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Tiny Urban Tidbits #23 + Reflecting on my summer in Boston + Giveaway!

August 29, 2014 by Jennifer Che 18 Comments

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Nantucket, Madaket Beach, July 2014

I can’t believe summer is almost over.It feels like it just began. And honestly, I really don’t think I’m ready for fall yet. Just a few days ago while I was walking in Harvard Square, I noticed the tips of some of the trees turning just a bit orange. I sort of freaked out. Really? Why are they changing in August??!!I’m really not ready for cold weather yet.

Anyway, I can’t stop time, and summer is indeed coming to an end. It’s been great fun working in Fan Pier this summer, having access to the local farmers markets, food trucks, outdoor free concerts, and various other events that make Boston explode during the summer.

Here’s a fun look at some of the random (food-focused, of course!) non travel-related stuff I’ve done in Boston this summer, plus a fun giveaway at the end!
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Last weekend we visited Troquet in Boston for a very unique wine experience. Troquet is known locally as one of the best places in Boston to enjoy wine. They have a massive collection, including some pretty old and hard-to-find wines. Their prices are among the best in the city because their mark up is ridiculously low, especially for higher-priced wines.

In July and August, Troquet has what they called the “Summer Wine Clearout Sale.” Each night they bring out a bunch of vintage bottles which they sell to be drunk on the premises (though you can take home leftovers).You sort of take your chances, because some of these wines are really really old.

We had so much fun trying a bunch of different wines spanning five decades! Only one bottle (from 1975) was a dud (it had gone bad – on its way to becoming vinegar). The rest, even the one from 1966 (!), were delicious. It was definitely fun to try so many wines from so many decades at a very reasonable price (most bottles ranged in price from $35 to $70).

I’m bummed that I found out about this so late, otherwise I would have been tempted to come back several times this summer!
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It’s been almost a year since I visited Tavern Road in Fort Point. Last week, I finally had a chance to visit their more casual lunch spot – TR Street Foods, which is pretty much a counter-style, quick-serve restaurant right next to Tavern Road which makes sandwiches, salads, and skewers coming out of the same kitchen.

I tried the CLT, a crispy chicken skin, lettuce, and tomato sandwich that was out of this world. I can’t wait to go back and try some of their other items.
It's been too long since I've made homemade soy milk. Soy cappuccino this morning!
On the cooking front, I’m finally starting to make my own soy milk again. Previously I had been using my Blend Tec to make soy milk at home, blending everything together into a very thick milk. More recently my brother-in-law gave me his soy milk making machine, which makes everything just too easy.

Essentially, you throw soaked soybeans and water into this machine, which blends and cooks the milk for you. All you have to do once the machine beeps is to filter out the ground up beans and drink the milk.
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I was invited to a Southeast Asian (mostly Indonesian) potluck party, which was amazing. I decided to make some of the dishes I had learned how to make in Thailand. The som tam, or papaya salad, made using this recipe (hand pounded!) turned out great and was definitely super popular with the guests.
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I tried making larb for the first time in the US using this recipe I learned inThailand. I took no shortcuts and made everything from scratch, even down to toasting and grinding my own lemongrass infused rice powder! It was delicious, and I can’t wait to make it again.
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Here’s the entire spread. Many of the dishes were made by either the host, an Indonesian mom who also happens to be culinary-trained and works for Wolfgang Puck (!), or another Indonesian friend who is trained in pastries.

Are you drooling yet?

I’m thinking I need to write a follow up post where I actually describe each of these lovely dishes in more detail!
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We did a lot of grilling this summer, and discovered M.F. Dulock, a fantastic meat market in Somerville not too far from our house. Their pasture-raised meats are amazing, and we’ve been enjoying their steaks as well as their pork chops.
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One of my favorite tools I discovered this summer was this simple corn stripper from Oxo. I was thrilled when they sent me a box of grilling tools, and the stripper immediately became one of my favorites. It made eating the Taiwanese Grilled Corn (which I made numerous times this summer) so much easier!
Despite the pouring rain, we still managed to grill on #4thofJuly Thanks @oxo for the great tools! #taiwanese #grilled #corn
Oxo also provided nice long tongs and a handy silicon brush, which were all very useful for making Taiwanese Grilled Corn!

Giveaway! 
It’s time to travel the world, just by heading over to East Somerville.

Ethiopia, El Salvador, Mexico, Brazil, Haiti, and Italy (just to name a few!) . . .

A dozen East Somerville restaurants covering five continents will be offering bites of food at this year’s East Broadway Foodie Crawl, held Tuesday, September 16th from 6PM to 9PM (September 17th rain date). This year, hot new restaurant La Brasa is the newest addition to this crawl.

All Profits Support East Somerville Main Streets, a non-profit 501c3 organization dedicated to building a vibrant neighborhood through a thriving business district to improve the quality of people’s lives.

I am giving away TWO tickets to one lucky winner to attend this event. Please comment below and let me know your favorite new restaurant that you’ve visited or want to visit this past year.

Thanks and good luck! I will choose a winner one week from today, Friday September 5th at midnight. I will email the winner and announce it on this blog. If I do not hear a response within 24 hours, I iwll pick another winner.

Good luck!

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links from Amazon on this page, which gives me a tiny percentage commission of Amazon store credit. The Oxo supplies were provided by Oxo. The East Broadway Foodie Crawl tickets are also provided by the organization.

©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Sponsored, Tidbits Tagged With: Misc

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Comments

  1. Anna says

    August 29, 2014 at 12:45 pm

    I would eat corn so much more if I had that corn stripper!

    A new restaurant I’ve heard good things about is Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe. I believe they already have a restaurant in Chelmsford, but recently expanded into Downtown Crossing.

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  2. SIMPLY DOLICIOUS says

    August 29, 2014 at 12:56 pm

    That spread looks great Jen! I think I’ll get corn stripper too.

    I want to try 2 new places in DC: Ice cream Jubilee. Heard they even have booze in their ice cream! I also want to try Sou 38, heard it’s authentic THAI food with a twist…the kind you’ll find in Thailand’s night market. 🙂 Probably will try one of them this weekend!

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  3. Josh says

    August 29, 2014 at 1:26 pm

    New to the blog, but would love the tickets to the Foodie Crawl! One of my favorite new restaurants is Alden & Harlow — worth all the acclaim it’s been getting.

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  4. Daryn says

    August 29, 2014 at 1:49 pm

    We went to Juniper in Wellesley and the food was excellent.

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  5. annie says

    August 29, 2014 at 2:00 pm

    Just visited Suika in Vancouver and the food was delicious and very fresh 🙂

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  6. Elizabeth says

    August 29, 2014 at 2:47 pm

    Been wanting to try Sarma. Hopefully soon!

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  7. Alvina says

    August 29, 2014 at 5:08 pm

    There’s a soy milk making machine??? Can’t think of a favorite restaurant this year… which means I need to get out more. :oP

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  8. Min says

    August 29, 2014 at 7:00 pm

    I’ve started visiting Sportello this year (as my work changed offices as well). I can’t bring myself to choose between their tagliatelle and their gnocchi, so I find myself ordering two main courses every time… But it all works out, as it means that I have leftovers for later 🙂

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  9. Nelson says

    August 29, 2014 at 11:34 pm

    Whisk (which is now located at Wink and Nod in the South End) was pretty good, as was Ribelle in Washington Square. I’d love to try out Alden and Harlow sometime!

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  10. kelvarnsen says

    September 1, 2014 at 4:30 pm

    Favorite new restaurant…..Alden and Harlow or KT&T!

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  11. kelvarnsen says

    September 1, 2014 at 4:31 pm

    @Anna : Gene’s closed in Chelmsford but re-opened in Woburn. I went there a couple of weeks ago and it is still awesome!

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  12. Practically Domestic says

    September 1, 2014 at 6:11 pm

    The corn stripper is a great idea! I want to visit Alden and Harlow.

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  13. Max Xu says

    September 1, 2014 at 7:03 pm

    More giveaways! It’s like they grow on trees!

    I got to visit Dumpling House in Central for the first time yesterday — I thought the food was fantastic and very much on-par with Gourmet Dumpling House / Taiwan Cafe!

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  14. Lauren C says

    September 2, 2014 at 3:57 pm

    Alden and Harlow was awesome!

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  15. Elizabeth says

    September 2, 2014 at 6:06 pm

    I’d like to visit Bronwyn in Somerville!

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  16. Shannon G says

    September 3, 2014 at 2:16 pm

    sarma!

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  17. casey says

    September 3, 2014 at 4:44 pm

    I’d love to visit Alden and Harlow!

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  18. Kimberly says

    September 3, 2014 at 8:57 pm

    Corn is one of my absolute favorite foods – I’ll definitely have to look into that corn stripper!

    Work sent me to Hawaii for the past 8 months and I found one of my absolute favorite new restaurants anywhere – Nanzan Giro Giro. It’s a Japanese Kaiseki style restaurant – the kind where they only have one set menu that changes monthly. However, the chef places his own twist on dishes leveraging both his Parisian culinary training and local Hawaiian ingredients. Even better is the unbeatable price – $50 for food (pre-tip and tax) felt like a steal! Suffice to say, out of the 8 months I was there, I caught almost every month’s menu.

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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