Five Things: Latkes at Beacon Hill Bistro

1. Hanukkah dinner on Beacon Hill: Stop into the Beacon Hill Hotel now through Sunday to try their Hanukkah dinner special ($11) featuring potato latkes with a garnish of salt cod crème fraîche and thinly sliced heirloom apples along with succulent brined juniper berries. Mazel Tov!

2. Student concert at Copley Place: Boston Public Schools Arts Expansion Initiative in concert with Copley Place present a student performance series starting today from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and again on Dec. 18  and 20. Students in grades 3 –12 from participating Boston Public Schools will present music and dance performances during the month of December at Copley Place to help promote the i Create campaign. Today's performance is from the Roland Hayes School of Music Wind Ensemble.

3. Green Line construction starts: Governor Deval Patrick on Tuesday broke ground in the first phase of the long-planned construction to extend the MBTA’s Green Line into Medford and Somerville. By 2017, there should be a direct line from Beacon Hill and Back Bay to Union Square in Somerville. 

4. Productive roadway construction season: Mayor Menino announced this week that the city paved nearly 40 miles of roadway during the 2012 construction season, exceeding last year’s total by more than 50 percent. Nearly 700,000 square feet of sidewalk were replaced citywide and more than 1,300 pedestrian ramps were reconstructed, a 42 percent increase from the previous year. City workers also replaced more than 20,000 bricks in sidewalks.

5. Sunny but cold: Weather.com is predicting highs in the low 40s that will feel like the upper 30s under bright, sunny skies. No precipitation is expected.