Spring Sunshine

So, apparently, it’s springtime.

The snow is gone. We’ve switched over to daylight saving time. My road is a morass of muddy ruts. The air smells like fresh soil and stale dreams.

I like to think I’m jaded and world-weary, but I’m not immune to spring.

I’ve been giving my wife what passes for a saucy look. I’ve been practicing smiling knowingly and raising one eyebrow, which is much harder than it looks. Every time I think I’ve got it nailed, my wife will ask me if I’m feeling OK.

“What?” I ask. “Don’t I look sexy?”

“More like constipated,” she replies.

In my book, that must mean it’s Cocktail Time.

There are, of course, several cocktails that we associate with springtime — mint juleps, for instance, or creative hipster drinks infused with snap peas, or variations on summer drinks named after flowers, honeysuckle margaritas or hyacinth highballs, maybe.

Personally, I’ve been pretty fond of a Sunshine cocktail lately — a classic made with equal parts white rum, pineapple juice, dry vermouth and hope, with a small amount of grenadine for color and sweetness. It is bracing, not too sweet, and a lovely rosy-orange color. It is thoroughly delightful. And yet….

As much as I like a blisteringly cold Sunshine, as delicious as it is, it doesn’t taste very springish. The flavors all go together well, and it looks lovely and respectable, but it’s restrained and self-contained. It wears a tie and a vest and tips the staff generously but reasonably. It greets you with a firm handshake and asks after your family. It does not dash through the wildflowers, strewing rose petals and singing, “Hey, Nonny, Nonny,” on its way to meet a secret lover. It doesn’t demonstrate enough questionable judgment, in my opinion.

So let’s mess around with a classic cocktail that’s just minding its own business and not hurting anybody.

White rum is a good base for a drink. It doesn’t have a pronounced flavor, which makes it a good starting point for a cocktail that won’t offend anyone — vodka with a passport. (In fact, I made some dynamite banana-infused rum last week with white rum that would — but I digress.) Since we’re looking to put some backbone into our spring cocktail, let’s swap out the white rum for golden rum — not too dark — something caramel-colored that knows who it is. In this case, I’m using Rhum Clement, but anything golden will work.

I’m leaving the dry vermouth as is. It is a solid utility player that can support the rum.

Maybe the biggest change I’m going to make is swapping out the pineapple juice for passionfruit cocktail. We’ve talked about this before; you’ll find it in the juice aisle at the supermarket, probably just out of reach on the top shelf. It’s like pineapple juice, if PJ was perfumy and slightly dangerous-tasting.

Let’s replace the grenadine with homemade strawberry syrup. The strawberry goes well with the passionfruit cocktail and is a little more springy.

I’ll leave the hope as is.

Effulgence Cocktail

(I looked it up in a thesaurus, and it’s a synonym for sunshine. I like the sound of it.)

1½ ounces golden rum

1½ ounces dry vermouth

1½ ounces passionfruit cocktail

½ ounce homemade strawberry syrup (see below)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker half-filled with ice.

Strain into a chilled coupé glass.

Drink while making direct eye contact with a stranger.

This tastes similar to its cousin Sunshine, but with a few striking differences. The Effulgence’s golden rum is firmly in the driver’s seat. It lets you know who you’re dealing with, but it also lets you know that it is a professional and knows what it’s doing. The passionfruit adds a note of exotic devil-may-care vernality. The vermouth and the strawberry are background singers in this very nice spring-like mixed metaphor of a cocktail. Hey, nonny, nonny.

Strawberry syrup

• An undetermined quantity of frozen strawberries (Make as much or as little of this recipe as you like. The frozen berries will give up their juice more willingly than fresh ones; they’ve had their hearts broken by ice crystals.)

• An equal amount (by weight) of sugar

Heat berries and sugar in a small saucepan.

As the berries thaw and start to give up their juice, mash them with a potato masher.

Bring to a boil (to allow the sugar to dissolve completely), then remove from heat.

Cool, then strain into a small bottle and label.

Eat the remaining berry jam left in the strainer on toast or chocolate ice cream.

Featured photo: Effulgence Cocktail. Photo by John Fladd.

Madeline Rossi and Olivia Lenox

Madeline Rossi and her wife Olivia Lenox are the owners of New Roots Meals (newrootsmeals.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @newrootsmeals), a Manchester-based company offering weekly deliveries of fresh plant-based items like sandwiches, salads, grain bowls, pastas, breakfasts and more. Even though both are from New England (Lenox from New Hampshire and Rossi from Connecticut), the couple met in Portland, Oregon, where Lenox had owned and operated a vegan food truck called Flourish. They eventually came to New Hampshire to be closer to family members, launching New Roots Meals as their newest business venture in October. Their menu changes every other week, but all items are 100-percent plant-based. They’ve done everything from Buffalo cauliflower wings and fried mushrooms to vegetable lo mein, Italian polenta bowls, yuca shepherd’s pie and caprese quiches. Orders are accepted until 8 p.m. every Friday. All meals are cooked at Jerome’s Deli in Manchester on Sundays, which Rossi and Lenox rent out as a commissary space. Free deliveries are made on Mondays, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., for all customers within a 30-mile radius of Manchester.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

Madeline: Our mandoline, which we use to thinly slice all our veggies.

Olivia: The Vitamix blender, because I like to make cheeses and sauces from scratch. I could probably record a commercial for them, I love it so much.

What would you have for your last meal?

Madeline: Honestly, I would probably get the udon stir-fry with tofu, from Buba Noodle [Bar in Manchester]. That is one thing I cannot recreate myself.

Olivia: I feel like I would want a big giant vegan burrito. I love the mushroom chorizo burrito from Dos Amigos [Burritos in Concord]. I feel like it would save my life.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

Madeline: Troy’s [Fresh Kitchen & Juice Bar in Londonderry]. I’ve been working my way through their menu. I’m a sucker for hash browns, so I love their Southwest scramble with tofu. I also usually like to get the blueberry pancake smoothie.

Olivia: The Local Moose Cafe [in Manchester]. I get the same thing every time: the tofu bánh mi sandwich and the matcha latte with oat milk and a lot of sugar.

What celebrity would you like to see ordering from New Roots Meals?

Madeline: Definitely Lizzo, for sure!

Olivia: Yeah, let’s just go with that.

What has been your personal favorite menu item that you’ve offered?

Madeline: The Korean barbecue cauliflower. I love having a lot of color in our dishes, and that one just came out really colorful and tasty.

Olivia: Mine is the quiche, which we sell whole or sometimes by the slice. The base for them is made with garbanzo bean flour.

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

Olivia: Avocado toast.

Madeline: Hot chocolate bombs, especially around Christmas. Loon Chocolate [in Manchester] has a vegan option.

What is your favorite thing to make at home?

Madeline: I love making vegan charcuterie plates often. I’ll use crackers, maybe some kind of vegan sausage or cheese, and then whatever veggies we have in our fridge that we need to use up.

Olivia: I like to make soups that are miso-based, with cabbage or maybe carrots or mushrooms, some fresh cilantro and a lot of red pepper flakes and ginger.

Beetroot hummus
From the kitchen of Madeline Rossi and Olivia Lenox of New Roots Meals, newrootsmeals.com

1 can (1½ cups) chickpeas
⅓ cup olive oil
⅓ cup cooked beets
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If using raw beets, dice them and place on a greased baking sheet. Salt beets, cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Add chickpeas, beets, water, lemon juice and garlic powder to a blender and blend on high. While ingredients are blending, pour in olive oil until you reach a smooth consistency, adding more olive oil if necessary. Salt to taste and enjoy.

Featured photo: Madeline Rossi (left) and her wife Olivia Lenox (right).

Keep on brewing on

New Hampshire Craft Beer Week returns

New Hampshire Craft Beer Week, an annual celebration dedicated to highlighting brewery culture in the Granite State, is returning for its seventh year. Starting Wednesday, April 7, in line with National Beer Day, and continuing through Saturday, April 17, breweries all over New Hampshire will be showcasing special beer releases, hosting virtual events and participating in various collaborative social media efforts to keep the community connected.

Craft Beer Week was introduced by the New Hampshire Brewers Association in 2015, when there were just 44 licensed craft breweries statewide. Today, there are over 90, according to executive director C.J. Haines. In 2019, he industry contributed more than $500 million to the state, the most recent data currently available.

Brewery happenings

Even now, brewers are finding ways to celebrate with their customers.

Several beer trails (you can receive prizes or giveaways based on how many participating breweries you visit) are planned — including a special one through the New Hampshire chapter of the Pink Boots Society. The beer trail is being held in lieu of a collaborative release from women representing multiple Granite State breweries.

Each brewery is instead releasing its own beer highlighting the hop blend released by Yakima Chief Hops. The trail, featuring nearly a dozen craft breweries across Manchester, Concord, the Lakes Region and the Seacoast, will be open throughout the months of April and May with grand prize drawings for those who complete it.

Great North Aleworks in Manchester, in addition to releasing a new lager to benefit the Manchester Historic Association on April 7, will host a trivia night that evening at 6 p.m., featuring executive director and author John Clayton. According to Great North sales and marketing manager Brian Parda, Clayton will be using the Manchester Wall of Fame, the Millyard Museum’s interactive exhibit, to play a game of “Who’s Who” that people can participate in either virtually or in person.

More new brews

In Derry, Cask & Vine owners Andy Day and Alana Wentworth happen to be celebrating the first anniversary of the Daydreaming Brewing Co. during Craft Beer Week. Their venture has gone in directions Day never thought it would go in since the pandemic hit.

“Our original intention was to do English-style ales,” Day said. “We started doing barrel-aged variants with our distillery, which was not what we had set out to do, but the reception has been pretty fantastic. … We’ve also found ourselves in stores and have a few draft accounts in restaurants. That was another thing we didn’t plan on doing.”

Fierce Princess, a German Pilsner brewed with rye and spicy peppers, is a new brew that will be available beginning Thursday, April 15. It’s the first of a series of beers being released that’s based on a Dungeons & Dragons campaign Day is running called Insidious. It will also be the first Daydreaming Brewing Co. beer to come in cans as well as on draft. Three more releases in the series are expected to follow, every four months. The following day, Friday, April 16, they will release a special anniversary ale, Day said, a blend of Daydreaming’s Russian imperial stout, barleywine and Belgian strong dark ale that has been aged in a whiskey barrel.

Lithermans Limited Brewery in Concord also has an anniversary coming up in line with Craft Beer Week — its fifth, according to owner Michael Hauptly-Pierce. On Friday, April 9, Lithermans will be releasing a new double dry hopped IPA called Styles and Dynamics, followed by the re-release of Inner Light Spectrum, a dry hopped Pilsner, on Friday, April 16.

“We opened up an online store as soon as [the pandemic began], and that’s been huge in helping us get through,” said Hauptly-Pierce, adding that the outdoor patio at Lithermans is expected to reopen starting Saturday, April 3.

Last week, Manchester’s To Share Brewing Co. had two new releases of its own — Swhale, a hazy New England-style double IPA with flavors of strawberry, melons and coconut; and Up Cider, a dry hard cider made with orange zest and juice to give it a citrus-y kick.

To Share co-founder Aaron Share said he has plans to collaborate with Martha’s Exchange in Nashua on a beer he hopes to have released by May. The brewery will welcome several live music acts over the course of Craft Beer Week, like Ryan Gagne-Hall on April 10 and Kevin Horan on April 11. It also recently received approval to bring back extended outdoor seating.

“Throughout Covid, we’ve had to continue to adjust our business model in terms of how much canning we do versus what we have here on tap,” Share said. “For a while, we were canning a majority of the beer we were producing, but over the last several months things have picked back up [in the taproom]. … We usually see a dip in business in January, but in fact, January this year was pretty phenomenal for us.”

Looking ahead

The Brewers Association’s annual summer festival was canceled last July, but a couple of virtual or drive-thru events were held in its place to raise funds.

“We did the first one back in May, and I think we hit the timing just right because not everybody had suffered the whole Zoom burnout yet,” Haines said. “We meet with all of the other brewers guilds and associations weekly, and they’ve all done one to two virtual events since the pandemic started. Their participation numbers for those virtual events have definitely dropped.”

Instead of another virtual festival, Haines said, there are plans later this year to introduce a collaborative beer release among local breweries to benefit the Association.

With the launch of its new website earlier this year, Haines said the Brewers Association is now shifting away from its app in favor of a more user-friendly directory.

“There are all kinds of different search filters, so you can tell which breweries have outdoor seating, which breweries you can bring your dogs to, things like that,” she said. “We’re also going to be launching a new campaign on social media called ‘Your Next beer is Here,’ with the emphasis on the ‘n’ for next and the ‘h’ for here to highlight New Hampshire. So it’s going to be a way to encourage people to get out and enjoy their next beer at a place not in their homes.”

New Hampshire Craft Beer Week
When: Wednesday, April 7, through Saturday, April 17
Where: Various breweries statewide throughout the week; follow the New Hampshire Brewers Association on social media or visit their website for the most up-to-date details on special beer releases, events and more
More info: Visit nhbrewers.org or find them on Facebook @nhcraftbeerweek

Feautred photo: Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 21/04/01

News from the local food scene

• Get ready for Easter: Visit hippopress.com for our annual Easter listings (available for free to everybody thanks to our members and supporters), which include details on local restaurants and function centers serving special brunches or dinner menus, as well as bakers, chocolatiers and candy makers offering unique creations of their own. Easter Sunday is April 4; for the most up-to-date availability, check the websites or social media pages of restaurants, bakeries and function centers, or call them directly.

• Shop local: There’s a new indoor spot to get some local products like fresh veggies, breads, baked goods, honeys, gifts and other non-perishables and handcrafted items. The Weare Real Food Market opened March 15 and is now open seven days a week, at 65 N. Stark Hwy. in Weare, owner Marek Rivero confirmed. The market’s mission, Rivero said, is to present a venue where local farmers, crafters and artisans can come together to provide products directly to the Weare community. The market is open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visit wearerfm.com or follow them on social media.

• Temporary takeout change: Great New Hampshire Restaurants, the local group that encompasses all T-Bones, CJ’s Great West Grill and Copper Door restaurants in the state, announced last week it has temporarily suspended takeout services on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 5 to 8 p.m., across all of its locations, including online ordering and phone-in orders during those times. “Takeout has become so busy during these up-times that it is impeding our ability to serve in-house guests at the level we demand of ourselves,” reads a March 26 company statement released on its newsletter and social media channels. Takeout will still be available outside of those hours as Great New Hampshire Restaurants continues to prioritize the increasing return of indoor and outdoor dining.

• Ribfest update: For the second year in a row, the Great American Ribfest & Food Truck Festival will not be taking place during its normal Father’s Day weekend timeframe, nor will it be happening at Anheuser-Busch Brewery in Merrimack, according to a statement recently issued on the event’s website and Facebook pages. Organizers hope to have the festival at a new location sometime later this year, but according to the statement, “negotiations are taking longer than expected.” The three-day event, which typically features local and regional barbecue vendors and food trucks, as well as live music, a beer station and a variety of family-friendly activities, was postponed multiple times in 2020 before it was ultimately canceled. Updates on the status of a 2021 festival will be made as they become available at greatamericanribfest.com.

Kiddie Pool 21/04/01

Family fun for the weekend

Easter fun!

Follow the Bunny in downtown Concord on Saturday, April 3! The free event will begin at the Statehouse lawn at 11 a.m., where kids will have the chance to participate in games, activities and crafts. They’ll also get to meet with the Easter Bunny and decorate their own treat bags before heading downtown to search for special treats. “Follow the Bunny” posters displayed on participating business windows will let them know that there’s a treat inside. The event runs until 2 p.m.

Also on Saturday, the Easter Bunny will hop on over to the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road, Londonderry, 669-4820, aviationmuseumofnh.org) to meet with kids and give out special goody bags. Ask the Easter Bunny questions and pose for photos, then check out the museum’s kid-friendly activities and exhibits, like a scavenger hunt and a real airplane cockpit kids can climb into. The event will run during normal operating hours, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 6 to 12, seniors 65 and older, and retired/active military, and free for kids 5 and under.

Nature activities

Kids can hike, run or learn about science at Beaver Brook Nature Center (117 Ridge Road, Hollis), with new sessions of after-school and homeschool programs starting Tuesday, April 6. The Hiking Club and Trail Running programs, which are for kids in grades 4 through 8, are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, respectively, from 3:45 to 5:15 p.m., from April 6 through May 18. The center is also hosting Homeschool Science those same weeks, from 9 a.m. to noon, for ages 6 to 10 on Tuesdays and ages 9 to 13 on Wednesdays. Classes will include hikes and other outdoor activities along with nature-related lessons. Register at beaverbrook.org.

Featured photo: The Easter Bunny visiting the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire. Courtesy photo.

Stems, branches and weeds

How to create early spring arrangements

I miss being able to go to my garden and pick flowers for the table. Yes, spring is on the way and even feels present on good days now. But it will be a while until my daffodils and tulips bloom. My winter aconite, small yellow bulb flowers, are blooming, and little white snowdrops have pushed through frozen earth. Those mini-flowers aren’t really suitable for a bouquet, but I’ve picked a few things that please me.

First, I picked some stems from my Merrill magnolia. It is loaded with fuzzy buds for its late-April blooming, and these look good in an arrangement. Magnolia branches tend to fork and grow in different directions, so placing stems in a vase can be tricky. I put some in a dry vase with dried flowers and seed-bearing stems and one in a vase with water to put on a windowsill. The buds I picked on Jan. 31 bloomed on March 17.

Beech branches are good for arrangements, too. The young trees, anyway, hold onto their light brown leaves, filling spaces in a vase. And the stems are a smooth gray, with cigar-shaped, pointy buds.

Of course red- or yellow-twigged dogwood stems add color to a winter arrangement. Each year one must cut back the plants in spring or winter to get the color on the new stems. They are fast-growing plants, so they can grow 5 feet of new stem in a single summer. They grow best in moist or marshy places.

For contrast in my vase I like to have some dark stems. Trees in the cherry family do well there. Chokecherry, pin cherry and black cherry look good in a vase. Young white birch have dark stems, as does hop hornbeam. But basically you can pick any tree branches if you like their look.

Greenery is nice for contrast with bare stems. I recommend white pine for greenery. It has a nice weeping tendency and is great around the outside of the vase. Unlike Canadian hemlock, it holds onto its needles quite well, but hemlocks are more common on my property, so I often use them.

Then there are the hydrangeas. Many species and varieties hold onto their flower panicles well into winter and can be quite nice in a vase. My favorite is one called Pink Diamond. It has long stems and it holds onto the fertile and infertile inflorescences, showing contrast between white and black florets on the panicles. Although the blossoms are pink toward the end of their bloom cycle, they are not pink after frost.

Winter weeds can be interesting, too. One of my favorites for winter picking is teasel. Technically, this is a biennial weed. I harvested some seeds from a corn field in Ohio years ago. The corn farmer thought I was a total nutcase because to him teasel is a noxious weed. But I have learned its habits and allow just half a dozen plants to flower and produce seed every year, and it is a delightful addition to winter arrangements.

The key to keeping teasel in check is to recognize the first-year plants. They are rosettes of light green leaves. I pull most, but leave half a dozen to mature and bloom in Year 2. The second year plants are loaded with thorns and have a deep tap root, so if you pull them then, you must wear gloves. I rub the thorns off while wearing gloves as I pick them, and can then handle them with ease when arranging them in a vase.

Astilbes bloom magnificently for me, and their winter stems are great in a dry vase. I have many different species and varieties ranging from short (12-inch blossom stems) to tall (48 inches). Their chief requirement is moist soil, and I have plenty of that. If you don’t have moist soil, the leaves will brown up in the heat of summer. One trick I have tried in dry locations is to bury a plastic bag a foot or so deep in the soil before planting. That will act like a little bathtub and hold some water in dry times. They like a half day of sunshine, and prefer morning sun.

Snake root or black cohosh (formerly called Cimicifugaspp. Now in the genus Actea) holds on to dry blossoms long after summer has passed. They look good in dry arrangements if you have any still standing.

Winter arrangements tend to be fairly monochromatic — tan or brown colors are most common. I have seen gardeners use dry allium (onion-family) blossoms to bring color to the table by spray-painting them with red, blue, purple and yellow spray paints. I have never done so, but if I think to harvest some next spring or summer, I may do so. I have even seen them sprayed while still in the garden!

Of course, the best color in the house for me right now is my forced daffodils. Last fall I potted up plenty of “tete-a-tete” daffodils and I kept them in my cold cellar until recently. Each bulb provided many blossoms and even now, after the flowers have gone by, they are still pleasant-looking with green leaves and dried yellow flowers.

Featured photo: Winter aconite. Courtesy photo.

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