A Taste of Jane
World Class Bread Is Just a Drive Away
“Bread baking is something I always wanted to try,” Bill Malatesta tells me as we sit talking in Annarosa’s, the handcrafted bread and pastry bakery in Salisbury, Massachusetts that he now owns with partner Jane Kenny.
It’s ten o’clock on a Saturday morning in late June, and Bill is winding up his workday after a shift of baking that began at 1 a.m. Read more or download the PDF.
Evenfall Restaurant: Magical
One late afternoon in November, I sat with restaurant owner Spiro Pappadopolous and chef Scott Pelletier in the large, high-ceilinged dining room of Evenfall Restaurant in Haverhill.
Outside, commuter traffic began the crawl to nearby Route 495, and car headlights started switching on to compensate for the dying daylight. In that hour before opening, a stillness hung over the room as tables were being set and the room straightened for a dinner service that would soon be underway. Read more or download the PDF.
A Love Letter to Rhubarb
Some people will acknowledge spring’s arrival with the sighting of their first robin. Others by the synchronized unfurling of hard, tight buds on their trees. Me? I’m more of a bud watcher than a bird watcher, and the bud I watch for is the forsythia, its overnight explosion of lemony yellow flowers on previously spindly, bare branches. Once that happens, the air smells fresher to me, sweeter; spring is almost a sure thing. Read more or download the PDF.
Dining Locally: The Dining Club
These are exciting times for people who love to cook and dine. We have a strong desire to know where the food on our plates comes from, how it is grown or raised, and are encouraged to meet and support farmers in our own neighborhoods.
Sometimes we want to try new flavors and ingredients, and these farmers oblige. At other times, we’re thankful that such dedicated growers aren’t losing sight of the heritage breed or the antique fruit for the sake of the newest and latest tastes. Read more or download the PDF.
In the Night Shift Kitchen
What would you call a gathering of 100 twenty-somethings and several kinds of beer held in a bare bones kitchen on the second floor of a Ball Square, Somerville duplex? If the words “keg party” come to mind, well, guess what? Wrong answer. The better reply would be a strictly focused beer tasting night, one arranged by the young men who are working on founding a brand new Somerville-based brewing company, Night Shift Brewing Read more or download the PDF.
The Search For Delicious
In Natalie Babbitt’s 1969 young adult novel, “The Search for Delicious,” the Prime Minister of the land wishes to complete a large-scale project, the writing of a dictionary, but gets stuck on defining the word “delicious.” The King declares delicious to be apples; the Queen, Christmas pudding. An army general nominates beer.
With no easy consensus in sight, the King sends the Prime Minister’s twelve-year-old special assistant, Gaylen, out into the country to poll the citizens. Read more.