At one of the first regional gatherings of its kind, Slow Food chapter leaders from around the Northeast converged on Portsmouth on Feb. 23-24. The group is hoping to connect their work more closely—to learn about local food producers, share each other’s successes, and build regional connections together.

Best Not Broken’s music is more than just pop-sugar. Yes, the songs are catchy and at times a bit tongue-in-cheek. But the songs are also smart lyrically and are structured in a way that puts them in a category with indie-pop bands Imagine Dragons, Young the Giant and Passion Pit. And you can’t embarrass Jackson about this fact. He thinks music can be both lyrically interesting and smart, while still being fun. That’s what makes most memorable music last. “Interesting and creative melodies and hooky melodies are what make music,” he said. “A lot of people shy away from pop-music. I gravitate (to it).”

Spirit Family Reunion started playing on street corners and subway stations in New York City, cutting their teeth covering Creedance Clearwater Revival songs before writing music of their own: roots-Americana with a rock and roll edge that invites its audience to join in like a Southern revival meeting. It’s a sound that blends the music from the foothills of West Virginia with the alt-country style of a band like The Avett Brothers.

Spoiler goggles fastened? Good. Let’s dive into the Downton deep end.

Even if you don’t watch “Downton Abbey,” you know someone who does. With the third season having just wrapped up stateside this week, you’ve probably heard a lot of talk of “Shrimpy,” “Dr. Clarkson,” and “Poor Edith.” You may have heard a variation of “I hate you, ‘Downton Abbey’ and we are so breaking up.” I’m not sure whether I’m breaking up with “Downton,” but even Malcolm Gladwell would admit that we’re likely at the tipping point of goodwill for Masterpiece’s worldwide hit.

For a certain generation of adult nerds, Cory Doctorow is best known as a copyright reform and anti-DRM activist, a journalist, a science-fiction author, and one of the editors/bloggers at BoingBoing.net. But for the last few years, much of Doctorow’s fiction has been tailored for young adult readers—his novels “Little Brother,” “For The Win,” and “Pirate Cinema” all feature teen protagonists who use technology to stand up to greedy corporations, the relentless security state, and other nefarious evildoers. His latest novel, “Homeland,” is a sequel to 2008’s “Little Brother,” and its release is the occasion that will bring him to RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth on Saturday, Feb. 23. Protagonist Marcus Yallow is back and this time is in possession of a thumb drive containing a cache of documents that could expose some serious corporate and government dirty tricks.

There was not quite enough wind to officially qualify the snowstorm of February 8 and 9 as a blizzard, and not quite enough snow to top stories of the region’s infamous Blizzard of ’78, but the nor’easter still qualified as one of the top ten snowstorms on record for the Northeast.

The most frequently asked question I get, when introduced as Portsmouth’s poet laureate, is “What does a poet laureate do?” People understand that being “poet laureate” must mean something important. After all, the fancy word “laureate” is attached to it. But they cannot imagine what a “poet” laureate would do. “Sit around and write poetry? That can’t be right.”

Land trust winter hikes reveal true stories and seasonal secrets of the local landscape. Also: No bugs.

The walk on Saturday was a joint effort of the conservancy and the Association for Rollinsford Culture and History, known locally as ARCH, and included stops at historic areas along the trail. The quiet paths now used by hikers, skiers, bikers, and ATVs were once the site of a Native American trail, a bustling early American settlement that went by the name of Salmon Falls Village, and a thriving mill city.

I’ve got a few recipes that guarantee mental anguish and some level of physical pain, but the impressive flavor-jamboree results are worth a bent mind and body. But these days, there are very, verrrry few of these left in my repertoire, and most of those I’ve re-tooled to minimize the pain and keep the pleasure. I hope you enjoy this revised New England treat. I can say, after I fixed it, that yes, this is worth it!

As if it isn’t hard enough to keep track of your favorite cable series, which might or might not be on a channel you subscribe to, and your favorite offerings from the BBC, which might or might not make it to BBC America in a timely manner, now there’s a top-tier television series that isn’t on television at all. “House of Cards” is only available streaming on Netflix, and it’s worth chasing down.

Academy Pictures Corporation, 1973:  After a massacre and disappearance, an old mansion becomes “the Mt. Everest of Haunted Houses.” A new team arrives at the notorious locale over Christmas week to either prove or disprove survival after death. They have been paid generously to try and survive a full week in isolation in the mansion and solve the mystery of its haunting.

At about the two-week mark of attempting to write and record an album in a month, some of the RPM Challenge participants are finding their muse easily, some are finding it late while others need to break for lunch to think it over. The following is a sample what they’re thinking from the RPM Challenge blogs. Follow along online at www.rpmchallenge.com.

New Hampshire Democrats released remarks following the death on Sunday, Feb. 10, of New Hampshire National Guard Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan, who had been ill with breast cancer. Morgan was a nationally recognized advocate of efforts to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

People gather to enjoy art together, so why not science? That’s the thinking behind the recent appearance of the “Science Cafe” in communities across New Hampshire.

artisan cheese finds its way (slowly) to the Seacoast

The process of making cheese is becoming more and more familiar in New England. Heather Paxson writes in her new book, “The Life of Cheese, an ethnographic study of artisan cheese-making,” that the number of cheese-makers in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2000. New England is a hotbed of cheese-making activity, with cheese councils or guilds in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. The movement is growing on all fronts. In the past decade, Dr. Paul Kendstedt, professor at the University of Vermont and co-director of the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese, has taught courses in intensive cheese-making to students from 49 states and 14 countries.