Tag: 250206

In the kitchen with Ashley Place

Culinary & Creative Works Manager, Lavender Fields at Pumpkin Blossom Farm (393 Pumpkin Hill Road, Warner, 456-2443, pumpkinblossomfarm.com)

Ashley Place spends a lot of time thinking about lavender. “I started working for Pumpkin Blossom Farm when it was first coming into fruition,” she said. “We were trying to figure out where [our farm and kitchen] would sit best. Previously I had actually been a bread baker for the Foothills, a restaurant that used to be on Main Street in Warner, so I had a little bit of culinary practice before then. We decided to try a bunch of different approaches, then figure out what stuck and go from there. Which led to the Culinary Camper, a mobile food truck, and out of it we sell lavender-infused lemonade, ice cream, and lavender shortbread cookies, which are one of our most popular items. We do a pineapple lavender Dole whip. We’ve done lavender white chocolate fudge in the past. We do mocktails with different botanical elements and our lavender simple syrup, so we have a lavender jasmine boba bubble tea.”

What is your must-have kitchen item?

I would say cheesecloth. For a lot of our infusions, it works the same way like an herbal tea would, where the lavender itself would have to be strained out after the infusion process. I use quite a bit of cheesecloth or mesh bags.

What would you have for your last meal?

I have a really specific one, actually: pasta with vodka sauce and Sweetie Drop peppers. They’re like these very small red peppers in the shape of a teardrop and they come in these little jars like olives with like a brine liquid in them and they have this sweet and tangy flavor. I’d want some Parmesan and then an arugula, walnut, blue cheese and pear salad.

What’s your favorite local place to eat out at?

The Refinery in Andover [4 Mill Road, Andover, 977-0194, refinerynh.com]. They do a lot of barbecue, burgers, steaks, salads, sandwiches. And then they’ll do, you know, specials like seafood dinners and stuff.

Who is a celebrity that you would like to see eating your food?

That’s such an interesting question. My friend and I think we’d really like to serve something to Noah Kahan. He is a Vermont native. And he does like some indie feel-good type music. It’s music that we like to play in the barn throughout the summer on our playlist, so I feel like it would be really awesome.

What’s your favorite thing on your menu?

My favorite is probably our lavender-infused ice cream. It is special because it’s not just flavoring. The lavender buds are actually steeped in the milk. It’s all natural. The flavor is subtle, but it’s still there. It’s a really good thing for people who are still experimenting and getting into culinary lavender to try.

What is a food trend you’ve seen in the area recently?

We’re seeing more and more different people trying our food, who probably wouldn’t have, in the past. We are coming up on our fifth year, we’ve been seeing some repeat customers. Our customers are very diverse.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I would have to say homemade pasta. I do a ravioli with mushrooms, shallots, ricotta, garlic.

Lavender Lemonade
From the Kitchen of Ashley Place

6 parts water
2 parts lavender simple syrup
1 part fresh lemon juice

Featured photo: Ashley Place. Courtesy photo.

Ice, ice, cookie

Pork bao, crab pakora and smashburgers at Local Street Eats

By John Fladd

[email protected]

Kelli Wright is one of the best cookie decorators in the business, but it didn’t come easily.

“I’m self-taught,” she said. “It took me so long just to even figure out how to mix royal icing correctly, to get the consistencies that I like, and decorate a cookie, and to make a straight line. It took me hours upon hours of reading, and watching videos and baking shows, and trying to figure it out.”

After having spent years establishing herself as a bespoke baker and decorator — her decorating business is called Just Wright by Kelli — she has taken on teaching decorating classes and workshops, where she tries to help home bakers skip over the most tedious stages of learning to decorate.

“Seeing people start out six to eight months ahead of where I was in the process,” Wright said, “just to see them be able to do it and do it right away is extremely gratifying. When they’re like, ‘Aha! I got it! I understand some of this,’ is so rewarding to see the outcome.”

Wright teaches decorating classes in several different places. The most recent one is The Culinary Playground in Derry. She teaches groups of 10 to 15 people to decorate cookies with royal icing. The classes run either two hours or two and a half. Each student is provided with the icing, tools they will need, and four to six sugar cookies. Wright concentrates on teaching participants how to decorate the cookies, using particular patterns that they can work from.

“What I like to tell people is ‘I give you a starting point’,” Wright said, “‘and then it’s all about learning how to just kind of let go and let your creativity take over. Learn what you like, what you don’t like — try to develop a style that’s yours.’ And some people are … not comfortable with going off-script based upon whatever their prior knowledge of decorating is and some people get very creative and want to improvise and do things that make them happy. I think that’s the whole [attraction] of baking is to have joy and share love through an edible treat. So I let them go rogue and have fun.”

In her classes, Wright works exclusively with egg white-based royal icing.

“I want to make sure it sets nicely for people to travel with when they take their cookies home,” she said. “If you put the right balance of ingredients together it’s not hard when you bite but it does still have a nice soft bite after it has a chance to dry.”

Although Wright teaches groups as large as 75 people, her classes at The Culinary Playground are smaller to fit the space available to her there.

“The classes take up a bit of space,” said Kristen Chiosi, owner of The Culinary Playground. “You have your cookies, you have a flexible mat to work on, and you have all your tools. So 16 is what’s comfortable in our space. We project up onto a screen so students can see what she’s doing. So we have a camera that’s pointed down toward her mat that has her cookie and you can see her hand and as she’s doing it. She’s talking through the steps and that’s being projected on the board so that people can follow along.”

Wright said cookie-decorating is fulfilling to teach, because students can learn a concrete skill very quickly and extrapolate from there. “I love seeing people try something new and then get that realization like, ‘Now I understand why custom is custom and what goes into making that one piece of edible art.’”

Cookie-decorating
Kelli Wright’s next sessions at The Culinary Playground (16 Manning St, Derry, 339-1664, culinary-playground.com) will be a Valentine Cookie class Saturday, Feb. 15, from 1 to 3 p.m. and Wednesday, Feb. 19, from 4 to 6 p.m., and a Saint Patrick’s Day Cookie class Sunday, March 9, from 10 a.m. to noon and from 12:45 to 2:45 p.m. Register online through the Culinary Playground website.

Featured photo: Cookie decorating classes at Culinary Playground. Courtesy photo.

Bringing a street-food vibe to Nash

Pork bao, crab pakora and smashburgers at Local Street Eats

By John Fladd

[email protected]

What is street food? For Alyssa Drift, the owner of Local Street Eats in Nashua, it’s not about the exact food you might get on a street corner halfway around the world. Although it could be.

“I haven’t traveled internationally a whole lot,” Drift said, “but I like to eat. So it’s more like going out into different cities and different places, whether it’s Boston, Portland, Portsmouth, any of those kinds of places. Even in Florida, like Miami and places like that are just a little bit more rich in culture than New Hampshire is a lot of the time. I feel like places like that have more of a diverse dining scene, and I wanted to bring something like that to Nashua.”

With a mission statement like that, it would be understandable if the menu at Local Street East went in a bunch of different directions, featuring dishes from a large number of places around the world. Drift and her staff have done the opposite. She said it was important to them to keep the menu clean and simple.

“It’s really streamlined, very simple, some handheld [items], some bites, some snacks. It’s really approachable, again, on the food standpoint, but very manageable for us to keep fresh ingredients in-house and have everything go out consistently at the high quality that we expect our team to deliver.” Plus, Drift said, she and her staff have a loophole. “The other thing is, we offer specials every single week,” she said. “So in addition to our regular menu, each week that runs Wednesday through Tuesday we offer at least two to three specials coming out of the kitchen. We usually offer a larger item and then a smaller item just to give variety to those people. We have a really big regular clientele. So we like to give people the choice to switch it up every now and again and not get sick of the regular menu. And then the plan for the regular menu is to switch that every 12 weeks. So we’ll do four seasonal menu changes.”

This winter’s menu items have been inspired by cultures as different from each other as China’s, Thailand’s, Mexico’s, and from the southern U.S. Some of the appetizers include Pork Bao (chewy Chinese dumplings), Crispy Crab Pakora (deep-fried Indian snacks) and a charcuterie plate called Girl Dinner. Main courses include American-style smash burgers, pad thai, and blackened fish with pineapple salsa.

About half the items on the menu either are plant-based or can be modified to be.

“We have a lot of vegan options on the menu,” Drift said. “Not just vegetarian, but full vegan. I feel like that’s a demand. Today, people try to be a little bit more more sound in their decisions and how they eat and source food. It’s definitely on the upswing. There are a lot of non-alcoholic people and a lot of vegan people. We have a permanent section on our cocktail menu that has zero-proof cocktails at all times and we have specials that we rotate every now and again. But I mean, to have 10 to 15 non-alcoholic options that aren’t Coke, Diet Coke and Sprite is a point of pride for us. We take just as much care making those as we do with any of our cocktails.”

Bar manager Krista Fisher said that whether she is designing mocktails or full-octane drinks the goal is to find ingredients that go well together, especially if they are a little surprising, so she can keep customers on their toes. “The special this week is called a Clown Car,” she said. “It has scotch, apricot, raspberry, and orange bitters — a little bit of everything. It’s served in a Collins glass on the rocks.”

“With a little umbrella,” she added. “Everything here is made a little cute.”

“Inspiration comes from everywhere,” Fisher said. “There’s a lot of trial and error. We’ve definitely experimented with flavors where you’re like, ‘Nope, that was weird.’ But pineapple and espresso go together, so that was cool to find out.” The biggest realization she has come to recently is the importance of picking a great name for each drink. “The name attracts them,” she said. “The flavor makes them stay.”

Local Street Eats
Where: 112 W. Pearl St., Nashua, 402-4435, local-streeteats.com
Hours: Tuesday through Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 4 to 11 p.m. Make reservations through the restaurant’s website.

Local Street Eats. Photo by John Fladd.

The Weekly Dish 25/02/06

News from the local food scene

• Chili and ice cream: The Amherst Lions Club will hold its annual Fire and Ice Chili Cookoff Friday, Feb. 7, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Souhegan High School cafeteria, 412 Boston Post Road, Amherst. To purchase tickets contact any Amherst Lion or purchase online. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for students ages 7 to 12, free for children ages 6 and under, $40 for a family of four or more. There is no fee to enter a chili. Competitors must register by Feb. 4. Visit the Amherst Lions Club website at e-clubhouse.org/sites/amherstnh.

• Dipping strawberries: Learn how to cover strawberries with chocolate like a professional at Van Otis Chocolates (341 Elm St., Manchester, 627-1611, vanotis.com) on Friday, Feb. 14, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Each participant will take home approximately 1 pound of dipped strawberries. This class is suited for guests over the age of 21, and they are welcome to bring their own bottle of wine or Champagne. After the class, guests will have the opportunity to shop in the store and receive a special class-only discount to be used the same day. Tickets are $60 through eventbrite.com.

• Flames and frost: 603 Brewery and Beerhall (42 Main St., Londonderry, 404-6123, 603brewery.com) will host a Fire on Main event Saturday, Feb. 8, from 3 to 9 p.m. This will be a cozy community event featuring a bonfire, food trucks and vendors, music and more. Main Street will be closed, there will be fire pits to warm up at, and s’mores will be served. Dress for cold weather. Admission is free, and all events are for all ages.

• Soup madness: The Henniker Brewing Co. (129 Centervale Road, Henniker, 428-3579, hennikerbrewing.com) will hold its First Annual Soup-er Bowl, Sunday, Feb. 9, from 1 to 4 p.m. Try the best homemade soups and chilis in Henniker before settling in for the big game, or see how your own soup/chili stands up to the heat. If you’d like to feature your dish, register by calling the taproom or sending email to [email protected]. Free to enter, free to taste. Music by Speed Trap starts at 1 p.m.

Kiddie Pool 25/02/06

Family fun for whenever

Winter fun

• The Black Ice Pond Hockey Championship is slated for Friday, Feb. 7, through Sunday, Feb. 9, at White Park in Concord. According to the website, 95 teams participate in the event, which also features games, a rock wall, bonfires, live entertainment, food trucks, ice and snow sculptures and more. The event also includes the Shinny Classic for youth hockey teams, the website said. See blackicepondhockey.com and check the event’s social media pages for weather-related updates.

Family music

• The Nashua Chamber Orchestra will hold a Family Concert on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 1 p.m. at the Nashua Public Library (2 Court St. in Nashua; nashualibrary.org). The orchestra will play “Concerto for Two Violins” by Vivaldi; selections from Carmen; “The Waltzing Cat”; “Trumpeter’s Lullaby” and Leopold Mozart’s “Toy Symphony.”The event is free and open to the public. See nco-music.org for more on the orchestra.

At the museums

• SEE Science Center (200 Bedford St. in Manchester; see-sciencecenter.org) will hold a Community Discovery Night on Friday, Feb. 7, from 5 to 8 p.m. The event, whose theme will be “Celebrating Black Influence in Science,” will feature food, music and science activities, according to the website, where you can register for this free event so the Center can plan the food.

• The Last Ice, a short documentary by New Hampshire science teacher Greg Stott and Vermont filmmaker Nick Natale, will screen Friday, Feb. 7, at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord (starhop.com) as part of this month’s Super Stellar Friday programming, which begins at 6:30 p.m. Stott, the 2023 NH Charitable Foundation recipient of the Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical award, used his sabbatical to make a film about the last ice age and its effect on the Connecticut River Valley, according to the website. Admission costs $13 for adults, $12 for 62+ and ages 13 through college, and $10 for ages 3 to 12.

• The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St. in Dover; childrens-museum.org) will hold a Valentine’s Day Dance Party with musical guest Mr. Aaron on Sunday, Feb. 9, from 1 to 3 p.m. Tickets cost $18 per person. The dance party will run from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. The afternoon will also feature Valentine’s crafts as well as play at the museum. Go online for tickets.

Also at the Children’s Museum, save the date for Lindsay and Her Puppet Pals on Saturday, Feb. 15, at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The museum will also celebrate the opening of two new exhibits: Little Farmers and the Play Loft. Saturday playtimes are 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Admission costs $14.50 for everyone over 12 months old and $12.50 for 65+.

On screen

• O’neil Cinemas Brickyard Square 12 (24 Calef Highway in Epping; oneilcinemas.com) will hold a sensory-friendly screening of Dog Man (PG, 2025) on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 10 a.m. The house lights will be higher and the volume a little lower, according to the website.

• The “Family Movie Night” movie at the Flying Monkey (39 S. Main St. in Plymouth; flyingmonkeynh.com) on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 6 p.m. is 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. Doors open at 5 p.m. and tickets cost $3 for everyone 3 and older, according to the website, which said the family movie nights also feature a special kid-friendly menu (yes, there are chicken tenders).

Indoor ice

• Everett Arena in Concord (15 Loudon Road) has public ice skating Sundays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., $6 admission (free for age 3 and younger), $6 skate rentals and $5 helmet rentals. See concordnh.gov for details and info on other activities at the arena.

• For public skating at the JFK Memorial Coliseum (303 Beech St. in Manchester), see the calendar at manchesternh.gov. This weekend, public skate is Sunday, Feb. 9, from 2 to 4 p.m. Skate rentals cost $5.

Treasure Hunt 25/02/06

Dear Donna,

I thought you may be the right person to contact regarding an antique robot I was given by my grandmother for Christmas in 1961. She bought it for $3.99 at SS Kresge — those were the five-and-dime stores. Based on the little research I did about 10 years ago, these were made in Japan and were popular in the 1950s. My search (years ago) saw prices ranging from $35 to $1,000 and I have no idea why the price range was so large. What value would you place on this and where or to whom would I bring this? Any information you have for me is much appreciated.

Jim

Dear Jim,

Let me start off by saying your research was right. But not all robots bring a higher value, and some can bring even more. Having the original box is a huge plus as well. Sometimes the higher values are in the box!

Toys are a specific field, with values changing a lot. I did some additional research for you. I found condition is crucial in the value. The original box as well, as I stated. Some were in the $500 range to collectors, but ones that were damaged and with no box were significantly less, selling mostly for parts.

I can refer you, Jim, to a gentleman who is a toy dealer and collector. I think this is where you start to get a current marketing value. Feel free to contact me again for his information.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

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