Enjoy some long, lingering shots of military aircraft — old airplanes, new airplanes, airplanes going fast, airplanes doing crazy maneuvers — in the lookbook of sexy planes that is Top Gun: Maverick, a movie that also has some people, but mostly they’re incidental to all the cool airplanes.
Look, I like a flying machine as much as the next Josephine and, sure, the jets featured here are particularly cool, with all their aerobatic maneuvers. But this movie is way hotter for the airplanes than it is for any of the humans.
Good ole Pete Mitchell, a.k.a. Maverick (Tom Cruise), is still in the Navy, still smirking and ignoring orders and still flying faster than anyone on Earth, as one crew member says when he flies a hypersonic jet to Mach 10 despite being told to abort the experimental flight. (Because Maverick, who has got to be around Tom Cruise’s age of 59, is still a hot-shot pilot and not a crazy medical liability? Don’t think about it too hard, I guess.)
While that particular bit of insubordination should get him in some kind of trouble, instead he is sent to teach the young hot shot pilots the Top Gun fighter pilot training school. The Navy has only a few weeks to prepare for a mission to blow up some kind of secret nuclear facility in (unnamed) enemy territory. The mission involves flying through mountainous, anti-aircraft missile-studded terrain (it’s remarkably similar to the mission to blow up the Death Star) and Maverick is picked by his longtime friend, Admiral Tom Kazansky, Iceman (Val Kilmer), to be the one to teach the elite pilots who will go on the mission. The aggressively cocky pilots include Rooster (Miles Teller), as Lt. Bradley Bradshaw is known. The movie goes hard with some mustache styling and piano playing to convince us that Rooster is the son left behind by Goose, Maverick’s old friend and wingman who died in the first movie.
Maverick is nervous about training Rooster, whom he feels protective toward (and who also super hates Maverick), but takes the gig because Admiral Simpson (Jon Hamm) tells him this is his last chance to fly or something — those “Maverick and his superior officers” scenes don’t have much staying power. “Bark! bark! bark!” is how all of Hamm’s dialogue sounded to me.
Meanwhile, Maverick has a lady friend named Penny (Jennifer Connelly). She owns the bar everybody hangs out in, she has a daughter (not Maverick’s), they have a past and she’s basically happy to see Maverick again. She is not a person with an interior life and a personality beyond “bar owner who awkwardly kisses Maverick.”
We are still light on big movie star event films and this is definitely that, Tom Cruise being The Last Great Movie Star, as so many movie-critic-types have observed lately. While this isn’t his most personable or captivating role ever, it isn’t off-putting. And I have a soft spot in my heart for nostalgia — I loved the “let’s do original Star Wars again!” vibe of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and I am very excited for the forthcoming fifth season of Cobra Kai, which isn’t so different from Top Gun: Maverick in that it takes some iconic 1980s characters and catches up with them in the present. But from the initial cowbell-gong noises (you know the one) and “Danger Zone,” this movie started to wear me out.
While Cobra Kai has let those Karate Kid characters grow and let the world around them change and just generally has some perspective on itself, Maverickand Maverick are still solidly stuck in the mid 1980s. Sure, the Karate Kid movies were underdog stories and Top Gun comes from a more muscley overdog-type place, but they both existed in the very particular 1980s-y culture at roughly the same time. Top Gun: Maverick, though set in the now, feels like it is still there, still doing 1986, without even any “kids these days” differences between the pilots then and the pilots now. There is little sign that Maverick has in any way grown or lived a life for the last 35 years. The only acknowledgment that time has passed for him and that we’re in the present is when various people say the word “drones.”
If you go to this movie in the theater and have fun, that’s fine. The shots of two planes spiraling around each other or whipping through canyons are cool and are a pretty good argument for seeing things on a big screen. And the movie has a very kind Val Kilmer cameo.
If you wait and see this movie at home some Saturday evening, that is also fine — stunts aside, it is maybe, with the opportunity to rewind and to have “hey, remember in the first movie when” conversations, even the more fun way to view this movie. The movie itself feels C+ in its non-airborne moments, but I’d go to a B- if you really like planes and miss being at air shows.
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and some strong language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Joseph Kosinski with a screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, Top Gun: Maverick is two hours and 11 minutes long and distributed in theaters by Paramount Pictures.
Restaurants new and established will be offering the public an opportunity to discover their most popular options on Main Street in the Gate City during the Taste of Downtown Nashua, which returns on Wednesday, June 8, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., for the first time in three years. The 26th annual event will feature 19 participating locations for attendees to experience, as well as 16 retail shops for ticket holders to browse through.
In its 26th year, this celebration highlights locally owned businesses including restaurants, breweries showcasing their beer, and other food and beverage vendors sharing their specialties for all in the longest-running downtown tasting tour of its kind. Great American Downtown Executive Director Carolyn Walley looks forward to this event making Nashua look alive again. “The [event] is all about bringing people downtown inside the retail businesses while simultaneously trying the food that is offered,” Walley said. “I see the Taste as a kickoff to the summer and a kickoff to getting people back to enjoying local shops. There’s going to be three different bands and it should be a lively night.”
Main Street features a handful of new restaurants and retail businesses since the pandemic struck, and the June 8 event will help in creating more of an opportunity for these establishments to showcase themselves to locals effectively.
Caribbean Breeze, for example, just recently celebrated its grand opening on May 19. It’s the only restaurant around that offers different types of authentic food from five Caribbean islands, including Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Owner and founder Gerald Oriol said he hopes to share options such as chicharrones de pollo, curry chicken and more with the community on June 8.
“[For] anyone who comes into the restaurant … when they eat the food, they feel like they’re at home,” Oriol said.
Another restaurant scheduled to take part in this event is Raga Contemporary Kitchen, an eatery most notably known for its modern Indian food and complementing cocktails. General manager Saurav Goel said that the kitchen serves some of the world’s most famous versions of curries, and that those who choose to stop by can expect to try a variety of dishes from their appetizer menu including Punjabi samosa (potato- and pea-filled pastries), Delhi aloo tikki chaat (a crispy potato dish with sweet and spicy chutneys) and bhuna murgh (boneless chicken dry curry).
In addition to the foods, attendees ages 21 and older will have the opportunity to sample beer offered at The Flight Center and The Peddler’s Daughter, courtesy of Bellavance Beverage Co. Live music performances throughout the night will include Hunter, The Human’s Being, and the Nick Goumas Jazz Quartet.
According to Great American Downtown, each ticket purchased has a treasure map holding various “taste discoveries,” and those who purchase their tickets prior to the event will have the option to plan out their route based on which establishments they feel may suit them the best.
Taste of Downtown Nashua When: Wednesday, June 8, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Where: Main Street and several connecting side streets in downtown Nashua Cost: $45; tickets can be purchased online through Eventbrite Visit: downtownnashua.org
Participating food and beverage purveyors Bellavance Beverage Co. (bellavancebev.com) Caribbean Breeze (find them on Facebook @caribbeanbreezerestaurant) Casa Vieja Mexican Grill (find them on Facebook) Celebrations Catering (celebrationsmenu.com) Edible Arrangements (ediblearrangements.com) Empanellie’s (empanellies.com) The Flight Center Beer Cafe (flightcenterbc.com) Giant of Siam (giantofsiam.com) jajabelles (jajabelles.com) Joanne’s Kitchen & Coffee Shop (find them on Facebook @joanneskitchenllc) MT’s Local Kitchen & Wine Bar (mtslocal.com) The Peddler’s Daughter (thepeddlersdaughter.com) Raga Contemporary Kitchen (find them on Facebook @raganashua) Riverwalk Cafe & Music Bar (riverwalknashua.com) Riviera Nayarit (rivieranh.com) San Francisco Kitchen (sfkitchen.com) Stella Blu (stellablu-nh.com) Subzero Nitrogen Ice Cream (subzeroicecream.com) Surf Restaurant (surfseafood.com) Tostao’s Tapas – Bar (tostaostapasbar.com)
Featured photo: Scenes from the Taste of Downtown Nashua in 2018. Photos by Allegra Boverman.
Makers in all media — from robotics to arts to food — are invited to the NH Maker Fest, hosted by the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, on Saturday, June 4.
The Maker Fest, which celebrates its 10th anniversary, describes itself in the Maker Fest Manual as, “a gathering of fascinating, curious people who enjoy learning and who love sharing what they can do. … Fest visitors can spend the day discovering new things from the Makers either through hands-on activities, workshops, presentations or performances.”
“I think this annual event is important to have a place for people to showcase the things that they love. The whole thing about the maker movement is really built around community and sharing, as much as it’s about creating your own things,” said Wayne Moulton, who describes himself as a purveyor of magical memories.
Moulton and co-owner Kali, who is also his wife, will represent their STEAM enrichment business, Sages Entertainment, by walking around with their balloon puppet, a bird named Leo, and performing an on-stage magic show. Moulton participated in the Maker Fest from the beginning.
Multimedia artist Lindsey Castellon volunteered on the Fest’s planning committee and collaborated with the museum as an AmeriCorps VISTA member before she hosted her own booth as owner of Angry Gato Designs.
“Right now, I specialize in digital illustration, so in that realm I actually am able to apply it to a bunch of different things. My most popular items right now are my stickers,” said Castellon. “I’ve been a maker ever since I can remember. When I was a kid, I would just make stuff out of popsicle sticks, and I taught myself how to sew using my mom’s old sewing machine, and that was my preferred form of play.”
The makers encourage attendees to combine their natural passion for arts and sciences to make a positive change in the world.
Founder of Plastic Recycled Nathan Gray debuts at Maker Fest to do just that by refurbishing plastic waste into practical products, taking a “three-pronged approach to the global plastic waste crisis,” where those three prongs are to educate the community, collect plastics in the local and surrounding area, and refurbish the plastic into practical products.
“It’s a great opportunity to be able to work [with] the museum,” Gray said. “We’ve already done some legwork to create a bottle cap drive so people can actually start the process of thinking about plastic waste and how they can properly steward their plastic waste from home by collecting and cleaning their bottle caps and bringing them to the Maker Fest. With their bottle caps, they will be able to make keepsake, take-home sea turtles.”
The museum, in collaboration with Gray, will be collecting bottle caps before, during and after the Maker Fest to go toward the recycled construction of a park bench.
“We’re actually providing a bench so they can show it off as well,” Gray said.
Michael Roundy, co-founder and co-director of the Lowell Kinesthetic Sculpture Race, plans to display a sculpture as part of his presentation as well.
“The beauty of a sculpture is they can actually picture themselves on the sculpture, driving this thing,” Roundy said. “They’re, like, car-sized kind of vehicles, so there’s an impact of having the human-sized element that’s there.”
Roundy, who has previously participated in the Fest, returns to promote the race, which takes place in September. The race, inspired by similar events hosted in California and Maryland, encourages participants to combine technical construction with visual appeal to create a human-powered, sculptural vehicle capable of racing across multiple terrains, such as mud and water.
“Everyone is a maker in some way or another,” said Neva Cole, the museum’s communications director. “The fest is always such a fun time, and we’ve made it as accessible as we possibly can. It’s by donation; it’s a suggested $5 per person donation, but that is a suggestion.… Just come on by, because we don’t want anyone not to visit and not to participate because of financial situations.”
10th Annual NH Maker Fest When: Saturday, June 4, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Where: Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, 6 Washington St., Dover Tickets: suggested donation of $5 per person at entry (the event will also feature food vendors) More Info: childrens-museum.org/things-to-do/events/nh-maker-food-fest
When we think of summer drinking, cocktails usually aren’t the first thing to spring to mind.
We imagine a friend tossing a cold can of beer to someone at a clam bake, or sharing a bottle of chardonnay on ice on the deck of your summer house in the Hamptons. (I assume that you are a fancier person than me; it sort of goes without saying.) Mixed drinks fall somewhat farther down on the list.
But when we do get to actual cocktails, I, at least, find myself thinking about pitcher drinks. The idea of sharing extremely cold drinks with a group of friends seems really appealing. So let’s look at five summer drinks that lend themselves to pitcher-izing.
Because drinking cocktails by the pitcher is a generally social activity, let’s look at some potential parties that don’t require a huge amount of effort but complement those drinks. At the same time, that intensity of socializing can be stressful for some people, so let’s also include two summer drinks that lend themselves to drinking quietly and alone.
Getting Started – How to Scale Up a Cocktail Recipe
At first glance, making drinks by the pitcher seems pretty straightforward — just multiply each ingredient by the number of people you want to serve.
As soon as you start to do that, however, things get confusing.
“I want to make five of these, but will they fit in that pitcher? And what about the ice? Is there some sort of formula to calculate the volume of ice cubes? Does pi get involved somewhere in there? HONEY? DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT PI IS?”
As it turns out, math is involved, but it’s friendly Schoolhouse Rock-type math, not the “Two trains leave the station traveling in opposite directions” type.
• First, get yourself a pitcher. I used a standard 60-ounce food service pitcher — the type you would get drinks in at most restaurants. I wanted to be authentic about all this, so I bought it at a restaurant supply store.
• Next, add ice. It doesn’t matter what type of ice you use at this point — the stuff your freezer makes for you, ice tray ice, novelty shaped ice from a silicone mold, block ice that you’ve attacked with an ice pick (and if you’ve never tried that before, I heartily recommend it) — any of it will work. Fill the pitcher up about 1/3 of the way with the ice of your choice.
• Just add water. Top your pitcher off with water. It doesn’t have to be to the extreme, worrying-about-spilling-it top — just fill it to the level that suits you. The amount of water you just added is the same volume as the drinks you will want to make in this pitcher.
• Measure the water. This is where the math comes in. Remain calm. Pour the water out into a separate container, so you can measure it. Use a kitchen strainer and another pitcher or a large bowl to hold the water. Now measure it.
I like to use a digital kitchen scale, because mine has an option to measure ingredients in milliliters. If you want to use a scale but it doesn’t have the milliliter option, grams will work just as well. (Important tip: If you are a pharmacist, grams and milliliters are not the same thing. If you’re cooking or mixing drinks at home, they pretty much are.)
Alternatively, measure the water with your largest measuring cup. If yours has measurements along one side in fluid ounces, you are golden. Just write down how many ounces of water you just poured out.
The rest of us will have to do some calculations.
For instance, according to my kitchen scale, the non-ice volume of my pitcher is 1,240 ml. A quick internet calculation — “Convert 1,240 ml to fluid ounces” — indicates that I’m looking at a final cocktail volume of around 42 fluid ounces.
A pitcher with a drink-ready amount of ice. Photo by John Fladd.
Let’s say I’m making a pitcher of daiquiris. My recipe calls for two ounces of rum, an ounce of fresh-squeezed lime juice, and ¾ of an ounce of simple syrup. That works out to 3.75 ounces.
Now the math. Are you ready?
Divide the big number by the small number.
That’s it.
42 divided by 3.75 equals 11.2. Let’s round that out to 11. (You are welcome to round up or down freely; you can make up any difference with more or less ice.)
Now I know that for a pitcher of this particular drink I’ll need to multiply each ingredient by 11. I’ll make each round of drinks in the pitcher, adding the ice last, to bring the volume up to where I want it.
Which means that it’s time for a party.
Party #1: A Piñata Party
When my wife and I got married, we decided to have a backyard cookout for our rehearsal dinner. My wife planned the menu, chose the music, cooked five or six different side dishes, coordinated parking and got hotel rooms — in distantly separate hotels — for my parents.
I bought a piñata.
In my defense, the piñata was a solid call. My friends and family exist in a swamp of anxiety and social awkwardness that would intimidate the reed marshes of the Nile Delta. It was somewhat inevitable that at some point one of my friends would tell an off-color joke to a nun, or my mother would have a “just-being-honest” moment. If — OK, when — things got tense, I could shout out, “Hey, everybody! It’s piñata time!” We’d break open a piñata, people would be distracted, and we could quietly shuffle the conversation groups around.
I bought a piñata shaped like a large, red parrot. Because this was a special occasion, I went to a chocolate store and bought a couple hundred round, foil-wrapped truffles, and filled Polly pretty much to the top. I put her on the stairs leading up from the basement, where she would stay cool but we wouldn’t forget her.
On the day of the rehearsal, my soon-to-be father-in-law kept tripping over the parrot. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew it was in his way, so he relocated it to the kitchen counter, where he wouldn’t have to deal with it.
The piñata was now in my soon-to-be mother-in-law’s way, so she tasked my 6-year-old nephew with finding someplace to put it. He put it in the only empty space he could find — in the sun on the deck.
To make a long story short – several hours later, things did get awkward and tense at the dinner. I did announce “piñata time!” My new brother-in-law laid into the piñata with an awesome move he’d seen in a samurai movie. The piñata burst, splattering everyone at the party with melted chocolate. My wife’s maid of honor made a joke about “parrot blood” and a small child cried so hard that she did that dancing-in-place thing that only truly traumatized kids can do.
So, what I’m saying is that I’m a big fan of piñatas. And as such, I’d like to put in a word for making your own.
(1) Professionally made piñatas are built like dump trucks. They are almost impossible for casual, perhaps slightly inebriated, party-goers to break with a stick. This makes sense when you consider that they have to survive shipping from the piñata factory intact. If you make your own out of papier mâché, you can make it as fragile as you like.
(2) The hole in a standard piñata is about the size of a golf ball, which severely limits creative stuffing options. If you make your own piñata, you can leave a large access hole, fill it, then paper over the hole. In the reference photo to the right, I have filled my partially completed piñata with a copy of the Mr. Boston Bartending Guide, 10 pairs of socks and a can of chickpeas, with enough room left over for a live cat. [Editor’s note: This is just a fanciful amount-of-space descriptor. Do not attempt to put a live cat in a piñata. Don’t @ us, cats.]
What drink accompanies a piñata?
A margarita is a summertime classic; a cucumber one, doubly so. There are only three ingredients in this, so you will probably want to splurge on a decent tequila. The bar in Albuquerque where I first had this suggested Hornitos. Who am I to argue with them? This is a pitcher-drink natural.
One Cucumber Margarita
3 slices (~45 grams) cucumber with skin
2 ounces Blanco tequila – I prefer Hornitos
1 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
¾ ounce cucumber syrup (see below)
Muddle the cucumber slices thoroughly in the bottom of a cocktail shaker.
Add ice, lime juice, syrup and tequila. Shake until very cold.
Strain into a chilled rocks or margarita glass.
A Pitcher of Cucumber Margarita
1 medium cucumber, unpeeled and sliced – about 300 grams.
22 ounces blanco tequila – roughly 3 cups
11 ounces fresh squeezed lime juice
7 ounces cucumber syrup – one scant cup
Muddle the cucumber slices in the bottom of your pitcher. I use the pestle from my largest mortar and pestle — it’s about the size of a billy club — but a potato masher would work well, too.
Add the lime juice, syrup and tequila. Stir gently but thoroughly. Top the pitcher off with ice, and stir again.
This pitcher recipe is deliberately a little intense. If you prepare it about 20 minutes before serving, the ice will dilute it just enough. It will be perfect.
Cucumber Syrup
Ingredients
Equal amounts, by weight, of cucumbers and white sugar. Any type of cucumber — whatever makes you happy, or is threatening to take over your garden.
Wash, but don’t peel, the cucumber. Chop it to a medium dice.
Freeze the cucumber chunks for an hour or so. Ice crystals will form and perforate the cell walls inside the cucumber, making it more enthusiastic about giving up its juice.
Combine the frozen cucumber and sugar in a saucepan, over medium heat, stirring occasionally. As it thaws, the cucumber will start giving off a surprising amount of liquid. You really won’t need to add any water.
As more liquid appears, mash the cucumber with a potato masher, just to encourage the process along.
Bring the mixture to a boil, and let it boil for 15 or 20 more seconds, to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved into solution.
Remove the pan from heat, cover, and steep for 30 minutes.
Mash with the potato masher one more time, then strain and bottle.
This isn’t actually a step, but have some of this cucumber syrup on your yogurt. You will start smiling at people in traffic.
Cucumber Margarita and Tres Leches Cake. Photo by John Fladd.
Julia Child once said that any party without cake is just a meeting. She was very wise.
If you aren’t familiar with Tres Leches Cake, you are in for the dessert ride of your life. It is the Prince of Cakes and a perfect accompaniment to our margarita and piñata.
Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
1 boxed yellow cake mix + ingredients needed to bake it.
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup (8 ounces) half & half
2 cups heavy cream
simple syrup to taste
Prepare the boxed cake mix according to instructions, in a 9×13” pan.
Allow it to cool thoroughly.
Using skewers or sharp chopsticks, poke holes in the cake, every ½ inch or so.
Mix evaporated milk, condensed milk and half & half together in a large measuring cup.
Pour over the cake, still in its pan. It will puddle on top; do not panic. The cake will eventually absorb all three milks (todos de tres leches).
Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least eight hours. This cake is at its best ice-cold. The extra time in the fridge will also allow the cake and milk mixture to meld at an almost philosophical level.
Just before serving, whip the heavy cream with just enough simple syrup to be lightly sweet. Cover the cake with the whipped cream.
“Wait a second!” you say. “That’s not tres leches! The whipped cream makes it cuatro leches!”
And you’re right, of course. Nevertheless, whether or not this cake is misnamed, you will become a convert after your first — then your inevitable second, third, etc. — bite.
Do you remember mushing birthday cake together with vanilla ice cream when you were a kid? The mixture of cake and ice cream was one of the best parts of going to a birthday party. This is like that — only thought out and designed to provide the perfect cake-to-dairy ratio. The slightly stodgy sweetness of the cake is balanced by the ice-cold milk glaze that you have soaked it with. If you use a light hand with sugar syrup in the whipped cream, you will balance the in-your-face nature of the dairy-soaked cake with something unexpected: subtlety.
Party #2: A Tomato Brunch
Burrata is the piñata of cheese.
Imagine a shiny, white, perfectly smooth ball of mozzarella, sitting modestly on a plate.
Now, imagine an Italian hand model — let’s call her Bianca — picking up a silver serving knife, and gently but firmly cutting into it, revealing an inside filled with cream and a fluffy über-cheese called stracciatella.
We might stand in a mild state of shocked wonder, and think vaguely about asking for some of this burrata — because that is what it is called, burrata — but we wait just a little too long and miss our window of opportunity. Bianca deftly transfers the burrata — mozzarella, stracciatella and all — to a serving platter and carries it out to the balcony, where a count in a tweed jacket waits for her.
Steven Freeman thinks about this sort of thing a lot. Freeman is the owner of Angela’s Pasta and Cheese Shop in Manchester, and he takes burrata very seriously. Even more so the stracciatella that it is filled with.
“If you love burrata, you will lust after stracciatella,” he assures me.
He is feeling extremely ardent about stracciatella at the moment, because after many, many months of trying to get his hands on some, he has finally tracked down a source and has started selling it in his store. He assures me that if I were to eat fresh stracciatella with perfectly ripe tomatoes and pink salt, I might reassess some of my priorities in life.
I buy some stracciatella and hunt down a really good tomato. I take the pair home, thank the tomato for the sacrifice it is about to make, then slice it up and spoon some of the cheese onto it.
Bloody Maria served with sliced tomatoes and stracciatella. Photo by John Fladd.
Freeman wasn’t lying.
I mean, I’m not going to quit my job and abandon my family to run off with a pint of Italian cheese or anything, but it is very, very good. It is intensely creamy and is perfectly set off by the acidity of the tomato.
Which reminds me that we are only a month or so away from tomato season and when the really good tomatoes hit the farmers markets, we should have a tomato party. Or in this case, a brunch.
For the food, I suggest tomatoes, olives and cheese. Perhaps some pumpernickel toast, if you are feeling especially adventurous.
For the beverage, there is really only one logical candidate, when you think about it: bloody marys, or bloody marias, in this case. Contrasting fresh, ripe tomatoes with a perfectly seasoned glass of tomato juice with a hint of tequila in the background will make for an excellent accompaniment to nice people and good conversation.
One Bloody Maria
2 ounces Blanco tequila – again, I prefer Hornitos
4 ounces freshly squeezed tomato juice (see below)
½ ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
1½ teaspoon prepared horseradish
½ teaspoon miso paste
1 teaspoon of your favorite hot sauce
A pinch of celery salt
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake vigorously, for longer than you normally would — at least one full minute — to make sure the miso dissolves completely.
Pour into a tall glass and for the sake of all that is good and decent in the Universe, please do not garnish the glass with 72 items. They would only distract from the tomato-ness of the situation.
If you have gotten a decent batch of tomatoes, sitting with pleasant company and actually paying attention to your bloody maria will be a bit of a revelation. A perfectly ripe tomato (see below) is a complex and beautiful fruit. Its natural sweetness and acidity will play off the savoriness of the miso and the bite of heat from your hot sauce.
A Pitcher of Bloody Marias
14 ounces Blanco tequila – 1¾ cups
28 ounces fresh squeezed tomato juice (see below)
3½ ounces fresh squeezed lemon juice
3½ Tablespoons prepared horseradish
3½ teaspoons miso paste
3½ teaspoons hot sauce of your choice
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon celery salt
If you have a very large jar with a tight-fitting lid, add all the ingredients to that, then seal and shake it vigorously. If you do not own such a jar, add all the ingredients to your pitcher, then blend briefly with an immersion blender. If you do not own a large jar or an immersion blender, add all the ingredients to your pitcher, then mix vigorously with a whisk.
If you have not done so yet, transfer the mixture to your pitcher, then top it off with ice.
Serve in tall glasses and drink while listening to Herb Alpert.
Homemade Tomato Juice
To make the really good stuff, you’re going to have to search through the farmers market for the right person. You can look over the tomatoes themselves, but ultimately you are going to have to put your fate in the hands of the person selling them.
Establish your credentials by telling them that you are making bloody marys — specifically, bloody marias. He or she will nod, unsmiling, at you. If they ask how many tomatoes you want, get six pounds. That sounds like a lot, but it is what you need.
The tomatoes you get will not be pretty, but like the person you chose to sell them to you, they have seen some things. These will be tomatoes with some mileage on them.
How to juice your tomatoes:
Wash your tomatoes, but don’t bother to core or peel them.
Working in batches if you have to, blitz them in your blender.
Strain them through a fine-mesh strainer.
In a large pot, bring the tomato juice and two teaspoons of salt to a boil.
Remove from heat and chill overnight in the refrigerator.
Tomatoes have a naturally occurring enzyme that kills off a lot of their flavor if they are exposed to cold temperatures. Bringing the juice to a boil neutralizes those enzymes and allows some of the more subtle flavors of the tomatoes to remain, even after chilling.
Party #3: A French Fry Party
Last year, we threw a french fry party.
It was supposed to celebrate a crop of really spectacular potatoes that I had raised over the summer, but the potatoes had other ideas and we ended up just buying potatoes and frying them ourselves. The party was extremely successful, but custom-frying that many potatoes turned out to be extremely labor-intensive.
French 75 served with your guests’ french fry favorites. Photo by John Fladd.
So I’ve had an idea: We invite extremely nice and cool people — more or less the same friends we had over last year — but each of them needs to bring a bag of their favorite frozen potatoes and an air fryer if they have one. We set up air fryers at strategic points around the kitchen and dining room, and each guest can make their own custom french fry mixture — hypothetically, a combination of shoelace fries, tater tots and smiley-face fries.
And to drink? A couple of years ago, a major Champagne producer announced that the perfect drink pairing with french fries is — surprise, surprise — Champagne.
I’ll buy that — I can see where a Champagne enthusiast would really like the contrast of the cold, dry bubbly and the hot, salty fries — but I think we can take things a step further, to a classic cocktail called a French 75. Champagne still plays a lead role, but it is backed up by gin, lemon juice and simple syrup. In this iteration I’ve subbed out the simple syrup for a slightly less simple rhubarb syrup, which adds an extra element of complexity to this drink and gives it a pretty, pink color.
One French 75
1 ounce dry gin – I like Wiggly Bridge for this
½ ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
½ ounce rhubarb syrup (see below)
3 ounces Champagne
In a cocktail shaker, combine gin, lemon juice and rhubarb syrup, over ice. Shake vigorously.
Strain into a Champagne flute. Top with Champagne.
Feel very classy as you drink this, in between snarfing down your fries.
A Large-ish Batch of French 75s
It is totally possible to prepare this drink ahead of time, at least partially, but it requires some more math. A single French 75 calls for three ounces of Champagne. A standard bottle of sparkling wine contains 750 milliliters, or just over 25 fluid ounces. That means that we should prepare enough non-Champagne mixture for eight cocktails for every bottle of Champagne.
8 ounces dry gin
4 ounces fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 ounces rhubarb syrup (see below)
1 bottle Brut Champagne
Using a funnel, fill an empty bottle — a fancy decanter, if you have one — with the gin, lemon juice and rhubarb syrup. Cap and shake to combine.
Chill for several hours, or overnight.
To serve, pour two ounces of the mixture into each Champagne flute, then top with Champagne.
Rhubarb Syrup
Wash, then chop fresh rhubarb to a medium dice, then freeze overnight. Alternatively, buy pre-frozen, pre-chopped rhubarb.
In a saucepan, combine the frozen rhubarb and an equal amount (by weight) of white sugar and a pinch of salt.
Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, to fully dissolve any sugar into solution.
Remove from heat, cover, and allow to steep for 30 minutes.
Strain and bottle. This should keep in your refrigerator for about a month.
Party #4: Scorpion Bowl for One
“This is all well and good,” you might say, “if I were a Party Person. I used to think I liked parties, but at this point in my life, after a long week at work, the only socializing I want to do is with my houseplants.”
That’s a fair point. Let’s see what we can do for you.
A Scorpion Bowl for One (and maybe your houseplant). Photo by John Fladd.
Many of us went through a phase in our youth of ordering absurd numbers of absurd drinks. Perhaps the most absurd of those drinks was the Scorpion Bowl.
Scorpion Bowls — a mixture of fruit juices and injudicious amounts of alcohol — were always served in elaborate bowls with several straws. The conceit of the cocktail is that it was supposed to be shared with a group of friends. In point of fact, I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen anyone sharing one.
But can we re-engineer a Scorpion Bowl to bring that same sense of adventure to an evening with the houseplants, without the dread of danger that accompanied it in our youth?
A Traditional Scorpion Bowl
2 ounces fresh squeezed lime juice
4 ounces fresh squeezed orange juice
1½ ounces simple syrup, or better yet, rhubarb syrup (see above)
2 ounces orgeat (almond syrup)
2 ounces brandy
4 ounces dry gin
4 ounces golden rum
Divide the amount of ice that you would normally put in your pitcher in half. Put one half in your pitcher.
Add all the ingredients to the ice in your pitcher.
Wrap your remaining ice in a tea towel. Beat it mercilessly with a blunt object, until the ice is shattered into several different-sized pieces.
Add the brutalized ice to your pitcher and stir to combine all ingredients together.
Pour into a large bowl or flower vase and garnish with several oversized straws to help sell the lie that this will be shared.
A Scorpion Bowl for One
⅔ ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
1⅓ ounces fresh squeezed orange juice
½ ounce simple or rhubarb syrup (see above)
⅔ ounce orgeat (almond syrup)
⅔ ounce brandy
1⅓ ounces dry gin
1⅓ ounces golden rum
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker.
Wrap 15 or so ice cubes in a tea towel and shatter them with a blunt object.
Add the shattered ice to the shaker and shake your cocktail thoroughly.
Pour unstrained into a tiki glass or other whimsical container. Drink with one straw.
The genius of a Scorpion Bowl is that someone very carefully made a list of classic Tiki drink ingredients and chose seven that complement each other beautifully. The limes are sour and acidic. The oranges are sweet and acidic. The syrups smooth out the acidity, which in turn keeps the syrups from making things sickly sweet. Almond is a classic, get-along-with-everybody ingredient and serves as a bridge between the different liquors, which might not get along with each other otherwise.
Party #5: Just You and Jackie O’
“Alas,” I hear you sigh. “Even that is a little more intense than I was looking for. I want something I can enjoy with a good book in the hours after I load the kids on the bus to summer camp. Do you have anything like that?”
The Jackie O’s Rose, for a quiet moment. Photo by John Fladd.
As it happens, I do. Let’s set you up with a Jackie O’s Rose.
Think of this as a rose-kissed daiquiri. It’s a combination of standard daiquiri ingredients — white rum, simple syrup and lime juice — with a drop or two of orange curacao and a hint of rose water. The lime and the rum are extremely refreshing, and the rose water makes it a tiny bit exotic. It’s a very good sitting-by-yourself cocktail. It asks nothing of you. It just sits with you and enjoys your company.
Jackie O’s Rose
2 ounces white rum
½ ounce orange curacao
1 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
½ ounce simple syrup
½ teaspoon rose water
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, and shake with ice.
Pour into any glass you choose. Strain the ice out if you want to, or leave it in. This is a very undemanding drink.
Drink in calm and silence.
A Pitcher of Jackie O’s Rose
20 ounces white rum
5 ounces orange curacao
10 ounces fresh squeezed lime juice
5 ounces simple syrup
1 ounce rose water
Combine all ingredients in a pitcher.
Top with ice.
Stir.
Serve in a variety of glasses and teacups.
Yes, I know. You wanted to be alone. But what if you’ve got four friends who want to sit quietly with you?
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.
Covid-19 news
On May 26, state health officials reported 3,920 new positive Covid-19 test results between Thursday, May 19, and Wednesday, May 25, as well as seven additional deaths due to the virus occurring during the previous week. As of May 26 there were 33 hospitalizations statewide.
Finding formula
Babies up to 12 months of age should only be fed breast milk or infant formula, despite the ongoing formula shortage. According to a press release from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, hospitals across the state are helping pediatricians with formula for their infant patients as much as they are able. “First and foremost, parents and caretakers should check with their infant’s pediatrician before switching formulas,” DHHS Commissioner Lori Shibinette said in the release. “Your child’s doctor can assist in finding an available and comparable alternative.” The state’s Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children has temporarily expanded the brands, container sizes and forms of baby formula so parents and caregivers enrolled in WIC have access to all possible substitutions. And DHHS is urging families to avoid potentially dangerous alternatives — for example, diluted formula can cause nutritional imbalances in infants; homemade formulas do not meet an infant’s nutritional needs; cow and goat milk and non-dairy alternatives like soy and almond milk lack nutrients an infant needs; and formula purchased online that is shipped internationally is not regulated by the FDA and may not be safe, the release said.
File now
The filing period for candidacy for the state primary election and general election is now through June 10 at 5 p.m. According to a press release from New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlon, Democrat or Republican candidates filing for the state primary for all offices except State Representative or delegate to the Republican State Convention must file with the Secretary of State’s Office. Those running for Representative to the General Court or Delegate to the Republican State Convention must file at the clerk’s office in their town/city of residence. All of these candidates will have to file a Declaration of Candidacy and a Statement of Financial Interests, and pay the administrative assessment fee or submit the required Primary Petitions accompanied by an Assent to Candidacy, while candidates for Delegate to the Republican State Convention will be required to file a Declaration of Candidacy. Candidates for all offices who intend to run in the general election as unaffiliated with a recognized political party and political organizations that intend to run a slate of candidates must pay the administrative assessment fee and file a Declaration of Intent and a Statement of Financial Interests with the Secretary of State, the release said.
Shaker history
Efforts are being made to designate Canterbury Shaker Village a National Historic Area. According to a press release, Sen. Maggie Hassan recently visited Shaker Village to tour the property and talk about how she is leading this effort. “This designation would allow this cultural staple to receive up to $1 million annually in federal funds and show our country the pride that New Hampshire takes in our rich history,” Hassan said in the release. Hassan toured the Meeting House, Dwelling House and Laundry, and she got a sneak preview of “Wilderness: Light Sizzles Around Me,” an exhibition by renowned artist Lesley Dill that runs through Sept. 11, featuring sculptures and two-dimensional works. Canterbury Shaker Village interprets Shaker life through exhibits, buildings, gardens and programs and is a member of the NH Heritage Museum Trail, which connects the public with culturally rich heritage institutions in New Hampshire, the release said.
U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan along with U.S. Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas attended the Memorial Day ceremony at the New Hampshire Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen on May 30, “to recognize and honor the sacrifice that generations of Granite Staters have made in service to our nation,” according to a press release.
The Eversource Walk & 5K Run, on Thursday, June 2, at 6:30 p.m. at Veterans Park in Manchester, is back in person this year. According to a press release, the event is a fundraiser for Easterseals NH and is family-friendly, with a free kids’ fun run at 5:30 p.m. and Wellness Alley, featuring local vendors offering free demonstrations, giveaways and more.
Dr. Mario Andrade will serve as the next Superintendent of Schools for the Nashua School District. According to a press release, the Nashua Board of Education voted 7-1 in favor of hiring Andrade at a special meeting May 26; he will replace Dr. Garth McKinney, who has served as interim superintendent since Dr. Jahmal Mosley stepped down in January 2021. Andrade served in three roles at the Nashua School District during the 2020-2021 school year, first as assistant principal at Nashua High School South, then as principal at Elm Street Middle School, and finally as Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Schools, each in an interim capacity, the release said.
Beginning in 1996 with Bringing Down the Horse, The Wallflowers became a band in name only, with a singular vision. “There’s really no one lineup that ever made two records,” Jakob Dylan said by phone from Los Angeles in mid-May. “One person is actually putting the ideas together, and that’s always been me.”
That tradition continued with last year’s Exit Wounds and a lineup including producer Butch Walker, session ace Val McCallum (who played on 2002’s Red Letter Days) and singer Shelby Lynne. Led by standout tracks like the raucous “Dive Bar In My Heart,” the tender ballad “Darlin’ Hold On” and “Who’s That Man Walking ‘Round My Garden?” — an homage to Dylan’s guiding light Tom Petty — the new record is a solid addition to a stalwart catalog.
Here’s an edited transcript of Dylan’s interview with The Hippo.
How did the songs on Exit Wounds come together?
Refining songs is the dirty work, but you can’t start with nothing. You have to have a bunch of ideas sketched out, and then when you’re going to be recording, you gather all those ideas up. So, I would not say I wrote this record all in one sitting. I had collected song ideas a couple of years before that. It takes the motivation, the excitement of getting in a studio to really go to work on them and make them what you hope they’ll be.
Butch Walker produced — what was that like?
Butch is one of the rare people who can do a little bit of everything, and he does those things better than most people in the room [and] he’s a songwriter…. One of the more important assets that I need in the studio is somebody who understands and has the range to make these songs as strong as they could be. Because … a songwriter always thinks their new songs are their best songs, which is rarely true. I always work better with somebody around who does the same work that I do to bounce ideas off of.
Shelby Lynne was another fantastic element; you mesh so well together. Do you go back?
No, we don’t … we run in similar circles [and] she was always on my wish list. Val McCallum, who plays guitar on this record, worked with her a lot. He mentioned her one day. Butch and I lit up thinking we should call, and we should ask. It’s very organic to do it that way, rather than calling through agents or something.
You worked during a fairly tumultuous time in the country. What were you thinking about when you put it together?
You can find a way to translate those things into an individual perspective without having to use a lot of words that I don’t think really sound good in a song … there are other ways to write about how they affect you as a person, how you see things, rather than hit the nail on the head.
Yes — “Move the River” is a good metaphor, and it’ll endure.
Well, yeah, I appreciate that, thank you. Because that is how I prefer to do those things, rather than put buzz words in songs — thoughts and prayers, and all that. Like, it’s too timely. Songs should be timeless. So, that is a song where, yes, I did try to find a way to write about current times, [but] if you haven’t been paying attention, and you live under a rock, I hope you can still like the song without really caring what it’s about.
What are your memories of Tom Petty?
He was a huge impact on my life, my career. When I was a teenager, I got to watch him from side stage. I visualized forming my band in that same mold [as] the Heartbreakers. I thought that band could do anything, they’re one of the best American rock bands that we’ve had, so I thought that was a good starting place…. I found that with younger artists, he was only complimentary and encouraging, which is not always the case [with] some people from the generation before me. Maybe perhaps they feel threatened by the next generation. Which is ridiculous; if you’ve made your mark, you shouldn’t be worried about those things. I always found that Tom wanted the younger crowd to come in and be great, he wasn’t threatened … and he was encouraging, he understood that, in kind of a patriarchal parental tone, with a lot of artists. He wasn’t there to be competitive with you. He was encouraged, and he wanted to transfer that music, and he was so moved by younger people, he wanted them to be great. There’s a different spirit with everybody, and his was just very powerful and very strong. It was very positive.
Over 30 years of performing, what’s changed for you, and what’s stayed the same?
Well, that’s a broad question. A lot has changed. I don’t know that I’ve changed too much. The record business has really changed; I don’t know if there is one anymore. But that’s OK, things change. They have to, and you find other ways to do your thing, and hopefully make a living. People think that’s a dirty word, but everybody has to work. That’s what I chose to do a long time ago, and it’s treated me very well. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t remember, you know? It’s been a long time. I see pictures, it doesn’t look familiar, but I was there. It’s a long time for anybody to be doing any one thing, and sometimes I don’t believe that my first record was 30 years ago. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. But, you know, the calendar doesn’t lie.
Given your background, it seems inevitable that you’d become a musician…. However, early on you quit to study art in New York. You lasted a semester, then came back. What prompted you to go, and what made you come back?
Well, I generally was interested in the arts, all of it, [and] at that age — 18 or so — it was a good time. You don’t have to be sure. You don’t really have to make any real big decisions. I’d already been in bands, and I wanted to try art school. Part of me does regret that I didn’t stick it out longer, because there is room [and] time for everything. I may have stayed longer and still been in a band, I don’t know. But there’s also part of me that probably was hoping that I would go and find a real calling that might release me from the reality of myself being in a band and what that might involve, and that’s stupid. But ultimately the desire to play music won out.
Will you do another solo record?
I don’t know; that usually depends on the songs … my mood, where I’m living, how I feel. … My solo records have a very different context than The Wallflowers [but] there are just no rules. The only rule is you should do whatever you want.
The Wallflowers w/ Ari Hest When: Friday, May 27, 8 p.m. Where: Colonial Theatre, 609 Main St., Laconia Tickets: $39 to $89 at coloniallaconia.org
Featured photo: Jakob Dylan. Photo by Yasmin Than.
