Anyway as a resident of the area, I can say that this is the most excitement Mission Hill has seen since Obama got his hair cut down the street during his presidential campaign. I’m not even allowed to go outside, and I’m afraid if I look out of the window I am going to get shot. There are tons of security and news vans around.

7:30AM – I awaken to rain, bomb dogs barking, and black umbrellas. Nothing really going on as of yet.

7:42 – So I am looking around for federal agents, snipers, and the like, but all I seem to see are Boston police. I guess that means that they are doing their job. A little bit about my vantage point, its literally about half a black, when looking at the church, to the left of the steeple. I am directly above the news tent, and some reporter is talking below me.

7-45 – There are tons of dogs walking around…I wonder if this many bomb dogs are needed? I count at least 5 German Shepards.

7:53 – Some sort of giant black bus has arrived. Listening to the news I learn that all of the VIPs and guests must go through a single metal detector to gain entrance to the church. Also, members of Congress and the President are not expected to arrive until around 10AM. Bummer.

7:58 – I just stuck my head out of the window to get a better view and felt like at least 50 people were watching me. I also felt like my head was going to get blown off, to be honest. Security here is very intimidating.

8:06 – Some mourners are arriving via a big white FTI Coach bus. No idea who they are.

8:15 – They have the big doors in front of the church open now, meaning I suppose that some more important guests are arriving. I still can’t really identify guests because of the umbrellas. The interesting thing is that police have completely shut down Mission Hill – I feel bad for anyone driving in the South End today.

8:22 – CNN guy is live reporting directly beneath me.

8:29 – Press is out en masse directly across the street from the church. The bells are chiming 8:30. The press guys below me must be jealous, as they face an obstructed view due to the rain and police units in front of them. I’m beginning to think I should have sold this apartment to them.

8:30 – according to WBZ the funeral procession is due to start in about a half hour. There is no sort of frenzied activity here yet, so I am assuming we still have a ways to go.

8:35 – a busload of younger family members is arriving.

8:46 – About 300 people have come to the church so far. It holds 1500. Regular people will be seated first, and then all of the VIPs come in. Some VIPs – Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Yo Yo Ma, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, etc.

8:51 – again from television, it looks like there will be a small service at the JFK library and then thirteen buses will shuttle the Kennedy family to the mission hill Church.

9:07 – Senator John Kerry is here talking to a reporter.

9:17 – More and more federal agents moving around. Two gigantic peter pan buses are here. I think they contain the members of the “lower” Kennedy family.

9:23 – The service at the JFK library is concluded, and now Ted Kennedy is on his way to the basilica. A very short Irish prayer was said, and I eagerly await the Kennedy’s/Presidents.

9:29 – Yo Yo Ma is here, so is Tony Bennet. Now, the Secret Service only brought one metal detector, and all of the dignitaries must go through it. What is that about? Budget cuts? Haha.

9:32 – So, apparently Al Gore went inside already, and I missed him. The thing is, all of the famous VIPs are mashed together and walking to the church in large groups. The only two people I have been able to visually identify from the apartment were John Kerry and Yo Yo Ma.

9:38 – Jack Nicholson has just arrived. He looks ancient. There is a lot more activity going on right now, as Joan and Patrick Kennedy have just arrived. Security is closing off gates and cops are running around.

9:41 – Senator John McCain is here and he is TINY in person. How tall is he? He is a lot more “sprightly” then I thought, but still. Not so impressive in person to me, I guess. Will Obama be the same?

9:43 – Jack Nicholson is just hanging by himself, what a guy.

9:51 – The Gobernator of California is here with his wife, Maria Shriver. I’m like a little kid all over again. I knew there was a reason I watched Terminator 2 last night.

10:01 – Members of the Senate are here. SUVs with guards with assault rifles here. 6 Buses unloading and creating a giant traffic jam.

10:11 – Two former presidents are here. In awe of the respect that Ted Kennedy commanded. So many people from all walks of life have come to pay their respects.

10:17 – President Obama and 3 out of 4 former presidents are here. They did not arrive up front, so we didn’t get to see them. But it is good that they did not, as perhaps it would have taken the focus off of Teddy.

10:19 – Think about this fact – Ted Kennedy was such a respected man that he can bring together Hilary Clinton, George W Bush, and foreign dignitaries. When was the last time all of these people came together? Never!

10:34 – The attitude outside is one of anticipation as Ted Kennedy is on his last journey through Boston. Most guests have arrived.

10:37 -  The honor guard of the 5 branches of service has assembled outside. Also, there is a hallway formed by friends and family waiting to go up into the church. 29 honorary pallbearers will carry the casket.

10:41 -  John Kerry and John McCain are standing together on top of the stairs and it looks like the Senate members are forming the “corridor” through which the former senator will pass through.

10:44 -  The Kennedy’s are here. Very powerful scene unfolding. Military and police at attention and saluting. I feel honored to bear witness to such an event.

10:54 – Incredibly emotional scene unfolded in front of me. Utter silence outside the basilica as the senator’s casket, draped in an American flag, is carried solemnly up the steps by a military honor guard as members of the Senate look on in reverence.… I’m at a loss for words, I don’t know what to write.

11:05 – The Kennedys’ limos and Ted Kennedy’s hearse remain parked on the street outside of the church. My coverage will end here until the conclusion of the mass. An extremely sad day here.

This will now be a blog about anything and everything, instead of just food. Look for more posts to follow!

-Chris

A long-standing tradition in Boston, the Haymarket is a place where local farmers sell produce at incredibly discounted prices, and the fare is fresher than anything you can get at the supermarket. Last year I used to buy strawberries and asparagus (I know, odd combination) for a fraction of the price I would get at Stop n Shop.

So, remember, if you have some sort of fancy dish to cook, take a T ride to the North End – it will be well worth your while!

The logical question would be, what did I get out of this blog? What have I observed, and how have I adapted? The answer is that this blog completely changed my view of the online community and the massive potential it has. My expectation was that only my friends, family, and classmates would read this blog, not the countless surfers of which I knew “existed,” but I did not consider in the least. However, on one of my very first posts, the one about trongs, the creator of trongs commented on my blog! Not only did he comment, but he tore my view apart in a professional and respectful manner. I still think his comment was the best that I ever received.

This was a turning point for me. I realized that although blogs are considered “opinionated,” I would have to back up my observations with fact, the same as with print journalism. If I did not like something, I had to give a reason why, and explain both the advantages and disadvantages. I could not just write “this sucks” and expect people to A.) follow my blog and B.) respect my opinion! Dan Ferrara, in his comment, is responsible for the attitude of my blog AFTER January 27th. Bits and Bytes of Boston hopefully evolved into a more professional and educational blog from that point forward (although the occasional wacky post is still in there. See my rhyming.)

I also realized the infinitely large audience that could potentially view my blog. This started becoming more aware to me as sites such as alphainventions.com and condron.us picked up my blog and broadcasted it. Also, I received several pingbacks from other wordpress blogs and saw that people had clicked to my blog through sites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, and the like. I realized that if all of these people were viewing my blog, I had to be as professional as possible, and double check my sources as well as announce any information that I had borrowed. Otherwise, it would be no different than cheating on a class paper.

And it was difficult to maintain this level of professionalism while finding things to blog about! You would think that I could talk forever on food – however, if my blog was all restaurant reviews it would not be interesting at all. I constantly challenged myself to find out of the way food stories that were directly related to Boston – not an easy task. I hope that I succeeded in making my blog at least somewhat entertaining. But I discovered that I liked to write larger posts – I am not really a “hundred word” daily update kind of blogger. That was another difficulty – over the first half of the semester I had only 11 posts – not very good. I nearly tripled that number in the second half of the semester, as I taught myself to adapt to the online “snippet” world. No one is going to read a 1,000 word post unless they really are interested in the subject. Better to keep your readers interested in 200 words or less.

Some big surprises? The creator of trongs was definitely the biggest one, but my biggest day was 69 views – something I did not expect. This was far larger than I had hoped, but still somewhat disappointing. I had hoped to get over 100 views in a day, but that remains to be seen. I think, in the future, I would like to find websites and ways to publicize my blog more. A good way to do this is to ping my own blog on other food blogs – that way, readers can just click through to my site.

I will be continuing this blog in the future, for I have enjoyed sharing a bit of personalized news with the online community. However, I cannot promise that this blog will stay entirely within the food medium, as I enjoy writing about other things as well. However, I can say maybe look for a bi weekly food review, and when I start co-op in July, there will be much more activity as I will have my weekends free from studying.

I would like to thank my teacher, Elizabeth Matson, for teaching us all about online journalism this past semester. I would also like to thank all of my family and friends that have commented on my blog. Thanks to people who sent me links to some great food sites, and especially thanks to everyone who has read and commented over the past few months. Keep checking for updates!

Bon appetit!

-Chris M

I would suggest either eating beforehand or bringing a lot of cash to Red Sox games this season. According to AP Sports News, Fenway Franks will cost $4.75 and a box of popcorn $3.75. That’s a lot!! The good thing is, though, is that prices will remain the same all season. I guess this is a good thing in the tumbling economy. And a beer will still run you around $7.50. Also, out-of-staters beware – the last time I went to a game, someone informed me that although I am 21, since I was from New Jersey I had to be 25 or older to buy a beer. When I cried foul, he explained it was Fenway policy. Yet, some of my friends have gotten away with it. Just FYI!

Ignore the fact that this guy looks miserable.

-Chris M

Red Sox Drink – (alcoholic)

Pour all of the ingredients into a collins glass almost filled with ice. Stir well, comes out bright red in color.

And here is an image of Red Sox Pizza – just add cheese, sauce, and peppers!

Also, you can add food coloring to any beer to give it a red coloring, but I would recommend light beer so that the color can come through and it doesn’t look like you are drinking blood.

If you guys have any favorite food or recipes, post them here!

It is really a cake, not a pie. Two layers of sponge cake are filled with thick vanilla custard and topped with a chocolate glaze or a sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar. It is cut in wedges like a pie.

Cooks in New England and Pennsylvania Dutch regions were known for their cakes and pies and the dividing line between them was very thin. This cake was probably called a pie because in the mid-nineteenth century, pie tins were more common than cake pans. The first versions might have been baked in pie tins. Boston Cream Pie is a remake of the early American “Pudding-cake pie.”

1856 – The Parker House Hotel (now the Omni Parker House Hotel), claims to have served Boston cream pies since their opening in 1856. French chef Sanzian, who was hired for the opening of the hotel, is credited with creating Boston cream pie. This cake was originally served at the hotel with the names Chocolate Cream Pie or Parker House Chocolate Cream Pie. This was the first hotel in Boston to have hot-and-cold running water, and the first to have an elevator.

1879 – In the cookbook, Housekeeping in Old Virginia by Marion Cabell Tyree, is a recipe for Boston Cream Cakes. Here is the link to the actual recipe.

1996 – The Boston Cream Pie was proclaimed the official Massachusetts State Dessert on December 12, 1996. A civics class from Norton High School sponsored the bill. The pie beat out other candidates, including the toll house cookie and Indian pudding.

On that note, what about the toll house cookie, supposedly the “first” chocolate chip cookie?

Wikipedia says:

Mrs. Carol Cavanagh, of Brockton, Massachusetts and a former employee of the Inn, and her father, George Boucher of South Dennis, MA and the former head chef at the Toll House Inn during the years of its operation, offer a different history of the cookie. Contradicting Nestlé’s claim that Mrs. Wakefield put chunks of chocolate into cookie dough hoping they would melt, Mrs. Cavanagh states that Mrs. Wakefield was already an accomplished chef and author of a cookbook, and knew enough about the properties of chocolate that it would not melt and mix into the batter while baking. Mr. Boucher states that Mrs. Wakefield was known for her sugar cookies, which came free with every meal, and were for sale in the inn’s lobby. One day, while mixing a batch of the sugar cookie dough, the vibrations from a large Hobart electric mixer caused bars of Nestlé’s chocolate stored on the shelf above the mixer to fall into the mixing bowl, where it was broken up and incorporated into the dough. Mrs. Wakefield believed the dough was ruined and was about to discard it, when Mr. Boucher stopped her and talked her into saving the batch. His reasoning was out of frugality rather than a prediction of the cookie’s future popularity.

Mrs. Cavanagh states that Mrs. Wakefield did not sell the ownership of the recipe to Nestlé, but she only gave them rights to print her recipe on the packages of their chocolate morsels. Later, Nestlé’s lawyers found loopholes in the initial agreement that ceded the rights to the recipe from Mrs. Wakefield, and began mass-producing the cookies.

Who knew Boston was so rich in desserts?

Check this out – The Original Boston Chocolate Tour!

Unfortunately, this tour is only running until April 25th, so hurry and get your tickets! They are 80 dollars each!

I actually cannot believe I have not written anything on a Boston Creme Pie yet, so, my next post will specifically be on that! But if you are a chocolate lover, this tour should not be missed, for you sample three world-class restaurant desserts and chocolates. Props to Anthony F. for pointing this out to me!

What do Tollhouse cookies, hot fudge sundaes, and the first chocolate factory in the U.S. have in common? The answer: they all started out in or near Boston. Join Old Town Trolley Tours for a flavorful afternoon as you sample chocolate creations from some of the finest culinary landmarks in Boston. The fully-narrated, three-hour journey of decadent desserts and fun facts features tempting visits to Top of the Hub Restaurant, the historic Omni Parker House Hotel and The Langham, Boston.

The One & Only Boston Chocolate Tour has been featured on  “Phantom Gourmet,” “Chronicle” and “TV Diner.” Each tour features a special “Character Chef” who theatrically imparts sweet wisdom while guiding guests on their flavor-filled journey

Our first stop, Top of the Hub, sits 52 floors up in the Prudential Center in Back Bay. Here you’ll taste a “chocolate surprise” while you enjoy the captivating view of the city skyline. The featured dessert changes every week at this award-winning restaurant. Next up is the Omni Parker House Hotel, the oldest continually operated hotel in the U.S. Since the Boston crème pie was first made at the Omni, there’s no better place to try a unique presentation! However, make sure you save room for the last stop on the tour, the Langham Hotel. The Langham’s exceptional Chocolate Bar buffet, where Pastry Chef Trena Costello showcases more than 125 enticing, all-you-can-eat, desserts representing Chocolate Past, Present and Future will satisfy any chocolate lover’s appetite. Delicacies range from Classic French Opera Cake to Chocolate Caramel Floating Islands, Rocky Road Fudge, White Chocolate Raspberry Risotto, and Dark Chocolate Marmalade Cheesecake, among others.  Plus, new this year at The Langham – Make Your Own Chocolate Bar!

As the trolley travels between restaurant locations, Tour Conductors and the on-board Character Chefs will share mouth-watering chocolate-related trivia. The Chocolate Tour is great for visitors and residents alike, all you need is a sweet tooth!

New for 2009: Additional treats and surprises provided by Beacon Hill Chocolates and Taza Chocolate.

Some photos from the website: