Tag: 260423

Big hair meets tiny doughnuts

Cup of Ambition serves coffee too

The Cup of Ambition Mobile Coffee Bar (1170 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 843-591-6146) is named after a line in Dolly Parton’s 1980 song “9 to 5,” because owner Barbara Davey is a big fan of the singer. The truck focuses on coffee and doughnuts, Davey said.

“I offer made-to-order hot mini doughnuts. I’ve got many flavors to pick from. I’ve got some all put together that are named, but you can make your own. And I do all specialty coffees, iced coffees, frozen coffees, lattes, that sort of thing. I have a doughnut machine. I come in at about three in the morning and I start my batter. And I cook small-batch batter all day; it’s all homemade. My glazes are homemade. And I make doughnuts as they’re ordered, so they come right off the fryer, and they’re decorated the way that the customer wants them, and they’re served hot.”

These are not full-sized doughnuts, Davey said. “They’re probably 2 inches — maybe an inch and five eighths — in diameter.” And each variety is named after something Dolly Partonish.

“I’m all Dolly Parton-themed,” Davey said, “so I’ve got a lot of Dolly Parton doughnuts. I’ve got ‘Smoky Mountain Home,’ which is kind of like a cookies-and-cream [doughnut]. I’ve got a ‘Dolly Dipper,’ which is doughnut glazed with sparkles. I’ve got a ‘Jolene,’ which has cinnamon sugar and glitter dust. I do an ‘Islands in the Stream,’ which is a warm breakfast blend, vanilla with cinnamon sugar. I have another one, ‘Coat of Many Colors,’ which is vanilla and chocolate glazed with rainbow sprinkles. I’ve got a ‘Gatlinburg Maple Magic,’ which is maple and brown sugar cinnamon. So I do a lot of different things.”

Like many food truck operators, Davey keeps her customers updated on social media.

“I’m on Facebook, I’m on TikTok, and I’m on Instagram,” she said. “I really keep up on my social media to let them know if I’m open 6 to 2 that day or if I’m open 7 to 2. I try to really nail down a time. Just because if people are going to work I want them to be able to plan, and I’ve got it set up where some of my regular customers have my cell phone number so they can just text me their order so when they get here it’s done. And I bring it right out to their car.”

At this point Cup of Ambition has been open about a month, so it’s still early days, but Davey said business has been good from the start.

“We’re actually doing great,” she said. “This past Saturday I had lines of customers waiting to order, so it was phenomenal. It was great. People have been talking about me on social media. They’re referring people over. They’re having great experiences, and that’s kind of what I wanted to bring. I didn’t want to just bring good heartwarming food. I wanted to bring a good vibe and just a happy, you know, a happy time when you’re there.”

“And everybody’s happy when they get coffee for sure.”

Featured photo: Mini doughnuts at A Cup of Ambition. Courtesy photo.

What does a chef want to cook for you?

The Ash Street Inn’s Chef’s Table

Nick Provencher has been a professional chef for more than 15 years. That sounds very impressive, he said, but in fact the job can be very frustrating.

“Most of the time, it’s kind of a burnout job after a while,” he said. “It’s the hours and the people and the this and that, like you just get discouraged.”

His new position as the chef at the Ash Street Inn in Manchester has restored his sense of joy in the kitchen, he said.

“It’s essentially like a chef’s table that we’re doing inside the Ash Street Inn B&B,” he said. “They don’t normally serve dinner except when you’re doing a chef’s table.” On Chef’s Table nights, 12 guests sign up to have a multi-course meal prepared for them by Provencher.

“It’s a five-course dinner that we’re doing,” he said. “The menu changes every single week, depending on regional themes or just locally inspired menus. It’s super food-oriented, which is something that gets lost sometimes in a restaurant setting. There are none of those outside distractions. There’s no employees. There’s no one running operations or a general manager or a front-of-the-house staff. It’s just me cooking and interacting with the people who are there and just trying to create a really special night for everyone.”

For instance, Provencher said, “This week’s menu is a French-Indian fusion. It’s centered around some Indian flavors and Indian concepts done through the lens of a French chef and French technique. One of the dishes is going to be a slow-roasted and braised cabbage vindaloo. So there’s kind of a mix between two techniques. It has the sauce-building of Indian cuisine. and then the high regard and respect of fresh ingredients. The cabbage gets treated like meat, and cooking it is a three- or four-hour process. The finished dish is essentially like butter chicken, except it’s going to be with French-style Parisian gnocchi. There are going to be things at every meal that people haven’t tried before, or combinations they haven’t tried, or cuisine they haven’t tried.”

Cooking for 12 people at a time has opened up opportunities to follow his creativity, Provencher said.

“It’s 12 people. It’s so small that I can realistically accomplish whatever I have in my mind. There’s no, ‘Oh, we need to make sure it scales to 30 seats. We need to do this. We need to make sure that the line cooks are competent enough to cook it properly….’ There are really no holds barred on whatever we can do.” As the chef, he doesn’t have to design menu items that would be viable to make at volume, in and out of season, he said. “It only needs to be viable for three days, so you can bring in really cool ingredients, really fresh ingredients.”

Because liquor laws don’t allow the Ash Street Inn to sell wine, Provencher encourages diners to bring their own.

“It’s B. Y. O. B.,” he said. “We send out wine recommendations with the menu for the people who make the reservations, but it’s hyper-focused on what will pair with really, really high-quality food.”

That freedom and relaxed atmosphere allows Provencher to interact directly with the people eating his food, something that isn’t usually possible in a traditional restaurant experience, he said. He can explain the choices he made in preparing their dinner, and point out how ingredients enhance or complement each other.

“There are no distractions,” he said, ”no conflict of interest, no arguments. It’s just a calm, enjoyable dinner in a common enjoyable space where the focus is just around creating amazing food and interacting with people.”

“The hope of that is what has kept me in the game so long,” he said.

Chef’s Table
There are three seatings per week of the Chef’s Table at the Ash Street Inn (118 Ash St, Manchester, 668-9908, ashstreetinn.com), on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Seating is by reservation only. Visit ashstreetinn.com/ash-restaurant.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 26/04/23

• Make Dubai chocolate bars: Van Otis Chocolates (341 Elm St., Manchester, 627-1611, vanotis.com) will hold a Dubai Bar Making workshop Thursday, April 23, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. During this hour-long class guests will enjoy a tour of Van Otis’ Chocolate Factory, make their very own Dubai bar (customized with favorite flavors and mix-ins), and indulge in handmade chocolates. Guests 21+ are welcome to bring their favorite bottle of wine. Participants will also take home the chocolate bar mold to make more bars on their own. The cost is $65.87 per person through eventbrite.com.

• Make espresso martinis: Local Street Eats (112 W. Pearl St., Nashua, 402-4435, local-streeteats.com) will host Espresso Yourself – The Ultimate Espresso Martini Showdown Thursday, April 23, from 4 to 8 p.m. This will be a night filled with caffeine and cocktails. Local bartenders will battle it out to see who creates the best espresso martini. Espresso martinis are $15. There will be one grand prize winner, and voting will be people’s choice.

• Watch a cooking demo: Harper’s Eden Catering (35 Manchester Road, Derry, 416-0509, harperseden.com) will host the first dinner in a cooking demo series on Friday, April 24, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at The Gathering Grounds (104 Route 13, Brookline, 978-225-0066, thegatheringgroundsnh.com). Follow along while Chef Amanda from Harper’s Eden Catering does a live cooking demo. Tickets are $81.88. RSVP at harperseden.com/event-calendar.

• Cook as a couple: It is Spring Break Date Nite at The Culinary Playground (16 Manning St., Derry, 339-1664, culinary-playground.com) Friday, April 24, at 6:30 p.m. as well as Sunday, April 26. As a couple, learn to make fun spring-break-inspired dishes. Tickets are $165 per couple through the Culinary Playground website.

• Last winter market: Saturday, April 25, will be the final Concord Winter Farmers Market (7 Eagle Square, Concord,downtownconcordwinterfarmersmarket.com) of the season, from 9 a.m. to noon. Beginning in May the Farmers Market will return outside on Capitol Street.

• Grow your own: Learn to grow your own oyster mushrooms at the Nashua Public Library (2 Court St., Nashua, 589-4600, nashualibrary.org) Saturday, April 25, from 11 a.m. to noon or at a second session beginning at 1 p.m. Join farmer Elizabeth Almeida of Fat Moon Mushrooms to learn how to make your own oyster mushroom grow kit using recycled food containers and cardboard. Take your kit home and watch your mushrooms grow. Supplies are limited to one kit per household.

• Make risotto: Tuscan Market (Tuscan Village, 9 Via Toscana, Salem, 912-5467, tuscanbrands.com) will host an asparagus risotto cooking class on Sunday, April 26, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Learn how to make creamy asparagus risotto in this hands on class. The Tuscan Market’s instructor will guide you through the techniques for building rich flavor and perfect texture. The cost is $59.60 through the Tuscan Market website.

• New NH foods: In an April 14 press release, Nashua-based coffee company Rare Breed Coffee (2 Pittsburgh Ave, Nashua, 578-3338, rarebreedcoffee.com) announced the release of a new product, Brain Waves, which it described as “a new functional coffee engineered to deliver ‘locked-in energy’— sustained cognitive focus and mental clarity without the typical caffeine jitters.”

In an April 15 press release, Gate Drop (getgatedrop.com), “a new energy gummy company built by two childhood friends from NH” announced a new energy gummy, also called GateDrop. “GateDrop is an energy gummy brand inspired by motorsports and built for motion,” the press release read. “The brand was built to challenge traditional energy drinks. By delivering clean, precisely dosed caffeine in a convenient, portable gummy, GateDrop is positioning itself as a true challenger in one of the fastest-growing categories in consumer products.”

Treasure Hunt 26/04/23

Hello, Donna.

I read your column each week in the Hippo, and I wonder if you could help with a table. I’ve attached some pictures.

My parents got this from a cousin about 15 years ago. Someone was moving and my folks just took the table. It’s very heavy, has Italian marble in it and the dimensions are 102 x 40 x 29.

All of the original chairs are gone and years ago someone told me that it was an expensive table due to the marble. Is that true?

Any information would be appreciated.

Thank you.

John

Dear John,

Your table looks substantial and nice but doesn’t fall into my area for being antique. It does bring up a good point, though.

Even though a piece might not be considered to have an antique value, quality and some age would still give it a value. Better if you had a maker that was well-known in furniture. Then it would be quality, design and as always condition. Last would be finding it a new home.

John, not having the complete set can definitely matter in pricing it as well. My suggestion would be to go out to a few furniture consignment stores to see if you can get an idea of what pricing is for similar size and quality tables.Then you decide how to market it.

I apologize for not having more information for you. Good luck, John, and I hope your table finds a new home.

Kiddie Pool 26/04/23

Family fun for whenever

Signs of spring

• The Goffstown Citizens Committee will hold its annual SpringFest on Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sullivan Arena at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, according to a press release. The day will feature a kids’ zone with bounce houses, slides, table games, glitter tattoos, face painting and more, the release said. There will be two food concessions areas with snacks and lunch and more than 100 booths from businesses and vendors offering product demonstrations, free samples and more, the release said. Admission costs $5 for adults and is free for children 12 and younger, the release said. See goffstowncitizens.org.

• Charmingfare Farm, 774 High St. in Candia, is celebrating Barnyard Babies & Beyond on Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26, with admission times starting at 10:30 a.m., according to its Facebook page, where you can find a link to tickets. Meet and pet baby farm animals, see a cow milking demonstration, check out the tractor “touch a truck” and more, according to the post. See visitthefarm.com.

Music!

• Mr. Aaron celebrates 10 years of making music for kids with a Double Digits Celebration on Saturday, April 25, at 4 p.m. at Rollins Park in Concord, according to facebook.com/mraaronmusic, where you can check back for weather-related updates. See mraaronmusic.com for more about Mr. Aaron and his music.

• Introduce the kids to the songs of Dave Matthews at The Rock and Roll Playhouse featuring the music of the Dave Matthews Band & More played by local musician Kevin Horan & Friends on Sunday, April 26, at 11 a.m. (doors open at 10:30 a.m.) at the BNH Stage, 16 S. Main St. in Concord. See ccanh.com for tickets; kids under 1 get in free, according to the website.

• Catch the music of Frozen, Wicked, K-Pop Demon Hunters, Moana, Taylor Swift and more at The Princess Concert on Monday, April 27, at 3:30 p.m. at the Capitol Center for the Arts’ Chubb Theatre, 44 S. Main St. in Concord. See ccanh.com for tickets.

On stage

• The Magic School Bus, presented by TheaterWorks USA, will be at the Capitol Center for the Art’s Chubb Theatre, 44 S. Main St. in Concord, on Friday, April 24, at 4 p.m. See ccanh.com for tickets.

• Comedy illusionist Ben Pratt will present a family-friendly show at Chunky’s, 707 Huse Road in Manchester, on Sunday, April 26, at 6:15 p.m. See chunkys.com, which describes the show as “loaded with audience participation and exciting fun for the entire family,” for tickets.

Fun and games

• Chunky’s in Manchester also has a few theater candy bingo events on the schedule. Catch bingo Tuesday, April 28, and Friday, May 1, at 6:45 p.m. See chunkys.com to purchase tickets.

• Remix Roller Skating & Event Center, 725 Huse Road in Manchester, will offer a Vacation Skate Party on Monday, April 27, with two-hour skate blocks and a free 20-minute roller skate lesson for the 10 a.m. block, according to skateremix.com, where you can purchase tickets for time blocks and find more upcoming all ages skate events.

• To Share Brewing Co., 720 Union St. in Manchester, is offering “an easy, family-friendly hang all week long,” according to its Facebook page. The brewery has activities planned throughout the week, such as a scavenger hunt on Tuesday and “Crafternoon” on Wednesday, and will have “Kid Snack Packs” available for purchase, the post said.

• Honey Cup Cafe & Tea Room, 150 Bridge St. in Manchester, has a Kids Tea Time available at 10 a.m. April 28 through May 1, by reservation only, according to a post on its Facebook page where you can find details on pricing and available tea time treats.

Vacation at the museum

Looking for something to do during spring vacation (the week of April 27 for many New Hampshire schools)? Some area museums offer extra hours or programming.

• The Aviation Museum of N.H. 27 Navigator Road in Londonderry, will be open additional hours during Spring Break — Monday, April 27, and Tuesday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to a press release. The museum is also open its regular hours Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. The museum also will operate its Elite Flight Simulator on Monday, April 27; Wednesday, April 29, and Friday, May 1, from 1 to 4 p.m. in addition to its usual hours of Saturday 1 to 4 p.m., the release said. The simulator, open to ages 13 and up, offers the experience of flying a single-engine plane, the release said. Families with kids ages 12 and younger can attend “Story Time, which will take place on Tuesday, April 28, and Thursday, April 30, with programs at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Participants will enjoy reading several aviation-themed stories as well as additional activities. Admission to Story Time is free and is first-come, first-served. Afterward, families may explore the Aviation Museum at no charge,” the release said. See aviationmuseumofnh.org for regular admission prices and for details.

• The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, 6 Washington St. in Dover, will be open Tuesday, April 28, for an afternoon play session from 1 to 4 p.m. as well as its usual hours of morning play sessions (9 a.m. to noon) Tuesdays and Sundays and morning and afternoon sessions Wednesdays through Saturdays. See childrens-museum.org.

And save the date for Farm Day with Sturgeon Creek Farm on Sunday, May 3, from 10 a.m. to noon, when visitors will get to meet some of the animals from Sturgeon Creek Farm in Eliot, Maine, on the museum’s Play Patio, according to a museum newsletter. Reserve admission online.

• Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St. in Manchester, is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to currier.org. Additionally, the museum has workshops April 29 through May 1, for ages 6 to 15 (grouped by age) called “Spray: Big Colors, Bold Moves” and themed around the current “SPRAY: Jules Olitski in the 1960s” exhibition, according to the website, where you can find pricing.

• The Millyard Museum, run by the Manchester Historic Association, is in the same building at the SEE Science Center — 200 Bedford St. in Manchester. It is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to manchesterhistoric.org, where you can find downloadable Gallery Games to help kids engage with the museum.

• New Hampshire Historical Society, 30 Park St. in Concord, offers historical exhibits and is open its regular hours Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to nhhistory.org, where you can find admission information.

• SEE Science Center, 200 Bedford St. in Manchester, will be open Monday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in addition to its regular hours of Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. See see-sciencecenter.org.

Books, prizes, golden tickets

Local shops celebrate indie bookstore day

According to Michael Joachim, the general manager of Balin Books in Nashua, what sets independent bookstores apart from corporate chain bookstores is the personal relationships they build with their customers.

“The bookstores I’ve worked at and run are very much connected to the community,” he said. We do a great deal of business with almost all the local school systems. There are dedicated people here who work with specific teachers and librarians to make sure they get the books they need at the best price we can get them. And we handle all the work of getting the books sorted, packed up, and delivered to the schools. Individuals will just call us personally and say, hey, here’s a list. Can you help me with this? Can you find out some information on these books that we need? And we take care of that for them.”

Joachim and his staff are ramping up for this Saturday, April 25, Independent Bookstore Day, which the American Booksellers Association (bookweb.org/independent-bookstore-day) describes on their website as a “national one-day party held the last Saturday in April to celebrate independent bookstores across the country, online, and in-store, through exclusive books and literary items, contests, cupcakes, and everything in between.”

Joachim said the day is a good chance to show customers some of the things independent bookstores like Balin Books can do for them.

“Having knowledgeable people in the store,” is important, he said, noting, “People who have their whole lives in book selling usually wind up in an independent store … and that goes an enormous amount of miles in results, in speaking to someone intelligently about finding a book you’re looking for, recommendations, or just how the store inventory is shaped to be responsive to the local community. All that comes out of experience.”

Erin Magoon, one of the lead booksellers at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, said Independent Bookstore Day is one of the most fun days of the year for book fans.

“There’s an Indie Bookstore Ambassador every year,” Magoon said. “This year it’s LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow, so we’re doing kind of like rainbow-themed decorations, some rainbow-themed search and find activities for kids over on the kids’ side of the store. We’ll have a golden ticket hidden somewhere in the store, and that’s redeemable for 12 free audiobook credits available for someone to find in the store. One of our booksellers, Kate, did a booth last year called Book Zoltar [named for the fortune-telling machine in the 1988 Tom Hanks movie Big]. She gives fortunes to adults and kids about what books they should read. And then, of course, we’ll have some local authors here to meet our customers and sign books.”

Manchester’s Bookery is also hiding prizes and a Golden Ticket audiobook voucher, said event coordinator Alex Pellerin. “This is a special ticket that’s going to be hidden around the Bookery,” she said, “and we’re going to be giving clues throughout the day as to where that ticket is. And whoever finds that ticket gets 12 free audiobooks for the year from Libro.fm, which is really fun.” There will also be visiting authors throughout the day, she said, and live music.

According to Pellerin, independent bookstores like Bookery are able to provide their customers with “curated” experiences. “[Independent bookstores] are all unique,” she said, “and a lot of our books reflect our communities. We take a lot of recommendations from our customers for books and we really personalize which books we carry. Our staff is able to work with everybody and offer personalized recommendations, rather than a list of what a corporation says to.”

Indie Bookstore Day

Independent Bookstore Day is Saturday, April 25. Here are the plans at some local participating book stores. For a map of bookstores participating in Independent Bookstore Day activities, visit indiebound.org/independent-bookstore-day/map.

• At Balin Books in Nashua (Somerset Plaza, 375 Amherst St.), get exclusive Independent Bookstore Day tote bags and collectible pencils while supplies last, plus mystery grab bags of five books for a $5 donation to the Nashua Soup Kitchen. (A portion of the day’s sales will be donated to NSK.) Author Laura Knoy will be at the store at 11 a.m. for an event featuring her new book, The Shopkeeper of Alsace. p.s. There will be cake, according to the website. See balinbooks.com.

• Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord (45 S. Main St.) promises exclusive merch, balloon animals and a “Golden Ticket” for Libro.fm, source of indie audiobooks, as well as visits from authors Kari Allen, Patricia Zube, Jeff Lang and Sam Kelley Theodosopoulos; see gibsonsbookstore.com for details on their books.

• Manchester’s Bookery (844 Elm St.) is planning “prizes, discounts, live music, authors, and so much more!” according to their website, bookerymht.com.

• Wonderland Books and Toys (245 Maple St., No. 12, Manchester) will celebrate its second anniversary in conjunction with Independent Bookstore Day with a week of promotions, giveaways and family-friendly events. On Saturday, April 25, the store will have extended hours from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., featuring exclusive deals and interactive activities, according to a press release.

• At Water Street Bookstore in Exeter (125 Water St.), go on a blind date with a book, search for the Libro.fm Golden Ticket (worth 12 audiobook credits) and hidden gift cards, enter a literary trivia quiz (win a $50 bookstore gift card) and join other fun activities. See waterstreetbooks.com.

• In Portsmouth, the Book Nook is hosting an audio book walk to celebrate the day, starting with a free mini Loon chocolate bar in the store at 10 a.m.; see portsmouthbooknook.com for details.

Featured photo: A limited-edition tote designed by Tom Gauld, author of Physics for Cats, will be available at participating indie bookstores.

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