Salem MA – Page 47 – Salem Main Streets

Embrace Diversity; It’s On Display at Salem CultureFest

Jul 182014

Typecast in recent years as solely a Halloween destination, Salem MA has been expanding its appeal with a number of theme festivals throughout the rest of the year. This weekend we offer a diverse event, the 8th Annual Salem CultureFest, courtesy of A3D.

This event features live bands who showcase many cultures and styles, as well as other performers (storytellers, martial artists, dancers, and more) who entertain while you enjoy exploring the unique arts, crafts, and wares of our area’s fine artists and crafters.

Over 2,000 visitors are expected to attend this fun family-friendly event on the Salem Common, Saturday from 10 am – 8 pm and Sunday from 10 am – 6pm.

The mission of A3D (which means literally “African Development through Drum and Dance”) is to raise money, acquire assets, and start microenterprises to help specially targeted West African Non-Profit Organizations. Go to their website to learn more of their beginnings and projects.

Closer to home, proceeds have provided much needed support to local Greater Salem area organizations including HAWC (Help for Abused Women and their Children), the Salem School Foundation, the Gathering of Salem, and the Plummer School.

Funds raised at Salem CultureFest 2014 will be utilized to further efforts to acquire and distribute medical equipment and educational supplies to areas of need in West Africa. In addition, a portion of all funds raised at Salem CultureFest 2014 are to be set aside to another local non-profit to be announced at a later date.

Saturday Schedule (subject to change)

10 am : Festival begins – Vendors located throughout the Salem Common

10 am – 4 pm : Moon Bounce/Children’s Face Painting/Henna/Assorted International Games – It’s A Small World/Kids section

1 am – 2 pm : J&J Pony Rides – near It’s A Small World/Kids section

11:30 am – 12 pm : Opening Ceremonies: National Anthem sung by Maria Chaves – A3D Drumming – Main Stage

12 pm – 12:30 pm : Sisters In Dance (Belly Dancing) – Main Stage

12:45 pm – 1:15 pm : Joe Hayes (Native American Storytelling) – Near Main Stage

1:15 pm – 1:45 pm : Siren of the Circle (Hoop Dancer) – Near Main Stage

1:45 pm – 2:30 pm : Greg Coles (Dance) – Main Stage

3:15 pm – 3:25 pm : Parade around the Commons, followed by a Mexican piñata party – It’s A Small World/Kids section

3:30 pm – 5 pm : Hot Like Fire (Reggae) – Main Stage

6 pm – 7:30 pm : Michael Gabriel (Reggae) – Main Stage

Sunday Schedule (subject to change)

10 am : Festival begins – Vendors located throughout the Salem Common

10 am – 4 pm : Moon Bounce/Children’s Face Painting/Henna/Assorted International Games – It’s A Small World/Kids section

1 am – 2 pm : J&J Pony Rides – near It’s A Small World/Kids section

11:30 am – 12 pm : Opening Ceremonies: National Anthem sung by Martine Bernard – A3D Drumming – Main Stage

12:pm – 1:15 pm : Hipshot (High Energy Horns) – Main Stage

1:15 pm – 1:35 pm : The Dragon Within (Karate Demonstration) – Near Main Stage

1:35 pm – 2 pm : Police K-9 Demonstration – Near Main Stage

2 pm – 3 pm : Julio Bare (Dominican/Caribbean) – Main Stage

3:15 pm – 3:45 pm : Peter Stewart (Children’s Music) – Near Main Stage

3:45 pm – 4 pm : Parade around the Commons, followed by a Mexican piñata party – It’s A Small World/Kids section – Near Main Stage

4 pm – 5:30 pm : Hills & Valleys Roots Reggae Band (Reggae) – Main Stage

5:30 pm – 6 pm : Closing Ceremonies – Main Stage

Music, dance, laughter, fellowship, fun for the entire family. And donations help people on the other side of the world as well as in Salem. How much more diverse can you get than that? For more info, call 978-306-3142 . (Salem CultureFest photos by Angel Green)

Playing with Your Food 2014 – Week 5

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Jul 172014

Broccoli Rabe at Heaven’s Harvest Farm – Week 5

“Playing With Your Food” is a weekly post highlighting a few of the many great uses for the wide range of produce and artisan food at the Salem Farmers’ Market. While we can never predict exactly what our farms will be able to bring each week, we do our best to reflect some of the fun items we’ve found recently and what’s likely to be available for the upcoming week. Hopefully this will give you a few new ideas to play with, and inspire you to try some new things at the market.

Some weeks, I have specific recommendations for you based on well-tested plans and recipes that I’ve made with my farmers’ market produce. This was not one of those weeks. Instead, I basically decided to thrown anything and everything I had into a pan and hoped for the best (“Market Surprise”!). But honestly, that’s part of the fun of the farmers’ market, and part of the purpose of this blog series – sometimes you just have to play with the ingredients and see what you like. So let’s see what we played with this week:

“Market Surprise” Pasta – Version 1

– Dried Shiitake Mushrooms from Salem Spice – you can either reconstitute dried mushrooms in liquid or crumble them up into sauce. I had never tried this before, but I took Salem Spice owner Dave Bowie’s advice and let mine soak in a little warm white wine for at least 15 minutes (I bet Mill River Winery’s “Plum Island White” would be perfect for this). When I was ready to start cooking, I threw the mushrooms and the wine they’d been soaking in into a saute pan together.

– Broccoli Rabe from Heaven’s Harvest Farm – I’d never actually cooked broccoli rabe before. When I got home from the market and did my research, it was not encouraging – there were endless warnings online about how to get the bitterness out, apparently those lovely little yellow flowers I’d been drawn to indicate a plant that’s past its prime, on and on. Don’t overthink it; it will be fine. I just removed the thicker, woody stalks, chopped everything into large bites, boiled it for about 5 minutes, blanched it with cold water, then sautéed it with the mushrooms for about 5 minutes.

– Wild Garlic Scape Pasta from Valicenti Organico – we discussed scapes last week. When I saw this new seasonal pasta variety at Valicenti’s stand last week, I realized that garlic scapes have officially taken over the market (not a bad thing) and I absolutely had to try it. Not only is it delicious, but the tangy, garlicky flavor of the pasta also saves you the trouble of having to slice up any other aromatics. Their fresh pasta usually only takes a minute or two to cook in boiling water, so don’t overdo it!

*Fresh pasta tip: after you drain your pasta, add it to the saute pan with your sauce and cook for half a minute more to let the flavors combine.

– Primo Sale from Wolf Meadow Farm – Luca from Wolf Meadow introduced me to Primo Sale cheese (literally “first salt”), and I am now a convert. I grated some over the top of my pasta to add a little extra salt and flavor to the dish.

The only non-market items I used were the wine and a squeeze of lemon at the very end. Just these four fresh market ingredients made for an incredibly complex and hearty meal! What’s your favorite haphazard market dish?

Extreme Art Focus of Next PEM/PM

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Jul 132014

Extreme sports are not something you would ordinarily equate with the Peabody Essex Museum, but this week you will – “pushing yourself beyond your normal limits” is the charged-up theme for the next edition of PEM/PM, Thursday July 17 from 6-9 p.m. Inspired by PEM’s headlining summer exhibition Turner & the Sea, the upcoming party channels the adventurous spirit of painter J.M.W. Turner to create an evening of high-adrenaline art and exploration.

Parkour from Wikipedia

And what better to showcase “pushing yourself” than the rage that has crossed several continents: parkour which involves getting from point A to B in the most efficient way possible but doing so by using only your body and your surroundings to propel forward.

You are of course more than welcome to explore artwork in PEM’s collection that exemplify extreme art making. And definitely make the effort to take in the Turner & the Sea collection.

But don’t forget that this is a party, so you will also have the opportunity to sample healthy superfoods and extreme coffee and enjoy high-energy music in the Atrium with Boston-based hip-hop group Viva La Hop.

And in keeping with the extreme theme, stretch yourself a bit, go outside to PEM’s Asian Garden where you can enjoy summer games and cocktails designed to activate the senses.

Admission is free of charge to members and Salem residents; fee is $10 for nonmembers at the door. For more information, call the PEM at 978-745-9500.

Playing With Your Food 2014 – Week 4

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Jul 102014

Lots of pink and green going on after Week 3 of the market!

“Playing With Your Food” is a weekly post highlighting a few of the many great options for the range of produce and artisan food at the Salem Farmers’ Market. While we can never predict exactly what our farms will be able to bring each week, we will do our best to reflect some of the fun items we’ve found recently and what’s likely to be available for the upcoming week. Hopefully this will give you a few new ideas to play with, and inspire you to try some new things at the market.

This is a big transitional time of year at the market. It’s time to say goodbye to many of our early summer favorites – strawberries and rhubarb are either gone or starting to slow down, snag them immediately if you find them! – but raspberries and other summer berries are showing up and we’re starting to hear rumors of sweet corn. That said, many of our market staples are in full swing! Greens of all sorts, radishes, peas, beets, and herbs are busting out all over the place. Here are a few things we’ve been playing with:

Garlic scapes, herbs, and more at Maitland Mountain Farm – Week 3

Garlic Scapes

When I was first introduced to garlic scapes a few years back, I could swear that I’d never seen or heard of them before. Now they seem to be everywhere! Milder than garlic but with a satisfying crunch, these fun, curly, green shoots can be used in plenty of recipes to substitute garlic. They’re fantastic in stirfry, pesto, sauteed with pasta, you name it. We’re particularly interested to try these Garlic Scape Pancakes – if you’ve made them, let us know what you think!

Radishes

Radishes will be with us for a long time throughout the market, but the lighter, delicate radishes seem to make their appearance earlier in the season (like the “french breakfast” radishes that we snagged from Grant Family Farm this week). We’ll have lots more to say about radishes as the summer progresses, but right now we’re happy to simply sautee them with butter, salt, and pepper.

Shelling peas and basil at Long Hill Orchard Farm – Week 3.

Shelling Peas

Last time we talked about pea tendrils, but now we’ve gotten to the part we were really waiting for – the peas themselves. For me, there’s nothing as sweet or satisfying as those big, fat peas eaten raw right out of the shells, but there’s so many different things you can do with them – from pea puree (to complement your fresh fish from Rowand’s) to a pea-ricotta torte for brunch (especially if you’ve grabbed some fresh ricotta from Wolf Meadow Farm)!

Herbs

Whether from the greenhouse or outdoors, or your own herb garden if you have one, we’re seeing lettuce-size bunches of herbs all around and can’t seem to go through them fast enough. We’ve been drying them, throwing them in any pasta or sauce-based dish we can, adding them to marinades, making simple syrups, and there still seems to be more! What’s your favorite way to use up an abundance of herbs?

Last week at home, we had grand schemes for each of these ingredients – and then decided we’d really rather combine them all together sauteed in butter, salt, and pepper for a fantastic early summer side dish. Happy market hunting!

Sautee radishes, garlic scapes, and peas in butter, then toss with fresh mint for a beautiful side dish!

10 Minute Turnaround on Plays at STC

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Jul 092014

Ten minutes to see a play. No, not 10 minutes to get there. We are talking about a play from start to finish, enter stage right to exit stage left. And not just one play, the Salem Theatre Company is producing seven such plays with its popular Moments of Play (MoP) festival of original ten-minute plays, Wednesday, July 9 through Sunday, July 13.

What makes these productions even more admirable is that the words come from New England playwrights. Over 200 plays are submitted each year. The festival also features directorial and STC acting debuts alongside STC “regulars.”

The seven 10-Minute Plays to be performed this year are:

Zeno’s Arrow by David Susman of Saco, ME,
The Accidents of Bread by William Orem of Newton, MA,
Baby, It’s Cold Outside! by Jeana Hackman Grady of Rockport, MA,
Crooked Fork by Jonathan Yukich of Hamden, CT,
Just Your Imagination by Lesley Anne Moreau of Allston, MA,
Triumphs of the Heart (Sphere) by Cassie Seinuk of Somerville, MA,
Video Death Chat by Libby Schap of Chelsea, MA

But that’s not the entire package of the Festival. On Saturday, July 12 at 7:30 p.m., three nationally recognized playwrights will gather on the STC stage to discuss and review the seven plays presented this year. The public is invited to this free event featuring Richard Dresser, Ronan Noone and Kate Snodgrass.

The seven selected plays for the Eighth Annual Play Festival will be presented Wednesday through Friday at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday & Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 and are available online at www.salemtheatre.com. The STC Theater is located 90 Lafayette Street in downtown Salem.

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