Giveaway: Sucré's King Cake And New Orleans Pecan Praline Coffee

Mardi Gras is just around the corner! And I have a king cake and some New Orleans' coffee to give away to help you celebrate! The king cake is traditionally associated with the beginning of Carnival Season, which starts on Twelfth Night and ends on Mardi Gras. There's usually a small plastic baby hidden inside the cake, and whoever finds it is supposed to have good fortune for the year.

Dinner At West On Centre, West Roxbury, Mass.

We moved to West Roxbury a little over a month ago and are learning our neighborhood little by little. It will definitely be so much nicer and easier when the weather gets warmer and we can walk around and explore. In the meantime, we're lucky enough to have friends who volunteered to come out to our neighborhood for dinner so we could check out a new-to-us restaurant. I have a long list of places I want to try in both West Roxbury and Roslindale but somehow selected West on Centre for this particular evening.

West on Centre is located right in the heart of West Roxbury on Centre Street and is a quick drive from our house. I had heard the food was good and was looking forward to a nice evening there. We arrived a few minutes early for our reservation and waited in the bar area for our table to be ready. I immediately loved the bar area and thought it was so cozy. I can definitely see going back for a glass or two of wine and some appetizers.

Croques And Cocktails At Bistro Du Midi

Looking for something fun and inexpensive to do tonight? Every Tuesday at Bistro du Midi from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., you can find $5 specialty croque monsieurs. A croque monsieur is technically a hot ham and cheese grilled sandwich, but Bistro du Midi will offer variations on the classic. There will even be a weekly skinny croque. And if that's not enough, you'll find wine and cocktail pairings too.

Legends From Europe Dinner At Meritage

About a month after we returned from our honeymoon, I found myself sitting down to an Italian dinner at Meritage. But it wasn't just any Italian dinner. This dinner was sponsored by Legends from Europe and was meant to introduce and promote some of the foods Italy is known for that have P.D.O. (Protected Designation of Origin) certification. You may also see this marked as D.O.P. (Denominazione di Origine Protetta). In order for a food product to receive this certification, it must be produced according to tradition and in a specific geographic region and meet quality standards. The thought is that the flavor, texture, and other unique components of a traditionally made food are "formed through a complex interaction of soil, plant life, and centuries-old production methods that cannot be replicated elsewhere," according to Legends from Europe.

You may remember from my honeymoon posts that Parmigiano-Reggiano has the P.D.O. certification. Grana Padano, Prosciutto di San Daniele, Montasio, and Prosciutto di Parma do as well. The dinner would incorporate each of these Italian treasures.

Honeymoon Recap And Lessons Learned

Throughout the course of our honeymoon, whenever something would go slightly awry (for example, we'd show up at a restaurant and the owner would hang up the closed sign), Jeff and I would just look at each other and say, "Lesson learned." This became the motto for our trip.

I decided to put a post together with the things we learned, as well as some helpful tips.