The Hippo Press – Page 298

This Week 21/11/25

Big Events November 25, 2021 and beyond

Thursday, Nov. 25

Turkey day! But first, turkey trot. In the Nov. 11 issue of the Hippo (you can find the e-edition at hippopress.com), Meghan Siegler looked at charitable races, such as the many turkey trots scheduled for today. Find info on races today in Bow, Manchester, Derry, Hampstead, Merrimack, Windham and Exeter, among many other towns, in the story, which starts on page 10. Feeling ambitious? The Amherst Junior Women’s Club is also hosting the Trot Off Your Turkey 5K tomorrow (Nov. 26) and Bishop Brady High School in Concord is hosting its Galloping Gobbler 4-Miler on Saturday, Nov. 27.

Thursday, Nov. 25

After your turkey dinner, head for a ride to see the lights: The New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s annual Gift of Lights opens today and runs through Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022, in Loudon (running daily, Sundays through Thursdays from 4:30 to 9 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 4:30 to 10 p.m.). The show features 2.5 miles featuring 3.5 million lights with a variety of arches and attractions, according to nhms.com. Tickets cost $30 to $35 per car load ($60 per limo or bus). Upcoming theme nights are Dress Your Pet (Monday, Nov. 29), Crazy PJ Night (Tuesday, Nov. 30) and Crazy Sweater Night (Wednesday, Dec. 1).

Friday, Nov. 26

The Craftworkers’ Guild opens its doors for its Holiday Craft Shop at the Kendall House (behind the Bedford Library, 3A Meetinghouse Road in Bedford) today through Dec. 22. The show is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and online shopping is available at thecraftworkersguild.org.

Friday, Nov. 26

The Canterbury Shaker Village (288 Shaker Road in Canterbury; shakers.org, 783-9511) will hold a Holiday Open House today through Sunday, Nov. 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with free hot chocolate and cider at the museum store and Shaker Stories Tours at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 27

The Manchester Holiday Event, put on by New England Premier Events, runs today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Doubletree by Hilton Manchester Downtown featuring demonstrations, shopping, giveaways, swag bags and more, with proceeds to help the New Hampshire Breast Cancer Coalition, according to myneevent.com/upcoming-events. Tickets cost $5.

Saturday, Nov. 27

Enjoy the sounds of Neighbor at Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) tonight at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $20 general admission (plus fees).

Sunday, Nov. 28

Symphony NH presents Holiday Brass at 3 p.m. at the Dana Center (Saint Anselm College, 100 Saint Anselm Dr., Manchester; anselm.edu, 641-7000). Tickets $32 to $45.

Save the Date! Through Feb. 26, 2022

Get more light show at LaBelle Lights at the LaBelle Winery Derry location (14 Route 111), which opened last week and will run through Feb. 26, 2022. The light display is set up on the LaBelle Links golf course along a paved walking path with coordinated music and 15 light features that will be changed periodically throughout the run of the event, according to a press release. Tickets cost $15 and will be available for purchase onsite or in advance at the website, where you can find days and hours of operation (which are primarily Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from 4:30 to 9 p.m. with some additional days throughout the run). The LaBelle Links will also have a few special events and some theme weeks. See labellewinery.com.

Featured photo: 2020 Thanksgiving 5K. Courtesy photo.

Quality of Life 21/11/25

Hope in the face of homelessness

The Front Door Agency, a nonprofit that helps local families avoid and overcome homelessness, has kicked off its annual fundraiser, which last year helped 950 people in Greater Nashua, according to a press release. One of those people was Angela, a single mother from Nashua who had been involved in a series of unhealthy relationships and lost her full-time job, though even with her job she couldn’t afford rent. According to a New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority report, the cost to rent a two-bedroom unit in Hillsborough County is more than $1,600 per month, up 28 percent since 2016. “My daughter and I were literally facing homelessness,” Angela said in the release. “I’m motivated and educated. I could not believe it was happening to us.” After moving into one of the agency’s properties dedicated to single moms and their kids, Angela worked with a case manager to create financial goals. She is now working for a Fortune 500 company and makes enough to pay her bills and save money, her credit score is up, and she will leave Front Door Agency with the ability to afford market rent.

Score: +1

Comment: You can make donations at frontdooragency.org/giving.

That turkey’s gonna cost you

Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner, because it’s going to be more expensive than last year’s. According to a report from WMUR, experts are saying lack of food isn’t an issue; it’s inflation that’s driving things up. The Farm Bureau reported that the average cost of a Thanksgiving meal for 10 people this year is $53.31, a 14 percent jump from last year. And the centerpiece of the meal is a big part of that; the average cost for a 16-pound turkey is almost $24, up 24 percent from last year, according to the report. Workforce shortage and disruptions to the supply chain are contributing to that increase, New Hampshire grocers told WMUR.

Score: -1

Comment:John Dumais, president of the New Hampshire Grocers Association, told WMUR that grocers would be “able to provide everything the consumer needs in one form or another.”

Beware of holiday scams

AARP NH State Director Todd Fahey is warning consumers about calls related to holiday scams, saying that “the gift-giving process … brings a plethora of opportunities for scammers to enrich themselves.” According to a press release, these opportunities can include online shopping scams, scams involving the draining of gift cards, and package and shipping scams. An AARP survey showed some of the risky behaviors of shoppers: For example, 69 percent of Americans will use their debit cards this season, but credit cards and digital wallets are safer when shopping online. Sixty percent will buy gift cards off the rack, which is a known target for scammers, according to the release.

Score: -1

Comment: “This holiday season, serve your holiday cheer with a side of skepticism to help stay safe from increasingly sophisticated scammers,” Fahey said in the release.

Tiny home appeal

New Hampshire is the 6th best state in the country to have a tiny home, according to IPX 1030, a Fidelity National Financial Company. The rankings are based on tiny home cost, cost of living, median income, park land coverage, annual average temperature as well as tiny home legality and regulations in every state. The Granite State has the 4th lowest cost of tiny homes, with the average being $34,950, according to the report.

Score: +1

Comment: Though homes in top-ranking Georgia and Texas are more expensive ($43,819 and $48,120, respectively), those states’ average daily temps (62.3 and 66 degrees) are likely more appealing than New Hampshire’s average of 44.5 degrees; QOL would imagine that living in such a small space makes being able to go outside a key factor.

QOL score: 77

Net change: 0

QOL this week: 77

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

News & Notes 21/11/25

Covid-19 update	As of Nov 15	As of Nov 19
Total cases statewide	146,834	150,813
Total current infections statewide	6,295	7,604
Total deaths statewide	1,630	1,662
New cases	5,517 (Nov. 9 to Nov. 15)	3,979 (Nov. 16 to Nov. 19)
Current infections: Hillsborough County	1,925	2,368
Current infections: Merrimack County	681	846
Current infections: Rockingham County	1,150	1,386

Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.

Covid-19 news

State health officials announced 896 new positive test results of Covid-19 on Nov. 19, officially surpassing the 150,000 mark in the total number of cases reported since the start of the pandemic. The state averaged 876 new cases per day over the most recent seven-day period, an increase of 14 percent compared to the previous seven-day average.

Hospitalizations in the Granite State due to the virus also continue to be on the rise. “The health care system is extremely strained treating both patients with Covid-19 and those without Covid-19 who may have delayed care or preventative screenings, resulting in much more serious medical conditions,” New Hampshire Hospital Association president Steve Ahnen said in a Nov. 19 statement. “Our hospitals are struggling to find intensive care beds and have been forced to look across state lines to transfer patients due to lack of bed capacity.” According to the statement, there were 340 active hospitalizations statewide on Nov. 19, surpassing the record for the highest number set back on Jan. 1 of this year.

Meanwhile, the state has joined nine other states in filing a lawsuit against the federal government “for imposing a vaccine mandate on all workers at health care facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding,” according to a press release. New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella released a statement saying that “the new mandate … was not adopted in conformance with the law. … We are once again obligated to take action to protect the State from this illegal mandate and the burden it would place on our already strained health care workers and facilities.”

More fuel help

Granite Staters who use the New Hampshire Fuel Assistance Program will see an increase in benefit amounts, the New Hampshire Department of Energy announced last week. The increase comes due to “dramatic projected increases in heating fuels,” Interim Energy Commissioner Jared Chicoine said in a press release. Benefit amounts will increase by 60 percent over last winter for most beneficiaries and will range from $253 to $2,520, up from $158 to $1,575 last winter. The benefit amounts for qualifying households are determined based on factors like income, household size and fuel type, the release said.

Tax mandate ruling

The federal government will be barred from enforcing the ARPA Tax Mandate against New Hampshire and 12 other plaintiff states, according to a press release, after a United States District Court issued an order granting the plaintiff states’ request for a permanent injunction against the mandate last week. The lawsuit was filed on March 31 to invalidate the mandate, which would have prevented the plaintiff states from using ARPA funds to offset a reduction in net tax revenue resulting from state tax cuts. According to the release, this put the plaintiff states at risk of having ARPA money recouped by the federal government due to their enactment of state tax cuts. “The ARPA Tax Mandate was an improper and unconstitutional intrusion on the rights of New Hampshire’s elected policymakers to make decisions regarding State tax policy,” Attorney General John Formella said in the release.

Insta investigation

Attorney General John Formella has joined with attorneys general across the country to investigate Meta Platforms for providing and promoting Instagram to children and young adults despite knowing that using the social media platform is associated with increased risks of physical and mental health issues in young people, according to a press release. The release said the Meta’s own research has found that the risk of issues like depression, eating disorders and suicide have been associated with the use of Instagram. The investigation targets techniques used by Meta to increase how often and how long young users are on Instagram and the resulting harms, among other things.

Airport support

New Hampshire’s U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas announced last week that Manchester-Boston Regional Airport and Lebanon Municipal Airport will receive $9,786,943 in federal funds from Airport Rescue Grants funded under the American Rescue Plan Act to help airports adjust and maintain operations during the pandemic. Manchester-Boston Regional Airport will receive $8,735,862 and Lebanon Municipal Airport will receive $1,051,081, according to a press release. “This funding comes at a pivotal time right before the holidays, with a busy travel season on the horizon and supply chain issues impacting travel and commerce,” Shaheen said in the release.

Friends of Aine, which offers bereavement support services to children, teens and families, has opened its new location at 226 Coolidge Ave. in Manchester. The new space allows more support services, including four age-specific grief support spaces for children and teens and more peer-to-peer support groups.

Holly Stevens has joined NAMI New Hampshire as the nonprofit organization’s first public policy director. According to a press release, Stevens has been working in health policy for the past five years in Concord and said she will be working with mental health and suicide prevention advocates to effect change on the policy level in the state.

The towns of Salem, Epping and Groveton have been awarded funding totaling $500,000 to hire additional police officers, with Epping and Groveton each getting $125,000 and Salem getting $250,000, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. The grant funding comes from the Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program.

Edible Art – 11/18/21

If you’re looking to level-up your pre-big- meal offerings during this holiday season, charcuterie boards offer delicious bites in artful displays.

Also on the cover, find out where to get your Thanksgiving Day meal, whether you want to dine out or order out, p. 27. If you’re tired of IPAs, Jeff Mucciarone has some other brew suggestions, p. 30. And Jamantics are back for a live show, p. 36.

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Quality of Life 21/11/18

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This Week 21/11/18

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Pecan biscotti with a bourbon kick

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Pecan biscotti with a bourbon kick

It’s a week before Thanksgiving, and you may be up to your eyeballs with menu planning, grocery shopping and kitchen scheduling. Thus, you may wonder why on Earth you need a biscotti recipe this week. The answer is easy: They’re delicious and versatile.

If you have time to bake these before Thanksgiving they can serve many roles: a part of the dessert table, a breakfast offering for houseguests, a gift for the host. If you don’t have time to bake them now, save the recipe to use either as (1) a treat for yourself or (2) a homemade holiday gift that ships and stores well.

There are a couple notes for this recipe. First, it obviously contains alcohol. Some of the bourbon is used in the glaze, which means the alcohol doesn’t bake off. This might be considered an adults-only treat. Second, you want to use a bourbon that you would drink straight up or on the rocks. As it’s used in the biscotti and the glaze, its flavor will be prominent.

Michele Pesula Kuegler has been thinking about food her entire life. Since 2007, the New Hampshire native has been sharing these food thoughts and recipes at her blog, Think Tasty. Visit thinktasty.com to find more of her recipes.

Pecan biscotti with a bourbon kick
Makes 30

1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 Tablespoons bourbon, divided
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1½ cups powdered sugar
1½ Tablespoons bourbon
Skim milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on speed 2.
Add eggs one at a time, beating until fully combined.
Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons bourbon, mixing for 1 minute.
In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.
Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and blend.
Stir pecans into dough.
Divide dough in half.
Shape each half into a 10″ x 3″ rectangle, using floured hands.
Set loaves 2 inches apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the dough is set.
Leaving the oven on, remove the biscotti loaves and cool for 15 minutes on the baking sheet.
Then, using a chef’s knife, cut the loaves into diagonal slices, 1/2 inch thick.
Place the slices on the baking sheet with the cut sides down; brush with 1 tablespoon bourbon.
Bake for 8 to 9 minutes.
Turn slices over and bake for 8 to 9 minutes more.
Remove biscotti from the oven and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
Combine powdered sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons bourbon; stir well.
Add milk 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
Using a spoon, coat the top side of each biscotti with glaze.
Allow glaze to harden; then eat or store in a sealed container.

Photo: Pecan biscotti with a bourbon kick. Photo courtesy of Michele Pesula Kuegler.

This Week 21/11/18

Big Events November 18, 2021 and beyond

Friday, Nov. 19

The Peacock Players wrap up two weekends of presenting The Wedding Singer with a show tonight at 7 p.m. (as well as Saturday, Nov. 20, at 2 and 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 21, at 2 p.m.). The show runs at Court Street Theatre (14 Court St. in Nashua). Tickets cost $14 to $19 and are available at peacockplayers.org.

Saturday, Nov. 20

The 21st annual Fez-tival of Trees starts today at the Bektash Shrine Center (189 Pembroke Road in Concord; nhshriners.org) and is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. most days through Sunday, Nov. 28. See multiple fully decorated trees, which will be raffled off. Admission costs $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, and kids 12 and under get in free.

Saturday, Nov. 20

It’s another weekend to get in some craft fair shopping.

Today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the First Parish Church (47 E. Derry Road in Derry; 434-0628) will hold its 77th annual Sugar Plum Fair. In addition to crafters, find raffle baskets, a cookie walk and the Hungry Caterpillar food truck, according to fpc-ucc.org.

The YMCA Allard Center of Goffstown (116 Goffstown Back Road; graniteymca.org) will hold its craft fair from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. featuring more than 40 vendors, homemade baked goods, door prizes, membership discounts and more, according to the center’s Facebook page.

The Deerfield Community Church (15 Church St.; 463-7734, deerchurch.org) will hold its fair today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the website.

Londonderry High School (295 Mammoth Road; lhs.londonderry.org, 432-6941) will hold its craft fair today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the website.

Thorton’s Ferry School (134 Camp Sargent Road in Merrimack; 889-1577) will hold its annual holiday craft fair with more than 80 crafters and vendors from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a raffle room and silent auction, concession cafe, bake sale, book fair and a free Elf Clinic, according to pttf-events.com. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be there from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the website said.

Trinity Episcopal Church (200 High St. in Hampton; trinityhampton.org, 926-5688) will hold its Holly Berry Fair today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sister church Christ Episcopal Church (1035 Lafayette Road in Portsmouth; christepiscopalchurch.us) will hold its Holly Berry Fair at the same time, featuring a cookie walk, baked goods, a silent auction, crafters and vendors and more, according to the website.

Thrive Outdoors (190 Elm St. in Manchester; 625-6600, thriveoutdoorsnh.com) will hold a Crafts Holiday Fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Today and tomorrow, Nov. 21, check out the Bow PTO craft fair (Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) at Bow High School (55 Falcon Way in Bow). Admission costs $2 and the fair will feature more than 150 artists, according to bowpto.digitalpto.com.

The Spelled Out Psychic Fair and Full Moon Market will be held at the Hunt Memorial Building (6 Main St. in Nashua) today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free; the event includes psychic readers as well as crafters and more, according to a press release; see spelledoutshop.com.

The Seacoast Artisans 22nd annual holiday fine arts and craft show will run today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 35 Lafayette Road in Lafayette Crossing Plaza, Hampton. Admission costs $5 (kids 14 and under get in free). See seacoastartisansshows.com.

Sunday, Nov. 21

Catch the Freese Brothers Big Band today at 2 p.m. at the Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St. in Manchester; 668-5588, palacetheatre.org). Tickets cost $29.

Save the Date! Friday, Dec. 10

Matt Nakoa will play the Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Friday, Dec. 10, at 8 p.m. Tickets for the singer-songwriter’s show cost $22 (plus fees) in advance and an extra $2 at the door. See and hear Nakoa at mattnakoa.com.

Featured photo: Matt Nakoa. Courtesy photo.

Author: The Hippo Press

This Week 21/11/25

Big Events November 25, 2021 and beyond

Quality of Life 21/11/25

News & Notes 21/11/25

Edible Art – 11/18/21

Pecan biscotti with a bourbon kick

This Week 21/11/18

Big Events November 18, 2021 and beyond

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