Album Reviews 22/12/15

Wolfgang Haffner, Silent World (BMG Records)

Jumping the gun a bit on this one, as it’s not out until the end of January, but it’s worth knowing about if you’re a jazzhead on a budget. German drummer and bandleader Haffner is a dreamer in sound whose real gift is being able to combine groove and bounce with a wide sound palette comprising cool jazz, tango and other Spanish flavors, all brought together in a unique way that creates a special kind of tension. In recent times, Haffner has drawn inspiration from external sources: lots of guests here, the constants being Simon Oslender (piano and keyboards) and Sebastian Studnitzky (trumpet); Haffner claims it’s his “dream band,” and I’m in no position to argue the point, given that the result is indeed rather sweeping. The record is claimed to be conceptual, nine pieces whittled down from 18 songs Haffner originally wrote for it; it progresses nicely from the sturdy “Here and Now” until the finale, “Forever and Ever,” a minimalist (but not entirely morose) number made of piano and bass. A

Fire Sale, “A Fool’s Errand” / “We Dance For Sorrow” (Negative Progression Records)

Here we go, more emo. This four-piece band is said to be a punk rock supergroup, but if you don’t mind my pedantry, it’s a power-pop thing, which, as I’ve said many times, isn’t quite the same level of scatterbrained derangement as actual punk. It all sounds the same to me, only because I don’t really care about it and never really have. But I’ll belay all that for our purposes and point out that this two-song dry run pulls out all the stops in trying to put the Negative Progression label back on the map, after the owner of the imprint (which hosted a stage on the 2003 Vans Warped Tour and released 30 albums) decided to bag it eight years ago to work as an attorney (well isn’t that the punkest, am I right?). The bass player is from Face To Face, and the other guys were in The Ataris and Ann Beretta, and it’s quite listenable for what it is. Whoever’s singing on the B-side, “We Dance For Sorrow,” has a leathery, sturdy voice that evokes old post-punk stuff like Lords Of The New Church, while “A Fool’s Errand” is Black Flag-speed Hoobastank-ish and very catchy. I don’t hate these guys at all. A

Playlist

• Dec. 16 looms over my head like one of those “dementor” bros from Harry Potter, just swinging his arms and hollering all ghostly or whatever dementors do, and of course also reminding me that Dec. 16 is the last general-release Friday for new albums before the holiday week, when there will basically be no new albums, so I’ll have to make something up. Actually, now that I’m looking at this mess, there’s not a lot of albums coming out this week, and I will have to scrounge. Ah, here’s one, the latest release from Circa Survive, titled Two Dreams, their first full-length since 2017’s The Amulet. None of that means anything to me. All I know is that Circa Survive is an emo band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which means they’re batting with two strikes right off the jump here. They’ve been around for a while now; their first album, Juturna, did have some screamy tunes, like “Act Appalled,” which did point to a slightly more-melodic-than-usual flavor of nerd rock — OK, it was pretty cool, is what I’m trying to say, but I still hear it all the props I dropped on Good Charlotte for whatever the song was, so let’s just keep it between ourselves, whattaya say. OK, so the new record — wait a second, hold it, late breaking, from some website that knows things (nme.com): “After months of rumors, Circa Survive have confirmed to fans that they’re no longer an active band.” Well there goes that, but Two Dreams is indeed due out on the 16th, and one of the tunes, “Sleep Well,” isn’t emo at all, more like early Hanson doing a slightly trip-hop thing that has lo-fi drums. It’s pretty good, and that’s probably why they broke up; it’s always risky to make good music, you know?

• Jonathan Blake Williams Jr., better known as Jabee, is a hip-hop artist and actor from Oklahoma City. Chuck D of Public Enemy and Sway Calloway both think he’s awesome, so I guess it’s OK for me to say he’s awesome, because, you know Chuck D is awesome. Anyway, this fella’s new EP, Good, will be in the stores and streaming services within the next few hours, standing as the newest EP in a series of them. Reaction has been mixed so far with adjectives like “nostalgic” and “unoriginal” being the most common when people discuss it. The track “Black Star” is stoner-mellow and pretty trippy beat-wise.

• In edgelady news, Mimi Barks is a U.K.-based trap-metal artist (originally from Berlin, Germany) who likes to pour on the anger in Slipknot-ish fashion. Other than that, there’s no information to be found on her on the entire internet other than the fact that she likes to change her day-glo hair color every few days or whatnot. Her new album, Deadgirl, has a title track that’s pretty much what anyone would expect “trap-metal” to sound like: She sings in a sort of Marilyn Manson style, and then there’s a standard trap beat that’s begging for attention from goths, some Death Grips-ish flourishes, things like that. Apparently she’s going on tour with goth dude Combichrist, a show I’d attend if it were a little more worth risking Covid and all that happy stuff.

• Finally we have Atlanta hip-hop crew Germ & $uicideboy$, whose favorite thing is to put people with really gross teeth on their album covers. The latest in their DirtyNasty series is a new album called Dirtiestnastiest$uicide, and yes, the cover is as disturbing as anything else they’ve pulled. Only thing to be found online is a live version of some tune that’ll be on this record, and it’s a lot like Beastie Boys, which I’m sure will bring ’em lots of underage customers.

If you’re in a local band, now’s a great time to let me know about your EP, your single, whatever’s on your mind. Let me know how you’re holding yourself together without being able to play shows or jam with your homies. Send a recipe for keema matar. Message me on Twitter (@esaeger) or Facebook (eric.saeger.9).

An easy way to look extremely creative

A lot of us feel a crisis of confidence in December. We like to think of ourselves as imaginative, creative people, but then we find ourselves surrounded by actually creative people bringing their crafting A-games. We are inundated with pine cone wreaths, hand-knitted sweaters of llamas drinking eggnog, and festive crocheted door knob cozies. It’s enough to make a person anxious. It’s easy to say that nobody is crafting at you, but any time spent in book clubs or PTO meetings puts the lie to that.

Here is an easy way to win some crafting street cred.

Photos by John Fladd.

What you will need

Some white chocolate – I use white chocolate disks, made for bakers and candy-makers, but a bar of white chocolate from a convenience store would work just as well.

Powdered food coloring – Melted chocolate (you will be melting the chocolate) is extremely finicky. If it comes in contact with even a tiny amount of moisture, it will seize up. Liquid food coloring, and even gel, will make your chocolate very difficult to work with.

Something to stir your melted chocolate with – popsicle sticks are good for this, although the stem end of a spoon would work just as well.

A dry-erase marker. Also, tiny brushes to paint with.

Paper towels

A plain cocktail glass

Your overly excitable plastic container – see Hint No. 1

Using your dry-erase pen, draw a simple picture on the outside of your martini glass. Let’s try something fairly straightforward, a Christmas tree with a couple of presents.

OK, it’s not great. Don’t worry. This is one of the few times in your crafting life that you can be confident in the process. This will turn out well.

Put a small amount of white chocolate on your overly excitable plate. (In my case, it’s a tiny soy sauce dish, presumably for sushi.) Use a smaller amount of chocolate than you think you need. Heat it in the microwave for a surprisingly short amount of time, 15 seconds or so, to start.

Stir the solid-appearing chocolate. If your plate is as excitable as you think, the chocolate will quickly collapse into a molten state. If necessary, hit it with a few more seconds in the microwave.

Stir a little powdered food coloring into your melted chocolate. Start with a small amount, then more, if necessary. Again, if the mixture is a bit stiff, a few more seconds in the microwave will loosen it up.

With your tiny paintbrush, paint the colored chocolate on the inside of the glass, using your drawing as a guide. Because you are painting on glass, think of this like a store window, where you will start with all the details in the foreground, then fill in the background later.

Let’s start with red ribbons on the presents and red ornaments on the tree.

Let’s add some details further in the background: blue presents and ornaments and a brown tree trunk. You could color the white chocolate brown, but I just melted a single chocolate chip and used that.

For the tree itself, I’m going to use two slightly different shades of green. I added a little yellow food coloring to one batch to lighten it up, then a tiny amount of black to darken another. Your first set of blotches will look, er, blotchy. Trust the process.

Hey, suddenly, this is all coming together!

Until you turn the glass around and look at it from the front.

No. Don’t panic. Trust the process. Wipe off the dry erase marker.

Wow. I mean, it’s not perfect, but it would totally shut up Simmons from Accounting at the office party.

You know what we need? A cocktail to go in it.

Pomegranate martini

  • 2 ounces Pama Pomegranate Liqueur
  • 2 ounces mid-shelf vodka – I’ve been enjoying New Amsterdam lately.

Pour both ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake until you hear the ice start to shatter.

Pour your very cold drink into your newly decorated cocktail glass.

Considering it’s only got two ingredients, this is a surprisingly sophisticated drink. The sweet/sour fruitiness of the pomegranate hits you first but is replaced by a fairly bracing booziness from the vodka. The sourness of the liqueur activates your salivary glands, so you get a really “juicy” overall impression from it.

Now the question you are probably asking is, “Won’t the drink wash away the chocolate?”

Actually, no. Your drink is very cold, so the chocolate is unlikely to melt. And, remember when we talked about chocolate’s tendency to seize when exposed to liquid? We’re using that to our advantage here. The water content of the vodka, plus the diluted ice, panics the chocolate, which clings to the side of the glass for dear life.

If you rinse this glass out gently with very cold water, you can probably get three or four uses out of it.

Featured photo: Pomegranate Martini in hand painted glass. Photo by John Fladd.

In the kitchen with Melissa Dolpies

Melissa Dolpies of Northfield is the owner of Twelve 31 Events (twelve31.events, and on Facebook and Instagram), a catering business she runs with her husband, Michael. In addition to operating out of a commercial kitchen in Tilton, Twelve 31 Events recently opened a full-service cafe in downtown Concord (100 N. Main St., Suite 101), where scratch-made sandwiches, soups, chowders and other items are available. A native of East Boston, Dolpies got her start in the industry in fine dining before transitioning into banquets and event catering for some of Boston’s most well-known hotels. She moved to New Hampshire in 2016 and launched Twelve 31 Events the following year.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

The obvious one is my knife, but for me, it’s also a wooden spoon. … I have probably a dozen stainless steel spoons and I always grab the wooden one.

What would you have for your last meal?

Really briny oysters. That’s definitely one of the things that I miss a lot from leaving the city.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

My go-to is Revival [Kitchen & Bar in Concord]. We go there often, we sit at the bar, and I just love the open kitchen. [Chef and owner] Corey [Fletcher] is always back there working hands-on with his staff, and I just love that. He always changes his menu and does a really great job.

What celebrity would you like to see eating at your cafe?

This is a funny one for me. Honestly, there isn’t anyone that I could say is on my wishlist. I have spent so much time in Boston and worked at such great places … and served and cooked for countless celebrities and athletes.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

I’d have to say the clam chowder. … I have been making it for over 20 years, and it’s a recipe that I took a long time to perfect.

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

I kind of equate this question to what we do … and I think the biggest trends have all lately been due to social media. I think TikTok and Instagram and all of these influencers are really driving what I see clients looking for as our trends.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I’m Italian … [and] my favorite thing to cook is what we call Sunday gravy. … We’ll change up what pasta we’re going to have, but it will always have lots of meat in it, maybe homemade meatballs or Italian sausage or braciole. We always have a good piece of crusty bread with some freshly grated Romano cheese and a salad. That’s just the perfect day for me.

Snowball cookies (Italian butter cookies rolled in powdered sugar)
From the kitchen of Melissa Dolpies of Twelve 31 Catering

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar, plus 1 cup for rolling
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
2¼ cups sifted all-purpose flour
¾ cup pecans, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high until creamy. Add the powdered sugar in the bowl with butter. Start the mixer gently, then increase the speed to medium. Beat the butter and sugar for two to three minutes, or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and salt.
Mix to combine. Add half of the flour, mix to combine, then add the rest of the flour. Add the pecans and mix again. Roll the cookie dough into quarter-sized balls, then place them an inch apart on a baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown on the bottom. While the cookies are baking, place the remaining cup of powdered sugar into a medium-sized bowl. Remove the cookies from the oven. While they are still warm, roll each cookie in the powdered sugar. When they have cooled, roll them in the powdered sugar a second time.

Featured photo: Melissa Dolpies. Courtesy photo.

Slightly sweet butternut squash soup

I know we are deep into the season of snacking, and yet I am sharing a soup recipe. There is some reasoning behind this. If you have a free evening or weekend afternoon at home, you might be craving a healthier dish that is also easy to make. This recipe has the bonus of being best when served piping hot, which is perfect for the chill of December.

This homemade soup is about as simple as a homemade soup can be. You can make the cooking portion as minimal as you want. Personally, if I have free time, I like to roast my own squash, as I think it delivers more flavor. However, in a pinch, I also have been known to use frozen squash to save on time. The broth definitely can be store-bought. The flavors of the squash and cinnamon will be most prevalent, so creating a homemade vegetable broth isn’t necessary. The finishing piece of this recipe is dried cranberries. They add a nice pop of sweetness and texture to an otherwise silky soup.

Now, the question that remains is what to serve with this soup. Since the goal of the dish is simplicity, you could go with a loaf of bread. You also could make some grilled cheese sandwiches, if you are feeling energetic. If you want to feel like a kid again, a sleeve of saltines or other crackers would be just fine as well.

Here’s hoping you have some quiet time at home to enjoy this soup in the coming weeks.

Slightly sweet butternut squash soup
Serves 4

4 cups vegetable broth
3 cups cooked butternut squash
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/3 cup dried cranberries
salt and pepper, if desired

Put broth and squash in a blender.
Purée until smooth.
Transfer mixture to a small saucepan, and place over low heat.
Add cinnamon, brown sugar and cranberries. Stir well.
Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Featured Photo: Slightly sweet butternut squash soup. Photo by Michele Pedula Kuegler.

Coal in one

Virtual golf and coal-fired pizza at new Salem eatery

A new full-service restaurant and bar now open in Salem is inviting you to enjoy pizza and appetizers out of a custom-built coal-fired oven, along with craft cocktails and the option to partake in games of virtual indoor golf or ax throwing with projected targets, all under one roof.

Par28, named after the state highway where you’ll find it, is also home to Rae’s Coal Fired. The business opened just before Thanksgiving inside the former Coca-Cola Bottling Co. plant, said Jim Tomacchio, who owns and runs it with three of his four sons, Jimmy, Joe and Paul.

Tomacchio’s oldest son Jimmy said he originally became interested in pizza when he and his wife ordered pies at restaurants down in New York and New Haven, Connecticut.

“I tried the pizza down there and didn’t think it was anything like the pizza around here,” he said. “My wife’s name is Rachel, and Rae was her nickname in college, so that’s how I got the name.”

Jimmy’s younger brothers Paul and Anthony happen to be executive co-chefs of Stacks, an eatery just over the state line in Haverhill, Mass., known for its craft sandwiches. Paul, who attended New England Culinary Institute, is also part-owner of Par28 and helps oversee the restaurant’s menu, Jimmy Tomacchio said.

“He’s the one that kind of brought my pizza ideas to life,” he said.

Pizzas are cooked from scratch using gas and anthracite coal in an oven that came all the way from Washington state and can reach up to 900 degrees in heat. Jimmy Tomacchio said the oven is so large it’s capable of cooking as many as 14 pizzas at a time in just three to four minutes.

Top sellers out of the gate have included the prosciutto and fig and the meatball and ricotta pizzas, as well as the Queen Bee — that one features hot honey, crushed red pepper and “cup-and-char” pepperoni, or smaller pepperoni pieces that form into cup shapes when cooked to trap the pie’s natural juices.

All pies come in 14-inch serving sizes, and you can even build your own by choosing from nearly two dozen topping options. House appetizers like the chicken wings and the garlic knots are also cooked in the coal-fired oven, Jimmy Tomacchio said, while the bar boasts a variety of local and regional beers on tap in addition to a line of specialty craft cocktails.

The virtual golf side of Par28 came when the Tomacchios decided to combine Jimmy’s pizza concept with Joe and Jim’s love of the sport.

“I’m an avid golfer. It’s my life, and I’ve always wanted a golf simulator in the house,” Joe Tomacchio said. “I was looking into it and never pulled the trigger. But now I don’t need one, because my dream absolutely came true.”

There are a total of seven TrackMan-brand golf simulators inside Par28 that visitors can use on an hourly basis, with more than 200 courses from around the world to play on.

“There are a whole ton of tour venues where the PGA players play. You can play those same courses here,” Joe Tomacchio said. “When you’re hitting, there’s a radar that’s behind you … that reads exactly how the ball spins and how far that ball is going to go, and it projects that onto the screen.”

Settings include everything from a traditional round of 18 holes to practicing your swing on the driving range, and there’s even an opportunity to hold tournaments.

In addition to the golf simulators, Par28 has a lounge area with eight ax throwing lanes and digitized targets, enabling you to play fun games like tic-tac-toe, connect four, duck hunt and many more.

“The golf was part of the original plan, and then once we came and saw how much space we had back there, we tried to figure out what else we could do,” Joe Tomacchio said.

With a large bar area surrounded by enlarged murals on the wall of the world’s famous golf course holes, Par28 is fast becoming a popular spot for golfers and foodies alike.

“Some people think that we’re just a sports venue, so we’ll get calls all the time [when people will] ask, ‘Can we just eat there or can we just sit at the bar?’ And yes, absolutely you can,” Jim Tomacchio said. “Yes, we do offer golf and ax throwing, but we also have food and drinks so you can just come in here and enjoy yourself.”

Par28 and Rae’s Coal Fired
Where: 23 S. Broadway, Salem
Hours: Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to midnight, and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to the website
More info: Visit par28.com, find them on Facebook and Instagram @par28nh or call 458-7078

Featured photo: Photo by John McCarthy, JRM Photography.

Shop, sip and eat local

Loon Chocolate, 603 Charcuterie present holiday market

Nearly a year after opening their first joint retail shop in Manchester, Loon Chocolate and 603 Charcuterie are bringing more than two dozen other local businesses together for a special two-day holiday market. Happening inside the event space of The Factory on Willow on Saturday, Dec. 17, and Sunday, Dec. 18, the market will feature holiday shopping opportunities from purveyors selling everything from artisan foods to candles, jewelry and personal mementos, along with live music, a cash bar, photos with Santa Claus and more.

About 75 percent of the vendors are based within 20 miles of Manchester, according to Loon Chocolate owner and founder Scott Watson, who is organizing the market. The event is also unique for offering free admission and parking, thanks to a grant awarded by the city. Attendees are welcome to bring a non-perishable item to be donated to the New Hampshire Food Bank.

“It’s just a great opportunity for us to bring some small businesses together … and get them in front of some great customers. That was our thought process on the whole event itself,” he said.

Watson said he took to Instagram to accept applications for interested businesses to participate.

“We kind of took it in two different directions,” he said. “One was that it was first come, first served, but at the same time, not wanting large duplicates of vendors competing.”

The result is a diverse lineup of vendors with their own booths throughout the event space. The shop, Watson added, will be open both days and will offer gift-giving items of its own.

For Lindsey Bangs of I Whisked It, a home bakery based in Raymond, the market is the latest opportunity for you to order her homemade cocoa bombs, which she will offer in traditional, caramel and peppermint candy cane flavors. She also plans to sell cupcakes and — if time allows her to produce it, she said — a traditional German Christmas fruit bread called stollen.

Granite State Spice Blends, a Salem-based company offering small-batch herb and spice seasoning blends in a variety of flavors, will also be there. Owner and founder Matt Pierce said he individually toasts, muddles and grinds each one of his blends before it is packaged — his signature product is an all-purpose blend called the “SPOG” (with salt, pepper, onion and garlic as its ingredients), but he also dabbles in everything from a curry powder to an adobo seasoning.

Brandon Rainer and Lauren Lefebvre of The Potato Concept will be there too — the pop-up business, launched last year, has been a hit at area breweries and other expo-style events. They specialize in creative loaded russet baked potatoes, and will often have flavored options that rotate with the seasons. Additionally, Watson said the team at 603 Charcuterie plans to make some grab-and-go charcuterie cups and mini boards. A cash bar, meanwhile, will be overseen by Derry’s Appolo Vineyards, which will also serve beers from Rockingham Brewing Co.

Both days, Bradley Copper Kettle and Friends will perform live, and on Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Santa Claus will attend for photo opportunities with families. Then on Sunday, from noon to 2 p.m., Elsa from Frozen — portrayed by a local character actress — will visit. About every hour over each of the two days, Watson said, The Factory on Willow plans to hold tours.

Watson and 603 Charcuterie owner Theresa Zwart became the first commercial tenants of the building, a former shoe factory turned apartment and business complex, when they opened their retail store this past February. It serves as a one-stop shop for charcuterie boards utilizing local ingredients, and is now also home to Loon Chocolate’s bean-to-bar production facility.

“There’s a lot going on at The Factory … and this has been an opportunity to bring some people to the site so they can see what’s going on there, and maybe even find this little nook and cranny where there’s a chocolate factory and a charcuterie shop,” Watson said.

Holiday market, presented by Loon Chocolate and 603 Charcuterie
When: Saturday, Dec. 17, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 18, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: The Factory on Willow, 252 Willow St., Manchester
Cost: Free admission and parking (look for signs that direct you to the South Parking Lot); donations to the NH Food Bank are welcome
More info: Visit loonchocolate.com or 603charcuterie.com, or find them on Facebook and Instagram

Featured photo: Photo courtesy of 603 Charcuterie.

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