Legal Sea Foods Chef Jeffrey Tenner prepares Shrimp Ceviche with avocado and jalapeno for lucky Boston Globe Travel Show attendees, who got to sample his delicious culinary creations. (Photo by Hilda M. Morrill)

Delicious food, yummy cocktails, wonderful costumes, great entertainment, lots of giveaways, chances to win exotic getaways, tons of information - plus gracious and hospitable hosts - all made for a really fun and very social time at last weekend's Boston Globe Travel Show at the Seaport World Trade Center, Boston.

With the economy the way it is, for many attendees the Travel Show was an inexpensive and enjoyable mini vacation. For others, it was the perfect venue for booking a holiday get-away.

Among the glorious places we got to visit (via videos, brochures, and knowledgeable representatives) were: Aruba; Puerto Rico (where we enjoyed rum cocktails); Newport, Rhode Island; the glorious Emerald Isle that is Ireland; Florida; Quebec; and Montreal - just to name a very few.

We're already looking forward to next year's adventure!

Mass Horticultural Society Will Sponsor "BLOOMS!"

Although the traditional New England Spring Flower Show as we have known it will not take place this year, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society will sponsor "BLOOMS!" in its place.

From Friday, March 13 through Sunday March 15 flower designers and plant societies will present a free "spectacle of springtime collections" in the lobbies of Mass Hort's Greenway Garden's three abutting neighbors: One International Place, 125 High Street, and the InterContinental Hotel.

Plans also include a lecture series highlighted by Roger Swain, former host of "The Victory Garden"; children's gardening exhibits; the beloved window boxes; a Master Gardener information booth; orchid and bonsai exhibits; as well as a "BLOOMS!" benefit cocktail party on Saturday evening, March 14.

In addition, the malls at Chestnut Hill, Copley Place, and The Atrium will provide satellite venues, from March 12 through March 22, when the public can experience a variety of landscape and garden exhibits in the common areas, extending "BLOOMS!" to a total of eleven days.

The benefit cocktail party, featuring the music of the Bo Winiker Orchestra, takes place at the InterContinental Hotel. For party-ticket information, call 617-933-4995.

For complete details about "BLOOMS!," visit www.masshort.org.

Joe and Rose Corcoran to be Honored at Benefit Gala

The New England Province of Jesuits will present the Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam Award to Milton residents Joe and Rose Corcoran at the "Annual Jesuit Gala" on Thursday, March 19 at the Marriott Copley Place. The award honors those who selflessly give of themselves "for the greater glory of God."

Joe and Rose, together with their seven children, are truly "men and women for others," notes Alice Poltorick, director of communications for the Province.

Joe Corcoran grew up in a large Irish Catholic family and describes his Dorchester roots in his own words, "as good as it gets." He was bolstered by eight years of a Jesuit education at Boston College High School and Boston College.

In 1971, Joe founded the Corcoran Jennison Companies, and he pioneered the concept of mixed-income housing. He explains, "I never forgot the mix in my own neighborhood as a boy . . . an economic and social and cultural mix I still think was ideal. And I guess to some degree I am the product of my parents' and the Jesuits' values."

Joe and Rose have never forgotten those values, and it is evident in their charity. After working part-time at Saint Margaret's Hospital as a boy, Corcoran is now listed among the friends of Saint Mary's Women and Children's Center. Scholarships at Boston College High School and Boston College bear the family name, as well as a scholarship at Emmanuel College in honor of Sister Catherine Theresa Corcoran.

Joe has served on the boards of Boston College High School, Boston College, the American Ireland Fund, the YMCA of Greater Boston, and has was the first president of the Carney Hospital Foundation. In addition, he began the American City Coalition, a nonprofit organization that plans and implements the revitalization of urban neighborhoods.

The "Annual Jesuit Gala" is the primary fundraising initiative of the New England Province that enables Jesuits to work in the numerous ministries that are not able to support themselves financially, and provides for the needs of the Jesuits in formation and the elder Jesuits in assisted living.

Past award honorees include Tom and Lois White, Jack and Mary Shaughnessy, John and Margaret McNeice, Peter and Caroline Lynch, Father William Neenan, SJ, Archbishop Lawrence Burke, SJ, Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ, and Brother James McDavitt, SJ.

For event tickets and sponsorship information, call 617-607-2892 or visit www.sjnen.org.

Enjoy!

In addition to events covered and reported by the columnist, "The Scene..." 
is compiled from various other sources such as news releases, PRNewswire services, etc.

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