Judith Nadell
Combining techniques of palmistry and astrology with her natural psychic ability, Nadell can read clients like a book. She doesn't do Doomsday (don't ride that place to Chicago); look to her for insights that are generally positive and right on the mark.
Governor Weld
Some family. Even his daughter Ethel disinvited him to her high school graduation. How like a serpent's tooth.
Person + Killian
Forced poses, gowns on hangers, group jumping — after a while, all wedding photos start to look the same. Not so when Jill Person and Lauren Killian are behind the lens. With a focus on atypical angles that capture the energy of the event, their images come out consistently vibrant, crisp, and beautiful — meaning the pair is in high demand for weddings and other high-profile shindigs around town. Book well in advance. 251 Newbury St., Boston, MA .
Community Ice Skating @Kendall
Photograph courtesy of Community Ice Skating @Kendall For those who find the idea of muscling their way into a frozen mosh pit deeply unappealing, think of Kendall Square's rink as an antidote to the madness of the Frog Pond: a place where you can find low-key winter thrills, with plenty of Zamboni action to ensure smooth glide time. Warm up with an après-skate cuppa at Voltage, or a more-adult beverage at Firebrand Saints. 300 Athenaeum St., Cambridge, MA 02142, skatekendall.com.
Honk! Festival of Activist Street Bands
This annual free music and dance party sprawls along Somerville's sidewalks and plazas, as dozens of brass and drum bands from across the U.S., Canada, France, Italy, Brazil, and Russia converge on Davis Square. The music pounds in your chest. The activism moves your soul. And to support the restaurants and shops in the square, Honk! forbids outside vendors. No wonder it's the rare local cultural invention so successful, it's been copied in New York, Seattle, and—for the first time this past January—Australia. honkfest.org.
The Haberdash Vintage
When Amy Chase's online selection of '60s-era boots, sequin tops, fur-trimmed coats, and accessories grew too big for Etsy, Chase found herself trolling for vintage trailers. Now she stations her Bellwood camper at outdoor markets, festivals, and parking lots, and books private shopping parties with her movable boutique, the Haberdash Vintage. 138 Green St., Worcester, MA 1604, haberdashvintage.com.
Monroe Home & Style
Housed in an old antique shop that’s been stylishly revived on Main Street in Charlestown, this charming boutique stocks glassware, design books, rugs, candles, tabletop items, and so much more. Products are always chic and often artisanal, all carefully curated by owner Donna Garlough, a former style director for Joss & Main who designed the shop to evoke the interior of a house so customers can get a sense of how items will look in their own abodes. 207 Main St., Charlestown, MA 02129, monroeboston.com.
Salon Volition
Looking for Newbury Street finesse without the annoying commute? Make an appointment at this salon, where master stylist Alyssa Jackson (pictured) has assembled an all-star crew of cutting and coloring pros. And with M. Lekkakos Skincare in the same building, you can also book high-quality facials, brow care, waxing, and microdermabrasion on the same day, making this a one-stop shop for virtually every beauty need. 154 Main St., Wenham, MA 01834, salonvolition.com.
<em>Look to Your Elders,</em> by Victor "MARKA27" Quinonez
Mona Miri Street art in Boston got a thrilling new addition this past May with Quiñonez’s Look to Your Elders, a vibrant painting on the side of Grove Hall pot shop Pure Oasis depicting a woman and young man surrounded by Caribbean plants and Indigenous patterns. A heartfelt nod to Boston’s generations of Caribbean and Afro-Latino residents, the piece is more than just a mural: It’s a stop-you-in-your-tracks work of art that has turned the spot into a must-visit. 430 Blue Hill Ave., Dorchester, MA 02121, marka27.com.
Green Line Extension
Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald via Getty Images Given the T’s well-documented struggles, it’s nice to see the beleaguered agency get a win for once, even if it is after a decadeslong financial and logistical boondoggle. When the Green Line finally arrived in Union Square, Somerville celebrated with a brass band and, naturally, a Union Square Donuts giveaway — a welcome change of pace in an area that loves to hate on its commute.
The Enormous Room
The bouncer's low-key; the door, unmarked. In fact, nearly everything about Central Square's paradoxically named Enormous Room—including the plush furnishings and easy-on-the-ears music (old-school funk, Euro electro)—is deeply chill: The cover rarely tops $5, the staff is the easygoing kind, and the lighting is dialed down to ultraflattering, which keeps the crowd of baristas, bankers, artists, and random other classes feeling confident and relaxed. 567 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 2139, enormous.tv.
Casa Portugal
Fret not that something could be lost in translation when ordering at Inman Square's homey Casa Portugal: With this menu, you simply can't make a wrong turn. The dishes are rustic enough to evoke a honeymoon in Madeira, and include fried steak with sausage and onions, sizzling blackened chouriço, and the natas do ceu, a creamy traditional pudding topped with cookie crumbs. 1200 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA restaurantcasaportugal.com.
Stephanie Cmar, “My Shitty Little Kitchen”
She just missed the top slot on the recently wrapped season of Top Chef All Stars, but finalist Stephanie Cmar, an alum of Barbara Lynch’s fine-dining jewel No. 9 Park, is still winning over fans on the (even smaller) small screen. Launched during the citywide shutdown, her hilariously titled how-to Instagram series serves big helpings of deadpan, self-deprecating humor. America’s Test Kitchen it’s not—but it’s even more fun to watch Cmar whip up gnocchi or bagels in her cramped South End pad. instagram.com/_myshittylittlekitchen.
Tamarind Bay
There's plenty of tasty Indian food around town—witness the lines of hungry grad students at Cambridge's Punjabi Dhaba, for one. But Harvard Square's Tamarind Bay Bistro (along with its newer sibling, the seafood-oriented Coastal Indian Kitchen in Brookline) is in a class of its own because it treats Indian cuisine as, well, an actual cuisine. Here you'll find regional distinctions more precise than 'northern' and 'southern,' and taste the kinds of dishes, like butter chicken curry and the exceptional vegetable biryani, in which individual flavors sing out clearly, instead of fading into a haze of spice. 75 Winthrop St., Cambridge, MA 2138, tamarind-bay.com.
Regattabar
With all that energy and spontaneity rippling off the stage, hearing jazz live is always best. Less clear-cut is the choice between the atmospheric, loosey-goosey neighborhood haunt or the more polished concert venue, with the Hub having sterling examples of both. Inman Square's Ryles excels at being that corner joint, and its jazz brunch and weekly salsa lessons are bona fide fun. But show for show, set for set, it's the Charles Hotel's upscale yet intimate Regattabar—with its unparalleled roster of talent, from young bloods like Joshua Redman to legends like Coltrane pianist McCoy Tyner—that consistently hits the high note. 1 Bennett St., Cambridge, MA 2138, regattabarjazz.com.