. What a great day you had!!! I think event gifts are great, mostly for parents or people who already have all the material things they want :)

    I had the BEST week-end! Met up with a bunch of friends in Paris! And it was cold :(

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  5. The event gift is a fantastic idea!! :) Especially at that place, that food looks sooo fantastic!! :)

    Have a great snowed in day!
    Jess

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  6. I always judge a restaraunt based on their bread/rolls. I'm such a carb fiend!

    Enjoy your snowy day, love :)

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  7. Weekend has been pretty good here. We don't have nearly as much snow as you guys do. Yikes!

    The "events" gift sounds like a great idea! Well done!

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  8. Well yes, I'm procrastinating from the exercise front, but this MAY be the last blog I read....
    I love Harpoon beer, especially their Winter Warmer. Did you get to try that? I am addicted to it but rarely see it around here.

    It snowed a bit here, but not enough that we snowed in or anything, not even close. I have no excuse not to workout...hehe. I've been busy buying and wrapping gifts all weekend!!

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  9. wow, i love the idea of an event gift. less emphasis on consumerism (even though it's still spending money) and more emphasis on together-time. i'll be filing that idea away for next year!

    liz

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  10. I love bread with olive oil. Secrets to my heart!

    Also, it's in the upper 50's here in Florida. Which, for native Floridians, means layers and cranking on the heat!

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  11. I love LTK - we went there in September and I would love to go back again!

    I also love to give people something to do as opposed to a gift. Also just going out to dinner instead of gifts is so much fun!

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  12. What a cool gift. I agree - 'event' gifts are such a great idea. I don't know why i don't think to do those!

    We got a little bit of snow here, but not as much as you guys! I kind of wish we'd get snowed in tomorrow - I could use another day to my weekend. My weekend was good. I celebrated a friend's birthday last night but stayed out entirely too late. I don't know what I was thinking. I clearly wasn't. So i have been a total waste today and have gotten nothing accomplished!!

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  13. that lobster looks so awesome! and the party looked great too.. i was wondering that myself today- how am i going to make up for all the food i ate yesterday? then i just said, forget, i wont put in any EXTRA effort today.. i'll just continue about my normal activities..and hope my bum doesnt expand in the meantime ; )
    love the brewery tour idea!! i bought my parents tickets to see Wicked.. my moms fav show!

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  14. Also woke up to a snow mess. I would love to try Legal Seafood Test Kitchen. Next time that I am in Boston I will have to put it on my list.

    I love the idea of a event present.

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  15. How much fun! Great pictures :D
    i just got out of NYC before the snow hit! Thank goodness!

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  16. I love that plate of christmas cookies!! Yum!! Nope, i'm also in the cold and snowy Boston area. Makes me want to try Bikram yoga! Haha

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  17. Looks like so much fun!! And that lobster looks super yummy!

    We are also snowed in, but I enjoyed having a lazy and relaxing weekend since we couldn't go anywhere. But now I'm ready for the snow to melt!!

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  18. Love the pictures and a tour of a Brewery? Always a blast, especially when you can sample the beer!!! Have an awesome holiday!

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  19. Those rolls had me drooling! We spent the weekend enjoying the snow! We got 4 inches which is a lot of us.

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