Is the standard wedding format a bit too—well, standard for you? “A lot of who we are is somewhat unconventional,” says Christie Jones of herself and her wife Mary Klavin. As they researched options for their April 2018 wedding, they realized that many venues were not only expensive, but “formulaic, and just not us,” she […]
Nothing says “instant keepsake” like a hand-lettered invitation, and plenty of local calligraphers are up to the challenge. Michelle Streeter of Ma Belle Calligraphy (above) works in a modern style and offers invitation suites along with fun extras, like a handwritten version of your vows, to display at the wedding and, later, in your home. mabellecalligraphy.com […]
There’s only one right way to eat dessert: at every meal. Start with breakfast—a sticky, gooey donut (okay, fine, you can put bacon on it)—then a sip of a sugary shake, and later, a pillowy pile of tiramisu and a mug of cocoa before bed. In this issue, we’ll show you how to appease your […]
As they peruse a restaurant wine list or browse the shelves of the local wine shop, do most imbibers know how all of those foreign bottles made their way here? From finding a promising producer in the European countryside, to navigating a logistic and regulatory thicket to usher the product into the U.S., to presenting […]
Restoration has always been important to the Ramsey family: There’s Luke, whose company Ramsey Restoration focuses on the construction and preservation of historical property, and who learned how to build log cabins from his father. And there’s Adrienne, who formerly served as a spokesperson for the Food Routes Network (the same folks who developed the […]
New Year’s is more of a drinking-and-kissing holiday than one meant for feasting. But don’t let a good start-of-the-year meal go overlooked, especially if you might leave some luck on the table. We asked some local food folks to cook us up New Year’s Day nosh that was traditional (to capitalize on all that good […]
For mother of six Lynsie Steele, necessity was the mother invention as she tried to feed a large family on a shoestring. “I was trying to find ways to save money so I challenged myself to cut my grocery bill in half,” says the food entrepreneur. She decided to blog about the meal plans she […]
Chef Mark Gresge missed making soup. From 1992 to 2014, Gresge ran the beloved local French restaurant L’étoile. “To me,” Gresge says, “French country cooking was the perfect cuisine. Depth of flavor, locally sourced product, a true sense of region in the cooking.” L’étoile had always run catering alongside its restaurant operations, but the growth […]
Mike Appleby figured he’d keep his big city job when he moved to Charlottesville. Appleby’s Boston-based employer kept him on to run a development team when he moved to C’ville to get married. But Appleby quickly came to love the area—“it’s the nicest place I’ve seen anywhere,” he says—and five years later he hatched a […]
After selling the tech business he’d built over 15 years, Eric Walter wanted to do something more rewarding. “More fulfilling spiritually,” he says. “Out from behind a desk and outside.” His Chicago tech business, Gorilla, had Patagonia as a client. “Sustainability infused everything they do,” says Walter. “That changed something for me.” After considering a […]