Month: September 2021

In the kitchen with Kristen Mader

Inspired by made-to-order tableside guacamole at his favorite Mexican restaurants, Gabriel “Gabe” Alpuerto of LKristen Mader of Pelham is the owner of Cakes 5th Avenue (cakes5thavenue.com, find them on Facebook), a homestead business she founded in 2008 that offers custom cake orders for several occasions from weddings to birthday parties. Originally from Georgia, Mader got her start in the industry working as a cake decorator for the former Breadbox bakery in Windham. Custom wedding cakes are at the forefront of her business, with all kinds of traditional and specialty flavors and filling options to choose from. Cakes 5th Avenue is also a featured vendor at the Pelham Farmers Market (Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. outside the First Congregational Church of Pelham at 3 Main St.), where you’ll find Mader on select dates selling home-baked cookies, cupcakes, lemon squares and fruit-filled hand pies.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

A rubber spatula, because with the amount of cake batter I make, I am constantly scraping bowls all day long.

What would you have for your last meal?

I would like a perfectly cooked medium filet mignon, with a little bit of seasoned butter and some mashed potatoes with garlic and mascarpone. It’s one of my favorite meals.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

I have two. In Salem, there’s a place called Fuego Latin Fusion [Bar & Restaurant] that is great. They started doing family meals for curbside pickup last year during Covid that we took advantage of. … A longtime favorite of ours also is Scola’s [Restaurant] in Dracut, [Mass.].

What celebrity would you like to see trying one of your cakes?

Betty White. I would love to sit down and have cake and a vodka cocktail with her.

What is your personal favorite cake design that you’ve ever done?

My favorite was a four-tier cake I created back in 2013 for a cake competition down in Hartford, Connecticut. The reason that one sticks out is because I used different techniques that were unfamiliar to me and was just feeling very adventurous. … I won second place in the competition, so that one probably means the most to me.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

If I had to pick one, I’d say farm-to-table [and] supporting local growers and ingredients.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I would have to say homemade pizza. … We start with a garlic crust and we like to do a white pizza with a mix of mozzarella and ricotta, some seasoned shredded chicken and freshly sauteed spinach. That’s probably the most frequent one that we make and we never have leftovers.

Kladdkaka (Swedish sticky chocolate cake)
From the kitchen of Kristen Mader of Cakes 5th Avenue in Pelham

10 tablespoons salted butter
1⅓ cups sugar
2 eggs
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray an eight-inch round or square cake pan with baking spray, or grease the pan with butter and dust with flour. Line the bottom of the pan with a round or square-shaped piece of parchment paper cut to the size of your pan bottom. Place butter in a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl and cover with a paper towel. Cook in the microwave on high power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until butter is melted. Add sugar to the bowl with melted butter and whisk to combine. Add eggs one at a time and stir well after each addition. Add the cocoa, flour, vanilla and salt. Stir just until all dry ingredients are incorporated. Transfer batter to the prepared pan and spread out to an even layer. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, being careful not to overbake — the cake should be slightly firm on the outside with a delicate crisp top, but soft and sticky on the inside. Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes. To remove, run a thin-bladed knife around the outer edges of the cake. Invert the pan onto a similar sized cutting board or dinner plate and, holding them together, give it a good shake downward. If the cake does not release, go around the edges again with a knife and repeat with inverting cake. Once the cake is released, remove the parchment paper and invert again onto your serving plate using the same method. Dust with confectioner’s sugar or cocoa powder, or serve each slice with a dollop of fresh whipped cream or ice cream.

Featured photo: Kristen Mader. Courtesy photo.

Eclectic and elevated

SOHO Bistro & Lounge opens in Manchester

Chef Steve Shoemaker had already worked for some of the biggest names in South Florida’s dining scene upon arriving in New Hampshire to open Mint Bistro in the summer of 2011. Now, after other culinary stints at the 1750 Taphouse in Bedford and the Colby Hill Inn in Henniker, Shoemaker has returned to the Queen City to introduce an all new restaurant concept.

SOHO Bistro & Lounge features an eclectic menu of scratch-made items, with special attention to detail right down to every individual ingredient and an intimate dining experience to match. The eatery opened Aug. 20 in the former Whiskey’s 20 space on Old Granite Street, its name an homage to the elegance of the famous neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City.

“We’ve implemented a menu where there’s something for everyone, [with] killer handcrafted food and an amazing cocktail list,” said Shoemaker, who is also a partner in the restaurant. “I was really happy to get back into the Manchester landscape because the age demographic is perfect for the hospitality industry here. … You have a great clientele of people from their late 20s to their 40s who love going out to eat and just enjoy themselves.”

Each of SOHO’s menu items is a new or elevated version of a dish unique to the space. The hard shell lobster rangoons, for instance, have been among the top-selling appetizers out of the gate, in addition to truffle fries with homemade oil from real truffles.

Entrees run the gamut, from elevated classics like steak frites with prime hanger steak, to options like a bourbon-brined half chicken, an heirloom vegetable risotto with roasted garlic pesto and a vegan pad Thai with rice noodles, crispy tofu and a coconut peanut glaze. There are also burgers and sandwiches with creative ingredients in their own right, like a crispy pork belly-wrapped tenderloin on focaccia, with lemon-dressed arugula and Grana Padano cheese.

“We have short ribs going throughout the night, and that produces our short rib entree and also the beef for our nachos,” Shoemaker said. “We also offer pork for the nachos, which is a classic old Mexican dish called cochinita pibil. It’s little known in the United States … We take seasoned pork shoulder and we wrap it in banana leaves and cook it throughout the night.”

Dessert options feature the opportunity to try something simple, like sorbet or creme brulee, or a bit more fancy, like the banana cheesecake spring rolls.

“We take fresh bananas and make sheet pans of cheesecake, then cut it up, wrap it in spring roll paper and deep fry it,” Shoemaker said. “We serve it with homemade caramel sauce and an eclair ice cream. … That’s probably our top dessert seller.”

The kitchen closes at 10 p.m. each evening, but Shoemaker said a late night menu of smaller, shareable options is in the works, featuring a combination of regular selections and other items. The cocktail menu is regionally sourced, too — one drink, known as the Bee’s Knees, features gin from Barr Hill of Montpelier, Vermont, which produces it from fermented honey.

Brunch offerings will likely be added to SOHO’s menu. Shoemaker said he also hopes to soon hold specialty wine events, or a Japanese-themed night with sushi options and saké pairings.

SOHO Bistro & Lounge

Where: 20 Old Granite St., Manchester
Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday, 4 to 10 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.
More info: Visit sohonh.com, find them on Facebook and Instagram @sohobistrolounge or call 232-4085

Featured photo: Courtesy of SOHO Bistro & Lounge.

Bacon up a storm

BaNH Bacon & Beer Festival returns

As the event’s name suggests, crispy, savory bacon and chilled brews are the stars of the NH Bacon & Beer Festival, returning to Anheuser-Busch in Merrimack on Saturday, Sept. 11, with live music, beer samples and bacon-infused eats from more than a dozen local restaurants, food trucks and other vendors showing off their culinary talents.

This is the first Bacon & Beer festival to take place since the spring of 2019, according to event organizer Jeremy Garrett. After multiple consecutive sellouts, Garrett said, the decision was made to increase the number of available tickets and the overall event time (by one hour).

About a week before the festival, more than 500 pounds of bacon provided by North Country Smokehouse are distributed among the food vendors, each of whom has the creative freedom to incorporate how they would like into their dishes. You’ll find everything from traditional candied bacon to deep fried bacon, french fries topped with bacon bits, and bacon grilled cheeses. Other options will include a bacon arancini from The Traveling Foodie Food Cart, and the bacon hot dogs from Dandido Sauce.

“You can sample while the supplies last. … We will have a couple of vendors who will be doing full-sized servings, which is brand new to the event,” Garrett said. “We just kind of figured [that] if you really liked that bacon sample you got, then maybe you’d want a full serving of it.”

Due in part to ongoing staffing challenges among restaurants, this year’s festival has one of the more diverse vendor lineups, which bring in food trucks and even some non-food companies.

“We have a company called Welbilt, and they actually produce equipment for the restaurant industry, so things like large commercial ovens and stoves,” Garrett said. “They are going to come out and use their equipment, and do at least one or two different types of samples.”

More than two dozen breweries will also be there, most hailing from New Hampshire or neighboring New England states. Attendees will be given a “brewery passport,” which they can use to sample three-and-a-half-ounce pours of up to 20 of the more than 100 beers and ciders. Garrett said samples will be served in disposable cups rather than take-home glasses.

Live music will be featured throughout the afternoon, including performances from Grayson Ty and Laura Buchanan, as well as American Idol finalist and Mont Vernon native Alex Preston.

While there won’t be outdoor seating, attendees can bring their own lawn chairs. The festival is a primary fundraiser for the High Hopes Foundation of New Hampshire, a Nashua-based nonprofit that provides life-enhancing experiences to chronically ill children.

5th annual NH Bacon & Beer Festival

When: Saturday, Sept. 11, 1 to 4:30 p.m.
Where: Anheuser-Busch Tour Center and Biergarten, 221 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack
Cost: General admission is $60 per person (includes access to 20 beer tastings and food samples while they last); designated driver admission is $35 per person (food samples only)
Visit: nhbaconbeer.com
Event is rain or shine and is 21+ only. No children or pets are allowed. Masks or face-coverings are required for non-vaccinated attendees.

Featured photo: Photo courtesy of LuvLens, luvlens.com.

The Weekly Dish 21/09/02

News from the local food scene

• PoutineFest is back: Save the date for the NH PoutineFest, returning for the first time since 2019 to Anheuser-Busch Tour Center & Biergarten (221 Daniel Webster Hwy., Nashua) on Saturday, Oct. 23. Tickets go on sale soon after Labor Day. The festival, hosted by the Franco-American Centre, features unique takes on the classic French-Canadian dish from restaurants, food trucks and other local and regional vendors. Visit nhpoutinefest.com for updates.

• Through the grapevine: LaBelle Winery recently started planting a new vineyard at its Derry location. According to a press release, about 1,600 vines have been planted on three acres, adjacent to the future location of LaBelle’s sparkling wine production facility and tasting room. Grape varieties include petit pearl, Cayuga and Itasca, all of which are cold hardy and able to withstand temperatures as low as 25 degrees below zero. About 40 people, including winery co-owners Amy LaBelle and her husband, Cesar Arboleda, and multiple friends, family members, winery employees and vineyard club members planted the first vines in a single day in late June. Planting will conclude in 2022, with the first grape harvest planned for 2024 to make estate sparkling wine, including a sparkling rosé.

• Greek eats to go: The next boxed Greek dinner to go, a drive-thru takeout event at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church (68 N. State St., Concord), is happening on Sunday, Sept. 12, from noon to 1 p.m. Now through Sept. 8, orders are being accepted for boxed meals, featuring pastitsio (Greek lasagna with ground meat and bechamel sauce), a side of Greek salad and a roll for $15 per person. The event is drive-thru and takeout only — email [email protected] or call 953-3051 to place your order. The church is planning a similar event for Sunday, Oct. 10, which will feature a meal of half lemon roasted chicken. Visit holytrinitynh.org.

• Food trucks roll in: The Factory on Willow (252 Willow St., Manchester), a newly unveiled apartment complex renovated from an old shoe factory in the Queen City, has announced plans for a food truck park and residency, according to a press release. The pilot program began on Sept. 1 with up to four rotating food trucks, with opportunities to add more in the future. According to the release, the food truck park will operate as a year-round facility and include more than 40 permanent outdoor picnic-style seating areas, as well as a heated indoor space with beer garden-style tables and access to a full bar. Various programming is also planned for the space, from private events to live music, outdoor party games and scary movie nights. Visit factoryonwillow.com.

On The Job – Angelina McGlashan

Angelina McGlashan

Photo manager

Angelina McGlashan is a certified photo manager and the owner and founder of Preserving Memories, based in Windham.

Explain your job.

I basically help people manage their photos and videos. … People find themselves drowning in photos. I frequently get a call when their phone storage is full. … My [job]is to gather [ the media], get rid of duplicates, rename them in chronological order, [put them] into yearly folders, then create a backup system and teach [clients] how to maintain it. … Some clients have me maintain it for them. For physical photos … I scan them and create digital files. … If photos are damaged or faded, I can restore them. … I also convert every form of video tape including old film reels so they can be viewed again and shared.

How long have you had this job?

Since 2017.

What led you to this career field?

I’ve always loved photography. … I was a nurse for about 15 years. Then … I worked for my husband … from home. He sold his company in 2017, and I was searching for something new I could do from home. Someone posted on our community Facebook page that she … [needed] help organizing her digital photos. … I thought, ‘I can do that.’ I contacted her, did the job, and she asked if I could convert all her old video tapes. I [researched] how to do that and found the Association of Professional Photo Organizers. I … told my husband, ‘I think I found my new career.’

What kind of education or training did you need?

This job … entails having advanced knowledge of Windows and Mac PCs, understanding clouds and backing up versus syncing, and learning many different programs to organize photos, restore photos and convert different kinds of media. I have taken advanced courses in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. I continue to take workshops through APPO because new technology is always emerging.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?

At first I was really nervous that my business would just slow to a stop, but the opposite happened. People were home and had a lot of free time on their hands and pulled out all those boxes of old photos and videos and wanted them organized or converted. To be safe, I arranged no-contact drop-off for items and Zoom calls for organizing services, and I still offer those services today.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Most days, when I’m not seeing clients, I’m in yoga pants. When I’m sorting physical photos or taking apart old albums, I am literally sitting on the floor sorting all around me.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

I wish I had found this career sooner.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

Some people don’t know how technical my work is and all the different programs I use to organize photos, and that most jobs take a lot of time. They think I have a magic wand and one button that does it all. In reality, [the programs] are just tools, and I still have to go through hundreds of thousands of photos myself. There is a huge human element to my job.

What was the first job you ever had?

I was 14 and worked at Donut Maker.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

Working from home can make it very difficult to separate work time from personal time. Another organizer said to set a strict schedule and work hours and stick to them.

Five favorites

Favorite book: A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux
Favorite movie: The Green Mile
Favorite music: Anything from ’80s hairband music
Favorite food: Anything Mediterranean
Favorite thing about NH: Being close to the lakes, the mountains and the ocean. We always have fresh seafood and lobster.

Featured photo: Angelina McGlashan. Courtesy photo.

Kiddie Pool 21/09/02

Family fun for the weekend

Family fun ideas

Looking for some entertainment ideas for the whole gang this weekend? Check out some of our recent stories (see e-editions of issues at hippopress.com.). In our July 8 issue we looked at mini golf, with a rundown of some of the area courses. A note for people with littler kids: Mel’s Funway Park in Litchfield (melsfunwaypark.com.) has added a Mini Mel’s Kiddie Land set of attractions geared toward kids ages 2 to 9. For the more adventurous, we looked at water fun (paddleboarding, canoeing, kayaking and cruising on New Hampshire waterways) in the Aug. 5 issue and adventures aloft (ziplining, hot air ballooning and parasailing) in the July 15 issue.

Space!

AerospaceFest returns to McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive, Concord; starhop.com, 271-7827) on Saturday, Sept. 4, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free for the outdoor event. The NH Astronomical Society will have a telescope set up, Millstone Wildlife Center will bring ambassador animals, robotics teams will do robot demos and local STEM organizations will attend, the website said. No pre-registration is required.

Fair weekend

If you’ve been missing the summer/fall fair experience, you’re in luck. The Hopkinton State Fair kicks off Thursday, Sept. 2, and runs through Monday, Sept. 6. (Free parking at 905 Park Ave., Contoocook.) The fair is open Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Monday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday is “Townie Night,” when Hopkinton residents get in for free between 5 and 8 p.m. Admission for non-residents is $8 for ages 3 and up. One-day passes Friday through Monday cost $14 for ages 13 to 59, $12 for ages 60+ and $8 for ages 3 to 12, according to the fair website, hsfair.org, where you can also buy a pass for all five days for ages 3 to 60+ for $39 per person. You can also find tickets for a one-day megapass (allows unlimited admission to mechanical rides) and grandstand shows including demolition derby, monster trucks and Northeast Six Shooters’ horseback shooting demonstration show. Military (active or retired) with a valid photo ID are admitted free.

Find rides and games on the midway, open 5 p.m. to close on Thursday, noon to close on Friday and 10 a.m. to close Saturday through Monday. Catch demonstrations from the NH Canine Troopers Association (4 and 6 p.m., Friday), Axe Women Loggers of Maine (noon and 3 and 5 p.m.,daily), Dock Dogs (daily), Ben Risney Wood Sculpture (10 a.m., and 1 and 4 p.m., daily) and John Deere Skid Steer Rodeo (Monday. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.). There’s also a lineup of live music and juggling. At the Ag Stage, catch Dan Morgan (11 a.m. to 3 p.m., daily) and Nicole Knox Murphy (3 to 7 p.m.). Get kids interested in 4-H (or maybe just some light gardening and chicken tending) with the agriculture displays and competitions (livestock shows, horse show, pulling competitions and the home arts hall).

The fair also has educational displays, such as the maple sugar house, the NH Fish and Game building and a Charmingfare Farm petting zoo (Friday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Monday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) with daily animal magic shows (noon, and 2 and 5 p.m.), the website said.

And, of course, the fair will help you get your fried dough fix. Other food options include sausages with peppers and onions, apple crisp with ice cream, turkey legs, bison burgers and giant doughnuts, according to the fair website.

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