"Center" NEWS
The West End Community Center
Happy New Year!
That is exactly what we are doing at the West End Community Center!! We are reviving our newsletter to be even better than it was! We are excited to share the information in our newsletter with all of our neighbors and friends. We hope that we can update you on things in our neighborhood, give you a glimpse inside some of our businesses and neighbors, as well as keep you up to date on our events at the West End Community Center.
We invite you to contribute to this newsletter!! Share your photos, announce your special events, and share your interests and talents! Write to we.centernews@ gmail.com for more info!
Look for some new weekly aromatherapy tips, West End Spotlights, recipes and things around town! and more ...
Natural Green Cleaning with Essential Oils
Winter is here but Spring cleaning will soon arrive.
Accumulated dirt, germs and odor from a harsh winter offers a new opportunity to create a clean and healthy living space.
Caustic and toxic ingredients are often used in most conventional cleaning products.
They can often be more harmful as the dirt and germs that they were formulated to eliminate.
The reality is that even some advertised natural cleansers often contain the very same or similar toxic ingredients.
You can insure that your living space is clean and healthy with safe, natural cleaning products using natural and inexpensive ingredients.
Start with some basic essential oils.
- Lemon (deodorizing),
- Peppermint (purifying),
- Eucalyptus (sanitizing)
- Tea tree (sanitizing), and,
- Lavender (anti-bacterial)
These basic essential oils are important ingredients in creating your own homemade cleaners kit.
Additional household ingredients for creating your very own homemade cleaning products include, Baking Soda, Borax, White Distilled Vinegar.
You may also use distilled water as household tap water often contains salts and minerals that can leave spotting.
You can start in creating your own natural cleaning household product.
Multi-Purpose Natural Household Spray Cleaner
You can choose lemon, tea tree, eucalyptus or lavender essential oils to create a multi-use cleaner that will purify your home with an inviting fresh and purifying scent.
SUGGESTED INGREDIENTS
2 cups of distilled water
1/2 teaspoon sodium borate (Borax)
1/4 teaspoon liquid soap
36 drops of essential oil (recommended: lemon, tea tree, eucalyptus or lavender)
EASY DIRECTIONS
Combine ingredients in a spray bottle. Shake before use.
BENEFITS
Sanitizing, Purifying & Most Important Safe to use
Look for future natural cleaning hints in our newsletter.
Things Around Town
West End Museum Exhibits & Events
The New West Enders & Other Green Monsters
January 6th - February 28th
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 15 at 5:30pm
Free
With images by photographer Lolita Parker, Jr., this exhibit document the rapid-fire changes in Boston's West End over the past 16 years. Set against the backdrop of Garden events, sports bars and endless construction, Parker's wide-angle perspective ranges from the personal to the political.
The Circus: A West End Tradition
December 2nd - January 31st
Free
100 years before the Ringling Brothers Circus opened at the Boston Garden (c1929), an equestrian circus with jugglers, acrobats and clowns performed at the Stewart's American Amphitheatre on the corner of Taverse and Portland Street in the West End.
FILM: Water for Elephants
January 22 at 6:30pm
Free
After his parent's death, Jacob Jankowski is left penniless and homeless. Events lead him to joining the circus as their vet, working uder their unstable boss August whose violent tendencies give everyone reason to be cautios around him, including his beautiful wife Marlena, who August is very possessive of and who Jacob find himself soon falling in love with.
Registration is required : http://thewestendmuseum.org/whats_on/event-registration/
Boston Scavenger Hunt!!
Any Day! starting at 9am - all day
$9- $20 or $39.20 for a 2-5 person team
Turn Boston into a giant game board with this fun scavenger hunt adventure. Combine the excitement of the Amazing Race with a three-hour city tour. Guided from any smart phone, teams make their way among well known and overlooked gems of the city, solving clues and completing challenges while learning local history.
Play anytime during daylight hours. Start when you want and play at your pace. Save 20%- Only $39.20 for a team of 2-5 people after Promotion Code: SPINGOBoston. Sign up online at www.UrbanAdventureQuest.com.
What a fun day to spend a day! or entertain friends and family from out of town!
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - Third Thursdays: Midwinter Tropics
Thursday, January 15, 5:30 PM
Tickets $5-$15 | Purchase online or at 617 278 5156
Featuring Latin All-Stars, Directed by Rebecca Cline
Join us this Third Thursday to be transported to warmer climes. Soak of the sounds of Latin All-Stars in Calderwood Hall, bring sculpture to life with a leafy activity in the Studio, or sip a sunny cocktail by the tropical Courtyard.
Cash wine bar around the Courtyard. Café G open for snacks, dinner, and drinks.
TICKETS
Tickets are required and include Museum admission: adults $15, seniors $12,members free, students $5.
MFA The Goya Exhibit is almost over! Ends January 19th
Coming to the MFA
Gordon Parks
Back to Fort Scott
January 17, 2015 – September 13, 2015
Gordon Parks, one of the most celebrated African American artists of his time, is the subject of this exhibition of groundbreaking photographs of Fort Scott, Kansas—focusing on the realities of life under segregation during the 1940s, but also relating to Parks’s own fascinating life story.
Center Recipe Corner
Apple DELIGHT
This is a simple recipe which may be used as an appetizer or dessert.
2- 8oz packages of Cream Cheese, softened enough to mold into a 4x10 inch rectangle or spread in a dish /small platter.
1 tub of Marzetti old fashion caramel dip, (in Produce Dept.). Use only enough to spread a thin layer on top—save the rest for future use.
Granola---- I use any type of cereal granola.
3 apples sliced into about 16 wedges each. I usually cut 1 red & 1 green apple and keep the 3rd one uncut until needed, or buy a precut package. The apples will be used for scooping!
Recipe may be halved when serving a small group. (6 – 8)
- Soften the Cream Cheese
- Spread or drizzle Caramel dip on top
- Sprinkle cereal on top of Caramel
- Press Apple Wedges decoratively into mixture on top. Place extra apples along the
sides.
-Use the apples to scoop up the cream cheese mixture.
courtesy of Theresa Raso
West End Community Center
Have an event to share? a favorite place in our West End Neighborhood?
Let us know!!
Send it in to centernews@westendcommunitycenter.com
Helpful Phone Numbers:
- Mass General Hospital 617.726.2000
- Mass Eye & Ear 617.523.7900
- Shriners Hospital 617.722.3000
- Apply for the Ride 800.523.6282
- Clubs at Charles River Park 617.726.2900
- Dining In 617.278.2121
- J. Pace & Sons 617.227.6141
- Park Cleaners 617.227.8447
- Boston City Hall 617.635.4000
- Mayor's Hot Line 617.635.4500
- Whole Foods 617.723.0004
- CVS 617.367.9454