When life gives you lemons

Fabrizia Spirits to celebrate National Limoncello Day

June 22 is National Limoncello Day, and Salem’s Fabrizia Spirits purveyor of limoncello in the United States, is marking the occasion with a new festival featuring live music, lawn games, giveaways, facility tours and even a lemon-squeezing competition.

“We discovered there was a National Limoncello Day and we said, ‘We have to do something. We can’t just sit on this,’” Fabrizia Spirits co-owner and founder Phil Mastroianni said. “People for years have been asking to visit Fabrizia and if we did tours, and we don’t, but then we said, ‘Well, why don’t we use Limoncello Day as an opportunity to open up our doors?’”

Launched in 2008 with its flagship limoncello, Fabrizia Spirits has since expanded its product line to include a variety of ready-to-drink cocktails, like its Italian margarita and Italian-style lemonade; multiple flavors of vodka sodas, like Sicilian lemon, blood orange and raspberry; and liqueurs, like the Crema di Pistacchio. In November 2020 the Mastroiannis launched the Fabrizia Lemon Baking Co., introducing their own line of limoncello-infused baked goods for the first time, from cookies and whoopie pies to biscotti, blondies, loaves and white chocolate-dipped truffles — each item is produced fresh onsite at Fabrizia’s Salem headquarters.

Many of these products will be available for attendees to sample during the festival. Indoor tours of Fabrizia’s facility, Mastroianni said, are going to be where you can sample the company’s higher-proof spirits, as well as items from a table of baked goods.

“We’re going to be selling additional stuff that people can take home, if they’d like to buy some baked goods while they’re here,” he said.

Ticket-holders will also receive two full-sized canned cocktails and one complimentary item from the Tola-Rose Italian Eats food truck, which will be parked outside the building. Tola-Rose is owned and operated by Goffstown couple Tony and Laurie Lomuscio and is best-known for authentic Italian options like meatball subs, sausage subs with peppers and onions, chicken or eggplant Parmesan and chocolate chip cannolis.

Outdoors is also where the lemon-squeezing competition is set to take place, and all festival ticket-holders are eligible to participate. Up to eight contestants will stand in front of a bottle of Fabrizia’s limoncello and a basket of halved lemons. The bottle will be topped with a funnel and the first person to fill the bottle to a designated line the fastest — by squeezing juice out of the lemons with their bare hands — will be crowned the winner. In the event that more than eight people sign up, Mastroianni said, there will be qualifying rounds with the same rules.

The festival will not take place in the event of rain, although Mastroianni said if all goes well the hope is to make the National Limoncello Day celebration an annual event. Continuing to grow as a company, Fabrizia established its own lemon grove in Sicily, Italy, earlier this year, and has raised more than $129,000 in funding for nonprofits through its “When Life Hands You Lemons” charity initiative.

National Limoncello Day celebration
When: Thursday, June 22, 6 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Fabrizia Spirits, 2 Industrial Way, Salem
Cost: $30 per person; includes two drink tickets, one food truck item from Tola-Rose Italian Eats, a gift bag and exclusive tours of the Fabrizia Spirits facility. Attendees can also opt to participate in the lemon-squeezing competition during the checkout process.
Visit: fabriziaspirits.com
In the event of inclement weather, the festival will be canceled and all ticket-holders will be refunded.

Featured photo: Limoncello Day. Courtesy photo.

Lamb feast

St. Nicholas Church celebrates 75 years of Greek eats

Hand-cut marinated lamb is the main draw of one of the Granite State’s longest-running Greek food festivals for many. Get lamb fresh off the skewer, in addition to other homemade items like Greek meatballs, pastitsio and spanakopita, during the annual Lamb Barbecue and Food Festival, returning to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Manchester for the 75th year on Saturday, June 17. The event will also feature a variety of Greek cookies and baked goods for sale, in addition to some raffles and a live DJ performing.

Mobile food ordering was implemented on the church’s website a few years ago, according to festival co-chair and parish president Barbara George. Although the date to pre-order has passed, walk-ins are welcome beginning at noon and until the church runs out of food.

As with previous barbecues, the lamb is prepared using a recipe from the late George Moulis, one of the co-founders of the church. Parishioners gather to prepare the lamb hours before the date of the big event, and work to cube and marinate it before it goes onto the skewers.

You get five pieces of lamb per order for the dinner, which also comes with rice and a Greek salad. George said other dinner options this year include marinated Greek-style chicken tenders, Greek-style meatballs (two per order) and pastitsio, better known as Greek lasagna and featuring layers of ground meat and pasta, topped with a homemade béchamel sauce.

“Something that’s new is we’ll do a Greek salad option with the grilled chicken on top,” George said. “This year we’ve also added paximathia, which is basically a Greek biscotti.”

Also on the menu during the festival will be dolmathes (meat- and rice-stuffed grape leaves, topped with an avgolemono, or Greek egg lemon sauce); and spanakopita (a spinach- and feta cheese-based dish with layers of phyllo dough). If you just can’t decide, you can order the “Papou” sampler dinner, featuring a little bit of everything — each order comes with two pieces of barbecued lamb, one meatball and two stuffed grape leaves, along with the rice and salad.

Several assorted homemade Greek pastries and desserts are available throughout the day as well, from traditional baklava to kourambiethes (powdered sugar cookies) and — returning for the first time since 2019, according to George — finikia (oval-shaped, date-filled cookies soaked in a honey syrup). Visitors are welcome to stay and enjoy their meals under one of the tents outside the church, or get their food to go.

George said a local DJ with Ultimate Music Entertainment will perform during the festival. Various items will also be raffled off, and tours of the church will be available at designated times of 1, 2:30 and 4 p.m.

75th annual Lamb Barbecue & Food Festival
When: Saturday, June 17, noon to when the food sells out
Where: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 1160 Bridge St., Manchester
Cost: Free admission and parking; foods are priced per item
Visit: stnicholas-man-nh.org

Featured photo: Scenes from the annual Lamb BBQ & Greek Food Festival. Courtesy photos.

The Weekly Dish 23/06/15

News from the local food scene

• Berry delicious: Join J&F Farms (124 Chester, Road, Derry) for its annual strawberry fest on Saturday, June 17, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Festivities will include hayrides, food trucks, a petting farm and liv e music, in addition to food trucks and, of course, strawberries. Visit jandffarmsnh.com. Or check out our berry season cover story, which ran in the June 8 edition of the Hippo on page 10 and includes a list of other upcoming local strawberry and blueberry festivals as well as some berry recipes and a list of farms where you’ll soon be able to pick your own. See hippopress.com.

• Cheers to beer: The ninth annual Newport Nano Brewfest is happening on Saturday, June 17, from noon to 3 p.m. on the Newport Town Common (North Main and Park streets, Newport). In addition to beer and cider tastings from local breweries, the event will feature live music, games and more. General admission is $35 per person and tickets are on sale now (event is 21+ only; no children or dogs are allowed). Visit newportnhchamber.org.

• Flight Center closes in Manchester: The Flight Center Taphouse & Eatery has permanently closed its Manchester location, according to a June 3 announcement on its Facebook page. “Ultimately the cost of doing business was making it not feasible to continue forward in this space,” the post reads in part, going on to say that the closure does not impact the company’s other locations. The Flight Center Restaurant Group, which also operates the 1750 Taphouse in Bedford and Aviation Brewing Co. in Dover, opened The Flight Center Taphouse & Eatery in the former British Beer Co. space on South Willow Street in the Queen City in June 2021. Read the full announcement on Facebook @flightcentermht.

• Local eats and brews: The New Hampshire magazine annual Best of NH Party is happening on Thursday, June 22, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Flag Hill Distillery & Winery (297 N. River Road, Lee). Attendees will have access to food and drink samples from a wide array of award-winning New Hampshire restaurants, breweries and other businesses, and this year’s event will also include a special appearances by television chef and author Mary Ann Esposito. General-admission tickets are $68 per person. Visit nhmagazine.com/best-of-nh.

On The Job – Jennifer Lynch

Hair stylist

Jennifer Lynch is a hair stylist and owner of Style and Grace Salon in Bedford.

Explain your job and what it entails.

Not only do I run the business myself and perform all hair services, but I also change people’s lives. I make people feel good about the way they look, which goes deeper than the surface. I’m also like a therapist with scissors.

How long have you had this job?

I have been in the industry since 1999.

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

I love making people feel good and transforming how they look.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I originally went to a vocational high school in Mass. for 1,000 hours of training. When I moved to New Hampshire, I ended up going back to school, because the state’s requirement here is 1,500 hours. I did about a year at Empire Beauty School — only missed one day due to an emergency room visit.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

I would call it professional-casual. I have to think about what is practical for standing and working for eight to 12 hours, and what I won’t be too sad about getting ruined.

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?

You cannot please everyone, no matter how bad you want to and how hard you try. Trust me, a hairdresser’s goal is to make people happy, and when it doesn’t happen, it crushes us. But we can’t live there too long; some people need more than just a good balayage and blowout.

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

That the possibilities are literally endless. I never pictured myself owning multiple businesses, but I love it, and nothing is stopping me from growing and expanding. There are so many more options other than working behind the chair. I might look into being an educator or being a brand ambassador or business advisor for salon owners.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That we are not bubble gum-chewing, hair-twirling bimbos. Most of us are chemists, marketing majors, business owners and masters of networking and communication. We need to know so much information just to be able to shampoo someone. It’s not at all how the movies portray us. We also are human, and we have emotions and bad days, but have to put on our game faces so that it doesn’t interfere with the client’s experience.

What was the first job you ever had?

My first job ever was at McDonald’s, but my first job in the industry was right after that at age 15, shampooing people’s hair at a local salon and wiping down sweaty tanning beds. I wouldn’t recommend that.

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

Never stop learning; when you stop growing, you start dying.

Five favorites

Favorite book: Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink
Favorite movie: It’s a tossup between Zero Dark Thirty and The Devil Wears Prada.
Favorite music: pop/hip-hop
Favorite food: Pizza
Favorite thing about NH: There’s so much to do here, but the mountains and beach are something I couldn’t live without.

Featured photo: Jennifer Lynch. Courtesy photo.

Treasure Hunt 23/06/15

Good morning.

I have had these six luncheon plates in storage for years. I’m wondering if you can tell me anything about them and their value. Thank you!

Pam

Dear Pam,

Your Haviland Limoges plates with the Frontenac pattern were produced in the 1920s. They were part of a much larger set. The plates, cups and saucers are very common. The rarer pieces are the serving pieces, such as platters, pitchers and tureens. As with all dishware the harder-to-find pieces today will bring a higher value.

Frontenac is such a nice light pattern.

The value on your plates with no damage (chips, cracks, excessive scratching) would be in the $40 range for the six.

Thanks for sharing, Pam. I hope this was helpful.

Learning from other gardens

Gather ideas from great green spaces

One of the best ways to learn how to create a lovely garden is to see others. Visit good gardens of neighbors, great gardens near and far. I recently visited three great gardens and, as always when viewing other gardens, they gave me much to consider. The gardens I visited were Bedrock Gardens in Lee, N.H., Chanticleer Gardens in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

All these gardens had significant areas of lawn or meadow. I realize that lawns are not in favor, generally, among the pro-pollinator and bird crowd. But if you provide plenty of plants that support pollinators, I do not see lawns as bad. Each of these gardens has plenty of flowering trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. Something is always in bloom, including both native plants and exotic ones.

So what does lawn accomplish? It provides contrast — a simple green palette — to show off the plants. Expanses of green are soothing to the eye. I can only focus on so many amazing plants before I get visually fatigued, much as I do when I visit an art museum.

Lawn also allows you to stand back to see the landscape from a distance. For trees, that is important. In a forested area, and all three of these gardens have them, individual trees are sometimes hard to see. They blend in with the others. But I need to stand back to look at a majestic beech or oak that towers 100 feet above me.

Bedrock Gardens only recently was deeded over from the original owners, Jill Nooney and Bob Munger, to the nonprofit that manages the property. Jill is an amazing sculptor who for over 30 years has created art to surprise and delight visitors to this 20-acre garden. Much of her art is painted welded steel that will delight visitors for the century ahead. She is the modern Alexander Calder of gardens.

Although I am not an artist, I do purchase and create art and whimsy for my own gardens, and you can, too. Look around at what you can use: a brass headboard from an abandoned bed; the rim of an old wagon wheel, a collection of stacked stones or a single tall standing stone buried in the ground. Stone always enhances a garden. Walls are expensive but almost worth their weight in gold.

Pathways are important to a great garden, too. They lead the visitor from one area to another. Placing art or even a bench at a distance pulls viewers forward, luring them to see what is ahead. Chanticleer has wonderful pathways through the woods that appear to be wood chips embedded in rubber. Very soothing to knees and feet.

My late sister, Ruth Anne Mitchell, taught me long ago when viewing art or gardens, “If you see a place to sit down, sit down.” So I do, and I find it enhances the experience of the garden. Not only am I less tired; often gardens surprise us with something special near a resting point. Perhaps you can design a special feature near a bench: rare and dainty plants or a small water feature.

All three of the gardens I visited made much use of water in the landscape. I am lucky enough to have a small stream that runs by my gardens. I built a bench near it, so I can listen to the burble of the water. And you can tune your brook: Place stones that hold back water, allowing it to cascade over them. Different drops create different sounds.

Years ago, for a New York Times article, I interviewed by phone the designer of the gardens at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Robert Irwin. He created a recirculating stream that crossed a path through a woodland area seven times. He told me he tuned it so that at each little bridge visitors would hear a different aquatic tune. Think of that if you have a stream on your property.

Color is very important in designing good or great gardens. I only got the eight-color box of crayons as a boy; my sister Ruth Anne got the 64-crayon box. But I have learned to appreciate all the nuances of color and how they go together. The best explanation of how colors go together — or don’t — is a book by garden writer Sydney Eddison: The Gardener’s Palette: Creating Color in the Garden (Contemporary Books, 2003, $30 in hardback). Get it if you can find a copy.

Great gardens like those at Longwood, an old DuPont family residence originally, recognize that color is important all year. But most shrubs and perennials only bloom for a few weeks. So they choose trees and shrubs that are not only sculptural in form but also have nuanced colors in their leaves. Green is not one color but many. Choose wisely.

Lastly, another way to present color all spring, summer and fall is to use annual flowers liberally. Many of these will keep on blooming in an effort to create seeds. Pots of annual flowers are used frequently in these great gardens. Pots place flowers closer to the viewer’s eye and can also be replaced with other pots if the flowers finish their displays or look a bit bedraggled.

So do visit other gardens this summer, whether at a local garden club tour or one of the fine gardens I mentioned here today.

Henry is a garden consultant and the author of four gardening books. He speaks often to garden clubs and library groups. Reach him at [email protected] or PO Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746.

Featured photo: Formal use of lawns and water at Longwood. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

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