The Red Balloon: Retrospective

There's no better time than now to look back at just some of the stories that The Red Balloon has had the privilege to cover. Here is The Red Balloon's Retrospective:

January 2012: Fenway Park celebrates 100 Years

Vericon March 2012: Author R.L. Stine

August 2012: Bruce Springsteen at Fenway Park (in the pouring rain): The Boss doesn't let anything stop him and neither does The Red Balloon

August 2012: Lenny Kravitz Tour

August 2012: Seinfeld Soup Nazi

Harvard Arts Medal Ceremony April 2013: Recipient Matt Damon with John Lithgow

May 2013: Rhianna Tour

November 2013: Red Sox World Series Parade

June 2014: Pedro Martinez  

August 2014: Swan Lake on the Swan Boats

August 2014: The stars of the film The Giver

August 2014: Michael David Rosenberg, better known as Passenger at the House of Blues

October 2014: Jake Gyllenhaal exclusive

May 2015: Natalie La Rose

May 2015: Ella Henderson

May 2016: Taste of Back Bay

July 4th: Boston Pops

August: Boston Seafood Festival

September 2016: Taste of Downtown Boston

2017 Highlights:
Boston Wine Expo
New England Food Show
Flower and Garden Show
Taste of Downtown Crossing
Perks Convention
TechJam

2018 Highlights:
Cirque du Soleil: Luzia
King Richard's Faire
Hasty Pudding Man of the Year
Taste of Back Bay
Dirty Dancing
Diner en Blanc

2019 Highlights: 
City Winery
Ice Castles
Cape Cod
Cirque du Soleil: Corteo
Travel and Adventure Show: Boston
New England Auto Show

Where will The Red Balloon be next in 2020? Follow along and find out!

Everybody Water

Looking to stay hydrated at the top of your To-Do list this summer?

Join the club!

With temperatures rising it is often hard to stay hydrated but this summer is definitely going to be different and that is all due to: Everybody Water.

 This is one product you can feel good about using because the company believes in giving back to the community and using eco-friendly resources.

Everybody Water supports bringing permanent clean water systems into the homes of families for the first time. The actual size of each water is perfect for travel so whether you are heading to the beach, school, or work, the bottle is both a convenient and portable size. Every aspect of the product is able to be recycled. The container itself comes from responsibly managed forests. Even the cap is sourced from sugar cane making it bio-based. The water itself is filtered by reverse osmosis and you can taste the difference between this water and one that comes in a traditional plastic bottle.

The company has been an inspiration for other entrepreneurs to step up and begin to be more mindful about ways that their business can support and give back in meaningful ways to the community, which is truly amazing!

For more information, visit:https://everybodywater.com/

Happy Hydrating!

ATK Eats: Boston

The 2nd Annual ATK Eats Boston brought with it culinary confections of every kind for a two day event. Whether you were looking for something sweet, salty, or savory, ATK Eats had it covered. Live music, book signings, and wine, beer, and spirits accompanied all of the delectable treats.

Cooking demonstrations took place throughout the day on an array of topics including: All Time Best Breakfast and Brunch, Food-Lover's Atlas of Italy, and Cook's Illustrated Revolutionary Recipes. On Sunday, ATK Eats hosted Kids Fest. The Innovation and Design Building was the venue for the event down in Boston's trendy Seaport district. Feast your eyes on photos from the 2018 ATK Eats Boston:

 

Cheers to Boston!

New England Food Show 2017

The New England Food Show invaded the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center bringing with it the best food around. The show featured foods from all corners of New England.

Culinary masterpieces were in plentiful quantity along every aisle of the convention center. No matter what your taste bud you could find delectable, fresh, organic food at the expo. Feast your eyes on just a sample of the greatness from this year's 2017 New England Food Show:

 

 

Happy Feasting!

Walk to End Alzheimer's

The 2016 Walk to End Alzheimer's Greater Boston takes place on September 25th 2016. The event is the world's largest event to raise funds and awareness of Alzheimer's. The facts about Alzheimer's are startling:

Currently, more than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's Disease.

In the U.S., approximately two-thirds of those with Alzheimer's are women.

Alzheimer's is a chronic and progressive condition.

There are over 3 million people diagnosed each year with the disease in the U.S. alone.

Alzheimer's Disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer. In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer examined the brain of a woman who had passed away after experiencing memory loss, speech impairment, and unexplained atypical behavior. Following her passing, Dr. Alzheimer noticed abnormalities within her brain, now known to be amyloid plaques, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's Disease.

The annual walk is held  in over 600 communities. The greater Boston Walk will take place at DCR's North Point Park in Cambridge. The Alzheimer's Association is a global organization with a goal of supporting research across the globe. The walk is all ages and all abilities, spanning two to three miles. The event sends a message of hope to the community.

For more information, specifics about the event, or to find a walk close to you go to: www.alzwalkmanh.org

5th Annual Boston Seafood Festival

The 5th Annual Boston Seafood Festival recently took place on Fish Pier in Boston's historic Seaport district.

The festival features a variety of activities and entertainment and an assortment of seafood. The Dragon dance took place during this year's festivities.

Chef demos, battle of the shuckers, and the blessing of the fleet all took place during the 5th annual festival.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Gronk in the City

Spotted in the city of Boston: Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriot Football tight end, leads an exercise class on the rooftop of Tony C's this morning. Photos of the Gronk "sweating" as he directs participates to put down their cell phones and work out. With picturesque Fenway Park as a beauty backdrop, Gronk took center stage. See for yourself:

Until next time, Happy Summer!

Flywheel: Full Review

The Red Balloon was recently invited to Flywheel to be part of a Flywheel or Flybarre class. After some investigation into what each was The Red Balloon decided to join the Flywheel class.

Some months before The Red Balloon had the opportunity to take a Flywheel class but instead opted to complete a 5k instead. When a fellow participant was asked if she planned to take part in the Flywheel class she responded with, "I think I might fall off the bike." Well, let me assure you that it is actually impossible to "fall off of the bike.' Flywheel makes sure you put special shoes on which fit into the pedals of the bike thus ensuring that falling off the bike is virtually impossible. Check one!

So here are the details: Flywheel provides lockers to place all of your belongings inside (just be sure and memorize your code to get back into the locker!) The flywheel class features non-stop music throughout so there is no need to bring your headphones. Check Two! You need to switch into the provided shoes for your own safety. The lights are shut off for the class so be sure that you get there on time otherwise you need to be taken inside by someone with a flashlight (this is inside information folks!)

The Flywheel workout is on a stationary bicycle which led The Red Balloon to question, "hmmm....how intense can it be?" The answer came quickly and swiftly: "extremely intense." Not only are you pedaling and standing but at one point the class focuses on the upper body and you need to retrieve two weights from the sides of your bike and start lifting them as directed by your instructor. Flywheel provides for a full body workout - towel provided. Check Three!

Sweetgreen: Now Open

Sweetgreen recently opened a new location inside the Prudential Center. It is located in the site of the old Tossed restaurant. The Red Balloon was recently invited to the Soft Opening and experienced the Earth Bowl which contains: quinoa + farro, organic arugula, tomatoes, raw corn, organic chickpeas, spicy broccoli, organic white cheddar, and roasted chicken. If you are unfamiliar with Sweetgreen, they provide a true farm to table experience. Here's a visual of what Earth Bowl actually looks like in full form:

You may recall that The Red Balloon's first trip to Sweetgreen was at the Chestnut Hill location. You can read about the full experience here: http://theredballoonreport.blogspot.com/2014/08/sweet-day-in-square.html
It was then that The Red Balloon tried the Chickpea salad. Sadly, that salad is no longer part of the menu though there is now a Hummus salad. The Chickpea salad is below:

The Red Balloon had also previously dined at the South Boston location of Sweetgreeen. It was there that the Red Balloon tried Kale, for the very first time:

There are many different options available and the portion sizes provided mean you never leave hungry!

Sweetgreen is now open in the Shops in the Prudential Center Mall.

Pinkberry: Powerbowl Review

Pinkberry, most famously known for their exquisite frozen yogurt concoctions, has now expanded their menu. They've added four additional Breakfast Powerbowls. These new menu options are: Quinoa, Oatmeal, Greek Yogurt, and Steel-Cut Oatmeal.  Each is available for purchase all day with the exception of one, the oatmeal, which is available until 3 pm. 

The four Powerbowls are pictured below:

Each of the new menu options allow you to add any of the Pinkberry toppings. I recently tried the Greek Yogurt and I have to say that it was nice to have so many options for toppings. The Powerbowls are designed as a healthy alternative for breakfast at any time of the day. When searching for a healthy option for breakfast or an any time of the day snack, it's nice to know that Pinkberry has a variety of options to choose from as well as a variety of toppings to personalize each bowl and make it your very own.

As you can tell from my bowl, I added some fruits: blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, and mango. I also couldn't resist adding mini peanut butter cups and cookie dough bites. It made for a nice addition to the yogurt.

The next time you are at Pinkberry, I suggest you try one of the Powerbowls. The additional toppings are up to you!


Disclaimer: As a member of the reviewing press, this pinkberry powerbowl was provided to me at no cost, however, my opinions are, as always, entirely my own.

Sweet Day in the Square

I recently had the opportunity to spend a day with the Boston Brunchers. If you're not familiar with the Boston Brunchers, they are a group of bloggers from Beantown. I had the chance to spend the day with these fellow bloggers at Chestnut Hill Square for the "Sweet Day in the Square" Event. If you're not familiar with Chestnut Hill Square, it is a pretty wonderful place. Everything you need is right in the square and I mean everything from shopping to styling to banking to dining, the square has you covered. Drybar, PaperSource, and Wegmans are there, just to name a few businesses.

We started the day at TrueRunner. TrueRunner has three locations in total. The two other locales happen to be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and St. Louis, Mississori, in case you were wondering. We were able to try out some comfy sneakers from New Balance and the latest TomTom Runner GPS watch while enjoying a three mile hike around Chestnut Hill. While on our hike, we soaked in some of the local scenery, which included passing the home owned by Tom Brady. TrueRunner also hosts runs during the weekends and weekdays so you too can pass Tom Brady's house as well. Of course, you're interested in the actual exercise but I just thought it couldn't hurt to mention the name Tom Brady. Oh, there I go again!

TrueRunner allows you to try out sneakers during their running/hiking events, which is great if you are like myself, and really need to be able to actively move around before committing to a new pair of sneaks. The TomTom GPS watch was also a great tool that we were able to use to track our mileage and monitor our heart rate. (I can only imagine the reading on the watch if we had in fact seen Tom Brady! Better luck for all you readers. Do send me a photo if you happen to see him.)

Next, we enjoyed a delicious salad courtesy of Sweetgreen. Sweetgreen has three Boston locations: Back Bay, Chestnut Hill, and Fort Point. (Take note: be sure to follow The Red Balloon as I will be dining at the Sweetgreen in Fort Point later this month.) Sweetgreen was founded in 2007 and has a truly amazing approach to the experience of dining out. The core mantra is all about sustainability: all of the packaging and everything they use can be re-used. The farm to table concept that Sweetgreen has at its center is truly remarkable. All of the food at Sweetgreen comes from local, organic farms. I highly recommend checking this place out. The salad that I had was the Chick-P which contains a mix of organic baby spinach and mesclun, chickpeas, cucumbers, pita chips, red and green peppers, and baked falafel.

I have to say that this salad was an authentic mix of the freshest ingredients. The taste was a reflection of the company's own dedication to ensuring that their food is of the highest quality. I also highly recommend the blueberry basil lemonade. This drink is seriously refreshing. It may very well be the drink of summer. I often find that basil in a drink can be overpowering however, this drink has just the right combination of ingredients. Bravo Sweetgreen!

Lastly, we had dessert at Sweet Bakery. Sweet Bakery has an amazing decor: everything inside is pink and white. We sampled some cupcakes. I will confess that the chocolate was my favorite. We also got to experience the Pina Colada cupcake (cue the Pina Colada song.)

I can't deny that this cupcake, complete with its very own umbrella was a delight to hold. Tasting it of course, was even better. It really was good to the last morsel. This cupcake is Sweet's cupcake version of the cocktail. It contains vanilla bean cake, a shot of pineapple preserve, and is topped with coconut infused buttercream frosting and its very own unique umbrella. There's no denying that it was a very "Sweet" ending to a fantastic day at Chestnut Hill Square!


Disclaimer: This event was provided to me at no cost, however, my opinions are, as always, entirely my own.

Culinary Creations

I've been inspired, (perhaps by Chef) to share some culinary creations from my kitchen. The following is the first course that I created:

It's a vegetable salad paired with a berry and kiwi salad below:

Next, I crafted some stuffed mushrooms, which go well with so many meals and are fun to make:

Then, the first main courses: pizza with spinach, mushroom, and mozzarella on wheat dough is served:

The second main course is fish with breadcrumbs, broccoli, tomato, and mushroom:

Lastly, dessert is finally ready, a frozen chocolate almond strawberry cream pie: 

BON APPETIT!