A new perspective on home ownership: Habitat

Another non-profit I'm doing work with is Habitat for Humanity. Established in the 1970s as a Christian ministry, Habitat has built 300,000 homes across the globe for families in need. Moana and I spent the morning with the development officer for Habitat's New England fundraising, and visited build sites in Dorchester and Newton. This was really a wonderful opportunity and incredibly inspiring to see. Our company is supposed to participate in both a local and international build over the coming year, and I can't wait!

Dorchester site:

The Dorchester project takes place on Blue Hills Avenue. Once a thriving Jewish community, this area has really fallen victim to crime, drugs and a faltering economy. This is a very unusual project for Habitat -- it's larger than normal (multiple buildings, 24 new homes) and will include 2000 square feet of commercial/retail space. Foreclosures run rampant in this area -- we visited several neighborhoods where home after home is boarded up, and on one street, 11 out of the 14 homes have been foreclosed. We visited Building #1 -- I believe Habitat is still in the process of selecting families for this development, and part of the retail space was recently purchased by a local salon owner to create a hairdressing school.. We had a chance to also drive by a series of Habitat homes that were built more than a decade ago -- all of those families still live there and are thriving.

Each unit has a kitchen, living area, bathroom, storage pace and two/three bedrooms. I'm jealous -- there's some serious closet space!

Newton site:

The Newton property came about as part of a bequest from an elderly woman who owned three acres of land in Newton. Part was given to the local conservation department, the other was dedicated to affordable housing. Habitat is building a two-family home from the ground-up. The two families have been chosen. One is a single mother living in public housing, and the others are both pre-school teachers who were getting by living with family. Both have been very active in the build process.

Hobnobbing with New Yorkers...

I've been very fortunate throughout my life to have interesting opportunities come my way through my work, things that I could never afford to do on my own. Several years ago, I chaperoned a travel program on a week-long cruise of the Great Lakes. I've met former Secretary of State Shultz, worked with Nobel prize winners, and have been taken on a private tour of a linear accelerator.

Tonight goes up there as one of the highlights, as I flew down to New York with two colleagues and attended the annual Alzheimer's Association Rita Hayworth Gala at the spectacular Waldorf-Astoria. Amazing event for a wonderful cause. The gala is chaired by Princess Yasmin Aga Kahn, daughter of the late actress Rita Hayworth who battled Alzheimer's Disease in an era when little was known about it. Watching the Princess speak was a special delight -- she is clearly passionate about this cause, yet very uncomfortable in the spotlight. There was something so honest and humble about her.

Tremendous people-watching to be had. Celebrities, gorgeous evening gowns, breathtaking jewels. I only wish I had the nerve to whip my camera out and take pictures to share, but I thought it might be a tad improper!

Is this really only my 2nd Pats game this season?

It's nearly November and it's only the second game we've gone to. It's been a busy, busy fall, especially now that Tom's gone back to school. We run out of steam by the weekends and have been more than happy to share our BC and Pats tickets with the long line of friends patiently waiting for them!

This was Tom's week to provide the beer and food, and, as usual, it was a fantastic spread. The boys have finally straightened out the issues with the satellite dish, so we had the TV up and running by mid-morning. And the weather? Seriously, Tom and several of the guys wore shorts, and I quickly ditched my sweatshirt in favor of a t-shirt. Global warming is frightening, but sometimes in late October, you just roll with it!

Luckily our boys in blue and silver won!

Pre-Halloween costumes unveiled!

Tonight our friend Laura hosted her long-anticipated 80s themed Halloween party. Tom's been working on his costume for weeks: Beetlejuice!

The Costume:
He picked up a tuxedo jacket from The Garment District in Cambridge and used white duct tape from the Home Depot to make the white stripes. White duct tape? Am I the only person who didn't know this stuff came in anything other than silver? Not only do they have it in white, but try yellow, red, green...even camo!

Tom paired the jacket with a pair of black pants and a white collared shirt he already had. Throw on some black shoes, and he's ready to go.


The Make-up
Okay, this got messy, but very cool! Tom picked up a black wig from The Garment District -- I think it was some sort of rocker style. He sprayed it with both white and green Halloween hair color (the temporary stuff you can pick up anywhere) and hung it upside down from a door frame so the hair would dry sticking out all over. We had a lot of laughs over how much it looked like a dead animal. His sister, Judy, trimmed it a bit to make it look more like Michael Keaton's do.

Judy also did Tom's make-up, using a few photos Tom had pulled off the internet as a guide. I have to say, as the night wore on, the make-up got better and better! I have to hand it to Tom -- I would go nuts if I ever had to do full make-up! But Tom's the "go big or go home" type, and his costume came out awesome.

And what did I do? I changed my mind about 50 times. For awhile, everyone had lobbied for a Revere Beach 80s Prom Queen (with all due respect to folks from Revere). My sister dug up a few old dresses at my parents, but let's just say I can no longer wear a size 7 or 9 juniors! So random 80s chick it is! I like to describe this as my "Madonna meets Debbie Gibson" look!

Networking with women in the non-profit sector

Tonight I attended a networking get-together for Women in Development of Greater Boston. Those of us who work in fundraising in the Boston area are extremely fortunate to have access to such a fantastic network -- New York has the only other WID organization of which I'm aware. Fundraising crosses many industries, from health care to museums, social causes to education, and this has been a great way to learn about other fields in development and, more importantly, the women who are leading them. Having graduated from a women's college, I have developed a deep appreciation for networks like this where you can learn from their career choices and challenges.

Tufts 10K

Moana and I walked the Tufts 10K today -- her first time and my 13th. What a glorious day -- absolutely perfect conditions.

The Tufts is a race like no other -- or for many of my friends, the closest experience they will get to the Boston Marathon. A sea of 7000+ women lined up on Beacon Street next to the Common, then the surge up Charles Street over the Longfellow Bridge. Women screaming as they run through the underpasses on Memorial Drive, listening to their echoes. Cheering on the lead runners as they double-back on the other side of Memorial Drive, heading toward the Mass Ave Bridge. Passing spectators on Comm Ave, some who are there every year to cheer on the women, others who are woefully stuck in traffic, wondering why they didn't know about the race. And turning the corner at the Common and racing toward the finish line.

Treking the hills of Breakheart Reservation

Today Tom and I took a trip up to Saugus to visit Breakheart Reservation, the potential site for a 5K race we're planning for one of NEEM's clients. What a beautiful oasis outside of Boston -- I had no idea this was out here!

Breakheart offers two paved loops (1.9 miles and 2.9 miles) and miles of wooded trails. The Visitor's Center in Saugus is just off of Route 1, and quite impressive -- areas for cooking (gas only), childrens' playground, a workout center. You can hike about a mile in to a beautiful beach. Warning: it's quite hilly!

We're very excited about the possibilities here and looking forward to sharing the details with our client.

Girls-only wine series: round 3

The lovely ladies came by today for Round 3 of my continuing wine series. This time, the theme was fall flavors and luscious red wines.

For the wines, we enjoyed:

• Penfold's Thomas Ayland Shiraz --- 2002
• Crane Lake Cabernet Sauvignon -- 2002
• Les Traverses de Fontanes Cabernet Sauvignon -- 2002
• Napa Valley Silverado Vineyards Sangiovese -- 2004
• Soltione Chianti Classico -- 2004

A note about Les Traverses -- this was a wine that Tom and I sampled earlier in the week at Dave's Fresh Pasta. Dave's has a fantastic wine merchant who picks up excellent wines at reasonable prices. Definitely worth a visit.

For the menu, we sampled:

• Beef & roasted red pepper crostini: Tom makes this for a lot of family events, and it has a wonderful taste. I bought the wrong bread (the thick french bread, rather than the smaller baguettes), but it worked out fine. The recipe makes a healthy serving, so cut back if you're making it for a smaller group like I did (Moana's son was the happy recipient of many leftovers!).
  
• Creamy squash and apple soup: this got rave reviews, and I personally loved it. In the recipe, the author suggests holding back only 1 cup of the reserve broth. The soup ended up a lot thicker than we had expected (much closer to a side dish than a soup) so Tom opened up an extra can of chicken broth and threw some in to thin it out. Next time, I'd recommended holding back all of the broth and adding to desired thickness (probably closer to 2 cups).
• Crispy prosciutto and scallion fritatta: the saltiness of the prosciutto and parmesan cheese makes for a really nice taste. I've found in general that I need to cook fritattas for longer than suggested, but it could be just my oven.
• Persian spinach and yogurt dip -- again! I made this for the last party and loved the flavor so much that it made a repeat appearance. The cinnamon in particular lends itself to a wonderful fall flavor! I served it with french bread, rather than crudites or pita.
• Fresh raviolis from Dave's Fresh Pasta and homemade pesto sauce: The sauce was incredibly easy, yet messy to make. Tom found it in a book, but there are plenty of version online.
• Applesauce spice cake: Our friend Mike and his family went apple picking recently and, in a desperate attempt to use their surplus apples, gave us a jar of homemade applesauce. I hunted around for a dessert recipe that would use it, and this cake got rave reviews. The raisins plumped up something ridiculous in the baking process! Served with Brighams (of course!) vanilla ice cream -- yummy!

We talked quite a bit about cooking, and for those of you who wanted more information about the two CSAs we're doing, here you go:

• Stone Soup Farms (veggie CSA)
• Chestnut Farms (meat CSA)
  

Next gathering will be in December for a cookie swap!

VP debate: rants

Ah yes, the moment we've all been waiting for: Biden vs Palin. How bad would it be?

I will say, when you have decidedly diminished expectations, you almost have nowhere to go, but up. Palin managed not to completely make an ass of herself, as she did with an interview earlier this week with Katie Couric. However, she did manage to completely and blatantly dodge every question that was clearly out of her league. Amazing!

A few rants:
1. Joe clearly was told to play it easy and not look like a jerk. It wasn't until nearly the end when he said, look, don't tell me I don't know what it's like to sit at the kitchen table. Irony: if you do a quick look at Palin's assets, she's a lot further from the kitchen table than most of us.

2. What's up with the winking? Seriously...

3. Joe Sixpack did not go over well with our group.

4. It's nuclear, honey. Didn't you learn anything from W?

5. Gosh darn it, you betcha.....my god, I felt like I was watching Fargo!

Making Pasta with Dave

Tonight Tom and I took a pasta making class at Dave's Fresh Pasta in Davis Square. Tom learned about the class through Slow Food Boston, an organization that runs counter-culture to "fast food nation" and promotes eating local.

The class, which held about a dozen people, was taught by Dave himself. We began by learning the basics of pasta making, creating a simple dough from flour (duram and semolina), egg and a pinch of salt. Tom scored well on the dough-kneading -- his was used as the "model" for the rest of us to follow. We left one ball of dough plain and added parsley to the other. After 20 minutes in the fridge, we rolled out the dough and sent them through the cutters, making both angel hair and linguini.

Dave then gave us a tutorial in sauce making, including a great, absolutely easy marinara sauce. Tom asked for a few pointers with his own garlic/white wine sauce, and Dave quickly identified the problem: not enough salt and/or cheese. What a difference it makes using the right quantities! He also made an alfredo sauce and a very cool sauce with blue cheese.

Next class in November is for raviolis -- we're hoping we'll be able to sign up!