This Is Framingham

According to the MWDN, the AAA office next to Walgreens on Rt.9 will be offering RMV services to their members.  This is great since Ethan and I signed up for AAA last year and this great to know we can avoid going to the Mass Pike location in Natick to get license renewals.  Currently the old RMV downtown still remains vacant

The New England Museum Association runs an annual publication competition in several categories.  The Framingham History Center won the Judge’s Choice Award in the “Websites, Budget under $750,000″ category.
I’m not just happy because it’s where I work, but also that my husband Ethan was the web designer who created the site.  So, it was nice to have him get some kudos too!
Click here the MWDN article about it, and the FHC site, and Ethan’s web design site.

I was coming home From Target tonight when I saw that the former Quizno’s shop will soon be a Five Guys!
I love their fries, they have good burgers too but I think their fries really are the star of the show.
I took this picture at their Marlborough location.  I couldn’t find an opeing date for the Framingham location on their website but it will be at the “food mall” at Rt. 30 and Caldor Rd.  Can’t wait till they open!

I got an email a few days ago from Savers thrift stores saying they are coming to Framingham!  As some may know I’m a thrift store junkie and I love hunting out little treasures to add to my collection of useful and useless items.  I’m so excited because it’s become my favorite thrift store since I found it last year in Woonsocket.  As much as I’m always looking for a reason to visit Woonsocket (and I mean that, I’d love to make a thisiswoonoscket.com) I’m really looking forward to having Savers right here in the ‘ham.  Their selection of vintage housewares and electronics are fantastic. I recently got some lovely items like:
a never-used coffee pot/plate warmer:

crockette in excellent condition:

mint condition baking dish and set of side plates:


Occasionally I’ll buy something that isn’t brown but for the most part this place is a gold mine for me and Ethan actually always finds a nice record to bring home - some of his finds:

Not only will this be great for shopping but according to their press release, it will create 50 jobs for this store. 
For more information you can visit their site at http://savers.com

Today someone stopped in at work who was looking for old pictures of the Shoppers World soldiers being built because he is part of a carpenters union volunteering their time to build replicas off the soldiers.  The town is providing the materials and workspace while these generous men are donating their skills and effort.  The town asked them to make 6 soldiers to better balance the amount of soldiers displayed throughout town during the holiday season (most soldiers are placed downtown and around the southside)
I was kindly invited to the shop to check out the progress and as you may know from reading this blog, I was a big fan of the original Shoppers World so it was a real treat to get to see this project in action.

There are two original soldiers that they’ve taken apart to investigate all the support beams and angles.  These guys are replicating every inch of the interior and exterior to make them look and hold up just like the originals.
Here are some pictures from my visit.
A dissected original soldier:

Four pairs of new legs

Almost completed new soldier:

Dismantled original:

Upper half of an original next to legs and feet of a new soldier

Thanks to Charlie Ryan and the members of Carpenters Local 475 for taking the time and effort to take on such a noble task.

I’ve only been to Cintolo’s once before to get some signatures to run for town meeting but I heard they sell great homemade sausage on Thursdays so I went to check it out.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Cintolo’s is a little neighborhood market that has been in business for 70 years and people who go in there end up talking with Mr. & Mrs. Cintolo for a while, sometimes pulling up a chair and staying a while.   The nice thing is that if they don’t know they don’t make you feel like you don’t belong there. When I went in to buy the sausage, Mrs. Cintolo was asking me how I planned on cooking it and gave me suggestions on different recipes. 
Also, I  though it was cute that even though they’ve been in business so long and have a regular clientele, she was interested in how I heard about them.  She was just so nice and easy to talk to.  I went in there to get one thing and ended up talking with her for 10-15 minutes and she asked me to come back and let her know how I liked the sausage.
I sauteed it with onions and peppers and it was dee-licious!

This is one of the most adorable small business in Framingham and worth making the trip for sausage.
Cintolo’s is at 371 Grant Street.  They don’t have a sign anymore, I forgot to ask if it was because of a storm or the ridiculously strict sign regulations in town, but you should be able to recognize it by the striped awning in front of the store.

Doug Stephan of Eastleigh Farm (used with permission)
According to their site, Eastleigh Farm has been okayed (again) to sell raw milk starting in March.
There are people who think it’s a good idea and those who think it’s a bad idea but what it comes down to is that it’s a choice people can make, just like people choose how well they want their burger done.
Personally I’m not a big milk drinker, but I do enjoy cheese made from raw milk and I know there are lots of people who prefer to drink raw milk. I think it would be great for Framingham to be known as a location where you can get raw milk and support a local farm. When I talk to people who don’t live in town they’re surprised when I tell them we have actual farms here - they think Framingham is just crime and shopping.
I had the pleasure of talking with Doug Stephan a few weeks ago and he said the milk will start off being available as milk shares and then in a few months most likely be available by the bottle and then move onto cheese, yogurt and ice cream as well.
Everything you’d want to know about this, like why people want to drink raw milk, and more about the farm can be found on their website: http://www.eastleighfarm.com