Tag: 260618

They’re all good cakes

Cake Fest expects up to 125 cakes

The idea for Cake Fest came to Susan Witts, the owner of Susie Q’s Cakery, last winter.

“It was a cold day in January,” Witts remembered. “Obviously, I have a cakery, so I love cake. I’ve loved cake for a long, long time. And I thought, let’s have a big party all about cake. And then I thought, how am I going to do this? And the rest is kind of history now. We have our event scheduled for the Deerfield Town Gazebo or Town Hall. If it rains, we’ve rented out the whole space. And we will have up to 125 cakes that will be coming.”

Witts stressed that Cake Fest will not be a competition, but a celebration for people like her, who just love cake.

“Some people are making their own and so there’s a little bit of swag involved,” she said. “We are going to have a Cake Fest photo-op balloon arch. So if you want to show your cake off, that’s fantastic. If you want to go to Whole Foods and get a lovely cake there to share, that’s fantastic too. This is really about however you interpret cake.”

Witts said she has been inspired by Cake Picnic, an event that started in San Francisco but has evolved into a traveling celebration to cities around the world with the motto “No Cake, No Entry.”

“I was as intrigued as could be,” Witts said. They do it in only larger cities, but I thought, ‘Well, dang! Let’s do it in New Hampshire!’”

“So this is just about bringing the cake community together to share in some sweetness,” Witts said. “Each person signs up — all tickets are pre-sale, so there will not be any tickets available the day of the event. So you buy a ticket. You decide what kind of cake you’d like to make or where you’d like to buy one. And then you come to the event. and everyone will have a ticket and it will be whoever arrives first gets in line first and groups of 10 will get to go through the cake walk with pink boxes the size of large pizza boxes and you fill your box with slices of everyone’s cake.”

So, in essence, Cake Fest is a chance for cakers to collect slices of cake. To eat. Because it’s cake.

Because Cake Fest is a party, Witts said, “we have a wonderful acoustic musician coming in. We have a bar service so we’ll have bubbly because you have to have bubbly with cake. There will be face painting. It’s just a really really wonderful community event and who doesn’t like cake? Only mean, bad people. So you can bet that most of the folks there will be just really kind, wonderful people.”

Witts has heard rumors that some Cake Fest cakers have been carefully planning their cakes in extreme detail.

“I teach classes,” she said, “and I have Russian decorating tips to pipe tulips, and a woman was attending the class and she showed me her concept cake and she’s doing the cat from Demon Hunter. And then another woman has her favorite spice cake from her grandma. So it doesn’t have to be elaborate. It really is a question of what cake do you love from your childhood? What cake do you want to aspire to try and decorate? Bring it. Everyone’s cake is welcome. We’re going to applaud everyone and they’ll all be delicious.”

Cake Fest
When: Saturday, June 27, from 1 to 3 p.m.
Where: Deerfield Town Gazebo on Church Street.
Entry is $25. All tickets will be sold before the event; no tickets will be sold on the day of CakeFest. Visit susieqscakery.com/cake-fest-2026.

Featured photo: One of Susan Witts’ cakes. Courtesy photo.

Lamb barbecue

St. Nicholas kicks off this summer’s Greek food festival season

There are three Greek churches in Manchester, and each opens its doors each year to share Greek culture — and especially Greek food — with the greater community.

St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, hosts the first Greek festival in Manchester of the season: its annual Lamb Barbecue, which will take place Saturday, June 20, and Sunday, June 21.

Emorfia Valkanos, who goes by the name Amy, is the president of St. Nicholas’ Parish Council. She said she is always excited when it comes time for her church to host the Barbecue.

“We are the first of the three,” she said, “and we’re celebrating our 78th year of having this event. It’s a lot of great Greek food that actually came from original recipes from Greece. So these are like direct recipes from yayas’ [Greek grandmothers’] kitchens in Greece and we’ve been keeping those recipes for 78 years. You feel like you’re stepping into Greece with the music and the smells of the food and the sounds. It’s just a very pleasant sensory experience that brings you back to Greece. It’s really a fun time.”

The event takes place over two days. The first day celebrates many different Greek foods, Valkanos said, while the second day is narrowly focused on one particular food: gyros. Given that the parish has called the event a Lamb Barbecue for more than seven decades, lamb takes center stage.

“The lamb is actually barbecued and it’s marinated in the old pappoús’ [Greek grandfathers’] marinade sauce. Then it is put on skewers and it is charcoal barbecued. And when that starts cooking, it will make you hungry even if you’re not actually hungry. We have a great chicken meal that we marinate in a special Greek marinade and then also barbecue that.”

According to Valkanos, other Greek dishes are prepared by teams of volunteers in advance.

“We have dolmades,” she said, “which are grape leaves, which are stuffed with hamburger and lamb and spices. We have the spinach pita [spanakopita] as a staple, of course. We have Greek meatballs that are homemade in a homemade sauce. We have, let’s see, pastitsio we serve, which is like a Greek lasagna topped with a bechamel sauce. And then we also have our sides, which are going to be homemade Greek green beans, and we have the rice and of course the bread is our side. It’s good food.”

For some people Greek festivals are all about pastries, and this is something Valkanos impatiently waits for each year, she said.

“We’ve been working on these as a team. There’s probably about 10 core members that do the full-on baking, but we’ve got people coming in and out to help us make baklava, the koulourakia, which are the butter twisted cookies. We’re going to have paximadia, which are a sort of Greek biscotti. They’re wonderful.” There will also be kataifi, she said, which are in the baklava family, and have received a lot of attention during the past few years as an ingredient in Dubai chocolate.

There is an ongoing debate at St. Nicholas, Valkanos said, about whether they should make loukoumades, the popular fried dough balls soaked in syrup. “We don’t have those,” she said, “at least not this year. There’s a machine that we would have to purchase that actually makes them. We’ve been talking about maybe bringing them back, but right now they’re not going to be on the menu this year. We are the smallest of the three churches. So this is a big event for us to put on. But with everything, there’s just so many other pastries that we’re doing. There’s a selection that anybody will be happy with.”

Lamb Barbecue and Food Festival
Where: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 1160 Bridge St. in Manchester
When: Saturday, June 20, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Gyro Day is Sunday, June 21, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Featured photo: Greek pastry. Courtesy St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church

The Weekly Dish 26/6/18

Summer celebrations

• SEE Science Center (200 Bedford St. in Manchester) will hold its Kick Off to Summer Saturday, June 20, through Friday, June 26, “featuring activities using LEGO® Bricks and celebrating the 20th anniversary of the completion of our LEGO® Millyard Project,” according to see-sciencecenter.org, where you can find admission prices and pre-purchase admission. Through Labor Day, the Center is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the website said.

• The Wilton NH Main Street Association’s SummerFest will be held Saturday, June 20, according to facebook.com/wiltonmainstreetnh. “Main Street will be closed to traffic and full of vendors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. We have live music on two stages during that entire time. The Lions will also have their annual Duck Drop fundraiser in the afternoon,” according to an email from organizers. “Activities move up to Carnival Hill in the evening from 6 to 10 p.m. That will include music provided by a DJ, kids’ games, a pie-eating contest and an amazing fireworks display by JPI Pyrotechnics, enhanced this year for the 250th birthday of America,” the email said.

• The Seacoast Science Center in Rye will celebrate World Ocean Celebration Day on Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. featuring games, educational activities, tide pool sessions, food trucks and more, according to seacoastsciencecenter.org, where you can purchase tickets.

• The 44th Somersworth International Children’s Festival will take place Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Noble Pines Park and on Main Street and feature activities for kids, food vendors, craft vendors, a World Cultures Passport Center, a kids’ play area, Wildlife Encounters, roaming entertainers, a petting zoo and more, according to nhfestivals.org.

• The Nesmith Library in Windham (nesmithlibrary.org) will hold its Summer Reading Program Kickoff on Tuesday, June 23, from 4 to 7 p.m. with lawn games, the Walking Gourmet Food Truck and Bryson Lang juggling at 6 p.m., according to the website.

Live performances

• Children’s musical performer Mr. Aaron will be at the Riverfront Park in Northfield on Friday, June 19, at 6:30 p.m., according to mraaronmusic.com. You can also catch him Saturday, June 20, at noon at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye for World Ocean Day, the website said.

• The Prescott Park Arts Festival’s outdoor production in Portsmouth Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella will begin its summer run on Friday, June 19, with shows through Aug. 9, according to prescottpark.org. Performances take place most Thursdays through Sundays at 7 p.m., with some matinee performances, according to prescottpark.org, where you can reserve blanket or table space.

• The Nashua Public Library, 2 Court St. in Nashua, will rock out on Tuesday, June 23, at 7 p.m. with its Teen Rock Show featuring Fates Collide from Nashua Community Music School, according to nashualibrary.org.

• Add your voice toK-Pop Demon Hunters Sing Along, part of the Summer Movie Clubhouseseries at Cinemark Rockingham Park (15 Mall Road in Salem; cinemark. com/theatres/nh-salem/cinemark-rockingham-park-and-xd), according to the website. The movie screens Wednesday, June 17, and Thursday, June 18, at 10:30 a.m.

Kiddie Pool 26/06/18

Family fun for whenever

Summer celebrations

• SEE Science Center (200 Bedford St. in Manchester) will hold its Kick Off to Summer Saturday, June 20, through Friday, June 26, “featuring activities using LEGO® Bricks and celebrating the 20th anniversary of the completion of our LEGO® Millyard Project,” according to see-sciencecenter.org, where you can find admission prices and pre-purchase admission. Through Labor Day, the Center is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the website said.

• The Wilton NH Main Street Association’s SummerFest will be held Saturday, June 20, according to facebook.com/wiltonmainstreetnh. “Main Street will be closed to traffic and full of vendors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. We have live music on two stages during that entire time. The Lions will also have their annual Duck Drop fundraiser in the afternoon,” according to an email from organizers. “Activities move up to Carnival Hill in the evening from 6 to 10 p.m. That will include music provided by a DJ, kids’ games, a pie-eating contest and an amazing fireworks display by JPI Pyrotechnics, enhanced this year for the 250th birthday of America,” the email said.

• The Seacoast Science Center in Rye will celebrate World Ocean Celebration Day on Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. featuring games, educational activities, tide pool sessions, food trucks and more, according to seacoastsciencecenter.org, where you can purchase tickets.

• The 44th Somersworth International Children’s Festival will take place Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Noble Pines Park and on Main Street and feature activities for kids, food vendors, craft vendors, a World Cultures Passport Center, a kids’ play area, Wildlife Encounters, roaming entertainers, a petting zoo and more, according to nhfestivals.org.

• The Nesmith Library in Windham (nesmithlibrary.org) will hold its Summer Reading Program Kickoff on Tuesday, June 23, from 4 to 7 p.m. with lawn games, the Walking Gourmet Food Truck and Bryson Lang juggling at 6 p.m., according to the website.

Live performances

• Children’s musical performer Mr. Aaron will be at the Riverfront Park in Northfield on Friday, June 19, at 6:30 p.m., according to mraaronmusic.com. You can also catch him Saturday, June 20, at noon at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye for World Ocean Day, the website said.

• The Prescott Park Arts Festival’s outdoor production in Portsmouth Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella will begin its summer run on Friday, June 19, with shows through Aug. 9, according to prescottpark.org. Performances take place most Thursdays through Sundays at 7 p.m., with some matinee performances, according to prescottpark.org, where you can reserve blanket or table space.

• The Nashua Public Library, 2 Court St. in Nashua, will rock out on Tuesday, June 23, at 7 p.m. with its Teen Rock Show featuring Fates Collide from Nashua Community Music School, according to nashualibrary.org.

• Add your voice toK-Pop Demon Hunters Sing Along, part of the Summer Movie Clubhouseseries at Cinemark Rockingham Park (15 Mall Road in Salem; cinemark. com/theatres/nh-salem/cinemark-rockingham-park-and-xd), according to the website. The movie screens Wednesday, June 17, and Thursday, June 18, at 10:30 a.m.

Celebrating 250 and 300

Liberty and Legacy kicks off a summer of history

As it turns out, this summer is not only the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

“It’s 250 for the U.S.,” said Cindy Foote, a trustee for the Concord Historical Society, “and for Concord it’s 300 [years]. So we are going to have a toast.”

The toast will celebrate a gathering of New Hampshire’s founding fathers in 1776, Foote said. “The men came and sort of broke down the arguments of ‘Do we want to be a part of this? Should New Hampshire be part of [the new American country] and be the ninth state so we can ratify and become our own?’ It took place on June 21, which is why we decided to celebrate it on June 20, this year. The toast took place at a house that’s right there on North Main, on June 20, 1788, so we’re going to do the same.”

This year’s toast will be part of “Liberty and Legacy: a Civic Saturday Social” on Saturday, June 20, from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Kimball Jenkins Estate, 266 N. Main St., in Concord, which Foote described as a sort of American history variety show.

“We have performers that are going on the stage. We have a folk singer who plays guitar. We’re going to have a reading of the Declaration of Independence, with a man in garb. We’ll have an organ recital. Obviously, there’ll be a beer tent [“Obviously,” because most of the U.S. Founding Fathers were notoriously fond of drinking.] There will be food trucks, cotton candy and popcorn. It’s an event that’s free to the public, but once you get there, some things will be charged.”

And no, she stressed, the beer will not be free.

“The Concord Coach will be there,” Foote continued. An actor named Andrew Pinard will be on hand, in character as Jonathan Harrington, a 19th-century magician. “He’s doing an hour-long show and it’s based on the time period. We’re going to have historical interpreters walking around in time period clothing, chatting.”

And then there’s the toast.

“The mayor is going to come and lead a toast,” Foote said. “He’ll say a few words, and then everyone in the audience is going to say ‘HUZZAH!’ The Friendly Toast has offered some sparkling cider to the mayor for the toast. That will happen three times during the day. So hopefully everyone will get to experience it. And Captain Bell’s Company, which is a group of Revolutionary War re-enactors, they’re going to shoot off their muskets just before we say ‘HUZZAH!’”

In addition to historical re-enactment, Foote said, “Binney Media is actually going to do two tours of their facility because their facility is actually a very historic place and they have artifacts there and they’ll explain them, so they’re getting in on the act. There will be farm equipment from Morrill Dairy Farm, some old farm equipment. Kids’ games are going to be taking place at Concordia Church. There will be a whole lineup of old-fashioned games for kids. We also have coins for sale — it’s a commemorative coin. There are only 300 of them, and when they go, they go.”

Liberty and Legacy: Civic Saturday Social
When: Saturday, June 20, from 1 to 6 p.m.
Where: Kimball Jenkins, 266 N. Main St. in Concord
Admission: free
More: kimballjenkins.com

Featured photo: Andrew Pinard as Prof. Harrington. Photo courtesy of Kimball Jenkins.

Treasure Hunt 26/06/18

Hello, Donna,

I was going through a china cabinet and found this plate. I’m not sure where my mother got it; it may have come from her mother.

I’m wondering if it’s worth anything. Any information will be appreciated.

Thank you.

Kathleen

Dear Kathleen,

What you have found is a piece of Pickard China in the Bird of Paradise pattern. Yours is from the early 1900s and from Bavaria.

Being a dinner plate as always makes it part of a set. The higher-value pieces would be the serving pieces and unusual pieces, in good clean condition with no damage.

Today people collect them for the makers, designs and colors. Pickard has a long history and there are collectors.

My suggestion would be to go to a local antique shop. Even though the appraisal value might seem high for a plate, around $40, selling it may bring a substantial amount lower. Remember the buyer then has to find another purchaser.

Another option is to market your plate on your own.

I hope this helped and good luck with your treasure.

Donna

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