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Food: Bring It On Home
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Bring It On Home
Where To Order Prepared Holiday Meals To Go
Written By Author (listings@hippopress.com)
Images: Stock Photo
Whether it’s for the sides, desserts, main dish or whole meal, place your holiday food orders now at these local restaurants, butcher shops, bakeries and catering services.
• Alpine Grove (19 S. Depot Road, Hollis, 882-9051, alpinegrove.com) offers three holiday meal options: turkey with stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce ($149.99); prime rib ($259.99) and roasted ham ($149.99). Meals include mashed potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, rolls and apple pie. Order by Dec. 19.
• Angela’s Pasta and Cheese Shop (815 Chestnut St., Manchester, 625-9544, angelaspastaandcheese.com) offers Brussels sprouts ($8.95/pound), potatoes au gratin ($9.95 to $24.95), gnocchi ($14.95/pound), Mediterranean caprese salad ($14.95/pound), cranberry relish ($4.95/pint), mince meat ($3.95/pint), salmon and pork pies ($17.95) and various breads (priced by loaf/dozen). Desserts include pies like chocolate cream, banana cream, southern apple, Boston creme and more ($18.95 to $25.95); cherry white chocolate cheesecake, red velvet and chocolate mousse tree cakes, yule log and tiramisu ($20.95 to $39.95); dessert platters ($17.95 to $19.95) and more. Order by Dec. 19.
• The Bakeshop On Kelley Street (171 Kelley St., Manchester, 624-3500, thebakeshoponkelleystreet.com) offers pastry and breakfast trays (starting at $22), pies ($16 to $20), cakes (starting at $18), Christmas cookies ($1.50 to $3), Yule logs with chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and chocolate buttercream, and “birch Yule logs” with vanilla cake and whipped cream ($18 to $32). Order by Dec. 20.
• Black Forest Cafe (212 Route 101, Amherst, 672-0500, theblackforestcafe.com) offers pies including apple, Dutch apple, cranberry apple, pecan and chocolate cream ($19); white chocolate frangelico torte, Brooklyn blackout, carrot, coconut and chocolate mousse cakes (small $24, large $36); eggnog tart ($26), pear-cranberry walnut crostata ($20 to $26), various holiday cookies ($14.95/dozen), Russian teacakes ($9.95/dozen), peanut butter balls ($6.95/half-dozen) and holiday cookie gift baskets ($21 to $48). Order by Dec. 20 at 8 p.m.
• Boston Market (14 March Ave., Manchester, 641-9464, bostonmarket.com) offers a complete turkey meal serving 4 to 6 ($84.99) or 12 ($109); a turkey essential meal serving 12 ($94.99); a complete ham meal serving 12 ($114.99); a complete turkey-ham combo meal serving 12 ($114.99); and an essential turkey-ham combo meal serving 4 to 6 ($69.99). Essential meals include mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and rolls while complete meals include additional sides and apple or pumpkin pie. All items are also available a la carte.
• Brothers Butcher (8 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, 809-4180, brothers-butcher.com) offers roasts priced per pound including top sirloin, boneless and bone-in prime rib, tenderloin, strip, pork loin (crown roast, stuffed, boneless or frenched bone-in), leg of lamb and boneless, bone-in and smoked ham. Sides include mashed potatoes ($7.99/quart), roasted vegetables and herb-roasted potatoes (each $8.99/quart); and port wine demi glaze, au jus, pork, chicken and turkey gravies ($8.99/quart).
• Caroline’s Fine Food (132 Bedford Center Road, Bedford, 637-1615, carolinesfood.com) offers appetizers like salmon terrine ($65), chicken liver pate ($28), brie en croute ($25), poached shrimp with cocktail sauce (small $50.25, large $100.50) and more; entrees including roast duck ($65), stuffed turkey ballotine ($55) and roasted beef tenderloin ($175); and sides like roasted butternut squash and Brussels sprouts (each $30.25 to $64.25), carrot confit, sauteed haricot verts and mashed potatoes (each $22.25 to $45.25) and turkey gravy ($10/pint or $20/quart). Order by Dec. 15.
• Cupcakes 101 (132 Bedford Center Road, Bedford, 488-5962, cupcakes101.net) offers holiday cupcakes including candy cane, eggnog, gingerbread, pistachio cardamom, sugar cookie, White Christmas (white cake with lemon-almond center and white chocolate coffee buttercream) and Winter Lager (Sam Adams Winter Lager beer-infused cake with ginger, orange zest and orange buttercream). The minimum order is a dozen ($30 per dozen).
• Frederick’s Pastries (109 Route 101A, Amherst, 882-7725; Bedford Square, 25 S. River Road, Bedford, 647-2253, pastry.net) offers holiday platters with mini whoopie pies, chocolate pretzels, cookies and other assorted desserts ($19.99 to $44.99); cookies ($3.75 to $8.99), cupcakes ($4.99) and cakes ($15.99 to $49.99) in Rudolph, Santa and other holiday shapes; gingerbread treats like cookie trees ($19.99), houses ($69.99) and house kits ($49.99), edible cookie jars ($89.99), tortes ($34.99) and more; Yule log ($31.99), loaf cake ($19.99), cheesecakes ($36.99 to $39.99), snowman fudge bars ($14.98/dozen), cannolis ($3.99) and more.
• The Fresh Market (79 S. River Road, Unit 2, Bedford, 626-3420, thefreshmarket.com) offers a traditional holiday dinner with a fully cooked turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry relish and rolls ($79.99, serves 8 to 10); a deluxe holiday dinner with the same items plus a ham, corn souffle and green beans in bacon sauce ($139.99, serves 12 to 14); and a small-gatherings dinner with turkey breast and traditional sides plus green beans ($49.99, serves 4 to 6). Meal items and additional roasts, entrees, sides, breads, appetizers, desserts and party platters are available a la carte.
• Hart’s Turkey Farm (233 Daniel Webster Hwy., Meredith, 279-6212, hartsturkeyfarm.com) offers cooked turkeys with stuffing and gravy (priced per pound); sides including cranberry sauce, whipped potatoes, squash, green beans, pickled beets, carrot relish and cranberry chutney (priced per pint and/or quart); rolls and cornbread ($3.99/dozen), coffee bread, fruit cake and pumpkin bread ($7.99 each); chocolate, carrot and cran-orange cakes ($15.99 to $29.99); pies including apple, chocolate cream, pecan, pumpkin and more ($14.99 to $24.99); cheesecake ($34.99) and apple crisp ($39.99).
• Just Like Mom’s Pastries (353 Riverdale Road, Weare, 529-6667, justlikemomspastries.com) offers eggnog tiramisu, cookies and cream cheesecake and Yule log ($20 to $31); mudslide, raspberry and “sex in a bowl” trifle bowls ($30); Appalachian apple, caramel sea salt and Kahlua black bottom pies ($14.50 to $15); and dessert platters with cookies, finger pastries or mini whoopie pies ($24 to $72). Coffee cake ($13.99), meat or veggie quiche ($16.50), pork pie ($15.99) and dinner rolls ($4.99/dozen) are also available. Order by Dec. 20.
• McNulty & Foley Caterers (124 E. Hollis St., Nashua, 882-1921, mcnultycatering.com) offers four dinner options priced per person: slow-roasted beef sirloin ($16.95), sweet and spicy ham ($13.95), chicken pie ($13.95) and roast turkey ($14.95). Dinners include several sides (also available a la carte). Other items are lasagna and macaroni and cheese (full pan $60, half pan $30), pork pie ($15) and Swedish and Italian meatballs ($2.50). Desserts include whoopie pies and lemon squares (each $10/dozen), grape nut custard pudding ($3 per serving), an assorted dessert platter ($3.50 per serving, minimum of 10), an assorted cookie platter and chocolate macaroons (each $2.25 per serving). Order by Dec. 21.
• Michelle’s Gourmet Pastries & Deli (819 Union St., Manchester, 647-7150, michellespastries.com) offers mini petit fours, eclairs, fruit tarts and cannolis ($0.75 to $1.99 each); assorted mini dessert platters with linzer bars, holiday cookies, chocolate-dipped strawberries and more ($15.99 to $37.99); assorted cookie platters ($15.99 to $29); and Yule log ($29). Regular cakes and pies are also available.
• Newell Post Restaurant (125 Fisherville Road, Concord, 228-0522, newellpostrestaurant.com) offers two holiday meal options priced per person: choice prime rib with au jus sauce ($28.99) and turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy ($19.99). Meals include roasted red potatoes, sugar snap peas, honey-glazed carrots, confetti salad, rolls and a choice of pumpkin mousse gingerbread torte or cheesecake with eggnog whipped topping.
• Queen City Cupcakes (790 Elm St., Manchester, 624-4999, qccupcakes.com) offers cupcakes in holiday flavors like sugar cookie, gingerbread, hot cocoa, coconut snowball, eggnog, peppermint mocha and more. Various packages are available. Order by Dec. 21.
• The Red Arrow Diner (61 Lowell St., Manchester, 626-1118; 137 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, 552-3091; 63 Union Square, Milford, 249-9222; redarrowdiner.com) offers pies including apple, chocolate cream, cherry, pumpkin cream, pecan and more ($14.99); and double-layered cakes including almond raspberry, Boston creme, pumpkin spice, rocky road and more ($29.99). Order at least two days in advance.
• The Stocked Fridge (704 Milford Road, Merrimack, 881-9635, thestockedfridge.com) offers a brined turkey ($3/pound, 10-pound minimum), Dijon maple-glazed spiral ham ($4.50/pound, 5-pound minimum), gravy ($8/quart), roast beef tenderloin with port sauce ($19/pound), cran-apple salad (small $14, large $21) garlic roasted small red potatoes ($2.80 per serving), stuffing, brown sugar sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans with caramelized shallots, roasted winter squash, broccoli au gratin and cranberry sauce (each $3.10/serving); assorted rolls ($7/dozen), mini pastries platter ($3 per serving) and pecan pie ($15). Order by Dec. 19, at noon.
• T-BONES Meats, Sweets & Catering (66 Union St., Manchester, 488-2828, wecatergreater.com) offers various butcher cuts of beef, chicken and pork (prices vary); prepared entrees serving 6 to 10 or 10 to 20 including roast turkey ($70/$126), lasagna ($50/$90), pot roast ($90/$162), prime rib ($120/$216) and more; various sides, party platters and desserts, including holiday sweet treat boxes ($13.99) and platters ($24.99) that feature an assortment of raspberry and lemon squares, white chocolate chunk brownie bites and chocolate chip cookies.
• Tuscan Market (63 Main St., Salem, 912-5467, tuscanbrands.com) offers three holiday meal options: a whole roasted turkey with insalata mista, roasted pears, orecchiette pasta, Brussels sprouts and pancetta, whipped potatoes and gravy ($175); a standing rib roast with insalata mista, green beans and cherry tomatoes, truffled gnocchi, whipped potato and red wine beef marrow sauce ($225); and leoncini ham with mista salad, butternut squash, lasagna, whipped potatoes and mustard-rosemary sauce ($150). Dinners come with a bottle of paired Italian wine. Additional roasts and sides are available a la carte, and desserts include various Italian pastries, cookies, cakes, pies and more (prices vary).
• Twelve Pine (Depot Square, 11 School St., Peterborough, 924-6140, twelvepine.com) offers two holiday meal options serving 5 to 12 people ($164.99 to $264.99): roasted turkey and stuffing or baked spiral ham and maple-ginger roasted sweet potatoes. Sides include mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, green beans amandine, winter squash bisque, gravy, rolls and a choice of pie. Meal items and additional sides are available a la carte. Appetizer platters with crudites ($20), brie en croute ($30) and cheese ($55); a dessert platter ($30), stollen ($22/loaf), buche de noel ($37) and various pies ($17) are also available. Order by Dec. 20, at 7 p.m.
• Two Friends Cafe (542 Mast Road, Goffstown, 627-6622, twofriendsbagel.com) offers meals serving 2 to 12 people ($39.99 to $129.99) including ham or turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, corn, butternut squash, a choice of soup and pie. Meal items are also available a la carte, and there is pork pie ($13.99), vegetable, chicken and turkey pot pies ($12.99). Desserts include fruit pies and crisps, cream pies and cheesecake ($11.99 to $14.99); chocolate, red velvet and pumpkin whoopie pies ($14.99/dozen); various dessert bars ($11.99/tray); Rice Krispie Treats ($14.99/tray); and a cookie dip platter ($9.99).
• Washington Street Catering (88 Washington St., Concord, 228-2000, washingtonstreetcatering.com) offers holiday meals for $19.95 per person (10-person minimum). The traditional meal includes ham or turkey, stuffed mushrooms, a cheese and fruit platter, garden or Caesar salad, stuffing, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, rolls and assorted mini desserts or pie (apple, pumpkin or pecan). Lamb leg and beef Wellington are also available. The Mediterranean meal includes chicken or beef kabobs, stuffed grape leaves, hummus with pita chips, Greek or tabouli salad, rice pilaf, roasted vegetables, pita bread and assorted Mediterranean desserts. Lamb and seafood kabobs are also available.
• Whole Foods Market (121 South River Road, Bedford, 218-1900; 255 Amherst St., Nashua, 318-7550, wholefoodsmarket.com) offers turkey dinners serving 2 to 10 people ($39.99 to $169.99) with mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry-orange relish, gravy, apple pie and rolls; a ham dinner ($59.99, serves 4) with mashed potatoes, green beans, roasted butternut squash and cranberry-orange relish; fresh and cooked turkeys and other meats priced per pound; lasagna ($34.99, serves 6 to 8), vegan dinners and other entrees; and various appetizers, platters, sides and desserts.
• The Wine’ing Butcher (16 Sheep Davis Road, Pembroke, 856-8855; 254 Wallace Road, Bedford, 488-5519; 28 Weirs Road, Gilford, 293-4670; 81 Route 25, Meredith, 279-0300, thewineingbutcher.com) offers various cuts of USDA choice and prime beef, hams and fresh turkey (priced per pound); stuffed shrimp, sole and lobster tail; cheese, meat and vegetable lasagnas; stuffings, gravies, potatoes and asparagus risotto; various appetizer platters, mini crab cakes, deviled eggs, bacon-wrapped scallops and more; and desserts including creme brulee, peppermint cheesecake, chocolate mousse cake, chocolate cream pie and cheesecake.
News: The Next Big Thing *
FEATURED NEWS - * COVER STORY *
The Next Big Thing
12 Fascinating Innovations Created in NH
Written By Author (listings@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photos
There are countless cutting-edge startups and inventions developed in the Granite State. Here are a few that may help the environment, protect the vulnerable and broaden human understanding of the natural universe.
Hardware
LinkAlign-60EBP — More Mobile Data
There’s a wireless frequency that could open up a whole lot more cell data bandwidth and provide incredible speeds. Engineers have known about it for about a decade but haven’t been able to use it on cell towers to transmit over large distances because of the physical limitations involved — until now. The E-band frequency (between 70 and 80 gigahertz) presents opportunities and challenges in equal measure, but Milford-based NextMove Technologies found a way to overcome those challenges to create the opportunities.
VP of Business Development Ben Brown said the company has specialized in creating microwave transmitters — which look like convex dishes — for cell towers that can pivot and point to a line-of-sight target remotely (and even automatically self-correct when they fall out of alignment) since 2008, but their transmitters were always for traditional lower frequencies. That solved the problem of needing to send a tech climbing up a tower or using a bucket truck to manually adjust where the transmitters are pointed. But a client asked if they could do something that hadn’t been done before: make an E-band transmitter using the same remote alignment technology.
The reason it was so hard was the narrowness of the beam. An E-band microwave is as narrow as the tip of a pencil, and since microwave beams use line of sight, that pencil-thin beam needs to land on a target miles away that’s the size of a pencil sharpener. Getting it set up like that in the first place isn’t the hard part. It’s been done before.
Keeping it steady is where things get tricky. When a microwave transmitter is installed on a tower, things like wind and the heat of the day expanding the tower’s metal can drift the beam off its target.
Enter the LinkAlign-60EBP, which was a finalist in this year’s NH High Tech Council Product of the Year competition. EBP stands for E-band positioner.
“It was solving a specific problem, which was thermal expansion on cellular monopoles,” Brown said.
Brown said it’s almost like hiring a guy to sit up at the top of a tower 24/7 and constantly nudge the beam to its target as needed.
What’s so great about microwave beams and cell towers, you ask? Three words: more mobile data. Brown said E-band is the fiber optic cable of radio frequency signals. In fact, Brown said it’s better than fiber optics because it’s a direct path from A to B. And its narrowness provides other benefits as well.
“It’s so narrow that it has less probability of intercept, less probability of detection and less probability of interference,” Brown said.
Not only would this provide faster speeds (10 gigabits per second!), but it could also help to stave off a looming data apocalypse as the growth of new data is expected to exceed the capacity allowed by modern technology.
“That’s the whole idea for this,” Brown said.
So far, this tech is only being applied in private networks by international financial firms and the like. There are about 100 links in cities like Chicago, London and New York.
Patriot 5510 — Life Support Gear
Using today’s first-responder gear, police officers, firemen or members of the armed forces might not have enough time to enter a hazardous environment and complete a mission. But the life support gear known as the Scott Hybrid Patriot 5510, developed by Wilcox in Newington, has the versatility to prepare soldiers and rescue personnel for almost any situation and can shift modes easily during the course of a mission.
Specifically, it offers respiratory options for some of the most dangerous environments, referred to as CBRN environments (places with chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear threats).
The system includes four alternate modes; a basic gas mask filter, a powered gas mask with an air pump, a compressed air breathing tank and a system that replaces the tank with air fed through a hose from a remote location.
“There is no other system to compare it to,” said Wilcox project manager Tim West.
The ability to switch between the various modes with ease is no small feat. Now, if a time-sensitive mission requires life support equipment like this, soldiers can add precious minutes to available air pressure from a breathing tank by keeping it off and switching to the gas mask during the walks in and out of a hazardous zone.
First responders can even attach a modification that replaces one of the two air tanks with pure oxygen to fuel a cutting torch.
“I can be down there cutting and breathing at the same time on the same system,” West said.
This is an evolutionary upgrade from a legacy version of the equipment Wilcox released after the 9/11 attacks. Not only is the ease of switching modes new; the development team partnered with Scott Safety, an industry leader in life support systems for firefighter gear and the like, to streamline the system and added Bluetooth technology that monitors the equipment’s air levels, location and environmental sensors.
Those sensors can read the nature of dangerous gasses in the air and wind speeds. Using that data, authorities can better organize relief and evacuation efforts by avoiding the contaminated areas.
The Patriot 5510 won the NH High Tech Council’s 2016 Product of the Year award.
LUKE Arm — High-Tech Prosthetic
The range of motion and grip power and an innovative array of customizable controls make the LUKE Arm, developed by DEKA Research & Development Corp., a generational shift in how prosthetic arms can change people’s lives.
According to project manager Tom Doyon, LUKE is officially an acronym that stands for Life Under Kinetic Evolution, but the moniker owes its origin to a less formal nickname the engineers gave the project that references Luke Skywalker’s robotic hand in Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back.
The prosthetic arm comes in three different configurations for right and left arms. They include a radial configuration for people who have elbows, humeral configurations for people who have part of their upper arm and no elbow and a shoulder configuration for people missing an entire arm. For each configuration, prosthetists will be able to customize the size and length for the individual.
One of the things that makes the arm such a game-changer is its 10 powered degrees of freedom, two of which are in the shoulder.
“It has a powered shoulder that has two degrees of freedom. There’s no powered shoulders currently available for somebody who is losing their entire arm,” Doyon said.
The arm’s wrist flex motion is also an industry first since most robotic prosthetics can only rotate wrists.
All of this allows a user to do things like reach over their head around their back, lift groceries from the ground to the table or hold a glass of water overhead or at waist level without spilling it.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the arm for commercial use in 2014, saying in a press release that it “may allow some people to perform more complex tasks than they can with current prostheses in a way that more closely resembles the natural motion of the arm.”
Doyon said it also comes with a grip-force feedback system that uses hand sensors and a vibrating warning system so users know when they might be squeezing something too hard.
The controls are also revolutionary. Doyon said the arm uses a combination of traditional bioelectric inputs and a new control system users can wear at their feet called an Inertial Measurement Unit. That makes the arm the first prosthetic arm to translate signals from a person’s muscles to perform tasks, including complex tasks.
The arm is water- and dust-resistant and comes with a long-lasting lithium ion battery.
The LUKE Arm is set to enter the marketplace fairly soon. It will be sold by DEKA-affiliated company Mobius Bionics and retailed by prosthetic shops like NextStep Bionics in Manchester, which DEKA consulted on the arm’s design.
“We are in the final stages of transitioning it to the commercial market,” Doyon said.
Plexxi Switch/Control — Internet Data Manager
Nashua-based Plexxi Inc. won the 2015 Product of the Year for the revolutionary way it helps manage data on the internet and private wide area networks. It involves three parts: the first is the hardware component known as the Plexxi Switch 2, the second is the software called Plexxi Control and the third is a software platform that enables it to integrate into any other platform, Plexxi Connect. Think of that last part as a sort of universal translator.
Mike Welts, Plexxi’s VP of marketing, likes to use an analogy comparing internet traffic to highway traffic. In a sense, what Plexxi does is similar to what the Waze app does for commuters. It identifies traffic jams and helps to redirect traffic or widen lanes when needed so nothing gets slowed down.
It’s also unique in the way it allows different kinds of data to share the same virtual road space. Every other network and data platform provider essentially segregates each kind of data into its own network.
Not so with Plexxi’s system. Imagine lanes for different sizes of cars, a bike lane, a pedestrian lane, a motorcycle lane and a 16-wheeler lane all sharing the same highway. It’s way more efficient and way faster.
“It’s very unique. In fact, it’s pretty disruptive, which has been part of the challenge,” Welts said.
A network Plexxi set up in Wall Street takes up a few racks in a conference room and connects five continents. The same amount of data flowing over the same distances at the same speeds would nomally require hundreds of racks in multiple data centers.
Welts said that their product, which received millions in investment capital from GV (formerly Google Ventures) in January, will go a long way toward modernizing an outdated data infrastructure at a time when we need it more than ever.
“Data is growing exponentially. It’s out of control … and there’s no way that the legacy infrastructure can support the amount of data that’s out there now,” Welts said.
He said the future of data storage is in code, algorithms and cloud computing and is less reliant on the physical circuitry. This is another way to help the internet work smart, not hard.
Kid-Ventions
Amazing Curb Climber — A Better Walker
What do you do when you’re a grade-schooler with cerebral palsy who has trouble getting your walker to traverse a simple curb? Invent a better walker, of course.
Sadie McCallum, 10, of Weare, did just that when she devised a new and improved walker with her little sister and co-inventor Claire, 6, and some material and construction help from her parents, according to mother Miriam McCallum.
“They work together really well,” McCallum said of her daughters.
The walker works by having three wheels on each of the front legs on a rotating axis, so Sadie and other walker users can push the walker against the edge of a curb and roll to the upper level with ease.
Sadie was encouraged by a teacher to participate in the school’s invention convention, organized by the Concord-based Academy of Applied Science. She was just 7 years old when she came up with the basic idea for what would become the Amazing Curb Climber, but due to serious surgery one year and family travel plans the next, Sadie couldn’t participate in the convention until this year, when she unveiled her masterpiece.
After placing in the school’s convention as a fourth-grader at the Center Woods Elementary School in Weare, Sadie competed at the regional convention at Merrimack Valley High School on March 26, where 230 inventors from 41 schools across the state showcased their creations.
At the regional convention, Sadie won a number of awards, including the Microsoft Technology Award and the award for a Special Needs Invention.
Miriam McCallum said when a doctor at Boston Children’s Hospital saw the presentation videos the girls made for the curb climber, he made sure they were highlighted on the hospital’s blog, which gained them enough media attention to make it on major newspapers, radio shows and, most recently, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
People can follow Sadie’s exploits on the public Facebook page Sadie’s Totally Awesome Cerebral Palsy Adventure.
Sadie is currently considering ways to improve the Amazing Curb Climber so it can be used to climb short sets of stairs. As for a future career, Miriam McCallum says Sadie’s chief interest right now is in becoming a writer or a librarian.
ChemiCube — Chemical Mixer
Matt Spettel was a high schooler in Merrimack when he invented the ChemiCube, a small, unassuming box with tubes sticking out and a few buttons on top.
Spettel said he combined his interests in engineering and a project assignment for chemistry class to create something that promises to solve a problem that’s been plaguing chemistry classrooms and small laboratories for years: the inability to measure chemicals quickly and efficiently.
After a bit of trial and error, Spettel stumbled upon something that had only been available in expensive lab equipment before: accuracy in measurement and automation.
He describes the device as a peristaltic pumping system. With the push of a few buttons it can pump an exact amount of a liquid or mix a few liquids together at just the right ratio and amount.
“So a teacher can set up the three chemicals that you are using that day and then students can come by, press the buttons and get those three chemicals they need really fast, which is much more efficient than the current method,” Spettel said.
For now Spettel is focusing his new business on the classroom market, but he sees applications for small laboratories and even drink-mixing at some forward-looking high-tech watering holes.
Earlier this summer Spettel won second place in the embedded systems category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Expo, earned $1,500 and got an asteroid named after him by MIT scientists. He also won the BizGen business pitch competition at UNH, a $4,500 award.
Spettel is currently a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Photocatalytic Composite — Solar Water Filter
As a high schooler in Nashua, Deepika Kurup was named 2016 TechStudent of the Year by the New Hampshire High Tech Council for developing “A Novel Photocatalytic Pervious Composite for Degrading Organics and Inactivating Bacteria in Wastewater,” as Kurup described it in a paper.
As a high schooler in Nashua, Deepika Kurup was named 2016 TechStudent of the Year by the New Hampshire High Tech Council for developing “A Novel Photocatalytic Pervious Composite for Degrading Organics and Inactivating Bacteria in Wastewater,” as Kurup described it in a paper.
Its formal name is a mouthful, but essentially it’s a new, inexpensive method of cleaning water using solar power. And if it saves poor women in the developing world from spending their days carrying water from a village source to their home, the name deserves every syllable. Such menial tasks often preclude women from access to a basic education.
The central innovation, Kurup said in an email, was a composite she created that cleans water when it’s struck by sunlight. The composite is made of titanium dioxide and a type of cement. When light hits it, it creates highly reactive oxygen species (in the family of peroxide) that clean out bacteria and a variety of organic contaminants.
Some prototypes are built as a long clear tube that zig-zags back and forth on a plane, with tiny balls of the composite inside the tube. Others are simple clear canisters with the composite in the shape of a rod inside it.
Kurup was named to Forbes’ 2015 30 under 30 in Energy and received the $25,000 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Award for an early version of her invention while in high school. She also won the U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize in 2014.
Kurup is currently studying neurobiology as a sophomore at Harvard University.
Software
Awato — Career Booster
Winner of the 2016 TechOut startup competition, Awato (pronounced ‘a way to’) boasts being the most sophisticated career assessment and matchmaking program around.
CEO and founder Matt Guruge said the online questionnaire can figure out more about a person in less time than other methods.
“Our big innovation is we actually created a new way to assess people,” Guruge said. “We actually do 500 data points in 30 minutes.”
Users answer about 60 questions that work to figure out a person’s interests, values, emotional intelligence, motivations and personality type based on Myers-Briggs Type Indicators.
He said the learning artificial intelligence that makes the assessment process work behind the scenes is one of the most advanced around. But they didn’t stop there. In order to ensure the second step, match-making, beats out the competition, they aimed high.
“We actually have the largest job database in the world for … career matching,” Guruge said.
After an assessment, it shows the user his top three career matches and then shows a full ranking with a list of 600 jobs.
Not only does it help people find new jobs; it also seeks to help them become happier in their current job by identifying areas in their personality that might rub up against or get suffocated by certain aspects of their work and suggesting ways to change their environment for the better.
Right now, folks can get a free assessment with the beta version at awato.io, but the final version will be going to market in the spring. It will be a business-to-business model, aiming initially for employers and colleges. The employer version of the web-based program includes the suggestions for making your current job happier, and the school version includes resume-building and step-by-step job-hunting guidelines.
Individuals will be able to pay $25 to $30 to use the program. Guruge said he hopes to eventually expand it to high schools to identify skills and interests early, and to unemployed and underemployed folks who need to train up in areas employers need.
Try their beta version out for yourself: www.awato.io
Vitals SmartShopper —Healthcare Services Shopper
This Bedford-based company is disrupting the healthcare marketplace by making the prices for procedures like mammograms transparent and paying people cash to get the procedure done at the better-value facilities.
It takes some of the most basic tenets of capitalism — competition and efficiency — and introduces them into what has been a traditionally opaque and illogical health care industry. From one facility to the next, prices for MRIs, lab tests and surgeries can vary widely, but since insurance companies tend to pick up the tabs, patients have little to no incentive to even glance at the bill. And shopping around is either impossible, very difficult or pointless if your insurance covers it either way.
Now patients, insurers and employers can win by giving business to the most cost-effective medical facilities. Insurers can save thousands on certain procedures, and patients can earn cash incentives from $25 to $500, according to a company spokesperson.
Smartshopper started in New Hampshire as a program under Compass Healthcare Advisers, which was acquired by New Jersey-based Vitals in 2014. Now, the company helps 150 million people annually get access to information for higher-quality affordable healthcare.
Assuming you have health insurance through a partnering provider like Anthem, through private or employer-provided insurance, you can shop around on the SmartShopper website (vitalssmartshopper.com) and call up their customer service reps for assistance.
ValChoice — Car Insurance Shopper
Described as a Carfax for insurance, ValChoice aims to achieve transparency in the automobile insurance market by digging through big piles of insurance data from each state to score insurers on price and payout, which vary from state to state.
Described as a Carfax for insurance, ValChoice aims to achieve transparency in the automobile insurance market by digging through big piles of insurance data from each state to score insurers on price and payout, which vary from state to state.
Founder and CEO Dan Karr of Bedford recently won $120,000 from the Microsoft BizSpark Plus award for his industry-disrupting startup, based in Manchester. Karr also participated in Alpha Loft’s Accelerator program.
Karr, a Silicon Valley veteran, got into this business after he became personally embroiled in the deep, dark world of the insurance business by getting hit by a car while riding a bike.
Between his health insurance and the other guy’s auto insurance, Karr was still on the hook for about $100,000 in medical expenses. Seeing a serious problem in the insurance market, Karr decided he needed to come up with a fix, so he brought his tech savvy to bear and started ValChoice.
Research
uSafeNH — Sexual Assault App
One of the biggest research arms of the University of New Hampshire is sexual assault prevention. The Prevention Innovations Research Center is recognized internationally for coming up with some of the most groundbreaking prevention strategies, called “Bringing in the Bystander” strategies, and even received recognition from the White House for its work, according to Director of Research Sharyn Potter.
One of the biggest research arms of the University of New Hampshire is sexual assault prevention. The Prevention Innovations Research Center is recognized internationally for coming up with some of the most groundbreaking prevention strategies, called “Bringing in the Bystander” strategies, and even received recognition from the White House for its work, according to Director of Research Sharyn Potter.
“We don’t launch satellites or break atoms or anything, but we account for 34 percent of the university’s licenses because of our research-based prevention strategies, which is pretty cool,” Potter said.
The flagship strategies produced by the PIRC, the training program “Bringing in the Bystander” and the social media campaign “Know Your Power” undergird a mobile app designed to help prevent sexual assault on college campuses and provide guidance to victims and their friends and families.
The app launched in 22 colleges in New Hampshire is called uSafeNH. Potter hopes to get the last few colleges in the state on board to reach a total of 26 by the end of the year.
Each of the seven original authors of the Bystander program earned a share of the royalty profits and each reinvested that money to lay the groundwork for building the app.
The app’s creation was a collaboration with UNH Manchester’s computer science department, the state Attorney General’s office, the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and other organizations.
The information that the app provides is based on which college the student is enrolled in or where the staff member is employed, as well as GPS data, and it connects the user to their local police department and social services if they are the victim of a sexual assault. There is a robust Frequently Asked Questions section and all the information in the app is specific to each university and part of the state.
“So it’s labor-intensive,” Potter said, referring to the work of collecting all the pertinent information for each college.
There’s also a feature on the app called “Expect Me” that enables users to notify friends of an estimated time of arrival at a certain location if they’re walking alone at night. If the user does not check in, the app automatically calls the friends.
Now, they’re working on expanding to other states like Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Maine.
“We’re calling it uSafeUS for now,” Potter said. “We’re hoping by next fall we’ll be helping a significant amount of the Eastern Seaboard. And then, once we get that going, we’ll move west.”
Colleges out of state will pay a nominal fee for the app, while students will not pay anything and it will remain free in New Hampshire.
In separate ventures, PIRC is also piloting a sexual violence prevention video game and a Bystander program for high schoolers.
Space Weather — Satellite Equipment
The Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space (EOS) at the University of New Hampshire has been visiting new territory as it explores the cutting-edge field of space weather.
Clifford Lopate, associate research professor in the physics department, helped create a key component in the next generation of weather monitoring satellites to be launched into space, the first of which launched on Nov. 19. The remaining three will be launched about two years apart and the last of them will stay in orbit until 2036.
“Space weather is a fairly new science,” Lopate said.
While UNH has created components for scientific satellites that have a more singular and temporary purpose — to test a theory or scan for specific data — the GOES-R satellite and its sisters will be the first “operational” satellites UNH was involved in.
Beyond terrestrial weather patterns, the new satellites will scan for charged particles (ionizing radiation), which are abundant in various forms in outer space and can be produced in far greater intensities by the sun’s solar flares.
The specific component Lopate and his team developed was the Energetic Heavy Ion Sensor. The EHIS is tasked with finding ionized iron, nickel, carbon, oxygen and the like.
Compared with the more abundant ionized protons or electrons (background radiation), heavy ions are produced by the sun and are more rare. They can cause problems when they interact with human cells, like mutation and cancer, and problems with electronics.
While charged protons are like a shower of arrows in large quantities, a charged iron particle is like an armor-piercing bullet. Ionized iron, for example, deposits 250 times the energy of an ionized proton.
Studying the patterns of space radiation will not only be instructive for human space travel; it will also help make connections between solar activity and Earth weather.
“We monitor [the space weather] when there’s increases in ... ionizing radiation and try to look at what’s happening on the sun and what’s happening on the Earth and try to make predictions,” Lopate said.
While EHIS is part of a satellite that belongs to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, other UNH projects have been used in NASA satellites.
Last year, UNH participated in NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, which studied the low Earth magnetosphere to learn about the underlying processes that drive cosmic weather events like geomagnetic storms, solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which can have significant impacts on power grids, communication satellites and GPS navigation.
The MMS mission used four spacecraft that were launched into space with a single rocket and made history when it collected never-before-seen data on the process known as magnetic reconnection. Each craft contained two Electron Drift Instruments developed by a UNH team.
Arts: Crafty Couple
FEATURED ARTS
Crafty Couple
Kay & Bill St. Onge Busy In The Workshop This Season
Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
Kay and Bill St. Onge met in 2006 while waiting for a table at Carrabba’s Italian Grill in Bedford. Both were widowed in 2004 and there alone that day.
“My daughter had been saying, ‘You and dad used to like going out to eat for Italian food. Go out!’ She was going to go with me, but at the last minute, she couldn’t go,” Kay St. Onge said during an interview at the couple’s Bedford home.
So she went by herself and sat down next to Bill St. Onge. They began talking. When the hostess called his table, he invited her to join him for dinner.
“I said, ‘If you’re buying, yeah!’” Kay St. Onge said, laughing.
They married in 2008 and have since traveled all over the country. Last summer, they spent six months on the road. But their favorite activity to do together is woodworking — in fact, they do so much of it, they haul out close to 100 gallons of sawdust a week in 55-gallon drums.
About a year ago they started a NH Made-certified business, Kay’s Kustom Krafts, which they run out of their Bedford home. Over the past several months their projects have focused on making holiday-ready gifts: pens, seam rippers, picture frames, cutting boards, shakers, grinders and wine stoppers. Both are retired now, but Kay St. Onge convinced him the venture would earn them some “play money” and get their name out for their custom furniture business.
Woodworking has been a lifelong hobby for Bill St. Onge — in fact, he’s still got tools that belonged to his great-grandfather, which he pulls out a few times a year — but it’s a new one for her. Quilting used to be her primary craft, but she likes that this medium is cooperative.
“Quilting is kind of a solitary type of thing,” she said. “But with this we can work together. I enjoy working with him, and he enjoys working with me. Usually, if we come up with a problem he can’t solve, I can. If I can’t solve it, he can.”
The proof of this productive relationship is in their kitchen, where you’ll find pieces that hold food, clothes and dog food, plus their first piece together, ever — an antique cabinet stained with reduced coffee and reduced wine. It’s also in their bedroom, which holds a large wooden bureau they made, and on their dining room table, which is typically reserved to display their latest makes.
During a recent visit, the duo were working on holiday-friendly gifts in their basement workshop. They wore matching green polos, jeans and bright orange suspenders. Christmas music played in the background. He finished up a wooden pen on the lathe and, after popping on some red ear protectors, she pushed a piece of cedar through their planer. (“I especially love the smell of it afterward,” Kay St. Onge said, holding the wood to her nose.)
The pens are currently available at the Currier Museum of Art’s gift shop, and they come in different types of wood (like maple, rosewood, hickory, pine and oak) and metal (gold, pewter, silver). Making them requires a lot of machinery, including a table saw, planer, sanding machine, joiner and lathe — which might be why you don’t see it done in New Hampshire often.
“It’s not very hard to learn how to make it, if you’re already a turner,” he said. “Very few people are doing this. You need a lot of equipment to do it the way we do it. And, of course, we’ve been collecting these tools since we’ve been together, and I’ve been collecting tools since I was 3 years old.”
When they’re not woodworking, they’re traveling; this summer they have tentative plans to go to Maine or Nova Scotia. Last summer they were on the road for six months, and in 2012 they were gone for seven. They’ve gone kayaking, gold mining — it doesn’t seem to matter what they do, just as long as they’re together.
“We just enjoy doing stuff together, period. We hate being apart. Even for a few minutes,” Bill St. Onge said. “This is an adventure every day. … People tell us we’re living the life, and we agree.”
Kay’s Kustom Krafts
Contact: nhmade.com/members/kays-custom-crafts/, kayskustomkrafts@gmail.com, 472-7484
Music: A Capitol Christmas
FEATURED MUSIC
A Capitol Christmas
Four Days of Rock, Comedy & Jazz in Concord
Written By Michael Witthaus (music@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
A fun string of recent holiday events at Concord’s Capitol Center for the Arts included the Mavericks Americana-hued Christmas show, an epic night with Mannheim Steamroller and stage productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors and The Twelve Days of Christmas.
The seasonal experience crests with a long weekend of shows featuring rock, comedy and jazz — call it the Four Days of Christmas. On Thursday, Dec. 15, the Buzz Ball marks its sixth annual show. The next day, Rocking Horse Christmas returns, for two nights, followed by Capital Jazz Orchestra’s Holiday Pops Concert on Sunday, Dec. 18.
Lynne Sabean, the venue’s marketing manager, called Thursday’s Buzz Ball “the ultimate holiday rock-n-roll variety show.” Hosted by Greg & the Morning Buzz, it’s the event’s second year in Concord. The lineup includes several returning performers, like comic Juston McKinney and Fools singer Mike Girard, who did a great star turn in 2015.
“We have some friends coming back,” show promoter and mastermind Jim Roach said recently. “There are some very cool pieces. ... I’m very proud of this one.” The show is a benefit for New Horizons for New Hampshire, a charity headed by TV and radio veteran Charlie Sherman.
New on the bill this year is the duo of harmonica legend Magic Dick and guitarist Shun Ng. “They’ll play two songs,” Roach said, “a Christmas tune and another one that’s sure to be a big crowd pleaser.”
Roach also touted first-timers Max Ater, a Maine singer-songwriter, and English import Charles Burthoud.
The latter may provide the biggest surprise, Roach hinted.
“I always like to do something a little weird, and this is it,” he said.
Comic PJ Thibodeau, “Granite State of Mind” heroes Super Secret Project and fiddler Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki all perfom, with running commentary provided by the WGIR morning drive team, led by air personality Greg Kretschmar.
“We’re the kind of connective tissue through it all,” Kretschmar said recently via phone.
Rocking Horse Christmas again showcases New Hampshire musicians who have worked in the past year with producer Brian Coombes at his Pittsfield studio. After three years of sellouts, a second show was added for the event, happening in the pop-up Spotlight Cafe in the CCANH lobby.
Coombes talked about the show while on location in Manchester, England, where Anna Madsen was filming a video and performing on a BBC program.
“I’m excited for the audience to see Anna perform ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’ again,” he said. “It really left the audience stunned last year.”
Scott Solsky will appear with his new band, Trade.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what the local boys have been cooking up,” said Coombes, adding that the group will be recording with him in January.
Solsky will be part of a “new look” house band that includes guitar wizard Myron Kibbee with fellow axe man Ian Sleeper, Adam Soucy on drums, Rick Black and Coombes both playing keyboards and bassist Chris Noyes.
Brooks Young will perform. His band is celebrating a new album made with Coombes and released earlier this month. Coombes proudly noted other Rocking Horse clients on the bill.
“Justin Cohn, Ryan Williamson, and Ashley Howard-White remind us how fortunate we are to work with such talented artists,” he said. “I’m also looking forward to Steve Blunt and his guest vocalist Noelle Boc turning ‘Let it Snow’ into a flirty duet.”
For the Sunday afternoon pops concert, the Capitol Jazz Orchestra is led by Clayton “Skip” Poole, featured vocalists are Patty Barkas, Laura Daigle and CJ Poole; NHPR host Laura Knoy returns to narrate and read The Night Before Christmas.
It’s a fitting musical cap to a lively December run at the downtown venue. “The big band sound resonates throughout our historic Chubb Theatre,” Sabean said “It should please audiences of all ages.”
Holiday Events At The Capitol
All shows are at Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, ccanh.com
Buzz Ball 2016
When: Thursday, Dec. 15, 7 p.m.
Tickets: $30 & $40
Performers: Greg & the Morning Buzz, Alex Preston, Magic Dick & Shun Ng, Adam Ezra, Jimmy Dunn, Tony V, Juston McKinney, PJ Thibodeau, Super Secret Project, Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki, Max Ater, Mike Girard, The Velvet Elves and Charles Burthoud
Rocking Horse Christmas (Spotlight Cafe)
When: Friday, Dec. 16, and Saturday, Dec. 17, 7 p.m.
Tickets: $20
Performers: Dusty Gray, Brooks Young, Anna Madsen, Trade, Eli Autry, Hank Osborne & Chas Mitchell, Steve Blunt, Justin Cohn, Ryan Williamson, Ashley Howard-White, Jack Polidoro, Elie Rivollier and Stephanie Tonneson
Capital Jazz Orchestra Holiday Pops Concert
When: Sunday, Dec. 18, 4 p.m.
Tickets: $20-$45
Performers: Patty Barkas, Laura Daigle, CJ Poole and NHPR’s Laura Knoy
Film: Manchester By The Sea
FEATURED FILM
Film Review
Manchester By The Sea (R)
Written By Amy Diaz (adiaz@hippopress.com)
Images: Screenshot of Manchester By The Sea
A man just scraping by in life must decide whether he can take on the responsibility of caring for his brother’s son in Manchester by the Sea, a new film from writer-director Kenneth Lonergan who is probably still best-known for his excellent You Can Count On Me from 2000.
Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is a super at four Boston-area buildings in exchange for lousy pay and free rent in a basement apartment. During the work day he is capable but frequently complained about for his general lack of civility. At night, his hobbies appear to be drinking alone and getting in bar fights.
But then he gets a call. His beloved brother Joe Chandler (Kyle Chandler) has died after years of managing a heart condition. Lee heads back to Manchester-by-the-Sea, the Massachusetts town they once both lived in, to plan Joe’s funeral and take care of single father Joe’s teenage son Patrick (Lucas Hedges) until more permanent arrangements are made.
As it turns out, however, Lee was Joe’s permanent arrangement. He named Lee as Patrick’s guardian in his will and planned his finances so that Lee could move to Manchester and see Patrick through to his graduation. Lee wants no such responsibility and Patrick has no interest in moving to Boston and leaving his full life of friends, hockey, a garage band and two girlfriends.
And let’s pause right here to say that this struggle — family trying to do right by family, despite limitations — is both familiar to You Can Count On Me and extremely well-played in this movie. Joe wasn’t perfect, he had difficulties and he was perhaps more optimistic than responsible when he named Lee as Patrick’s guardian. The way the movie shows us, in flashback, these two men’s relationship feels honest and realistic. I also believed the relationship between Lee and Patrick. Lee was, as he explains at one point, only the backup, returning to Manchester whenever Joe needed help. But Patrick is also fiercely determined to keep his life in Manchester and the death of his father has left him as much confused as sad.
Here’s the part where I say SPOILER ALERT. I recommend this movie and if you want to know nothing more about it, just see it and stop reading here.
The reason Lee doesn’t want to move back to Manchester is explained at roughly the same time we find out that Joe’s hope was that he would. The movie does an excellent job showing the effects of what happened, showing how Lee carries what happened with him always. It is seldom directly talked about but it is part of nearly every interaction he has. Affleck perfectly delivers exactly how broken, as a character later calls him, he really is, even in moments of temporary happiness.
Michelle Williams also appears, playing a character from Lee’s past. She has only a few scenes — some flashbacks, and a few in the present day — but she builds a whole person from what she’s given. What’s most interesting perhaps about her character is that we don’t see the one scene we kind of expect as part of her arc. We don’t see it and yet still we’re able to picture it from her reference to it.
Manchester by the Sea is probably not going to be my pick for a lazy Sunday movie but it is marvelously well-assembled, with a story that balances truly sad and even horrible events with gentleness, rawness and even a bit of humor. Some of the best performances are from supporting characters such as George (C.J. Wilson), a longtime Chandler family friend, and Patrick’s awkward collection of friends and girlfriends. A sad and lovely movie, Manchester by the Sea is well worth seeing, even if just once.
Grade: A
Pop: Family Silences
FEATURED POP
Family Silences
Concord's Paul Levy On Finding Phil
Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
In 1987, Concord resident Paul Levy received a package that held his Uncle Phil Levy’s World War II Purple Heart medal and the 96-page journal he’d kept during World War II before he died.
Levy didn’t know the sender — Marjorie Cohn, the sister of his uncle’s wife, Barbara Fischback, who had recently died — but she told him in a note Barbara wanted him to have these items. He felt surprised and intrigued; he hadn’t known the medal or diary existed. But he didn’t have time to learn more about them just then.
“I was in the middle of life. I had a lot of stuff going on — my kids, my career,” Levy said during an interview at Springfield College in Manchester, where he used to teach. “I thought this was really interesting stuff. But I just set it on a shelf and said to myself, maybe someday I’ll learn a little bit about my uncle.”
Someday came in 2011. By that point, Levy had retired from law and from teaching, and while he didn’t expect to find much, he hoped to learn more about his mysterious uncle, who died in France Jan. 7, 1945, at age 22, months before the war’s end. Levy had some details — like the name of his best friend at college (Mark Van Aken), and that he played the drums and attended the University of Michigan — but not much else.
“I literally knew nothing about him. My family had been silent. That’s how they dealt with their grief, and I think that’s what a lot of families did,” Levy said. “My research worked this way: I’d ask a question, and then I’d try to go find an answer. What did Phil do in his youth? How did he meet Barbara? I knew Phil had died somewhere in France. I wanted to know where.”
He sent out requests for military records (it would be three months before he’d receive them) and began following troop movements in 1944 and 1945. He checked into veterans and World War II networks and extracted information from the few people left who knew Phil Levy. He started with his aunt, Phyllis Jean Brown, but didn’t learn very much from her.
“[The silence] had a real interesting effect on her. She couldn’t remember much of her brother,” Levy said. “I found that pattern all over the place, with people who lost a kid in the war, and also with soldiers who came back. They didn’t talk about it. They moved on with their lives as best they could. Maybe they did talk later in their lives, when they got into their 80s. … But there was a lot of silence.”
However, Levy was able find some people who could talk about his uncle. He tracked down one of the soldiers who fought alongside Phil Levy, Jack Delmonte, who was in his 90s and living in Long Island.
“When I called him out of the blue, I said who I was and that I wasn’t sure if he would know Phil or not. He said, ‘Of course I remember Phil! And wasn’t his wife named Barbara?’” Levy said.
Eventually, Levy found answers — lots of answers, in old records, books, newspaper articles and interviews, and he chronicled them in a self-published book, which he printed 50 copies of and shared with family and friends a few years after beginning his research.
Levy learned his uncle studied French and Italian in school and served as a translator in the war. He learned Phil Levy was part of Operation Dragoon, which was a counterpart to D-Day in Normandy, and that his uncle was at the front of the 191st Tank Battalion, and thus one of the first American soldiers to cross over into Germany. Levy learned the exact spot his uncle was killed, and he learned the name of the man who did it.
About a year ago, Levy pitched the story to Bauhan Publishing, who took on the project and released Finding Phil: Lost in War and Silence July 2016. Levy describes the book as a mystery, love story and reflection — on heroism, family silences and military history. The process has inspired his wife, Elizabeth Levy, to look into her own family history.
“In some cases, the book is about encouraging people to go out and explore. If you have any interest in learning about World War II, do it now. If somebody is still alive, definitely try to talk with them. Some vets still aren’t talking, but many are,” Levy said. “My generation never knew Phil. We didn’t miss him because he wasn’t a real person, and we didn’t know what we were missing. So for my family, it’s really been a chance to get to know somebody.”
MORE HEADLINES
Wildlife 2016
Wildlife 2016
An Update On NH's Animal Happenings
Written by Ryan Lessard (news@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
Ticks
Ticks have been growing in number in the past several years but the good news is a severe and longstanding drought in southern New Hampshire may have decimated the black-legged tick population in the affected regions. Black-legged ticks are the species that transmit Lyme disease.
Entomologist Alan Eaton said he expects numbers to be greatly reduced judging by field samples he collected in October.
Samples submitted to him by residents also went down this year, but he noticed a troubling trend with those samples.
“One thing that did happen that’s a bit disturbing … was every single specimen from Oct. 1 until today has been engorged,” Eaton said.
That tells him too few people are doing body checks and catching ticks early. Lyme disease is typically only transmitted if the tick is attached to a host for 36 to 48 hours, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
While Eaton expects reduced black-legged tick exposure for humans and animals alike in spring 2017, how mild this winter is will have a big impact on that.
As long as there’s a long-lasting snow cover, ticks will remain dormant beneath. But if the snow cover melts and temperatures rise to 40 degrees or above, they could become active again, even in winter. If snow cover melts but temperatures drop, that could kill more black-legged ticks.
Winter ticks, the scourge of New Hampshire moose, are already feeding on their host at this point in the year. If warm temperatures persist through November and early December, that gives more time for winter tick larvae to jump on the bandwagon. If the snow hasn’t melted by the time ticks fall off their hosts to lay eggs (usually January through March) they likely won’t survive, and vice versa.
Distemper
Fish and Game wildlife biologist Pat Tate said canine distemper (caused by a virus that affects foxes, coyotes and dogs) has been identified in foxes.
The brain of one dead fox tested positive for distemper in early 2016 and since then there have been approximately seven other cases Tate is aware of with foxes displaying distemper symptoms.
“I’d absolutely say that’s more than normal,” Tate said.
Symptoms include disorientation, unusual friendliness and risky behavior like standing in the middle of a road. While foxes are generally nocturnal, seeing them active in the daytime doesn’t on its own signify infection. Some foxes will search for food for their young during the day fairly commonly in the spring and summer months.
If you see a fox suspected to be infected, you should stay away and protect your pets. The disease can be often fatal for dogs.
Fox populations have been increasing, based on trapping numbers, Tate said. And diseases like distemper thrive on population density, so it’s possible it could be fairly widespread.
Other diseases like mange might also be going around.
A photograph of a sickly canine posted to Facebook in June by the Merrimack police chief had some folks fearing the mythical chupacabra.
Tate says that it’s been his professional experience that a so-called “chupacabra” is always a coyote or fox with mange. The loss of fur changes the animal’s appearance to make them appear almost alien.
Coyotes or Coywolves?
You’ve probably heard a neighbor or friend complaining about an apparent increase in coyote activity in the woods near their home. Some say the animals are actually coywolves, hybrids of wolves and coyotes.
Tate said eastern coyotes common to New Hampshire woods are distinct from western coyotes because they are believed to have interbred with red wolves over the course of several decades during their trek eastward. So in a sense, all coyotes in New Hampshire could be called coywolves.
They first appeared in the 1940s, and by the 1970s they were ubiquitous.
But are there more of them? Tate says not really.
It may seem that way anecdotally, but trapping figures show populations have remained steady since they reached capacity in the 1970s.
One thing that’s changed in the past decade or so, Tate says, is the trend of calling them coywolves. That, he said, might be inciting more alarm, given the negative associations we have with wolves.
“It creates a public alarm, but people don’t realize they’ve been living next to these animals for over 40 years,” Tate said.
Birdfeeders
While Fish and Game annually reminds residents to take down their birdfeeders starting in April, so they don’t attract bears, this is about the time of year it’s OK to start putting them back up. Fish and Game spokesperson Jane Vachon said Dec. 1 through early spring is the ideal time to have birdfeeders up.
In The Kitchen With Sam Brest
In The Kitchen
With Sam Brest
Written by Angie Sykeny (asykeny@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
Before he became a coffee roastmaster, Sam Brest owned a sub shop in Nashua. One day while visiting a coffee shop in Portland, Maine, he noticed a roaster in the back room where the shop roasted its own coffee. “I had never heard of such a thing. I found it very interesting, so that’s when I started researching it,” he said. He attended a coffee roasting course in Idaho and bought a small roaster to use at his sub shop. In 2003 he opened King David Coffee Roasters (48 Bridge St., 2nd floor, Nashua, 577-8899, kingdavidcoffee.com), and he sold the sub shop a few years later. Brest hand-roasts small batches of specialty coffees with beans from all over the world as well as a line of maple and other flavored coffees called Cohas Coffee Co. His products can be ordered and shipped or picked up at the roastery at a scheduled time.
What is your must-have coffee roasting tool or piece of equipment?
Well, it would have to be the roaster. There’s also the grinder and the heat sealer for the bags and the label printer to print my labels, and those are all must-have pieces of equipment, but I’d have to say the roaster first.
What is the most unique coffee you’ve ever roasted?
I don’t have it anymore, but Jamaican Blue Mountain … is extremely high-quality and has a unique taste to it with berry notes. The flavor profile from that part of the world, the Caribbean, is very different from the Americas or Africa.
How do you like to drink your coffee?
I prefer the lighter roasts. … There is more flavor in a light roast than in a dark roast. It’s not as strong of a coffee flavor, but there are more citrus notes and other flavors that you can detect. And, of course, I drink it black.
What is your favorite coffee that you roast?
The Peru. It’s got a nice tang to it with citrus and floral flavors. It has a freshness that’s very light on the palate.
What celebrity would you like to get a coffee with?
Mel Brooks. I love his movies.
What is your favorite local eatery?
Probably YouYou, a Japanese restaurant in Nashua. The chicken pad thai is probably my favorite.
What would you choose for your last meal?
I was at the Native American museum in Washington, D.C., and in the basement they have a restaurant where I had the best burger of my life. It was some combination of buffalo or bison and duck, and I’ve never had anything like it since. … So I’d say maybe some kind of amazing hamburger like that.
Walking Back In Time
Walking Back In Time
Candelight Stroll Returns To Strawberry Banke
Written by Matt Ingersol (listings@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
Relive history while celebrating the holidays at the 37th annual Candlelight Stroll on the grounds of the Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, which features hundreds of lighted candles and thousands of handmade crafts on display, as well as a variety of carolers, costumed role-players and more.
The final weekend of the Stroll will take place on Friday, Dec. 16, and Saturday, Dec. 17, from 5 to 9 p.m., and on Sunday, Dec. 18, from 4 to 8 p.m.
“We try to make [the Stroll] a holiday experience that isn’t commercial and doesn’t feel contrived … and the traditions run the entire gamut from before Americans even celebrated Christmas,” said Alena Shellenbean, manager of volunteers and special events at Strawbery Banke.
This year’s Stroll will incorporate the museum’s “Port of Portsmouth” exhibit, which opened on July 1 and showcases the Seacoast’s maritime history. Shellenbean said the new exhibit runs parallel with this year’s Stroll theme, “Gifts from the Sea,” which will be displayed all throughout the 38 buildings on Strawbery Banke’s campus during the Stroll. The theme highlights how the ocean has served as a vital source of food, transportation and communication to city residents over the years.
“The theme runs across all of our historic houses, which we are calling ‘story houses,’ and they all have scenes going on inside of them,” Shellenbean said. “Most of the houses were built in the early days of this country, in the early part of the 18th century in some cases, but [the scenes] will display specific time periods.”
Strollers who visit the various buildings lit up during the event will encounter dozens of costumed role-players and carolers who each play a figure at a different time in history, going back as far as the 1690s, when the earliest buildings of what is now the museum were built.
“As well as to help people get into the spirit of the holidays for the Stroll, the museum is a place where we try to be really authentic and present history in everything we do,” Shellenbean said. “Some of the houses [at Strawbery Banke] were built during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War but have been lived in up until the 1950s … so we don’t represent a single time period, but the range in times that we show is from about 1690 all the way up to then.”
In the Shapiro House, for example, which was built in 1720, you can visit the Shapiro family celebrating the seventh night of their Hanukkah tradition in the year 1919 by eating traditional foods and playing games.
Other houses extend the Stroll’s “Gifts from the Sea” theme beyond the Port of Portsmouth exhibit. Visit the Goodwin House to listen to stories of Mr. Goodwin sailing ships in 1870 and making gifts, ornaments and more from the seashells the family collected.
Join the Rider-Wood family at their house in celebrating the arrival of their sister after a long journey at sea from England in 1845.
The Shapley-Drisco House will display scenes from two different time periods in different rooms. In 1795, join Mrs. Shapley and her daughters as they look at prints from Paris and try to agree on new gowns. And in 1955, visit Mrs. Day as she makes seafood chowder for dinner for her children.
“They are related in that it’s all about Portsmouth history, and the river and the sea has so much to do with that — hence the theme,” Shellenbean said.
Other highlights during the Stroll include the Labrie Family Skate at the museum’s Puddle Dock Pond. (In addition to being open during the Stroll’s hours, the rink will also be operating seven days a week throughout December, January and February, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., including New Year’s Day.)
Take a horse-drawn carriage ride that departs from beside the Lowd House and travels down brightly lit streets for about 15 minutes.
For the younger crowd, there will be chances to win a prize during the Candlelight Kids Treasure Hunt. Guides for what you need to complete the Hunt can be picked up at the museum’s entrance and dropped off at the visitors center.
Craft demonstrations will also be held at several locations around the museum during the Stroll, including fiber weaving, wreath-making, woodworking, and lantern- and ornament-making. You can also visit the Figtree Kitchen Cafe for seasonal snacks.
The Candlelight Stroll is one of the signature events of the Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth, which extends beyond Strawbery Banke and includes other features like the 26th annual gingerbread house contest exhibition at the Portsmouth Historical Society, and the Family Holiday Pops at The Music Hall, presented by the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra.
“Portsmouth definitely has a reputation for being a great Christmas spot with events like the Stroll and all the other things going on in the area,” Shellenbean said.
Merry Meals
Merry Meals
Where To Dine Out Christmas Eve & Christmas Day
Written by Angie Sykeny (asykeny@hippopress.com)
Photos: Courtesy Photo
Go out for a special holiday dinner or enjoy a meal from one of these local restaurants open Christmas Eve on Saturday, Dec. 24, and Christmas Day on Sunday, Dec. 25.
Special Meals
• A Tuscan Christmas Carol (Tuscan Kitchen, 67 Main St., Salem, 952-4875, tuscanbrands.com) takes place the day before Christmas Eve on Friday, Dec. 23, from 7 to 9 p.m. The event features a four-course holiday dinner including a meat and cheese sampler, rigatoni, wood-grilled sirloin and double chocolate gelato. There will also be live music tributes to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Tickets cost $116.20.
• Christmas Day Buffet at Bedford Village Inn (2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford, 472-2001, bedfordvillageinn.com) will be served for guests from 2 to 6 p.m., in the Charolais Room of The Grand. The menu features stationary displays like poached shrimp with cocktail sauce, smoked salmon and a charcuterie and cheese board; soups, salads and focaccia; entrees including rigatoni pasta, cod fillet and chicken breast with herbed jus; a carving station including turkey with cranberry sauce and gravy, smoked honey Dijon ham, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts and rolls; and a dessert buffet with assorted finger pastries, tortes, cakes, pies and cookies. The cost is $65 for adults and $29 for children.
• Christmas Day Buffet at the Wentworth (Wentworth by the Sea, 588 Wentworth Road, New Castle, 422-7322, wentworth.com) will be served from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Wentworth Ballroom. The menu features a chilled salad bar, freshly squeezed fruit juices, a raw bar, an omelet station, a Belgian waffle station, an artisan cheese display, a carving station with prime rib and ham, various seasonal hot entrees, a dessert display and complimentary Champagne. The cost is $54.95 for adults and $24.95 for children under age 12.
• Christmas Dinner at the Wentworth (Wentworth by the Sea, 588 Wentworth Road, New Castle, 422-7322, wentworth.com) will be served on Christmas Day from 1 to 10 p.m., in the SALT Kitchen and Bar. The three-course menu includes hardwood-smoked turkey, pan-seared swordfish, cocoa- and chili-rubbed cadillac beef ribeye and wild mushroom ravioli. The cost is $54.95 for adults and $24.95 for children under age 12.
• Christmas Eve Dinner at Bedford Village Inn (2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford, 472-2001, bedfordvillageinn.com) will be served from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., in the dining room and Corks wine bar. The three-course prix fixe menu features appetizers including chestnut soup, calamari, shrimp, potato and cheddar bisque, stuffed cabbage and duck leg confit; salads and entrees including pan-roasted salmon, shellfish, roasted chicken breast, roasted pork loin, duet of beef, roasted cauliflower and pheasant breast. A children’s menu features chestnut soup and macaroni and cheese as appetizers; and entrees including roasted salmon, roast chicken breast, filet mignon and chicken fingers. A grand dessert buffet and cordials will be served in the Great Hall following dinner. The cost is $79 for adults and $39 for children. Reservations are required.
• Christmas Eve Dinner at Copper Door (15 Leavy Drive, Bedford, 488-2677, copperdoorrestaurant.com) will accept reservations until 8 p.m. The prix fixe menu features soups and salads, small plates including wild mushroom tart, shrimp cocktail, sirloin spring rolls and tuna tartare; entrees including New York sirloin, grilled swordfish, macadamia-crusted short rib, pan-seared halibut, wild mushroom ravioli and sesame seared duck; and desserts including candy cane cheesecake, salted caramel tart and warm cookies with crème anglaise. Dinner is offered in two-course ($59), three-course ($69) and four-course ($79) options.
• Christmas Eve Dinner at Epoch Restaurant & Bar (The Exeter Inn, 90 Front St., Exeter, 778-3762, epochrestaurant.com) will be served from 4:30 to 10 p.m. The six-course prix fixe menu features prosciutto and fig crostini as an amuse bouche; soups and salads; appetizers including lobster tail macaroni and cheese, grilled quail and port poached pear; entrees including bronzed sea scallops, brined pork chops, char grilled filet mignon, pan roasted salmon and a duck duo; and desserts including eggnog creme brulee, flourless chocolate cake and gingerbread pudding. The cost is $59.99 per person. Dinner with a wine pairing costs $85.99.
• Christmas Eve Feast Buffet at Giorgio’s Ristorante (524 Nashua St., Milford, 673-3939; 270 Granite St., Manchester, 232-3323, giorgios.com) will accept reservations from 4 to 8:30 p.m. The cost is $34.99 for adults and $14.99 for kids under age 12.
• The Eve of Christmas Eve Dinner at Colby Hill Inn (33 The Oaks, Henniker, 428-3281, colbyhillinn.com) takes place the day before Christmas Eve on Friday, Dec. 23. The three-course menu features appetizers including Slovak sour mushroom soup, wild mushroom and sauerkraut pierogi, winter green salad and cheese fondue; entrees including a roast goose with cherry kumquat relish, wiener schnitzel and juniper roast venison loin; and desserts including apple strudel, sacher torte and christstollen with chocolate-dipped ginger lebkuchen cookie. There will also be bar specials including Glühwein, Kirschwasser and Bauer’s Obstler Pear and Apple Brandy. The cost is $65.
• Feast of the Seven Fishes at Tuscan Kitchen (67 Main St., Salem, 952-4875, tuscanbrands.com) authentic Italian meal takes place on Christmas Eve from 3 to 8 p.m. The cost is $55 per person, or $85 to include a wine pairing.
• Grand Christmas Feast at Lakehouse Grille (281 Daniel Webster Highway, Meredith, 279-5221, thecman.com) will be served on Christmas Day from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The menu features starters including shrimp with cocktail sauce, corn and lobster chowder, salads and assorted breads; entrees including roasted chicken, baked cod, whipped potatoes, roasted squash, creamed Brussels sprouts and mashed sweet potatoes; a carving station with slow-roasted sirloin or beef, caramelized onion au jus and grilled and roasted brined pork loin; and desserts including assorted cakes, pies and pastries. The cost is $42.95 for adults and $18.95 for kids under age 13.
Open Christmas Eve
• 900 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria (50 Dow St., Manchester, 641-0900; Brickyard Square, 24 Calef Highway, Epping, 734-2809, 900degrees.com) will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Airport Diner (2280 Brown Ave., Manchester, 623-5040, thecman.com) will be open from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Alan’s of Boscawen (133 N. Main St., Boscawen, 753-6631, alansofboscawen.com) will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• The Barley House (132 N. Main St., Concord, 228-6363; 43 Lafayette Road, North Hampton, 379-9161, thebarleyhouse.com) will be open for lunch starting at 11 a.m. Dinner hours TBD.
• The Bistro at LaBelle Winery (345 Route 101, Amherst, 672-9898, thebistroatlabelle.com) will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• The Black Forest Cafe (212 Route 101, Amherst, 672-0500, theblackforestcafe.com) will be seating in the dining room from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and closing at 3 p.m. The marketplace will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Cactus Jack’s (782 S. Willow St., Manchester, 627-8600; 1182 Union Ave., Laconia, 528-7800, cactusjacksnh.com) will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Canoe Restaurant (216 S. River Road, Bedford, 935-8070; 232 Whittier Highway., Center Harbor, 253-4762, magicfoodsrestaurantgroup.com/canoe-restaurant-and-tavern) will be open and taking reservations until 8 p.m.
• The Coach Stop Restaurant & Tavern (176 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, 437-2022, coachstopnh.com) will be open from 4 to 9 p.m., with a modified Christmas Eve dinner menu.
• Common Man Restaurants (25 Water St., Concord, 228-3463; 304 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack, 429-3463; 60 Main St., Ashland, 968-7030; thecman.com) will serve lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Country Tavern (452 Amherst St., Nashua, 889-5871, countrytavern.org) will be open and seating until 2:30 p.m.
• Cucina Toscana (427 Amherst St., Nashua, 821-7356, cucinatoscananashua.com) will be open during its regular hours, from noon to 10 p.m.
• The Derryfield Restaurant (625 Mammoth Road, Manchester, 623-2880, thederryfield.com) will be open for lunch and dinner until 6 p.m.
• Epoch Restaurant & Bar (The Exeter Inn, 90 Front St., Exeter, 778-3762, epochrestaurant.com) will be open for its regular breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m., and lunch from noon to 2 p.m.
• Firefly American Bistro & Bar (22 Concord St., Manchester, 935-9740, fireflynh.com) will be open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• The Foundry Restaurant (50 Commercial St., Manchester, 836-1925, foundrynh.com) will be open from 4 to 8 p.m., with its regular dinner menu.
• Fratello’s Italian Grille (155 Dow St., Manchester, 624-2022; 194 Main St., Nashua, 889-2022; fratellos.com) will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., serving lunch and dinner.
• Gauchos Churrascaria Brazilian Steak House (62 Lowell St., Manchester, 669-9460, gauchosbraziliansteakhouse.com) will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., serving lunch and dinner.
• Granite Restaurant & Bar (96 Pleasant St., Concord, 227-9005, graniterestaurant.com) will be open for dinner from 5 to 8 p.m.
• Hanover Street Chophouse (149 Hanover St., Manchester, 644-2467, hanoverstreetchophouse.com) will be open from noon to 4 p.m., with its regular dinner menu.
• Hart’s Turkey Farm (233 Daniel Webster Hwy., Meredith, 279-6212, hartsturkeyfarm.com) will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• The Homestead Restaurant (641 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack, 429-2022, homesteadnh.com) will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., serving lunch and dinner.
• Lakehouse Grille (281 Daniel Webster Highway, Meredith, 279-5221, thecman.com) will serve lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and dinner from 5 to 9 p.m.
• The Local Moose Cafe (124 Queen City Ave., Manchester, 232-2669, thelocalmoosecafe.com) will be open from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Martha’s Exchange (185 Main St., Nashua, 883-8781, marthas-exchange.com) will be open during its regular hours, from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.
• Murphy’s Diner (516 Elm St., Manchester 792-4004. murphysdiner.com) will be open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Murphy’s Taproom (494 Elm St., Manchester, 644-3535, murphystaproom.net) will be open from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.
• O Steaks & Seafood (11 S. Main St., Concord, 856-7925; 62 Doris Ray Court, Laconia, 524-9373, magicfoodsrestaurantgroup.com/osteaks) will be open and taking reservations until 8 p.m.
• Red Arrow Diner (61 Lowell St., Manchester, 626-1118; 63 Union Square, Milford, 249-9222; 137 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, 552-3091, redarrowdiner.com) is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert 24 hours a day year round, including Christmas Eve.
• The Red Blazer Restaurant and Pub (72 Manchester St., Concord, 224-4101, theredblazer.com) will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., serving lunch and dinner.
• Republic Cafe & Bistro (1069 Elm St., Manchester, 666-3723, republiccafe.com) will be open for breakfast and lunch from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Restaurant Tek-Nique (170 Route 101, Bedford, 488-5629, restaurantteknique.com) will be open for dinner from 4 to 9:30 p.m.
• Route 104 Diner (752 Route 104, New Hampton, 744-0120, thecman.com) will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., serving breakfast and lunch.
• T-Bones Great American Eatery (77 Lowell Road, Hudson, 882-6677; 25 S. River Road, Bedford, 641-6100; 39 Crystal Ave., Derry, 434-3200; 311 S. Broadway, Salem, 893-3444; 1182 Union Ave., Laconia, 528-7800, t-bones.com) will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Bedford location will open at 11 a.m.).
• Tilt’n Diner (61 Laconia Road, Tilton, 286-2204, thecman.com) will be open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., serving breakfast and lunch.
• The Wild Rover (21 Kosciuszko St., Manchester, 669-7722, wildroverpub.com) will be open during its regular hours, from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.
• The Windham Restaurant (59 Range Road, Windham, 870-9270, windhamrestaurant.com) will open at 3 p.m., with seatings until 8 p.m, serving its regular menu and a Christmas Eve specials menu.
Open Christmas Day
• Epoch Restaurant & Bar (The Exeter Inn, 90 Front St., Exeter, 778-3762, epochrestaurant.com) will be open with a limited bar menu from 5 to 8 p.m.
• Gauchos Churrascaria Brazilian Steak House (62 Lowell St., Manchester, 669-9460, gauchosbraziliansteakhouse.com) will be open for breakfast and a brunch buffet ($17.95) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., and dinner from 3:30 to 7 p.m.
• The Lobby Bar at The Grand (Bedford Village Inn, 2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford, 472-2001, bedfordvillageinn.com) will be open from noon to 9 p.m.
• Murphy’s Taproom (494 Elm St., Manchester, 644-3535, murphystaproom.net) will be open from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.
• Red Arrow Diner (61 Lowell St., Manchester, 626-1118; 63 Union Square, Milford, 249-9222; 137 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, 552-3091, redarrowdiner.com) is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert 24 hours a day year round, including Christmas Day.
• Red Arrow Diner (61 Lowell St., Manchester, 626-1118; 63 Union Square, Milford, 249-9222; 137 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, 552-3091, redarrowdiner.com) is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert 24 hours a day year round, including Christmas Day.
Snowy Samples
Snowy Samples
Concord Co-Op Hosts Free Holiday Tasting
Written by Angie Sykeny (asykeny@hippopress.com)
Photos: Courtesy Photo
Find the perfect food and drinks to serve at your holiday party and taste them yourself at the Concord Food Co-op’s annual Snowflake Social happening Thursday, Dec. 15, from 4 to 6 p.m. Each Co-op food department as well as several outside vendors will be serving free samples of a variety of seasonal products.
“It’s actually one of our premier events that we do every year,” said Paige Charland, the event organizer and Co-op marketing specialist. “There’s a holiday mood in the air, and we like to carry that into the store with festive dinners and desserts and seasonal samples.”
Tasting tables will be set up throughout the store. Stop by the bakery to sample the cheesecake of the month — eggnog — which is available for purchase as a whole cake or individual slices. The bulk department will be serving up sweet snacks like chocolate popcorn, peppermint bark and Marich chocolates. In produce, try a colorful salad topped with lemon and orange wedges and pistachios, or recharge with a chocolate protein drink made with peppermint essential oil, available in the health and beauty department along with free packets of the drink to take home. There will also be a hot bar where you can sample or buy a holiday meal; the bar will feature spiral honey ham, tourtiere (a Canadian meat pie), artichoke mushroom lasagna, candied sweet potatoes and candy cane bread pudding.
“The holidays can be stressful, so at the hot bar people can bring home a festive dinner for family and friends and have a relaxing evening,” Charland said.
Outside vendors serving samples of their products will include Runamok Maple (maple products), Smart Chicken (natural and organic air-chilled chicken), Nuttin Ordinary (vegan cashew cheese spreads), Pulp Kitchen Juices (organic, cold-pressed juices) and others to be announced. There will also be a cheese and cracker platter and seasonal beer and wine samples, including the Co-op’s wine of the month, Canaletto.
Charland said most of the featured products will be available to purchase at the Co-op throughout the holiday season (and year round for some products). If you can’t make the Snowflake Social, there are ongoing opportunities to sample new products and meet local vendors with the Co-op’s Tasty Thursdays series, held the first Thursday of every month from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
“It’s basically a smaller-scale version of the Snowflake Social where people can try free samples, do some shopping and take advantage of sales,” Charland said. “Sometimes people see a product and aren’t sure about it, so it gives them a chance to try before they buy.”
Weekly Review: Telefon Tel Aviv & More
Weekly Review
Telefon Tel Aviv & More
Written by Eric Saeger (news@hippopress.com)
Photos: Courtesy Photo
Telefon Tel Aviv, Fahrenheit Fair Enough (Ghostly International Records)
Reissue of the New Orleans techno duo’s 2001 debut LP, which was one of many attempts during that period to blend hip-hop, soul and techno. Later, the pair drew more and more of their style from R&B, thus this is a standalone of sorts, experimentalism with no established set of guidelines. “Reak What” begins these proceedings on a Warp Records tip, robotic synth micro-bursts tinkling over faraway unintelligible soul singing, essentially Wall-E makeout music, at least of a sort that’d be imagined by Aphex Twin, one of the guys’ influences. The title track takes things a lot further, tabling a melodically pretty IDM idea, adding grandfather-clock-style clicking to it and piling on the glitch, quite a bit like early drum and bass when you get down to it. “Ttv” is more lush, reminiscent of Higher Intelligence Agency’s more complicated effusions, or Tangerine Dream’s lighter moments, take your pick. With the passing of one of the principals, Charles Cooper, in 2009, this stands as a reminder of one path that was explored and, unfortunately, underappreciated.
Grade: A
Mark Sultan, Mark Sultan (In the Red Records)
Every gang of rock-band hanger-on heathens has one loose cannon who could be this guy, a one-man demolition crew blessed with a boisterous voice made for belting out locker-room sentiments, a talent so pure that it never reaches its real earnings potential only because it was already perfectly filthy from birth. This Montreal garage fixture has collaborated with Black Lips, released albums on seminal imprints like Bonk, Vice and Fat Possum and has gone by about 90 different names, including BBQ, all of which spells a rare form of bohemian ADD which, doctors warn, may result in waking up in dumpsters, not that that isn’t chic. I know: What does all this mean, what does this sound like? Well, a one-man New York Dolls mayhaps, or a subway busker nailing early Rolling Stones, you know, the perfect organism: boneheaded guitar, a tambourine bouncing from somewhere or other, and the slightly strangled bleatings of a maniac in need of a sandwich. Rawer than an albino’s sunburn, Sultan pushes his awful, wonderful slop in our direction, daring us to dip a finger and taste-test it. You should.