jamaicaplain – Changing Way

Bloggers at Bella Luna

Last night a few dozen Boston-based bloggers went to a party at Bella Luna in Jamaica Plain. Bella Luna is the restaurant above the Milky Way; or, to put it another way, the Milky Way is the bowling alley below Bella Luna.

The occasion was the recent arrival of executive chef Jacob Zachow, and the new menu (so new that, as I type this the following day, the web site still shows the old menu). As I told Jacob, I was particularly impressed with the veggie burger, with its combination of black beans and cumin. I’d have it again, and I don’t often say that about veggie dishes. That said, I enjoyed the pork even more.

My thanks to the management and staff of Bella Luna, to Image Unlimited, with whom they worked on the event, and to my fellow bloggers, all of whom made it fun. I was hoping to meet Universal Adam, whose post alerted me to the event, but I don’t think he made it.

I am of course in favor of free food for bloggers. Having said that, if I had anything negative to report about the food or the party, I would do so in this post. But the most negative thing I can say is that Bella Luna will be moving to a space further away from my Roslindale home (albeit still in Jamaica Plain, and so not too far away).

Bad Signs Badly Captured

One of my favorite Flickr groups is Bad Signs. I’ve contributed a photo or two over the years (yes, self, it has been that long).

I tried to get good photos of two of my current favorite bad signs, which happen to be less than a hundred yards apart in Jamaica Plain. Here’s one. Due to the setup of the sign and the driveway, I could have got a good shot of the sign itself or of the reason it’s a bad sign. Since this photo is a compromise that makes clear neither the sign nor the reason for its badness, I’ll explain. The sign says “Please do not block driveway. 24 hr access.” A glance at the car, its tires, and the vegetation around and in front of it suggests that the car hasn’t moved in 24 months, let alone 24 hours.

My attempts to capture the other sign were even less successful. It’s a sign that proclaims that “Boston police seek aggressive drivers.” It’s on the District E-13 police station. I’m wondering how many people have gone in there saying something like, “I’m an aggressive driver and I’d like to apply for the job.”

I thought it unwise to get to take a photo of that sign from too close. That would have put me either in the middle of Washington Street, which would have meant trouble with traffic, or right next to the sign itself and hence the station, which might have meant trouble with the police. “Ridicule of District E-13, eh? We don’t take kindly to people shooting that film.”

So I remain free to take further bad photos.

Dream Castle for Sale

Please don’t tell my daughter. She thinks that the lights and other decorations on this house around Christmas time are great. In fact, she sometimes wishes that every house was like that all year long.

Lily von Schtoop thinks that, for $2.2M, the lights should be included. While seeing her point, I rather hope that they aren’t.