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More of this, please: Israeli brunch at Baladi Berkshires
Sometimes I think South County in the Berkshires has all the fun, at least when it comes to food and drink. They’ve got the best inland sushi restaurant in the state, a noodle joint with kickass curry puffs, and even a top-notch cocktail bar. Residents will soon have one more reason to gloat when Báladi Berkshires, which serves excellent, satisfying Israeli foods, opens this summer in the Egremont Barn & Inn. I visited Báladi Berkshires earlier this year, when it was located inside the Apple Tree Inn in Lenox, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Hagai Avrahami, the chef behind the restaurant (Báladi means, roughly, “of my land” in Arabic), makes…
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Tattoo You: Q&A with Ink & Indigo tattoo artist Katie DeMaria
Syracuse-born and raised in Rome, New York, and South Carolina, Ink & Indigo tattoo artist Katie DeMaria has had art in her blood since her first daydreamy doodles as a five-year-old. She later became fascinated with patterns and designs, and in high school wrote her senior paper—with a “full-on PowerPoint presentation”—called “Are tattoos safe?” Afterward, she attended Pratt Munson university in Utica and the College of St. Rose in Albany, intending to become a teacher. DeMaria graduated with an art education degree in 2010 . . . right in the midst of the recession. An art-school friend had gotten into tattooing, and convinced her to apprentice with a local artist.…
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Finding Pandora’s Box in Albany
When I was a little girl back in 1980s Scotland, I owned a music box – essentially all my friends and I owned the same music box featuring a white exterior with floral borders, a pink velveteen interior and a dancing ballerina with a tutu. It was sold through a popular catalogue called Argos and as a child I’d go through that phone directory-sized catalogue and mark all the items I’d decorate my house with when I was a grown up. Did you have a music box? Do you remember that excitement and anticipation of opening it to discover treasures and music inside? Well, Elissa Halloran Designs shop on Lark…
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Sweet Dreams are Made of This
I have a BIG sweet tooth – actually I have a mouth purely consisting of sweet teeth. Opened in 2022 Maverick’s in New Lebanon and baker/owner Sara Jansson satisfy my daily cravings with a revolving menu of baked goods from cupcakes to cake slices to brownies to cookies and muffins. My favorites are the cranberry and pistachio bars – a surprise since I usually only buy chocolate-rich foods, the magic bars (no false advertising here – a kitchen sink of chocolate and coconut), and the millionaire’s shortbread – shortbread topped with caramel and chocolate. I must confess I’ve never eaten anything from Maverick’s other than their baked goods, but they…
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Low Brow Entertainment Keeps the Spirits High
Electric City Puppets Hosts Fuzz Ball, an Audience Participation Game Show “Audience Participation”. A term I dread only being equal to “tax audit” or worse, “karaoke.” Fortunately, not everyone feels that way other Fuzzball, presented by the Electric City Puppets, wouldn’t be a raucous and raunchy good time. I’ve attended two performances of the “world’s greatest game show” at the Arts Center of the Capital Region – one in April and one in December- and both times I’ve left with my cheeks hurting from laughing – and at times cringing – too much. A couple of my friends are active in the Capital Region improv scene and when they invited…
