Moody Street in Waltham has been adding some great restaurants lately, but my favorite for 2013 is Moody's Delicatessen and Provisions. Part deli, part sandwich shop, part cafe, part specialty grocery store, this addition is full of character, and meat. And those are my two favorite things.

Look at those sausages hanging above the counter. All made by the guys who run the place. I bought some of their garlic sausages around thanksgiving to use in my stuffing and boy were they delicious. I also bought what is now my favorite cheese I've ever eaten in my life - Pave D'affinois. So creamy. So expensive, but worth every penny. 

This time, we decided to order lunch and eat-in. We've heard great things about the sandwiches and I want to take my friend Katelyn here in a few weeks when she's visiting. I wanted to be able to offer a few suggestions.

I will definitely be suggesting that she get a bag of THESE. House made truffle chips. Rob and I ate the whole bag before our sandwiches were ready, and I seriously considered buying another bag.

The Bahn Mi. Oh my. This sandwich fell down from sandwich heaven. Crisp pork belly, country pate, smoked pork, daikon, carrots, cilantro, sriracha aioli on a baguette...I don't even really know what half of the ingredients are, but I know the combination of them is one hell of a good sandwich. 

In addition to the regular coke products, they have lots of cool colas to try. This Cherry Tree cola was fascinating. Like a tea-cola - I can't explain it. Next time, I'm going to grab a can of Dr. Brown's Cel-ray soda - CELERY SODA - to try.

This shop is not cheap, but so far everything we've gotten from there was worth the extra money. I love having this type of place so close to us, and I intend to continue taking advantage of it's unique offerings.

POSTED BY: Stefanie LaSalle

I've mentioned that one of the reasons I love Christmas is that the Christmas season is long and it gives us a chance to settle into it and really enjoy ourselves. Thanks to our generous family and friends, our December is jam-packed with fun holiday-themed parties and get-togethers,.

Every year my parents host a Cocoa Party, a holiday potluck with our family and friends. Everyone makes delicious food, and we drink and laugh and have a great time.

I usually bring a dip, but this year my mom requested a chicken dish, so I made a chicken, broccoli, Alfredo spaghetti bake. It looked a little boring so I tried to make it fancy and festive with some red pepper rings.

We also brought a veggie platter with Rob's favorite dip - french onion. 

He was really looking forward to the veggies and french onion dip.

My dad decided to make a little change to the Christmas tree topper in honor of the Red Sox's victory this year.

I have absolutely no pictures of the food, because it was delicious and we ate it. Jalapeno poppers, French Meat pie, smoked wings, meatballs and sausage, assorted pasta salads, crab rangoon dip...so much food.

But the best part of the Cocoa party is seeing our family and friends!

Here is Mariel and Brian's son, Nolan. He is growing up so fast. Nothing makes you feel older than your childhood friend's kid transforming from a baby to a little man. 

We finished the night with a pie - Brian brought this amazing Bourbon Pecan Pie. It was a huge hit and WE ATE THE WHOLE THING.

And of course, there was cocoa, with our choice of marshmallows or fluff. It was a Cocoa Party after all.

POSTED BY: Stefanie LaSalle

Growing up, Halloween was always my favorite holiday because I LOVED dressing up and pretending to be a princess or a princess or a witch princess. But now that I'm older, I'm all about Christmas. I look forward to this time of year for all the reasons they sing about - the tradition, the snow, the family, the good cheer. It's such a long holiday season and it allows us to have time to settle into it and appreciate it. 

The first step of Christmas is decorating the tree. Or in our case, three trees. Three and a half trees. Almost four trees.

My family takes Christmas tradition very seriously. We've had the same artificial Christmas tree since my parents were married in 1982. It can't hold up as many ornaments as it used to, but it's our family tree and I hope we get many more years of enjoyment out of it.  Yes, one branch may have fallen off this year, but dad and Rob wired it back on before we had time to be emotionally devastated by it.

Each of us has a job to help decorate the tree. My mom unwraps all the ornaments and lays them out for us with hooks. My sister is in charge of turning the lights on and off as needed, although she was a little slack this year due to working the midnight-8am shift at the mall on Black Friday, so Rob helped her out. And me and my dad are in charge of testing the lights. 

DISASTER! Half the lights on the string were out and there was no back ups and it is too cold out to go to the store. We checked every damn bulb on that string.

My mom got pretty excited when they suddenly came on. "It's a Christmas miracle," she said.

We all put a little something on the tree, but Kerry and I do the bulk of the decorating. We each have our favorite ornaments to put up each year, so I sort them into two piles and them we put them up.

This is my favorite ornament that I put up. It's a little mouse holding a cherry, sitting in a pie. Three-year old me went crazy for this little guy. Actually, 27 year-old me goes pretty crazy over him too.

This Rudolph is my favorite ornament that I've made myself. He used to have two googly eyes, but one fell off ages ago, and I just drew a line so it looks like he's winking. Now he's a sassy Rudolph.

Rob's family always gets a live tree, and last year I went with them for my first LIVE Christmas tree experience!

Rob's first two choices were very...interesting.

In the end, they decided to go with something a bit more traditional. 

Side note: There was a young man working at the tree farm that stayed with us the entire time. He is hiding behind the tree in this picture which kind of creeps me out and I don't know why.

After a smooth, yet wet, ride on the hood of the car, the tree was unloaded and carried into the house. It smelled SO good, and we didn't even get TOO sappy this year, which was a bonus.

Rob got jealous of all the attention the tree was getting, so he decided to be a tree too!

We have to let the tree settle a bit and dry out before the lights and ornaments go on. But between the smell of the pine and the wood on the fire, it felt like Christmas already.

I bought this tree when I was living in Woonsocket with Meaghan four or five years ago. I waited until after Christmas and then snagged it for a great price, along with several dozen ornaments. I overestimated the number of ornaments I would need, and when the tree is completely full, back and front, I still have a bag of ball ornaments in the storage box. I try to find places around the apartment to decorate with them, like the hall railings, but in the end, I still have quite a few "back-ups" in the bin.

So many ornaments.

The tree on the left was Rob's little tree that he used to put up in his apartment when he was living alone. It changes colors and looks great in our front window. The mini one on the right used to go in my room every year at my parents house, then it came with me to decorate my dorm at college. Now it's a kitchen tree because why not have a Christmas tree in every single room?

Good luck decorating your trees this year. Because Thanksgiving was so late, it's a short Christmas season, so don't put it off for too long. And remember to be good because Santa is watching!

I lived in Rhode Island for most of my life. For my family, we never just went to Boston. We took a trip to Boston, like we were going on vacation, or to a foreign land. I don't think my parents have ever even driven in the city - we always, always, always took the train. 

Now that I live in Greater Boston, and my fiance, Rob is very familiar with the city, we drive in, bus in, train in quite often for concerts, festivals, shopping and eating. 

This past weekend was the annual Northeastern University Homecoming. I am not an aluma of NU, but I'm sort of marrying into this tight-nit group of Alumni. 

Every year, Rob's friend, Adam, plans a pretty intense pub / food crawl through the Faneuil Hall area of Boston. If you've never been to this part of town, you are missing out of some of the best old bars and food around.

.Here we all are at the beginning of the day. Does this look like a motley crew or what?

The sun was directly in our faces, which made it a lil' difficult to get a good shot.

We got there a little early, so we stopped to get a snack at the Haymarket. It's a big outdoor market that sells all sorts of fresh produce, and there are several vendors selling snacks and drink. 

Our friend, Dave bought some clams. They shuck them right there, and have a table with different types of toppings - veggies, sauces - for you to customize.

The crawl started at Bell in Hand. 

Rob and Dave tried out the Founders Brewing Company All Day IPA that was on tap. 

There's our ringleader, Adam, and our friend Dayna. 

Visiting our favorite back alley bar - Durty Nelly's. You must stop here, and you MUST try the fried hot dogs. Amazing. Get two. You'll be really upset with yourself if you only get one.

Dayna, my fiance Rob, and Meaghan! Which one is the statue?!

How do eye patches work? Like this? Good job, me.

Northeastern Pub Crawl tradition - Red Headed Slut shots. Cheers!

Adam tried some Cilantro vodka at The Point. You heard me right and now you're saying "Cilantro vodka...whaaaaa?"

Mixed with Lemonade and soda water it was actually surprisingly refreshing and delicious. 

This is by far my favorite picture from the entire day. My two favorite people, and Ben Franklin, because it's Boston and this happens in Boston.

Sharing a drink at Saus. Get some waffles and the BIG poutine. Gravy, fries, cheese - OMG I need some more right now. I have no pictures of our food because we ate it so fast there just wasn't time. And it's hard to take pictures when your hands are covered in gravy.

The lone dancer. I'm so artsy. Adam is a huge Billy Joel fan and the guy singing was playing the hits one after the other. This was the only time Adam allowed us to go over the schedule.

It turned out to be a really nice day for a pub crawl. The bars weren't too crowded, the weather was beautiful and the beers were cold. Thanks Boston. GO HUSKIES!


-Stefanie