Scooper Bowl 2018

Next week is the Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl out on Boston's Government Center City Hall Plaza.  Hopefully the forecasted showers will change before then.

"New for 2018! Add some sweetness to your after-work happy hour at Scoop@Night 21+, presented in partnership with Harpoon and UFO Beers, 90+ Cellars, and Martignetti. Join us on Thursday, June 7, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., for unlimited ice cream from Baskin-Robbins®, Bart’s Ice Cream, Beckon Ice CreamTM (formerly Minus the Moo), Blake’s Ice Cream, Vice Cream, and Yasso, as well as two adult beverage tickets. Scoop@Night attendees must be 21 or older. IDs will be checked at the entrance."

Online Prices (Price will increase the day of the event)
Scoop @ Night Ticket $30
Adults (ages 10 and up) $10
Child (ages 3-9) $5
Scooper Pass Allows Entrance 3 times $20
Group Adults (15 or more) $8 each
Group Child (15 or more) $3
"Patient Ticket" (purchase a ticket for a patient and their family members) $10
Valvoline Instant Oil Change Speedy Pass (skip the line!) $25

Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl
JUNE 5 – 7, 2018
Noon – 8:00 p.m.
City Hall Plaza, Boston

Food Fun: BSA Space's 6th Annual Gingerbread Design Competition

Now in its sixth year, the Gingerbread Design Competition is a fun and tasty way to highlight the delicious talents of Boston landscape and architecture firms. While challenging designers to explore a new medium, this sweet event also raises funds for community design programs of the BSA Foundation.

This year’s theme is “Innovations and Firsts," celebrating 150 years of Boston as a hub of innovation.

As in previous years, there will be an “auction” during the first week of the Gingerbread exhibition, raising funds for the BSA Foundation’s community design programs. The close of the auction will be celebrated at a public reception on Monday, December 18, 2017. Guest judges Brendan Ciecko (Founder, Cuseum), Louise Kennedy (Senior Arts Producer, WBUR), and Sarah Kennedy (Service Manager, No.9 Park) will be announcing their favorite entries at the reception, as well as awarding the Golden Spatula and Golden Whisk to the designs that are most beloved by the public.

Vote for your favorite gingerbread house now! Voting will be open until midnight on December 31, 2017.

Join the BSA Foundation for the Gingerbread Reception to view 15 gingerbread designs from teams of architecture and landscape architecture firms on exhibition, enjoy light refreshments, and celebrate the incredible bakers on Monday, Decmber 18, 2017 at 6:00 pm.

Essential dates for 2017:

October 17—Open call for participants issued
November 20—Registration deadline
December 7—Gingerbread creations dropped off at BSA Space by firms
December 11—Gingerbread exhibition opens at BSA Space; auction open
December 16—Family Design Day: Gingerbread
December 18—Public reception; auction close
December 31—Exhibition closes at BSA Space; firms pick up their creations

Source: Architecture

Food for Others: Canstruction Boston 2017

Feast your eyes on Folklore, Fairy Tales, and Mythical Creatures—made from canned goods!

October 8–27th 2017
BSA | Space & the Atlantic Wharf Building
280-290 Congress Street
Free and open to the public.

Canstruction® is a unique nonprofit organization that holds annual design-build competitions to construct unique, colossal structures made entirely from canned goods. Founded in 1992, Canstruction’s mission is to highlight the issue of hunger and food insecurity across communities, collect food for distribution to thousands, and to showcase the creativity of the design industry. The Boston Chapter of Canstruction was founded in 1995 and has been going strong ever since.

The 22nd Annual Canstruction Boston charity event is one where various architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the Greater Boston area compete in building sculptures made entirely of canned goods. These canned good sculptures were built in mid-October and are up for display at the BSA Space within Atlantic Wharf, the 2017 Canstruction Boston host, through the end of October. After the sculptures are dismantled, all the canned goods will be donated to a local food bank.

We’re happy to announce that the Merrimack Valley Food Bank based out of Lowell, Massachusetts will again be the recipient of our canned food donation.

Canstruction Boston Timeline

Build out:  Saturday, October 7, 2017
Judging and Official Opening:  Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Awards + Thank You Party:  Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Decanstruction:  Saturday, October 28, 2017

This year’s event can be found within the spaces at 280 and 290 Congress Street in Boston as well as within the South Station train terminal just around the corner from our main exhibit at the BSA | Space (280 Congress Street).

Source: Canstruction Boston

Scooper Bowl 2017

The 35th annual Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl is will be  here in about a month.  For a dollar discount off the $10 adult admission to the all-you-can-eat ice cream festival, text SUN to 56512!

Buy early and save!  Tickets bought in advance are $10 for adults, $5 for ages 3 – 9, while kids under 3 are free.  As of the day of the event, ticket prices go up to $15 for adults, $10 for ages 3 – 9, and kids under 3 are free.  If you want to go more than once, purchase a $20 Scooper Pass and attend the Scooper Bowl up to three times.

Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl

June 6 – 8, 2017

Noon – 8:00 p.m.

City Hall Plaza, Boston

Food Fun: 2016 CDRC Gingerbread Design Competition, Exhibition, + Auction

Now in its fifth year, the 2016 CDRC Gingerbread Design Competition, Exhibition, + Auction is a fun and tasty way to highlight the extraordinary talents of some of Boston’s top architects, to challenge the designers to explore a new medium, and to raise funds for CDRC programs.

Architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and urban planning firms, individuals, and students are invited to bake their interpretations of the 2016 theme:  “Boston, You’re My Home.”

Many cooks welcome.  Please join us!
Essential 2016 Dates:
November 4—Open call for participants issued
December 1—Registration deadline
December 7—Gingerbread creations dropped off at BSA Space by firms
December 12—Gingerbread exhibition opens at BSA Space; auction open
December 17—Family Design Day: Gingerbread
December 19—Reception
January 2—Exhibition closes at BSA Space; firms pick up their creations

The “rules.”
 All components must be edible.
Battery-powered LED lighting counts as edible.
The gingerbread house must arrive on a 18″x18″ base (tin foil-covered plywood preferred) — (This is the size of the gallery display stands).
That’s it!

Heights are limited only by your imagination, and the material limits of the medium.

Creative interpretations of the theme are enthusiastically encouraged.

For one mighty week, from December 12-19, this event will also serve as a fundraising AUCTION.  It works like a people’s choice:  the house that gathers the greatest grand total of donations ‘wins’ the competition and gets to take home the coveted Golden Spatula. The house that gathers the greatest number of bids — of any amount — is declared victorious.

ALL BIDS COUNT!  All bids directly benefit 2017 CDRC programs, and are tax-deductible.  Bids of any amount (in $5 increments) are welcome.  In advance — Thank you.

Source: CDRC

Food for Others: Canstruction Boston 2016

The 21st Annual Canstruction Boston charity event is one where various architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the Greater Boston area compete in building sculptures made entirely of canned goods. These canned good sculptures were built in mid-October and are up for display at the BSA Space within Atlantic Wharf, the 2016 Canstruction Boston host, through the end of October. After the sculptures are dismantled, all the canned goods will be donated to a local food bank.

We’re happy to announce that the Merrimack Valley Food Bank based out of Lowell, Massachusetts will again be the recipient of our canned food donation.

Canstruction Boston Timeline

Build out:  Saturday, October 8, 2016
Judging and Official Opening:  Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Awards Gala:  Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Decanstruction:  Saturday, October 29, 2016

Canstruction Boston is family friendly and FREE to the public. It will be open from Sunday, October 9- Friday, October 28.

This year’s event can be found within the spaces at 280 and 290 Congress Street in Boston as well as within the South Station train terminal just around the corner from our main exhibit at the BSA | Space (280 Congress Street).

Source: Canstruction Boston

Scooper Bowl 2016

The annual Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl is will be  here in about two weeks.  For a dollar discount off the $10 adult admission to the all-you-can-eat ice cream festival, text SUN to 56512!

Also, buy early and save!  Tickets bought in advance are $10 for adults, $5 for ages 3 – 9, while kids under 3 are free.  As of the day of the event, ticket prices go up to $15 for adults, $10 for ages 3 – 9, and kids under 3 are free.  If you want to go more than once, purchase a $20 Scooper Pass and attend the Scooper Bowl up to three times.

Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl

June 7 – 9, 2016

Noon – 8:00 p.m.

City Hall Plaza, Boston

Scooper Bowl 2015

Yup, looks like the Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl is fast approaching again!

When else can you say you're eating ice cream for cancer research and care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute?

This year the annual all-you-can-eat ice cream festival takes place June 2-4 out on the Government Center Plaza, and the entrance fee is $10 for adults, $5 for ages 3-9, and free for kids under 3.

Food for Others: 2nd Annual Empty Bowls Benefit

Kind of bummed that I can't make it out to Empty Bowls: a benefit for Food For Free, hosted by Mudflat Pottery School.

It takes place tomorrow.  For $20 in advance or $25 at the door, you get to choose a handmade ceramic bowl made by Mudflat artisans, fill it with as many helpings of soup as you’d like, and take your selected bowl home to keep, all while raising funds for Food For Free!

Soup is provided by:
Craigie On Main
Cuisine en Locale
Hong Kong Restaurant
Uno Harvard Square
Highland Kitchen
Neighborhood Restaurant & Bakery
Vinny’s @ Night
Sound Bites
The Kirkland Tap & Trotter
Season to Taste Catering
Viale
Harvard University Dining Services

Etc:
Live Music
Auction
Raffle

Time & Place:
Saturday, April  18, 2015, 5-8pm
Mudflat Pottery School
81 Broadway, Somerville

Food for Others: Canstruction Boston 2014

 

"Canstruction is a unique nonprofit organization that holds annual design-build competitions to construct unique, colossal structures made entirely from canned goods. Founded in 1992, Canstruction’s mission is to highlight the issue of hunger across communities, collect food for distribution to thousands and to showcase the creativity of the design industry. The Boston Chapter of Canstruction was founded in 1995 and has been going strong ever since."

"After the structures are built and the winners declared, the creations go on view to the general public as giant art exhibits. At the close of the competition, all of the food used in the structures is donated to local food banks for distribution to community emergency feeding programs."

"The Boston Chapter of the Society for Design Administration and the Boston Canstruction Committee invites you to take part in the 19th annual Canstruction Boston design/build competition taking place October 14 – October 31, 2014 as a builder, a sponsor, or a visitor."

"The exhibit is open to the public at the BSA | Space & the Atlantic Wharf Building located at 290 Congress Street in Boston."

Source: Canstruction Boston

Pop-Up Urban Apple Orchard

When I first came to hear of the pop-up Urban Apple Orchard that Artisan Bistro was hosting, my imagination was filled with tall apple filled trees looming above me yet below vaulted ceilings within the walls of the restaurant.  How they would manage this Saturday afternoon only transformation, I was not sure, but I was excited to find out.

I headed on over the first Saturday that they were open, on the final weekend of September - they are also open every Saturday in October from noon till 4pm - yet Artisan Bistro seemed oddly normal... but the host graciously walked me on over to the small gift shop that was set up off of the elevator lobby of the Ritz Carlton.

Tiny, yet tastefully decorated with a number of apple centered treats and miniature bales of hay, two staffers manned the space.  I was a bit disappointed by the lack of trees, but my attention quickly turned to the little tastes of apple cider donuts that were set out for sampling.  Available plain or dressed to order with your choice of icings and toppings, they were tasty.

Prices quoted to me were $4 for 2 Gala apple galettes (the tarts), $4 for 2 cider madeleines in cute little bags, $12 for 4 apple cider donuts (iirc), $6 for a half dozen apples from Belkin Family Lookout Farm in South Natick.  Additional offerings included apple cider, candy apples, jars of apple pie filling, cinnamon sugar marshmallows packed two to the box, and Kerry's apple & oat coffee cakes.

For $25, one would receive a nice red tin filled with a candy apple, one of the coffee cakes, and twin sets of the galettes, madeleines, and marshmallows.  Or for $40, receive double the contents of the red tin, all nicely packed into a larger white tin.  A portion of all proceeds go to benefit The Food Project, so you can eat goodies and do good at the same time!

I've already sampled the bulk of my canister, with the exception of the coffee cake which will break my fast tomorrow.  The apple was sweet and crisp and juicy beneath its robe of tasty caramel and chocolate.  The crust of the galette could have been crisper, but I enjoyed it nonetheless along with the marshmallow with the crunch of its sugar coating and the tender madeleine.

Scooper Bowl 2014

The annual Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl is quick approaching!  For a dollar discount on the all-you-can-eat ice cream festival, text SUN to 56512!

Boston Urban Idiotorama 2014

A combination of food, fun, and charity!

Sounds cool!  But unfortunately, I will be out volunteering at a local food pantry on the morning of the 1st of March, thus, I will miss the entertainment factor of a crowd of costumed folk racing from bar to bar around the Fenway area as they collect canned and dry foods from teammates, friends and spectators, with an aim of hauling in 30 lbs per team for The Boston Medical Center Food Pantry.

There’s still time to register a team if you want to participate first hand in the Boston Urban Idiotorama!  But get cracking as you’ll have to costume up and decorate a shopping cart (and get one!) before Saturday.  It is $99 per team of 4-6 ‘doggies.’

You can also spectate.  They take off from the Lansdowne Pub at 11am, and after a pub crawl-style race of 4 yet to be publicized other similar establishments with forced rest periods of 20 minutes at each where they play games for prizes and such, they’ll end back where they begun with an open to the public after-party starting at 2pm. Just bring something to contribute to their food drive!

Summer in the City

Tomatoes?  In the winter?

Yes, and not only that.  I, who would wonder just who could be keeping the food trucks in business during these frozen months, I waited in a food truck line for my choice of two tomato sandwiches and a soup or bean/tomato salad.  But it was for a good purpose!  100% of my $5 donation went to the Greater Boston Food Bank, and in return, Clover Food Lab provided lunch, and the first 100 of us went home with a cute box of yummy Cocktail tomatoes grown in Maine by Backyard Farms.

Sure, it wasn't the most organized event (it took me a while to realize that there were two different sandwich lines), and my fingers were quite frozen, but I got the warm fuzzies for participating in this charitable event and left with a satiated tummy.

Backyard Farms Tomatoes for sampling

Maine Tomato Winter Sandwich
(Backyard Farms tomatoes, Deep-fried seaweed & Sriracha mayo)
& tomato pinto bean salad

Event Source Link

Food Fun: Gingerbread House Design Competition & Auction

Gingerbread creations on display on the ground floor at BSA Space (290 Congress Street) and next door at Waterfront Square December 9 - 22.

Food for Others: Canstruction Boston 2013

"Canstruction is one competition where everyone wins, especially those who are hungry and most in need."

"All competitions are governed by a standardized set of rules and regulations.  Each city’s entries are judged in a number of amusing categories.  All the local winners travel (on slide photography) to a panel of celebrated jurors who choose the year’s top winner in each category at the AIA Convention in May of each year.  The public is invited to come and see the giant canned art exhibitions on display in each city.  The structures are dismantled at the close of every exhibition and the thousands of pounds of food generated from each event are donated to the local food bank."

"The exhibit is open to the public at the BSA | Space & the Atlantic Wharf Building located at 290 Congress Street in Boston."

Upon decanstruction on November 2, 2013, the food used in the structures will be donated to the Merrimack Valley Food Bank.

Source: Canstruction Boston

Cupcakes for Charity

For a limited time (July 17-22), you can buy a cupcake ("The Green Monstah,"), contribute to a charity (100% of the sales will be donated to Jason Varitek's Pitching in 4 Kids), and beat New York (Georgetown Cupcakes' Sophie LaMontagne is teaming up with Bernie Williams to sell a special New York “Pinstripe Pretzel” cupcake baked with gourmet butterscotch chips and crushed pretzel and topped with a butterscotch-infused buttercream frosting... yeah, that sounds good!) with a single purchase!

Georgetown Cupcakes is open on Newbury Street, at 83 Newbury Street, Boston, MA  02116, 617-927-2250 or go to www.georgetowncupcake.com to order your box of "Green Monstah" cupcakes!

As a special treat however, Jason and Katherine, with the help of his wife and her mom, came out to Faneuil Hall this afternoon to personally hand out free cupcakes to the masses, of which, I was one. :)

Jason Varitek hands out "The Green Monstah," a limited edition Green "Red Velvet" flavored cupcake

Katherine Kallinis of Georgetown Cupcakes and TLC's DC Cupcakes

The goods (ours anyhow) -  "The Green Monstah" and coconut

Food for Others: Red Sox Wives' Can & Cash Drive

Friday, July 30, 2010; 5:00pm - 7:30pm

Saturday, July 31, 2010; 2:00pm - 4:30pm

Location: Fenway Park, outside the various gates

Today, I attended the 19th Annual Red Sox Wives' Can & Cash Drive, where for each donation of $10 or 10 non-perishable food items, I was able to select one of the pre-autographed photos of the Red Sox players as I interacted with one or more of the players' wives (they're the ones dressed in red).

If you missed your chance today, there is another opportunity tomorrow!

For a list of the best foods to donate, click here!