Thursday Meetings at Berkman Blog

The choir New Century Voices, which includes Thursday-nighter Shimon Rura, performs on Wednesday, June 23, at 8 pm at the Church of the Holy Name at 1689 Centre Street in West Roxbury. Admission is free, but there is a $5 suggested donation. More details about the concert, including a map, are on shimonolog.

Addendum 6/23: Shimon sings very well. He had an excellent solo tonight at the very beginning of the program. Y’all should have stopped blogging and gone to hear him. It was worth battling Red Sox traffic.

Shimon Rura Sings on Wednesday (6/23) Night …

Two of our bloggers who sing have concerts this week.

Shimon sings with New Century Voices, which has two concerts this week, Tuesday, May 4 at 8 pm and Friday, May 7 at 8 pm at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, and another on Sunday, May 16 at 5 pm at King’s Chapel in Boston. Shimon emphasizes that the group only sings briefly during these three events.

sj will be singing this weekend during Harvard’s Arts First. The concert he refers to is Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem at 4:30 pm in Memorial Church on Saturday, May 8. Another group sj sings with has a concert at 8 pm on Friday night at Sanders Theatre.

Addenda 5/4: Shimon shares the program (.doc) for the May 7th concert. His group sings last, so perhaps there is time to catch sj first.

5/9: j sort of made it to all four concerts. No comment on which was better, though.

The next blog group brunch outing will be on Sunday,
May 2, at 11 am at the Phoenix Landing, 512
Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square, Cambridge.

The Phoenix Landing serves Irish breakfast, American
brunch food, coffee, and other food and beverages.

It’s in Central Square on the same side of
Massachusetts Avenue as the Middle East, not the side
with Pearl Art and Craft Supplies. From the Red Line T
stop, go about a block east (toward MIT) and look for
a restaurant with red and yellow paint.

Many buses also serve the Central Square area.

Friends, family members, and other bloggers of all
ages (j checked) are welcome.

j made a reservation for ten people.

The woman said they’ll have a soccer game on the big screen.

It should be easy to find the group since the restaurant is an open rectangle.

Addendum: Somerville Open Studios is happening this weekend. Some people will go after brunch. Also, Toscanini’s ice cream is within walking distance of Phoenix Landing …

Addendum 5/3: There were eleven people for brunch yesterday. The soccer game was kinda lame, but the food and conversation were good.

Join us for dim sum before the Dowbrigade heads to distant lands. We will gather at Chau Chow City, 83 Essex Street in Chinatown, for dim sum on Sunday, March 14th at 11 am. Friends, significant others, and family members are welcome, too. Look for Sun, j, or Michael.

South Station is the closest stop on the Red Line (and may be the closest subway stop). Chinatown is the closest stop on the Orange Line. There is a tiny parking lot very close to the restaurant that is not free. Street parking may be available a short walk away in the financial district. If you could let me know in advance if you plan to join us, that would be very helpful because when Sun and I get to the restaurant, we can put in a request for a table if we know how many are coming. If you’re coming from the Somerville/Cambridge/Arlington area and want to travel there with someone, let me know ’cause I’ll be coming from that direction and I know how to get to the restaurant.

Dim sum is Chinese food that some people think is quite tasty. It’s often eaten for brunch. The Chau Chow City waitstaff roams the restaurant with carts filled with steamed foods, fried goodies, dumplings, soup, seafood, and assorted desserts. Customers select what to eat as the carts pass by. The food is often served in steamer containers with 2 or 3 items per container. Going with a group can work well because there’s more opportunity to share and try different items. It is possible to order from Chau Chow City’s menu.

Addendum 3/15: Nice group for dim sum. Tasty food, too.

Ryan (Sanskritboy, Ryan’s Lair) is having a dance party Friday night, February 6, at 9 pm until the break of dawn and we’re all invited. Details are on his blog.

–posted with Ryan’s consent

Addendum 2/7: Boy, can Ryan dance!

Ryan (Sanskritboy) Invites the Berkman Crew to a Dance Party …

The next social outing for food will be February 1 at 1 pm at an Allston restaurant called Grasshopper (or r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r). The cuisine is vegan Vietnamese and Chinese. The address is 1 Beacon Street. It’s a few blocks from the B Line Green Line and is close to several bus stops, too. Parking might be tricky. Bring your appetite. If I get a headcount in advance, I might try to make a reservation. I’ll add a few extra spots in case anyone who doesn’t RSVP shows up.

Addendum 1/25: The cheesecake really is amazing.

Addendum 1/26: A group of us will meet at 12:30 pm in front of the token machines in the main terminal of the Harvard Square station to ride the 66 bus over. It picks people up from the corner of Eliot Street and JFK Street near the Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center (one block towards the river from the Bombay Club, where our group eats a lot) and stops very close to Grasshopper. A bus leaves Harvard Square around 12:40 and arrives near the restaurant 12:50ish. (The restaurant is near the sharp turn at Union Square on the bus route map.) Let me know if you would be interested in going over to the restaurant together. It’s probably easier to park near Harvard Square than to park near Grasshopper. (Meters are free on Sundays.)

Addendum 1/31: There’s a reservation for 10 people at 1 pm. There’s room for a few extra people.

Addendum 2/1: Seven people came for lunch. We talked about, well, politics and blogging. And no one had vegan chicken feet.

Back by popular demand!

Several bloggers will be gathering at Chau Chow City, 83 Essex Street in Chinatown, for dim sum on Sunday, January 11th at 11 am. Look for Sun. (In this cold weather, everyone’s looking for him.) j’ll be there if she’s not chasing candidates in New Hampshire.

Details about dim sum and the restaurant are in a previous entry, so I’m not repeating them here.

Report: Trio for dim sum with lots of exciting eats, like meat ball congee with preserved egg, chicken feet, jellyfish, steamed shrimp rice foon, warm sweet honey bean custard, and those yummy yellow spiral thingies that taste like custard. Two ventured onto a frozen lake afterward.

j posted this message to the list… Sun and I are hoping people will join us at Chau Chow City (83 Essex Street in Chinatown) on Sunday, December 21, at 11 am for dim sum. Friends, significant others, and family members are welcome, too. South Station is the closest stop on the Red Line (and may be the closest subway stop). Chinatown is the closest stop on the Orange Line. There is a tiny parking lot very close to the restaurant that is not free. Street parking may be available a short walk away in the financial district. If you could let me know in advance if you plan to join us, that would be very helpful because when Sun and I get to the restaurant, we can put in a request for a table if we know who and how many are coming.

If you’re coming from the Somerville/Cambridge/Arlington area and want to travel there with someone, let me know ’cause I’ll be coming from that direction and I know how to get to the restaurant.

Dim sum is Chinese food that some people think is quite tasty. It’s often eaten for brunch. The Chau Chow City waitstaff roams the restaurant with carts filled with steamed foods, fried goodies, dumplings, soup, seafood, and assorted desserts. Customers select what to eat as the carts pass by. The food is often served in steamer containers with 2 or 3 items per container. Going with a group can work well because there’s more opportunity to share and try different items. It may also be possible to order from Chau Chow City’s Menu.

Sun and I usually get there around 11 am. We usually leave around 1 pm. People are welcome to drift in and out between those times. When we know others are joining us, we try to be polite and wait to order until quite a few people are at the table. The bill usually comes to about $10 per person.

Friends, family members, children, significant others, insignificant others, etc., are welcome.

Addendum 12/29 by j: Two people besides Sun and I came to the dim sum outing. It was very yummy and we all appreciated Sun’s willingness to share his language skills and culture with us. I plan to organize a similar outing in January. Stay tuned for details. (If you don’t like dim sum, don’t let that stop you from joining us: you can order off their menu. If you don’t like bloggers, that’s another problem.)

Addendum 1/10: Bob posted a photo from the outing.

Addedum 1/11: Michael also uses Bob’s photo.