The Frog Pond Ice Skating Rink in the Boston Common- The Frog Pond Ice Skating Rink in the Boston Common- Massachusetts

THE FROG POND SKATING SCHOOL AT THE BOSTON COMMON

Pick up ice skating as a new sport to start off the new year. The Frog Pond Skating School is offering this unique opportunity for you to learn something new from the very best. The Frog Pond Skating School’s coaching staff includes national and international figure skating medalists, Former US Figure Skating Team Members, regionally-ranked figure skaters, accomplished Division I collegiate ice hockey players, and seasoned learn to skate instructors, all with extensive coaching experience. Doesn’t matter how old or how good you are… anyone can take the class! They offer beginner, hockey, freestyle and many more classes. You can choose whether the class is group, private, or semi-private. Monday nights you can even rent the rink for a few hours, which would make a great birthday party or get together for everybody. Best of all, it’s in the heart of historic Boston Common.

Classes run for a little less than a hour so it makes as a small yet fun activity for your day. Although, if you love it that much and live around the area, the season pass runs for a great price and will let you skate any time. Also, rates and hours for one-day tickets are on the same page of the season passes link above.

For more information call (617) 635-2120 or visit their website.

Healthy and Fun Cooking Classes at the Williamsville Inn

Hands-on Specialty Cooking Classes at the Williamsville Inn

Think your honey needs a little help in the kitchen? At the Williamsville Inn, Master Chef and Instructor Erhard Wendt can teach a few things not just about cooking, but doing it gourmet. After one of his cooking classes, you won’t want to keep feeding the dog leftovers. You’ll enjoy making any kind of dinner for everyone you know. Each class is designed to inspire a passion for cooking, baking, and ambiance while learning about preparations, healthy cuisines and the basics for good techniques, tools, and equipment.

Master Chef and Culinary Instructor Erhard Wendt has reached the highest degree and achievement in Culinary Arts back in 1982. Ever since then he has been working as an Executive Chef at several different star-rated restaurants… even in Europe! His publications can be found in many cookbooks, gourmet magazines, and newspaper articles. He hopes to deliver his same passion to many other aspiring cooks around the country.

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Traditional New England Food

THE TRADITIONAL NEW ENGLAND FOODS

MAINE LOBSTER

Any New Englander can testify a lobster is worth that big mess and fuss. Dipped in a little butter, the Maine lobster meat tastes fresher than anything in the markets. Don’t forget your bib, the ultimate cracking tool, and the smallest fork for optimal Maine lobster eating experience. Try the Maine Lobster Bisque or look around at other great recipes for meal ideas.

CAPE COD CRANBERRIES

It’s been 120 years and Cape Cod is still making the finest cranberries. That spring Sandhill crane blossom is now harvested nearly 40,000 acres per year. So there’s plenty of those vitamin-C rich berries to go around. For the next two months (October and November) cranberries will be in their prime harvesting season. They’ll last in your fridge up to four weeks or just grab extra and tuck them away in your freezer for splendid Cape Cod Cranberries anytime of year. Change up the Thanksgiving desserts this year with a Cranberry Pineapple Cheesecake Tart.

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A Boston Walking and Historic Tour

THE BOSTON HISTORIC FREEDOM TRAIL

Discover 16 nationally historic sites in 2.5 miles

Start at any point you choose and experience the American history firsthand. Many tours run daily with the most popular being Walk Into History. This tour takes you on the famous red line while a 18th Century Costumed Guide tells the tales of courageous Bostonians and Colonialists. Learn how their intrepidity against Britain helped create the democracy we know today. Some of these 18th Century Costumed Guides are Ebenezer Hancock, James Otis, Thomas Savage, Mercy Otis Warren, and plenty more. All tours run 90 minutes and are suited for anybody interested. On your tour these are some places you will encounter:
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A Haunted Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts

SALEM HAUNTED HAPPENINGS
OCTOBER 1, 2008 – NOVEMBER 1, 2008

Your Halloween is no Halloween this year until you visit Salem, Massachusetts. I’m sure everyone knows of the legendary Salem Witch Trials. So, try and tell me a more festive place to be this Halloween than Salem, Massachusetts. The Haunted Happenings this year present more than 140 events with something going on everyday. See your future at the Annual Psychic Fair & Witchcraft Expo. Join every night and learn about the what really happened in the ancient Witch House of Salem. Dress up in your wildest costume for some music, dancing, food and much more on the Halloween Costume Cruise. Gather your friends and family and experience the award-winning Ipswich Ale at the Witch City Haunted Beerfest. Or bring your kids for some traditional trick or treating on Pickering Wharf on Friday night of October 24. Check the schedule and see if you’re interested in the dozens of other events offered.
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The Largest Contemporary Art Museum of the Country – MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts

In 1999, the 13-acre campus in North Adams, Massachusetts renovated into today’s largest contemporary art museum in the country. MASS MoCA has succeeded to adduce the most recent, empowering, and inspiring material. Beside their such competent art, at least 75 outstanding performances are enacted per year. Shows could be popular music, contemporary dance, alternative cabaret, outdoor silent films with live music, documentaries, world music dance parties or avant-garde theater. MASS MoCA, the Clark Art Institute, and the Williams College Museum of Art combined to provide a place for children to study and create art. Named Kidspace, kids also have the opportunity to experience world-class music, theater, and dance. Eight major sections of the campus bring something so diverse from the other and in November of 2008 MASS MoCA will present the ninth segment.

Over the summer you can watch over a dozen artists and drafts people collaborating on the art works for Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective. LeWitt, considered the founder of Minimal and Conceptual Movements, died shortly after he created the plans for this new addition to MASS MoCA. In dedication to him, twenty four LeWitt trained professionals and their associates will contribute to the 30,000 square foot production. Their own works outside of the LeWitt project will be showcased in an offsite exhibition called Primary Secondary: Volume 1 and 2 until August 29, 2008. 

Tickets for MASS MoCA run at a great price and allow you to experience 110,000 square feet are purely popular and famed contemporary art. Check out some of the inns and bed & breakfasts in and around North Adams, Massachusetts and book your calendars.

Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective- Opening Nov. 16, 2008

Cape Cod Spa in Chatham, Massachusetts

Treat your mind and body with a mellowing massage and aesthetic remedies provided by Sol Spa. Stimulate your day of therapy, or perhaps a week, with a tonic massage suited for you. Having at least twelve different choices from Deep Tissue to Swedish Strokes, you’ll be able to attend to your body type. Despite Sol Spa’s such up-scale character, the assumed high prices are not to be expected. For only $25, try the Sitting in the Garden massage for soothing relief. Next, pamper the most precious part of your body; your face. See your face glow with the Oxygenating Facial that cleanses, stimulates, and rebuilds your deepest skin cells. Then, spoil yourself some more and revitalize your hands, feet, and skin where needed most. Make your therapeutic vacation worthwhile and check out the packages offered to get everything at one valued price. E-mail info@solspachatham.com to make reservations or answer any questions you may have.

Stay at the Captain’s House Inn for an experience as concilitating as Sol Spa. Back in 1839, Captain Hiram Harding built a home with a charming Greek ambiance for his wife of one year. What now is the Captain’s House Inn, provides 16 quarters and two acres of scenery and garden with outbuildings and swimming pools. 

“The Captain’s House Inn is the consummate romantic getaway. It makes you dream of coming back.”

— Jill Rigby, Travel Editor, Toronto Sun

With many special packages from a Babymoon to a three-night New Year’s Eve premium, The Captain’s House Inn endues the perfect elopement accommodations. Avoid stress and enjoy you and your partner’s quite memorable day while The Captain’s House Inn will do all the work to ensure a graceful ceremony. 

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Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Tart Recipe from The Gateways Inn

A Blast From the Past in Historic Deerfield, MA

With Warm Weather Comes an Abundance of Wildlife

The Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Lenox, Massachusetts. The Sanctuary has 1,314 acres of land which holds seven miles of trails that weave through meadows, forests, wetlands, and even the Lenox Mountains.

The Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary is home to a large and growing beaver population, birds, and June-blooming Mountain Laurel. The peaceful scenery is also blooming with an abundance of flowers and wildlife.

The Sanctuary offers canoe trips on the Housatonic River beginning in mid-May until Columbus Day. Admission to the Sanctuary is $4 for adults and $3 for children.

Lenox is also home to the picture-perfect, elegant yet comfortable Gateways Inn. This enchanting inn is located in the Berkshire Hills with breathtaking views and 12 recently restored guest rooms. In the summer, lunch and dinner are served daily at the inn’s restaurant.