Well, it snowed a lot!!! The weathermen were out of their mind with excitement last week and they were right!
I'm still recovering, so I couldn't get out and enjoy the snow but we did walk up to the tower which was fun.
A few places stayed open and hosted snow parties but I'm still not cleared to leave the house so we had our own snow party in the cocktail lounge.
On Saturday I woke up feeling pretty sick and a rapid test quickly confirmed that I had Covid. Since then I've basically been on the couch 24/7. I wouldn't call my illness "mild." I'm feeling pretty frustrated that this happened to me after almost two years. I'm also awful at being sick. I tend to not be able to "just rest" but that's all I've been doing these last five days. I'm hoping I feel a bit stronger when I go back to work on Monday.
Contessa at The Newbury is the hardest reservation to get in the city right now. Back in December, JO and I were enjoying our Staycation when I checked Open Table and found a random reservation available for a Tuesday in January so I grabbed it.
Omicron was still surging but JO and I decided to keep the reservation anyways. School has been so exhausting since returning from December break, it was nice to have a night out to look forward to. Also, Boston's new Vax or Test Negative rule had just gone into effect which made us feel better about being out and about.
Our Uber skills are still rusty so we ended up getting to The Newbury a bit earlier than we needed to so we grabbed a drink at The Street Bar, their hotel bar. I have to say, this bar is totally my jam. The walls feature rich wood and built ins lined with old books. The furniture is a mix of navy and maroon velvet lounge furniture with some couch seating mixed with traditional tables. The lighting is dark and dim and the bar has an antiqued mirror background which makes your makeup look flawless 😜
After our drinks we headed around the corner to the restaurant entrance. We rode the elevator up to the 17th floor. When you get off the elevator you are immediately greeted with the lit up city skyline. The restaurant features a lot of marble and velvet and greenery. I didn't take many pictures because it didn't seem like the kind of place to do that. Google the restaurant and you'll get some great pictures. The ceiling is black and white canvas draped in waves. What I really love about this place is that it is fancy without feeling stuffy at all. You can get super dressed up to go here (we were in the elevator with a lady in a cocktail dress) but most people had jeans, black sweaters, chunky jewelry, nothing over the top. It kind of reminded me of Top of the Hub in that way. The price points are also really varied here so you can go for an expensive fancy meal or a more affordable meal of pasta and pizza that are excellently prepared.
We were seated at the banquette against the wall and of course I took the side with the window views. The nice thing is there are mirrors on the walls so if you are sitting with your back to the view you can still see it. We decided we would slow roll the meal by getting appetizers first and holding off on ordering our meals. Our cocktails were really good. I got this gin cocktail and at first I wasn't a fan but I ended up really liking it and it was perfectly made for sipping. JO tried three different drinks and they were all quite tasty. We started with the prosciutto and the meatballs and both were perfection.
For dinner we each tried a pasta dish. I got the carbonara and JO got the fusili genovese. My carbonara was quite good, although slightly salty. JO's dish was perfection. It had this fresh pesto on it that just popped.
It was so nice to be out and about after the crazy first few weeks of January.
You know when you are in the mood for something and the thought of anything else just won't do. That happened to JO and I a few weeks ago. We were looking forward to take out from Juliet. They have this pasta bolognese that is just so delicious. Since it was January and Omicron was surging we were definitely looking for take out. JO called to place the order but they said they couldn't take any more take out orders but they did have a spot for two in the dining room.
Against our better judgement, we threw on our puffer coats and headed over. Juliet is just such a special spot. Juliet has a complicated business model- coffee shop, bakery, a la carte take out, special dinners in the dining room. I don't really understand it but JO and I were sick of being inside so it was nice to get out.
Back in December we stopped in Peregrine, their sister restaurant, for drinks and got to talking with the bar tender. She's now a manager over at Juliet and she remembered us. She treated us so nicely and took a lot of time to talk through the wine choices and talk about the food. We were seated at the bar counter overlooking the open kitchen that doesn't even have a real stovetop. They use hot plates and other gadgets to prepare this amazing food. It was really neat to see the chefs preparing the food and plating the dishes with such care. The dining room was relatively empty which made us feel more comfortable about being out.
I can't wait to be able to put this place in our regular restaurant rotation whenever life gets back to some sort of new normal. The food and wine is delicious but what really makes this place is the atmosphere and the people.
It doesn't feel great, that's for sure. Last Sunday, I drove to work to pick up my one state allotted rapid test. (Yes, you read that right. I drove to work on a Sunday to get 1 rapid test.) There's no plan to test kids and apparently no real plan to test teachers either. It really sucks.
On Sunday, it all really hit me and I was feeling super emotional. I don't want to go into an unsafe environment (and with so much Covid floating around it doesn't feel safe even if they say there isn't school transmission) and I certainly don't want to do anything to get my kids sick. It was actually the worst I had felt throughout the whole pandemic. I was picturing crushing staffing shortages and having to revert back to stricter protocols with kids who pretty much have had free range for four months. It all felt super overwhelming. Then Glennon Doyle did what she does best. She put all of my feelings into words with a call to muster up our inner power and it felt a bit better. (I listed to the theme song of her podcast every day last week.)
It really feels like 2020. Restaurants are shutting down, people aren't going out as much, and the constant barrage of Covid case counts, is giving off serious March 2020 vibes.
I had hoped that this vacation would be one enjoying our new neighborhood and visiting our favorite spots in Inman Square, but instead I spent most of the vacation inside. I did venture out, with my KN95 mask on, to Home Goods to get some accessories for "Vicky's Cocktail Lounge." I absolutely love how this space turned out and I finally have a cozy, vintage, Palm Springs spot to call my very own.
For New Year's Eve, we invited two of our friends over for dinner and drinks. Dinner came from Barcelona Wine Bar and their food just never disappoints. It was definitely subdued. Just a few weeks ago we had been talking about throwing a party for New Year's Eve but that didn't seem like a great idea.
I did have fun using all of my fancy barware!
After the clock struck midnight, we headed up to the tower. I don't know why exactly, but I had this strong desire to go up there to start 2022!
