Wicked Cheap in Boston

I have a request, America.  Please, can donuts be the Next Big Thing?  Cupcakes have had their time to shine but lets really get down to business here.  Because if we’re being honest, this is me on most days:

Months ago, while getting pedicures, my good friend Beth brought up the idea of a Boston Donut Tour.  The idea was simple, travel around to all the locally owned bakeries and donut shops and try them.  In one day. And then try not to barf.  Challenge accepted.

But the problem was that neither of us own a car, and come to find out all the good donut places are kind of spread out around the area which would make getting to all of them in one day by T a pain in the booty.

That’s where Hailo comes in.

Have you heard of Hailo? It’s one of the more useful apps out there (after Candy Crush Saga, obvs).

Using the Hailo app, you can hail a taxi (licensed and legit), track its progress getting to you, enter your destination, and link it to your debit or credit card so you don’t have to fumble around for your wallet.  You choose the amount of tip you’d like to include and it’s all taken care of.  A summary email is sent to you shortly after you get out of the car, and you can even rate your driver on the app.

Right now, Hailo is available in 11 cities including Boston.  The number of drivers who are part of the Hailo program is growing every day so taxi availability is getting better and better.

Some of my tips for using Hailo:

1. Make sure the pick up address is correct (you can fix it by touching the pencil icon), sometimes the GPS gets close-but-not-quite.

2. If at first you don’t succeed….in finding a cab, keep trying! Sometimes the app will tell you there are no cabs available in your area, though if you search again in a minute one may pop up.

3. The app makes it very easy to get in touch with your driver, so you can call him if necessary.

4. Check your email! Hailo will occasionally send out codes for free credits that you can use on your next ride!

The full recap of the donuts will be over at the Hailo Boston Blog, but I’ll let you know now that the clear winner is Union Square Donuts in Somerville which reopened just in time for us to try. The day consisted of attempting to change the lyrics to Beyonce’s “Halo” to pertain to donuts.  None of these attempts were captured on camera, sadly.

Special thanks to:

Beth, for planting the seed of this idea and for being my troubadour.

Tim at Hailo for hooking us up!

And all of our Hailo drivers for bringing us safely to donutopia.

Want to try out Hailo for yourself?  Download the app and use code BOSMAY2013 for $10 towards your first Hailo ride! Expires June 1.

Disclosure: I received cab fare credits to be used during our adventure.  All opinions are my own.

A few weeks ago, I decided to give up sweets until Easter.  I was a few days late on the whole Lent thing but I figured Easter would be a good goal date.  So far, I’ve done well.  I’ve avoided the Easter Trifecta Of Yum (Cadbury Mini Eggs, Creme Eggs and Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg).  I’ve avoided the siren song of the Girl Scout cookies that magically appeared in the office kitchen.  I’ve gotten REAL grumpy during daydreams of ice cream. But I’ve quieted those cravings and have traded chocolate for fruit.  Yeah, I’m THAT girl.

But then, this happened:

The lovely, lovely people at Rosie’s Bakery asked if they could possibly deliver some treats to me for review.  Momma didn’t raise no fool. Of course I said yes.

I had passed the Rosie’s Bakery kiosk at South Station plenty of times without trying it out.  After these samples, I’ll be stopping next time.

For Passover (starting March 25) and Easter (March 31), Rosie’s is offering a special menu of desserts.   I got to try the Chocolate Coconut Macaroon, Chocolate Dipped Almond Macaroon, Chocolate Caramel Matzoh Crunch, Passover Brownie and the Chocolate Delirium Cake (which happens to be Gluten Free).

The will power I had been working on was indeed put to the test.  But I have an important announcement to make: I am now the type of person who can have a box full of ridiculously good looking desserts in my apartment for two days without eating them. SAY WHAT.

I got the goods on Wednesday, tried a nibble of the Matzoh Crunch, and then resisted everything until Friday night when I had friends over so I could share the wealth.  I’ve been patting myself on the back ever since.

The Chocolate Coconut Macaroon was my favorite hands down.  Really nice texture, sweet but not too sweet, A+.  The Chocolate Delirium was SO rich and dense – definitely something to share.  The brownie was ooey gooey delicious.  The Chocolate Caramel Matzoh Crunch was really good when I tried it fresh, but it felt a little stale by Friday and stuck to our teeth.  The only thing I probably wouldn’t order again was the Chocolate Dipped Almond Macaroon – just not my thing.

Rosie’s Bakery started in Harvard Square 37 years ago by Judy Rosenberg. Judy’s mission speaks to me:

My mission at Rosie’s Bakery is to provide you with luscious indulgences that lift your spirits and reward you for a good week’s work and a lot of self discipline! For that reason, I don’t scrimp on the good things: creamery butter, rich chocolate, fresh cream, unbleached flour, whole eggs, pure cane sugar, fresh fruit and nuts are my staples. We use no preservatives or chemicals.

If you’re going to give in to those cravings, go all out.

2013! We made it! Hooray! Congratulations!

I hope you all made it through the last few weeks of 2012 unscathed and happy.

You may remember, a month ago, when I discussed my 27 for 27 list. And you may be wondering how much progress I’ve made in this first month of my quest.  Well get ready for this because…I made dinner. On the last possible day of month one.  Like a boss.

I should tell you why I put this dinner-making task on my list.  Because I hate it.  I hate cooking. Really. Also, baking. I once cried while attempting to make baked french fries (no, not the frozen kind from a bag, I actually took knife to potato).  But I WANT to like cooking.  I WANT to be able to whip something up easy peasy. It may never happen, I fully accept the fact that I may just not be cut out for it.  But this year, I’m going to try.  At least twelve times.

For Christmas, I got Adam Cook’s Illustrated: The Science of Good Cooking.  We’re both big fans of Cook’s Illustrated and their tv shows Cook’s Country and America’s Test Kitchen.  We missed out on an event at the Museum of Science last fall at the release of this cookbook because it was sold out.  I admit that buying a cookbook for the person who makes your meals is kind of a selfish gift.  Let’s move past that.  This cookbook is really fantastic.  While providing solid, tested recipes that even I could manage, it also offers scientific “Why This Recipe Works” sections and descriptions of cooking techniques.

I figured a stir-fry would be an easy enough start to my re-introduction to the kitchen.  So I chose the Tangerine Beef Stir Fry (conveniently available online thanks to recipe-tester Laura). In the book, the recipe calls for snow peas and onions for the vegetables but we branched out (mostly because I don’t like onions) and used snow peas, string beans, chinese broccoli, water chestnuts and bamboo.  Because I’m some kind of over achiever.

One: Raw meat + my hands = Oh God No Stop That
Two: Look! It’s a tangerine!
Three: Garlic press getting the better of me.
Four: HERE I AM COOKING

Mise all up en this place.

So I cut stuff and then washed stuff and browned stuff and sautéed stuff and stir fried stuff. And then BOOM! DINNER! (Served over rice).

And you know what? IT WAS PRETTY DANG GOOD. And ok, so Adam literally stood by me the entire time and told me what to do but I DID EVERYTHING. I MADE US DINNER. BRING IT, 2013.

The results: Adam liked it more than getting his picture taken.

And I didn’t entirely hate the process.  Only a little bit.