Month: November 2011

SMALL BITES

Foodie flicks
The Virginia Film Festival is dishing up three courses for foodies. On Friday at 5:30pm, Cafeteria Man documents a Baltimore chef’s mission to reform a system of school cafeterias that feeds 83,000 children. On Saturday at 3pm, catch Polyface Farms’ Joel Salatin in Farmageddon, which exposes government policies that favor agribusiness and factory farms over small family operations. On Sunday at 6:45pm, watch El Bulli: Cooking in Progress for a glimpse into Ferran Adriá’s Spanish culinary laboratory, which the New York Times called, “the most influential restaurant in the world.”

Sweet on the Shenandoah
Albemarle Baking Company has a new cake called the Shenandoah, which layers a caramel mousse studded with Virginia maple syrup-glazed walnuts and roasted local pears atop a vanilla sponge, with an airy mousse (made with Claude Thibaut’s Virginia sparkling wine!) crowning it all. Isn’t eating local sweet?

Double your pleasure
El Jaripeo-lovers who live south of the 29N border can get their guac fixes closer to home now at the restaurant’s second location, near the UVA Corner in the former 12th Street Taphouse spot.

Drinking and driving
One of the many improvements noticed by Barracks Road Harris Teeter shoppers post-renovation is a fleet of new grocery carts complete with two cup holders. Finally, no need to choose between caffeine-loading and broccoli-bagging. It’s the little things.

SECRET INGREDIENT
Give thanks for the apple
There is no fruit (or vegetable either!) that serves as such a stalwart servant month after month, year after year, as that all American fruit, the apple. European settlers stitched seeds into their clothing, then sowed them here in the colonies to propagate the taste of home. But didn’t they know that apples don’t bear true to seed? Of course. They also know that even ugly apples and sour apples can feed livestock and can be made into passable (read: alcoholic) cider.

So they planted their secreted seeds and nourished the tiny seedlings, protecting them from the elements and the livestock while scratching out a rugged living nearby. In the eight to 10 years until the first apple harvest, the resourceful (and hungry) homesteader would certainly have noticed native crabapple and wild cherry trees flourishing in the hills and hollows of Virginia; for those colonists that had actually cultivated Old World apples, these native fruit trees would have seemed like a decent rootstock on which to graft European apple varieties.

Letters went home requesting scion wood from established European apple varieties, and eventually some cuttings must have materialized. Meanwhile, the homesteader would graze his livestock in and around his fledgling trees (smuggled and imported both) to take advantage of their manure delivery service and weed control. The combination of Old World grafting and ‘pippin’ cultivation resulted in an astonishingly diverse assortment of genetic combinations in a relatively short period of time, and American apple lore was born.
Why did these early settlers put such faith in the apple? They knew that fresh apples would feed the family in the fall, and could be smoked and dried for cooking into the stew all winter. Some apples would store tolerably well in the springhouse or root cellar for as long as six months.

The windfall fruit from the orchard would feed the livestock and would be well suited to crushing and fermenting into hard cider, which (with some restraint on the part of the craftsman) would keep for up to a year. Even if it began to come undone as a spirit, the likely culprit would be acetobacter, the bacteria that eats alcohol and produces vinegar. In turn, apple cider vinegar could be put to myriad use, from health tonic to seasoning agent and even as a tool for preserving other fruits and vegetables.

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
An apple at every course
If you haven’t tried Virginia Gold, (Old Virginia) Winesap, and the Albemarle Pippin, make it a point to put them on the table this Thanksgiving. With these three apples, you have a red-skinned, fragrant charmer (Winesap), a glowing golden beauty (Virginia Gold), and a flavor powerhouse in yellow-green (the Albemarle Pippin).

If you’re wondering how and when to incorporate a fresh salad on Turkey Day, consider serving it after the heaping dishes of turkey, stuffing, gravy and potatoes. Toss crisp leaves of arugula and watercress in a creamy lemon dressing along with toasted walnuts, fresh grapes and sliced apple. Not only will this salad serve as a digestive and a palate cleanser—it just might save a loved one from overindulging at the buffet! Great apples for salads are the Virginia Gold (it doesn’t brown after being cut) and the Albemarle Pippin, which will taste a bit green and tart until the middle of the winter.

If you have a formal Thanksgiving dinner planned, nothing is more dramatic (and less filling) than a poached apple dotted with fresh whipped cream. It can be dressed up with nuts, or caramel, or crumble topping, or chocolate…but a little shaving of nutmeg and cinnamon might do just as well. Try poaching all three varieties, although they are likely to need different cooking times. Larger takes longer. The Winesap and the Virginia Gold will soften, but the Pippin can take the heat.

For the liquid portion of the meal, fresh apple cider is the perfect beverage for children and adults regardless of outside temperatures because it can be served cold or warm. Nothing will make the kitchen smell more festive than a pot of cider mulled with cinnamon stick and clove—banish the Yankee Candle and fill their noses with the smell of real food and drink!
Keep the fresh cider handy while you are preparing your side dishes, because its moisturizing and sweetening powers will only enhance your stuffing, your sweet potato casserole, and even the whipped cream atop your pumpkin pie. Braise your Brussels sprouts in it! Poach your pears in it! It will even work in cranberry sauce!

To punctuate a day in the kitchen, don’t forget to try some hard apple cider, a product that is enjoying a resurgence across the country and here in Central Virginia. Hard apple cider tends to finish fairly dry, and sports small bubbles like champagne, so it doesn’t cloy and clog the palate like sweet white wines or busty reds (doesn’t turn your teeth purple, either!). Serve it alongside an appetizer platter featuring ham, unctuous cheeses and aged cheeses—or just alongside your cutting board.—Lisa Reeder

Our kitchen columnist, Lisa Reeder, is an educator and advocate for local and regional food production in Central Virginia. She received chef’s training in New York and currently works in Farm Services and Distribution at the Local Food Hub.

GROWING ROOM

Separate peace
Challenge: Provide independence for growing sisters
Sisters Alex (7) and Ivy (9) Lynch walk together from their home off of Rio Road to school, every day. However, as a bright and articulate fourth grader, Ivy has started to feel the need to assert her independence and has questioned the traditional, not-quite-three-minute, sisterly walk. “I like walking to school by myself now and not walking with my sister,” says Ivy. “It’s sorta new.” In fact, almost six months ago the girls moved into separate rooms for the first time in their young memories.

“I like my room because it’s fancy,” says Alex who has relocated down the hall to what was formerly a guest room. “The curtains are silk,” she points out, smoothing the material. “They’re silky,” Wendy, Alex’s mom, gently clarifies with a smile. Flitting about her new, pink room Alex selects a few books off her shelf, mixes a “smoothie” in her toy blender and serves “coffee” to a visiting reporter. She spends a moment surveying her room, beaming and clearly in her element.

The white loft bed in Ivy’s room offers a spacious workspace below. A broad desk allows for plenty of room to do homework, often with a friend. She pulls open a desk drawer to show an example of how she likes to keep things organized.

“When I’m organizing, I like to organize one thing at a time,” she wisely advises. “It’s like reading a book: You shouldn’t start reading a new book until you’ve finished the [first] one.”
When asked about what prompted the split, Wendy Lynch says, “I wanted to do it because of how messy their room always was. And it was impossible to tell who was making the mess. Ivy did end up cleaning it up pretty much all the time and it was getting unfair. Alex promised that if she had her own room she’d keep it clean and she has.”

So far it seems that the separate living arrangements are working well. The sisters are grateful for their individual walk-in closets. With ample space for the girls’ well-organized clothes and even some toys, cleanup has become streamlined and mostly pain-free.
Ivy spent time with no fewer than two grandmothers to get her closet in proper order. She has the majority of her clothes hanging, which makes it easy for her to pick out a school-worthy outfit the night before. And in Alex’s closet there are hanging fabric pockets for her gymnastics clothes, socks, and accessories, keeping things tidy and accessible.

Even though the change has been a welcome one for all involved, the girls do admit to missing their nights together. “I don’t like [not sharing a room anymore] because my sister used to say, ‘Yeah, I’ll tell you a story’ every night,” reminisces Alex. “And she’d play stuff: pretend flutes, and pretend pets going on all night.” They both fess up to keeping each other awake way past bedtime on bunk beds in what is now Ivy’s room. But, as their mother attests, they have been enjoying their independence and the responsibility of keeping their spaces tidy, organized and wholly their own.—Christy Baker

MINI STORAGE
Keeping things organized
One of Ivy Lynch’s favorite features of her reconfigured room is the under-the-bed bulletin board. Displayed there are drawings, a few roller derby trading cards and various keepsakes. “It’s a place for memories,” she states.

Even if siblings share a room, having a space all their own allows for individual expression and a place to keep things organized—their way. The photo mobile and funky flowerpot photo holder offer a new take on the standard bulletin board (both at Cha Cha’s, $11.50 and $26).—C.B.
 

You finally find the house you want to buy. Your Realtor draws up a purchase agreement and you’re told you have to get title insurance. This sounds kind of scary, so you ask yourself, “Do I need to hire a real estate attorney?”

First, a little bit about title insurance. “Buying or selling a home is the biggest transaction you’ll ever make,” explains Bill Tucker, senior partner at Tucker Griffin Barnes. “So you want to make sure the title comes without encumberances.” An encumberance is a general term for any cloud on a piece of property, such as easement issues, delinquent taxes, various liens, mineral rights being held by prior owners, a long lost aunt who is actually a co-owner of the property that the seller didn’t disclose or forgot about—all of these things get passed on to the buyer as part of the title if they’re not settled first. The title company assists both buyer and seller in removing defects from the title prior to closing.

A title company performs many of the often complicated and confusing administrative aspects of buying and selling a home. So does a real estate attorney. But an attorney can dispense legal advice and answer legal questions.

“If it’s a boilerplate transaction, then a title company is probably fine,” explains Tucker. Meaning, it might not be necessary to utilize the services of a real estate attorney on top of the title company. “But if language needs to be added to a contract, or if there’s a dispute, an attorney is called to interpret, advise and prepare the related paperwork.”

A good example is the case of a seller who discovered a $40,000 alimony lien on his property. The seller had paid the lien years prior, but the debt release had never been recorded at the courthouse, making it seem like the debt was still outstanding. To make matters worse, the seller’s ex-wife had passed away. The title company was not in a position to help other than to recommend consulting with an attorney, which the seller did.

Disputes over earnest money are another example. Earnest money is a deposit (anywhere from $500 to the sky’s the limit), paid by the buyer and held in a trust account to show they are “earnest” about buying the property. The money usually includes an agreement to perform necessary duties and inspections within a specific time frame. If the buyer doesn’t perform and/or decides she wants her earnest money refunded, an attorney, not the title company, is called to settle the dispute.

A title company usually gets around legal concerns by hiring an attorney or keeping one on retainer. But it’s important to remember that the attorney works for the title company, not you.

Dave Shockley, managing broker with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, says that most of his clients end up using a real estate attorney, though his agents are careful not to recommend attorneys over and above title companies. “I advise clients to involve one of them as early in the process as possible.”

Cost is oftentimes the deciding factor —a title company in the Charlottesville area typically charges $275-350 for a routine closing transaction, while an attorney such as Tucker represents a purchaser for $525 and a seller for roughly $625.

If it’s a routine sale, a real estate attorney may not be necessary. Then again, legal glitches tend not to reveal themselves from the outset. Paying a bit more for legal representation from the start may save money and headaches down the road.—Jessie Knadler
 

I remember the days when all I needed to hang “art” on the walls were some plastic push pins and a roll of masking tape. Times have changed—but unfortunately, custom framing can come with a hefty price tag, leaving you hanging before you’ve even put a nail hole in the wall. With do-it-yourself framing and artwork, you can take your walls from shamed to framed without busting your drywall, or the bank.

1. Frame it out
Any person with a credit card and a bus pass can run to the super store and pick up a frame, but I think we can do better. Consider going thrifty on your next framing project. Browse the selection at one of our local thrift or consignment shops. Chances are you won’t find many empty frames, but think outside the Dogs Playing Poker. In most secondhand shops, you can pick up framed art for next to nothing, including large prints. Love the frame but hate the print? Take it out and reuse the frame.

Found an old frame that meets your needs but has seen better days? That’s nothing a little sandpaper and a can of spray paint can’t fix. What about an old mirror? Risk the bad luck and grab a hammer. Secondhand is a great way to get high-quality frames at a low cost.

Custom-framing stores like Freeman Victorious even put out boxes on the sidewalk of discount frames and framing supplies.

2. Mat it down
Matting is a sure-fire way to add a custom high-end look to a print or photograph. By doing it yourself, not only can you save money, but you can customize your mat for unique sizes, and shapes. You can get a large mat board for around $8, then use it for multiple projects. To make your own photo mat, start with the following tools: Mat board, ruler, pencil, Exacto/utility knife.

Using your ruler and a pencil, measure the size of the glass/inside of your frame. This will provide the dimensions of your mat, allowing it to rest comfortably inside the frame. On a durable surface, use your utility knife to cut the mat board to size on the back of the mat. (Tip: Using an outside edge of the board can help you to get away with only having to cut two sides). Using your ruler and pencil again, measure and trace the cutout for your photograph or artwork. You want to cut the opening to be a few centimeters smaller than your art piece, allowing you to tape the photograph to the back of the mat, leaving no gaps between the photograph and the mat board. Starting in a corner, cut your opening with the utility knife in even strokes along the edge of your ruler.

Using masking tape (easy to remove), place a strip of tape along each edge of the photograph’s back, leaving half an inch of the tape (sticky side) exposed. Lay the photograph down with the image facing up. Lay your mat on top of the photograph, centering the cutout over the photograph, press, and hold. (This will be easier than trying to mat the photograph from behind without seeing the front of the image.)

3. Shake it up
If traditional framing and matting leave you feeling boxed in, have fun and be creative. Cover the backing of a frame in decorative wrapping paper from Rock Paper Scissors or O’Su-zannah. Simply tape your photos or art to the wrapped back using double-sided tape for a fun, colorful touch.

Or, pick up an old window sash from The Habitat Store. Clean the glass, and mount photos from behind on each glass pane, using double sided tape.—Ed Warwick

Before joining the ABODE team, Ed Warwick was the author of “Simply Cville,” a blog about D.I.Y. design, entertaining, and home improvement projects. A UVA grad, Ed currently works as the Coordinator of LGBT Student Services under the University’s Dean of Students.

TOOLBOX
Snip snap
Scissors, shears, cutters, nibblers and nippers—It’s a happy family of cutting tools for everything from thin metal to cardboard and tile.

Let’s start with scissors. You probably already have a pair of basic paper cutting scissors hanging around your home or shop, but consider acquiring another pair or two to use for specific materials. Having a pair used exclusively for fabric, one for paper and one for other stuff, such as plastic tags and packaging, will keep the blades sharp and extend the life of your cutting tools. Scissors can be professionally sharpened in order to keep your cutting experience satisfying and safe (Martin Hardware provides sharpening services).

Utility shears are your go-to tool for heavier material such as leather, linoleum and carpeting. Large shears use what is called “compound cutting action,” which provides enough power to cut easily through things like sheet metal. Aviation snips are similar to utility shears but with the added feature of a spring to ease the strain on the hand. These shears also come with the option of a curved blade, which allows for a tighter cutting radius.
If you’ve forgotten the combination to your padlock, then you have most likely experienced the awesome power of the bolt cutter. With short blades and long handles, these babies have enough leverage to cut through chains, bolts and metal rods.

Occasionally, one needs to cut a small odd-shaped hole in sheet metal or plastic. Time to get out the nibbler (awww). Drill a small hole near the middle of the area you need to nibble and insert your nibbler and start munching away with the spring-loaded cutter.

Finally, when you need to cut a notch in tile to fit it around piping or another obstruction, use a nipper. Similar to the nibbler, it bites tiny bits of material away a little at a time.

Unlike heavy-duty, power cutting tools, these varied hand-held cutters, nippers and shears provide controlled, precise and physically satisfying results.—Christy Baker

Christy Baker is a local Jane-of-all-trades. Whether it’s fixing furniture, building a chicken coop or maintaining her roller skates, this creative mom of two always keeps a toolbox (or at least some duct tape) handy.

Kitchen renovations never finish on time. For Matt McClellan, a graduate of UVA’s School of Architecture working toward his license, the process of designing a major addition onto the side of his 1949 house took five months longer than expected. He and his wife, Meredith, bought the house in 2007 and tore the existing kitchen off before they even moved in. When it became evident that things weren’t going to finish on time, the father of three knew to go with the flow in order to get exactly the space he had envisioned: a traditional, simple, stunning kitchen where his family could easily congregate and live life.

“We really wanted a place where we could sit down and eat. We find that we never really use our proper dining room; it’s not really convenient for sitting the kids down for breakfast,” he said. McClellan decided to give the kitchen a turned roof line, perpendicular to the original house. The result is a spacious, light-filled kitchen complete with a massive island, eating area, a mudroom/laundry facility, and plenty of storage and cooking space in between.

The space shows restraint on McClellan’s part. “I wanted to keep it traditional and simple. I didn’t want to try to do too much. At the same time, we wanted a really functional kitchen with materials that spoke for themselves,” McClellan said. Those include a stained cherry island, black granite countertops, custom birch cabinetry painted Dove White, and a white subway tile back-splash that has a slight crackle finish.

While the overall aesthetic is in keeping with the traditional bones of the house, it is in no way an old-fashioned kitchen. “We wanted something that wouldn’t be dated in five or 10 years. We wanted something that has some staying power,” said McClellan. Considering the fact that McClellan claims the family spends 75 percent of their life occupying some part of the kitchen “zone,” his simple, functional, durable design was worth the investment.—Cate West Zahl

“Our old kitchen was really tiny. We realized what a lot of people end up realizing, and that’s that we spend a lot more time in the kitchen, certainly more than the people who built these older houses originally occupied the kitchen. Now it’s definitely more of a family space.

“I’ve always liked stainless. I mean, if I can’t live in some cool loft outfitted with mid-century modern furniture, at least I can have stainless steel appliances! You take what you can get. It’s got a nice clean quality to it.

“The concept of the kitchen was that the black granite countertops would be a durable and attractive workspace. The black-and-white color combination is classic, without feeling too old fashioned. It’s a timeless color scheme that I knew we wouldn’t tire of.

“My only regret is that the three windows are a little too tall, because my wife has a hard time seeing outside the windows. It’s fine for me, and it is nice when you sit at the island.
“I love the light fixtures. I was looking for something round to counterbalance all the edges in the room, which is actually pretty angular and geometric. I got a consultation from designers in town, called Fifth Wall. They helped me pick out the lighting which really keeps the space up to date.

“Meredith was involved in a lot of the decision making. We agreed on almost everything, except for the faucet, which we almost got divorced over. I just had to have it, and she was like, ‘We are not spending that much money on a single fixture!’

“I scoured the Internet for deals. So I ended up buying most of the appliances at discount prices. The stove had been returned and was a floor model. The budget wasn’t going to support doing everything Viking or Wolf. We wanted nice appliances. The refrigerator was a floor model. The process was dragging out for so long, so I left my ame at Ferguson and said, ‘If anything comes in that is dented, I want it, give me a call.’”