And the criticisms of the Amy Adams portrayal totally miss the point. There is healthy and exuberant refuge to be found in working with food, creating sumptuous meals that sate every sense.

It went right on the Netflix list for a second helping as soon as possible.

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You’ll find resources and recommendations about the special places we find, the new foods and recipes we try, and our opinions about what is exquisite, worth a trip, or “not so much.”

We hope you’ll enjoy what you find on our site. We hope you’ll share your own discoveries with us.

This is something we’re doing in our spare time. We plan to be doing more and more of this as time goes by. We’d like to turn this into a full-fledged directory of all-things-food in New Hampshire. If there is something that you would like to find here—more reviews, town-by-town restaurant listings, a particular kind of recipes, you name it—please let us know. Your input will be essential to how we grow and evolve.

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Granite State Candy Shoppe

Granite State really is a business about very good chocolate candy. But they take ice cream seriously as well. My kinda people.

A “small” is about a pinto of ice cream. It is very good ice cream. Plan this course as the “big meal” of your day.

Until this year, they ran a two for one coupon in the The Hippo each week. I guess the economic downturn hit them hard, too. But it’s still worth it, and we stop in whenever we’re in Concord on a summer day and the timing works. [I willingly claim ice cream as lunch or dinner, but I hardly eat breakfast let alone making cold dairy the focal point.]

Roger’s favorites include: Coconut Snowflake (not the Coconut Dream), Toffee Coffee Crunch, and Burgundy Mocha Chip.

I scream for Butter Pecan, Raspberry Chocolate Chip, and Master Rip. Oh, and surprisingly the Coffee Oreo.

We both love the Pistachio. A nut recall has spoiled this season. Overall, Granite State does a better job with the nut and coffee/chocolate flavors; not so great with fruit-based flavors.

They keep scooping until all the tubs are empty, sometime mid-September. You still have a month.

Trade supper for a cone!

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A nice selection of wines to sample per usual, but the treat was the cake. Wow!

Kristy Stephens Ammann, owner of Soiree Cakery, was behind the counter cutting up heavenly slices of her signature lemon cake. A perfect concoction of sour and sweet, it would be perfect for weddings, showers, anniversaries… heck, for Thursdays. I think it was a Thursday.

The flavor harked back to the cakes my grandmothers made from scratch, a hint of lemon pudding cake, as rich as anything Julia Childs ever concocted. Light but packing that infusion of citrus to keep it real.

It’s also perfect to pair with champagne, so we took home a bottle of the Cavit after all!

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We came back up through Lowell and decided to stop in Nashua for dinner. Last year sometime, Roger and I stopped into The Peddler’s Daughter, an Irish Pub right in downtown Nashua, but after we’d already eaten somewhere else. After you’ve followed us for a while, it will be evident we are “pub rats” – suckers for welcoming pubs anywhere that have comfortable seats at the bar and pleasant, if not jovial, bartenders.

No the usual pairing, I agreed to be seated at table (so civilized!). They also have deck seating around the perimeter of the building. the bar is centered with tables, booths, and high tables scattered along the walls.

Pops chose the beer-battered fish & chips. It comes served in newspaper and is just fish and potatoes, no slaw. The batter is slightly crispy and seasoned lightly. The fish tastes fresh; don’t want no stink’n frozen fish. The hand cut fries are okay although a bit soggy, and steak fries of thick chips would be better to my taste.

The best part, almost, about this choice is that it is served with homemade ketchup (my ingredients guess: crushed tomatoes, pickling spice, cayenne, and a bit of brown sugar cooked down until thick) along with some great tartar sauce. Both are delivered to the table in glass jugs with serving spoons, cold from the fridge.

I chose the pan-roasted salmon and was very happy. It was seared on the outside sealing moisture and locking down a delicate rub. Nice and tender and rich; the portion seemed smallish to me at first, but by the time I finished I was stuffed. It comes served with boxty, a traditional Irish pancake. This one was about four inches in diameter and a half inch high, with the consistency of a nice croquette. The plate also came with a salad of mesclun mix drizzled with lemon vinaigrette and adorned with radish, green peas, and corn.

Washed down with nice cold Sam Adams Lager this was a great dinner for both of us. The only complaint was with our waitress. She did a fine job of making recommendations, bringing food and drinks swiftly and checking in on us occasionally, but she let us over tip her in an outrageous way without double-checking our intentions. We’d made use of an Entrainment Book 2 for 1 discount coupon, and it was obvious we tipped based on the full amount. Instead of the 18% calculated on the actual dinner value, she walked away with an extra $12 (30%) since we forgot to subtract the  value from our total. It was as if we never had the coupon. Oh well.

I’ll drag Roger back, ’cause there are lots of other good options to sample and evaluate: Shephard’s Pie made with ground lamb, Guinness Braised Beef Stew, and Home-Style Meatloaf. I’m also really curious about Crepes and Brown Bread Ice Cream… yeah, baby.

Details & map

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