Island Creek Oyster Bar

If you are a lover of seafood and are a raw oyster enthusiast, you cannot go wrong with Island Creek Oyster Bar. For our 12th wedding anniversary, a repeat visit to my favorite restaurant in Boston was planned. Service is friendly, impeccable - with some heartwarming touches. Check out the menu which are printed daily to capture the specials. Last time I visited, I commented on how delicious the butter was - blended with sea salt, paprika and honey. When we left, everyone in our party received a goody bag - inside was the butter recipe card with a jar of local honey and sachets of the sea salt and paprika!

I am not a huge fan of very briny, strong-tasting raw oysters and luckily, Island Creek oysters are totally opposite - buttery and mild. We started with a dozen of Island Creeks and a few sweet raw clams to start. The standout entrée was the lobster roe noodles with braised short rib, grilled lobster, mushrooms and pecorino. If you love seafood and are in town, let me take you to Island Creek!

A new Xmas Tradition: The Ham

I have never cooked a huge ham for Xmas. With only one unhappy recollection of very dry gammon slices (served with pineapple!) at a friend's house almost two decades ago, I wasn't prone to trying anytime soon. However, with more family coming into town this Xmas and hams on sale at the supermarket, this proved too much for my mother-in-law to resist. Result being - I was given a ham to cook. After some internet research, I decided to glaze the ham with a glaze consisting of honey, mustard, brown sugar and butter. 3 careful hours later at 325F resulted in a succulent, juicy, incredibly tender ham. Served with a smorgsbord of cheeses, smoked salmon spiral, pickled herrings, cornichons, bread and salad. Of course, a big ham just keeps on giving - ham sandwiches the next day, ham and aspargus alfredo for dinner and of course, I kept and boiled the ham bone for over 4 hours to make a ham and swede soup. What's on the menu tonight? Maybe a ham stir-fry....