Hey, Concord. It's that time of year again - time to get into the spirit of giving. So many of us take our basic necessities for granted, so it's easy to forget that there are those out there who struggle every day to afford such basic things as clothes and food. With the help of Val Guy at Granite United Way, we've compiled a list of New Hampshire charities that need your…

If it were up to Alison Murphy, she would have opened a holiday boutique showcasing items made by local artists last winter. Concord, though, may not have been fully prepared.But it is now.Murphy's dream ultimately came to fruition with the Nov. 1 opening of Concord Handmade, a pop-up holiday shop at 1 S. Main St. featuring items from as many as 70 New England artists, and the response has been overwhelmingly…

Any business that encourages one to "beat people with a stick" is certain to draw The Insider's attention. So The Institute of Billiard Sciences - which offers such a proclamation on its exterior sign - understandably found a spot directly in our crosshairs.There's no fighting involved, though. Only focus, as master instructor Ken Tewksbury spends his time training…

The Food Snob was sad to see Nonni's vacate its home on Main Street. The brick oven pizza and lunch buffet were delightful. Nonetheless, when God closes a door, he opens a window. And, when he closes a restaurant, he often opens another restaurant in the exact same location. With the news that EJ's on Main would be replacing Nonni's in the Holiday Inn annex, the Snob geared…

In my time here at the Insider, I've been something of a human guinea pig, trying mostly things I'm not particularly good at. I had never taken a yoga class before the one I wrote about on these pages, and I consider myself among the world's worst dancers, even after completing a square dancing class.But guess what? I may be even worse at billiards than all the other ventures combined.I know, I know, you're rolling your eyes and assuming I've written this intro simply for dramatic effect. If only that were true. In reality, I was the dude who avoided the pool table at all costs…

Since Mother's Day is just around the corner (after all, "if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"), the Grammarnator has decided to pay tribute to his mother-in-law by noting that her own personal pet language peeve popped up last week when the Food Snob referred to "the amount of free lunches we would receive" had the Snob gone into politics. Just as the Grammarnator abhors confusion…