Year: 2021

Marie Sacco

Marie Sacco of Salem is the owner of The Sandwich Monstahh (thesandwichmonstahh@gmail.com, and on Facebook and Instagram), a food trailer she launched in April that specializes in homemade gourmet sandwiches, soups, sides, appetizers and desserts incorporating a variety of Italian and New England-themed flavors. Sacco, who grew up in Swampscott, Mass., just outside of Boston, said much of The Sandwich Monstahh’s menu is inspired by what she grew up eating and what her mother and grandmother would often cook. Popular items include eggplant or meatball Parmesan subs, as well as steak bombs, chicken cutlets, homemade egg rolls and more. The trailer is bright green, in tribute to the Green Monster at Boston’s Fenway Park. You can find The Sandwich Monstahh at the Derry-Salem Elks Lodge (39 Shadow Lake Road, Salem) on Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m., as well as occasionally at a few local breweries, including Rockingham Brewing Co. and From the Barrel Brewing Co., both of 1 Corporate Park Drive in Derry.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

It sounds crazy, but if I don’t have a pair of tongs I’m lost.

What would you have for your last meal?

For me, I would say a really good New York strip steak, with a baked potato and Brussels sprouts, and also a red wine.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

Trattoria Amalfi, which is a little restaurant right here in Salem. They are amazing. We’re there once a month at least.

What celebrity would you like to see ordering from your menu?

Gordon Ramsay, a hundred percent. His food is unbelievable, and all of his ideas about food are straight on. I actually try to model a lot of what I do around his cooking techniques and ideas.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

The eggplant Parm sandwich, because it’s such a part of my childhood.

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

I feel like egg rolls are really popular right now. You can throw literally anything into an egg roll as long as you serve it with a good sauce accompaniment that makes sense.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Breakfast is so fun to cook. I like to do eggs and some sort of protein, either bacon and sausage … and then some cut-up fruit or maybe homemade muffins.

Homemade cannoli dip
From the kitchen of Marie Sacco of The Sandwich Monstahh food trailer

16 ounces dessert ricotta
4 ounces cream cheese
½ cup sugar
1 squeeze fresh lemon juice
1 squeeze fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon anise extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon orange zest

In a mixer, blend cream cheese at room temperature with juices, anise extract, zests and sugar. Mix on high speed until smooth. Add ricotta and mix until combined. Refrigerate for one hour. Sprinkle chopped pistachios, shaved chocolate or mini chocolate chips on top. Serve with pizzelles dusted with powdered sugar, cannoli chips or crushed up cannoli shells.

Featured photo: Marie Sacco

All about herbs

NH Herbal Network’s Herb & Garden Day returns

Bringing its signature event to a new venue this year, the New Hampshire Herbal Network will host its 11th annual Herb & Garden Day outdoors on the grounds of the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner on Saturday, June 5.

This year’s Herb & Garden Day will feature a free luncheon, an herbal market and plant sale, local food vendors and children’s activities, plus a variety of workshops centered around herbs, mushrooms, medicinal plants, home gardening and other topics.

“You definitely don’t have to be an herbalist or even have a green thumb to attend,” event organizer Jessica Livingston of JLiv Inspirations said. “It’s open to the public, and there are workshops for all skill levels and interests.”

The evening before Herb & Garden Day begins, the New Hampshire Herbal Network will host a virtual presentation from 6 to 7:30 p.m., featuring clinical herbalist Maria Noel Groves of Wintergreen Botanicals in Allenstown. Groves will speak about the widespread increased interest in herbalism during the pandemic over the past year. Registrations can be made online now.

During the main event on Saturday, Livingston said, there will be four tracks of two workshops each for attendees to choose from, all led by local herbalists. Topics run the gamut, from herbal support and prevention during the pandemic to the impacts of healthy soil on your food.

Between workshops, local vendors from herbalists and farmers to crafters, artists and food purveyors will be on site. Attendees who want to skip the workshops and go right to the vendor fair can do so at a discounted price of $5, according to Livingston.

Food offerings throughout the day will include pastries, coffees and other items from Cafe One East in Warner, as well as several ethnic options provided by the Kearsarge Justice Alliance.

“We’re actually going to have a lot of local vendors who have been at the [Concord] Multicultural Festival as well,” Livingston said. “We’re going to have momos and samosas, empanadas, Somali meat pies, El Salvadorian tacos … and a variety of herbal teas.”

Other features of Herb & Garden Day are a plant sale, with the option to pre-order plants online, and various children’s activities like face-painting, sand art and thumbprint art.

11th annual Herb & Garden Day
When: Saturday, June 5, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (A virtual keynote presentation featuring clinical herbalist Maria Noel Groves of Wintergreen Botanicals in Allenstown will take place on Friday, June 4, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.)
Where: Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, 18 Highlawn Road, Warner
Cost: $20 for access to the virtual keynote event on Friday and $25 general admission on Saturday, or $40 for access to both. Access to the vendor fair only (no workshops) is $5. Admission is free for children ages 12 and under.
Visit: nhherbalnetwork.wordpress.com/herbday
Event is rain or shine. All workshops and vendors will be outdoors. Social distancing and masks are required.

Feautred photo: Vendor Jess LaBrie, owner of Blackbird’s Daughter Botanicals in Barrington. Courtesy photo

Shop (and eat) local

Fresh Start Farms to open centralized “food hub” and market

A new store set to open in the heart of Manchester this weekend will be a one-stop shopping spot for locally sourced produce, meats, dairy products and various non-perishables — and it’s also going to serve as a centralized “food hub” and production area for Fresh Start Farms, a collective of more than 20 immigrant and refugee farmers in New Hampshire.

Fresh Start Market, a year-round retail space due to hold its grand opening on Saturday, June 5, was born out of a partnership between NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire and the Organization for Refugee & Immigrant Success. According to Fresh Start Farms program director Jameson Small, the market has been more than a year in the making.

“NeighborWorks had bought the building at an auction, and they started finding out from people what they wanted in the community. The idea of a grocery store kept popping up,” Small said. “So they had approached us, and at the time, we were just farming in Dunbarton and Concord. We had no storefront, we had no refrigeration and no real wash stations.”

According to Small, the pandemic caused Fresh Start Farms to pivot its CSA model to mostly home deliveries. The kitchen side of the market was finished first to meet that demand.

The grand opening of Fresh Start Market’s retail space coincides with NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire’s Wellness Weekend. But in the weeks to follow, Small said, it will be open only on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons to start, with the goal to expand later this year.

The market features a wide range of items from Fresh Start Farms farmers and around 85 other food producers across mostly New Hampshire and Vermont, from fruits and vegetables to milk, eggs, cheeses, maple syrups, cooking oils, grain products and more. A grab-and-go model is expected too, including a small offering of fresh fruit smoothies.

Small also noted that Fresh Start Market is the first and only Double Up Food Bucks location in the city of Manchester for low-income shoppers.

“Part of our total mission is food access,” he said, “so if you have a SNAP or EBT card, you can get any fresh fruit and vegetable here for half the price. … So we’re even able to compete with some of the larger entities on specific items.”

Fresh Start Farms, meanwhile, will continue to sell its produce at several farmers markets throughout New Hampshire, while a mobile market will also make weekly stops this summer.

Fresh Start Market
Grand opening is Saturday, June 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: 150 Spruce St., Manchester
Hours: After June 5, hours will be Wednesday and Thursday from 2 to 6 p.m., and will likely expand into the summer and fall months
More info: Visit freshstartfarmsnh.com, follow them on Facebook and Instagram @freshstartfarmsnh or call 606-2663

Feautred photo: Fresh Start Market. Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 21/06/03

News from the local food scene

• Season of strawberries: Join The Friends of the Library of Windham for a takeout-only strawberry festival on Saturday, June 5, with curbside pickup from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of Shaw’s (43 Indian Rock Road, Windham). Now through June 4, strawberry shortcake family fun packs are available to pre-order in serving sizes of four or six, featuring handmade biscuits, ice cream, freshly cut strawberries, Friendly’s vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Visit flowwindham.org. Hampstead Congregational Church (61 Main St.) is also holding a strawberry festival on Saturday, June 5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. That event will feature strawberry shortcake, baked goods, raffles and a plant sale. Admission is free. See “Hampstead Congregational Church, UCC” on Facebook for details.

• Bacon & Beer Fest returns: Tickets to this year’s New Hampshire Bacon & Beer Festival go on sale on Friday, June 4, at noon, with the event itself to take place on Saturday, Sept. 11, at The Biergarten at Anheuser-Busch Brewery (221 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack). A fundraiser for the High Hopes Foundation of New Hampshire, the event brings together dozens of local restaurants serving dishes made with juicy bacon from North Country Smokehouse, with local brewers also joining in on the fun with beer and cider pairings of their own. A full schedule of live local music is also planned. This is the first Bacon & Beer Festival to take place since May 2019, following last year’s cancellation and this spring’s postponement — event hours are 1 to 4:30 p.m. (VIP ticket-holders get in an hour early). Tickets start at $60 general admission and are $100 for VIP attendees. Visit nhbaconbeer.com.

• Jewish feasts: As of June 1, online ordering is open for Temple B’Nai Israel’s New Hampshire Jewish Food Festival, which will be held virtually for the second year. Now through June 27, visit tbinh.org to order traditional Jewish-style foods, most of which are sold frozen with instructions for heating. New this year is a “picnic pack” made up of fresh ready-to-eat items, like Pullman style of Jewish-style rye bread with your choice of corned beef, tongue or Boston-style black pastrami; green half sour pickles, two pints of homemade coleslaw, one container of deli-style horseradish mustard and one pound of rugelach. Other options are matzo ball soups, chopped chicken liver, crispy potato latkes, New York-style knishes, and hamantaschen. Curbside pickups will be by appointment at Temple B’Nai Israel (210 Court St., Laconia) between Friday, July 30, and Saturday, Aug 1. Visit tbinh.org.

• Gyros to go: Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church (68 N. State St., Concord) will hold its next boxed Greek dinner to go event on Sunday, June 13, from noon to 1 p.m. Now through June 9, orders are being accepted for boxed meals, featuring gyro sandwiches, fries and a Greek salad, for $15 per person. The event is drive-thru and takeout only — email ordermygreekfood@gmail.com or call 953-3051 to place your order. Visit holytrinitynh.org.

On The Job – Missy Gaffney

Missy Gaffney

Esthetician and business owner

Missy Gaffney is an esthetician and owner of three health and beauty businesses — The Skin & Body Spa, The Hair Company and The Medical Skin Clinic — all located in Nashua.

Explain your job.

It’s different every day. I could be interviewing [potential employees], proofing or brainstorming marketing plans, ordering [products] or meeting with the managers and delegating [tasks]. … I constantly have my face around at all the different businesses, interacting with all of our employees and making sure everything is perfect for the clients.

How long have you had this job?

We’ve had The Skin & Body Spa for almost 14 years, The Hair Company for almost six years, and The Medical Skin Clinic for almost two years.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

I struggled with acne myself as a kid, so my mom would bring me to get facials and get good skin care products to help my skin, and I really noticed such a huge difference. I always had the dream of one day being an esthetician and helping people like myself [improve] their skin and boost their confidence. I worked as an esthetician for other [businesses] for years, but I always had a vision of opening my own, and that I could [run] it really well.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I have a bachelor of science degree, and then I went to esthetics school for 450 hours. … I was constantly going to continuing education classes after that, and still go to a lot of conferences on spa management and business management.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Business-casual.

How has your job changed over the last year?

We’ve had to really home in on what we need to do to create a safe and comfortable environment for our clients as well as our team members, without getting too overwhelmed. It has taken a lot of patience and research and being proactive to make sure that we always have all the right policies and the proper PPE.

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

To not get worked up over every little thing that goes wrong. There are always going to be problems, and there are always going to be solutions. Think, ‘How am I going to solve this?’ instead of stressing out about it.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

Some people are scared [to go to a spa] because they think it’s going to be a snobby environment, but I would want them to know that they never have to worry; we’re very non-judgmental, and very good at putting people at ease and making them feel very welcome.

What was the first job you ever had?

Working in a clothing store, folding clothes.

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

When you’re stressing about something, ask yourself, ‘Is this really going to matter in five years?’ If it’s not, it’s easier to let it go.

Five favorites
Favorite book: Tuesdays with Morrie
Favorite movie: The Sound of Music
Favorite music: Folk
Favorite food: Japanese
Favorite thing about NH: All the options; I can get to a little historic town, skiing [destination], Boston or the beach without a lot of [travel] time.

Featured photo: Missy Gaffney

Kiddie Pool 21/06/03

Family fun for the weekend

Goffstown Main Street’s Old Home Weekend. Courtesy photo.

Town celebration

Goffstown Main Street is hosting the town’s Old Home Weekend on Saturday, June 5, and Sunday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, in Goffstown Village, featuring games, food, a kids’ fishing derby, a charity auction and more. The fishing derby is for ages 12 and under and will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, with results announced Sunday at 2 p.m. The cost for the derby is $5. General admission to the downtown activities is free, with food and games priced per vendor. Visit goffstownmainstreet.org/old-home-day.

Cast a line

Take the kids fishing on Saturday, June 5, during New Hampshire Fish and Game’s Free Fishing Day. State residents and nonresidents are allowed to fish any inland water or saltwater in New Hampshire without a fishing license that day, which makes it a good opportunity for families to try the sport. If you get “hooked,” adults can get a license online, and youth under 16 can fish without a license. Visit wildlife.state.nh.us.

Just dance

Dance lovers can watch a livestream of Concord Dance Academy’s annual recital on Saturday, June 5, at 1 p.m. The event is being hosted by The Capitol Center for the Arts. Tickets cost $20. Visit ccanh.com.

Find summer fun

The Upper Room in Derry (437-8477, urteachers.org) is offering a workshop for parents to help them find fun things to do all summer long. The family resource center will host “Things to Do, Places to Go” on Wednesday, June 9, at 6 p.m. online at bit.ly/parentingsessions, free of charge. You’ll hear about low-cost, local ideas to keep the kids entertained this summer, including visiting the state’s many parks, trails, lakes and rivers.

Featured photo: Goffstown Main Street’s Old Home Weekend. Courtesy photo.

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