Q&A – Page 73

In the kitchen with Christiana Lehman

Christiana Lehman of Brookline is the owner of From Gracie’s Table (fromgraciestable.com), a line of dry rubs, homemade marinades, sweet dry mixes, candied pecans, baked goods and other items, many of which use family recipes she inherited from her late mother. Originally from Groton, Mass., Lehman moved to New Hampshire in the spring of 2020. Earlier this year, with the help of her father, Stephen, she opened Brookline’s Finest (181 Route 13, Brookline, 721-5089, find them on Facebook @brooklinesfinest), an artisan shop featuring a variety of products from vendors in and around town. It has all of her own items under the From Gracie’s Table line, as well as bagged coffees from Milford’s Union Coffee Co., breads from the Teacup Baking Co. of New Ipswich, hydroponic greens from Oasis Springs Farm of Nashua, and cheeses from Abbot Hill Creamery of Wilton. Other non-food items include candles, crafts, photography and more. Lehman also accepts special orders for her baked goods and is looking into adding premade meals to the shop in the future.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

My most used [item] is an apple peeler. It makes my job so much easier, faster and more efficient. I can do an apple pie in 10 minutes.

What would you have for your last meal?

My favorite meal on the planet is hamburgers, mashed potatoes, peas and brown gravy. It’s like Salisbury steak, but without the mushrooms. That, or beef stew. If either of those two is my last meal, I’d be happy.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

The Alamo [Texas BBQ & Tequila Bar in Brookline]. We go there all the time. My kids [ages 6 and 2 1/2] call it Elmo’s, which is really cute.

What celebrity would you like to see visiting your shop?

I have three. They would be Sam Heughan from Outlander, because I am a huge Outlander freak … and then [WWE wrestlers] John Cena and Triple H [Paul Michael Levesque]. … I would die if they walked in.

What is your favorite thing that you offer?

My apple pie is my favorite dessert, by far. I’ve never been able to eat an apple pie from a store in my life. … That’s my No. 1. My No. 2 is the Sweet and Smokin’ rub that I make.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

Farm-to-table, for sure. Especially with Covid, everybody wants to shop local.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Chicken Parm. My chicken Parm recipe is straight from my mom and it has a lot of cheese.

“Oh my!” apple pie
From the kitchen of Christiana Lehman of From Gracie’s Table and Brookline’s Finest

2 pie crusts
8 apples
1 10-ounce container From Gracie’s Table “dry” apple pie mix (includes brown sugar, cane sugar, cornstarch, white flour, ground cinnamon, nutmeg and sea salt)
2 Tablespoons butter

Lay out the crust into the bottom of a pan. Peel and chop apples. Mix dry ingredients with apples and butter. Pour seasoned apples into the pie crust. Cover with the other pie crust and pinch the edges together. Make three small slits on the top to vent. Cook at 425 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

Featured photo: Christiana Lehman. Courtesy photo.

On The Job – Carl Bertolami

Carl Bertolami

Massage therapist and bodyworker

Carl Bertolami, proprietor of Milford Massage and Bodywork, is a massage therapist and bodyworker, specializing in muscular therapy and craniosacral therapy to treat repetitive movement conditions and chronic pain.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I work with people with a variety of conditions or injuries who are suffering with some type of pain or discomfort. With muscular therapy I help people by coming up with ways they can be proactive between sessions. I’m able to tell from … a [massage therapy] session what areas need a little more attention, and then I can give them self-care strategies and exercises and stretches to do. Craniosacral therapy treats people who have a condition they’ve been suffering with that they haven’t been able to find any other solutions for. I listen in to the body and work with the craniosacral system to try to help them get to the root of what their condition might be.

How long have you had this job?

I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years now … and have been under the name Milford Massage and Bodywork since last January.

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

I sustained a repetitive-movement injury in my late teens from playing guitar. … Traditional treatments weren’t all that helpful. … That led me to want to learn more about the body, to figure out what I needed to do to recover and heal. … I ended up seeking out alternative therapies … which were very helpful for me. Manual therapy was something I was intrigued by — things like chiropractic and acupuncture, and learning how I could help myself through self-care and changing my body mechanics. That’s what paved the road for me to go into this [profession].

What kind of education or training did you need?

For muscular therapy it was a three-year intensive program, which consisted of 900 hours of training. For craniosacral therapy I did my training through the Upledger Institute … and am also working with the Craniosacral Therapy Alliance, based in Rochester, because [education for] that is an ongoing, continuous thing.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Professional but comfortable. I do a lot of therapeutic stretching with people, so I need to be able to move freely when I’m working.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?

My work itself hasn’t been affected that much. … I give myself longer intervals between sessions … so I can do a little more cleaning and sanitizing. I still wear a face mask pretty regularly.

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

I wish I had known more about the business side of things … and what works and what is a waste of money, as far as marketing goes.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

I wish more people had a greater understanding of the body’s natural ability to heal itself. … Sometimes I’ll see somebody who has been through the wringer without [success] with other types of treatments, and they’re initially feeling hopeless and have just accepted the idea that they aren’t going to get any better. … If they already believed in their body’s potential … it would help them come into a session with the right attitude, and they’d be able to get more out of it.

What was the first job you ever had?

I worked for a newspaper company … [doing] customer service, subscriptions, things like that.

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

How important it is to believe in yourself, and to not be afraid to put yourself out there with confidence.

Five favorites

Favorite book: Body of Water, Ocean of Mind by Don Ash
Favorite movie: Back to the Future
Favorite music: Rock
Favorite food: Anything that tastes really good but is also really healthy
Favorite thing about NH: The contrasts of the changing seasons

Featured photo: Carl Bertolami. Courtesy photo.

Doing the numbers

NHDRA names new Taxpayer Services director

After nearly two decades at the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration serving in various roles, Lisa Crowley has stepped into a new position as the director of the Taxpayer Services Division. Crowley offered a look at what the division does and what it’s like to work a job that is “no one’s favorite topic.”

What is the function of the Taxpayer Services Division?

The Taxpayer Services Division is the largest division in the Department of Revenue. Essentially, we’re very much customer service-based. We hold the DRA [Department of Revenue Administration] call center. All of the mail and the money that comes into the department comes right to us, so we process and scan everything in. We also have a Tax Account Reconciliation Group; if there are any issues or errors that come up with the processing that we can identify right off, the Tax Account Reconciliation Group takes care of those so when the other divisions have to use … that information in our system, hopefully most of the bugs are worked out and they can just do their job. We also update our forms … and make any changes that need to be made on the website. Most recently, we’ve been overseeing the production support phase of our most recent system upgrades.

What does your job as director entail?

I oversee essentially everything in this division. … I do whatever I can to support my employees. I manage staffing, making sure we have the right amount of staffing to get our jobs done. … I make sure we’re processing our returns on time and getting the money in the bank on time. I just support the group in whatever way I can, even if that means opening mail during our busy times. That’s part of the job as well — managing from an upper perspective as well as diving in to do the little deeds our current staff may not have time to do.

What is your background in this work?

I’ve been with the department for about 19 years. This was my second job out of college. … I was hired as a tax forms examiner … starting in the Document Processing Division, which is now the Taxpayer Services Division. From there I became a supervisor in the Document Processing Division, worked in an audit group for a little while, and worked in our Municipal and Property Group. Then … I became our hearings manager, managing the department’s appeals. About three and a half years ago I was asked to be the director of our legacy system upgrade project, where we took our 30-year-old tax information management system and upgraded it into new software. It was quite an undertaking. Now that that project is done, I was asked to take over as the director of Taxpayer Services. … I think it’s a natural progression for me to come into this position.

What are some of the biggest challenges for the division right now?

There are a lot of challenges with getting used to this new world we operate in, especially [due to] Covid. … One is the new [software] system. … It comes with a learning curve. We’ve automated a lot of things, which means more mailings need to go out. … We’re also assisting GOFERR, the Governor’s Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery, with some of their programs. … There’s a lot coming at us, and we’re a very small department of a little less than 150 people … so everyone is working very hard right now to [adjust to] all these changes and overcome these challenges we’ve been faced with.

What do you hope to accomplish as director?

The employees in this division work really hard and do such a great job. … One of my goals … is to make sure they understand the great work they do, and to reward them as much as I possibly can. … Another thing I want to do is support our employees … with our new software. Some of our employees have been here for 10- or 20-plus years, so going into new technology is difficult. I want to make sure they know it’s OK if they aren’t as quick with the new system as they were [with the old one]. We’re all learning this together, and we’ll just keep plugging away until we get there.

What do you enjoy about your work?

It’s funny — when you say you work in taxes, a lot of people are like, ‘Oof,’ and, admittedly, tax isn’t the most exciting thing to work in every day. What I love about the department is the people; we’re a family here, and we support each other. We all understand that maybe tax isn’t the most exciting area to work in, but it’s necessary. … Even though we’re looking at numbers and returns all day and sometimes dealing with unhappy taxpayers, we make the best of it and find ways to make our days happy.

What do you wish people knew about the Taxpayer Services Division?

We [at the division] get it; we all pay taxes, too, and it’s no one’s favorite topic … but we care about our taxpayers. They aren’t just a number. … We want to help them as much as we possibly can. Of course, we have a job to do, and if there are bills that have to go out, unfortunately, [sending them] is part of that job … but I think [taxpayers] can at least come away with a positive feeling about [being] treated [well] and respected.

Featured photo: Lisa Crowley. Courtesy photo.

In the kitchen with Trina Bird

Trina Bird of Goffstown is the owner of the Bird Food Baking Co. (birdfoodbaking.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @birdfoodbakingco), a homestead business she launched earlier this year specializing in multiple unique flavors of artisan doughnuts, as well as cookies, cinnamon rolls, cupcakes and other pastries. A former baker at The Black Forest Cafe in Amherst, Bird now accepts custom orders and works with multiple local businesses to sell her baked goods, including the Bookery (844 Elm St., Manchester), Apotheca Flowers (24 Main St., Goffstown) and Revelstoke Coffee (100 N. Main St., Concord). Custom orders can be placed with a preferred two-week notice.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

My offset spatula.

What would you have for your last meal?

Pizza. If I had to pick one … it would be a white pizza.

What celebrity would you like to see trying something that you’ve baked?

Jason Momoa, because I love him and he brings me so much joy.

What is your favorite thing that you bake?

Definitely my doughnuts. After pizza, doughnuts are my favorite food. … I do flavors like maple bacon, Nutella, creme brulee, pumpkin, apple, glazed … [and] I just did a chicken and waffle one last week that was a pretty big hit.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

Right now, I’d say my favorite is Surfside Burger Bar, over in Meredith. They are amazing. Every single thing on their menu is so good, and the vibe is so cool.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

Taking something that’s average and doing something extra. … One of my favorite places that does that is Industry East Bar [in Manchester], with their hot dogs. They did a crab rangoon one and I lost my mind. That was my favorite.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I make a really killer chicken noodle soup.

“Any cereal” Krispie treats
From the kitchen of Trina Bird of the Bird Food Baking Co. in Goffstown

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
8 cups marshmallows
2 cups mini marshmallows
6 cups cereal (Rice Krispies, Fruity Pebbles, Lucky Charms, or any cereal of choice)
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Line an 8×8- or 9×9-inch pan with parchment paper and nonstick spray. In a large pot over medium heat, brown the butter and stir in the eight cups of marshmallows until just melted. Remove from the heat, add the cereal and salt and stir until just coated. Fold in the remaining two cups of mini marshmallows. Press the mix into your pan and let it set. Cut into squares to share and serve.

Featured photo: Trina Bird. Courtesy photo.

On The Job – Trisha Craig

Trisha Craig

Flutist and flute instructor

Trisha Craig is a flute instructor at Ted Herbert Music School in Manchester and a professional flutist performing in solo and chamber concerts throughout the region.

Explain your job.

I practice the flute every day, and I may have rehearsals. At the [music school] studio, I have private lessons with students of all ages and levels … one-on-one, teaching them music.

How long have you had this job?

About 40 years, and I’ve been at Ted Herbert for around 25 years.

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

I always knew I wanted to be involved in music. I initially went [to college] to become a band director in a public school setting. I quickly realized that wasn’t quite for me. … I started teaching privately on the side and realized that was where I really belonged. … It grew from there … after college. I was teaching more and more until it became one of my primary things.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I have a bachelor of music from Ithaca College and master of music in Flute Performance from Longy School of Music.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

People expect [musicians] to be in formal black and white [attire] on stage, but I eschewed that regalia a long time ago; I usually go with something far more colorful. … When I’m teaching I go with an artsy casual outfit adorned with handmade jewelry by New Hampshire artists.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?

Pre-pandemic, I always struggled with losing income [due to] blizzards; somehow, there were always the biggest snowstorms on my biggest teaching days. I had started using Zoom a few years before the pandemic so I could give lessons when there was a blizzard. When the pandemic hit and we couldn’t teach in person, I just told my students, ‘OK, we’re going to start doing lessons the same way we do on snow days,’ so the transition was pretty seamless for me. … It is challenging, though, teaching a musical instrument online, because it’s hard to hear exactly what’s going on with the tone and the sound, so I was anxious to get back to teaching in person.

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

Marketing is all about building relationships; it doesn’t work if people don’t have a relationship with you or an understanding of your art form. People say, ‘The arts are dead,’ but they aren’t; we just aren’t telling anyone about it. … So many people are surprised to learn that new music is currently being written for orchestra. As artists, we need to be … starting those conversations to enlighten people and get them interested in what we do.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

What goes on behind the scenes of the arts … and the level of skill that is needed [for artists] to express themselves through their art. … People … say, ‘Oh, you’re so gifted.’ I’m not gifted; I work really hard to play well. My students aren’t just talented; they’re hardworking.

What was the first job you ever had?

Teaching private flute lessons to a young girl who lived down the street from me.

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

My longtime [music] professor … told us to do all of the work in advance so that when it’s time to perform you can just let it flow. You shouldn’t be thinking about your technique while you’re performing. Trust in the hard work you’ve done to make that moment possible, and just play.

Five favorites

Favorite book: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
Favorite movie: Doctor Zhivago
Favorite music: Modern orchestral
Favorite food: Nachos
Favorite thing about NH: All of the different seasons and temperatures

Featured photo: Trisha Craig. Courtesy photo.

Minding minds

Meet Catholic Charities NH’s new mental health director

Catholic Charities NH has named Danielle Capelle its new director of mental health services. Capelle discussed the position and how she plans to lead Catholic Charities New Hampshire in working to address New Hampshire’s mental health needs.

What is your background in mental health work and with Catholic Charities NH?

I have been a licensed mental health therapist for over three years in New Hampshire, and I was licensed for six years when I was living and working in Wisconsin. My family moved out here when my husband got a job at Saint Anselm College, so I [transferred] my license over to New Hampshire. I started working at Catholic Charities in 2016, doing counseling. Then, I took over as interim director [of mental health services] when our previous director left, which happened to be right during the beginning of the pandemic, so that was a strange transition. I became the [permanent] director on Oct. 18.

What does your job as director of mental health services entail?

I still have a large caseload of clients. … I work with adults, teenagers, couples, families, you name it. … In addition to that, I am the go-to for all of our counselors for any issues they have with clients or billing or other kinds of issues, and I do the financials for the department. I work with the other directors and the VPs on different programming to better serve the people of New Hampshire. I also work with the community to figure out what the community needs so that we can be a good resource for different communities across New Hampshire.

What are some of your goals for Catholic Charities NH?

The No. 1 goal right now is to get more therapists. The more therapists we have, the more services we can offer, and the more people we can reach. Eventually, we would like to expand our services so that we can work more with children than we do right now. Finding counselors for children is incredibly difficult, but it’s definitely a service that is needed. We would also like to work more with groups of people [in addition to] individual counseling services and be able to offer different types of groups based on our counselors’ areas of specialty.

What do you find fulfilling about this work?

My favorite thing is seeing my clients progress. It’s amazing to see that transition from when their anxiety, trauma, history or whatever is going on determines how they live, to when things click for them and they become in charge of their own lives and determine how they are going to live.

What is challenging about it?

The most challenging thing is definitely leaving work at work. As mental health counselors, we always want to be helping everybody, so it can be hard to [create] that separation of work life and home life.

What are the greatest mental health needs you’re seeing in New Hampshire now?

There’s always a need for [addressing] depression, anxiety and life changes that people sometimes don’t have the coping skills to deal with. There’s the opioid crisis, which continues to hit our state and the whole country, so we need more people who are trained to help with that. Then, of course, there’s the pandemic, which has created a lot of social anxiety and family issues. People who have never experienced anxiety before are now having anxiety, either [due to] being isolated for too long, or going back out in public after that isolation. We’re having to help people with these transitions that nobody [was prepared] to go through.

How do you maintain your own mental health?

I have a great husband and kids who definitely help me with that. I’m also a firm believer that mental health is just as important as physical health, and that every single person should have their own therapist, whether it’s [for] weekly [appointments] or just a check-in a couple times a year. We [therapists] especially need our own therapist to be able to unload some of those things [from work] so that they aren’t just sitting on us.

Featured photo: Danielle Capelle. Courtesy photo.