‘Good game, good game…’

On Nov. 7, Ten Mile Table, the independent wine and spirits shop in the hamlet of Wassaic, will host its first Cookbook Fest and Swap. Erika DaSilva, the shop’s owner, is a big fan of cookbooks. While most people will flip to a recipe that piques their interest, she reads them cover to cover like novels. She’s already published two volumes of her community-based cookbook, “The Corner Table,” featuring recipes and writings from cooks and foodies all hailing from Wassaic and the surrounding towns. For DaSilva, community is half the reason for the event.

Spend any amount of time at Ten Mile Table, located in Wassaic’s old candy shop, and one thing will becomes obvious: Community comes first. DaSilva stops to talk with local residents as they pass by her open door, asking about health updates or letting them know she has something they requested back in stock. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that, as publisher of the hyperlocal newspaper the Hamlet Gazette, DaSilva knows more or less everything about everybody in town. But despite having all that knowledge, she doesn’t treat it like gossip. She holds it with care until the story is ready to be told — or kept forever as a secret.