Serendipity has been a good friend to Brian Noyes, owner of the acclaimed Red Truck Bakery. With locations in Marshall and Warrenton, Virginia, 45 employees, and orders pouring in online, Noyes’ business is better than ever and his homespun image endures, in spite of his enormous success. He tells the story of that success, and […]
No green thumb? No problem! If you love the idea of having fresh veggies and herbswithin easy reach, but you don’t have the time or inclination to plant a garden, Fifth Season has the solution: Garden in a Day. Experts install a four-by-four-foot raised cedar bed at your home, then fill and plant the bed—et […]
Sommeliers may take offense, but canned wine is a booming business. In January, Crozet’s King Family Vineyards popped the top on this trend by rolling out its first cases of canned Crosé, its popular rosé wine. As winemaker Matthieu Finot explains, King’s been making a dry, fruit-forward rosé since 2003, and now harvests Merlot grapes […]
A rosy glow shone through windows high on the façade of the former service station. As my dining companion and I approached the building, the oaky smoke aroma grew stronger. We turned the corner onto West Main Street and the source of both the light and the smoke revealed itself through tall walls of glass—big […]
Rising Star Chef of the Year is among the more prestigious accolades at the annual James Beard Awards, and a Charlottesville chef is in the running. Ian Redshaw—a veteran of Tavola and L’etoile, co-owner of Prime 109, and now executive chef at Lampo —has been named a semifinalist in the category recognizing “a chef age […]
In 36 years of moving up and down the mid-Atlantic, I’ve never lived in a city that didn’t carry the weight of a racist past. As a teenager, I heard news of white supremacists marching through my small Maryland town. As a young adult in Greensboro, North Carolina, I marveled over stories about ’60s sit-ins, […]
Thomas Jefferson was not an IPA guy. We know this thanks to the scholarly efforts of J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham, a Randolph College professor, whose research provides a fascinating account of the work of Jefferson’s enslaved brewer, Peter Hemings, a son of Elizabeth Hemings. Jackson-Beckham’s recently published article, “Missing Ingredients—The (Incomplete) Story of Thomas Jefferson’s Unsung […]
My kids get pretty sick of trailing me through the grocery store. Clothes shopping, depending on how it goes, can be a thrill or a deep disappointment. But there are other kinds of stores that are more reliable sources of fun, entertainment, and information—everything, that is, you want from a day trip. What’s more, they […]
It’s a rare week that I don’t see at least one dog or cat with Toxocara, commonly referred to as roundworm. It’s especially common in puppies and kittens who have multiple chances to be infected before adoption. They can catch roundworm from their mother while still in the womb, and then again through her milk. […]
Some day trips have a singular purpose (i.e., “We’re going to the zoo!”), while others consist of a medley of experiences in the same general location. My family’s recent Saturday in Harrisonburg was one of the gumbo type. My husband and I and our girls, ages 5 and 8, saw a planetarium show, then visited […]