This Is Framingham

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

Tonight my friend Miah and I went out for sushi at Samba. I’ve gone here for hibachi and Ethan and I love their Pad Thai, but I’ve never gone here for a sushi evening so that’s what Miah and I did.
We sat in the lounge (also a first) and started off with some drinks, I got a chocolate martini and and Miah got something fruity that the waiter suggested. ???? ??????

We got some edamame and a sushi/maki combo for 2. This was really enough for 3, maybe even 4 and hasd a nice variety of nigiri and maki which was delicious.

I think the best roll was was the spicy tuna maki, which Miah agreed was particularly good. ????? ????????

We had such a great meal here and now have three reasons to go here. ???? ???? Whether it’s for hibachi, Pad Thai or sushi, I’d be happy to go here anytime and it’s good to see that so far Samba hasn’t succumbed to the failed restaurant curse that had plagued this location for previous businesses. Good job Samba!

I was looking to get my awesome Jordan Marsh print framed and I didn’t really want to go to AC Moore or Michael’s because there is something weird to me about always offering 50% off framing, they don’t do their work in-house and I like to use local businesses. I’ve never had anything framed before and some people recommended Framed in Time in Saxonville so I thought I’d check them out.
When you walk in, you can see there are a ton of options for frames.

Right from the start, the girl behind the counter was so incredibly nice and helpful when I explained what I was looking for and the budget I was working with. She picked out a few suggestions based on the colors of the print and the thickness of the frame that would be needed due to the larger amount of glass that would be need as this was a larger poster rather than a small desk top item I was looking to frame.

I picked a light wood frame even though the interior of our house has dark wood trim, I thought the light wood went well with the print. I went to pick it up today and when I saw the finished product I realized I made a mistake and I just knew Ethan wasn’t going to like it in the house.

As much as I hated to do it, I asked the guy “So….what if I needed this re-framed? How much would that cost?” and instead of rolling his eyes or sighing, which I was afraid he would do, he said “Oh, if you pick a frame that’s in the same price range, there’s no charge at all”.  I told him I was so sorry but now that I’m looking at it I just know my husband won’t like this and I guess I’m not crazy about it either.
The guy said no problem at all and that it’s big enough that he can cut it up to use for something else and that infact he just got a new frame in this price range that is the same thing but in a walnut color. He brought out the frame sample and it was perfect.

It was so nice of him to not only to be so accommodating to me changing my mind after the frame was done, but he didn’t try to up-sell me on a more expensive frame and he was really nice!
I know we’ll be happy with the new frame and I’m so glad I went here. Such a nice small business in town, they get to be filed in the “yay” category of the blog!

Check out their site for more info: http://www.framedintime.com

Sometimes I walk to work and when I do, I like to add on another few minutes and get a yogurt or piece of fruit at Whole Foods because they open at 8am.  I’d always like to go to Trader Joe’s but they aren’t open until 9am (which is when I have to be at work)- until now.  The other day I went to Whole Foods and as I was walking through the Trader Joe’s parking lot to go to work, I saw someone walking out with groceries- but it was only 8:30am! ruralking ivermectin
I went in and an employee said hi and we started talking about the new hours (8am-9pm) and she said they just started the new hours this week. ivermectina é seguro   It seems like a minor thing but it’s a nice convenience to have them open at 8 now since I’m a morning grocery shopper on the weekends and would sometimes plan my grocery shopping around TJ’s opening at 9am.
Anyway, I just thought any fellow morning shoppers would be interested to know this. à quelle fréquence peut-on prendre le stromectol

I was going through some old pictures on my camera and came across this beauty of chocolate rugelach I got at Kugel’s(located in Trolley Square) about a month ago and forgot to post about it.  Usually when I find rugelach, it’s too dry, lacking flavor or just a different style altogether but this is just like the kind my aunt used to serve at her house when I was a kid. ??? ????????  
I don’t know where else in Framingham they have rugelach like this so I just wanted to give a shout out to Kugel’s for selling such a fine product (as well has serving great breakfasts and sandwiches).

A thoughtful reader wrote to me about an artist she follows Flickr who created some designs based on our sorely missed Shoppers World.
Brandon Schaefer makes insanely creative images that are mostly retro-inspired re-designs of movie posters, book covers and miscellaneous subjects, like Shoppers World and made these fantastic designs:

Of course I had to write to Brandon and ask him how he got to making these, what inspires him when designing images and what his background is.   Being the nice guy that he is, he answered all my questions and told me about his work.  Brandon is a 25 year freelance graphic designer who has been designing since high school.  While various subjects inspire him, he has an appreciation for American Modernism during the 40’s and 50’s which clearly comes through in his style.  He has a special place in a his heart (like most of us do) for the old Shoppers World, which I think is great for someone so young.  If you like what you see, you can buy it by clicking here. And if you like these, be sure to check out the rest of his work at http://www.seekandspeak.com, it’s just fantastic stuff- enjoy!