Local Food: From sweet to hot, peppers add complex flavors and depth to almost any dish - even chocolate! They are also one of Steven's favorite end-of-summer vegetables, starting to peak in his own kitchen garden as well farms throughout northern Vermont. Look for a little more heat, a hint of spice, some earthy crispness and depth in soups and sauces over the next few weeks. Some dishes will celebrate the pepper, others might add just a hint for a crisp bite, and of course there will be items on the menu without peppers.

Back to (After) School: Bar service, coffee and sweets are available every day at Claire's except Wednesday, along with free wifi. The perfect place for an afterschool meeting, to catch up on homework or a research project, or to just talk with friends.

Thursday Music: Jeremy Raboin is back, performing at 8 pm. Check out his distinct blend of rock and folk with a bit of country, brought together by his soulful clear voice. His music is available on myspace.

Happening at Claire's and around Hardwick

Local Food: Translating the bounty and flavors of hot and dry Provence to the damp summers of Vermont, Steven emphasizes the clean, rich earthiness and fragrant herbs of a traditional ratatouille (from touiller, a food term meaning "to toss"). Northeast Kingdom garlic, basil, tomatoes and eggplant combine in a French-style vegetable stew from Nice. It's one amazing celebration of August on a plate, which Steven serves alongside herb roasted chicken.

Around the Galaxy: Cheese expert Liz Thorpe will discuss her brand new book, The Cheese Chronicles, Tuesday at 7 pm at The Galaxy Bookshop, followed by a guided cheese tasting. The Cheese Chronicles offers an insider's look at the world of American cheese from the second in command at New York's renowned Murray's Cheese, drawing from notes and converstaions around hundreds of cheese tastings over nearly a decade. For more information, visit The Galaxy Bookshop.

Music Thursday: Local farmer/singer/songwriter Alan Greenleaf teams up with his piano playing sidekick Jonathan Kaplan, also known as the Doctor. For a sample, just click over to http://www.alangreenleaf.com/.

Local Food 2: The Center for an Agricultural Economy kicks off its first Open House and film night this Thursday from 3-6:30 pm at their South Main Street office. The Center's president, Tom Stearns, hosts a showing of the film Red Wagon, about hunger in Vermont. The series will continue with films and discussion the last Thursday of the month through the fall.

Our Free Twist on the Tax Holiday

Saturday is the Vermont Tax Holiday, so stop by Claire's in the afternoon between 2 and 4 pm for a special free tasting of mead wines with Dana Matthews of Honey Gardens Apiaries and Caledonia Spirits, and you can learn more about the relocation of their distillery to Hardwick in the months ahead. The wines are made from yeast, water, and honey as the basic ingredients, and range from sweet to dry. You'll have an opportunity to try their Traditional mead, dry and crisp in the style of chablis, straw in color with citrus and apple notes. Also on hand will be the medium bodied Black Currant rosé style mead, and the complex Melody dessert wine, combining floral notes with the complexity of honey and butterscotch flavors. If you can't make it Saturday, the meads are available from our bar menu.

This event is part of the Route 15 Festival organized by the Lamoille Valley Chamber of Commerce and featuring shops and businesses from Cambridge to Hardwick. To find a list of participants, visit their website.

Cool Down at Claire's

Our Kitchen Bookshelf: Steven is putting his final touches on the menu for Monday’s dinner with Allison Hooper, co-hosted with The Galaxy Bookshop. Allison, co-founder of Vermont Butter & Cheese Company and author of In a Cheesemaker’s Kitchen, will be at Claire’s from 6-8 as our special guest for a three course cheese tasting menu, inspired by our farms and Allison’s recipes. Join Allison for dinner and enjoy a sneak peak at the book, with signed copies available for purchase at Claire’s, though it will not be officially published until November. Steven’s menu will feature some of the best Vermont cheeses in savory and sweet dishes, and you can expect a few surprise cheese courses along the way. For a reservation and to purchase a ticket, email The Galaxy Bookshop at galaxyevents@vtlink.net, stop by or call them (closed on Sunday), and bring your appetite. Ticket price includes all taxes and gratuity.

Around the Galaxy: Naturalist Bernd Heinrich talks about the activities of animals, plants, and insects during a New England Summer, and signs copies of his book, Summer World, at The Galaxy Bookshop on Tuesday at 7 pm.

Thursday Music: A new project from a well-know local, Dan Haley and the Developments bring their inspired Americana to Hardwick at 8 pm.

Escape the heat! Cool cocktails, crisp wine, cold beer on tap, chilled gazpacho and frozen nougat for dessert. Just what you need to really enjoy a hot summer sunset. Oh, and air conditioning. Bar specials every Sunday and Monday.

Diary of a Foodie - Hardwick Edition - Now Online

If you missed the segment of Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie on the Hardwick food system when it was broadcast on VPT earlier in the year, you now can watch the entire episode online.

Called "The Collective," the episode hightlights farmers and chefs whose work contributes to society. The show begins in Vietnam, where a restaurant trains young people in restaurant cooking and transforms their lives for the better. You can also visit a village in Mexico to learn how shared responsibilities demonstrate the effectiveness of cooperative communities. In Hardwick, the focus is on an emerging infrascture based on cooperation and not competition.

To watch the episode, visit Diary of a Foodie or just click on the image.

Happening at Claire's and around Hardwick

Local Food: Beans off the bush, just plucked from the vine, pulled off the pole, and prepared by Steven with just the right flavors, can’t help but grab the spotlight on any main course. This week, we welcome the best beans our farmers grow, setting them alongside a rack of lamb as a salad with red wine and herb vinaigrette, or sautéed with Romesco braised chicken. These hearty flavors deserve a good pint of beer or robust organic Argentine Cabernet. But first, start with the crisp earthy sweetness of beets right out of the ground, tossed with peppery arugula, Bayley Hazen Blue, and a dash of maple balsamic – which would be perfectly paired with a glass of Shelburne’s Riesling style Lake View White. Finish your dinner with a cold and creamy Nougat frozen Soufflé, with raspberries

Around the Galaxy: Tuesday at 7 pm, author and chef Linda Furiya will be at the Galaxy Bookshop to discuss How to Cook a Dragon, her second memoir. As an Asian American woman living in China, Furiya found a gulf between herself and the people with whom she shared a common heritage. In her new book, Furiya writes of her experiences of isolation and friendship, loneliness and love, and of preparing and eating authentic Chinese cuisine – a continuous thread that runs throughout her narrative.

Thursday Music: New Hampshire singer-songwriter Ian Galipeau brings his modest and sincere original music to Hardwick this week at 8 pm. Listen to a sample of his intimate performance style and songwriting at www.myspace.com/iangalipeau

Reserve for Monday: August 17 dinner and preview book signing at Claire’s with Allison Hooper, author of In a Cheesemaker’s Kitchen and co-founder of Vermont Butter & Cheese Company. Hooper’s beautiful cookbook showcases the artisan products of Vermont Butter & Cheese Company and highlights the craft of modern American cheesemakers. Though the book will not be published officially until November, the Galaxy Bookshop will have copies available at the dinner. Tickets for the three course menu featuring recipes from the book are on sale at the Galaxy Bookshop. Please purchase in advance.

Happening at Claire's and around Hardwick

Local Food: If the rain has you yearning for summer, a few days of sun this week might do the trick, especially when you think about the arrival of summer beans and peas. Steven has just the thing to remind you that it’s the season’s peak. A salad of heirloom tomatoes, sprouts, and just off the stalk fava beans from Mystic Morning Farm in Greensboro, with sheep’s milk cheese and maple balsamic vinaigrette. To finish your dinner, try a summery Chocolate Raspberry Brownie with ice cream and salted caramel sauce, or a “Neapolitan” Ice Cream Sandwich with Praline and Pecan cookie and chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla ice cream.

Local Beverages: Summer Sunday and Monday bar specials, and every day coffee and bar service after 2:30. And the Red Sox games live from NESN. Stop by Tuesday to toast President Obama’s 48^th Birthday.

Thursday Music: Joy and New Orleans Honky-Tonk bring some old school jazz to Claire’s this week.

Around the Galaxy: Journalist and storyteller Paul Lefebvre will be at The Galaxy Bookshop Tuesday at 7:00 pm, reading from his book, Perimeter Check. Collected here are essays from Lefebvre's column in The Chronicle "Yours from the perimeter," plus a few pieces written before he began the column.

Coming Up: Reserve your table for a special August 17 dinner and preview book signing at Claire’s with Allison Hooper, author of In a Cheesemaker’s Kitchen and co-founder of Vermont Butter & Cheese Company. Hooper’s beautiful cookbook showcases the artisan products of Vermont Butter & Cheese Company and highlights the craft of modern American cheesemakers. Though the book will not be published officially until November, the Galaxy Bookshop will have copies available at the dinner. Tickets for the three course menu featuring recipes from the book are on sale at the Galaxy Bookshop. Please purchase in advance.

The Northeast Kingdom Music Festival is this weekend, August 7 & 8 at the Chilly Ranch in Albany. Visit their website at www.nekmf.com. For our friends to the south, Sunday is the annual Summer Social of the Vermont Beef Producers Association, with two farm visits and pasture walks in Waitsfield and Brookfield, and good food.