ridaily

2010-09-30

Wanted: Donations for Funky Fashion Show

So here it is, the last day of September already (already!! gah) and it's time to look ahead. In a couple of weeks, Groundwork Providence - a really great local educational non-profit - will be hosting a super-cool fashion show. It's called Runway Earth 8: Halloween Edition (you know it's cool just from the name) and it'll bring lots of willowy local models, all dressed up in one-of-a-kind outfits made from recycled materials, to the new MET cafe and bar in Pawtucket. RISD types are, of course, heavily involved, and there'll be local art and a silent auction too. Groundwork is still gathering goodies for said auction, and they need help. Anything covetable, be it an item, gift certificate or event, is welcome. So far, Trinity Rep has ponied up four vouchers for season tickets (hope I...

Posted at 01:45 PM in State of Mine | Permalink | Comments

2010-09-29

Coffee for a Cause

Get thee to Dunkin'! Today is National Coffee Day, and for every hot cup of coffee sold, the chain will donate 50 cents to Special Olympics Rhode Island. (We know it's 80 degrees out, but it's for a good cause -- SORI serves more than 2,700 athletes in the state.) Spread the word....

Posted at 09:00 AM in Eating Out | Permalink | Comments

2010-09-28

Kicks

Saturday, my friend Abby and I checked out the New England Carnivorous Plant Society show at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center. I can't say what possessed me, but I really got it into my head that I would watch a plant eat a cricket and come away with some new insights about life. But alas. We did not get to see any feedings because the projector was broken while we were there, and the guy at the desk said that they didn't feel it was worth doing if they couldn't project it onto a screen for everyone to see, which is generally a good motto. However, I can tell you a few things.1. The plants were very gorgeous, with all kinds of snaptraps and teeth and funnels.2. There was some kind of teen beauty pageant going on in the atrium next door, so small girls in crowns were roaming the...

Posted at 04:00 PM in What's On | Permalink | Comments

2010-09-27

Golden Afternoons on Block Island

If you've never been to Block Island before - and come on, admit it, if you're a native Rhode Islander you probably haven't - or just haven't been there much lately, seize the moment. Or rather, the next month. It really is the money time on the island right now. The water's warm, the views stretch out across the Atlantic unencumbered by summer haze, the restaurants are still open - minus the lines - and the stores are all having sales. Hotel rooms and even house rentals can be had with far fewer restrictions than usual - for instance, in the summer there are two-night minimums at hotels on weekends and one-week minimums for homes, but now you can pretty much name your night - and the rates are literally half-price. If you like fishing, you'll know that now's the time to charter a boat...

Posted at 03:00 PM in What's On | Permalink | Comments

2010-09-24

Battlin' Hot Wings

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved spicy foods, especially hot wings. I’ve always embraced the painful sensation caused by eating them and now I’m seeking out Rhode Island’s most unbearable and excruciatingly spicy hot wings. I’ve already gotten off to a good start.Wings Over Providence on Hope Street has a flavor of hot wings called “After Burner,” so spicy the server told me I was a “brave man” for ordering them. When they came out, the wings, drenched in a thick, dark red, pepper-laden sauce, stared at me as if ready for battle. I ate the first two with relative ease and questioned what the big deal was. But the wings are definitely true to their name, and after the third wing I felt their wrathful kick. Soon thereafter, my...

Posted at 03:00 PM in Eating Out | Permalink | Comments

2010-09-22

Fan Favorites

I get a kick out of the random Facebook fan/ “like” pages that crop up — everything from “I like your dark brown roots, they really match your bleach blonde hair” to “I like long text messages because I appreciate a complete thought.” Deep stuff, right? I guess that’s the wonderfully democratic thing about Facebook: a thought can morph into a movement (however totally weird or self serving said movement might be) overnight. Locally speaking, there’re plenty of interesting fan pages out there, but one in particular caught my attention this morning – Bring Back XO Café. A couple of friends had joined, so it showed up on my wall. No, I didn’t join the group (seventy strong), but I did check out the page — and...

Posted at 12:00 PM in State of Mine | Permalink | Comments

2010-09-21

They're Doing It Again!

I'm on a contest kick lately, but here's another good one (complete with neat background story and video).So, last year for Thanksgiving, Dennis Moffitt Painting in Wakefield decided to donate a fresh paint job to a local family. "We figured we would go inside, put some nice colors on the walls and help someone feel better," they wrote on their Web site. But word got around (this is Rhode Island), and Dennis and his son, Michael, suddenly found themselves spearheading a full-on home makeover. Somewhere around thirty local companies also wanted to donate their time and materials, everything from landscaping to carpentry to interior decorating to a tank of heating oil, even free lodging at the Hampton Inn while the renovations were underway. (The homeowners sweetly confessed to...

Posted at 03:20 PM in State of Mine | Permalink | Comments

2010-09-20

Filipino Spring Rolls

Growing up, I was surrounded by a large extended family and have been to countless Filipino parties, characterized by all my relatives playing Mah-jongg or line dancing to the “Electric Slide.” More importantly, I remember the food, from pancit noodles to lechon (Filipino roasted pig). But of course, there’s my all-time favorite: lumpia – piping hot and crunchy spring rolls with ground pork filling served with sweet and sour sauce on the side. It’s been my food of choice since the first birthday party I can remember. It’s also coincidentally the first thing to run out at every family party I go to. As my stomach starts to growl and while I go in and out of food nostalgia, here’s a recipe of my favorite Filipino snack. (All right, so I took the...

Posted at 04:00 PM in Eating In | Permalink | Comments

2010-09-17

Camelot at Trinity Rep

After a long, dry hot-flash of a summer, it's finally time for Trinity Rep to stage a house production. Thank god! And thank god, believe it or not, that it's Camelot. True, I left the house speculating with my babysitter about just how cheesy a King Arthur musical was going to be. I'd loved the T. H. White books as a child, but couldn't see the sprawling, nuanced tale making the leap to song and dance. No such failure of imagination bedeviled Lerner and Loewe, they of My Fair Lady fame, when they set out to base a play on The Once And Future King. It's a wonderful libretto, full of good-hearted humor, political depth, love and heartbreak, with a score to match. The Julie Andrews/Richard Burton Broadway hit of the early sixties, and the 1967 Vanessa Redgrave movie, evoke the idealism of...