Building a cheese board brings out the creative side in us, but as we concentrate our energies on pies, roasts and holiday shopping, the stress of entertaining can be overwhelming....
SOUTHERN ARTISAN CHEESE IS ON FIRE right now – the new hot thing. Smack in the middle of the inferno is a whole lot of delicious, grassy creaminess being handcrafted...
IT’S A ROUTINE FRIDAY MORNING, AND Ben Thompson has already been up to his elbows in pork for three hours. Thompson, the chef-butcher-owner of the Rock Barn, Nelson County’s renowned...
AT THE EARLIEST POSSIBLE AGE my brothers and I were inducted into the Clean Plate Club. My compassionate mother would admonish us to remember the starving children in Biafra. My...
Great little somethings to bring to dinner or holiday parties. (1) We’ve been big fans of architect-slash-candymaker Stephanie Williams’ fleur de sel caramels ever since she started making them last year. And lucky...
Bottoms up! Drinks and things, for the beer, wine, cocktail (and juice) lovers on your list. (1) The two design-crazed UVA grads who invented an über-popular mason jar cocktail shaker are...
Little is sometimes better, especially when locally made. (1) How great is it to be able to fuel your body with healthful energy bars made in Charlottesville—in flavors like chocolate-peanut butter and almond-cherry....
Home cooks will love you for these. 1) Buying local is a whole lot of fun at the annual Artisans Studio Tour in Charlottesville and surrounding counties on November 8 and...
RIGHT ABOUT THE TIME the winter landscape is as bleak as it gets at Back Creek Farm in Highland County, something amazing is happening in the trees. The maple trees,...
WINEMAKER CHRIS RITZCOVAN clearly has a particular fondness for viognier, as well he should. After all, the 2013 vintage of this fruit-forward, crisp white that he created for Charlottesville’s Jefferson...