Chocolate extravaganza

The Chocolate Expo comes to the Granite State

The Chocolate Expo has garnered international attention since its start in 2006. This year the Expo will make its Granite State debut on Sunday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Expo Center in Manchester.

After organizing the Woodstock 35th Anniversary Celebration in 2004 and switching his company, Baum Image Group, from high technology to event production, Marvin Baum created a chocolate event for New York’s official holiday celebration in 2006.

“That was the kernel of the idea that became The Chocolate Expo,” he said.

What was then a New York chocolate and holiday gift market evolved into what is now the biggest chocolate event in the country.

“We call ourselves the official home of chocolate, food and fun,” Baum said. “It’s basically a tasting and sales event so people can come and try things from a variety of vendors and if they like what they taste they can buy it. This year for New Hampshire I think we have one of our best lineups of vendors that we’ve ever had. It’s just a really nice mix of interesting products.”

The lineup consists of more than 90 vendors, including Kimball Fruit Farm from Hollis, Muncha’s Marshmallows based in Lebanon, Spin Fluff Cotton Candy, The Wine Slushie Guy, Wickedly Wild Waffles as well as wineries, distilleries, bakeries and vendors selling hot sauces, dips and specialty foods.

“We’re trying to help small, local businesses and regional businesses by bringing this all together,” Baum said. “We’re in a very unique position to have things that are different that you’re not going to find if you go to an average street fair. Now we also bring it together with entertainment and celebrity chef demonstrations and things like that.”

Celebrity chefs include Food Network’s Chopped champion Chef Clara, Cutthroat Kitchen winner DJ Chef, who will also be playing music, and Food Network’s Chef Lawrence. There will be a kids zone with crafts, face painting and balloon twisting, and New Hampshire magician Dasean Greene, also known as the Magic Man, will be mingling and demonstrating his talent throughout the event.

In the spirit of Halloween, the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus, impersonated by a group from Massachusetts, will make an appearance, as will Uncle Fester from the Addams family and Star Wars characters.

“Chocolate is something that really unites people,” Baum said. “People associate good times with chocolate. … We probably sold more tickets in advance than we ever have for any other show. I think it’s going to sell out because people are that excited.”

The Chocolate Expo
Where: 155 Dow St., Manchester
Cafe hours: Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; closed on Sundays.
Salon hours: Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed on Sunday

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 23/10/12

News from the local food scene

  • Taste of the Trail: Try free samples from local food vendors and win local auction items at the Winnipesaukee River Trail Association’s annual Taste of the Trail event on Thursday, Oct. 12, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Elks Lodge (125 S Main St., Franklin). All proceeds will go toward maintaining and improving the Winnipesaukee River Trail. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased via eventbrite.
  • Sip and script: Enjoy a beverage and learn the basics of modern calligraphy on Thursday, Oct. 12, at Pipe Dream Brewing in Londonderry (49 Harvey Road) from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The class includes a beginner’s calligraphy kit and ends with lettering faux pumpkins. Everything is yours to keep. Tickets are $69 and can be purchased on sipandscript.com
  • Oktoberfest: Stop by the Sandown Oktoberfest on Saturday, Oct. 14, from noon to 6 p.m. at Sandlot Sports (8 Sandlot Way, Sandown) for food, music and games followed by a bonfire until 10:30 p.m. Happenings include a German bake-off, children’s races and contests, a beer tent and several food trucks including One Happy Clam, Dancing Donuts and Agape Cakes.
  • Harvest in Hillsborough: The Hillsborough Community Center holds the town’s second annual harvest festival from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, at Grimes Field (28 Preston St., Hillsborough) with games, food, vendors, local artisans, art projects and prizes. The event is free to attend.
  • Windham harvest fest: The harvest festival at Griffin Park (101 Range Road, Windham) on Saturday, Oct. 17, from noon to 4 p.m. begins with a doggie costume parade, which is followed by activities from 1 to 3 p.m., and ending with trick-or-treating until the end of the festival. The Women’s Club will be selling baked goods and other treats, and Capri Pizza will be selling pizza.
  • Halloween party: Pipe Dream Brewing in Londonderry (49 Harvey Road) hosts a Halloween costume party on Saturday, Oct. 21, from 6 to 10 p.m. with music spun by a DJ, food and drinks. The winner of the best costume award will win a gift card.

Worker bee brewfest

Worker Bee Fund hosts second Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest

On Saturday, Oct. 14, from 1 to 5 p.m., more than a dozen breweries will come together with music, games and food for the second Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest in the parking lot of Mountain Base Brewery in Goffstown. Organized by the Worker Bee Fund, the event will raise money for projects performed by the charity.

“The Worker Bee Fund is a registered 501(c)(3) in New Hampshire,” said Brian Hansen, the founder of the charity. “We fix up houses for disabled veterans [by] doing carpentry jobs like [building] ramps, accessible kitchens [and] bathrooms. … Our goal is to help improve people’s houses that they live in so they can stay there a couple of years extra. It’s kind of aimed at elderly folks [and] focused on lower income brackets.”

Last year about 405 people attended, double the number they expected, including veterans for whom they had done projects in the past. This year, breweries will include Mountain Base Brewery, Stark Brewing Co., Henniker Brewing Co. and Spyglass Brewing. There will also be food vendors, like Paulie’s Hot Dogs, Pastry Dream and Squaloo’s BBQ, as well as ax throwing, cornhole and live music performed by The Apostolides Project.

Hansen started the organization shortly before the onslaught of Covid. He wanted to be able to help people age more comfortably in their own home, so he used his skills in architectural design to make this happen. He has enlisted the help of others along the way, adding people to his team and working with other organizations.

“When you start something like this, a little community forms,” he said. “All kinds of things you didn’t expect were going to happen happen. People come out of the woodwork because they want to help, and you learn things about people you thought you knew.”

Hansen says the hardest part of what the Worker Bee Fund does is finding people who need help, as many people who do often don’t reach out. For this reason, they market directly with veteran organizations in the state.

“A lot of the case workers at [Easterseals’] Veterans Count point people to us,” he said. “They’ve referred people to us before, they’ve chipped in funds on some of the projects, which has been great. We really couldn’t do it without them. … Without them pointing people to us, we’re much less of an organization.”

The money to fund the various projects the organization performs, about 10 a year, is raised by the Worker Bee Fund through social media, donations and events, such as the Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest.

Hansen hopes for the same great weather they had for last year’s event.

He said, “A big turnout would be really nice because we always have lots and lots of beer, [and] a really diverse group of people who are looking to have a good time … and are eager to meet veterans who are superheroes.”

Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest
When: Saturday, Oct. 14, 1 to 5 p.m.
Where: 553 Mast Road, Goffstown
Cost: Tickets are $35 when purchased in advance, $45 on the day of the event and $10 for designated drivers.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

On The Job – Shane and Evangeline Hooker

RV rental providers

Shane and Evangeline Hooker are the owners and operators of Happy Hooker Rentals in Milford.

Explain your job and what it entails.
We rent pet-friendly travel trailers and camping accessories to families and couples who are looking to make awesome outdoor memories. We currently have two campers that we maintain, clean and prepare for our renters and work with them to get ready for their trip. We also deliver the camper to the campsite, set up everything and provide help and support to our renters during their trip.

How long have you had this job?
We have been renting our campers since spring 2021, but we’ve been enjoying the camping life since we were both kids.

What led you to this career field and your current job?
Our family has really enjoyed camping in our camper over the years, and we’ve made many longtime friendships around campfires. In 2020 we really recognized the convenience and flexibility our travel trailer provided us and that we had only been using it for at most two weeks out of the year, so we began extending it out to friends who wanted to take a weeklong trip. We then started using an online RV rental platform in order to extend it to others, which made us begin thinking about this more as a business.

What kind of education or training did you need?
We’ve bought and owned several campers over the years and camped at many different campgrounds throughout New England. We’ve learned how to deal with bad weather, things breaking, and watched YouTube videos on how to fix things. … Also knowing how to use a spreadsheet, having decent interpersonal skills, and experience with pulling and placing a large trailer is a plus.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?
Our work involves being outside and having fun, so we tend to dress like we would any other day.

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?
Trying to accommodate everyone’s schedule and dealing with logistics can be a challenge. … Most of our renters do not have a vehicle suitable for towing so we deliver and pick up, which, depending on the campsite, can take multiple hours from our day. On the plus side we enjoy taking long drives together and tend to find our own little adventures.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?
That some of the online rental platforms pass on very high and unnecessary fees to people who rent from them.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?
That we put a lot of time and energy into helping to make our renters’ camping experience be a great one. We offer kayaks, rafts, games, custom T-shirts and mugs, and lots of other things for families and folks to help make lasting memories.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?
If you can find a job doing something you really enjoy, it won’t feel like work.

Five favorites

Favorite book: Shane – Angels and Demons. Eva – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Favorite movie: Shane – Caddyshack. Eva – Labyrinth.
Favorite music: Van Halen, Grateful Dead, Metallica, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, Foo Fighters, Acoustic BS
Favorite food: Seafood, Chinese, pizza and s’mores
Favorite thing about NH: All the great places to go camping

Featured photo: Shane and Evangaline Hooker, Courtesy photo.

Kiddie Pool 23/10/12

Family fun for whenever

A-maze-ing

  • If this week’s cover story has you thinking about bats, check out the brown bat corn maze at Coppal House Farm (118 N. River Road, Route 155, in Lee; nhcornmaze.com, 659-3572). The maze is open Thursday and Friday from noon to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Monday from noon to 5 p.m., and daytime admission costs $10 for ages 13+, $8 for ages 5 to 12 and for 65+, military and college students (ages 4 and under get in for free), according to the website. This weekend, go on Saturday, Oct. 14, and Sunday, Oct. 15, for wagon rides between 10 a.m. and 2 p .m. (cost is $3 for ages 5+). And buy tickets now for the final flashlight maze of the season on Saturday, Oct. 21, with times from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The cost is $15 for everyone 5+; BYO flashlight.
  • Brookdale Fruit Farm (41 Broad St. in Hollis; brookdalefruitfarm.com) opens its corn maze on Saturdays and Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The cost is $4 per person and includes a hayride.

The Halloween spirit

  • Why wait to trick-or-treat? Charmingfare Farm (774 High St. in Candia; visitthefarm.com, 483-5623) will start its Children’s Trick or Treat this Saturday, Oct. 14. The event runs Saturdays and Sundays, with admission times starting at 10 a.m., through Sunday, Oct. 29. Watch Jason Tardy’s Halloween Juggling Spectacular at 11 a.m., noon, 1 and 2 p.m.; visit barnyard animals and take a horse-drawn wagon ride, the website said. The event also includes candy, of course — costumed characters will hand out candy and costumes on kids are encouraged. Tickets cost $29 per person.
    Charmingfare’s Harvest of Haunts also runs Saturdays starting this Saturday through Saturday, Oct. 28, with admission times at 5:30, 6 and 6:30 p.m. Enjoy candy, a campfire, a wagon ride and a spooky experience designed for families with children (ages 12 and younger), the website said. Admission for this event also costs $29.
  • If your kids are too young for Canobie Lake’s (85 N. Policy St. in Salem; canobie.com) Screeemfest, check out the Sunday Family Fun Days with “Critters Live! The Halloween Party on the Midway Stage” at 1:30 p.m., Lights on Walkthrough of the Pinecrest Sanitarium from 4 to 4:45 p.m. and a Monster parade at 5:45 p.m. for little ones who are feeling brave, said the website. And check out family and kiddie rides in the Kiddieland area, which are listed on the website. The park opens at 1 p.m. on Sundays; the indoor Screeemfest Haunted Houses open at 5 p.m. and those walk-around characters come out around 6 p.m., the website said. Tickets cost $36 for 60+ and those under 48 inches, $51 for Sunday admission for adults and kids 3 and under get in for free.
  • And save the date for next weekend’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St. in Dover; childrens-museum.org, 742-2022) on Saturday, Oct. 21. Admission times are 9 a.m. to noon or 1 to 4 p.m., which features a 2 p.m. concert with Mr. Aaron. The event “focuses on fun — not fright,” says the website, and will include science experiments, STEAM Lab take-home crafts, photos with a full moon backdrop and a pumpkin scavenger hunt, the website said. Admission costs $12.50 for everyone over 12 months ($10.50 for 65+).

Pick a pumpkin

Find pumpkins for eating, pumpkins for carving

by Jill Lessard
[email protected]

Autumn brings crisp temperatures, colorful foliage and a passion for picking pumpkins. But knowing which pumpkin to pick can be a yearly conundrum. Will it be a traditional titian red? Mossy green? Ghostly white? Will it be transformed into a jack-o’-lantern for Halloween, or will it provide the key ingredient for a sweet or savory treat?

Whatever the motivation, pickers will improve their chances of finding the perfect candidate for decoration or digestion by keeping these seeds of wisdom, offered by Rick Hardy of Brookdale Fruit Farm in Hollis, in mind.

“Rain is a challenge,” said Hardy about this summer’s precipitation, which can cause damaging fungus, “but it’s something we manage.” To keep the crop healthy, Hardy and the Brookdale team are vigilant and proactive. “Do you use deodorant?,” he asked, half jokingly. “It’s basically the same thing. We try to prevent the accumulation of harmful bacteria.”

Although a lack of pumpkins isn’t a concern this season, “we’re much more careful of restocking our displays at least twice a week to give our customers the best possible selection and quality,” he said, adding that apples and raspberries are also ripe for the picking.
For those who have the guts to try creating a culinary pumpkin dish, Hardy offers a few suggestions representing a variety of colors. “The Rouge Vif D’Etampes or Cinderella pumpkin; the beige Long Island Cheese pumpkin; the blue Jarrahdale, and the pinkish Porcelain Doll pumpkin are all good for cooking.”

For those intent on sharpening their knives and creative skills, master pumpkin carver Maurice “Moe” Auger shared some information and insights.

“I think people enjoy the light from the jack-o’-lantern,” said the Maine artist and art teacher, who tackled his first pumpkin, a 600-pounder, 25 years ago and, in his own words, was hooked, by “the way the light creates shadow in a dark room and, of course, the spook factor.”

Auger’s preference is to find the “oddball pumpkin,” he said. “I try to see the face within the form. Most people pick a good stem, which I often do. I don’t cut a lid, but cut the bottom instead. I use an LED light to make it glow bright.”

Whether to go freehand or use a pattern is a personal preference.

“I think that what works best for you is the way to go,” Auger said. “I always go freehand with pictures as reference.”

Michelangelo said he “saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” Auger is definitely on the same page — or canvas — as the Renaissance master. “Seeing something within the pumpkin form is the draw to carving for me,” he said. “That and the enjoyment it brings to people.”

After transforming so many pumpkins over the years, is there still a pumpkin-carving goal he has yet to achieve? “I’ve carved quite a few big pumpkins and would love to get my hands on another 2,000-pound fruit. The bigger the better!”

Pick your own pumpkin

Here are a few area farms offering the chance to pick your own pumpkin. Call in advance to ensure conditions are good for picking on that day. Know of a pumpkin patch not listed here? Let us know at [email protected].

  • Applecrest Farm (133 Exeter Road, Hampton Falls, 926-3721, applecrest.com) Open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  • Butternut Farm (195 Meaderboro Road, Farmington, 335-4705, butternutfarm.net) Family-friendly; family-run. Tuesday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pumpkins priced at 65 cents per pound. Cider house open with 3-ounce samples of the hard stuff available for any blend on tap.
  • DeMeritt Hill Farm (20 Orchard Way, Lee, 868-2111, demeritthillfarm.com) has PYO pumpkins, open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The farm’s Haunted Overload attraction has begun for the season (it runs Thursdays through Sundays as well as on Tuesday, Oct. 31) as has its Enchanted Storybook Hayride (an attraction for younger kids), with times on Saturdays and Sundays.
  • J&F Farms (124 Chester Road, Derry, 437-0535, jandffarmsnh.com) Weekends at the farm feature PYO pumpkins Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. as well as food trucks, a Halloween-themed corn maze, a petting farm and cider doughnuts, according to a social media post.
  • Lavoie’s Farm (172 Nartoff Road, Hollis, 882-0072, lavoiesfarm.wordpress.com) has PYO pumpkins open daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The corn maze is also open daily; on weekends the farm offers hayrides and a corn boil from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Mack’s Apples (230 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, 434-7619, macksapples.com) Farm market open Monday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. U-pick open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pick your own in the patch or choose from a pre-picked assortment at the farm stand.
  • Moulton Farm (18 Quarry Road, Meredith, 279-3915, moultonfarm.com) Don’t get lost in the corn maze or you won’t be able to find the pumpkin patch. Tickets are $10 per person; $6 per child 3 to 6 years old; free for kids under age 3. Last admission for the maze is one hour before the farm closes. Open daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Riverview Farm (144 River Road, Plainfield, 298-8519, riverviewnh.com) Family-run. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Lose yourself in this year’s corn maze, the most challenging yet. Maze admission is $8, free for children age 4 and under.
  • Sunnycrest Farm (59 High Range Road and 114 Pillsbury Road, Londonderry, 432-7753, sunnycrestfarmnh. com) has PYO pumpkins open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., weather-dependent.

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

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