The top two contenders? Modern Pastry and Mike’s Pastry.

The golden standard has always been Mike’s. It remains top of mind as the best and is usually the first mentioned to tourists. I must have been a wide-eyed freshman in college when I got (what I thought was) the real scoop: tourists go to Mike’s, locals go to Modern.

And so, in an effort to do as the Romans, I tended toward Modern for most of my years in Boston. Yes, it was good, but whenever I’d find myself face-to-face with a Mike’s cannoli on special occasions, be it college graduation or Tuesday, I’d be surprised to find myself oozing with love for the confection. But surely, I thought, I can’t like Mike’s better. I’m from here now!

On and on my inner torment continued until Sunday night, when we had an hour to kill before meeting some friends to watch the game and decided to put the debate to rest once and for all. Which was better: Mike’s or Modern?

Andreas’ money was on Modern. So I dropped him off there to a moderate looking line (busy, for sure, but not out the door) and made my way up another block to the swarming sea of so-called tourists at Mike’s. Thinking Andreas would have surely made it through the line at Modern already, I was surprised to not see him waiting outside for me when I emerged victorious from Mike’s, single cannoli in hand.

I got all the way back to Modern and peeked in the windows, only to see him only HALFWAY through the line! Round one went to Mike’s for faster service. (Interestingly enough, as I was waiting outside Modern, I overheard several tourists going in, saying “I heard this is where the locals go instead of Mike’s!” Ha! Looks like the tables have turned.)

Then we sat down to the serious business of comparing the two very best cannolis in all of Boston.

Mike's (left) v. Modern (right)

Here are the results:

Price – Same. Both cost $2.50.

Size –  Mike’s was markedly larger and heavier. Markedly.

First whiff – Modern wins here. Theirs smelled of vanilla. Mike’s smelled of fried dough.

(Sadly, that was the only round Modern would win. It was all downhill for them from here…)

Shell – Mike’s. Landslide. Modern’s was denser (more like a cracker) and more tightly rolled (like a cigar). Mike’s was flaky, airy and open. Modern’s looked like it had been made by machine, again because of how tightly rolled it was (not saying it had been, just that it appeared that way in comparison). Mike’s definitely looked handmade.

Filling – Mike’s again. Modern’s was too smooth (seemed overly processed) and tasted too me of sweetened condensed milk. Mike’s had that deliciously light ricotta flavor and texture. Not to mention that Modern’s was much sweeter.

It quickly became clear to us (and even Andreas had to admit) that Mike’s has the superior cannoli. I’m not sure we would have ever realized it if not for the side by side comparison though, because for the record, Modern turns out a damn fine  cannoli. But Mike’s will always have my heart. To me, it is perfect in practically every way. Crispy shell filled to the brim with fluffy ricotta. Mmm. Just how god intended.

As for our Modern cannoli, well, duh, we ate it. But due to its size, the Mike’s one lasted much longer and satisfied our craving much more.

So now it’s settled. We’ll go to Mike’s from now on and leave Modern for the wannabes.

Last year’s Jazz Fest was quite the learning experience for me. My dad and I went together as part test dummies, part recon men. We were trying it on for size.

See, ever since my grandma passed away in 2008, my family hasn’t had a concrete reason to go down to New Orleans every year (we used to go every Christmas without fail). And even though my mom and her siblings are the ones who grew up there, New Orleans has become a part of our identity for me, my Dad, and my Northerner cousins too. The thought of just never going down anymore was unthinkable to us.

And so, my dad and I went to Jazz Fest last year to see if it could be “the thing” that brought the whole family back down to New Orleans every year. I don’t know what exactly our criteria were for it to become “the thing” but it passed with flying colors. I guess we were just looking to have fun. And fun, we had.

The best kind of fun. The kind you weren’t really expecting to have. The fun of food and music and crafts and warm weather and contented people everywhere. So this year we’re going back with a slightly bigger posse. (Next year we hope to recruit even more – ahem!)

But we went in a little unprepared last year. To be honest, as much as I knew about New Orleans, I knew practically nothing about its famous Jazz Festival. I didn’t know that it was held quite a ways from downtown at the race track and fairgrounds. I didn’t know that it’s not just a celebration of music, but a celebration of New Orleans heritage and culture, which means that there’s local artists, a small museum dedicated to the festival’s history and New Orleans culture, and most importantly, a sampling of all the very best New Orleans food, more than your belly possibly could have room for, even if you stayed at the fairgrounds from sunrise ’til dusk.

Chicken tasso with rice

It’s a wonderful thing. But I did learn some key lessons that I will be taking into serious consideration this year.

1. Wear comfortable, supportive shoes.
This was the most important thing I learned last year. I suspected the comfortable part, but instead of wearing actual sneakers, I elected to wear Crocs. Bad idea. Terrible. In addition to being on my feet walking around the festival all day, my Dad and I decided to WALK BACK the three plus miles to the hotel afterwards. My feet literally ached for days.

2. Be prepared for the heat.
Springtime in New Orleans is what we would consider summer up here in New England. Which is a good thing, but coming from our just barely cracking 60 mid-April weather up here to 80 and humid down there, can leave you a bit shell shocked. My dad and I discovered a tip for staying cool at Jazz Fest though. (Which I’ll only tell if you promise not to tell anyone else. Deal? Deal.) Okay, so you know how Jazz Fest is at the racetrack? Well, the grandstand is not only open but it is air conditioned. You can go in there and sit for as long as you please. There’s even a pretty good bird’s eye view of the festival from up there. And that’s where the best bathrooms are too. Aren’t you glad you read this blog? Now crumple up your computer screen and swallow this post. I mean it. Tell no one.

3. Bring cash and save room.
From a food point of view, you’ve got every kind of cajun and creole creation under the sun there. All the little stands take cash and mostly serve small plates. It’s very easy to just have tastes of everything (fair warning though, each taste is about $5)  but it’s also very easy to get very full, very fast. If you’re into eating like me, pace yourself. Try to stay a little bit hungry all the time, so that when you pass a stand serving, say, fried green tomatoes or pecan pie and you just have to have it, you can. I made the mistake of having one bigger meal that left me full for the rest of the day. Of course I ate anyways, but it wasn’t as pleasant as it could have been.

4. Feel free to roam.
I treat the music at Jazz Fest just as I treat the food: it’s a buffet. If there’s an artist or band you’re really dying to see, make an effort to get to wherever they’re playing EARLY, because the popular artists do fill out their individual venues. But other than that, feel free to roam from tent to tent and stage to stage. That’s the beauty of the event. They’ve got everything from gospel choirs to rock and roll bands (my cousin’s band will actually be playing on the big stage on Saturday!). Sample as many as you can.

5. Pack a survival kit.
For some reason, big crowds and festival type things tend to make me anxious (me? anxiety? really?). I worry about getting stranded without something I need. Like chapstick or a hair tie or sunblock or Advil. All of these things, plus a small rain poncho and extra tissues in case the ladies room runs out of toilet paper, will be coming with me to Jazz Fest.

Okay, I’m not going to be a huge dork and say, #6 – Have fun! But really? That is what struck me most about Jazz Fest. People are there to have a good time. Eat some good food, listen to some good music, and relax. There are no pretenses there. You are free to wander as you please. Eat when you’re hungry. Dance when the mood strikes you. You’re hot, you’re sweaty, maybe not looking your best, but no one cares as long as you’re enjoying yourself.

And as the day wears on, you’ll find that you don’t really care either.

All this I left for something unknown, for something I just assumed would appear. Quite literally, I leapt without a safety net. And a month in, I wish I could say it’s nothing shy of exhilarating but actually, most of the time it’s just pretty scary. And when it’s not scary, I feel a great deal of pressure, mostly self-generated, to live up to this great thing I’m supposed to be doing right now (whatever that thing may be). And when the pressure eases? Honestly?

I feel kind of guilty. For squeezing our budget nearly to the point of strangulation. For increasing my free time when so many others are looking for any kind of work at all. And all this makes it incredibly difficult to focus on the whole dream chasing business. Most of the time it’s all I can do to get the housework and the cooking done just to feel a sense of tangible accomplishment.

So you can imagine how these words from one of my favorite mama bloggers, Karen Walrond, affected me when I read them last week.

I’ve come to believe that if you’re fortunate, you’ll come to a point where you’ll be forced to take a look around and decide if you are living the life you really, truly, deep-in-your-soul want to live.

And if you’re very fortunate, you’ll notice the tiny spark inside of you that will refuse to be extinguished, that will become the inspiration to take that first, infinitesimally small step in the direction of living your most authentic life.  And you’ll know that it’s the right step because once you take it, you’ll feel more alive, and the people who truly love you will see you come alive, and will do whatever it takes to help you take the next step, and then the next one, and then the next one.

Here’s to sparks that light you up.
-Chookooloonks

Yes. Here’s to that. Here’s to everyone with the zeal and sometimes, downright insanity, to live their most authentic life. And to all those who are still working up the courage, I salute you too.

It’s one thing to go confidently into the direction of your dreams, as Thoreau encouraged us all to do. It’s quite another to know where you’re actually going. And at one of those moments of self doubt, of which there are bound to be many along this road, this was the perfect reminder of what I’m doing.

And why I’m doing it.

]]> http://www.thespottedduck.com/2010/01/19/sparks-confidence/feed/ 4 http://www.thespottedduck.com/2009/12/04/on-the-limb/ http://www.thespottedduck.com/2009/12/04/on-the-limb/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:51:20 +0000 Shelley Senai http://www.thespottedduck.com/?p=1876 As I wind down here at my current job, it’s been interesting to see people’s reactions when I tell them I’m leaving and why. I’ve gotten lots of blank stares and polite nods, which was to be expected. And granted, I haven’t done the best job articulating this whole transition in under this many words. I mean, where do you even begin?

“I’m leaving to… go try new things.”

Awkward silence.

“I want to go… explore my passions.”

Blank stare.

“You see, I need to… go figure myself out.”

Polite nod.

“Well,” they say. “Good luck!”

And they mean it. But they don’t get it. (Sometimes I wish I could just give them a handful of blog posts to read. Then maybe they would understand.)

I’ve made my peace with the fact that abandoning your good job during an economic recession just won’t make sense to a lot of people. And why would it? It doesn’t make sense to me. There is no logical explanation to justify this decision. But then again, this is not a decision I’m basing on logic. This is a decision I’m making with my heart.  I’m done with all that logic stuff.

Far more interesting than the reactions from the folks who don’t get it, are the reactions from the folks that do.

My uncle’s first reaction was, “She’s leaving her job, is she crazy? Has she seen the unemployment numbers?”

But then, “On second thought, when I was her age, I quit my job, sold all my stuff and moved halfway across the country to California. There was no rhyme or reason to it, other than the fact that it was what I thought I needed to do.”

I’ve gotten other such feedback.

My wedding photographer said, “I went through pretty much the same thing. In fact, ten years ago this month, I had law school applications on my desk before I had my own epiphany that I should pursue what made me happy and not what was expected of me. I am so happy for you that you’ve made this decision.”

Even a reporter I barely know told me, “I left a high position in a Fortune 400 company in San Francisco about 12 years ago on my own steam. Lost some security but gained a lot of freedom. Haven’t looked back.”

So yes, I’m going way out a limb here. I realize that. But I’m not so far out that I can’t see the tree.

And I know now that I’m not alone out there.

Today, I have a guest post for you from my dear Aunt Nancy, my mom’s sister, who hosted us for Thanksgiving dinner #1 yesterday (and did a damn fine job of it, I must add). When I originally blogged about needing a little help getting through NaBloPoMo, Aunt Nancy quickly volunteered herself for the job. And I need all the help I can get (although – newsflash – just three more days after today! Then, freedom! Ha.) so I quickly accepted her for the job.

Now Aunt Nancy is somewhat new to the writing side of the blogosphere. Her blog, Tickling the Ivories, is still finding its sea legs, so everyone, kindly give my Aunt Nancy a warm welcome!

—————————-

Yes, today it is a guest blogger- that would be me!  I hope you will not miss Shelley too much. I chatted with Shelley and asked her what she thought would be an appropriate topic for my guest post.  Since I read her blog faithfully, she told me to just write about the types of things she does but maybe with a Thanksgiving twist.  Now mind you, I could chat food and recipes all day long as I love to cook (psst…but I hate cleaning up!) but I thought perhaps it would be good to reflect a bit on the rollercoaster past six months I have been living. And it has been quite the ride – I think it might be an E ticket (that’s an old-timer Disney reference)!!

On my blog (which I freely admit to having neglected until very recently), I began the cathartic process of writing after my sudden layoff in April.  I was left, as so many are, to try to figure out what to do.  I know I was blessed—and I still count my blessings. I am thankful everyday that I did not HAVE to find a full time job right away.  My darling husband still has a very good job that can cover our bills.

So my task was to figure out what I wanted to do… but that’s been tougher than it sounds! I have taken dozens of personality and career path assessments and talked to a lot of contacts who do coaching and counseling.  I thought it would be so easy to determine what to do now. I was wrong!

I knew I didn’t want to spend a lot of time commuting every day to NYC or Philly.  My life here in central Pennsylvania is very full of community and social activity that I was NOT willing to give up for a job.  I would not be able to perform in Community Theater shows if I had to commute three or four hours a day.  And, as I always say, my friends and family would not want to see me if I wasn’t involved in theater – it is my Prozac and it keeps me sane!  So I keep looking in the local area.  And there is not a lot to be had as most major employers have done their own layoffs this year.

But I believe in the power of intention.  If I continue to know that there is something local that I am meant to be doing, it will happen. I believe very strongly in keeping positive.  It is too easy to wallow in the depths of “woe is me”.  That is not my style.

The good news is that I have a possible opportunity to work for the Charter School my children attended.  It would be a great blend for my skill set as I am an idea person and very strategic in my thinking. Between that and my collaborative nature, I can take the school to a good place for the future.  It is an excellent option and that would give me a great opportunity to give back.

And giving back is exactly what I need to be doing right now.  The last six months have taught me that lesson.  I need to be valued and I need to be doing work that counts.  I presented a workshop on networking to my church because I needed to share some of the knowledge I have in that and many subjects.  If I can work with kids who need me to ensure the longevity of the special school they attend, then it will be right.

So during this Thanksgiving season, I have many reasons to give thanks- I have a great family (with a new addition this year- welcome Andreas), good friends and a life filled with joy and happiness.  I know now that I also need to be giving back to be fulfilled and that it is a lifelong journey. Thanks for reading!

First of all, if you have the budget for it (and by “the budget for it” I mean $25,000 to spend on the venue alone [jaws up people, these things to do happen]), check out the Boston Public Library. This was actually my original “dream venue” before we found out the cost. After that, it became my inspiration when looking for new venues. Can’t you just picture it? The marble courtyard, the great reading room, the grand staircase. It’s all so wonderfully romantic and charming. So Boston. Check out these photos from a wedding that was held there last year to see what I’m talking about.

We looked at some of the museums in the area as well but ruled them out for various reasons. I would have DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN immediately if we could have had our wedding at my favorite of all favorite museums in Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum, but tragically, they don’t allow weddings there! (They do allow other events to be held there so keep that in mind.) Neither does the Museum of Fine Arts allow weddings.

The New England Aquarium, Boston Children’s Museum, and the Museum of Science, all do allow weddings however the aquarium does not have room for a dance floor (or so reports my friend who attended a wedding there. We didn’t actually visit or research it in depth. I do know that the reception is held in the main central area there where the live penguins are which at first is like, omglolzCUTE!!! but actually is more like poop smell poop smell everywhere.), and neither the Children’s Museum nor the Museum of Science felt exactly in line with the tone we were aiming for. That’s not to say they’re not very cool weddings venues.

Another consideration that may work for you but didn’t work for us is the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. It has the same beautiful courtyard look of the BPL and Gardner but not only is it closed for renovation right now, I also learned that you are not allowed to hold ceremonies of any kind in the museum (something to do with it being owned by a university) so we would’ve had to seek out a second venue for our ceremony, which we weren’t willing to do. However, if you’re not getting married for a few years (hmm, actually maybe a lot of years) and wanted to get married at a church anyways, this may be a good consideration for your reception.

The two other venues we did seriously consider were:

1. The Artists for Humanity EpiCenter in South Boston. This super modern gallery-like space is mostly used to house afterschool art programs for underprivileged and underserved youth in Boston. They also claim to be the “greenest building in Boston.” While we liked this fact and adored their mission (all proceeds from event rentals go back into the program as well which we loved), the space is very bare and would require a lot of additional decor dollars to be allocated toward making it look like a wedding venue. Additionally, it is in kind of a warehouse-y area of South Boston that didn’t capture that Boston spirit we were looking for.

2. The Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center in East Cambridge. This community center for the arts in Cambridge provides a nice space for weddings and again, is a non-profit with a good mission. This was our plan B. While we weren’t as wowed with the space as we were with the Wang and they didn’t have the dates we were looking for, they were one of the more affordable options we considered. Definitely worth a tour to see if it feels right to you!

One more venue I want to mention that we didn’t really explore too much but that looked cool was the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End.

Hope this helps!

This is from the Quotable’s 2010 color calendar. I saw it in Brookline Booksmith yesterday after therapy and I have to admit, it kind of spoke to me. Actually, it really spoke to me. Wish this was available as a print – I’d be all over it.

Planning our wedding has been an interesting ride thus far to say the least.

I’ve gone from loving it to hating it to now having a new attitude toward it. An attitude which has yet to be named. An attitude that is neither love nor hate but more a mix of resignation (to the process) with occasional flutters of excitement.

And temporary flashes of nervousness.

And momentary glimpses of a zen calm.

Yeah.

I should have just left it at an attitude which has no name.

I’m in a better place now, let’s put it that way. Having the wedding planner continues to do wonders for us. She brings lots of creativity and organization, all the while building bridges over these little pitfalls we could have easily have fallen into. Seriously, she thinks of things that would have never occurred to us.

I’m more than a little in love with her.

But one of the things she can’t do for us is write our vows, a little project I’ve been absentmindedly (slash kind of purposefully) putting off for a little while now but have decided to begin this weekend.

Would it be weird if I said I’m nervous about it? Because I am. I realized that today. Here’s me, someone who writes press releases and news advisories all day and then comes home and writes on her blog all night, scared to put pen to paper.

It’s a daunting task though, writing your vows. I mean, how do you begin to capture all the love and respect and raw emotion you hold for another human being? How do you do it in short, to-the-point sentences that are heartwarming yet in no way remotely clichéd?

How?

Seriously. Any magical tips or divine intervention you can provide would be much appreciated, because I’ve started to write them in my head so many times and it always starts with something totally nauseating like, “Words can’t begin to describe the love I feel for you…”.

Ugh. Gross.

The thing is, I am the one who chose to have us write a few words to say to each other on our wedding day. I think it’s important. Andreas wasn’t too thrilled about the idea but he came around. Our officiant, Deb, is writing 90% of the ceremony, so it’s important to me that the promises we make to each other on that day come from us.

I once picked up some advice from somewhere though, that only you know what goes on in your relationship. Which, true, is very simple and obvious advice, but I’ve been able to apply it to all sorts of situations.

And the fact remains that, whatever we write, however it comes out, as long as its honest, as long as it disregards how it may look and sound to the outside world – it will be us, and it will be special. We will always know the love and intention behind what we said, even if it comes out in a jumbled mix of hackneyed phrases and sappy “I love you’s”.

Still. I want them to be pretty too.

This is a fantastic framework for thinking about your career and how to be happy with what you do. When I saw this, it just made sense to me, the idea that the ideal situation is when what you want to do and what you do well and what you can get paid to do, all overlap.

When you think about the people who seem truly happy with “what they do”, they exist right in the center of this diagram. They like what they do, they’re good at it, AND they can make money off of it. But they are few and far between.

The majority of us fall elsewhere on this spectrum. Either we like what we do and are good at it – but we aren’t making money off of it. Or we’re good at what we do and are making money off of it – but it’s not what we want. Or we’re making money off what we want to do – but we’re not very good at it (the easiest to fix, in my opinion).

This concept has been bouncing around my brain for months now but Bud Caddell just boiled it down beautifully in what he calls the “How to Be Happy in Business” diagram. For me this gets right to the core of the “being true to you everyday” stuff I was going on about the other week.

Existing in the middle of this diagram? Not easy to do. I think people live their whole lives without ever getting there. But it’s a goal for me. And I’m glad I came across this visualization of the goal tonight.

(To be honest, it was just what I needed after the funk the evening news put me into. Holy Moses, people, what is going on with our world? Where’s the love? Where’s the respect for our fellow humans? Argh! The whole thing upsets me. So let’s focus on the good (and ps. I accidentally just typed “food” instead of “good” there. We can focus on the food too.).)

My, how things change in a year. Not only has my personal life changed dramatically, not only have I grown as a person, but my attitude toward and approach to blogging have evolved immensely as well.

When I started blogging last year, I was very timid. I didn’t know what the whole blogging world was about, so that made it nearly impossible to find my place within it. Kind of like me and the real world right now, except the real world is far more complicated so it’s taking a bit more time.

I dove into blogging head first, without fully considering what I had to say on my blog. In some ways, I’m glad I did it this way. If I had stood on the sidelines thinking for too long, I might have talked myself out of it.

Once I got going, generating blog posts became a challenge for me. It’s fine to blog about starting a blog, but once you get past the introductions, where do you take it? For me, it was a bumpy start. Individually, the posts were all things I was proud of, but I couldn’t see the common denominator, the thread that tied them all together. So when an idea would come up, I’d find myself agonizing over whether or not that “fit” into my blog.

But what was my blog? It took reading other people’s blogs to find out.

Over the course of this year, I discovered a true love for blogs. I discovered design blogs with pictures that made me swoon, personal blogs written in fantastically defined and individualized voices, and wedding blogs about everything under the sun. I even fell in love with a few “mommy” blogs and became completely addicted to Momversation (conversations on motherhood from some of the Internet’s most celebrated female bloggers). Even though I’m no where close to having kids, something about the way these women think and write is just appealing to me.

Then there were blogs that couldn’t be pigeonholed, kind of like mine. These blogs would throw up everything from thought-provoking essays, to pretty pictures, to poems and personal stories. I came to cherish these blogs and all the others, and my Google reader evolved from this annoying chore I felt like I had to clean up everyday to a finely tuned engine that delivers my news, my inspiration, my daily dose of oomph.

From reading and coming to love other people’s blogs, I realized that my blog isn’t about one thing – and that’s okay. It’s a personal blog, and that label gives me the freedom to really talk about anything I want. If I had to drill down farther, I’d say my blog is about being in your twenties, and all the randomness and identity crises, accomplishments and growth that go along with that decade. At times, it’s been a wedding blog, at times, even a social media blog, and hey, maybe one day, it’ll be a mommy blog, then an empty nester blog, then a crazy old lady blog. Hopefully it will be a 30′s blog, then a 40′s… all the way up ’til the day I croak.

I also learned that the posts that resonates the most are the ones that come from the heart. Simplicity and honesty and just being yourself, as tired as that phrase is, are things that are rewarded in the blogging world – and that in turn is rewarding.

I’ve come to love blogging, and I’ve come to feel comfortable in my own blogger skin. By no means, though, do I feel I’ve “mastered” blogging. Over the next year, I hope to share more and better define my blogging boundaries. I’ve played it pretty safe thus far, steering so clear of certain areas that I think this blog, as a whole, is sometimes lacking a little bit of “me-ness” (for lack of a more eloquent word).

So, I hope to grow. I hope to share more about how I came to be the person I am today, to provide a foundation as the blog grows with me. But most of all, I just feel a supreme thankfulness that I’ve found blogging. I think I finally get it, why so many people are addicted to pushing their thoughts out into the world. The power to develop your own content as you see fit, the lack of hard rules, the limitlessness… it’s exhilarating. And I’m just glad to take part in my small way.