Boogie Down: Minds Matter Spring Soiree Boston

By: Finance Foodie

Last Saturday night, the Finance Foodie got DOUBLE booked for event attendance. Going to one mega event per night already takes the wind out of my sails (I’m getting old folks), so I was afraid that two back-to-back mega events might put me in the hospital. But since I knew both parties were going to be awesome, I (wo)manned up, loaded up on the Red Bull, and set out into the night.
First up was the Minds Matter Spring Soiree at the Artists for Humanity Epicenter. Minds Matter is a non profit that brings high-achieving local high school students from low-income families together with dedicated mentors to achieve academic excellence. When I entered the warehouse-like venue, I was greeted to a delicious spread of pita bread and hummus (prepared by the amazing JJ Gonson of Cusine En Locale), a boat of Island Creek Oysters (tended by CJ, who was just shucking oysters with Mayor Menino a few weeks ago), a beautiful silent auction, and most importantly, a sweet looking open bar. As place packed up, the band of the night, Racer X, rocked out with the hits of the 80’s. The party raged on from that point and the Minds Matter mentors and their charitable friends started busting a move on the dance floor. It was a sight to see and fun times for all, but alas, it was time for me to move on to event #2 of the night…

For pictures, please click here: Party Pics

Community Serving: LifeSavor 2009 Benefit Boston

By: Finance Foodie

Last night, I attended the LifeSavor 2009 cocktail party at the Langham Boston hotel to benefit Community Servings. Community Servings is a wonderful charity that provides free home delivered meals to the ill and their families around Eastern Massachusetts. As foodie who has (so far) lived a rather privileged life, I have to admit that I probably take for granted that I will never experience the fear not having enough food to live. Therefore, I feel it is extremely important to use the tools I have been blessed with to help the less fortunate in whatever capacity I can – even if it is just spreading the word through a blog post.

I started out the evening in the main hall, where I was greeted with a massive spread of finger foods, which was prepared by the staff at the Langham Hotel..

Cooking with ICY

"Up in here, it's burning hot, we on fire"

I would like to introduce guest blogger "ICY", my sister, who is everything the Finance Foodie is not - aspiring engineer, anime fanatic, and ambitious chef. She presents a few of her culinary experiments in our new series "Cooking with ICY":

Honey Oatmeal Bread
Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Honey-Oatmeal-Bread-II/Detail.aspx
Time to Make: 6 HOURS
Taste: ....Not worth 6 hours.

I kneaded it by hand...!! All my blood sweat and tears went into making this bread!! Actually a lot of sweat probably did get into it... [Ed Note: Gross!] It was quite chewy.


Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe: Leftover ingredients thrown together and baked in a toaster oven
Time to make: 1 hour
Taste: Passable

I should have used a recipe. The first batch came out as small little rounds of bread D: That's not excrement on the top! It's a walnut!! ...They tasted quite bad. The second batch came out more... cookie-like in appearance. They tasted okay!!!


ICY will be sharing more of her cooking creations along with her brief and blunt commentary, so stay tuned!

Let it Flow: Tour de Champagne Boston

By: Finance Foodie

This past Saturday, I attended the Tour de Champagne at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge. This multi city tour gives guests an opportunity to experience various labels of champagne paired with cuisine from local renowned chefs. Below is a play by play of my evening:

8:30pm: Finally arrived on site, 1.5 hours late – cabbie took me to 1 Bennett St in BOSTON, not CAMBRIDGE. Check in and am definitely ready for a drink after a rough start to the night.

8:45pm: Decided to hit the food booths first, as drinking on an empty stomach can lead to dangerous and embarrassing behavior.

8:50pm: First stop: Todd English’s Bonfire. No Todd English (does he even cook anymore?) but plenty of roast beef sandwich bites served with a horseradish consummate pipette. The roast beef sandwich was skewered on the horseradish filled pipette. To consume, you had to stick the pipette into your mouth and squeeze. An interesting play on a roast beef sandwich, and the combination was surprisingly tasty