Tag: 261015

The Broomstick

Few foods are as divisive in these hard times as black licorice. Otherwise easygoing people will be taking part in a particularly nice conversation, complimenting your shirt, asking about your mother, discussing the possibility of rain, when somehow the topic will turn to black licorice. Their face will freeze in place momentarily. Their gaze will harden, their lip will curl, ever so slightly.

Then they will tell you how much they dislike black licorice. In great detail. It’s obviously an unpleasant topic for them, but there is something about black licorice that seems to require them to empty their soul on the topic. Their distaste for the candy will inevitably spread to you, as a sensible, licorice-loving person of taste and elan. It might take you days to regain your credibility in their eyes.

Nevertheless, here is a recipe for a highball that might satisfy both of you, allowing you to move on to less fraught topics, like religion, politics or the Red Sox:

  • 2 ounces golden rum
  • Juice of half a lime – about 1 ounce, plus whatever is left of that half-lime once you have finished squeezing it for everything it has to offer
  • 3 to 4 ounces fresh squeezed orange or tangerine juice
  • 1/2 ounce grenadine
  • Splash of club soda
  • For garnish — and this will just be a pretty, fruity drink without it — a black licorice swizzle

Over two or three ice cubes, in a tall glass — a Collins glass will work nicely for this — pour the lime juice over ice. Place the exhausted lime half on top of the ice, then cover with several additional ice cubes. Top with the orange or tangerine juice and a splash of soda to give it some bubbles. Stir gently with a long-handled bar spoon.

Pour a “slip” of grenadine down the sides of the glass. The inside of the glass. (After a few of these, we should probably have instructions as specific as possible.) Because the grenadine is denser than the drink around it, it will pool at the bottom of the glass, but not completely, giving a pink-ombre effect to the enterprise.

Take five or six black licorice twists, and pull them apart from one another. The vast majority of people making this drink will only require one, but in my particular case one of the pieces of licorice will look sub-standard in some way. Maybe it got a little stretched out as you pulled it away from the main body of licorice in the package. Perhaps you just see that it has a flawed character. In either case it needs to be disposed of. By eating it.

The next licorice stick might make it into the actual drink, but maybe it looks a little too bendy. The cold drink will stiffen it into that shape, which is clearly unacceptable, so it needs to be removed and disposed of. Also by eating it.

You might bite the end off each side of a licorice stick and try to use it as a straw, which — in my experience — does not work well. And now it looks funny and needs to be disposed of. Again, by eating it.

I can’t speak to your own level of swizzle competence, or licoriphilia, but you should probably be prepared to use all five licorice sticks.

Featured photo. Photo by John Fladd.

Small bites, big cause

Pink Tie Gala raises money for the American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society’s annual Pink Tie Gala at the Phenix Hall in Concord is the sort of event where everybody feels fancy, attractive and generous, according to Kathy Russ, one of the evening’s co-chairs.

“It is black tie optional,” she said of the gala, which will take place Saturday, Oct. 17, starting at 7 p.m. “So there will be women in gowns, there will be men in tuxedos, some will have short dresses on, some people will just [be] men who will have suits on. But it is an opportunity to get dressed. We have a beautiful pink carpet that we stretch out down the side of Main Street on the sidewalk. And people come up and have their picture taken on the pink carpet before they go up to Phenix Hall.”

One reason the event can be so elegant and raise so much money for cancer research and support for cancer patients is based on the generosity of the people and businesses involved, Russ said.

“The cornerstone of this event — and this is our fourth year that we’re running the event — is that we get everything possible donated so that when people come, they feel very generous to the cause. For example, the venue is donated to us, and because it’s a private venue, we can bring in our own chefs who bring in the food and all the liquor, and the wine, and the beer is all donated, and the flowers are donated, and the tables, and chairs, and linen, and glassware is all donated.”

An important aspect of the evening is the food and drink, Russ said. Happy, well-fed people are more generous, which in turn helps the Pink Tie Gala reach its fund-raising goals.

“So there are small plates; there’s no sit-down rubber chicken dinner. The chefs from Revival Kitchen in Concord, O Steaks and Seafood, and Trenta Restaurant from Wolfeboro come … and they create small plates. For example, there will be seared tuna, and everybody loves duck, they all have a vegetarian option, and you can have as much of it as you’d like. And there’s an open bar,” she said.

Russi went into more detail about the Gala’s menu:

The FLIK Hospitality Group in Merrimack will serve spanakopita, vegetable pot stickers, hummus and vegetable cups, and charcuterie cups.

Revival Kitchen and Bar will present chilled Berbere spice seared tuna, Brussels sprout slaw, pickled green apple, and spiced pepitas, with a sweet ginger glaze. Their vegetarian dish will be a roasted pumpkin bisque with an apple-fig chutney.

Trenta Restaurant will serve char siu duck and stir-fried rice, with a Thai basil chili relish, and a vegetarian offering of cardamom vanilla parsnip shooters with pickled grapes and celery.

O Steak & Seafood will serve macaroni and cheese.

The Red Blazer and Catering by Design will provide assorted sweets.

The evening’s prizes and auction items are also fancy and/or food-related, Russ said.

“We have a live auction where we have some incredible things that are donated, like a seven-day European river cruise from AmaWaterways. And we also have a local artist that is making a painting that is of downtown Concord that is quite spectacular. We have tickets to Andrea Bocelli at the Boston Garden, which [brought on] a bidding war last year. We have a chef who donates her time and will do a cocktail party in someone’s home for 10 people.”

The Fourth Annual Pink Tie Gala
What: The event raises money for the American Cancer Society
Where: Phenix Hall, 38 N. Main St., Concord
When: Saturday, Oct. 17, from 7 to 11 p.m.
Tickets: $125 each, through the event’s website at e.givesmart.com/events/O2M

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Tradition!

Manchester’s downtown celebrates another restaurant week

At least once each year, the Palace Theatre in Manchester works with local restaurants to promote dining and the theater in a Restaurant Week. The restaurants and bars offer food and drink specials that are themed around a show playing at the Palace, and the theater promotes those restaurants.

“People have the reaction, ‘Hey! Dinner and a show!,’” said the Palace Theatre’s Katie Lovell. “This year there will be one Restaurant Week in the fall, so that’s coming up. Then we’ll do one in the winter as well, like we usually do. So this year we have two, and this one in the fall is tied to Fiddler on the Roof.”

Lovell said this production of Fiddler on the Roof will be a tribute to outgoing CEO and president of the Palace Theatre Peter Ramsey.

“He’s retiring in January, after 30 years,” she said. “Fiddler on the Roof is a show that he’s always wanted to do. [The Leadership Team] let him pick the whole season. And this was the one show that he said, ‘We have to do that. It will fit perfectly in the fall, and let’s tie it to Restaurant Week.’ So the theme is ‘Tradition and Taste.’ Restaurants are encouraged to come up with menus with that theme, whatever their interpretation of it is.”

Because of the change in seasons, most of the food and drink specials are more substantial, Lovell said, which is a good match for Fiddler on the Roof’s setting in a Jewish community in turn-of-the-last-century Russia.

“So the menus are coming in,” she said, “and it’s really, really exciting. We’re seeing a lot of braised short ribs, some people doing some latkes, I just saw fried feta. A lot of really interesting dishes that are going along with the ‘Tradition and Taste’ theme.”

Many of the participating bars and restaurants are within walking distance of the Palace, Lovell said. “Most are downtown. We have about 27 restaurants on board. We have a few in Bedford this year. And a few [in different parts of] Manchester, but mostly downtown.” One of the participating restaurants that is particularly exciting for her, Lovell said, is the Ash Street Inn. “Nick Provencher is the executive chef over there,” she said. “It’s a 12-person communal table. And every week they come up with a new menu, a new thing. So for these weeks they have the fall Tradition and Taste menu. So it’s a surprise — they won’t even tell me [what they’re serving]. But it’s going to be very, very elevated and special over there. It’s different from anything else you’ll get in the area. So I’m excited for that one. Clyde’s Cupcakes is doing a fun dessert and wine pairing. [They are] in the Queen City Center near Harpoon. So not everyone is doing a three-course menu. [It will vary], depending on the type of restaurant they are. At Industry East and 815 they’re each going to make a fun specialty cocktail with a dish with it.”

Nick Provencher, the chef at Ash Street Inn, said he has taken inspiration from the musical number from Fiddler on the Roof “If I Were a Rich Man.”

“We’re going to take that theme and run with it,” he said, “and kind of do some different stuff around Russian cuisine, which, especially around here, I’ve never even seen explored in any manner. We’re looking at [serving] an elevated version of Russian peasant food. So, you know, you’ve got a lot of root vegetables and stuff like that, but along with like some of those ideas and the classic cooking and the way they used to cook back introduced probably some more what they would define as like luxurious items alongside those kind of like peasant-dish ideas, in a fun little mix of the two.”

Restaurant Week
When: Thursday, Oct. 22, through Sunday, Nov. 1
Where: Restaurants in Manchester as well as one in Bedford
More info: palacetheatre.org/restaurant-week, where you can see the menu offerings of participating restaurants.
Participating restaurants: Thirsty Moose Taphouse ($38 menu); Diz’s Cafe (a two-entree $58 menu); Bravo ($28 lunch option; $58 three-course option); Fratello’s ($58 option); The Current ($58 menu); Evolution ($38 & $58 menu); Ben & Jerry’s; 815; Ash Street Inn; Industry East ($28 menu); Stark Brewing Co.; Hooked on Ignite; Harpoon (with a $38 menu); Campo Enoteca; Clyde’s Dessert & Wine Bar; Giorgio’s; 900 Degrees; Stash Box ($58 menu); Without ($38 menu); Piccola Italia Ristorante ($38 menu), and Evvivia Trattoria in Bedford (which has $28, $38 and $58 menu options). Some of the restaurants also have specialty offerings.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

There is plenty to do in the garden now

It will soon be time to gather up your leaves and store them for use in the garden. If you can run over them with your mower to chop them up, they’ll break down quicker, becoming a nice source of organic matter to improve the soil in your vegetable garden, or to use as mulch in flower beds. If you leave them on the lawn, they may smother the grass, come spring, so do it now. If you have a huge quantity of leaves and no way to chop them up, just put them in a pile, and in two or three years they will be completely broken down for use as compost.

I’m already looking ahead to my next gardening season. In October I plant my garlic crop, which I’ll harvest next August. I save some bulbs from this year’s crop and use them for planting now. Of course, you can buy “seed garlic” if you didn’t grow any this year or want to eat all you grew. But don’t plant grocery store garlic because it probably has been treated to keep it from sprouting. And it probably is the wrong kind for our climate: We need to grow “stiff neck” garlic, not the kind with stems you can braid.

I pick my biggest, best garlic for planting. Each bulb gives me four to eight cloves, which I’ll plant 3 inches apart and 3 inches deep. You should work the soil well to make it loose and fluffy. Add compost if it is not rich. My soil is very rich, but I still add some organic fertilizer to the rows. Cover the cloves with soil, pat it down, and then add a thick layer of straw or hay over the bed. That will keep the soil warm for a while, encouraging roots to grow now, before winter. In the spring the garlic will push through the straw, but not many weeds will. It’s my easiest crop to grow, and it stores well in a cool place for months.

I like to buy early-blooming daffodils to pot up for “forcing.” Forcing spring bulbs means to pot up bulbs, letting them rest in a cool place for eight to 16 weeks, and then bringing them into the warmth of the house to bloom early on a sunny windowsill. Small bulbs like crocus take eight weeks, daffodils 10 to 12 weeks, tulips 14 to16 weeks. So if you pot up bulbs this month, you can have blossoms indoors in January or February. Little daffodils like Tête-à-Tête are great for forcing, and I like to pot some in 4-inch pots for gifts. I crowd three or four bulbs in a 4-inch pot.

To fill your pots, you can re-use the potting soil from pots of annuals you grew on your porch or steps this summer, buy potting soil, or make your own. I make a wheelbarrow of potting soil for forcing using a mix of good compost I get each year by the truckload, garden soil, peat moss and perlite. Perlite is the white fluffy stuff you see in potting soils that looks like Styrofoam but is really heat-expanded mica.

The compost I get is rich, dark and fluffy, and it comprises at least 50 percent of my mix. I soak peat moss and break up any lumps before mixing it in; it’s about 25 percent of the mix. I like to add a little garden soil, too. And perlite too helps keep it fluffy and holds water. The mix should be loose and fluffy. Forced bulbs don’t need fertilizer; they have everything they need to bloom.

Then there are the amaryllis bulbs I get to re-bloom every year. I keep them in their pots all summer, leaving them outside in a sunny spot. Now I bring them indoors to my cool, dark cellar. They need to go dormant. Cut off the leaves and put each in a paper bag. Keep at a temperature of 50 degrees or cooler for five or six weeks. Then bring them into your house, water, and put on a sunny windowsill.

October is the month for planting bulbs outdoors. I started planting spring bulbs in 1983, I think, and have planted some every year since. I now have uncountable numbers each year, but still plant more. Most spring bulbs live for many decades, but not tulips. Tulips I treat as annuals. I have some daffodils I dug up at my boyhood home more than 40 years ago — they were old then — yet they still bloom every year.

Early spring bloomers can be planted in a shady area — they recharge the bulbs early, before leaves come out; daffodils can be planted along a woodland path, but really excel in full sun. If you plant snowdrops on a south-facing hillside, they should bloom in early March. Winter aconite, a lesser-known, low, brilliant-yellow flower, will bloom with them. Both will spread nicely over time.

I was visiting a public garden in Wales one September when a groundskeeper was planting daffodils in the lawn. He confounded me when he took a 5-gallon pail of old tennis balls, and flung them all out on a gentle hillside. “Why, pray tell, did you do that?” I asked. “Oh,” he replied, “I want a random planting, not rows or circles of bulbs.” I’ve never done that, as I want my daffodils to get lots of sunshine each spring, and bulbs in a lawn won’t be ready to be cut back until the Fourth of July. Maybe their budget allows them to re-plant each fall.

To save labor, I excavate a spot suitable for planting one to three dozen bulbs: an oval, a circle or an amoeba. I put stones and sod in a bucket, good soil in a wheelbarrow. For big bulbs like daffodils, the hole is 6 inches deep; for small bulbs, just 2-3 inches deep. I loosen the soil with a hand tool, my CobraHead weeder. If soil is poor, I add some compost and stir it in. Then I always add a slow-release organic fertilizer. Choose your site well: most bulbs do not like to grow in consistently moist or wet soil. “Thalia” is a daffodil that does not mind it.

There is much to do in your garden on a sunny fall day. But don’t forget to pause and admire a blue sky and puffy white clouds.

Henry can be reached at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or PO Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746.

Treasure Hunt 26/10/15

Hello, Donna,

I have a “what is it” question. Hoping you can help to let me know.

These wooden rollers have spikes on them. Makes them uncomfortable to hold.

Can you help?

Tami

Dear Tami,

What you have is an organ cob. They are made to create specific musical songs. These cylinder cobs date back to the late 1800s and early 1900s.

They went inside an organ such as a Gem Roller. They would turn (mostly by hand) and get struck by a metal comb to create music.

The couple you have sent pictures of look to be in tough shape. Over time the metal spikes can bend or break off, which causes them to lose the tune.

There is value to some of these that are in functional condition. However, most are found in the same condition as yours.

I hope this was helpful, Tami, Thanks for sharing with us.

Pumpkin party in Goffstown

Pies, pets and pool plops on the Piscataquog

Goffstown’s Pumpkin Regatta is not just another pumpkin festival, Tina Lawton explained. The two-day, pumpkin-themed event, which will take place in Goffstown Village on Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18, is organized by the Goffstown Main Street Program. Lawton is the board president for the program.

“The whole focus of Goffstown Main Street is to spotlight the village and what it has to offer,” Lawton said. “The whole idea is to draw people to the village so that they can see what a quintessential sort of small-town vibe it has … and then to continue to keep coming back. I’ve heard multiple times from people who tell me they came to this event and they fell in love with the village and they moved and raised their family in Goffstown. I hear it all the time. I think every year we hear of at least one family that comes from some other part of the world because it has become one of those bucket-list kind of things. Because, you know how many places can you go and see a giant pumpkin being dropped in a river from a crane?”

The most famous element of the Pumpkin Regatta festival is, as the name suggests, a boat race down the Piscataquog River in Goffstown Village with boats carved from giant pumpkins. This year’s race might be bittersweet, Lawton said.

“We have been sort of focused on this all year … because the Hadley Falls Dam needs to be removed. It was scheduled to be removed in 2027, so this was going to be the last Regatta part of the event. Recently we heard that they might push it to 2028. So it’s possible it could be the last one, but we might get lucky and have one more. We’ll see.”

Other events over the weekend will include pumpkin carving, pie eating, a pet parade and a pumpkin cooking competition.

“We have apple slingshots we set up every year, and so the apples go into the Piscataquog River. They shoot them toward specific targets. And so that’s a very favorite thing of, especially, you know, young teenage boys. They love to shoot. We have a 400- or 500-pound pumpkin that’s going to get carved, that gets carved every year into some sort of character that’s related to our theme. The theme [this year] is ‘America 250.’ It’s an anniversary for Goffstown too, 200 years, I believe. The other big thing we do is we drop about an eight [hundred] to thousand-pound pumpkin into a giant pool of water. We used to carry the record for the highest drop of a giant pumpkin. Somebody challenged us on that…. And now we’re going back to the pool at 100 feet.”

Lawton said the pies eaten at the pie-eating contest are chocolate cream pie, not pumpkin.

“We’re still going to do cream pies because I think that’s preferred for the younger ones to dip into some chocolatey fluff,” she said. “It’s trying to eat the whole pie — whoever can eat the whole pie first. And there are different age groups, [from] smaller, younger children all the way up to an adult category. The Goffstown High School Student Council will run that activity for us again this year. They did that last year, so they did a wonderful job leading that activity as a part of their community service.”

“The Glen Lake Animal Hospital, which is in the Village, will help coordinate [a pet costume contest] and do it in front of their clinic,” Lawton said. “People bring their dogs — it’s all dogs — over and do a little red carpet thing. Then there’s voting. And then after that, many of the pets and pet parents that want to come over to Main Street, which is just like a block and a half away, come over to Main Street and they participate in the parade in their costumes.”

The pumpkin-cooking contest is where some of the real drama comes in, Lawton said. “There are a lot of categories. The funniest thing about the cook-off is that there’s this one Goffstown family who has done it for years. And for many years, they bring family in from different parts of the country for this event. They all get together and they all make their different offerings. or whatever it is they’re making. And at least half of the participants are [from] this huge family that participate and compete against each other.”

25th Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off and Regatta
Where: Goffstown
When: Saturday, Oct. 17, from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
More: goffstownmainstreet.org/pumpkin-regatta.

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