Author: John Fladd

Intimidation-free sips

Wine Club takes some of the mystery out of wine

By John Fladd
jfladd@hippopress.com

The world of wine can be daunting. Nobody knows this better than Emma Round, the owner of Unwined Wine Bar in Milford.

“Wine is something that so many people are interested in and they enjoy,” she said. “But not many people know much about it. Some people find it a little intimidating, I think, because there’s so much to know when it comes to wine. What makes it worth drinking? Why are we paying $50 for this bottle of wine and $20 for this one? Wine can be very pretentious. And people in the wine industry can be very kind of elitist, if I’m completely frank. You don’t need to spend lots and lots of money on a really great bottle of wine and you shouldn’t be afraid to kind of ask questions and learn more about it.”

In order to answer some of these questions, Round has started a Wine Club that meets at her wine bar once each month. The club is designed to give an introduction to curious wine newcomers, and to introduce experienced wine enthusiasts to new labels and varieties of wine that they might not know about. Participants try a handful of wines, which Round uses to explain qualities like “tannins,” “astringency,” “dry versus juicy” and the differences between different types of wines. The wines are served with a charcuterie board of meats, cheeses, fruits and other foods with flavors that complement or contrast with them.

“So many people are very hard and fast about pairing food and wine,” Round said. “For me this is an opportunity to show how many things you can have with wine and how those different flavor profiles will affect the wine. Some people, for example, drink red wine and really enjoy sweets, fruits and chocolate, and other people really enjoy a peppery salami. But they both bring out very different profiles. It allows people to kind of get an understanding of their own palate and to also see what other people like and how other people react with it.”

At the first meeting of Unwined’s Wine Club, participants tasted wines from five basic categories: a white, a red, an orange wine (which, Round emphasized, is not made from oranges, but is orange in color), a rosé, and a sparkling wine (in this case, a dry prosecco). Round said future Wine Club presentations might feature different wines from a particular region, from within one particular style, or from one variety of grape.

After the first Wine Club, Round tried to get a feel for what the participants were interested in learning about.

“I handed out questionnaires to allow people to influence the direction that we’re going to take,” she said. “The majority of people seem to want to learn more about different regions and the wines that come from those regions. So going forward, I think that’s what we’re going to do. I think we’ll be starting in Italy, just because I am partial to my Italian wine — if you look at our wine list, there are a lot of Italians. … We’ll try to highlight some of those more like unknown grapes … like they’re on the shelves in the liquor store but you might not always pick them up because you don’t know what they are.”

“I spent a lot of time getting qualifications in wine,” Round said. I’ve spent a lot of time studying it abroad. And most people don’t really have the time or the energy to do that; I completely understand that. I think Wine Club is a chance for us to just kind of get to know wine better. For me, Wine Club is an environment where no one’s going to judge you. When we taste [wine] together, people will come up with some really interesting notes, but nobody is wrong, because everyone’s palate is different. It’s all so subjective.”

Wine Club

Where: Unwined Wine Bar, 1 Nashua
St., Milford, 213-6703, unwinednh.com
When: Third Wednesday of every month,
6 to 8 p.m.
Cost: $50 per person.

Featured photo: Photo by John Fladd.

A moo-ving experience

Christmas With the Cows returns to Canterbury

By John Fladd

jfladd@hippopress.com

According to Luke Mahoney, owner of Brookford Farm in Canterbury, the farm’s yearly tradition of Christmas With The Cows has its origins in Germany.

“My wife and her mother come from Dresden, Germany,” he said, “where they have this really fantastic Christmas market. And we now live on a farm. So we decided to merge the two worlds where the German Christmas street market meets an organic farm in the countryside. So there’s elements of both throughout the whole thing.”

Brookford Farm’s website describes Christmas With the Cows as “a celebration of our animals returning to their winter housing from their green pastures. Mostly outside, it has a festive atmosphere, with family-friendly DIY crafts, and farm fresh food.” Mahoney said that the food is a cornerstone of the celebration.

“It’s a merger of German cuisine and farm-to-table food,” he said. “Ninety-five percent of what is in the food is grown on the farm, but it’s German-inspired. There’s sausages and [farm-made] sauerkraut. We have cheese and latkes, which are potato pancakes, served with applesauce and sour cream from the farm. There will be quark balls [quarkbällchen in German], which is a real classic German Christmas market specialty. It’s a sort of a doughnut made with fresh quark cheese that we produce on the farm.” (Quark is described as a fresh, soft, and creamy cheese with a mild, slightly sour taste, similar to a cross between thick yogurt and cottage cheese.)

Mahoney said there will also be traditional German goulash and a traditional bread-like cake (or cake-like bread) called stollen.

“I think probably every part of Germany claims to have the best,” he said,” but Dresden is world-renowned for its stollen. When my mother-in-law came to the U.S. she brought the recipe with her, and we’ve been making it every year ever since. Again, it’s made with our own ingredients; we’re not growing the wheat, but the butter and milk come from our farm. We’ll have that for tasting, but also for sale.”

For many years, all of the farm’s fermented products were made by an employee from Russia, whom Mahoney described as “a wizard of fermentation.”
“Sadly,” he said, “this year, she actually passed away. But she wrote all her recipes down, and my wife led the sauerkraut production this year. Her son might be there to help us.”

All the farm’s dairy, Mahoney said, comes from 100-percent grass-fed Normandy cows, a French breed. Ironically, Christmas With The Cows is one of the few events that doesn’t feature Brookford Farm’s trademark Cow Parade, when the dairy herd returns from pasture to marching music. That’s down to the time of the year, Mahoney said.

“They’re in the barn for the winter,” he said, “so this is the one event where a parade is not included, but the cows are like ever-present. They kind of oversee the whole event from their barn and people can approach them, feed them hay, and folks can choose Christmas trees for them. We make a kind of mock Christmas tree forest in front of the cows, to make them part of the event.”

Christmas With the Cows
Where: Brookford Farm, 250 West Road,
Canterbury, 742-4084, brookfordfarm.com
When: three consecutive weekends, Nov.
29-30, Dec. 6-7, and Dec. 13-14, from 11
a.m. to 5 p.m. General admission tickets
(13+) are $14 through eventbrite.com or
$15 at the door. Tickets for children 4 to 12
are $9 online, $10 at the door. Children 3
and younger are free.

Featured photo: Cow at Brookford Farm. Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 25/11/27

• Wine week: Tickets are on sale now for the 20th Annual New England Winter Wine Spectacular slated for Thursday, Jan. 22, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown, 700 Elm St. Doors open at 6 p.m. for general admission, 5 p.m. for people with Advanced Entrance and Bellman’s Cellar Select tickets, according to nhwineweek.com. The Wine Week events will also feature Sommelier Select, on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Grappone Center in Concord which is a guided blind tasting, according to the website, where you can purchase tickets for that event as well.

• Farmers market goes indoors: The Concord Farmers’ Market has moved indoors for the season. Fresh, local products will be available Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon at 7 Eagle Square in Concord.

• Gingerbread decor: The Goffstown Public Library (2 High St., Goffstown, 497-2102, goffstownlibrary.com) will host a family gingerbread house decorating session Saturday, Nov. 29, from 11 a.m. to noon, and Wednesday, Dec. 3, from 6 to 7 p.m. in the children’s room. Pre-built gingerbread houses and decorating goodies will be provided; you just need to bring your imagination. Space is limited and registration is required. One registration per family please.

• Ramen bar: There will be a DIY Ramen Bar for tweens and teens (ages 10 and up) at the Maxfield Public Library (8 Route 129, Loudon, 798-5153, maxfieldlibrary.org) Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 4 p.m. Customize your own ramen with a variety of toppings in the Community Room. Feel free to bring Thanksgiving leftovers to create some wild options. Registration is encouraged.

• Holiday cooking with wine: On Wednesday, Dec. 3, from 6 to 7 p.m., LaBelle Winery Derry (14 Route 111, Derry, 672-9898, labellewinery.com/labelle-winery-derry) will host an interactive cooking demonstration and tasting featuring holiday cocktail party recipes. Sample each class recipe paired with LaBelle Wines. LaBelle’s chefs demonstrate the cooking processes and share culinary tips and techniques. Participants will also receive recipe cards so they can re-create the class recipes at home. The cost is $40 per person at labellewinery.com/public-winery-events.

A parade down Candy Cane Lane

Manchester’s Holiday Parade will have a sweet theme this year

By John Fladd
jfladd@hippopress.com

This year, Manchester’s annual Holiday Parade on Saturday, Dec. 6, will have a new route. According to a Nov. 3 press release from fire chief Peter Marr, “all parades moving forward … will start at Bridge Street and Elm Street continuing south on Elm Street and concluding at Elm Street and Central Street.” “This change improves security, traffic control, and allows for a stronger overall safety posture for events,” the release said.

For Sophia Koustas, chairperson of Manchester’s Parade Committee, this has an immediate practical impact: the need to dress in layers.

“We will be lining up on the [Notre Dame] bridge. and we want to make sure that everybody’s nice and warm,” she said. “I walked it on Veterans Day just to kind of see the route, and I had a windburn at the end of the day.”

Regardless of the weather, Koustas said the yearly parade is a tradition that showcases the pride Manchester has as a community.

“It’s an event that’s open to the [everyone] to participate,” she said. “Members of our community, businesses and organizations come together and bring the downtown area together. I live downtown, so being part of the parade gives me a different perspective of the sense of community that can exist here, and I really, really appreciate that.”

The Parade will be preceded by the Santa Claus Shuffle road race, where hundreds of participants will run a 3-mile course through downtown dressed in Santa suits, stopping to “enjoy samples from Santa’s four major food groups [cookies, maple, chocolate and candy] at four sweet stops along the route down Elm Street,” according to the event’s website. “Once the last runner from the Shuffle goes by the line, that’s when the parade gets started,” Koustas said.

The theme of this year’s Parade is “Candy Cane Lane.”

“That was not something that was just decided by a committee,” Koustas said. “We [the Parade Committee] shared about 10 different themes on social media for folks to vote on which theme they wanted, and Candy Cane Lane was the one that received the most votes. I know that there’s also another competition going on downtown with candy canes, and local businesses downtown will be decorating candy canes. So there will be competition with that also.” As always, Koustas said, this year’s parade will feature marching bands. “As of right now, we have the three [Manchester] high school bands joining us for sure. And I think we might have a couple more entries.”

Manchester’s traditional Grand Marshals for the Holiday Parade are Santa and Mrs. Claus, who will be on the final float in the parade.

“I’m looking forward to seeing people happy,” Koustas said. “We have been very fortunate that for all our participants that enter there’s a very positive spirit overall. It’s just nice to see people come together.”

Manchester Holiday Parade and Santa Claus Shuffle
Saturday, Dec. 6
Santa Claus Shuffle will take place at 3
p.m., preceded by Lil Elf Runs for children
at 2:30 p.m. Visit milleniumrunning.com/
santa.
The parade will begin at approximately 4
p.m. at the corner of Bridge and Elm streets
and will proceed south to Victory Park. Participants
and spectators are encouraged to
dress warmly

Featured Photo: Photo courtesy of Sophia Koustas.

It’s Midnight, it’s Merry

Concord holds nighttime Christmas block party

By John Fladd
jfladd@hippopress.com

According to Jessica Martin, the executive director of Intown Concord, Midnight Merriment is like a block party for downtown Concord.

“It’s really a shop-local event designed to promote the downtown,” she said. “The Main Street businesses stay open, many of them until midnight. There are a lot of fun promotions happening. Gibson’s Bookstore, for example, will have progressive discounts throughout the evening — the closer it gets to midnight, the more money you save.”

Martin said Intown Concord has worked to make Midnight Merriment welcoming to people of all ages and interests, regardless of the weather.

“We’ll have free hot chocolate while supplies last in Bicentennial Square,” she said. “We’ll also have free s’mores. There will be food trucks on Capital Street [and] a warming station in City Plaza, which is the area right in front of the Statehouse, where the tree will be. We have Santa at Arts Alley from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., so people can come down and take their pictures. He’ll be outside, in the courtyard, so people should dress warm. The Concord Arts Market will be in the Eagle Square atrium from 5 to 11 p.m.” This is an indoor space across Main Street from the Statehouse, she said.

As always, music will play a big role in Midnight Merriment, Martin said.

“DJ Nazzy will be with Santa, so that will be fun,” she said, “and we also have holiday music that will be piped in throughout the downtown so people can hear the holiday music as they’re going in and out of the stores. There will also be performances throughout the evening with carollers, and there will be a variety of different local singing groups.”

DJ Nazzy has been providing music for Midnight Merriment for more than 20 years. He said one of the secrets of choosing the right holiday music is to take cues from the people attending an event.

“It’s really knowing your crowd,” he said. “Let’s say you have a group of kids, you want to play music that is tailored to the kids, music that they’re going to enjoy. If it’s a bunch of adults, you want to play classic Christmas music that they grew up enjoying, music that they love. People love nostalgia. People love to relive the good old days of when they were young and they woke up Christmas morning and they experienced the Christmas magic. And I love creating that nostalgia.”

“You see people smiling if you’re playing Bing Crosby,” Nazzy continued. “That’s the type of multi-generational Christmas music that’s just passed down from generation to generation. Gene Autry, all those fun classic Christmas songs that grandparents love, parents love, kids, everybody. That’s why I’ve been doing this for so long, man. I love creating that vibe.”

Midnight Merriment
When: Friday, Dec. 5, beginning at 5 p.m.
Where: downtown Concord
More: Visit intownconcord.org and click
on the “Events” tab.

Featured Photo: Photo courtesy of Intown Concord.

Nashua’s big night

The Winter Stroll fills downtown

By John Fladd
jfladd@hippopress.com

The Winter Stroll is one of the biggest events of the year for Nashua.

“Actually, it’s the biggest,” said Alyssa O’Mara, executive director of Great American Downtown Nashua, the group responsible for organizing the Stroll. “It’s the biggest event that the city of Nashua hosts.”

The Winter Stroll, when Nashua’s Main Street is closed to traffic and attendees are encouraged to explore the downtown area, is one of the first big celebrations of the holiday season.

This year’s event will begin with a candle-lit procession.

“We’ll start our candle distribution for the actual stroll to the Christmas tree at the Center for the Arts this year, because Santa will be there during the day. We’ll stroll down to Water Street and then turn to go to the new pavilion stage right on the riverfront, where we have a 25-foot tree. After the tree is lit is when all of the other activities and vendors and attractions will open up to the public.”

A goal of this year’s Winter Stroll — the 30th one — is to engage everyone who attends, O’Mara said.

“One of the things that we requested this year is that any businesses that are set up on Main Street, if they’re not a craft-oriented, small retail booth, if they’re just a business, they have all been asked to have some kind of giveaway or children’s activity. Every booth will have something going on. So when people are waiting in lines for things they can be doing activities. Between businesses and sponsor tables and nonprofits and vendors we’ll have 40 to 50 booths in addition to the 20 or so food trucks and food vendors on the street. That’s in addition to the restaurants and stores that will be open.”

A new addition to this year’s festivities, O’Mara said, is a trackless train.

“There will be three train stops on Main Street, starting at the tree lighting stage, the pavilion stage there, and then halfway up Main Street will be a stop and then Center for the Arts for Santa will be a stop. It will just be looping all night long going up and down Main Street and it can fit 27 humans, adults and children, on it. Santa will be at the Center for the Arts all day, and we have the Mounted Police Unit on West Pearl Street this year at Santa’s Stables so people can go visit the horses. On the Center for the Arts side by Santander Bank, we’ll have one of our main attractions, a 40-foot tall, 100-foot long, three-lane snow tubing slide. And then on the opposite end of Main Street, just before the railroad tracks will be an artificial ice skating rink that has 60 pairs of skates that people can borrow for free.”

“And then, we have more than 50 performances happening.”

Nashua Winter Stroll
The 30th Annual Nashua Winter Stroll will take place Saturday, Nov. 29, along Main Street in downtown Nashua. Photo opportunities with Santa will start at 2 p.m. outside the Nashua Center for the Arts. A candlelight procession will start at 5:15 p.m. After the ceremonial lighting of a tree, Main Street will be open to foot traffic until 9 p.m. Visit downtownnashua.org/winterholidaystroll.

Here are some additional seasonal shopping events.

  • Record Store Day Black Friday, a separate event from Record Store day in the spring, highlights Nov. 28 releases; see recordstoreday.com for details.
  • Great American Downtown holds a Plaid Friday celebration Friday, Nov. 28, starting at 10 a.m. with the Nashua organization’s team setting up at Fortin Gage Flowers and Gifts, 86 W. Pearl St. in Nashua, to hand out Plaid Friday tote bags to the first 100 shoppers, with the bags “filled with goodies and special offers from participating businesses, according to an email from Great American Downtown. “From there, grab a map and explore exclusive deals, seasonal treats, and festive experiences throughout downtown,” the email said. See downtownnashua.org.
  • The Greater Manchester Chamber celebrates Small Business Saturday on Saturday, Nov. 29, kicking it off at Bookery, 844 Elm St. in Manchester, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. with refreshments, “a handout detailing the day’s deals” and more, according to manchester-chamber.org, where you can see a list of participating businesses and their plans for the day.
  • The Goffstown Main Street Program will hold Shop Small Saturday on Saturday, Nov. 29, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with craft booths on Main Street, community raffles and more, according to the Goffstown Main Street Program’s Facebook page.
  • The shops at museums can offer great gifts — that is the idea behind Museum Store Sunday on Sunday, Nov. 30, according to museumstoresunday.org, which lists participating museums including the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, currier.org; the SEE Science Center in Manchester, see-sciencecenter.org; Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, shakers.org; American Independence Museum in Exeter, independencemuseum.org; Portsmouth Historical Society in Portsmouth, portsmouthhistory.org, and more. — Compiled by Amy Diaz

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