From a sunny afternoon to magic hour, here’s a look at one of the top 10 beach days of all time. Thank you Amagansett!
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A Day at the Beach
Monday, September 12th, 2011Amagansett, Early September
Saturday, September 10th, 2011
At the Beach with the Girls
Friday, September 9th, 2011We got a winner of a weekend to spend with the girls. The first night’s magic hour was killer.
Touring Gettysburg
Thursday, July 14th, 2011I’m not usually one to say: “Hey, let’s go check out a Civil War battlefield!” But when the battlefield is Gettysburg, well, that’s something you don’t want to miss.
We spent an afternoon there, and I must say, I want to go back. You could spend a full day or more, easily, understanding how the battles played out, what strategies worked and which failed, and well, just being out in the countryside. There’s nothing like visiting a place to help you understand it better, whether that’s a foreign land, a vineyard or, yes, a Civil War battlefield.
On the Road in Virginia
Thursday, July 14th, 2011After a couple of lovely fun days in Charlottesville, we were back on the road — headed to Gettysburg and an overnight in Pennsylvania. But before we left C-ville, we had to stop by the house where my parents lived when I was born. Just for old time sake. Not that I remembered it — but it sure looks like the one in the photos!
The drive was long that day, and I do remember a bit of back-and-forth over whether we would take Skyline Drive (the answer ended up being no). But I took some beautiful snaps of the countryside along the way.
Some more of both the house and the countryside, after the jump.
An Old Fashioned Soda Fountain at Timberlake’s Drugs
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011After our tour of UVA and downtown Charlottesville, we were ready for a little pick-me-up. A Cherry Lime Soda and a seat at the soda fountain at Timberlake’s Drugs was, if you’ll excuse the saying, just what the doctor ordered.
Touring Charlottesville and the University of Virginia
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011I was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, and I believe this might be the first time I’ve been back since my parents moved away when I was three. There are a number of photos in my mom’s collection that stand in as memories, but other than those, I have very few of my own. One photo that I’ve seen a lot is of me on the Lawn in front of the Rotunda at UVA, the University of Virginia. Of course we had to replicate it.
A tour of the campus, and some of the town, too, after the jump.
A Tale of Two Breakfasts at Blue Moon Diner in Charlottesville
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011Greg wins hands down on this one. He went for the BLT with artisan bacon from Nodine’s Smokehouse.
I lost. Big time. I went for the biscuit and sausage gravy. On a 90-degree day. What, exactly, was I thinking?
It’s not that it was a bad biscuit or gravy — it just wasn’t what I was looking for. I ordered wrong. Blue Moon is a pretty cool place, though. Check out more, after the jump.
Peter Chang’s China Grill in Charlottesville, Va.
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011Dinner at Peter Chang’s China Grill was reason enough to come to Charlottesville. And I’m sorry to disappoint — especially since this is ostensibly a food blog above all else — but I must confess that it was not because of the food.
That’s not to say that the food isn’t very good. Very, very good, in fact. Some of the best Chinese food you’re likely ever to have unless you live in New York, San Francisco or, yes, China. (I’m talking to you, J in Beijing.)
The chef, Peter Chang, has earned a reputation for being an accomplished, yet elusive cook, who brings his talent to a kitchen in say, Fairfax, Va., or Knoxville, Tenn., sets up shop long enough for people to discover him and flock, and then leaves without a word.
As you can imagine this has frustrated many a fan, and there are posts and posts about it on food message boards tracking the whereabouts of Peter Chang, and extolling the virtues of his cooking once it’s been re-discovered. The chase got so out of hand that Calvin Trillin chronicled it (and the people doing the chasing) in a New York article last February: Where’s Chang? The chef who can’t shake his followers.
But a mysterious and famous backstory and the pleasure of discovering flavorful food in a strip mall in Virginia are not the reasons I praise this dinner with such loud trumpets. No, the reason is the company: This man, David, my godfather, who has been a friend of the family since before I was born.
Our conversation made this dinner one of the tops ever. It was honest, intelligent, funny and heartbreaking — all in the space of a couple of hours. And over coriander fish rolls, too.
Our Hotel in Charlottesville: The Omni
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011Comfortable, convenient and not too outrageously expensive. Thumbs up. Here’s our room.
Our room looked over an atrium lobby with a glass elevator, and the front doors of the hotel open onto Charlottesville’s pedestrian mall. The hotel is also very convenient to the University. We walked, though driving would have been quicker. All in all, a good place to rest your heard.
The 411 on the Omni Charlottesville: omnihotels.com.
Touring Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011The definition of renaissance man: Thomas Jefferson — author of the Declaration of Independence, President of the United States, founder of the University of Virginia. Collector of wines, books and knowledge. A self-taught linguist, architect, inventor and gardener. And as part of the country’s greatest injustice, also a slave owner. “All men are created equal.” Or perhaps more like “the duality of man, sir.”
It was about 105 degrees and just as high humidity when we visited Monticello in Charlottesville, TJ’s home. It did not take away from the pleasure of the visit. To see the gardens and grounds, with its incredible variety of trees, vegetables and flowers, and to take a tour of the interior, with its smart architecture (his bed in an alcove between two rooms to take advantage of breezes), fascinating technology (a copier that wrote two letters while he hold only one pen) and worldy furnishings (that 7-day clock that moved on weights and pulleys surrounding the front door) was really awe-inspiring. To think of all the people that have walked those gardens and halls — and now we had, too.
O. Winston Link Museum and Downtown Roanoke
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011After a pretty bad night’s sleep at the Days Inn Roanoke — which Greg nicknamed the Days Inn Islamabad for its crumbling walls and filthy rooms — we headed out early in the morning to get some brekky and check out the O. Winston Link museum. O. Winston Link was a commercial photographer who worked on Madison Avenue shooting products for ads and PR campaigns, but he had a special passion: The Norfolk & Western Railway. He spent countless hours and untold amounts of his own money to document the last of the steam engines running these lines in the 1950s, and his collection of extraordinary photos is housed at the museum, which itself is housed in the former Roanoke train station.
Perhaps his most famous photo is here below, “Hot Shot Eastbound at the Drive-In, Ieager, West Virginia.”
O. Winston Link was a genius when it came to lighting. Don’t forget, this was before digital strobes or anything like that. This photo, and all of his others, was lighted with those enormous one-time flash bulbs, along with smaller bulbs hidden in places like lanterns or behind bushes or structures.
There are hundreds of photos collected in the museum. They are all beautiful and admirable for their craft, but they also show you how life was in rural Virginia and West Virginia during that time period, and for that they are even more special. This one on the right, called General Store, is especially telling. Look at the community, the products, the setting. You know that place.
After the jump, a look around Roanoke and the exterior of the museum. No photos were allowed inside.
Roanoke Before the Storm
Monday, July 11th, 2011A big storm was rolling into Roanoke the night we stayed there, and it made for a beautiful sky.
But Roanoke is very pretty to begin with. It was founded in the 1850s, and many buildings have Victorian-era architecture. And there are a surprising number of cultural destinations in Roanoke, too: the Taubman Museum of Art and the O. Winston Link Museum, among others.
There’s also a terrific set-up on Market Street, right in the center of downtown. Along the sidewalks are covered tables with water and electricity — all made for local farmers and marketers. They back their trucks up on the street and display their wares along the table-lined sidewalks.
Rather brilliant, isn’t it? A little more on Roanoke, after the jump.
A Visit to Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams in Madisonville, Tennessee
Monday, July 11th, 2011We were introduced to the beauty of Benton’s — a smokehouse not 40 miles from our cabin in Tennessee — by dining out in New York, particularly at Momofuku Ssam Bar and at PDT. We finally had the chance to get there ourselves.
Chattanooga Farmers Market
Sunday, July 10th, 2011It was our last day at the cabin, but tomatoes and peaches were really just coming in. Corn was just getting good. Blackberries were just shedding their last tartness. So we couldn’t pass up the chance to go to the Chattanooga Farmers Market — even if it was just to browse.
Plus, we decided, we could buy a few things. After all, Sarah, Wilson and Laurie were all staying longer. We’d just get ingredients for their suppers!
We’re On a Boat
Saturday, July 9th, 2011There’s nothing quite like the stillness of the lake just before sunset. So on both Wednesday and Thursday, we ate super-early and were able to take a dip in the water and a nice spin around the lake before dark. A few highlights below – then two slideshows, in case you want more.
Blue heron:
Greg enjoying the boat ride:
Pretty sunset and clouds:
Farmers on Main Street Market, Wednsdays in Chattanooga
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011SCF fans may remember our last trip to the Chattanooga Farmers Market. That was the big one, held on Sundays under a grand pavilion. On Wednesdays, you’ll find many of the same vendors, but no craftspeople. This is a producers-only market, where you can find locally made and locally grown foods. And no pavilion. Sorry.
Niedlov’s Breadworks in Chattanooga
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011Another stop on the in-town errands: good bread. We found it at what we think might be the only artisanal bakery in Chattanooga. It’s called Niedlov. Get it?
Link 41: Artisanal Sausage and Local Bacon in Chattanooga
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011We’d read about this cool sausage place – local hogs, artisanal craft, you know the deal! – in an article on Chattanooga in Garden & Gun magazine. So we decided to pop in for a few things.
Downtown Chattanooga and Warehouse Row
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011After lunch, a little window shopping. We browsed Warehouse Row, mostly.
One of our favorite shops was called Revival.
Anniversary Lunch at Public House in Chattanooga
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011July 6, 2011 was our 10th anniversary. Yikes! Time flies! We headed into town for a little celebration. Lunch at Public House, a farm-to-table casual restaurant in Chattanooga’s Warehouse Row shopping center.
The beaming bride:
No good photos of hunna this time. But my fried chicken salad with Benton’s bacon was mighty tasty!
Lake View from the Cabin
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011It’s nice to wake up to this in the mornings, isn’t it?
And here’s a nice one at sunset.
A few more pics, after the jump.
Fourth of July Supper: Smoked Ribs and Chicken
Monday, July 4th, 2011Greg smoked ribs and chicken and Wilson prepared a fireworks show. The rest of us enjoyed the fruits of their labors.
Welcome to The Cabin!
Sunday, July 3rd, 2011Our first night of fun at the cabin. What a joy to have all the family in one place for vacation…. we can’t remember the last time that’s happened.
On the Road to Tennessee
Sunday, July 3rd, 2011After an incredible dinner at Town House and a night’s stay at the wonderful Riverstead, we, we stopped at Shannon’s childhood home to top it off with a lovely visit with her folks, Otis and Lisa.
(SCF fans may remember them from such posts as Dinner with the Neighbors at Wasabi.)
After our visit, we had about five hours in the car to get to the cabin in Sale Creek, Tenn.
After the jump, a few photos along the way.
Town House in Chilhowie, Va.
Saturday, July 2nd, 2011Some of the most revolutionary cooking in the country is going on in a tiny restaurant off Route 81 in rural Virginia. And frankly, it’s hard to imagine it could happen anywhere else.
At Town House in Chilhowie, Va., chefs John Shields and Karen Urie Shields have made the local ingredients such an integral part of their repertoire, you just can’t see them serving these kind of dishes in, say, New York or Chicago.
In fact, John did work in Chicago, at one of the most innovative restaurants of the decade: Alinea. But when the chance came to move to an out-of-the-way spot and do their own cooking their own way, they took it.
The ingredients in some of the dishes here are foraged from the Appalachian mountains and grown by local farmers in Virginia. I’ve never been to noma, the famous restaurant in Copenhagen that is known for its philosophy of incorporating regional culinary heritage (and foraged ingredients) into its menu, but I can imagine the experience might be something along the lines of what’s going on at Town House.
Some of the extraordinary methods and ingredients: smoked hay; gathered grasses; frozen sorbets of clam juice and eggplant; broken meringue; oyster water; and a ton more.
Not every dish was entirely successful. But even when they weren’t, they were wildly creative and admirable nonetheless. And the great ones? Truly spectacular. Come along and see.
Riverstead Guest House in Chilhowie, Va.
Saturday, July 2nd, 2011After a long day in the car, it was a pleasure to arrive to Riverstead, the welcoming, beautiful home that serves as the guest house for the Town House restaurant in Chilhowie, Va.
The view is of pastures and mountains –
– and the room is so luxurious and comfortable.
We barely had time for a glass of wine on the porch before supper, but we made sure to do it anyway.
Come see one of the quietest, most peaceful places you’re likely ever to lay your head. After the jump.
SCF on the Road
Saturday, July 2nd, 2011Before I get started on this jag of posts from Tennessee and Virginia, a little disclaimer: Y’all realize that I’m about six weeks behind in posting to the blog, right? In other words, please don’t come over to rob the farm because you see we’re away on vacation. Because we’re not away on vacation. It’s the middle of August and we’re home, harvesting blackberries, tomatoes and zucchini, and enjoying cool nights on the porch. I’m sure you’ll see photos of those activities sometime in September. For now, please enjoy the photos of our travels in July. The posts will be dated on the dates they occurred. No animals were harmed in the making of these movies, either.
And, we’re off!
We’ve planned a trip to the cabin in Tennessee and a few days touring Virginia. But in order to get to Tennessee in time to see Chris, Barbara and Alexis before C&B have to head back to North Carolina, we’ve got to really haul ass. So we’re driving further in one day than we’ve ever driven before (at least since I was in my 20s and driving all day and all night to get somewhere was a piece of cake).
We’re headed to Chilhowe, Va. for a fabulous dinner at Town House and a stay at their luxurious guest house, Riverstead. But first, Greg narrates a couple of stops on the tour.
The amazing wonders of a convenience store called Funck’s somewhere near Hershey, Pa.
And, a rest stop just over the border in West Viriginia:
Touring Philadelphia
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011We didn’t have much time for any other sights in Philadelphia, but we did get a nice look through the windows of a small tour bus. Here’s a look at a few snaps.
City Hall:
Clothespin by Claus Oldenburg:
Did you know that the hinge is the “6″ in 76?
The “Rocky” steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
Zahav: Modern Israeli in Philadelphia
Monday, June 20th, 2011Chef Michael Solomonov won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic this year, and now that I finally had a chance to taste a few of his dishes, I can easily understand why. His food at Zahav, his modern Israeli restaurant, is inventive and creative with a nod to tradition, which makes it approachable and fun at the same time.
Here’s the fried cauliflower with labaneh – a strained yogurt – with chive, dill, mint and garlic. It makes a bright, almost bracing, dipping sauce for the crunchy, salty cauliflower. Just terrific.
