Editor

Parties

Berkshire Creative Sparkles with Annual Holiday Fête

Fiona Breslin reports from Pittsfield. Cocktails, a silent auction, live local music, beautiful flower arrangements, and night-long dancing under a disco ball, made Berkshire Creative's annual SPARKLE! on Thursday, December 6, at the Masonic Temple, a downright party as much as a fundraiser. Not to mention, this

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Food

Indian Pudding: A Secular Staple

Berkshire native Alana Chernila, local politician, mother of two, and author of the new cookbook, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making (Clarkson Potter), dispenses change and cooking ideas to readers and friends. She shares her peak-of-the-season recipes with Rural Intelligence to

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Food

Fire Cider: The Hot New Mixer for Warming Winter Drinks

Cold season is here; the wildly vacillating weather, with its regular dips into frigidity, drives the annual search for ways to ward off the inevitable onslaught of coughs, sneezes, and sore throats. There’s a relatively new addition – albeit steeped in tradition – to the all-natural anti-cold arsenal: Fire

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Community

At The Not So General Mills Mansion: A Gilded Age Holiday

Once upon a holiday, the Mills Mansion — now the Staatsburgh State Historic Site, near Rhinebeck, NY — was home to some of the most exclusive Christmas parties in the country. This Downton Abbey-styled household, flush with Gilded Age cash and helmed by ambitious socialite Ruth Livingston Mills (portrait below by

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Food

Seasonal Sweetheart: Gingerbread Uncut

Berkshire native Alana Chernila, local politician, mother of two, and author of the new cookbook, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making (Clarkson Potter), dispenses change and cooking ideas to readers and friends. She shares her peak-of-the-season recipes with Rural Intelligence to

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Community

Christmas (Etc.) In Connecticut

This time of year, you can’t throw a snowball (if there was any of the white stuff to throw) without hitting a holiday bazaar. But Litchfield county’s well-crafted festive collaborations — their winter strolls and lighting ceremonies — will shine especially bright this month. Sorry Fox News, but none

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Wellness

Looking Good, Locally

It’s one the paradoxes of life that the busy social calendar of the holiday season coincides with formidable beauty opponents such as pasty skin, dry winter winds, and the skin-dulling effects of too little fresh air and too much online shopping. But thanks to our area’s diverse

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Arts

Not Just a Fluke: Sheffield Shop Perfects the Ukulele

The Stradivari family has the violin. The Gibsons have the guitar. For the Webb family in Sheffield, while the family business has yet to hit the 20-year mark, it seems they have cornered the fast-growing ukulele market, which is beginning to enjoy celebrity status thanks to the likes

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Parties

The Way to the Feast

Rachel Louchen reports from Lenox.On Saturday, December 1, the second annual Voices of Hope gala was held at the festively decorated Seven Hills Inn. The holiday event benefitted Berkshire United Way, the community organization which supports programs for employment, education, and emergency preparation. Dancing took place before the gourmet

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Parties

Berkshire Botanical Garden's Holiday Marketplace Shines

Silka Glanzman reports from Stockbridge.More than 100 guests gathered in Stockbridge on Friday, November 30, for a festive preview of the Holiday Marketplace at the Berkshire Botanical Garden — a jubilant kick-off to the holiday season. The Garden’s glittering Education Center was decked with sumptuous swags and greens,

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Arts

At the Clark Museum: Giselle's New World

On a free admission day at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute a couple of weeks ago, 11-year-old Giselle Ciulla seems like just one of the many other well-behaved kids hanging out with their parents on a day's cultural excursion. Upbeat and bubbly, she

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Style

Holiday Gift Guide: Fifty Stores With Under $150 Wonders

Libations, Desserts, and Artisanal Goods Shirecity Fire Cider, Pittsfield Locally made tonic of raw apple cider vinegar and honey, sold in amber glass bottles (16 oz/ $29). Hillrock Estate Distillery, Ancram Field-to-glass handcrafted whiskey distilled on-site from estate-grown grain ($80). 408 Pooles Hill Road (518) 329-

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