Year: 2024

The Weekly Dish 24/11/7

News from the local food scene

• More coffee: Popular coffee provider Aroma Joe’s (aromajoes.com) has announced the opening of two new locations in Nashua. One location, which has already opened, is inside the Hannaford supermarket at 175 Coliseum Ave; it is a 180-square-foot walk-up coffee shop. The second location, slated to open later this month, will be at 495 Amherst St., next to Nashua Community College, and will offer dine-in and drive-thru services.

• Showcase tickets: There are still tickets available for the 11th Annual Distiller’s Showcase at the Doubletree Expo Center (700 Elm St., Manchester, 625-1000) Thursday, Nov. 7, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. More than 600 spirits purveyors and 25+ restaurants will provide samples and information about their products. Tickets are $75 through eventbrite.com. Proceeds will benefit the New Hampshire Food Bank.

• Wine tasting: There will be a 2nd Anniversary Party & Free Wine Tasting at Wine on Main (9 N. Main St., Concord, 897-5828, wineonmainnh.com) Saturday, Nov. 9. Ambra from Crush distributors will be there for a free wine tasting from 1 to 4 p.m.

• Food and beer pairing: The Barley House Restaurant and Tavern (132 N. Main St., Concord, 228-6363, thebarleyhouse.com) will partner with Henniker Brewing Co. (129 Centervale Road, Henniker, 428-3579, hennikerbrewing.com) for a Harvest Beer Dinner on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 6 p.m. at the Barley House, with a social hour in the bar beginning at 5 p.m. Food will be paired with beer from Henniker Brewing. Tickets are $85 per person.

• Anniversary party: Flag Hill Winery and Distillery (297 N. River Road, Lee, 659-2949, flaghill.com) will celebrate 30 years of wine making and 20 years of distilling with a 1999 Party on Sunday, Nov. 10, from 3 to 8 p.m. Attendees will have an opportunity to mingle with fellow wine and spirit enthusiasts, and meet the distillers who crafted wines and spirits for Flag Hill over the years. Sip handcrafted cocktails and savor bites while enjoying live music. Tickets begin at $75, through eventbrite.com.

On The Job – Jeanne Venuti

Owner of Venuti Resin Design

Jeanne Venuti, owner of Venuti Resin Design, creates works of art using resin from the ocean. Recently she won a first-place blue ribbon for her work at the Deerfield Fair. Her art will be available at Bedford Handmade on Sunday, Nov. 10, and her work can be found at Manchester Craft Market (Mall of New Hampshire) and Bedford Furniture Consignment. Venuti Resin Design can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Etsy.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I am an ocean resin artist and I make functional art that looks like the ocean.

How long have you had this job?

I actually started making things in 2021 and then started the company in 2022.

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

This is actually my second job. My first job is with the Governor’s Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative. This started out as a hobby, and the story’s kind of funny, but I like to tell it in full because it’s so amusing. I saw it on an ocean resin charcuterie board on Pinterest and I’m like, ‘Oh, I wonder if I could make that?’ I think that’s how most artists start out with an idea. So I bought all the supplies and for some reason I could not make it work; it was runny, the waves weren’t coming out. Two months later I got so frustrated I did what a lot of people do and I started watching YouTube videos, just slowing them down and stopping them every second because I knew I was missing something. Two weeks after I got back from my trip, I was actually able to master the waves and the colors and my friends started buying my art and they’re the ones that told me, they said, ‘Hey, you need to start selling this. People are going to buy it.’

What kind of education or training did you need?

I’m self-taught.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Anything comfortable with an apron. I have ruined many an outfit with resin and also for some reason I always get it in my ear.

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?

Time management, because I do have a full-time job as well. So, fitting my art into my regular work day and weekends.

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

I wish I had known ahead of time exactly what products to use because I had to test a lot of them before I got the right combination.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

My art takes longer than people think.

What was your first job?

I was a dishwasher at the Roadrunner in Epping.

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

The only person getting in your way is yourself. —Zachary Lewis

Five favorites
Favorite book: The DSM V. I was a Psychology major.
Favorite movie: Dirty Dancing
Favorite music: ’80s music.
Favorite food: I’m half Korean, half Italian, so Italian and Korean food are my favorites.
Favorite thing about NH: The seasons.

Featured photo: Jeanne Venuti. Courtesy photo.

Kiddie Pool 24/11/7

Family fun for whenever

Outdoor adventure

• If this week’s cover story has you looking for even more spots to enjoy the outdoors, particularly ones with kid-friendly elements, Joppa Hill Educational Farm (174 Joppa Hill Road in Bedford; theeducationalfarm.org) is open daily from dawn to dusk. Leashed dogs are welcome, according to the website, where you can find a hiking trail map or, if you’re looking for something more farm-centered, an animal scavenger hunt of the horses, cows and ducks you might find during a visit. Visits are free; grain cups are available for purchase for $5 and the farm stand is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends, self-serve, according to the farm’s Facebook page.

• Enjoy a scenic horse-drawn wagon ride at Charmingfare Farm on Saturday, Nov. 9, and Sunday, Nov. 10, at various times throughout the day.Participants get a classic horse-drawn hayride experience with added comfortable seating on horse-drawn hayride wagons, making this adventure enjoyable for everyone, according to their website. Afterwards participants can warm up by a cozy bonfire, enjoy refreshments and roast s’mores with kits available, according to the same website. Visitors can also see the friendly farm animals, with animal feed for purchase. Tickets are $29. Visit visitthefarm.com or call 483-5623.

Art project

• Twiggs Gallery (254 King St. in Boscawen; 975-0015; twiggsgallery.org) will offer a Make & Take activity for all on Saturday, Nov. 9, from 1 to 3 p.m. Learn to make “Pretty Little Birds” — paper birds that can be used as a Thanksgiving place card or a fall decorations, according to a press release. The gallery will provide all materials, the release said.

Storytime

• The SEE Science Center will be hosting a story time on Wednesday, Nov. 13, “Who Sank the Boat?,” where little scientists will try a float and sink boat experiment at the Manchester City Library. This is a part of their once-a-month story time program during the school year where kids between the ages of 2 and 6 years old are invited to enjoy a STEM/STEAM-themed story followed by hands-on activities, according to their website. They ask that participants sign up with the library for this free program. Storytime Science is a program of the SEE Science Center’s First Steps in Science Initiative. Visit see-sciencecenter.org.

• Enchantment Theatre Company will present My Father’s Dragon, based on the book series by Ruth Stiles Gannett and illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett, at Chubb Theatre at the Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St., Concord, ccanh.com) Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 10:30 a.m. Tickets cost $8. See a video trailer for the production at ccanh.com. See enchantmenttheatre.org for more on the company

• Actorsingers will bring the tale as old as time to the stage with this weekend’s Disney’s Beauty and the Beastfrom Friday, Nov. 8, through Sunday, Nov. 10, at the Keefe Center for the Arts (117 Elm St., Nashua). Shows are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets cost $25 for adults and $23 for students and seniors. See actorsingers.org.

• Safe Haven Ballet(safehavenballet. org) will kick off the season of dancing mice with a production of The Nutcrackerat The Music Hall (28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, the musichall.org) on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 4:30 p.m. Tickets cost $48.50 to $53.50.

• Kids can watch kids tell the story of BeetlejuiceJr., performed by student actors 12 through 18 in the Palace Teen Company, on Wednesday, Nov. 13, and Thursday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org). Tickets cost $12 to $15.

Early Santa visit

• Bass Pro Shops (2 Commerce Drive in Hooksett) has opened its Santa’s Wonderland for the season. Visitors get can a photo with Santa as well as weekly activities such as a tea light tree craft through Nov. 15, a wood ornament craft Nov. 18 through Dec. 6 and more. You can reserve a spot up to seven days in advance at basspro.com/santa. On Tuesdays through Dec. 17, at 5 p.m. Santa or Mrs. Claus will read Christmas stories, and on Saturdays, Nov. 16, Nov. 23 and Dec. 7, at 9 a.m. families can have a breakfast with Santa; separate reservations are required for these events, according to a press release.

Meet the Girl Scouts

The Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains will hold “explore Girl Scouts” events for girls in grades kindergarten through third and a caregiver. On Tuesday, Nov. 12, from 6 to 7 p.m., head to Center Woods Elementary in the music room (14 Center Road in Weare). On Wednesday, Nov. 13, from 6 to 7 p.m., drop in at Beaver Meadow Elementary School (Sewalls Falls Road in Concord). See girlscoutsgwm.org.

Treasure Hunt 24/11/7

Dear Donna,

Approximately 86 years old. With double bed and vanity, table. This was my parents’ set and I would like to know how much I should ask for it.

Thank you.

Diane

Dear Diane,

Your maple bedroom set appears to be in good clean solid condition.

Being from the 1930s-1940s it’s not considered an antique set. So values would be in the condition and appeal to a buyer.

These sets were meant to last. And if taken care of they did. Like your parents’ set.

The value comes down to who can appreciate it and have use for it. I would say it should be in the $300 range. You couldn’t buy a set today for that! Finding the right buyer could be tough, though, with styles today changing so much.

I wish you luck finding the set a new home, Diane. I hope this was helpful to you.

Donna Welch has spent more than 35 years in the antiques and collectibles field, appraising and instructing. Her new location is an Antique Art Studio located in Dunbarton, NH where she is still buying and selling. If you have questions about an antique or collectible send a clear photo and information to Donna at [email protected], or call her at 391-6550.

A musical time machine

Folk show featuring banjos and ballads

By Zachary Lewis
[email protected]

Jeff Warner presents Granite Staters with songs from America’s past. He will be performing his program “Banjos, Bones, and Ballads” in Brentwood on Sunday, Nov. 10, and again in Lake Sunapee on Monday, Nov. 11.

“I’m working right now with New Hampshire Humanities in what they call their Humanities to Go program,” Warner said. “I get to do maybe 20 programs a year for nonprofit organizations under the aegis of the New Hampshire Humanities. I have four programs for them that I do since I’m an old-time musician or a folk singer, as you will.”

Each program features a specific theme of traditional music. “One is on old-time songs for kids, one is on old songs of New Hampshire, one is what I call ‘Banjos, Bones, and Ballads,’ which is an overview of American traditional music, and … logging songs and the history of logging in the Northeast. I’m New York City-bred, but I’ve been living in New Hampshire since 1997.”

The love of folk music was alive in his home when he was a child.

“I was raised by two people, my family, Anne and Frank Warner … who from early times in the ’30s were interested in collecting American traditional folk songs in rural eastern American places like the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the mountains of North Carolina,” Warner said. Their musical archaeology drove them through the country. “They also found a great number of old songs from loggers in the Adirondack Mountains and then specifically to my program ‘Songs of Old New Hampshire’ here.”

One source was particularly valuable in New Hampshire.

“They met a woman named Lena Bourne Fish in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, in 1941. She had been born in 1879 and knew hundreds of old songs without being able to read music. She just knew them from memory … she learned in her family and community,” Warner said.

“So I worked with her repertoire that she taught. I work with that repertoire and other songs that I have learned about New England culture and New England history to form a program, ‘Songs of Old New Hampshire,’ that features Mrs. Fish as the central part in the songs that she sang, old world ballads and new songs formed in America.”

Warner can perform a capella, the way many of these songs were originally sung, or with accompaniment.

“I add on to it with old-time instruments that I play, which include banjo and guitar, English concertina, and a bunch of what I call pocket instruments, which are old-time instruments kids used to play, like bones and spoons.”

His “Banjos, Bones, and Ballads” program is a favorite.

“Banjos, because that’s fun. Bones, because it’s one of the instruments that I play, representing old-time instruments that didn’t cost a lot of money that people used to play, including kids,” Warner said.

“I love to show kids what other kids might have played in 1800 or 1900, including spoons and a little metal instrument you play with your teeth…. Little things like that that were simple and fun and kids used to play and I can play them and show them how to do it”

Warner has a clear purpose for what he does, he said, “wanting to make sure I give people a sense of how old-time songs were conveyed by word of mouth in days before radio and phonograph players, and how people tended to learn from their families and then sing the songs in their community, so that the big folk song revival, which happened in the 1960s and all, becoming commercial music with the Kingston Trio and Bob Dylan and all those, is a rarefied thing. Mostly these songs have just stayed on past an oral tradition, changing as they go from community to community and state to state, and becoming representative of those communities and states whence they came.”

Banjos, Bones, and Ballads
Hosted by Brentwood Historical Society
When: Sunday, Nov. 10, at 2:15 p.m.
Where: Brentwood Historical Society Museum, 140 Crawley Falls Road, Brentwood

Hosted by Sunapee Seniors
When: Monday, Nov. 11, at 1 p.m.
Where: Lake Sunapee United Methodist Church, 9 Lower Main St.

nhhumanities.org

Featured image: Jeff Warner. Courtesy photo.

The Art Roundup 24/11/07

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• On stage: The Anselmain Abbey Players will present 12 Angry Jurors this weekend at the Dana Center at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. The show will run Friday, Nov. 8, and Saturday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 10, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $8 to $15. See tickets.anselm.edu.

• Murder on stage: Lend Me a Theater will present Mandate For Murder, a political satire murder mystery with audience interaction, at Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St., Derry, tupelomusichall.com) on Saturday, Nov. 9, when dinner is at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 10, when dinner is at 5 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. “It’s election night and all the friends and supporters of mayoral candidate Matthew Kensington are throwing him a surprise birthday/campaign party. But there’s one surprise no one suspects. An aide is found stabbed in the back with the birthday cake knife! ,” according to the description on the Tupelo’s website. Tickets are available for dinner and a show ($55) and just the show ($25). See lendmeatheater.org for more on the theater company.

• Small pieces with big ideas: The Mosaic Art Collective (66 Hanover St. in Manchester; mosaicartcollective.com) will present its new show “Small Wonders Miniature Art Show” Friday, Nov. 8, through Sunday, Dec. 22. The exhibition is described as “celebration of small-scale art that packs a big punch,” according to the website. A opening reception will be held Saturday, Nov. 9, from 4 to 8 p.m.

• More with the maestro: Symphony New Hampshire will present “Beethoven’s Third: Exploring Eroica,”on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St., Nashua, nashucenterforthearts.com). “I’ll dive into it and share insights into what made it so revolutionary and groundbreaking,” music director Roger Kalia told Michael Witthaus for the story in the Oct. 24 issue of the Hippo “We’re also going to play short pieces from other symphonies of Beethoven, some Mozart … works that inspired the Eroica,” he said in the article on page 14; find the issue in the digital library at hippopress.com. Tickets to Saturday’s show cost $32 to $67. See symphonynh.org.

• Count of Concord: Glen Rodgers, emeritus professor at Allegheny College and author of Traveling with the Atom: A Scientific Guide to Europe and Beyond, presents a lecture titled “Traveling with Count Rumford”on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 2 p.m., recounting the scientific, economic, diplomatic and military accomplishments of the American-born Benjamin Thompson while tracing his footsteps across the United States and Europe, according to the website. “When he was ennobled by the Holy Roman Emperor in 1792, he chose to be named Rumford after one of the early names for Concord,” the website said. The lecture will be given at the New Hampshire Historical Society (30 Park St., Concord). Admission is $7. No registration required. See nhhistory.org.

• Beethoven and Liszt: On Thursday, Nov. 7, from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. Kyra Zhao will give the lecture “From Page to Performance: The Literary Influences in Beethoven and Liszt’s Iconic Piano Works”at the Concord Community School (23 Wall St., Concord). The talk willdelve into the intricate relationship between literature and music, highlighting how renowned composers such as Beethoven and Liszt drew profound inspiration from iconic literary works, according to the event website. Visit ccmusicschool.org.

—Zachary Lewis

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