The Weekly Dish 23/05/25

News from the local food scene

• Eats by the slopes: McIntyre Ski Area (50 Chalet Way, Manchester) is due to reopen its seasonal onsite restaurant, The Hill Bar & Grille, for a fourth season on Tuesday, May 30, marketing director Aly Coakley confirmed. Since 2020, the eatery has been open during the spring, summer and fall months, offering a menu of burgers, sandwiches, plated entrees, salads and appetizers, with an outdoor patio and lawn seating areas in addition to indoor dining. Coakley said a number of weekly events and happenings are scheduled throughout the summer before the restaurant closes for ski season around the end of October — beer, bourbon and boards nights on Tuesdays, ladies’ nights on Wednesdays, trivia nights on Thursdays and live music and prime rib specials on Fridays and Saturdays are among those that are planned. Visit mcintyreskiarea.com/the-hill-bar-and-grille to view the eatery’s full menu.

• Third time’s a charm? Postponed twice due to inclement weather, Gibson’s Bookstore’s (45 S. Main St., Concord) author event featuring longtime New Hampshire radio personality Mike Morin is now scheduled for Thursday, June 1, at 6:30 p.m. Morin will present his newest book, If These Walls Could Talk: Celebrating 100 Years of the Red Arrow, America’s Most Beloved Diner, which details various stories and anecdotes that contribute to the original Red Arrow’s lasting legacy in Manchester’s culinary scene, from connections to celebrities like Adam Sandler and Kevin Costner to its reputation as a spot for presidential hopefuls over the past four decades. No admission to the event is required, and for those who can’t make it, signed copies of If These Walls Could Talk may be ordered online at gibsonsbookstore.com. For additional details on the Red Arrow’s 100th anniversary, check out our cover story that appeared in the Sept. 29, 2022, issue — go to issuu.com/hippopress.com to find the e-edition. The story starts on page 10.

• Green Mountain spirits: Vermont’s Village Garage, a craft distillery and tasting room that opened last year in the town of Bennington, recently launched three bottles of its products in New Hampshire, according to a press release. The distillery’s Village bourbon, Village rye and Village Bonfire — the latter a campfire-inspired smoked maple whiskey — are all being rolled out across the Granite State through Republic National Distributing, according to the release. “We brought Village Garage to Massachusetts, and New Hampshire is the logical next step in our New England expansion,” distillery co-founder and Vermont native Matt Cushman said in a statement. “We think Bonfire will do really well here, especially around these summer campfires.” See villagegarage.com.

On The Job – Brian Callnan

Power coalition CEO

Brian Callnan is the newly appointed CEO of The Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire, based in Concord, which empowers local communities to choose their energy sources, collaborate with utilities to upgrade energy infrastructure and provide inclusive electricity supply rates and services to all program participants.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I’m lucky enough to help spread nonprofit power opportunities for communities throughout New Hampshire.

How long have you had this job?

I just started and couldn’t be more thrilled with everyone I’ve met at CPCNH so far. It’s a great organization.

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

I’ve been dedicated to the public, nonprofit model of delivering electricity for 20 years. I started out in Vermont with a focus on energy efficiency and quickly found myself working on securing renewable power options for municipal utilities and cooperatives.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I focused on resource economics in college and found that it really helped with my choice of work. Continuous training has kept me energized in this ever-changing industry. Training has helped me learn about the many different ways to meet the needs of distributed energy resources like solar PV and electric vehicles as more and more folks adopt these technologies.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

I should probably wear a tie more often, but somehow they went missing.

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

We have so many opportunities to provide great service to our communities, and finding that we need to focus on the ones with the greatest benefits first has become a challenge.

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

Try to find the smartest people you can to work with, even if they don’t have the exact skill set you need.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That you get to work with some really great people. We have some excellent minds in the industry that are working hard to make long-lasting change that focuses on the clean, efficient use of electricity. It’s a lot of fun to work with them.

What was the first job you ever had?

I started working at 13 for a sawmill right across our road. I moved a lot of lumber with my best friend that summer.

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

Always include an idea you at first don’t like; it may end up being the best for everyone.

Five favorites

Favorite book: I love the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov
Favorite movie: Polar Express around Christmas
Favorite music: The In Sound from Way Out! Beastie Boys album is often playing.
Favorite food: My wife’s chicken paprikash
Favorite thing about NH: Our skiing in the winter and our lakes in the summer

Featured photo: Brian Callnan. Courtesy photo.

Treasure Hunt 23/05/25

Donna,

I have these five salt dishes with stamps from Prussia. No chips, perfect condition. Can you give me the value for these?

Gail

Dear Gail,

Your salt dishes by CS Prussia were produced in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. That is what the blue mark on the bottom shows.

Salt dishes were always an add-on to a larger dish set. Imagine using them in the day! Being in perfect condition should put them in the range of $50 to a collector.

It would be fun to use them today, right? Thanks for sharing, Gail, and I hope this was helpful.

Donna

Kiddie Pool 23/05/25

Family fun for the weekend

Showtime!

•​ Manchester’s Dimensions in Dance will present Wonderland, its 28th annual production, at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester) on Saturday, May 27, with two showtimes, at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The production is inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic novels Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass and is told through dance, featuring original choreography in ballet, jazz, modern, tap, hip-hop, acro, pointe and lyrical. Tickets are $25 per person for either orchestra or balcony seats and can be purchased online at palacetheatre.org.

•​ Join the Kids Coop Theatre as they present Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway, Derry) from Friday, May 26, through Sunday, May 28 — showtimes are at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The classic story follows Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, a young prince who is trapped under the spell of an enchantress but will be transformed into his former self if he can learn to love and be loved. Regular tickets to each show are $15 per person and can be purchased online at kids-coop-theatre.org.

• Chunky’s Cinema Pub will hold a special sensory-friendly showing of the new live-action version of Disney’s The Little Mermaid on Friday, May 26, at 4 p.m., at each of its three theater locations (707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Drive, Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham). Audience members are allowed to walk around, dance, shout or sing during these special monthly screenings, which feature the lights on and the sound of the film turned down. Matinee ticket rates apply to the showing, ranging from $5.99 to $6.49 per person depending on the theater location. See chunkys.com.

Fun with animals

•​ Kids of all ages are welcome to an outdoor animal storytime at Griffin Park (101 Range Road, Windham) on Friday, May 26, at 10:30 a.m. presented by the Nesmith Library. Enjoy songs, dancing and stories centered around animals with the library’s youth services program. Admission is free and no pre-registration is necessary, but attendees must provide their own transportation to meet at the park. In the case of inclement weather, updated information on the status of the event will be posted to the website and social media. Visit nesmithlibrary.org.

•​ The Squam Lakes Natural Science Center (23 Science Center Road, Holderness) recently reopened its live animal exhibit trail and hiking trails — daily hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last trail admission at 3:30 p.m. According to the Center’s website, the live animal exhibit trail meanders through open meadows, mature forests and marsh boardwalks along a packed gravel path. Tickets are $24 for adults, $22 for seniors ages 65 and up, $18 for kids and teens ages 3 to 15 and free for kids ages 2 and under. Tickets grant attendees check-in access anytime between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Plan about two and a half hours to walk through the trail. See nhnature.org for more details.

Tips for planting the vegetable garden

Some veggies like a crowd, others want space

Although there are many old sayings like, “Plant your potatoes when the oak leaves are the size of a mouse’s ear,” I would rather depend on soil temperature and calendar dates. Besides, who really knows the size of a mouse’s ear?

Mid-May is good for cool-weather crops like spinach, peas, lettuce, onions, potatoes and broccoli-family plants. Heat-loving plants like tomatoes, cukes, zukes, corn and peppers? I have a soil thermometer and I don’t put them in the ground until it is at least 60 degrees. The date for this is usually around June 10 here in chilly Cornish Flat but may be sooner depending on where you are.

Before you think about putting plants in the ground, please harden them off. That means introducing them to full sun over the period of a week. Start with morning-only sun, then add an hour of afternoon sun and work up to a full day of sun. Cloudy days allow you to keep them out all day, but watch out for rain. If they are in a flat that holds water, they can get too wet or get beaten flat.

I also consult with a biodynamic calendar that recommends when to plant the different categories of plants: flower, fruit, leaf and root. The one I use, called “Stella Natura,” uses the position of the moon, stars and planets to determine what to plant — or more importantly, when to plant nothing.

Ask at the nursery where you buy your plants if they have been hardened off. Things like cabbage and lettuce probably are already hardened off and sitting outside the greenhouses on tables. If so, they are ready to plant anytime, but no harm in asking.

While keeping your plants happy in their little plastic six-packs, you might want to water with a dilute fish fertilizer solution. At the nursery they generally are given dilute chemical fertilizer, but I find fish fertilizer works well, and they grow strong and tall. I like Neptune’s Harvest brand.

Few of us have enough garden space for everything we want to grow, so we have to make decisions. Don’t crowd your plants. Tomatoes need 24 inches between plants. Potatoes need 18 inches, onions 4 or 5 inches in rows a foot apart. Crowd them? You get more onions but smaller ones. Peppers on the other hand only need 12-inch spacing as they like to actually touch their neighbors.

A good reference guide is The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible by Vermont author Ed Smith. Even I use it from time to time, and I’ve been growing veggies for decades. Ed and his wife Sylvia really know their stuff and buy very few vegetables in a year.

To maximize garden space I plant quick-growing plants like radishes and lettuce between or around slower-growing things like tomatoes. Plant a tomato, put it in its 54-inch support cage (never use small cages), then circle it with lettuce starts. The lettuce will be ready to eat before the tomato is big enough to shade it. I just planted my onions and planted lettuce in the spaces between rows of onions. Don’t plant things in your asparagus patch, as asparagus hates company.

To maximize production, think about growing up. No, not you. Your cucumbers, squashes, and pole beans. If you do this, be sure to put the trellis on the north side of your garden to avoid shading out other plants. You can buy a trellis or build your own using posts with attached chicken or welded wire with square openings.

If you want to grow hot peppers or eggplants, think about providing them some extra heat. No, not blankets. Choose dark rocks the size of a loaf of bread and place them near your plants. They will absorb heat from the sun and radiate it back during the night. You can also cover them with ReMay or row cover, a light synthetic fabric made for gardens that holds in heat and keeps bugs off.

Being a good gardener takes time, but don’t be discouraged.

Henry is a lifelong organic gardener and the author of four gardening books. His website is www.Gardening-Guy.com.

Featured photo: Black stones placed near heat-loving peppers help keep them warm at night. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

The Art Roundup 23/05/25

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• Mozart and Friends: The Nashua Chamber Orchestra (nco-music.org) will wrap up its season with “Mozart and Friends” on Saturday, June 3, at 7:30 p.m. at Nashua Community College (505 Amherst St., Judd Gregg Hall, in Nashua) and on Sunday, June 4, at 7:30 p.m. at Milford Town Hall (1 Union Square on the Milford Oval). Tickets cost $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and college students; students under 18 get in free. Tickets can be purchased on the orchestra’s website or at the door. The show will feature David Feltner, music director, performing as a viola soloist in the premiere of his new work “From the Depths” as well as “Five Woodland Sketches” by Edward MacDowell and Mozart’s Symphony No. 39, according to a press release.

• Memorial Day Weekend theater: Looking for some theater this holiday weekend? The Hatbox Theatre (270 Loudon Road in Concord; hatboxnh.com, 715-2315) and Not Too Loud Productions present Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? It opens this Friday, May 26, and runs through Sunday, June 11. Performances will run Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $22, $19 for seniors and students.

The Kids Coop Theatre will present Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: The Broadway Musical at the (29 W. Broadway in Derry; derryoperahouse.org) Friday, May 26, and Saturday, May 27, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 28, at 1 p.m. Tickets cost $15.

The Seacoast Repertory Theatre (125 Bow St. in Portsmouth; seacoastrep.com) is also raising the curtain on its production of Disney’s Newsies The Musical, which will open with a show Thursday, May 25, at 7:30 p.m. That production will run through Saturday, July 8, with shows Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sundays, at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $37 to $62.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Get your tickets now for the Palace Theatre’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which will begin Friday, June 2. The production, which will feature a live orchestra for this sung-through musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, will run through Sunday, June 25, at the Palace (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; 668-5588, palacetheatre.org) with shows on Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $25 to $46.

• Audition calls: The Nashua Theatre Guild (nashuatheatreguild.org) has “a secret project a la Shakespeare in the Park coming but shhh! We can’t tell you yet!” according to its website. Actors of all experiences are welcome to audition for the production (performance dates Aug. 6 and Aug. 13) on Saturday, June 3, and Sunday, June 4, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Academy of Science and Design (486 Amherst St. in Nashua). Come prepared for a cold reading. For details, contact Valerie at val.aug.wis@gmail.com.

Performers age 14 and up can audition for the Friends of the Amato Center’s production of Guys and Dolls, according to the website. Auditions will be held Tuesday, June 6, and Wednesday, June 7, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club of Souhegan Valley/Amato Center for the Performing Arts (56 Mont Vernon St. in Milford). The production will be Aug. 18 through Aug. 20, according to a press release. Email friendsguysdolls2023@gmail.com with questions. Go to amatocenter.org to register.

• Theater in June: Tiny Beautiful Things, a production based on the book by Cheryl Strayed, will be presented by Theatre Kapow on Friday, June 9, and Saturday, June 10, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 11, at 2 p.m. at the Bank of NH Stage (16. S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com). Tickets cost $33.75, $26.75 for students (the play contains mature subject matter and language), according to tkapow.com.

Also in June, Cue Zero Theatre (cztheatre.com) will present the musical Be More Chill at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway in Derry; derryoperahouse.org) Friday, June 23, through Sunday, June 25.

The Wild Women of Winedale
The Majestic Theatre Studios (880 Page St. in Manchester; majestictheatre.net, 669-7469) will present the comedy about three women at crossroads in their lives, The Wild Women of Winedale, Friday, June 2, through Sunday, June 4, according to a press release. The play will run Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $20 for adults, $17 for 65+ and 17 and under, the release said.

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