Once you have children, the romantic dinners and alone-time expectations of Valentine’s Day quickly become a thing of the past. Of course, you can always try to find a sitter… but you know as well as I that finding a sitter on V-day, New Year’s Eve or any of the other big “going out” night is next to impossible. So what’s a couple to do? Cook your own, extra special dinner at home… and invite the kids — in our case, the 5-yo boy. We also decided to all get dressed up (upon the urging of the boy), set up the dining room table with flowers, special dishes and candles and we let the 5-yo pretend to be our Maître d’ — to make it a fun night for all of us. For those of you who don’t remember, the boy is the pickiest child EVER, so coming up with a “Special Menu” that we all would enjoy was quite the challenge. Thankfully, my odd-ball-of-a-child — while he won’t eat most things normal children eat —...

It is not often that I address a post directly to someone; in fact, this is a first! However, you so eloquently wrote your [count 'em] THREE comments to my post on the Birtch Street Bistro, that I felt you deserved some much needed attention. While I appreciate that everyone has a right to their opinion (as do I), I always find it interesting and entertaining when someone addresses me directly — making wildly erroneous assumptions and allegations. So thank you, John… you made my day and inspired me at the same time. So much in fact, that I thought the rest of my readers deserved a share of your overstated opinion. So… let’s begin. Your first comment to my post was: John In Rozzie says: February 4, 2010 at 7:16 pm First the positive: I always love Birch Street’s atmosphere, and I go as often as possible on Thursday nights for the FREE live music by the EXCELLENT house band and their raucous guests. But ohhhh…I do wish that Mark would hire more staff! I agree...

This past Sunday, the Boston Globe Magazine listed out the “Best of the New” for everything from Food, to People and Ideas and Shopping. I thought it would be fun to list these out, as I am just as out-of-touch with the dining scene right now as many of you. Clearly, I haven’t been blogging… so clearly, I haven’t been eating out. Lots of stuff going on in my life right now… but the last thing I want to do is leave you all out in the cold. So here it is… the places that the Boston Globe thinks are the best thing going since sliced bread (pun intended): Hotel Chocolat Rowes Wharf Sea Grille Ten Tables South End Pita The Blue Ox Coriander Bistro The Friendly Toast Zing! Pizza Dorado Tacos and Cemitas Market Bistro du Midi Basta Pasta Enoteca Tupelo Sonic and Pollo Campero Technique Orta Boston Burger Company The Regal Beagle Il Casale Coppa Ginger Park Teranga Trina’s Starlite Lounge Bella Luna The so called” Veggie Meccas“: Revitalive...