Author: Henry Homeyer

The many uses for this Korean cuisine staple

For Susan Chung, owner of Sue’s Kimbap House, kimchi is as much a staple of everyday cooking as flour or butter.

“Kimchi is just a traditional Korean dish that was made with fermented vegetables,” said Chung, who is the Capitol Center for the Arts’ Culinary Artist in Residence and whose eatery is at Bank of NH Stage in Concord. “The most common type is made from napa cabbage. Another one is [made from] the Korean radish or daikon. Another one that probably isn’t as familiar is kimchi made with cucumbers. That’s one we’re planning to launch at our store coming up soon. But the main thing about kimchi is it’s so versatile that you can have it just as abanchan, or side dish, with just rice, a protein, or even just rice and egg. Traditionally, Korean people will eat kimchi sometimes three times a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I personally don’t, but it’s normal to do that, since even little kids start eating kimchi as early as 2 or 3 years old.”

Chung said she grew up in a non-Korean household and it was only after she married her husband that she began eating foods like kimchi on a regular basis.

“I wasn’t introduced to Korean food until I was in my 20s,” she said. “But the good thing is you can actually ease into kimchi. They have a non-spicy version, which is a watered-down one, which little kids will start off with. But also, if you’re new to the Korean palate, it’s something that you can do as well. Even if you were to try regular Korean kimchi, you can water it, rinse it with water, and then still eat it with a small amount of spice.”

Because there are almost as many varieties of kimchi as there are Korean families, Chung said, finding a particular type that suits a particular eater is mostly a matter of shopping around and finding one that suits their palate.
“There’s different levels [of intensity] to it,” she said. “If it’s fresh kimchi that’s made that day, it’s not as fermented as the ones you would keep in the refrigerator for up to a month or even longer. And then there are the ones you use once they get super fermented to add to stews and kimchi fried rice. And so when I say it comes to being very versatile, I think kimchi fried rice would be something that most people would be willing to try as well because everyone loves fried rice. But if you make it mixed with the kimchi and then with the fried egg on top, it’s something that a lot of our customers have been waiting for.”

One of the reasons for kimchi’s surge in popularity over the past few years is its reported health benefits. Gloria Najecki, the produce manager at the Concord Food Co-op, said, “It has become increasingly popular because people know that it’s good for their gut and it can be made from a lot of different things so it’s varied so it’s not just cabbage. I think fermented anything is big right now. People like fermented foods because they hear it’s good for their digestive microbiome, you know, their belly and all the good gut bacteria that live there. There’s a whole ecosystem in our bellies so you want to eat varied foods to help keep them all in balance.”

For Najecki, part of eating a balanced diet centers around eating a large variety of foods.

“I’m always saying, ‘Eat the rainbow’” she said. “Eat a lot of different colors. Eat a lot of different textures. You want to have sour things, bitter things. You want to mix it all up because all of that together helps that flora in your belly. And kimchi has healthy microorganisms in it, different yeasts and positive bacteria, that sort of thing.”

Luke Mahoney is the owner of Brookford Farm in Canterbury. He grows many of the key ingredients for kimchi on his farm, and his staff makes small batches of kimchi to sell at his farm store.

“All the ingredients are grown on the farm except ginger,” he said. “The base is napa cabbage and we use leeks and carrots and daikon radish. We grow a Korean pepper, which is specifically for kimchi, and we use garlic and ginger. Daikon [radishes] grow awesome here in New England, but specifically on our farm.”

A member of Mahoney’s staff is a fermentation expert named Irina. “She moved here from Russia to be with her family about 10 years ago,” Mahoney said. “She’s been experimenting with different types of conserves and fermentations. She had a job in science in [Russia], but then when she moved here, she no longer worked in science. She didn’t have the language, so we offered her a position as our fermenter. It was kind of a dream we had, but it was still undeveloped. She dove in and got inspired and used her life experience and recipes and also whatever ingredients we had on the farm at the time. She created a wide variety of beautiful artisanal craft ferments. And the kimchi is her pride and joy.”

Stephanie Zydenbos is obsessed with fermentation, too. She is the founder of and facilitator for Micro Mamas in Henniker, a company that makes kimchi and other fermented vegetables.

“We were the very first commercial fermenters in the state,” Zydenbos said. “We learned a lot and continue to be marveled by the art of fermentation — because it is an art.”

Zydenbos said her fascination with fermentation grew from chronic health challenges.

“From adolescence through my early adulthood I had lots of different sinus problems and digestive problems,” she said. “I wasn’t an unhealthy child, but I think that the best way to say it is that I just had a less than optimal digestive system. I took a workshop on kimchi and sauerkraut and how to make our own probiotic foods. I wanted to treat my digestive symptoms naturally and I had been taking some pretty high-dollar high-quality probiotics — which I don’t recommend; anybody, stop doing that! — and I made my first batch of kimchi around the time I had my first child, because I wanted to get my children off to a good start with their digestive health. Around 2011 or 2012 I woke up in the middle of the night and I’m like, ‘Why am I not doing this for a living?’”

Zydenbos said the healthy microorganisms in fermented foods like kimchi start in the soil where the vegetables are grown.

“The microbiology of the soils are how vegetables and isolates of lactic acid bacteria are in the vegetables themselves,” she said. “We get those vegetables in their raw form right from the field.” As vegetables ferment, she explained, “the starches and the sugars break down from the vegetables. They are basically pre-digesting the starches and the sugars and [producing] lactic acid bacteria in addition to accelerating the vitamin and nutrient content of raw vegetables” As the fermentation grows more acidic, she said, it kills off most of any competing bacteria and microorganisms. “The pH becomes so low that the good microbes thrive and none of the harmful bacteria that might exist.”

Zydenbos likes to take a simple approach to eating kimchi.

“The No. 1 thing I like to do,” she said, “is to open some sour cream or hummus and throw 100 grams or so of kimchi in there. That’s it. Bam. Done. It takes chips and dip and brings it to an entirely different level.”

Because the flavor of kimchi covers a spectrum from “zesty” to “pungent” it has been welcomed by fine-dining chefs in recent years to add background flavor, texture, or even a “funky” quality to sauces and dishes. Nick Provencher is the executive chef at The Birch on Elm in Manchester. He said kimchi has found a place in his roster of ingredients.

“We have [a kimchi dish] on the menu currently,” he said, “and we always use a variety of different ferments, whether it be kimchi or to preserve seasonal vegetables, especially in the summer when there’s something like ramps we’ll ferment. We always have different kinds. Right now we have [kimchi] in a kind of a Korean-style barbecue sauce as a base that we cook down with onions, garlic, aromatics and ginger.”

“I think for the most part kimchi adds a lot of depth because it has a variety of different flavor profiles to it,” Provencher said. “It’s got a kind of bold, vinegary quality. It’s like, it’s kind of like blue cheese — it’s stinky but it’s like a good stink, you know? You have spice there, too, which can round a dish out. I think it really makes some dishes shine because of the depth [and pungency] it adds to the sauce. It’s nice too, because there’s also the level of acidity that comes from it, which cuts the fat of a pork belly, which is something we serve with it.”

Keith Sarasin is a chef, an author, and owner of The Farmer’s Dinner, a pop-up restaurant devoted to local, seasonal and sustainable dishes. He is a big fan of kimchi.

“I feel like kimchi is one of those unsung heroes that has existed in either progressive or fine dining scenes for a while,” Sarasin said. “The first thing that makes kimchi great is it’s very universal in what you can put in it. So, obviously cabbage, chilies and things of that nature. But since what we do at The Farmer’s Dinner is so rooted in farms, we’ll add a lot of different backbones to kimchi. Let’s say we have a bunch of arugula — we will gladly add some arugula into [a batch of kimchi]. Whenever we used to forage a lot back in the day, we would add dandelion greens and burdock root and all of these fun things, which give a different layer and complexity to kimchi, starting out with that bitterness. It’s a lot of fun and it reminds me a lot of balancing everything else that you have.”

Because Sarasin works so much with small, local farms, he has seen non-traditional foods like kimchi (non-traditional in New England, anyway) having an impact on what crops those farms grow.

“I feel like diversity has definitely been something that we’ve seen,” he said, “especially in the last five to 10 years. You can always find savoy cabbages and napa and all of these cabbages, but I think you’re seeing more daikons. You’re also seeing a lot more varieties of peppers that are being grown, which is really exciting for me because I love peppers. Part of the backbone of [kimchi] is you definitely need chili powder. It’s one of the really quintessential things. There’s the standard, traditional kimchi, which is out of this world, but then there’s a lot of ways to bring in food waste that typically would go in the bin, you can repurpose to really bring into a beautiful kimchi.”

“Kimchi’s not only about sustainability for us,” Sarasin said. “A lot of what we do is technique-driven, and we’ve used a lot of different techniques when it comes to utilizing kimchi. One of my favorite things to do with kimchi is instead of just serving it we do a lot of dehydration. So we dehydrate kimchi, either the whole kimchi or the brine, and spread it thin on a Silpat [a silicone baking mat] and then we let that dehydrate and grind it into a powder. We’ve used that to dust over dishes like a Wagyu tartare, a creamy soup, or even a savory custard because you get that salt, acidity and umami in one sprinkle. Kimchi lends itself to seafood unbelievably well, and we live in such a beautiful place for seafood. We’ve done kimchi sauces but we built them up with the intensity of aged kimchi. We love to ferment daikon and things of that nature and smear it over pork belly and foie gras.”

Chef Sarasin’s Kimchi Butter Sauce

Yields ~1 cup

Pairs well with seared scallops, roasted cauliflower, halibut, grilled chicken thigh, even a wild mushroom toast.

• ½ cup (188 g) aged kimchi, finely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons kimchi brine
• ¼ cup (55 g) white wine or dry vermouth
• 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 1 small shallot, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional, balances acidity)
• ½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cubed
• salt to taste
• optional: a splash of cream if you want a silkier mouthfeel

1. Start the reduction

In a small saucepan, add the shallots, kimchi, brine, wine and vinegar. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat and reduce until almost dry; basically you want 2-3 tablespoons of liquid left. You want the acidity concentrated but not overpowering.

2. Strain (optional)

If you want a smoother sauce, strain out the solids. But I like leaving the finely chopped kimchi in there for texture and visual.

3. Mount with butter

Lower the heat to low. Whisk in the cold butter cubes one at a time, making sure each one emulsifies before adding the next. Don’t let it boil or it’ll break. If it’s too punchy, add a tiny splash of cream at the end.

4. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Depending on your kimchi, you might not need salt. Serve immediately.

Kimchi Fried Rice

Fried Rice

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup (188 g) chopped kimchi
• 3 cups (445 g) steamed rice
• ¼ cup (55 g) kimchi juice
• ¼ cup (55 g) water
• 2-3 Tablespoons gochujang (Korean chili paste)
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce or Maggi Seasoning
• 3 teaspoons (1 Tablespoon) toasted sesame oil

Garnish

• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1 mini cucumber or ⅓ normal cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into slivers
• 3 scallions, chopped
• ¼ cup (57 g) prepared seaweed salad – you can find this at the sushi counter at many supermarkets

Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat, then add the chopped kimchi, and fry for about a minute.

Add rice, kimchi juice, water, gochujang and fish sauce. Stir all the ingredients together for seven or eight minutes with a wooden spoon.

According to master chef Roy Choi, the best part of any fried rice is the carmelized, crispy bits from the bottom of the pan. In a Facebook video he advises turning the heat all the way up and letting the rice cook for another minute or two to crisp up the rice. “The thing about this rice, as you see, is we take it to the edge. You feel like you’re going to fall off. You feel like this thing’s going to burn. You take it so far that you think that you can’t take it any farther, that you’re almost scared that it’s going to collapse and be ruined.” Be fearless, in other words.

After a minute or so of cooking at high heat, stir the rice to see if you’ve achieved any crusty bits. If your courage holds out, you might want to blast the rice for another minute or so to recrisp the stirred rice.

Plate the rocket-hot rice in a serving bowl, then drizzle it with sesame oil, and garnish it with the sesame seeds, cucumber slivers, scallions, and seaweed salad.

Kimchi Tacos (plant-based)

Chelsea Mackler is the cheese manager at Whole Foods Supermarket in Bedford. She is not vegan herself, but her wife is. She said that a year or two ago, when her wife was having a rough week, she made kimchi tacos for her, which were extremely well-received. This is a riff on those tacos:

• ½ cup (114 g) vegan sour cream – I like one from Forager Project; it has a really good flavor
• ¼ cup (64 g) tahini (sesame paste)
• 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 4 to 6 ounces (100 to 175 g) shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup (164 g) canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper
• ¼ cup (55 g) water
• 4 six-inch flour tortillas
• 1 cup (164 g) kimchi

In a smallish bowl, combine the vegan sour cream and tahini. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the sesame oil over medium heat, then fry the chickpeas until lightly browned, seven minutes or so. Add the mushrooms and water, then cook, covered, until the shiitakes soften and take on a little color, maybe five minutes more. Season with salt and pepper, then transfer the mixture to a bowl and set aside.

Toast the tortillas in any sesame oil remaining in the pan, about a minute on each side. Keep an eye on them; you’re not looking to make them crispy, just to give them a little color and to cook off their floury taste.

Assemble the tacos. Put 1 to 1½ tablespoons of kimchi at the bottom of each taco, topped with ¼ of the shiitake/chickpea mixture. Top with a tablespoon or so of the tahini sauce.

These are extraordinarily good tacos — not just vegan tacos, but excellent tacos, period. The chickpeas give a little extra savoriness and texture to the mushrooms. The kimchi gives spiciness and flavor but also some essential crunch. Sesame and kimchi pair really well together, so the creamy tahini sauce is just about perfect.

This will make four tacos, which sounds like enough for two people, but the slower eater might end up having to fight to defend their second taco. Plan on four of these guys as a single serving, and adjust the recipe accordingly.

Korean Dirty Martini

• Dry vermouth
• 2 ounces botanical gin – I used Malfi Rosa, a grapefruit-forward gin, and I was very pleased with it
• ½ ounce of kimchi juice – the flavor and assertiveness of this will depend on the kimchi you have on hand, so be prepared to embrace your first martini of the batch, then adjust how much takes you to where you want to be; half an ounce is a good starting point

Hardware:

• A mixing glass – NOT a cocktail shaker. When making a for-real, actual martini, please stir it rather than shake it. It really does make a difference.
• A long-handled spoon for stirring – not surprisingly, a bar spoon is perfect for this.
• Ice
• A stemmed martini glass – martinis are at their best skull-shrinkingly cold, and holding the glass by the stem keeps the heat of your hands from warming yours up.
• A cocktail strainer.

Chill your martini glass by either filling it with crushed ice or putting it in your freezer for 10 minutes or so.

Fill your mixing glass half full with ice and pour an ounce or so of vermouth over it. Stir to coat the ice cubes with the vermouth, then strain away any excess. This is what is called a “dry martini”; it retains just enough vermouth to subtly flavor the drink. There is a version called a “perfect” martini, which uses equal amounts of vermouth and gin. Because the kimchi element will probably be a new experience for you, start with a dry martini and adjust from there.

Pour the gin and kimchi juice into the mixing glass and stir gently but thoroughly, then strain the orange liquor into your chilled martini glass.

If you are a dirty martini enthusiast, this will be right up your alley. It is spicy and sour, with a stiff alcoholic backbone that lets you know you are drinking a grownup cocktail. If you haven’t been a fan of dirty martinis up till now, this might convert you.

O’Neil Cinemas returns to Londonderry and we check in with Red River Theatres in Concord PLUS A look at the summer movie schedule

As summer movie season begins, we take a look at a few local theaters. O’Neil Cinemas expands — and returns — to Londonderry. We also check in with Red River Theatres, which is now the only movie theater in Concord. And we take a look at the summer movie schedule. Grab some popcorn and get ready to go to the movies.

O’Neil Cinemas returns to Londonderry: The newly refurbished theater will include a full service bar

By Zachary Lewis

zlewis@hippopres.com

The brand new O’Neil Cinemas in Londonderry is expected to hold its grand reopening July 1.

O’Neil Cinemas is family-run and also has a theater in Epping, as well as one in Littleton, Mass.

Dan O’Neil spoke to the Hippo about the grand reopening and how this family business, led by his father, Dan O’Neil Sr., has been in the movies for decades.

“I’ve been in this business since I was a kid, helping out my brother in the business. Tim O’Neil. He’s also in the business. He’s years younger than me. We did everything. I was a projectionist. We cleaned the restrooms, sold concessions, things like that. So after college, we got in the business,” Dan O’Neil said.

According to a recent press release, O’Neil Cinemas was founded in 1982 and was operated by the O’Neil family before leasing the Londonderry facility (at 16 Orchard View Dr.) to AMC Theaters in 2014.

“We have a legacy of about 40 years in New Hampshire,” Dan O’Neil said. “So we leased this theater in Londonderry for 10 years to AMC. We own the real estate in the building. They decided after 10 years — it was a 10-year term — that they would not renew. And we thought the Londonderry market was a great market. It’s a wide open market, it’s a growing market and we’re very, very positive about the industry going forward. So we decided to invest in this location.”

They had built an eight-screen theater in Littleton, Mass., which is a model for what they are bringing into Londonderry. (O’Neil Cinemas also operates a theater at Brickyard Square, 24 Calef Highway in Epping. See oneilcinemas.com.)

“We got into the food and beverage business in that theater. It has a lounge. It has a full-service bar. So that’s kind of our model going forward now, is to bring in upgraded amenities, making it more of an experience for people to come out of the house. We have a full kitchen. We sell good food,” O’Neil said.

They’ve made a lot of fun changes.

“So currently, before we started renovation, it was a 10-screen complex. The new renovation will have nine screens. And we’re renovating one of the auditoriums into what we call the Backstage Lounge. It will be a full-service bar plus a lounge atmosphere. And we’ll have a full kitchen in the complex where we’ll sell upscale food and beverage. So you can get a meal before the movie, or after the movie, or a drink, a crafted cocktail,” O’Neil said.

“We also will be delivering directly to your seat,” he said. “So if you want to order through an app, you’ll be able to get it to your seat. If you’re buying tickets and you want to order your food, you can ahead of time. When you get to the theater, you scan your ticket in, it will fire that food to the kitchen, so you won’t have to stand in any lines. You can just go directly to the seat, and it will be delivered to you.”

Image and sound are priorities for O’Neil cinemas.

“Two of the auditoriums in this complex are premium large-format auditoriums. We call them the Grand DLX. At the premium large-format auditorium, they’re all state-of-the-art laser projection, Dolby Atmos sound, which are a 64-speaker surround sound system. It’s advanced object-based audio technology, so the speakers are strategically placed throughout the theater. You have overhead speakers for three-dimensional sound. It’s basically a precise sound positioning capability so that if a helicopter’s flying over your head, it’ll feel like you can hear the helicopter above you. And it’s more of an immersive experience,” O’Neil said.

Moviegoers in the Grand DLX auditoriums will experience ‘Buttkicker’ heated recliners with swivel tables that will synchronize vibrations with the film’s soundtrack.

“We’ll have one auditorium that has D-box motion seats,” he said. Luxury D-Box Motion seats use haptic technology, according to the press release. “Those seats actually move and synchronize to the soundtrack or the action on the screen. So it physically engages the viewers by creating synchronized movements to the action on the screen.”

Moviegoers will be able to opt out or control how much of the feel they get. “You could turn it off. You can lower the sensation so it’s not as high of a movement. Or you can go full blast with that thing,” O’Neil said.

No matter the theater, the seats will be comfy.

“The rest of the auditoriums will have full reclining heated seats. We’re really trying to make this a first-class viewing experience. The brightness on the screen will be fantastic.”

Londonderry will have revival screenings of cinema classics, and more than films will be screened.

“We can actually now with the digital technology, as long as we have licensing rights, we can stream live events, like currently we’re doing UFC fights down in our Littleton and Epping locations. We showed the Metropolitan Opera live from New York. So you can actually come to our theater if you’re into the opera, Metropolitan Opera, and view it live,” O’Neil said.

Movies have always held a special place for Dan O’Neil.

“I was about seven years old in ’77, so I was a big Star Wars fan. That movie was incredible to me…. We actually opened the theater in Londonderry during 1983 after construction and the first movie we showed was Return of the Jedi. I just remember the line going down the middle of the parking lot. Of course, back then we didn’t have reserved seating. But yeah, it was a fantastic experience being in the pack. You know, those movies were always sold out. And just being in there and experiencing it with other kids and people was amazing,” he said.

He mentioned why he believes people still get excited to go out to the movies. “I think we’re communal creatures, and we like storytelling, and when you can do it with other people it just adds to the emotion of it. That’s what makes memories in my mind is the emotions you feel with other people. I think that’s why after 100 years, the business is still around.”

There will be a community open house at some point before the grand reopening in July.

“We’re shooting for July 1, and that’s right before the Fourth of July weekend and there’s supposed to be some … big movies opening, Jurassic World being one of them, so we’re trying to hit that for a big grand opening,” O’Neil said. “I think that once the community sees what we can offer for out-of-home entertainment, I think it’s going to be a real positive thing for the community.”

The city’s theater: Red River is Concord’s only movie house

By Zachary Lewis

zlewis@hippopress.com

Red River Theatres is a community hub in Concord.

“We work as a full-time movie theater; we also are mission-based,” said Angie Lane, Red River’s Executive Director.

“We serve by providing space to other nonprofits to show films that speak to their mission. We do some of our own programming based off things that we believe that our community wants. It could be sometimes that we show a documentary, but it could also be a sing-along or a Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The venue’s concessions include local sweets from Granite State Candy and local beer and wine, Lane said.

Lane and her crew are still coming back from Covid closures.

“For us, coming out of Covid, we were closed for over a year,” she said. “It’s funny, because people are like, ‘Oh, you’re still talking about Covid,’ but ultimately we’re still feeling the impact of that. We’re working to get back up to full speed.”

“I can be honest and say we’re not even fully staffed to where we were pre-Covid, so we have a very tiny team in the background managing everything, and this year we’ll be turning 18, so there’s so many things that are kind of like intersecting at the same point for us,” she said.

Now that Red River is the only movie theater in Concord, it has access to more films, including more mainstream movies and kids’ films like Snow White.

“With the closure of Regal and just the way that movie distribution has changed so much, especially in post-Covid world, we have been able to actually acquire those films. So for a very long time there were a lot of barriers for us to bring in films like that. It’s not that we are necessarily saying, ‘Like, OK, we’re going to expand to this,’ it’s just that we never quite had the availability that we do now. So we are excited to be able to offer a diversity of film that’s a little wider than we have before. You can’t please everyone, and so of course some people want more straight what they believe are independent films and don’t love it when we show Snow White. But what’s lovely is we’re able to bring in new people to Red River,” Lane said.

There are other obstacles to overcome with film selection.

“To be a working movie theater in this time and reality is really challenging. So we’re excited to be able to show a wider variety of films, but the reality is that distributors are just not producing as many films as they did pre-Covid…. So a lot of times we do consciously choose and curate the films based on what we believe align with who we are as a movie theater. On the other hand, sometimes there’s a limited amount of movies that we can choose from, so we try to do our best to pick the films we feel that our audiences want to see and hopefully expand our audiences at the same time.”

Lane described how an independent movie theater chooses a film for screening.

“… [W]e work with a film broker who manages the bookings for hundreds of different cinemas similar to Red River. Then we internally, as the team, also talk about what’s being offered to us. These films are what we would consider ‘first run’ and we sell the tickets and we do just a straight ticket split. For our own programming we book them as one-offs and we pay either a fee or a ticket split or both. … ,” Lane said.

For new films, typically 50 to 60 percent of ticket sales head back to the movie distributor, so theaters need people in the seats to keep bringing magic to the community.

“We book out films on pretty short notice, so maybe a month out,” Lane said.

“We’re excited to get the new upcoming Wes Anderson movie The Phoenician Scheme, and … No Other Land, which is the Oscar-winning documentary that has not really been getting as high distribution,” she said.

Red River also gets support from memberships. “You can become a member and you can get benefits,” Lane said. It costs $65 for an individual membership and there are other options as well. Membership fees helped keep Red River afloat during Covid. “A lot of people during Covid still kept their membership going…” Lane said.

Look for some outdoor screenings this summer. “We are planning on doing our free outdoor movies with Parks and Rec, and we’ll probably do some other partnered outdoor movies,” Lane said. This summer’s titles are not decided yet.

Lane reflected on Red River’s role in Concord, saying, “We’re about to turn 18, and we’ve become a vital, valued community organization. We show movies, but we also provide … a space for [people] so they can rent this theater for their own movies. We work a lot with different partner organizations to bring different programming….”

“I think now more than ever a lot of people want something, not necessarily to escape to … But I think that people really want to engage in different ideas or other realities and kind of dream about something that can be different and better,” Lane said.

Red River Theatres is at 11 S. Main St. in Concord. See redrivertheatres.org.

Summer of movies! Remakes, sequels, Marvel and more summer movies

Compiled by Amy Diaz

adiaz@hippopress.com

Another first Friday in May, another Marvel movie.

Except everything about movies is so much weirder than in, say, 2017 when the summer movie season kicked off with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. But there are definitely promising films on the schedule — a new Wes Anderson movie, a new Celine Song movie, a new Ari Aster, and Kristen Scott Thomas is directing a movie. Here, with guidance from IMDb on dates and casts, are some of the movies slated for release in theaters this summer.

Thunderbolts Can Marvel’s quippy Suicide Squad-y gang get us all excited about Marvel again? The first trailer at least had me hopeful. (May 2)

Fight or Flight Josh Hartnett is an assassin on, as the trailer says, a plane full of killers. (May 9)

Friendship Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd make casual male friendships super weird in this movie whose trailer gives dark comedy vibes. (May 9)

Juliet & Romeo It’s a musical, Rebel Wilson plays Juliet’s mother. (May 9)

Final Destination: Bloodlines LOL to these people in the trailer enjoying a backyard barbecue unaware that they’re in a Final Destination movie. (May 16)

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning These movies are all about Tom Cruise doing crazy stunts and we in the audience thinking “wheeee!” So, in that spirit, I’m excited about The Final Reckoning, I enjoy saying “wheeee!” to a motorcycle jumping onto a moving train or whatever. Also, Angela Bassett is here. (May 23)

Karate Kid: Legends Jackie Chan reprises his role from 2010’s The Karate Kid and Ralph Macchio, fresh off the All Valley over on the Netflix series Cobra Kai (watch it!), is Sensei Daniel LaRusso. (May 30)

The Phoenician Scheme The trailer for Wes Anderson’s latest is exactly what you’d expect with its studied symmetry and its retro, tactile settings and its familiar roster of players: Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeffrey Wright and Benicio Del Toro. (June 6)

Ballerina “From the world of John Wick” might be all you need to know about this movie starring Ana de Armas and bringing back many Wick Universe faves (Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, the late great Lance Reddick and Keanu Reeves himself). (June 6)

I Don’t Understand You Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells have promising chemistry and comedy chops in the trailer about a couple in rural Italy who are awaiting the birth of their baby and maybe also accidentally do a little murder. (June 6)

Materialists Writer director Celine Song (of Past Lives) offers this movie, billed as a rom-com, starring Dakota Johnson as a matchmaker, with Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal. (June 13)

28 Years Later There’s no discharge in the war. The eerie trailer for this third movie in the series that started with 2002’s 28 Days Later was probably the first trailer I saw that got me excited for a 2025 movie. Director and co-writer Danny Boyle is back along with co-writer Alex Garland for more zombie terrors. (June 20)

Elio The Disney Pixar movie I feel like I’ve been watching trailers for for years is slated for summer release. Elio is a human boy who accidentally is labeled as the leader of “uh, Earth” by visiting aliens. (June 20)

F1 Brad Pitt is a retired Formula One racer mentoring a rookie played by Damson Idris — which kinda feels like a plot to one of the Cars movies. The trailer suggests that this one is hoping for your IMAX dollars with its “you are there” driving scenes. (June 27)

M3gan 2.0 There’s a lotta “slay, b—-” energy in this movie’s trailer. Maybe a little too self-aware but I guess in this movie environment we take our cheap, silly thrills where we can get them. (June 27)

Jurassic World: Rebirth This franchise reboot does at least offer a trailer with fun Indiana Jones adventure-y vibes, what with the sneaking back to an island for dino DNA. (July 2)

Superman I mean, he gets to have his dog in this one so that’s nice. Director James Gunn and Superman David Corenswet give the Man of Steel another go. (July 11)

Smurfs Apparently this is a new Smurfs, not related to the 2010s Smurfs movies. “Rihanna is Smurfette”; also promising is the cast that includes John Goodman, Natasha Lyonne, Nick Offerman, Sandra Oh, Octavia Spencer, Amy Sedaris and Billie Lourd. (July 18)

Eddington Ari Aster (of Hereditary and Midsommar) writes and directs this movie about a New Mexico town during the pandemic — are we, like, ready for that? The trailer stressed me out, in a good way I think. Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Austin Butler star. (July 18)

I Know What You Did Last Summer New kids, new summer but Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. also return, which feels fun. (July 18)

The Fantastic Four: First Steps This Fantastic is, according to Wikipedia, the beginning of the MCU’s Phase Six. The Tomorrowland look is fun, at least. (July 25)

The Naked Gun I am in for this Liam Neeson-fronted remake (I guess he’s supposed to be the Leslie Nielsen character’s son). The trailer has that promising “stupid fun” vibe. (Aug. 1)

The Bad Guys 2 The animated book-to-movie series gets its second feature installment about Bad Guy animals turned Good Guys but roped, as IMDb says, back into one last Bad Guy job. Unlike some of the direct-to-streaming specials, we get the original voices: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Awkwafina and Anthony Ramos. (Aug. 1)

Freakier Friday Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan return as a mother and daughter who once body-swapped to learn valuable lessons — and now it happens again with two extra kids in the mix: Lohan’s character’s daughter (Julia Butters) and stepdaughter-to-be (Sophia Hammons). The trailer made me kinda hopeful? (Aug. 8)

My Mother’s Wedding Kristen Scott Thomas directed and co-wrote this movie where she also stars as the mother of three adult daughters (one of whom is Scarlett Johansson) gathering for the mother’s wedding. According to Wikipedia the film had a 2023 premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. (Aug. 8)

Nobody 2 The 2021 “what if John Wick but suburban dad Bob Odenkirk” action movie gets a sequel. (Aug. 15)

The Roses Billed as a remake of 1989’s The War of the Roses, this comedy stars Olivia Coleman and Benedict Cumberbatch — both of whom appear skilled with the dark comedy in the movie’s trailer — along with Allison Janney, Kate McKinnon and Andy Samberg. (Aug. 29)

The Toxic Avenger Wikipedia describes this movie as a reboot of a film series that started in 1984 and had sequels and Marvel comic books and played some film festivals in 2023 before it languished for a while without a distributor due to gore. And it stars Kevin Bacon, Peter Dinklage and Elijah Wood. Trailers look gross and fun. (Aug. 29)

Caught StealingBased on the book of the same name by Charlie Huston, this Darren Aronofsky-directed movie Has A Cast — D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs’ Bear), Vincent D’Onofrio, Regina King, Bad Bunny, Matt Smith, Zoe Kravitz, Liev Schreiber and Austin Butler. The plot description says it’s set in 1990s New York City — OK, I’m in. (Aug. 29)

Veggies, flowers and trees for a low-effort gardening season

Alright, if one more person tells me they’re not a gardener because they don’t have a ”green thumb,” I’ll scream.

Anyone can grow veggies and flowers, and even plant a tree. Let’s look at 10 plants that will grow for you, regardless of your previous experiences. Just remember, the plants you start will need your attention daily until they have established a good root system and can get enough water in dry times. But if you can brush your hair and teeth daily before going to work, you can visit your seedlings every evening and give them a drink of water if they need it. Once established, they won’t need so much attention.

1. ‘Sungold’ cherry tomatoes

This is a fantastic producer of one of the best-tasting tomatoes in existence. Buy plants from your local nursery. Like all veggies, it needs six hours of daily sunshine or more, average to good soil, and a little water when first planted and in times of drought. It is a big, tall plant, so plant it with a metal cage around it to hold it up, the biggest you can find, preferably 54 inches tall. One plant can easily produce 100 to 200 tomatoes over a long season. I’d suggest two plants minimum, as they taste so good you will eat many on the way to the kitchen. Plant 24 to 36 inches apart. They are relatively disease-free.

2. ‘Bolero’ carrots

This is the gold standard of carrots. Tasty, productive. Its only flaw is that the seeds are tiny so people end up planting them too close together, and then not thinning them by the Fourth of July as they should. One solution? Buy pelleted seeds. They are coated in clay so they are the size of BBs and easy to plant where you want them. Plant in full sun and an inch apart, then thin to 2 inches. Improve your soil with compost — one bag will do for an average seed packet. Carrots need plenty of nitrogen, so add a little organic fertilizer, too. Water daily until the carrots come up, and then weekly in dry times.

Although carrots come in many colors, I like the taste of conventional orange ones best. They certainly have more beta carotene than yellow or white ones. I had great luck with purple carrots last summer — they grew straight and gorgeous, but I found them a bit stringy. All carrots are a great source of vitamins B, C and K and potassium, fiber and antioxidants. Let your kids eat them right out of the ground, just wiped clean or sprayed with the hose.

3. ‘Black-seeded Simpson’ lettuce

Another workhorse readily available in six-packs from your local garden center. Much easier to buy small plants than to start seed. Full sun or light shade, decent soil. Pick leaves for sandwiches as they grow, or wait until they are full-sized and harvest the entire head of lettuce. If you buy seed, you can replant more lettuce every two or three weeks all summer. Be sure to thin out — lettuce seeds are small and it’s easy to plant seeds too close together.

Lettuce comes in many colors and textures. Your vegetable garden will come alive if you plant reds and greens or frizzy leaves and smooth leaves in patterns. Alternate them, planting seedlings 6 inches apart. Think of your garden as a painting, the plants as the colors and shapes that please your eyes.

4. Bush beans

Plant seeds in average soil in full sun after soil warms and there is no chance of frost. Bean seeds are big, easy to plant. Plant seeds 2 inches apart, thin to 4 inches. Rows 8 inches apart. Bush beans come in three colors: green, yellow and purple. The yellow ones have a distinct taste, but the green and purple taste the same to me. Purple beans turn a tepid gray when cooked, so serve them raw in salads when having guests. All freeze well.

Pole beans are easy to grow, too. ‘Kentucky Wonder’ is an old favorite. There is some extra work in growing pole beans: You have to build a trellis or cut some poles for a tripod they can climb. The rewards can be big: So long as you keep picking pole beans, they will keep or producing more beans. Not so for bush beans — they produce for three weeks and are done.

5. Verbenas

These are annual flowers that bloom all summer. There are many named varieties sold as plants ready to bloom at garden centers, all good. “Superbenas” are hybrids that are worth the extra price. They take hot and dry better than many annuals.

My favorite verbena is unusual: Brazilian verbena (Verbena bonariensis) is 4 to 6 feet tall on thin strong stems that need no staking. Monarchs love them for their pollen and nectar in late summer.

6. Marigolds

Marigolds come in a dozen sizes and colors — or more. They are a classic flower that loves hot, sunny places but will take some shade. They are quite fragrant. Great in containers or in the ground. Buy plants in six-packs to have plenty. Some people plant marigolds around their tomatoes to keep away insect pests. I’m not convinced that they really do that, but the color is a nice addition to the vegetable garden.

7. ‘Prairie Sun’ Black-eyed Susan

These flowers are a perennial that keep on blooming from July to Halloween. In Zone 4 or colder it is not fully hardy, so I buy some every year. Some survive my winters, some do not. It’s a great cut flower. Likes sun, but will take some shade. It isn’t really a black-eyed Susan, as the center eye is green. Another really hardy black-eyed Susan is called ‘Goldsturm.’ It blooms nicely, year after year, in late summer.

8. Catmint

Catmint (Nepeta faassenii) is a perennial that loves hot, dry locations. It has light blue flowers that bloom for a long time. Not to be confused with catnip; your cat will leave it alone — and so will bugs. Bees and hummingbirds like it, but deer and rabbits don’t. ‘Walkers Low’ is a good one, 24 to 30 inches tall and wide.

9. Fothergilla

This is a native shrub that blooms early in the season with white bottlebrush flowers. Its best season, however, is fall. It has great fall foliage with red, orange, yellow and purple leaves all on the same bush. Relatively slow growing, doesn’t require annual pruning. But that also means buy the biggest plants you can find. It takes time to get to full size — about 6 feet tall and wide.

10. Oaks of all sorts

These are the best trees for supporting pollinators as their caterpillars feed on the leaves. Caterpillars feed our baby birds, providing about 90 percent of their diet or more. Doug Tallamy, a Ph.D. entomologist in Pennsylvania, determined that a clutch of chickadees consumes between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars from hatching to fledging. If we don’t provide enough native plants like oaks, we won’t have food for our baby birds. You can help.

The pin oak (Quercus palustris) is one of the most used trees in the Northeast: it is fast growing and tolerant of pollution, compacted soils, road salt. A small one will grow 12 to 15 feet in five to seven years.

Think about planting an oak in the middle of your lawn as a specimen tree. It will attract birds, pollinators, and the acorns will feed wildlife. You don’t have to buy a seedling. In the spring look under an oak tree and try to find an acorn on the ground that has sprouted. Plant it where you want a majestic tree. Water weekly the first summer. Oaks are some of our most long-lived trees. I saw one in Pennsylvania at a Quaker meeting house that was said to be 300 years old.

Over the past 55 years I have planted more than 100 kinds of trees and shrubs in my 2-acre yard, and probably even more kinds of flowers. I eat veggies from my garden all year as I freeze and store them. Not everything works 100 percent of the time for me, but plants have evolved to succeed. So try planting some this summer. In the ground, in a pot or in a window box. You’ll be pleased and proud when your efforts succeed. I know I am.