Berkshire Tidbits: Fermenting Festivals, Hispanic Celebrations

By Judith LerneriBerkshires Columnist
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Lacto-fermenting/pickling vegetables; Berkshire Ferments will be presenting this and other workshops at the Berkshire Fermentation Festival on Saturday, Oct. 17, in Great Barrington.

Hispanic Heritage Month
Through Thursday, Oct. 15

Even if you missed the culinary experience of the Latino Festival during Founders' Weekend in Lee last month, there's still a bit of time to appreciate Hispanic Heritage Month, by eating Hispanic food in some of our local restaurants.
 
Here are a few of the best-known and best. All serve lunch and dinner unless otherwise noted.
 
Alpamayo Peruvian Cuisine, 60 Main St. in Lee, serves food you will not find anywhere else in the Berkshires.  They offer appetizers and soups to desserts and beverages including a Peruvian purple corn, frui9t and spice drink. Main dishes might be Peruvian style rotisserie chicken, Peruvian paella, Peruvian chicken fried rice and Peruvian spaghetti with chicken sauce.
 
Chef-owner Chuck Hebler makes from-scratch Hispanic-based California food — tacos, quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas, chimichangas at Baja Charlie's California Cuisine, 62 West Center St./Route 20 on the way into Lee. Always served with house-made chips and salsa. Plus wines, beers and Margaritas but no desserts.
 
At La Fogata (bonfire, hearth or open grill), the highly regarded Colombian and Latino restaurant, 770 Tyler St. at the corner of Forest St., in Pittsfield, chef-owner Miguel Gomez and his staff house-make to order their appetizers like guacamole, chicharrones (grilled pork rind) and empanadas, soups including tripe soup, grilled meats with beans and rice and lots of extras like arepas (traditional corn cakes) savory chimichurri and chopped hot sauces, seafood, plantain and cassava, Spanish flan, fruit shakes and fruit milkshakes and sweet strong coffee or hot chocolate. Friendly, authentic, not-to-be-missed.
 
• Lucia's (LOOchahz) Latin Kitchen, in a tiny hole-in-the-wall at 239 Onota St. in Pittsfield, serves a dazzling variety of home-style traditional internationally influenced Ecuadorian dishes from appetizers to desserts.
 
• Xicohtencotl (Chi-COAT-In-Kotl) Mexican Restaurant, 50 Stockbridge Road/Route 7, has been a mainstay in Great Barrington for over 10 years. The menu is fresh with recipes that are not the standard tacos and burritos. They pride themselves on serving many vegetarian and vegan dishes, organic chicken, produce from Equinox and Taft Farms, and organic produce when they can. Chef and co-owner Angel Espinoza Jimenez brings his Tlaxcalan culinary sensibilities and home recipes for moles (sauces) and all his specialty recipes.
 
For more Mexican choices there's Desperados Fresh Mexican Grille, 23 Eagle St. in North Adams, and for dinner only, 246 Main St./Route 2 in Williamstown; Fiesta Mexican Restaurant, 284 Main St./Routes 7 and 23, building II, Great Barrington; Hot Harry's Fresh Burritos at 37 North St. and 724 Tyler St. in Pittsfield; and Pancho's Mexican Restaurant, 154 North St. in Pittsfield; Coyote Flaco, 505 Cold Spring Road/Route 7, which also features other South American cuisines and is open for dinner only; and Tony's Mexican Sombrero, 69 Sprint St. both in Williamstown.
 
 
Cookbook Author Leanne Brown
Signing Books at Dottie's in Pittsfield

Wednesday, Oct. 14
3 to 4 p. m.
 
The hottest cookbook in the country right now is about how to eat well if you have almost no money for food, if you buy food using food stamps. And its author, Leanne Brown, swings into Pittsfield on her book tour for signings and a speaking engagement in a couple of days.
 
Her book is filled with tasty, accessible recipes, her own and those given by people who have lived or are still living on nothing. Brown suggests what foods to buy to create a working kitchen and how to cook them.
 
For every book she sells, Brown gives one away to people who can't afford to buy it. And, I learned on the "Good and Cheap: A Healthy Cookbook for Food Stamp Budgets" Facebook page that, not only can "Good and Cheap" be downloaded as a free pdf but there are four other food stamp budget cookbooks and they have free pdf downloads, as well.
 
The book can be downloaded from Brown's website and in PDF form here.
 
Brown will be the keynote speaker at The Nutrition Center's Berkshire Food Web launch party at Hotel on North later Wednesday, between 6 and 8 p.m.
 
Last week's Berkshire Tidbits entry about this gala omitted the other featured speaker, Dr. Cynthia Geyer, medical director of Canyon Ranch in Lenox. She sits on Pittsfield's Board of Health, is active in Healthy Pittsfield, is a core faculty member of the national organization Center for Mind-Body Medicine's "Food as Medicine" program and a board member of The Nutrition Center.
 
 
Fall Series of Artist Talks
with Richard Britell
Thursday, Oct. 15
6:30 p.m.
 
This Thursday, well known, well thought of, well trained and educated in art and art history, Berkshire artist Richard Britell will present the first in a series of artist talks on concepts of art at Lauren Clark Fine Art, http://laurenclarkfineart.com/, 25 Railroad St., Great Barrington.
 
Titled "Renaissance and Baroque, What, Exactly, is the Difference Between these Two?" Britell will base his talk on the historical, religious, philosophical and scientific ideas of turn of the 20th-century art historian Heinrich Wolfflin. You always learn something when you listen to Britell speak about art. Light fare and refreshments will follow the talk which is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required.
 
 
Berkshire Fermentation Festival
at the Great Barrington Fairgrounds
Saturday, Oct. 17
10 a. m. to 4 p. m.; free admission
 
All the pickle makers and yogurt makers and kimchi makers and tempeh makers in our area and beyond are excited that they will celebrate their art/craft/cuisine next Saturday at the Berkshire Fermentation Festival, www.berkshireferments.com and berkshireferments@gmail.com, at the Great Barrington Fairgrounds, 775 Main St./Route 7 across from Guido's Fresh Marketplace.
 
It will be a "daylong celebration of all things fermented" and the educators, businesses and fermentation enthusiasts who appreciate lactobacillus fermentation.
 
A lactobacillus is any bacterium which produces lactic acid from the fermentation of carbohydrates, such as those which turn milk into yogurt or kefir or cucumbers, tomatoes, beans and cabbage into pickles, sauerkraut and kimchi.
 
There will be workshops and lectures. Local fermentation vendors like Hosta Hill and Real Pickles will be there.nIt is a day to focus on probiotics in their traditional forms.
 
The festival is presented by Berkshire Ferments, a group who hold workshops, classes and potlucks throughout the year "to educate and create awareness around fermentation." There will be "cheese makers, salami fermentors, beverage brewers, veggie picklers, natto enthusiasts — you name it!" the organizers say.
 

Lauren Clark Fine Art Hosts
Free Tastings From PieWORKS

Saturday, Oct. 17
4 to 6 p. m.

Lauren Clark's brother, Scott Clark, is considered a fine piemaker. He bakes little hand-pies — they look like turnovers — and sells them at Amy's Housie Market Café in Housatonic under Clark's pieWORKS.
 
Just for fun, Lauren Clark Fine Art, 25 Railroad St., Great Barrington, is hosting Scott's Great Barrington pie, hand-pie and galette debut with a baker's half dozen: "eight or so of the many varieties he bakes up paired with some lovely accouterments and beverages," Lauren herself said.
Both Clarks invite the public to join them at this free tasting.
 

Egremont Fire Department Hosts
32nd Annual Steak Roast

Sunday, Oct. 18
4 to 8 p. m.

It's that time, again.
 
Every October, on the Sunday after the Columbus Day holiday, Terry Moore, owner of The Old Mill restaurant, Dan Smith, chef and owner of John Andrews a Farmhouse Restaurant, the firefighters and their supporters, all of South Egremont and the surrounds, plus SoCo Ice Cream, work together to present their gratefully received steak dinner fundraiser.
 
And, next Sunday is no exception.
 
Between 300 and 450 hungry people will show up to enjoy their 14-ounce strip steaks that Moore obtains and Smith grills, the salads the fire fighters compose, the carefully tended garlic bread, the baked potatoes, the soft drinks — it's BYOB— and, especially, the made-to-order hot fudge sundae made with SoCo ice cream Old Mill hot chocolate sauce, whipped cream and walnuts for those that want them.
 
There are lots of take-out dinners but most people, from babes in arms to elders using walkers, choose to dine in the firefighter decorated fire station, 36 Main St./Route 23, complete with departmental steak roast place mats.
 
Tickets at the door are $22 for adults, $11 for children. No reservations necessary. Call 413-528-0971 for more information.
 
 
Jazz Trio, Vocalist to Serenade Diners
at Bascom Lodge's Dining Season-Ender
Sunday, Oct. 18
7 p. m.
 
The Wes Brown Trio will be playing traditional American jazz — but, always, with some new and unexpected pieces — in the dining room corner while jazz stylist Jill Connolly will be singing as the final dinner of 2015 winds down the Bascom Lodge season. The lodge will be closed until May.
 
Chef and co-owner John Dudek will prepare a Hispanic flavored menu of local produce, sustainable meat and seafood. Dinner by reservation costs $34 or $36 plus gratuity and tax.
 
Contact the lodge at 413-743-1591 or mail@bascomlodge.net for information, directions and reservations; choose the vegetarian option at that time.
 
It's a delight to watch the sunset from the old-fashioned panoramic windows on the enclosed porch during beverage hour before dinner from 5 to 7 p. m. Or to gather in the warmth beside the fireplace in the main hall. Remember to dress for being at the highest point in Massachusetts, especially after dark.
  • Starter: chicken-based lime soup with jalapenos, garnished with cilantro, avocado and tortilla strips or a salad of field greens dressed with citrus vinaigrette
  • Entrée choices: grilled pork chop smothered in chocolate-based mole poblano of 3 chilis, with toasted seeds and spices; sautéed shrimp and scallops Vera Cruz in a sauce of tomatoes, onions, garlic, capers, olives, lime zest and a hint of poblano chilis; vegetarian option: poblano pepper stuffed with a variety of sautéed squashes, carrots, caramelized onions and black beans. All entrées will be served with white rice and sautéed zucchini
  • Dessert: pineapple cake with a crème Anglaise
 
Berkshire Mountain Distillers Celebrates
Greylock Gin With Food & Cocktails
Monday, Oct. 19
6 to 8:30 p.m.
 
This mix & mingle at Berkshire Mountain Distillers' tasting room, 356 South Main St., Sheffield, includes a craft cocktail mixing session featuring professional guest bartenders from Allium Restaurant, Eat on North, Guido's Fresh Marketplace, John Andrews Farmhouse Restaurant, Methuselah Bar & Lounge, Mezze Bistro & Bar and the Red Lion Inn.
 
There will be music and giveaways and designated drivers will receive a T-shirt and discounted admission.
 
The cost of this fun evening and fundraiser to benefit Berkshire Farm & Table is $50 per person; for Summer of Greylock industry participants $29. Guests must be 21 to attend. The event is by reservations which must be received by Friday, Oct. 16.
 
For more information and to order tickets on Eventbrite, go to summerofgreylock.com
 
 
Matinee Vegan Dining in Manchester
Hosted by Berkshire Vegan Network
Sunday, Oct. 25
2 p m.; Reservations/cancellations by Wednesday, Oct. 21
 
Mary and Matt Kelly have kept the Berkshire Vegan Network together for years, many years longer than being vegan or even vegetarian has been fashionable. Periodically, they host dinners.
 
One of their favorite dining spots is the elegant Wilburton Inn, 257 Wilburton Drive, at the top of a hill in Manchester, Vt. The Levis family, innkeepers since the 1980s, will prepare a vegan buffet made with seasonal produce from Earth Sky Time Community Farm, their own family organic farm and artisanal bakery.
 
The cost is $25 per person including the food, soft beverages, tax and gratuity. Alcoholic beverages are available for purchase. Contact the Kellys at 518-686-9005 or veganpeace@gmail.com for more information, directions and to let them know you will be joining them. They suggest you go early to walk around the 30-acre estate in the Green Mountains.
 
  • Eclectic Mediterranean-themed buffet menu
  • Greek briami/Greek ratatouille vegetable roast with zesty marinated garbanzo beans
  • Balsamic-glazed garden-fresh beets with red onion chutney
  • Fresh sesame ginger carrot and red cabbage slaw
  • Hearty buckwheat and barley pilaf with cranberries and toasted almonds
  • Assortment of fresh-baked vegan wood-fired artisan breads
  • Vegan roasted butternut squash spread
  • Dessert: fresh-baked vegan organic apple crisp
  • Herbal teas

Tags: berkshire tidbits,   food event,   judith lerner,   

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Central Berkshire School Officials OK $35M Budget

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — The Central Berkshire Regional School Committee approved a $35 million budget for fiscal 2025 during its meeting on Thursday.
 
Much of the proposed spending plan is similar to what was predicted in the initial and tentative budget presentations, however, the district did work with the Finance subcommittee to further offset the assessments to the towns, Superintendent Leslie Blake-Davis said. 
 
"What you're going see in this budget is a lower average assessment to the towns than what you saw in the other in the tentative budget that was approved," she said. 
 
The fiscal 2025 budget is $35,428,892, a 5.56 percent or $1,867,649, over this year's $33,561,243.
 
"This is using our operating funds, revolving revenue or grant revenue. So what made up the budget for the tentative budget is pretty much the same," Director of Finance and Operations Gregory Boino said.
 
"We're just moving around funds … so, we're using more of the FY25 rural aid funds instead of operating funds next year."
 
Increases the district has in the FY25 operating budget are from active employee health insurance, retiree health insurance, special education out-of-district tuition, temporary bond principal and interest payment, pupil transportation, Berkshire County Retirement contributions, and the federal payroll tax. 
 
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