Get Your Thanksgiving Turkey at the Mayflower Poultry Co in Cambridge

It seemed like I was ahead of the game when I set out today to order the turkey and pies for Thanksgiving.  Turns out I’m late to the party – some places stop taking Thanksgiving orders tomorrow.  So if you still have some shopping to do here are the best places to buy Thanksgiving turkey, pies and sides.

Live Poultry Fresh Killed in Cambridge

You have through Friday (November 18, 2011) to place your turkey order at Live Poultry Fresh Killed aka the Mayflower Poultry Company for their it-doesn’t-get-any-fresher-than-this birds.  Our Thanksgiving turkey from LPFK was a hit last year so I’ll be swinging by the Mayflower Poultry Co. at 621 Cambridge St in Cambridge on Wednesday to pick up my Thanksgiving turkey.  Orders for turkey or “Turducken” (turkey-duck-chicken) can be placed in person, by phone at 617-547-9191, or online.

Petsi Pies in Somerville and Cambridge

Petsi Pies stops taking orders for its Thanksgiving pies on Friday at 7 pm (November 18, 2011).  I put in my order for mixed berry pie today (believe me – you never forget your first taste of Petsi Pies’ fresh mixed berry pie).  Petsi Pies has pies for Thanksgiving including: brown butter pecan, chocolate bourbon pecan, sweet potato, apple pear cranberry, pumpkin and more.  Yum!  Petsi Pies is located at 285 Beacon St Somerville and 31 Putnam Ave Cambridge.

Pemberton Farms in Cambridge

You have until Monday at 5 pm (November 21, 2011) to place your Thanksgiving order at Pemberton Farms.  Pemberton offers several versions of Thanksgiving dinners with all the fixings – traditional, organic, turkey breast or half-turkey.  The dinners come with several sides, gravy and rolls.  Pemberton also has pies, tarts, and a bakers dozen of sides that can be ordered a la carte.  Orders can be placed in person at 2225 Mass Ave in Cambridge or by phone at 617-491-2244. 

Russo’s in Watertown

Russo’s in Watertown has a large Thanksgiving menu.  In addition to being a super place for produce, Russo’s has a large catering department.  You can order all sorts of appetizers, side dishes, deli platters and desserts.  Not sure you want turkey this Thanksgiving? Russo’s also has lasagna, pork loin or ham on the menu.  To order visit Russo’s at 560 Pleasant Street in Watertown or call 617-719-4107.

Wilson Farm in Lexington

Procrastinators take note – Wilson Farm will take Thanksgiving turkey orders through Tuesday though all sizes may not be available.  A week before Thanksgiving and Wilson Farm was already bustling (isn’t it alway?!). They have beautiful Fall flower arrangements and centerpieces, Autumn wreaths, dazzling produce, and a glorious array of food and fixings: homemade pies, desserts, cheese plates, fruit bowls, vegetable platters, more than 20 side dishes, and in addition to turkey they offer geese, duck, beef. pork of lamb for those who want something different for Thanksgiving.  They also offer full heat-and-serve- turkey or ham dinners.  Wilson Farm is located at 10 Pleasant Street in Lexington – just off Mass Ave or heading West on Route 2 take exit 57.

Verrill Farm in Concord

The pumpkin pie from Verrill Farm in Concord has become my parents’ favorite indulgence so they headed out to Concord today to place a Thanksgiving pie order.  Check out the mouth watering menu of sides and pies. Verrill Farm turkeys are from Vermont’s Stonewood Farm.  I love Verrill’s  Thanksgiving centerpieces in pumpkins – if you want one you’ve got to get your order in by Friday (November 18. 2011).  Verrill Farm at 11 Wheeler Rd in Concord is a quick (and scenic!) drive from Cambridge.

Do you have any other favorites?  Let us know what you think are the best places to buy Thanksgiving turkey, pies and sides – before it’s too late!

Cambridge - Healthiest City for Women

We recently posted about Cambridge and Somerville superlatives.  Here’s the lastest kudos:

Self magazine, in its December 2011 issue, ranked Cambridge as the “healthiest city overall” for women.

Cambridge got great scores in nearly every category the magazine looked at including wellness, safety, and how many women walk to work.

“Plus it’s easier to afford the doctor in a place where 97% of women have insurance, thanks in no small part to a state that requires residents to be covered by law and chips in to help.”

Look for the December issue of Self on newsstands.

Watertown Election Results

Watertown has posted the results of the town election of November 8, 2011.  16.65% of  the 21,061 registered voters in Watertown cast ballots in yesterday’s municipal election.

Watertown Town Council Election Results

Incumbent councilors from Districts A, B and C ran unopposed and all were reelected.  Angeline Kounelis, Cecilia Lenk and V.J. Piccirilli will be returning to the council.  They will be joined by Kenneth Woodland who ran, without opposition, to fill the seat representing District D, currently held by John Lawn.

Incumbents also won the four council-at-large seats.  However, write-in candidate Michael Mandel, who ran an anti-Walmart campaign (this is the first I’ve heard about the possibility of Walmart coming to Arsenal Street – if I lived in Watertown Mandel would have had my vote), came in just 91 votes behind the next highest vote getter, Stephen Corbett.  According to the Watertown Tab, Michael Mandel is considering filing for a recount.  You would think his strong showing – given that he entered the race just a couple of weeks before the election – is a reflection of many residents’ sentiment about Walmart.  Here’s what the town council members and candidates have to say about Walmart.

Watertown School Committee Election Results

Three seats were up for grabs on the Watertown School Committee.  Eileen Hsu-Balzer won reelection.  She will be joined by two new school committee members: Michael Shepard and Julie McMahon.  Christopher Beach did not win reelection.

Mayor McGlynn won a 13th term.  Given that his opponent Anthony D’Antonio didn’t seem to be a proponent of the Green Line extension I’m relieved that McGlynn won.

Medford will have one new face on the City Council – Richard Caraviello was elected to the council. Councilor Mark Arena failed to win reelection, falling short by just 37 votes. Incumbents Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Robert Maiocco, Paul Camuso, Frederick Dello Russo, Michael Marks and Robert Penta were all reelected.

Turns out you can get a better sense of the Medford City Council on Youtube than you can on the city website.   Search “Medford City Council” on Youtube and you’ll pull up quite the collection of videos, some hilarious, with titles like “Medford City Council – What Year is This?”, “Joe Viglione tells Medford City Council Off” or “Medford City Council Calls for a Battle”.  Watch ‘em and weep – or laugh.

By far the most popular Medford City Council video is this one of City Councilor Paul Camuso, titled “Perfect Boston Accent“.  It’s been viewed over 650,000 times. Now I have to say – Councilor Camuso’s accent doesn’t really leap out at me.  I hear worse (better?!) all the time.  See what you think.

Nov 8, 2011 Election results in Somerville

There were a lot of sign waving supporters on Somerville street corners on election day.  Wondering who won the Board of Alderman and school committee races?  Here are the preliminary Somerville election results for the municipal election on November 8, 2011.

Somerville Election Results

Somerville publishes the unofficial election results.  Races aren’t final until the absentee, overseas and other provisional ballots are counted.  The posted unofficial results are based on the 9,071 votes cast and counted at the polls.

Since most seats were not contested, however, there’s not a heck of a lot to report.  Mayor Curtatone and all seven members of the School Committee ran unopposed and were reelected.

Somerville Board of Alderman Election Results

The Board of Alderman races resulted in just one new face among the eleven members.

All four of the Board of Aldermen members with at-large seats won re-election: John Connelly, Dennis Sullivan, William White and Bruce Desmond.  William Roche (Ward 1), Maryann Heuston (Ward 2), Sean O’Donovan (Ward 5) andRebekah Gerwitz (Ward 6) ran unopposed and were re-elected.

Thomas Taylor was re-elected to represent Ward 3, beating Stephen Delani. 

In a bit of a squeaker in Ward 7, Robert Trane was re-elected, beating challenger Katjana Ballantyne by 40 votes, 1068 to 1028, according to the unofficial tally.

In Ward 3, Alderman Walter Pero did not run for re-election.  The unofficial tally shows Tony Lafuente beating Christine Barber in that race by 857 t o 623.

Nov 8, 2011 Election results in Cambridge

This morning, whether it’s reading the Boston Globe or watching Morning Joe, you’d be tempted to think we didn’t have an election yesterday.

But we did.

Wondering who won in the Cambridge school committee and city council voting?

From the City of Cambridge here are preliminary results for the city council election and the school committee election of Nov 8, 2011:

Cambridge City Council Election Results

Cambridge votes by proportional representation.  You can vote for multiple candidates but you rank your choices – only one candidate can get your important #1 vote and you vote in order of preference for other candidates. 

15,393 votes were cast and counted last night.   Candidates who received 1540 #1 votes were elected on the first count.  Tim Toomey, David Maher and Leland Cheung each received enough votes to win re-election on the first round.  Frankly after that I get a bit lost in how votes are apportioned but we do know who won.  We think.  Cambridge calls all election results “preliminary”.  The results aren’t deemed final until November 18th after write-ins, absentee ballots, etc are counted.

That being said, per the preliminary results, in addition to Toomey, Maher and Cheung; Henrietta Davis, Denise Simmons, Marjorie Decker, Craig Kelley and Ken Reeves were reelected. 

Sam Seidel did not win reelection.  That meant we had one seat change – Minka vanBeuzekom won and is the newest member of the Cambridge City Council.

Cambridge School Committee Election Results

 Preliminary school committee election results show that Alfred Fantini, Patricia Nolan, Alice Turkel, Mervan Osborne, Richard Harding and Marc McGovern won.  Nancy Tauber did not win reelection.  Mervan Osborne is the newly elected member of the Cambridge School Committee

Cambridge and Somerville Win Awards

Cambridge was recognized as one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People by America’s Promise Alliance.  Cambridge has been recognized every year since the competition began five years ago.

Cambridge received a 2011 Massachusetts ECO Award for Excellence in Commuter Options for providing top notch commuter benefits to its employees including bicycle parking, transit pass programs and emergency rides home.

The Cambridge Public Library received a number of awards for programming and for its newly renovated main branch. 

Cambridge took home  four awards from the Massachusetts Library Association conference: first prize for the library newsletter, On and Off Broadway, first prize for the Friends of the Library book Cambridge Voices, and third prize for the library website and for its website for teens. 

The Boston Society of Architects awarded the new library with the Harleston Parker Medal for the “most beautiful building” in the Greater Boston area.

The new Cambridge Public Library was also honored with an Annual Design Review Award from Architect Magazine.

Those are only the most recent accolades for the CPL main branch.  Since the beautiful new library opened in 2009 the renovation project has received nine awards from architectural, design, and preservation groups.

Not exactly an award but certainly something to feel good about – in February Cambridge once again earned Triple A ratings from each of the three major credit rating agencies – a ranking held by just 30 or so municipalities in the US. 

Somerville also earned the designation of one of America’s 100 Best Communities for Young People for the 4th time.

The Massachusetts Health Council named Somerville the Healthiest City in Massachusetts for programs and iniatives that included Shape Up Somerville, school food service, and infrastructure upgrades to promote active living such as bike path improvements, sidewalk widening, and upgraded crosswalks. 

Somerville was named the 10th Most Walkable City in the US by WalkScore.

HUD presented Somerville with a Door Knocker Award recognizing the city’s work with affordable housing.

There’s lots to like about living and working in Cambridge and Somerville.  We’re happy that others recognize the benefits of living here too.

Gulf Station at Mount Auburn & Aberdeen. Don't judge the prices by the photo - that's like comparing mortgage lenders with quotes two weeks apart - interest rates and gas prices often change daily

Let me start out by saying that I don’t pump gas if I don’t have to – and I almost never have to.  I also don’t bag or ring through my own groceries but that’s a topic for another post.

So, I’m always on the lookout for a good full serve gas station.  It’s simply not true that the price is always higher than at self serve gas stations.  In fact, you’ll often find full serve gas stations (and truly the definition of that nowadays is that they pump the gas – and in a pinch might check your oil if you ask nicely) within yards – and in full view – of self serve gas stations with comparable or even slightly higher prices.  Go figure.  American consumers often aren’t on the ball it seems.

But I have strict standards for full serve gas stations.  I *did* pump gas at one point – in high school I worked briefly one summer pumping gas.  So I know how it’s done.  It’s pretty simple – you go to the driver’s window, get the order, pump the gas, and return to the window for payment.  And you’re friendly and pleasant while you’re at it.

Somehow many gas stations have lost track of the basics.  The new method is to go to the passenger window - if it’s closed, bang on it – and take the order and the cash from afar, making the driver stretch across the seat.  To put an end to this ongoing battle I may just choose my next car by virtue of its driver’s side gas tank but in the meantime I’ll go elsewhere.

So here’s my short list of  the best full serve gas stations in the area with excellent service and good prices. I haven’t had repairs done at any of the stations but these are my regular places to fill up:

Best Full Serve Gas Stations

Teele Square Auto in Somerville on Broadway at the corner of Victoria Street  This busy gas station offers a lower price for cash purchases (pay in cash - it helps keep your local service station in business) and is open 7 days a week.  They service and repair cars, do inspection stickers, and have a towing service.  Teele Square Auto is at 1284 Broadway.

Gulf Station in Cambridge on Mount Auburn Street at Aberdeen Ave (aka Route 16)  Their super friendly service can’t be beat.  This gas station is on Mount Auburn Street across from Mount Auburn Cemetery. Getting gas is a pleasure here – they service cars and do inspection stickers too.

Mobil in Arlington on Mass Ave across from Jimmy’s restaurant Friendly, courteous service – unlike the other big chain station nextdoor. Don’t get confused – it’s the Mobil you want.  The neighboring gas station would make it on my worsts list if I did one. Why not go to Mobil for service with a smile?!  And they do work on cars here as well.  Mobil is at 1116 Mass Ave in Arlington Heights

Do you have a favorite full serve gas station?  Let us know.