We’re all about local, sustainable and organic for our food here on the Seacoast so we shouldn’t expect anything less from our wine and our beer. When  Jon Cadoux, founder of Portland’s Peak Organic Brewing started making his own beer 11 years ago he began to have a vision of what “organic” means to the Peak Organic Pale Alebeer world.

“When I bite into an organic apple, it tastes like an organic apple. I want the same for my beer,” says Cadoux. His brewery now makes beers without pesticides and chemical fertilizers, substances that can cause soil degradation and chemical runoff that contaminates water sources . Healthier soils means tastier barley and hops in brews like their pale ale, nut brown ale and amber ale. Their new Maple Oat Ale uses local maple syrup and locally grown oats as well.

Seacoast Harvest, a local food guide published by Seacoast Eat Local and Slow Food Seacoast has arrived!

The guide includes a listing of the farms, orchards, and vineyards in Rockingham, Strafford, and York Counties as well as a map of the region's twenty farmers' markets and a harvest calendar to help consumers know what is in season and available from their local farms.

Community Vine: Michael Swak, left, and Todd Cary, wine buyer and sommelier at Philbrick’s Fresh Market, are shown at a Community Vine event. Cary started Community Vine in 2006 and has helped raise more than $25,000 for local causes.We all like to help those in need. We get letters in the mail asking us to donate to a cause, write a letter to Congress or sponsor a child, save a tree, stop drug abuse. It's easy just to toss those letters in the trash or delete the e-mail. But just take a look at the events listings in the paper. In any given week, there are a dozen events with food, wine, music or some sort of soiree to get people to give.

Somehow it just works better when we can all get together to celebrate our good deeds. Since 2006, Community Vine has been helping the Seacoast give directly to those who need our help, and plying us with great food and wine at the same time. The group's next event at Victory Restaurant on Thursday, June 26, offers 30 wines to go with your summer foods and gatherings with advice by the experts.

BBQ TimeLeslie Khorsandi, Le Roux Kitchen.

by Leslie Khorsandi

I don't know about you, but when this last long, cold winter was really dragging me down, I dreamed about perfect June BBQs. This is the best time of the year - the air smells good, the lilacs are out, it's not too hot and not too cold. Is there really anything better than relaxing outside with friends and family, and eating food hot off the grill paired with a crisp white wine or rose?

Imperial Stout goes on sale this afternoon...will it sell out in a day?

Here's how it went down, and what's going to happen now. This past December, Portsmouth Brewery Master Brewer Tod Mott put his imperial stout,  Kate the Great, on tap. Then, Beer Advocate Magazine naming Kate as the Best Beer in America (and Second Best on Planet Earth), based on the thousands of Beer Advocate reviews posted online over the previous year. The beer sold out very quickly, and beer lovers wondered when they were going to see Kate again. In January, the next batch was brewed and is due for release toda, June 24 at 2:27. And get this, it might sell out in a day.  Tod Mott, Portsmouth Brewery Master Brewer

In the meantime, beer lovers have been wondering how the new Kate will be rationed. Brewery fans voted on the Portsmouth Brewery website and here's what's going to happen: Peter Egelston, Portsmouth Brewery owner says, "After receiving reports of bottles of Kate trading on e-Bay for silly prices, and hearing ominous warnings about lines of people pitching tents on our sidewalks on June 23, we realized that we'd need to establish some protocols. Given my reluctance to establish arbitrary limits, we asked our newsletter subscribers to help us find the most equitable way to distribute the very limited amount of this tasty libation. The four options that were voted on ranged from no limits, to moderate limits, to strict limits. The results???With several hundred votes submitted, the people have spoken, and they have chosen, by a significant plurality, Option Four - two bottles per person per day. 

This is how it is going to work -

Tips from Leslie Khorsandi, Le Roux Kitchen

Out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new – it’s officially spring-cleaning time – the time of year to rid and renew. An easy place to start is with the cleaning products you use around the house.Leslie Khorsandi, Le Roux Kitchen

Sure, the ‘green revolution’ is super trendy these days – but there are good reasons for that. So, all of the old stuff under your sink that is bad for you and bad for the environment – that’s the stuff to purge.* There are plenty of good, “green” products that really work...

Get FreshHere's what you'll be able to find at the Farmer's Market this week and on Saturday in Portsmouth.   

Market Bags For Sale: Get one of these great canvas bags to carry all your purchasesWe’ve got the Portsmouth Farmer’s Market already going since May, but now the weekday markets in more Seacoast towns  are open, so you can get fresh produce and local products just about every day of the week.  New this year is the location of the Dover market   on Wednesdays from  2:15pm to 6:00pm, beginning this Wednesday, June 4. It’s now at the Atlantic Culinary Academy at McIntosh College,  181 Silver St, Dover. Just take Exit 8E off of the Spaulding Turnpike. 

In Portsmouth this week they’ve got the Reef Band playing and many of the farmers have some great produce sprouting up. There will be plenty of plants for you to put in your own gardens as well.

Because we're so bored with plain water, pick up some new vitamin drink mixes form 4C foods. They come in little packets to out into a glass or bottle of water and the flavors are great. Plus they have oodles of vitamins in the. I tried the Vision with Strawberry/Kiwi, C-Drive with Dragonfruit/Acai. and Reboot with Passionfruit/Citrus and indeed I did enjoy them and felt quite lively thank you. The Vision has loads of  lutein, vitamin A, vitamin C and essential B vitamins, the Reboot has  guarana, vitamin C and four essential B vitamins and the C-Drive has taurine, vitamin C, zinc and chromium, plus antioxidants and essential B vitamins. It's healthy and tastes great.

Those who lived it still talk about the Victory Garden they had in the back yard. If it wasn't their own, it was mom and dad's or the neighbor who raised fruits and vegetables in whatever free space of land they could find to help out during World War I and especially World War II.

Home gardeners could contribute to the war effort with their home gardens. Indeed, nearly 20 million Americans had Victory Gardens, producing up to 40 percent of the produce consumed in the country.

Now, there's a new type of Victory Garden — home and community gardens growing produce.

ROBERT G. MONDAVI DIES AT 94. FATHER AND FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN FINE WINE INDUSTRY   May 16, 2008. Oakville, Calif. - Robert Mondavi of Napa Valley, the founder of the modern US fine wine industry and a global symbol of American wine and food, died today. He was 94. The Mondavi family stated that the legendary vintner died peacefully at his home in Napa Valley.

Robert Mondavi changed the landscape of the US wine industry when he founded his eponymous winery in 1966, inspired by his belief that he could produce world-class wines in Napa Valley. Since that time, the Robert Mondavi Winery has become known as one of the world's leading innovators, producers and marketers of fine wine, firmly establishing America’s rightful place on the world wine stage.

It's So Close You Can Taste It

Remember that great Winter Wine Festival at the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel? Well, here's the Summer version with some great food, wine and culinary and wine luminaries all at a terrific resort just a few hours away. The festival is from June 6-15, but the kick-off event is a Grand Tasting on June 6. It's a spectacular summer evening of wine, jazz and art on the lawn of the Farnsworth Art Museum in downtown Rockland with the kick-off the opening of the 2nd annual Summer Wine Fest. The Grand Tasting will feature favorite Maine chefs at action stations, dozens of wines and winery representatives, cheese makers, local wine retailers, and the opportunity to stroll through all of the Farnsworth's buildings and exhibits.

Ciao!: Chef and owner Gerry Burt, left, and restaurant assistant Marian Marangelli at Villa Fresca in Rye.Gerry Burt stands at the cutting board in the kitchen of his new restaurant in Rye in his bright-orange Chef Mario Batali-inspired Crocs. He's got chicken thighs in the oven and a big filet on the board, all while he's baking ginger cookies.

While right now the dining room still lacks silver and glassware, on Friday, the Johnson and Wales Culinary School grad was scheduled to open the doors to his new Italian restaurant, Villa Fresca Ristorante.

"I was 25 years in the hotel restaurant business, most recently from the Inn at Exeter," the Exeter resident said. "I was a food rep, too, but this has been in my mind for six or seven years to open a place like this."

The high cost of fuel and food is having an effect on Seacoast restaurants, which must pay higher prices for ingredients and paper products, but also weigh the impact on the consumer and diner.

Celia Phillips, programs and communications manager for the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association, says restaurants are facing a market dilemma.

"We are seeing restaurants having to make tough choices: passing on costs to their customers, but also needing to be sensitive to their loyal diners. And with food costs at the highest they have been in 20 years and fuel costs skyrocketing, restaurants need to cut back or get creative with menus. A previous 'featured' menu item may now become a special on a Saturday night."

Farmers Market: Davyanne Dippold of Moriarty Greenhouse in Stratham displayed flowering plants at the opening day of the farmers market. (Scott Yates photo)Think globally, act locally is more than just a just a philosophical statement on a bumper sticker for Bob Wiggin and his daughter, Abby.

As these 13th and 14th generation farmers prepared this past winter for another planting season on Wake Robin Farm in Stratham, says Abby, the impact of world conditions on their little corner of the universe was "definitely on our radar screen."

What that means for the Wiggins and for other farmers who came to the Seacoast Growers Association Farmers Market opening day in Portsmouth on Saturday is a more informed consumer who is increasingly mindful of the correlation between gas prices, say, and the cost of supermarket produce.

At the same time, they say, consumers are also becoming savvy about the importance of eating fresh, locally grown vegetables.

PORTSMOUTH — The rumors were brewing for months in restaurant gossip circles, but finally the word is out. Ray Guerin and Peter Dizoglio of Portsmouth’s historic Oar House announced yesterday the purchase of The Dunaway Restaurant at Strawbery Banke.

Guerin and Dizoglio purchased The Dunaway from Portsmouth entrepreneur Jay McSharry, who opened the restaurant in the fall of 2005 to critical acclaim. With mentions in Food & Wine Magazine, and honored as "Best of New England" by New England Travel & Life Magazine and "Editor’s Choice" by Yankee Magazine, the restaurant has helped further the culinary acclaim of the Portsmouth restaurant scene with its contemporary American cuisine rooted in respect for local farms and sustainability.

First, a disclaimer: I am in no way a brewmaster with years of experience, or a resource who knows where to pluck the freshest hops from some secret location in the depths of Germany.

Like most people, I thought relative gravity referred to the force that draws you to your overweight cousin, and a “wort” was something that you got when you made out with a frog.
For too long, I was also under the misconception that the cheap, popular beer sold by the casefull was the best thing going, and as a college student I would gladly spend my hard-earned bucks on it every weekend.

Oh, how wrong I was.

PORTSMOUTH — The owner of a local restaurant hopes to re-open for the season on Friday, April 25.

Harpoon Willy’s had opened last Friday but was closed again because it had failed to address concerns in a letter from the city health officer at the close of last season. The letter detailed some problems that had to be corrected before owner William McGrath would be allowed to open this year.

McGrath said he has already scheduled electrical and plumbing inspections for Friday morning. If they go as he hopes, he will call the city health inspector Kristen Shaw and health officer Kim McNamara, who, he said, will come for final inspections.

Chef of the Year Gala-- The doors opened at 4:00 p.m. and the wine flowed until 5:00 when 15 local chefs and restaurateurs started serving their specialty dishes. Hampton Beach's Purple Urchin came with tuna, two ways while Noble High students brought fresh tortellini in either Alfredo or marinara sauce. Add to that the peach crumble from Kittery's Chef's Cove Cafe and it's only the beginning of the grazing at the Piscataqua Chapter of the American Culinary Federation's  23rd Annual Chef’s Gala ‘Chef of the Year’ Awards Reception, held last night at The Town Lyne Grill in Exeter. Proceeds from a raffle and $25 tickets benefit local student scholarships.

2008 MAINE LOBSTER CHEF OF THE YEAR COMPETITION CALLS FOR ENTRIES

Competition at Blaine House to offer premium prizes and publicity for winners--

Back by popular demand, the “Maine Lobster Chef of the Year” contest is calling for Maine lobster recipe entries from all of the state’s chefs, sous chefs, foodservice owners and operators, and culinary educators. This year’s competition is open to culinary students living or working in Maine, as well.