If you yearn for a charming downtown shopping experience, head for the great little shops in the center of Claremont. 1. You could probably just use your nose to find Farro Deli on 26 Opera House Square. With a huge…
If you yearn for a non-mall, charming-downtown shopping experience, head for the great shops in Nashua. 1.“This is not a fluff and buff shop,” explains owner Brie Hetherington of Skin (182 Main St.), a new beauty and skincare boutique. Hetherington…
1. Get yourself ready for the holidays at Michael Thomas Salon. Relax and be pampered in an expansive and sophisticated space with views overlooking the Merrimack River. The salon staff offers full-service hair, facial and nail treatments. If you want…
Follow the Shakers, whose outstanding craftsmanship inspires a little early holiday gift shopping, stopping for some sightseeing along the scenic route that connects their two New Hampshire villages. Begin in Canterbury, at Canterbury Shaker Village, open Friday-Sunday through December 7.…
From Exit 13 off I-89 at Grantham head south on Route 10 through Croydon. To the right is Croydon Peak and the vast Corbin Park, a private hunting preserve. Covered bridge collectors should once again take the right turn to…
Summer is the time to enjoy the White Mountains, to play in the playground and treat the kids (and ourselves) to parks and attractions on our "we should do that sometime" lists. So we depart from this page's usual plan…
This month's trip is for those with a sense of adventure, a full gas tank (no gas stations here) and no fear of unpaved roads. Fall is the best time, when the multiple views of Mt. Chocorua are framed in…
The Bridges of Cheshire County provide a good excuse for a drive along some colorful tree-lined roads, spotting the six covered bridges that cross the Ashuelot River in the southwest corner of the state. Leave Keene on Winchester Street (Route…
New owner and innkeeper Pecco Beaufay is also the chef at the Highland Lake Inn in East Andover. Beaufay received his chef’s training at the Sacher in Vienna. The signature item for breakfast is Teddy’s sweet authentic Belgian waffles, a…
Chris Carroll, a carpenter by trade, bought a dairy bar with a few tables 23 years ago and today with his wife Patti has established a casual dining niche for 75 diners overlooking Lake Mascoma on the Lebanon-Enfield border, just…
If you are looking for an electrifying setting with authentic food at a reasonable price, Gusanoz in Lebanon is your place. To add spice to an already festive restaurant the owners, Mexican native Maria Limon and her husband Nick Yager,…
The Meat House is on a mission, and with the opening of their seventh store in Pembroke, owners Jason Parent and Justin Rosberg continue to further that mission of "bringing the Old World meats of the neighborhood butcher to the…
Located just past the village of Center Harbor on Route 25, over the town line in Moultonborough, a touch of Asia exists in the Lakes Region in the presence of Lemongrass. Having taken ownership in September, Unraiwan Svisuksai offers pan-Asian…
Ragged Mountain may not be the Alps, but the Inn at Danbury nearby will transport you to the Old Country in short order. Owners Bob and his wife Alex run the 15-room inn and offer a taste of German food…
Three intimate dining rooms are tastefully decorated in keeping with the Colonial Farm Inn and Restaurant's 1836 vintage. The setting is warm and relaxing with light jazz in the background. A screen porch and patio overlooking a garden and stonewalls…
Abondánte, a Tuscan trattoria, brings the family-style restaurant found throughout Italy to the Lakes Region. The cuisine is executed by Chef Douglas Moyer, who has trained extensively in Italy. He traveled there with Rufus Boyett by invitation of the International…
"I'll have what Hillary had," I whispered to Mike the bartender behind the shiny black granite bar at the Granite Restaurant & Bar in the newly remodeled Centennial Inn, 26 Pleasant St., Concord. It is a little-known secret that Hillary…
Note: Sadly the Blue Trout Grill has closed it's doors.A complete makeover for the heavy, dark pub atmosphere on the former 176 Main premises was Amy and Ryan Miller's first agenda before opening Blue Trout Grill in Keene. Their eye…
David Watters is an academic with a bushelful of credentials - professor of English at UNH, director of the Center for New England Culture, a scholar for the N.H. Humanities Council, a trustee of the Robert Frost farm and an…
Simon Leeming has been in this country - mostly in Canterbury, N.H. - since his family came here from New Zealand when he was 18, but his heart still belongs to the land of Kiwis. So much so, he serves…
She hasn't learned to do it yet ("it's really difficult"), but that doesn't keep Michelle Keezer from being a great coach to a bunch of 7- to 14-year-olds who ride unicycles. They learn in a unique program at the Andover…
Steve Priest is retired, but for him that only means more time to work as a motivational speaker and writer, and to do things outdoors- hike, bike, run, swim, canoe and bang up his nose riding rapids. And that's just…
When Peter Ramsey, now 50, was a kid his house was right next door to the New London Barn Playhouse, and on summer nights he listened to "Hello, Dolly," "Oklahoma" and the other Broadway songs that wafted up from the…
If you're into politics, Jennifer Donahue is a name you know. You've seen her on "Hardball," "Anderson Cooper360" and the nightly news on all the networks. She's widely quoted in top newspapers like the New York Times and magazines like…
By day, he's an economic consultant for RKG Associates in Durham. By night, he could be any number of things - king, friar, villain, soldier, courtier. Those are the kinds of roles Larry Cranor plays for the New England Shakespeare…
Not many children have an 18th-century painting hanging on their bedroom wall, but Susan Strickler did. It was a reproduction of Gainsborough's "Blue Boy" and she remembers it being there from the time she was 8 or 9. Whether that…
About one percent - that's David McDonald's guess about how many people know very much about the stars:"People tend to know their trees, the animals because they see them out their back door. We don't encounter the stars as much."…
Frank Coppola says he was a bookworm during his school days and never participated in organized sports, but in the years since then (he's now 32) he's become a major player in the state's fantasy football craze. The Lee resident,…
Kung-Tai Tsay came to this country from Taiwan back in 1975 when her husband was accepted into graduate school here. But, in all the years since,Tsay never forgot the Chinese traditions she grew up with. She pursued the ancient arts…
They say it takes 21 days to make or break a habit. In the case of becoming a runner it took me over 30 years ... and then 21 days. I ran track in high school, avoided running in college…
Chocolate pudding is a great nostalgic dessert at home or finish at the finest restaurants. Chilled chocolate pudding isn't just for snack time anymore. It belongs on menus in the finest of restaurants if it's made with passion and quality…
Dulce de Leche, cajeta, majar or milk jam - this sweet sauce made from caramelized milk is a treat in any language. Milk jam or milk candy just doesn't sound as fancy or intriguing as confiture de lait from the…
It's a Yankee tradition. You just need clean snow and a good supply of March gold. Does anyone eat sugar-on-snow anymore? I must say the first time I had the opportunity to sample sugar-on-snow I just didn't get it. Eating…
J-E-L-L-O can be made at home along with simple cookies to re-imagine your childhood, but even more tastefully. Several recipes come to mind when I start reminiscing. Shortbread cookies were all the rage for years until butter had to take…
This recipe for brandied nut cream is one of my all time favorites. The combination of peanut butter and brandy sounds a bit odd but they really do taste so good together. Other flavor combinations that have worked well, but…
Lemon prices are rising along with gas prices. Here's an easy guide to switch over to the more reasonably priced lime. Move over lemons - limes are getting a second look. Cooks all over are finding more interesting ways to…
Take a walk in the woods for a tantalizing snack or a sophisticated condiment Over 20 years ago I remember hiking in northern New Hampshire just outside of Errol and stumbling upon the famous wild blueberry bushes that decorate the…
For the best flavor read labels and look for pure ingredients. In tough times - when food prices are through the roof, and labor and healthcare costs are at an all-time high - many restaurants and food service establishments look…
In spite of its name, Indian pudding was not adopted from American Indians by the settlers. The name came from the use of "Indian meal," another name for corn meal, which, of course, was adopted from Native Americans. When you…
With so many apple desserts in New England, where does Apple dumplings for breakfast just can't be beat, or how about a warm and crunchy oatmeal apple crisp, or perhaps a bubbling-hot apple cobbler right out of the oven, served…
With Alaska on the ticket and Florida sure to be a battleground state, it's the perfect dish for election night. Alaska Florida - that's actually a dessert you probably know better as Baked Alaska. In 1893, in the cookbook "Epicurean,"…
Two very different milieux - one loud and flashy, the other naturally quiet. It's amazing how much there is to say about sea birds - in Hugh Hennedy's "Variations on a Natural Theme" [Hobblebush Books, $15.95], there are 111 pages…
Two books - one writ large, the other writ small - explore the texture and meaning of the female experience. Her home is in Concord, but writer Diane Les Becquets chose Maine's Moosehead Lake as the setting for her third…
It had been voted the safest town in New Hampshire, but then Doris Gleason was found dead in her cookbook store, killed with a kitchen knife. Townsfolk figured it was Doris' rare cookbook that the killer wanted and they soon…
The “Moose of Humor” is at it again When you laugh out loud four times within two pages, it’s a good sign that a book that’s supposed to be funny really is funny. Such is the case with Rebecca Rule’s…
50 Sundays and 50 Churches Raised a Catholic, Suzanne Strempek Shea was taught that Protestants were doomed and that “if we kids ever so much as set foot inside one of their churches, so were we.” Who could have imagined…
Books from two local authors who treasure the world around them - one whose sights are set on faraway galaxies and another who has star status in the world of green business practices. "For more than 25 years, I've been…
You have to wonder what Harriet Wilson would think - more than 100 years after her autobiographical novel, "Our Nig; or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black," was published, it's receiving fresh acclaim from academics, activists and others.…
Dennis Robinson’s latest book is a weighty tome — four pounds, to be exact. Aside from its sturdy clothbound cover and substantial pages, the reason “Strawbery Banke: A Seaport Museum 400 Years in the Making” is so heavy is contained…
During the week Robert Kozlow is a dentist in Meredith, doing the close-up work that dentists do. Away from the office, though, he turns his attention to the broad expanses of the White Mountains. He’s hiked them for 20 years…
