TORRINGTON — Five Points Gallery, 33 Main St., will open three concurrent exhibitions, “True Blue,” a group show; “Helpless,” a mixed-media installation by Ellen Hackl Fagan; and “Water and Light,” photographs by emerging artist Clark Leonard. The three exhibits run from July 17 to Aug. 22.

KENT — The Kent Memorial Library will have artwork by Kent artist Michael Danon displayed in the Library’s gallery through Aug. 31 in “Kent and Around Travel,” according to an email from organizers.

This is the time of year I feel like a kid in the ice cream shop wanting to try all of the innovative newfangled flavors: French toast bacon, lavender coconut with black sesame seeds, Earl Grey tea with shortbread cookies, Black Forest licorice, “everything but the kitchen sink,” and even “M…

Miki Sudo won the contest for the seventh time Saturday, according to a report.

WATERTOWN — The Sunset Grille in Watertown has several advantages: It is a two-story restaurant overlooking Merriman Pond, perfectly sited to enjoy a summer sundown, and an 18-hole golf club ranked third highest in Connecticut, both on a beautifully landscaped 236-acre park.

WOODBURY — After passing through the hands of a diverse cast of owners since its establishment in 1754, Michael Bates-Walsh has breathed new life into the historic inn now known as the 1754 House.

Today, restaurants are serving one of my favorites, hummus; the traditional dip, as a topping on a burger or as an ingredient in the dish.

WASHINGTON — The Friends of Shakesperience in the Litchfield Hills and Gunn Memorial Library invite you to a virtual talk with Artistic Director Emily Mattina on Thursday, July 16 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom.

It was the day the music stopped, quite literally.

SHERMAN — White Silo Winery is hosting their ever-popular Rhubarb Festival for the 13th year running on Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28.

A salad without dressing is like a cake without icing, at least that is the case with me.

SOUTHBURY — The Gloria Cachion Gallery at the Southbury Public Library will host artist Theresa Bates on-line from Wednesday, July 1 through Friday, July 31 according to an email from the library. Visit at www.southburylibrary.org to view this virtual exhibit.

Learn how to make candied rose petals, elderflower syrup, crushed violets and whole blossoms to bring out the best flavor for cakes, cookies and candies.

Five central Connecticut museums unlikely to reopen

Sugar and fried is what people think of southern food; what they don’t think about are the delicious and healthful crops grown in the South.

MORRIS — It’s pleasant, indeed, rewarding when good things come at a later stage in one’s life. Just ask Stephen Drew of Morris. At 64 he has had his first book published, “Into The Thin, A Pilgrimage Walk Across Northern Spain,” in which he talks about baring his soul and seeking redemption…

PLEASANT VALLEY — Seventy-three years have come and gone, but there has been no force strong enough to stop the Pleasant Valley Drive-in Movie Theater from providing its customers with a sense of nostalgia and good old-fashioned family entertainment.

TORRINGTON — Five Points Gallery will be open to the public Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1-5 p.m. and by appointment, starting June 5.

Restaurants are preparing to serve diners alfresco and our grills are getting ready to be fired up so we can savor the smoky flavor of food cooked outdoors.

Kathy Brzezinski, who enjoys the drive-in, said, “It brings back a lot of nice memories from when I was a child and a teenager.”

I have found that using a quality, sustainable canned tuna or other fish results in a tasty and easy to make dish these days.

WASHINGTON — Since the outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic and subsequent mass closures of businesses, schools and other facilities, many of us have been adjusting to life during the era of social distancing. Online methods of communication and interaction have become the norm as we strive to a…

In the Elm City, 1,100 meals a day are prepared, with 18 restaurants participating, and deliveries made to Yale New Haven Hospital, the Veterans Affairs medical center in West Haven and various testing sites.

When the coronavirus pandemic forced this particular painter to stay home, she found herself wanting — even needing — to create.

TORRINGTON – Twenty years ago, Lee Ann Womack sang, “If you have the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.”

ROXBURY — Sterett-Gittings Kelsey and her twin sister, Easy, were raised in the countryside of Glencoe, Maryland, where she used river clay from a nearby stream to create pots and plates. When the family moved to Greenwich, at the age of seven she fell in love with the world of ballet after …

LITCHFIELD COUNTY — Melissa Davilio Hart of Bristol recently visited a Facebook group page titled Friends of Little Free Library, posting that she had written a children’s book that would be dropping in a few weeks. She wanted to share copies with stewards of as many of those book boxes as s…

WINSTED — When one hears that Ralph Nader, the consumer activist extraordinaire and former presidential candidate who has battled some of the biggest corporations in the world, has authored a cookbook you might think, “Is Ralph going soft on us?”

In the oven, a pan or a pot, or on the grill, there’s a reason consumption per capita has increased nearly every year since the mid 1960s.

KENT — Tall and handsome Clinton Kelly is always smiling and that smile can light up a room — or certainly a television screen. Even during these troubled times and concern about the pandemic we are facing, Kelly has been doing his best to keep his — and our — spirits up.

Cookbooks are aplenty, and finding new recipes is a cinch, with the touch of a button. It is an understanding of cooking techniques that makes cooking easier.

TORRINGTON — Five Points Gallery is offering its variety of exhibitions on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as its website, www.fivepointsgallery.org, with virutal tours and updates on future shows in 2020.

Messages from around the globe, from Connecticut to the Netherlands, streamed through Melissa Etheridge’s Facebook Live page as she performed from her home recently, in what has become a daily visit with fans.

Continuing to share easy recipes is appropriate as we are hunkered down and left with few options others than to cook at home.

STATEWIDE — Mike Wolfe, Frank Fritz, and their team are excited to return to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. They plan to film episodes of the hit series “American Pickers” throughout the area at the middle to end of July 2020 said an email from s…

BURLINGTON/HARWINTON — From the breakers rolling ashore on Cape Cod to the rolling hills and meadows of her beloved Litchfield County, Margaret Schuster finds inspiration for her paintings everywhere she looks.

GUILFORD — The necessary restrictions placed on physical gatherings in recent weeks may have led some to believe that IMAGES, Connecticut’s oldest statewide photography competition, will be postponed or cancelled this exhibition cycle. But the show must go on, and for the show’s 39th year Sh…

Small can be intimate and celebratory, and doesn’t have to lose the spirit of the holiday you are used to.

Pisarcik’s story is fiction, but the legend always stuck in his mind. “People used to say, ‘Don’t go up there, the ghosts of the boys are up there.’”

Avoiding disease takes care and social distancing, but walks, hiking and biking are still viable options to maintain good health.

Go back to basics and be creative; think outside the box when it comes to figuring out what to cook with the ingredients you have on hand.

FALLS VILLAGE — It is quite remarkable to consider that less than a year after the guns fell silent when World War I ended, Music Mountain in Falls Village began filling the air with sweet sounds for a country longing for a peaceful existence and to forget the horrors of “The War to End all Wars.”

If you travel to different regions of Italy, you learn the recipes are different depending upon the nuances of the province’s agriculture, climate, local culture and traditions.

LITCHFIELD — Wisdom House will host an artist’s talk and reception for “A Place For You,” an exhibition by Watertown photographer Lee Cantelon’s of his Nigerian refugees photos, Saturday, May 2, 3:30 to 5 p.m., at Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center of Litchfield, 229 East Litchfield …

KENT — Peeps, the multi-hued marshmallow bunnies that pop up at Springtime, are not just fluffy candies in an Easter basket. At the Kent Memorial Library, from the beginning of March through to April 8, a competition will feature the iconic sweets.

KENT — Patti LuPone, Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, Katherine Hepburn, Chita Rivera, Barbra Streisand, Mary Martin — these are but a few of the extraordinary actresses who Bob Avian has danced with or choreographed for Broadway shows. The full list includes practically every major actor who h…

Stop & Shop, for example, has more than 20 plant-based meat substitutes at its stores, and sales are rising.

BURLINGTON — Acting is a tough gig. You’re feeling the rush of being on stage in front of an audience one night and looking for work the next day. But there are always new opportunities in the field and AspenDream Productions is, well, as the company’s name proclaims, making the dreams of ac…

BRIDGEWATER — Jamie Bernstein didn’t really know she had a famous father until she and her siblings as children were watching an episode of “The Flintstones.”

WINSTED — The American Mural Project is hosting an open mill event March 15, allowing visitors to view the mural installation progress. Tours are offered at 1 and 2 p.m., eacih lasting about 45 minutes, at 90 Whiting Street in Winsted.