This Month’s Featured Articles…

Is there anything more intoxicating than the smell of bread baking in the oven? Is there anything more magical than a first slice from a fresh-baked loaf, warm and welcoming and begging for butter? For anyone who’s experienced the rewards of baking bread, the answers are clear – resounding No’s. MFK Fisher, one of the most masterful of writers on the glories of food, said, “The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence [...]

If you are a regular Main Street Magazine reader, you will likely already know something about Carrie Chen. Perhaps you have worn one of her beautiful Casana Designs cashmere scarves or sipped tea at her former tea house in Hillsdale, NY. Perhaps you have stayed at her exquisite Bed and Breakfast, The Barrington in Great Barrington, MA, and perused the Carrie Chen Art Gallery on Railroad Street. There is no doubt that Carrie Chen is a well-known and successful local entrepreneur. Throughout all of Carrie’s [...]

For more than a century, people around the globe descend upon Manhattan’s Times Square to watch the ball drop. Some history: that inaugural New Year’s Eve bash, held in 1904, commemorated the official opening of the headquarters of The New York Times. At midnight, there was a fireworks display to celebrate and mark the event. A few years later, the city banned the fireworks, so The Times arranged to have a large, illuminated iron and wood ball lowered from the tower flagpole precisely at midnight [...]

In the city of Xian, China, a bird flits along a ten-inch wooden perch inside a mahogany-colored cage. I don’t know what kind of bird it is, but the cage itself catches my attention. Cylindrical and peaked at the top and bottom, it is shaped like the buoys on the lobster traps I used to see on family trips to Gloucester, MA. The mind works like this: we explore the world through analogy. That kindergarten teacher is like my mother. This baked sweet potato tastes [...]

You can try all the wines in the world from the comfort of your home. You can research their stories and find lots of history and mystery and beautiful photos online – which is wonderful and certainly an enhancement of the experience. But there’s nothing like going to the place where the wine you’re drinking is made. Many if not all of you reading this article have experienced a tasting at a winery, whether it’s one close to home (and there are so many good [...]