On The Job – LaShanta Magnusson

Personal safety educator

LaShanta Magnusson is a self-defense and personal safety educator and owner of The Damsel Safety Chick, based in Milford.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I provide self-defense products and safety education. A typical day starts with me checking emails or orders that people have put in. If I am doing a safety seminar, I print out the PowerPoint presentation for everyone attending to bring home with them. I pull out all the products we will talk about in the presentation so people are able to use them during the safety presentation. The three products I mostly do presentations on are pepper spray, stun guns and kubaton striking tools.

How long have you had this job?

Eight years.

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

I lost my best friend freshman year of high school to domestic violence. When I was first introduced to this business at a job fair, I knew I needed to be a part of it, but at the time, I lived in Massachusetts where stun guns are illegal and pepper spray was illegal to carry unless you had an FID card. When the time came that Massachusetts changed the law on pepper spray so that anyone could carry it without an FID card, I knew it was time to jump in. I signed up as a consultant with the company that produces the products and did online and in-person training on all of the products. Two years later, I met a gentleman who was a self-defense instructor, and he and I teamed up to offer hands-on classes on not only using products but also teaching people how to use their body as a weapon, as well. love the mission and knew it was a good fit for me being able to educate everyone that, no matter how old a person is, there are ways to keep yourself safe daily in a world that is scary.

What kind of education or training did you need?

The company offers weekly training, and I also train with a self-defense instructor on my own.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Casual.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?

When Covid hit, no one was doing in-person safety seminars, so I had to revamp all my training to Zoom and PowerPoint presentations.

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

That building a client base would take time.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That it’s not all about product sales. Education on everyday situation awareness is just as important.

What was the first job you ever had?

Ice cream scooper at Friendly’s.

What is the best piece of work-related advice you have ever received?

A “no” right now is not a “no” forever.

Five favorites

Favorite book:
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Favorite movie: Grease 2
Favorite music: Country
Favorite food: Fettuccine alfredo
Favorite thing about NH: Fall

Featured photo: LaShanta Magnusson. Courtesy photo.

Treasure Hunt 23/01/19

Dear Donna,

Every year I put out my small old 4”x4” Christmas box. This year I’m wondering if this is priceless just to me. Let me know!

Thank you, Donna.

Tanya

Dear Tanya,

I enjoy that your old Christmas candle box is priceless to you.

I’m going to say it’s collectible to others as well, for Christmas collectors and I believe just for its being an old box. It appears to be in good condition and that’s a plus.

Antique, old boxes can be very valuable. Depending on the age, designs, item, advertising, etc., some collectible items are worth so much more in the original boxes.

Your candle box looks like it’s from the early 1900s to 1940s. I would say the value would be in the $20 range. If the candles were still in it, even higher.

Putting it out every year for the holidays is priceless, you are right!

Kiddie Pool 23/01/19

Family fun for the weekend

Stories plus…

Bookery Manchester (844 Elm St. in Manchester; bookerymht.com) will hold a storytime and craft on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 11:30 a.m. centered around the book Kunoichi Bunny, by author Sara Cassidy and illustrator Brayden Sato. Described as a “wordless picture book in graphic novel format,” the book tells the story of a girl and her stuffed bunny and their adventures throughout the day, according to the website. After the story, kids will do a handprint bunny craft, the website said. Admission is free; reserve a spot online.

• Get some science with your story at Storytime Science at the SEE Science Center (200 Bedford St. in Manchester; see-sciencecenter.org, 669-0400) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. The storytimes are geared to kids ages 2 to 6 and include a story and a STEM activity, according to the website. The series is slated to run through March and is included in the price of admission ($12 for ages 3 and up). Register for the storytime in advance via the website.

Live performances

• The Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra will host a chamber music concert designed for the whole family on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Epsicopal Church (101 Chapel St. in Portsmouth). There is a suggested at the door donation of $15 per family, the release said. See portsmouthsymphony.org.

• See Dragons and Mythical Beasts come alive on stage at the Capitol Center for the Arts’ Chubb Theatre (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $25 to $55 plus fees. The trailer for the show on the Cap Center’s website shows a production full of elaborate puppet creatures, some worked by more than one person. The doors open at 1 p.m.

• Palace Youth Theatre will present Disney’s Newsies Jr.featuring student actors in grades 2 through 12 on Tuesday, Jan. 24, and Wednesday, Jan. 25, as well as Tuesday, Jan. 31, and Wednesday, Feb. 1, all at 7 p.m. Tickets to the Palace Theatre show (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588) start at $12.

• See Llama Llama Liveon Tuesday, Jan. 24, with performances at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. at the Music Hall Historic Theatre (28 Chestnut St. in Portsmouth; themusichall.org). The show is geared toward ages 3 to 6 and is about an hour long. Call 436-2400 for tickets.

Basketball!

• Catch some Saint Anselm Hawks basketball action this Saturday, Jan. 21, when the women’s team plays Southern Connecticut State University at 1:30 p.m. The men’s team will play Southern Connecticut on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Tickets to a game cost $10 per person and are available for purchase (credit cards only) at the ticket booth at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium (73 College Road in Manchester), where the games take place. See saintanselmhawks.com.

• Catch some Southern New Hampshire University Penmen basketball at home next week. The women play Southern Connecticut State University on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 5:30 p.m. The men play Southern Connecticut State at 7:30 p.m. Both games take place at Stan Spirou Field House at the SNHU campus, 2500 N. River Road in Manchester. Admission is free. See snhupenmen.com.

Growing food for flavor

Look for old favorites and new varieties

We gardeners love our home-grown vegetables. As John Denver sang long ago, “Only two things that money can’t buy and that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.” And why do they taste so good? We can grow tomatoes that don’t have to conform to commercial requirements of size, shape, color and transportability. Our soils generally are rich in compost or manure and host a wide range of minerals and microorganisms that enhance the flavors of our vegetables. And of course we eat them fresh from the garden.

We can taste five flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. These flavors were important to our evolution as they told early humans what was safe to eat and what to avoid. The fifth flavor was not named until the last century: Umami signals available protein in meat, eggs, milk and beans. It is not as easily described or identified as the other four, but it is sometimes described as the flavor of contentment.

So how can we recognize the complex flavors of a good stew, and aged cheese or a bowl of exquisite ice cream? Our noses can recognize many thousands of distinct scents, and our noses and tongues work together to create tastes. Good chefs recognize this, and many farmers do, too. I recently read a book that contains interviews with fine organic farmers who treasure their soil and what it imparts to the scents and flavors of the food they grow.

That book, by Michael Ableman, is Fields of Plenty: A Farmer’s Journey in Search of Real Food and the People Who Grow It. Ableman, an experienced author and organic farmer in British Columbia, spent three months traveling around the States in a 15-year-old VW van. He went with his 23-year-old son back in 2004. They camped out, ate local food and met with organic farmers, some of whom were growing food for the best restaurants in America.

There is much to love about this book: Ableman is a skilled writer and storyteller, he is a talented photographer, and he is adventurous and inquisitive. Not only that, he included recipes from many of the farmers, and they all sound delicious — and mostly vegetarian.

Each of these farmers he wrote about had a unique approach to farming. One let weeds grow rampant. Another had fields that were weed-free and managed with “precision, control, formal science and discovery.” But all ate their own food, fresh from the field — or in the field. And each interview gave me something to think about, and perhaps to apply to my garden.

One of the most startling interviews was with Bob Cannard in Sonoma, California. Raised on a farm, Bob went to agriculture school but dropped out and started his own farm. When starting out, Bob grappled with this question: Why are natural places naturally healthy, while the fields and orchards of commercial agriculture are a continual battleground with weeds, insects and diseases?

His approach to farming was to try to mimic nature — weeds and all. He believed that plants that struggle to survive would develop more complex flavors — a belief later adopted by some wine makers. He believed that a monoculture — acres of the same crop — encouraged insect pests to arrive and necessitate insecticides. He succeeded as a farmer, selling vegetables to Chez Panisse and other high-end restaurants in San Francisco.

I was fascinated to read the section on Strafford Organic Creamery in Vermont. Earl Ransom has a small herd of Guernsey cows and bottles their milk in glass bottles and makes fabulous ice cream, which I know and love. Ransom believes that he gets wonderful flavors by letting his cows graze in pastures with a variety of grasses, wildflowers and weeds. Diversity in the field creates better milk, and the fat in milk absorbs flavor.

The book provides the names of many varieties of vegetables that are exceptional. Organic farmers Gene and Eileen Thiel of Joseph, Oregon, specialized in potatoes and particularly like LaRatte, Yagana and Sante. Sante, he said, is like a Yukon Gold, but bigger. Yukon Gold also got high marks, as did Ranger Russets and Yellow Finn. They avoid losing his crop to blights, in part, by growing lots of different kinds of potatoes — as did the Incas, where potatoes came from. Of course there is no guarantee that a potato that does well in Oregon will do well for you.

Ableman, a farmer for decades, mentions some of his own favorite vegetable varieties. For sweet peppers he likes Ariane, Red Lipstick (I want to grow it, if just for that name) and Corno di Toro. Then there is the Charentais melon, about which he waxes poetic.

Of beans, varieties mentioned as excellent include Valentine and Sophia flageolet shell beans, Maine Yellow Eye, Vermont Cranberry and Red Streaked Borlotto. According to the book, thin-skinned dry beans are easier on the digestive system: “the skins harbor the chemistry that causes digestive problems.”

It’s time for all of us to be studying seed catalogs and seed websites to pick the vegetables we’ll grow this year. I’ll be referring to Ableman’s book for new varieties, but also going back to my old favorites.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The Art Roundup 23/01/19

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

Opening weekend: The Palace Theatre’s new show The All New Piano Men opens Friday, Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m. The show features the music of Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Freddy Mercury and is an original production of Carl Rajotte, artistic director at the Palace (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588), according to the website. The show will run through Sunday, Feb. 5, with showtimes on Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $25.

Last chance to see the show: It’s the final weekend for Scene Changes, a play about a traveling theatrical production,at the Hatbox Theatre (270 Loudon Road in Concord; hatboxnh.com, 715-2315). The show runs through Sunday, Jan. 22, with showtimes at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets cost $22 for adults and $19 for students and seniors.

A trip to the Pond: The Seacoast Repertory Theatre’s production of On Golden Pond wraps up this weekend with shows Thursday, Jan. 19, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Jan. 20, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 21, at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $37 (plus fees). The Seacoast Repertory Theatre is at 125 Bow St. in Portsmouth. See seacoastrep.org.

Printmaking on display: The Art Center (1 Washington St. Suite 1177 in Dover; theartcenterdover.com, 978-6702) has its “Worldwide Printmaking Exhibition” on display now through February. The exhibit features works of more than 40 artists from 11 countries, according to a press release. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. An artist reception will be held for the exhibit on Saturday, Feb. 11, from 6 to 9 p.m.

CATS: Young Actors Edition
See the brief adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical made just for younger actors — CATS: Young Actors Edition — at the Derry Opera House (29 West Broadway in Derry) Friday, Jan. 27, through Sunday, Jan. 29. Presented by the Majestic Academy of Dramatic Arts, the shows will run Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $13 for 65+ and $10 for 17 and under. Call 669-7469 or go to majestictheatre.net for tickets, which are also available at the door before the performance, according to a press release.

Craft for gardening: ManchesterMakerspace(36 Old Granite St. in Manchester;manchestermakerspace.org) has a class called “Woodshop 101 — Cedar Plant Box” scheduled for Friday, Jan. 20, from 1 to 5 p.m. or Saturday, Jan. 28, from 1 to 5 p.m. Registration starts at $150. Go online to register in advance.

Work out your theater skills: Theatre Kapow will hold its monthly “Training” session, open to participants age 16 and up with any level of experience and working on “acting, movement, improvisation, voice, speech, object work, viewpoints, and more,” according to tkapow.com. The session will take place at Studio 550 in Manchester on Saturday, Jan. 21, from noon to 2 p.m. and the cost is $5. Register via the website, where you can also download and fill out the waiver from the website in advance.

Hunchback of Notre Dame auditions: Community theater organization Actorsingers is holding auditions Sunday, Jan. 22, and Monday, Jan. 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. each night for their May production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Auditions will be held at Actorsingers Hall (219 Lake Ave. in Nashua); see actorsingers.org for audition requirements, character details and the audition form.

A new place to make stuff

Concord Makerspace finds new home

By Katelyn Sahagian

ksahagian@hippopress.com

Since November the Concord Makerspace has been looking for a new home. Now the organization’s president, Jared Reynolds, has announced that there is a new location at 197 N. Main St. in Boscawen.

“We found this building seemed like a great fit,” Reynolds said. “It’s quite a bit smaller but we think that it’ll be good to have more of a compact space. We’re pretty close to our old space, just a few minutes down the road in Boscawen.”

The group left its former space in Penacook due to a leaky roof and other problems, according to the Concord Monitor in a Dec. 5 story. Reynolds said there was another location in Concord that the group had planned to rent, a building with a whopping 60,000 square feet that had sat vacant for 15 years. But while he said that space was interesting, Reynolds added that a lot of work would have been needed to make the building fit for a makerspace.

“That space needed a lot invested in it and we didn’t own it,” Reynolds said. “It just drifted beyond our mission, to revitalize a 60k-foot building.”

The new location in Boscawen is a much more modest 5,000 square feet. There is still a lot to get done with the space before it opens for public use, Reynolds said.

Concord Makerspace is a place for anyone to learn more about working with their hands, said Reynolds. While the location is mainly known for the woodshop and woodworking, there are other tools available for people, including CNC machines, a form of 3D printer.

“Makerspaces are places that provide access to equipment that others might not have,” Reynolds said. “Woodshops in your basement are expensive and not feasible so it makes sense to have shared tools.”

Reynolds emphasized that the makerspace isn’t just for people who are entrepreneurs building their own things to sell, but that most people who come are hobbyists and artists working with wood and other material for fun.

While the makerspace doesn’t have an official day for opening to the public, there are many new things coming to the space. Reynolds hopes for more classes to be offered and to purchase some more high-quality equipment for people to work with.

Last year the makerspace got a state grant to hire its first employee. Reynolds said that having someone working, even if it is only a part-time employee, will allow for more classes at the volunteer-based organization.

“We’re now a more manageable space with a bigger impact,” Reynolds said.

Concord Makerspace
New location is 197 N. Main St., Boscawen. While there is no official opening date, the group is aiming to have everything up and running by March 1.
Call 565-5443 or visit concordmakerspace.org for info.

Featured photo: The new makerspace. Photo courtesy of Jared Reynolds.

Everything bagels

New York style versus Montreal, everything versus asiago, and all the other variations that go into the perfect bagel

Remzi Kahya was only about 10 years old when, in 1996, his father, Ismail, opened Bagel Cafe on Hanover Street in Manchester.

Ismail had moved to the United States from Turkey several years earlier. Through a referral from a family friend, he got a job in New York making bagels. It was in Long Island, Kahya said, where his dad learned the ins and outs of the bagel business from a Jewish family who at the time had a small chain of shops in the New York area.

The knowledge and experience he gathered there would be passed down to his son — but, as Kahya recalls, not right away.

“I watched him. He didn’t let me make anything for a long time. I think it was probably like high school [when] I got to play around with the dough,” Kahya said. “I’ve been pretty much in that store ever since. … I went off to college, did other stuff, but I’ve been making bagels with dad pretty much since then.”

Throughout his college career, Kahya said, he never ruled out the possibility of continuing to work in the family business. In 2011 he opened a second Bagel Cafe on Second Street in the Queen City, eventually moving that to its current spot in Bedford in 2013. By September 2021 they had a third shop, this time in Nashua, called Simit Cafe (named for the Turkish word for a bagel-like bread). This all as the original Bagel Cafe continues its run of more than 25 years.

a bagel sandwich with lettuce, croutons, cheese
A bagel sandwich from What A Bagel in Nashua. Courtesy photo.

At around 3,000 square feet, Simit Cafe was the largest of the three storefronts, and this had originally inspired Kahya to introduce more of a full-service cafe concept with additional items. But because the bagels and bagel sandwiches have been far and away the most popular, he said the decision was recently made to rebrand the business as a third Bagel Cafe.

For many local bagel businesses like the Kahyas’, most roads lead back to New York or New Jersey. Take Bob Weygant of Rolleyholers in Exeter as another example — a home baker since his mother taught him at the age of 6, he would move to New Hampshire from New Jersey in the mid-2000s.

“When I moved up here, I missed bagels desperately,” Weygant said. “We used to go back and forth to New Jersey, bring up bagels … and freeze them. … And I got to the point when I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to learn how to make bagels. I know it’s a tremendous process, but hey, let’s go for it.’”

Weygant started selling his own home-baked bagels as a hobby in 2016 before making the transition to a commercial kitchen a few years later. By late December 2020 he would quit his day job with the goal of opening his own brick-and-mortar spot in the new year. Rolleyholers indeed arrived the following June.

Sheryl Tedford of Northfield — who grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey, just outside of New York City — also recalls frequently traveling south for bagels.
“We’d go down to New York and New Jersey, come back with like three dozen bagels and put them in the freezer,” said Tedford, who started Bagels From NH as a “pandemic business” in 2020 following her retirement. “We didn’t like any of the bagels you could buy in bags because they just weren’t what we were used to.”

On a whim, Tedford decided to try her hand at making her own and was pleased at how well they came out. She started selling them, eventually becoming a staple at local summer farmers markets in communities like Canterbury and Franklin. Next, she’ll be in Danbury on Feb. 4.

Styles and preferences

Brett Fleckner recalls a proposal made by his stepfather, Robert Frank, who had an established background in the restaurant business.

“He thought we should do either pasta or bagels, and I just went along for the ride,” said Fleckner, whose family has owned and operated Bagel Alley in Nashua since 1989. “He felt that those were two things that would always continue. And, I mean, he was right. Bagels worked.”

More than three decades later, Bagel Alley has become something of an institution in the Gate City, known for its enormous bagels, thicker than your fist and made fresh every morning.

“I get up at 3:30 [a.m.] every day and I come in by 4:30, and if it’s not me it’s my nephew Zachary, and then my sister is here six, seven days a week,” Fleckner said. “That’s what it takes. There’s no shortcuts.”

Bagel Alley has several wholesale accounts in southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts. Less than a mile away is What A Bagel, another shop known for making its own bagels fresh every morning, in addition to made-to-order bagel sandwiches.

“Almost all of my bagels are what you would call New York-style,” said owner Chris Weier, a Marine Corps veteran and Nashua native who took over the shop in 2019. “They are all hand-rolled, boiled bagels. … A traditional New York-style bagel is going to be very dense and very chewy.”

At Bagel Cafe, Kahya said, his are more of a take on the traditional New York style.

“We like to steam our bagels,” he said. “We do a lot of sandwiches and I just think, personally, [steaming] the bagel makes it better for making a sandwich. You still have the crust that you want, but it’s not too hard. … I think it’s better than a New York bagel.”

At Rolleyholers, Weygant said he considers his bagels to be akin to New York or New Jersey styles.

“From my definition, a New York style is slightly larger. They have a tougher crust on the outside. … The New Jersey style is going to be a little softer on the outside … and they are slightly smaller at about four and a half ounces,” Weygant said. “But I mean, it really kind of comes down to your recipe and methods. … We’re kettle boiling and using a specific set of ingredients … [and] the amount of time that the bagel is spent in the kettle, the amount of time that they spend in the oven, the temperature at which they’re baking — all of that is going to play a part in what the real result is.”

What A Bagel also offers a few flavors of what Weier referred to as Montreal-style bagels. “Those bagels involve eggs,” he said. “So once you bring eggs into any baking process, you end up with a much softer, fluffier product. Easy to chew, if you think of, say, a brioche bread.”

Kahya said Montreal-style bagels are also traditionally known for being baked with honey-sweetened water in a wood-fired oven.

“I’ve eaten them in Montreal, but I like the New York style and the ones we do better,” he said, adding that the terms can be subjective.

Rolling in the dough

Bagels start with a flour- and water-based dough mixture that must be proofed, or left to rest, over a period of time, just like any yeasted bread.

“One of the significant factors of what makes a bagel a bagel is the hydration of the dough,” Weier said. “The amount of water that’s in the dough is lower than any other bread product that exists.”

Doughs for Weier’s bagels are hand-rolled anywhere from a day or two to a week ahead of time, depending on the batch, before they’re allowed to proof in the cooler.

“When you see those little air pockets inside the bread, that’s what the yeast is doing, is it will rise,” he said. “The longer you can get away with proofing it, the better. We try to stretch it out as many days as possible, because the longer it proofs, the more flavor comes out in the bagel.”

After the dough has finished proofing is where you’ll see bagels either boiled or steamed, depending on where you go. Sometimes they’re formed into their ring shape by hand from a long, thin piece of the dough, or other times a bagel machine will perform that function.

5 bagel sandwiches on table
Bagel sandwiches from Bagel Cafe, which has locations in Manchester, Bedford and Nashua (formerly known as Simit Cafe). Courtesy photo.

“At all three of our locations, we have a bagel machine, a mixer and bakers there, so we’re making them at all three,” Kahya said. “We usually do [them] in 50 pound and 100 pound flour batches. The machine has … a former and a divider. So the divider takes slabs of dough and cuts them into perfect amounts, and then it goes through a former and it comes out like a perfect circle.”

Kahya noted that, when it comes to flavors, all of the seeded options can be created starting with a plain bagel dough. The more intricate bagel flavors — think jalapeno cheddar, spinach or French toast — have additional ingredients in the dough and thus must be done in separate batches.

Some bagels at Rolleyholers start with a dough that’s formed by hand, while others use the bagel machine, which Weygant affectionately refers to as “Steve.”

“He’s got to have a name, because he’s our No. 1 employee of the month every year,” Weygant joked. “We did 84,000 bagels last year, all because of him.”

Through extensive practice and trial-and-error, Weygant said he eventually found a “sweet spot” in the water temperature when it comes to kettle-boiling his bagels.

“What you put in that kettle and the temperature of the water … is everything to the final product. If it’s too high or you put it in for too long, you’re going to get garbage,” he said. “We also differentiate ourselves by seeding them on both sides afterward.”

When bagels are ready to be baked, Kahya said this step only takes around 15 minutes, though it may depend on the amount they’re baking at one time.

Weygant pointed out that bagels do not have a long lifespan, which is why they’re baked fresh daily, and multiple times a day at that.

“Bagels begin to degrade the moment they leave the oven, but they do freeze well,” he said. “That said, the only freezer a bagel should ever live in is your own. We never freeze bagels. … So, instead of kettling and baking all of our bagels all at once first thing in the morning, we do it throughout the day so that you get maximum flavor. You get the best possible product, because all of these bagels are only minutes old rather than hours old.”

“Everything” you want

Plain used to be far and away the most popular flavor at Bagel Alley, Fleckner said — that is, until around 10 years ago, when the everything bagel took over.

“Eighty percent of the people that come in here, if they get a bunch of them, everything [bagels are] in that mix,” he said. “It’s amazing how many pans of everything [bagels] we go through compared to everything else.”

The exact ingredients of what you’ll find on an everything bagel may vary slightly.

Everything bagels from Bagel Alley in Nashua. Courtesy photo.

“If you go to the supermarket, there’s probably going to be two or three types in the seasoning aisle that call it an everything topping,” Weier said, “but generally speaking, you’re going to have garlic, onion, poppy, sometimes oat, sometimes sea salt. Generally it’s all the seeds that you would see on the various other bagels, just all combined onto one.”

What A Bagel, he said, will churn out anywhere from 18 different flavors of bagels to as many as 22 flavors on the weekend, from plain and everything to jalapeno cheddar, Asiago, cinnamon sugar, chocolate chip, maple cinnamon French toast and even a rainbow-colored bagel. Fleckner, meanwhile, said Bagel Alley will offer pumpkin-flavored bagels in the fall and green bagels for St. Patrick’s Day in addition to their regular lineup of around 16 flavors.

Asked about the different bagel flavors he can produce, Weygant said the total number is “immeasurable,” with endless possible combinations.

“There’s the ‘Big Seven,’ which is going to be plain, everything, sesame, poppy, onion, garlic and salt. Those are the core flavors that every bagel shop should have,” he said. “[But] I can do bespoke custom bagels for everybody that have more or less anything in them.”

Recently, for example, Weygant made a small, limited batch of Almond Joy bagels.

“It’s a traditional bagel dough, but what I did was I rolled ingredients into the dough by hand,” he said. “Basically it creates sort of like a tube on the inside of the dough, and it was filled with chocolate chips, sugar, coconut and pralined almonds.”

Schmears, eggs and lox

To many of us, a nice toasted bagel just isn’t in the cards without a spread of some cream cheese — or, if you prefer, a schmear.

bagel cut in half, each half with cream cheese, salmon, tomato, onion and capers
Bagel with lox from Bagel Cafe (formerly known as Simit Cafe) in Nashua. Courtesy photo.

“When you get a bagel in Jersey or New York, it is loaded with cream cheese. I mean, it’s really front and center,” Bob Weygant of Rolleyholers in Exeter said. “Not everybody wants that much, and so we’ll size people up and give them the option on how much they want.”

Weygant said his shop will typically carry about seven or eight types of cream cheese at any given time, from plain, chive and veggie to other options like maple nut. He’ll make blueberry or strawberry cream cheese when those fruits are in season, and he’ll roast his own garlic for a fresh garlic and herb-flavored spread. He’s even done a sun-dried tomato and pesto cream cheese.

“Right now, I’m actually trying to figure out what the January, February, sort of late winter or mid-winter flavors are going to be,” he said. “I’m leaning toward things like banana, pineapple, vanilla [or] coconut. Just lighter flavors to play with.”

At What A Bagel in Nashua, owner Chris Weier said about eight variations of cream cheese are typically in stock at any given time, from plain and strawberry to cinnamon raisin walnut, bacon and scallion, chive and jalapeno. Bagel sandwiches are also a big deal at his shop — there’s a good selection of variations on the egg sandwich for breakfast, all of which are made to order.

Another traditional add-on to a bagel is known as lox — derived from the Yiddish word “laks,” according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary — or filleted pieces of brined, sometimes smoked, salmon. Weygant said you’ll most commonly also see lox accompanied by cream cheese, capers, red onions and thinly sliced tomatoes in a bagel sandwich.

“In my mind, the best bagel for lox is either a pumpernickel or rye, or a marble. That’s a traditional Jewish meal right there,” he said. “But as long as it’s savory, it will work well. I wouldn’t put it together with a sweet bagel of any kind.”

Bialys

Similar in size and shape to a bagel, a bialy is a traditional delicacy with Polish Jewish roots. But unlike bagels, bialys are simply baked, never boiled. An impression is made in the center of the dough, and will most often contain an onion and poppy seed mixture inside.

a pile of bialys, circular rolls with indents in the middle
Bialys from The Bread Peddler, based in Sanbornton. Courtesy photo.

“It’s kind of like a cross between an English muffin and a bagel,” said Sheryl Tedford of Bagels From NH, a Northfield-based homestead business that also offers bialys. “You toast it like a bagel and eat it like a bagel, [with] cream cheese or butter or whatever you want to put on it.”

Bialys, she said, get their name from the Polish city of Bialystok, where they were first made.

“When you toast it, it’s actually a little crunchier, more like an English muffin. It’s crispier,” she said. “I do an overnight rise on that one, so it rises for 12 to 15 hours at a time, and it’s a much, much wetter dough, so it’s really sticky … and it’s baked quickly at a higher temperature.”

Bob Chertoff of The Bread Peddler, based in Sanbornton, grew up in a Jewish household outside of New York City, where bialys were commonplace. Today they’re a part of his regular lineup of products, which also includes various types of Eastern European breads. You can find him at Seacoast Eat Local’s winter farmers markets on Saturdays in Stratham and Rollinsford. During the spring and summer, he also participates in the Concord Farmers Market on Capitol Street.

“Traditional flavoring for a bialy is caramelized sweet onions mixed with poppy seeds,” Chertoff said. “[It’s] also made at times with garlic or other spices, but I only make the traditional.”

Where to get New Hampshire-made bagels

Here’s a list of local shops, restaurants and homestead businesses that make their own bagels from scratch. Did we miss any that aren’t on this list? Let us know at food@hippopress.com.

Agora Bagels
633-0286, Find them on Facebook @aggiesbagels
Paying homage to the traditional New York-style bagel, Agora Bagels is the project of Vassilios Palaskas of Milford, offering a variety of flavors of handcrafted artisan bagels, from plain, everything or cinnamon to French toast and Fruity Pebbles. Call or send a message through Facebook to place bagel orders for pickup on Friday, Jan. 27, at Murphy’s Diner (516 Elm St., Manchester). The cost is $13 per half-dozen and $25 per dozen. The diner will also be officially selling the bagels thereafter as a staple, Palaskas said.

pile of bagels on table beside tub of cream cheese
Assorted bagels and cream cheese from Almolu’s in Northwood. Courtesy photo.

Almolu’s
2 Cooper Hill Road, Northwood, 608-1072, find them on Facebook @almolusbakery
Almolu’s opened in Northwood in May 2021, getting its name by combining the first names of owner Nat Ewing’s three daughters, Alice, Molly and Lucy. The shop is known for its hand-rolled bagels, of which Ewing said there are around 15 regular flavors in addition to some seasonal specials. Almolu’s also blends more than a half-dozen flavors of its own cream cheese.

Bagel Alley
1 Eldridge St., Nashua, 882-9343, find them on Facebook
A stone’s throw from Main Street in downtown Nashua, Bagel Alley has been owned and operated by the same family for more than three decades. Robert Frank and his stepson, Brett Fleckner of Westford, Mass., purchased the shop back in 1989. Bagel Alley makes all of its own bagels from scratch every day, featuring a lineup of about 16 flavors in addition to several kinds of cream cheese and a wide variety of bagel breakfast and lunch sandwiches. The shop also has several wholesale accounts across southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts.

Bagel Cafe
373 Hanover St., Manchester, 647-2233; 19 S. River Road, Bedford, 644-5555; 262 Amherst St., Suite A, Nashua (formerly Simit Cafe), 204-5141; bagelcafenh.com
In 1996 Ismail Kahya opened the first Bagel Cafe on Hanover Street in Manchester, which he continues to operate today. A second Bagel Cafe opened on Second Street in the Queen City in 2011 before moving to its current spot in Bedford two years later. In September 2021, Kahya’s son Remzi opened Simit Cafe on Amherst Street in Nashua (now also known as Bagel Cafe following a recent rebranding). All three locations are open seven days a week and produce their own hand-crafted bagels every day. Depending on which shop you visit, there’s usually 10 to 12 different flavors alongside a full menu of bagel breakfast sandwiches and several types of cream cheese.

The Bagel Mill Cafe & Bakery
145 Grove St. Ext., Peterborough, 924-0887, bagelmillnh.com
Since 1996 this Monadnock shop has been baking bagels and pastries fresh every morning. More than two dozen flavors are available, and with several toppings and spreads to choose from, the combinations are endless.

a bialy on a wooden table
Bialys from Bagels from NH, based in Northfield. Photo courtesy of owner Sheryl Tedford.

Bagels From NH
bagelsfromnh.com, find them on Facebook @bagelsfromnh
Sheryl Tedford of Northfield started Bagels From NH, what she called a “pandemic business,” in 2020 after retiring from her regular full-time job. She makes her own New York-style bagels in a variety of flavors, from everything and sesame to raisin and Asiago cheese, in addition to bialys, which she described as a cross between a bagel and an English muffin. Find her next at the Danbury Winter Market on Saturday, Feb. 4, from 9 a.m. to noon, at the Grange Hall (15 North Road, Danbury). During the summer months Tedford has participated in farmers markets in Canterbury, Gilmanton, Franklin and Wilmot.

Bagels Plus
2988 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway, 356-7400, bagels.plus
Located just a few minutes’ drive from the center of North Conway, this shop makes its own bagels fresh daily, featuring a lineup of nearly two dozen flavors in addition to various cream cheese and bagel sandwiches.

The Bakeshop on Kelley Street
171 Kelley St., Manchester, 624-3500, thebakeshoponkelleystreet.com
This West Side shop makes its own bagels in several flavors, from traditional options like plain and everything to Asiago, garlic onion and jalapeno cheddar. Bagels can also be ordered as breakfast and lunch sandwiches.

Big Dave’s Bagels & Deli
1130 Eastman Road, North Conway, 356-3283, bigdavesbagels.com
Before opening his shop in New Hampshire’s Mount Washington Valley in 2010, Dave Hausman learned how to make bagels in New York while working under Arthur Goldberg, whose sons have continued his legacy in several shops across the city’s metro area. In 1989 Hausman opened Monroe Bagels & Deli in Monroe, New York, which he operated for nearly two decades. Bagels at his North Conway shop are scratch-made with a variety of flavors to choose from.

Blue Loon Bakery
12 Lovering Lane, New London, 526-2892, blueloonbakery.com
This New London bakeshop opened in June 2018 in the site of a 19th-century barn and farmhouse. Bagels are hand-rolled from scratch and include flavors like plain, everything, sesame, Asiago and cinnamon raisin, and the option to add butter, cream cheese or peanut butter, as well as on several breakfast and lunch sandwiches.

Brown’s Bagel Shop
80 Main St., Newmarket, 292-5988, brownsbagelshop.com
Family-owned and -operated, Brown’s makes its own bagels from scratch daily, featuring a variety of flavors like plain, everything, pumpernickel, spinach, French toast and jalapeno cheddar, alongside several types of cream cheese and egg and bagel sandwiches.

Flight Coffee Co.
209 Route 101 West, Bedford, 836-6228, flightcoffeeco.com
Flight Coffee Co., which opened in its current space in June 2021, is known for making all its baked items from scratch daily, including its bagels, with flavors like plain, everything, Asiago and rosemary sea salt.

Loxsmith Bagel Co.
1B Wall St., Windham, 507-6105; 11 Main St., Dover, 507-6100; loxsmithbagelco.com
With two locations in New Hampshire and a third in Saco, Maine, Loxsmith Bagel Co. is known for making its own bagels fresh every day, featuring a variety of flavors in addition to specialty and build-your-own bagel options.

Rolleyholers
92 Portsmouth Ave., Suite 2, Exeter, 580-4460, rolleyholers.com
Rolleyholers, which opened in June 2021, is known for churning out hundreds of bagels a day, and you never know what flavor of dough or cream cheese spread owner Bob Weygant may think of next. There are classics like sesame, cinnamon raisin and everything, but also Asiago, blueberry and jalapeno cheddar. As for the spreads, Rolleyholers has dabbled in everything from plain, chive and veggie to pizza, sun-dried tomato and basil, and even a Dutch apple pie cream cheese.

What A Bagel
24 E. Hollis St., Nashua, 809-4466, what-a-bagel.com
Lifelong Nashua native and Marine Corps veteran Chris Weier took over this East Hollis Street shop in 2019. What A Bagel makes its own hand-rolled bagels from scratch daily, producing around 18 flavors during the week and upwards of about 22 flavors on the weekends. Nearly all of them, Weier said, are akin to a traditional New York-style, while a couple of flavors closely resemble Montreal-style bagels, which he said traditionally contain egg. What A Bagel is also known for its breakfast and lunch bagel sandwiches, which are always made to order.

Wicked Sweet Cakes and Treats
2370 Route 114, Bradford, 938-2663, wickedsweetcakesandtreats.com
Homemade bagels are baked fresh every Saturday morning at this Bradford shop, according to its website, and are available to order as is or on an egg sandwich.

Winnipesaukee Bay Gulls
118 Whittier Hwy., Moultonborough, 253-3177; 18 Weirs Road, Gilford, 527-8051; winnipesaukeebaygulls.com
Bagels here are baked continuously throughout the day. Flavors include everything from the classics — plain, poppy, sesame and everything — to others like cinnamon sugar, Parmesan and cracked wheat.

The Works Cafe
42 N. Main St., Concord, 226-1827, workscafe.com
Downtown Concord is just one of several Works Cafe locations you’ll find across New Hampshire (Keene, Durham and Portsmouth), Massachusetts (Amherst), Vermont (Brattleboro and Manchester), Maine (Portland) and New York state (Latham). Traditional New York-style bagels are boiled and baked in small batches daily and are available with a variety of flavored spreads or egg sandwiches to choose from.

Featured photo: A bagel sandwich from What A Bagel in Nashua. Courtesy photo.

This Week 23/01/19

Big Events January 19, 2022 and beyond

Thursday, Jan. 19

Cirque Du Soleil will bring its production “Corteo” to the SNHU Arena (555 Elm St. in Manchester; snhuarena.com) today through Sunday, Jan. 22. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. today and Friday, Jan. 20; 3:30 and 7:30 on Saturday, Jan. 21, and 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 22. Tickets cost $39 to $129.

Friday, Jan. 20

TheAll New Piano Men, highlighting the music of Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Freddy Mercury, kicks off a three-week run at the Palace Theatre in Manchester today at 7:30 p.m. The show is an original production of Carl Rajotte, artistic director at the Palace (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588), according to the website. The show will run through Sunday, Feb. 5, with showtimes on Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $25.

Friday, Jan. 20

Catch comedians Jim Colliton, Chris Pennie and Jeff Koen at the Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St. in Derry; tupelomusichall.com) tonight at 8 p.m. for the Tupelo Night of Comedy. Tickets cost $22. Find more laughs in Comedy This Week on page 31.

Saturday, Jan. 21

Today is Free Fishing Day in New Hampshire, one of two such days each year when you can fish without a license (other fishing regulations must still be followed; the other free fishing day is the first Saturday in June). Find out all the fishing rules and watch a video on ice fishing at nhfishgame.com.

Saturday, Jan. 21

After getting extended a weekend, today is the final day of the LaBelle Lights winter lights walking tour at the LaBelle Winery (14 Route 111 in Derry; labellewinery.com, 672-9898). The attraction is open Wednesdays through today from 4:30 to 9 p.m.; buy tickets online or on site.

Tuesday, Jan. 24

The New Hampshire Audubon’s Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way in Auburn; nhaudubon.org, 668-2045) will hold a timber rattlesnake talk today at 5 p.m. where wildlife biologist Brendan Clifford (NH Fish and Game, Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Porgram) will discuss the snake and the Center’s resident timber rattlesnake may make an appearance, according to the website. The cost is $15; register online.

Wednesday, Jan. 25

Marek Bennett will discuss his latest graphic novel, The Civil War Diary of Freeman Colby , Volume 3: 1864, today at 6:30 p.m. at Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St. in Concord; gibsonsbookstore.com, 224-0562). Angie Sykeny talked to Bennett about his latest book in the Jan. 5 issue of the Hippo; find the e-edition at hippopress.com (the story is on page 6).

Save the Date! Friday, Jan. 27
Concord NH Winter Festival
will run Friday, Jan. 27, and Saturday, Jan. 28, with events in downtown Concord and the Black Ice Pond Hockey Tournament (which has events Thursday, Jan. 26, through Sunday, Jan. 29) in White Park. Scheduled events include ice carvings on the Statehouse lawn including an ice carving competition on Saturday, fireworks in White Park on Friday at 7:15 p.m., the “Art in Bloom” exhibit at the League of NH Craftsmen, a screening of Frozen at Red River Theatres (Saturday at 10 a.m.) and more, according to the schedule at intownconcord.com.

Featured photo. The Piano Men.

Quality of Life 23/01/19

Money woes

The number of bankruptcy filings in New Hampshire appears to be trending upward, New Hampshire Business Review reported in a Jan. 3 story. Though the total number of bankruptcies per year has been at record lows for the last few years — and 2022 still 10 percent fewer than 2021 — those numbers started to take a turn at the end of the year. November saw 51 — the same number as November 2021 — and December saw 64 — a more than 25 percent jump from November and nearly 40 percent higher than December 2021, which had a record low of 46.

QOL score: -1

Comment: Unemployment also started to increase at the end of 2022, rising another fifth of a point to 2.6 in November, and up from 2 percent in June, according to the article.

Eyes on the road, NH

A recent WalletHub study ranked New Hampshire the eighth worst U.S. state to drive in. The study looked at various factors, such as the costs of gas, car insurance and auto maintenance; traffic congestion, average commuting times, weather conditions, road and bridge quality; the rate of auto-related fatalities, injuries and crimes; and more. New Hampshire was ranked the state with the highest number of days with precipitation, and ranked poorly in other areas, including average gas prices (No. 34), share of rush-hour traffic congestion (No. 31), car dealerships per capita (No. 31) and auto maintenance costs (No. 27).

QOL score: -1

Comment: On the bright side, New Hampshire ranked as the state with the third lowest car thefts.

Future leaders

Three New Hampshire Girl Scout troops in grades 3 through 8 met U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan on Jan. 9 at the Nashua Public Library. According to a press release, Hassan spoke to the Scouts about how she does her job and answered questions about how to deal with negative ads, how to run a campaign and what traits are needed to be a successful female in a leadership role. She also talked about the importance of asking for help, accepting constructive criticism, standing up for oneself, listening to others and reading.

QOL score: +1

Comment: According to the release, a recent Girl Scout Research Institute study revealed that nearly six in 10 girls said they are interested in being a future leader through advocacy, public service or a career as an elected official.

Helping out

The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation is distributing a total of $3,810,500 in grants through its 2022 Community Grants Program — an increase of more than $1 million from the previous year, made possible by contributions from foundation donor-advised funds, according to a press release. The grants, which range in amount from $10,000 to $60,000, can be used for any operating expenses without restrictions and are usually paid out over the course of three years.

QOL score: +1

Comment: “New Hampshire asks a lot of the nonprofit sector — from teaching our youngest children to sheltering struggling families to helping protect natural resources and promote civil discourse,” Anne Phillips, director of grantmaking at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, said in the release.

QOL score: 51

Net change: 0

QOL this week: 51


What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Celtics at midway point

Observations, random thoughts and outright pontifications about the Celtics at mid-season.

What I Like: The most obvious is having the best record in the NBA and being on pace for 60 wins. Second is how they play with the fastest end-to-end pace since the John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White Celtics in the 1970s. They are at their best when pushing the ball. And third is seeing the obvious growth in the key players. It suggests that, with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and the two Williamses (Robert Williams and Grant Williams III) still shy of their primes, the best is yet to come.

What I Don’t Like: They have a nasty habit of playing down to the competition when they are facing bad teams. Five of their 12 losses were mail-it-in jobs against Orlando (two), Chicago (two) and Oak City (one), who were a combined 55-71 at the start of the week.

Who To Fear: With as many as six teams who get to the Finals out of the East and five more out West, the NBA is the most balanced it’s been in decades. So it depends on who’s hot and healthy at playoff time. Having said that, there isn’t anyone to fear. But, while both are languishing around .500 at the moment, the two I’m most wary of are Golden State and Miami because their coaches have a way of frustrating Tatum and Brown more than others. Plus I underestimated GS last year and won’t do that again until the dragon is slayed. Especially after how they took the Celtics apart in December on national TV. That said, to me their slow start had a lot to do with post-championship motivational issues.

Top Story: Are Brown and Tatum The Best Duo? It wasn’t that long ago that the experts on talk radio were saying “break them up because they can’t play together.” Now most wonder if they’re the best duo in the league. Aging, injuries and knuckle-headedness have eliminated most competitors, so I’d say they are there with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, though when/if Jamal Murray gets to full strength after ACL surgery he and two-time MVP Nikola Jokic probably challenge them.

A more interesting question to me is, are they becoming the best 1-2 duo in Celtics history? It’s moot if they don’t win multiple titles, and it’s doubtful either will match Larry Bird’s all around game. But right now they’re scoring more per game than Bird and Kevin McHale ever did. And they’re just approaching their primes. Get past them and it’s Bill Russell with whoever (Cousy, Hondo, Sam Jones). So probably not. But it’ll be fun watching it play out.

Hard Work Pays Off: I have my issues with both at times, but I admire the wide-ranging improvement to the offensive games of Jaylen Brown and especially Grant Williams because it is obviously a product of hard off-season work. When Brown first arrived his scoring was limited to things that came from his athletic gifts. Now he scores inside, outside, off the dribble, spotting up to catch and shoot and at the basket. The last piece needed to be among the most complete players in the league is improving his handle. As for Williams, he could barely make a lay-up as a rookie. First came spot-up three-point shooting from the corner last year, and this year he’s scoring by taking it to the basket and posting up. Next comes a jump shot off the dribble. It would also help if he stopped yapping after every foul call.

Robert Williams – Start or Off The Bench: What difference does it make if he starts or comes off the bench as long as he plays 32 minutes and is in at the end of tight games? I like him with the second unit because it makes it better and that gives a chance to get a big plus/minus edge. Plus it means he or Al Horford will always be on the floor through the entire game.

Malcolm Brogdon: Been campaigning to bring him here since he was in Milwaukee and he’s still exceeded my expectations.

Derrick White: I didn’t know much about him when they got him from San Antonio and thought the price to get him was a little high. But Brad Stevens was right when he said the trade was “a no-brainer.” I love this guy because he’s unflappable and plays the same way every game as he does his job with no ego and unselfishly.

Joe Mazzulla: Not sure his jaw can last a whole season with the way he works the gum during games, but so far so good. He’s making the case about bringing Ime Udoka back next year a hard one.

Pritchard Time: Sam Hauser had a great start making 50 percent of his 3-balls in November, but it’s been 29 percent since Dec. 1. And since he’s only out there to make threes his time should go to Payton Pritchard. They give up some size, he’s better defensively and as a spark off the bench. Plus he showed he can shoot the long ball. Wasn’t great in the playoffs, but that was his first time around and I expect that should improve.

Ime Udoka: Could Stevens trade him for a protected first-round pick? Might make sense for a team with young players and a lot of first picks like Oak City who need a coaching jolt.

Danny Ainge: Several of his alleged draft miscalculations actually turned out to be pretty valuable. Grant Williams (22nd), Payton Pritchard (26th) and especially Robert Williams (27th)have all defied expectations for where they were picked. And those who didn’t — Romeo Langford and Aaron Nesmith — were traded for White and Brogdon. All are key players. So Danny gets belated props for those picks.

MVP Chants: The fan support for Tatum is nice. April or May maybe. But sorry, doing it in November is yahoo city.

I know. I’m no fun.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

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