credit: Tory Glerum
caption: Bigelow conducts her Friday evening show in the intimate Viking Kitchen studio.





On Friday evenings, ovens blaze and cameras roll at the Rustic Kitchen Bistro & Bar on Stuart Street. There, Back Bay’s own chef and professional entertainer Alissa Bigelow presents “In The Kitchen:” a cooking demonstration and dining experience for those who want to eat, learn and talk about great food.

Beginning at 6:30 p.m., up to 20 ticket holders gather inside Rustic Kitchen’s Viking Kitchen studio, a broadcast-ready facility with state-of-the-art cooking appliances, and watch Bigelow, with the help of her assistant Pepe Flores, prepare an entrée from the restaurant’s Italian Mediterranean menu. A blinking on-air sign warns viewers when the cameras are rolling, and video breaks provide them with factoids about some of the background preparation. They also learn how to concoct one of the restaurant’s signature cocktails.

The show lasts about an hour, and the restaurant’s chefs and servers keep taste buds satisfied throughout with appetizers, wines, a mid-show entrée sampling and, finally, plates of the featured item.

Bigelow, who lives on Beacon Street with her husband and 18-month-old daughter, said she has always loved cooking but never went to culinary school. She worked in Los Angeles as an actress before moving to Boston to attend graduate school for broadcast journalism and met Rustic Kitchen’s publicist Kathryn Shehade after finishing a job at the New England Sports Network. “In the Kitchen” developed this past October out of Rustic Kitchen owner Jim Cafarelli’s vision for a kitchen TV studio and Bigelow’s skills as an entertainer and production editor, as well as her desire to, as she put it, bring back real food.

Since the show’s inception, Bigelow has been collaborating with executive chef Tom Holloway to modify seasonal entrées, including lamb, seafood risotto and this month’s grilled lobster, into dishes she can present and encourage people to try at home.

“I want to make food accessible to the home chef,” she said.

“In the Kitchen” has been well received by and has been considered by several networks, according to Cafarelli. The show has featured guest chefs from the Boston Celtics and was recently approached by several Red Sox players who hope to move from the diamond to the kitchen after the trade deadline.

Friday night shows are already booking until August, Cafarelli said, so they will be adding three or four more shows per week for private groups of 12 to 20 people, proving a perfect opportunity for corporate events or bridal showers.

You don’t have to be a cooking guru to enjoy this, according to Cafarelli. “The show makes for a great Friday night out and is a way to dine without any hard work. It’s the most fun I have all week.”

It’s late on a sultry July Friday afternoon. The thermometer has topped 90 degrees, and hundreds of workers across the city are squirming in their cubes, staring impatiently at their watches, itching for their weekends to begin.

But for the smart ones who ducked out early to sip cool drinks 11 stories above the city at the Colonnade’s Roof Top Pool, the weekend is already here. Four o’clock is the official start of cocktail hour at the hot spot known as RTP to the cool kids. RTP’s khaki-short wearing staff line up at attention as the Martini Flag is raised, just like it is every day at this time. With a trademark Colonnade Cooler in hand, a cool breeze blowing, a spectacular view of Boston in front of you and the cool, blue water lapping beside you, there is no better place to beat the heat.

“It’s the only rooftop pool in the city, an urban oasis,” says RTP spokesperson Alanna Flood. “We have lots of people from the city who come here looking to get away during the week, people playing hooky.”

The pool is open daily during the summer from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. On the weekends, only hotel guests and residents of The Colonnade Residence may use the pool, but during the week, $30 will get you a full day of sunning and relaxing.
Flood says it is not unusual to see one of Boston’s A-listers grab a lounge chair or pull up to the poolside bar, where selections from the hotel’s Brasserie JO restaurant are served all day, along with fruity, refreshing drinks. RTP also has been host to intimate performances from artists such as Jewel and Sister Hazel.

The pool opened along with the hotel in 1971, and over the years it has been on “best of” lists at MSNBC.com, USAToday, and more. Just last month, RTP was voted America’s Best Poolside Bar by Playboy.com.

Although children are permitted at the pool for the same $30 fee as adults, there’s another spot in the Back Bay where the tot set goes to see and be seen in the summertime. Boston Common’s Frog Pond dates back to the 1600s, and a spray fountain has been cooling off Bostonians there since 1848. Much more recently – in 2003 -- the water-themed TADpole Playground was built directly across from the Frog Pond, offering families even more opportunities to cool down in the summer months.

Boston Parks and Recreation spokesperson Mary Hines says families from the Back Bay, Beacon Hill and beyond come to cool down on the Common each summer. It’s a safe environment for kids of all ages to splash around and have fun. The TADpole Playground especially captivates the kiddies, with six water features to entertain them: four on the wall and two on the bronze frog statues.

“The TADpole Playground was designed for kids of all ages,” Hines says, adding that it’s not unusual to see the adults getting in on the fun. “If a caregiver or a parent is in there, though, they’re going to get wet.”

The TADpole Playground is open now through September 15, and the Frog Pond is open through Labor Day. Free events are held all summer long, including reading events with ReadBoston at the TADPole Playground Thursdays at 11 a.m., and arts and crafts at the Frog Pond Saturdays at 11 a.m.

Hines says enjoying the summer on Boston Common is a tradition well worth adding to your family’s memories.
“Just remember you’re there for the fun – and have it,” she says. “It’s a great way for families to have fun together.”

Come Monday, muggles everywhere will be mourning the end of the Harry Potter series, as the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is released Saturday, July 21, at one minute after midnight. But Potter fans will no doubt be sending the series out with a magical bang, and there are plenty of opportunities around the Back Bay to celebrate the teen wizard and his friends this weekend.

It should come as no surprise that bookstores across the country are hosting events to commemorate this publishing milestone, and both the Borders Store on Boylston Street and the Barnes & Noble in the Prudential are hosting big Harry Potter parties.

The still relatively new Borders hosts its “Grand Hallows Ball” on Friday, beginning at 9:30 p.m. and lasting until they have sold their last book in the wee hours of Saturday. The staff will dress in costume for the festivities, and Potter fans are encouraged to do the same.

“It should be a lot of fun,” says General Manager Dave Harpur. “Borders always celebrates Harry Potter releases, and this will be our first time in this location.”

Harpur and his staff of “Harry Potter experts” have been taking orders for the book for months, and they plan to be doing brisk sales all weekend long. Harpur says Harry Potter is a phenomenon that crosses all boundaries, and he expects fans of all ages and backgrounds to come in and buy Deathly Hallows this weekend.

Over at Barnes & Noble, a Midnight Magic Party will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, again lasting until the last customer has purchased his or her book after midnight. Wristbands will be given out at the door to limit those attending the bash because of space constraints, so an early arrival is recommended.

Highlights of the evening will include a “science of magic” presentation by representatives of the Museum of Science at 8 p.m., face painting, a scavenger hunt, and arts and crafts.

Community Relations Manager Gina Cerrito says that because of its location, the Barnes & Nobles store at the Pru has a little bit of an older customer base, and as such, they host a “more mature Harry Potter party.”

But Cerrito, a huge fan herself, acknowledges as well that Harry has reached a real cross-section of readers.
“It’s an amazing series, and it’s gotten so many kids to read,” she says. “To think that this book will be in the hands of millions of little fans come midnight is really exciting.”

Some fans of the series will be turning out on Saturday for an all-day event at the Copley branch of the Boston Public Library. The festivities begin at 9 a.m., when BPL President Bernie Margolis checks out the first copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to a lucky contest winner. For the rest of the day, there will be music from Harry Potter musical act Seamus and Dean, a Wandering Wizard performing magic, readings of the book by Braille readers, cupcakes and punch, a face painter and teen art and Sorting Hat contests.

Perhaps all of these activities will help ease the pain that die-hard fans may be feeling with the end of an era. Coupled with the promises from author J.K. Rowling that two major characters will die – and fan speculation that it could be Harry! – Monday could be a sad day indeed.

Or, as Cerrito from Barnes & Noble says, “As a fan, I don’t think it’s sad. I think it’s a good time for the series to come to a close. Hopefully, it will have a happy ending.”

Who will create the visions?

Several years ago, Harvard Law School Professor Charlie Nesson moderated a panel of Boston leaders of Boston at the JFK Library. The audience contained other leaders, as well as a host of opinion makers and opinion-maker wanna-bes.

Beside the revelation that James Kerasiotis, then-secretary of transportation, did not know how much a subway token cost, the other important information elicited from that gathering was that no one could articulate a vision for Boston when Nesson pressed them.

But we need visions.

Visions would help when we consider such tough problems as how Storrow Drive should be fixed or how much of a public subsidy a project such as Columbus Center deserves. The visions have to be more specific than saying we want to have the best school system in America, or we want to improve the MBTA.

For example, the Storrow Drive community advisory process might have had a different outcome if the mayor or the governor had said at the beginning that every transportation project that takes place in the city must have as its primary goal reducing the number of cars entering Boston and making it possible for people to use other kinds of transportation.

Fewer cars would mean less pollution, less congestion, less frustration and a better experience for those who actually have to be in their cars.

Since that wasn’t the directive, there was an implied message that we must accommodate the cars at all costs. Is this really what is best for our city?

The MBTA, strapped for cash, and the Mass Pike, overwhelmed by the Big Dig, wouldn’t even participate in the process. With a vision, we might have thought of trading the money saved by building an at-grade road for free Storrow Drive shuttles — or some better idea than just continuing a mistake of the past.

Another recent cause célèbre has been Columbus Center. It is clear that Mayor Menino wants this project to happen, as does Governor Patrick. Most people we have interviewed say that covering the turnpike with a building and walkways that connect the South End, Bay Village and the Back Bay is worth something. We covered one roadway, the Central Artery, with public money and so far have little to show for it up above. If the mayor or the governor articulated a vision for the Mass Pike air rights — something like: we want the private sector to cover this gap in our city and we’re going to help out with government money in these ways — what is perceived now to be excessive begging by the developer and ad hoc arrangements with public money could have been a part of the understanding — or not — all along.

We give Mitt Romney, of all people, credit for allowing Doug Foy, who was for a time the secretary of the Office of Commonwealth Development, to articulate two of Foy’s ideas that still have legs. One was “fix it first,” a goal applied to roads and bridges. (Never mind that little has been fixed, but it was a good idea.)

The other was to encourage new development at transportation nodes such as subway and commuter rail stations. This vision has encouraged towns to change zoning regulations and take a new look at where building should take place. Over time, we should reap some economic benefits from this policy, as we also reduce traffic in those areas.

Both the mayor and the governor have recently been quite specific about saving energy in government buildings. Those were visions. The transportation secretary recently published an op-ed piece in one of the daily newspapers laying out what appear to be sound principles for moving forward. But there was still no vision of what we should be aiming for by 2014, such as connecting every Massachusetts town by rail, or making rail transportation available 24 hours a day.

Some visions are already in the works, pushed by urban planning nerds onto reluctant state agencies — the most important one is connecting points on the transportation spokes coming into Boston’s hub in the Urban Ring.

Specific visions make it easier for those planning projects to tailor them to achieve what’s best for the city.