A Sweet Treasure – Robin’s Candy offers treats for Chanukah and every day (Originally published 12/14)

Most children grow up in responsible homes where candy is only offered as a special treat. As the granddaughter of the owners of a popular candy shop in New York, Robin Hefland grew up literally surrounded by candy. Spending many delicious days taste testing and getting to know some of the all-time classic candies, she also learned what it took to make customers happy, even without sugar in their systems.

Years later, as the owner of Robin’s Candy (www.robinscandy.com), Helfand continues to bring those familial lessons and delicious treats to friends across the Commonwealth and around the world.

Continue reading

A Sweet Combination – Chestnut Hill Square helps you feel nice AND naughty (Originally published 8/14)

If the traffic that has intensified since Chestnut Hill Square opened has not worn you out, a day of shopping at the trendy new center certainly will! From Anthropologie and Athleta to Francesca’s and Sail Loft  (and, of course, Wegman’s), the Square offers a variety of places to pick up everything from gowns to groceries, as well as a bank and Beth Israel-affiliated medical center. It is truly a one-stop shop for the non-stop shopper.

Fortunately, the Square also offers a variety of popular refueling stations. In addition to Starbucks and the afore-reviewed Brio (see last issue), there is a new pair of “sweet“-ly named eateries each of which makes for a visit-worthy stop and both of which make for a perfect combo of healthy and rewarding. Continue reading

A Theobromine Holiday- Max Brenner brings “health” food to a new level (Originally published 12/11)

For many years now, scientists and nutritionists have been touting the benefits of chocolate. From antioxidants to aphrodisiacs, the sweet treat has an abundance of chemicals that are good for you body and soul.

If a little is good, a lot must be better, right? So where better to go to get healthy than Boston’s newest chocoholic haven- Max Brenner (www.maxbrenner.com)?

Continue reading

You Belong Here – Brahmin makes you feel right at home with old-school comfort and new-school flair (Originally published 10/11)

And this is good old Boston,

The home of the bean and the cod,

Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots,

And the Cabots talk only to God.

So goes the old rhyme of the Boston Brahmins, a select group of well-to-do aristocrats who ruled the city and (in their own minds at least) the world.

While the once awe-inspiring names Lowell and Cabot may now be relegated to industrial mill towns, amazing third basemen, creameries and ice cream shops, the style in which they once lived lives on in another new positive addition to Stanhope Street that is called, appropriately enough, Brahmin.

Continue reading