Here’s a quick rundown of a few upcoming Charlottesville events heading into the holiday weekend. It’s a hodgepodge, but we didn’t want to let these fall off readers’ radars:
The First United Church of Charlottesville (101 E. Jefferson St.) is slipping in some community service between services this weekend. From 9am-noon Saturday, volunteers will be packaging wholesome meals for the hungry as part of a local Stop Hunger Now event. Volunteers from the church and community will package dehydrated meals with long shelf lives for the Raleigh-based hunger relief agency, which works nationally and around the world to deliver food to hungry families, school lunch programs, and orphanages.
Members of the local chapter of Organizing for Action—the reorganized Obama campaign group, now acting as a nonprofit community organizing outfit—is holding an “SOS bake sale” Saturday on the Downtown Mall. In addition to treats, they intend to serve up some ironic food for thought about pending cuts to education due to sequestration: Albemarle County schools are looking at a hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost federal funding, so they’re hawking cupcakes and cookies at a dollar apiece to offset the deficit—or rather, to drive home its magnitude. Included in the press release on the event: “Cookie sales may not quite cover the amount being cut.”
You’ve got a few more days to get up to speed on the upcoming special election for Charlottesville Treasurer. Set for April 2, it will be the first special election in the city in more than a decade. Interim treasurer Jason Vandever, who has been filling in since Jennifer Brown stepped down from the position last year, is running to keep his seat. He’s being challenged by independent retired UVA professor John Pfaltz.
Take a look around a few wine cellars. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Now tell me: What’s the one thing that is missing or grossly underrepresented in most of them? Vintage port? ’61 Bordeaux? That wild Jura wine the guy at the wine shop told you about? Close, at least, on the last one.
By and large, most wine collections suffer from a severe lack of ageable white wines—an affliction I’ve long been dedicated to curing.
Why are red wines considered the meat of any good cellar, but whites are simply something to keep around for when you cook fish or “that couple” comes over? Much of the problem can be attributed to the fact that so few wines, white or red, are built to age. By most professional assessments, less than 10 percent of red wine is something worth cellaring, and that figure drops off the charts for white wines. In fact, most white wines really are best drunk “fresh,” meaning within two or three years of fermentation.
It’s no wonder, then, that these wines are overlooked by most, especially those with limited space to store wine properly. But just as with red wine, finding cellar whites is simply a matter of looking for the right characteristics when the wines are young.
The first thing to seek out is acidity. The main reason that most wines, red or white, can’t survive past the five-year mark is lack of acid. It’s a preservative, and it fades over time, so a wine that seems too tart and acidic now might just be perfect in 10 or 15 years. For winemakers, therein lies the problem: With most wine drinkers, bracing acid (even in a white wine) is often too intense, and gets shunned pretty quickly. Not by you, though. Not anymore.
Of course, with any wine, the single most important aspect is balance, so a wine that is loaded with electric acidity is going to need body and richness to even the scales. This simply means wines with more residual sugar and a fuller, viscous texture. So often, though, people are quick to shun “sweeter” wines like Spatlese Rieslings and demi-sec Vouvrays, but the problem in most of those cases is the mirror of the acidity quandary: Most sweet(er) wines like this lack the proper acidity to create proper balance.
As you can see, the rarity of ageable white wine is understandable, but it is not acceptable. There exists an entire realm of amazing wine out there, right under our noses, for (oftentimes) a pittance.
From Loire Valley, France: Chenin Blanc. From Vouvray and Mont-Louis to Savennieres and Coteaux du Layon, the Loire Valley is home to many of the most amazing white wines on the planet. Chenin Blanc grows here like nowhere else, and its winemakers know how to treat it. These are wines of such amazing depth, focus, and grace that ignoring them in your cellar for a decade or two almost seems like a cruel joke—that is, until you taste a 15-year-old Vouvray Moelleux, and your life is forever changed.
From Alsace, France: Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Gewurtztraminer, and Muscat. Alsace is magnificent country located at the base of the Vosges mountains, facing Germany—in fact, much of the culture there is decidedly Bavarian, including the winemaking styles. While you won’t see the same strict adherence to Riesling that you will in Germany, the wines are, as with many of those from Germany, often built to last. Riesling is considered king, but seek out some Vendange Tardive (late harvest) and SGN (dessert wine) for aging and you will be highly rewarded.
From Bordeaux, France: Sauternes. Even most casual wine drinkers are familiar with Sauternes—the sometimes-syrupy golden dessert wine that boasts the only non-red “First Growth” designation in Chateau D’Yquem. And while that wine fetches a hefty tariff, there is a plethora of more affordable offerings out there. What many people don’t know is that balanced Sauternes—those with enough acidity to stand up to the sweetness—age incredibly well.
From Germany: Riesling. This is the place for Riesling, and it’s how most people know that varietal. Unfortunately, there has been a glut of sweeter Rieslings in the U.S. without the proper acidic balance, which has scared many people away from them. You just need to give Riesling another chance, though. Again, finding the right balance is key. If an Auslese Riesling is flabby and lacking acid when it’s young, well, it’s not going to be any better in a few years. But a sweeter Spatlese with electric acidity can often live for a decade or more, and turn into something transcendental.—Evan Williams
Evan Williams is a co-founder of The Wine Guild of Charlottesville. Find out more at wineguildcville.com.
Giacomo Guardi’s “View of the Piazza San Marco” is a cheerful example of the gouache technique. Courtesy of The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA.
Frederick and Lucy S. Herman began collecting drawings as college students, and over the ensuing 50 years amassed a considerable collection of more than 250 works on paper that showcase the myriad techniques and approaches within the field. Produced between the years 1530 and 1945, these drawings run the gamut. There are religious and genre scenes, portraiture, landscape and social satire. Visual interest seems to be the common thread linking them. Executed in chalk, pen and ink, gouache, or charcoal, some are informal sketches, others studies for paintings, and still others are stand-alone works of art.
UVA’s Fralin Museum of Art features a selection of drawings from the Herman’s sizeable collection curated by McIntire Department of Art’s Lawrence O. Goedde. Most of the works were donated to the museum in 2006-07 for the instruction of the University’s students. Working with the drawings has enabled art history students not only to examine original artworks, but also to gain an understanding of the role drawing plays in the creative process. Here, the research done by graduate and undergraduate students has resulted in important new discoveries pertaining to the attributions and subject matter. The collection should also naturally serve as a vital teaching tool for studio art students; how better to learn techniques than by seeing them so consummately employed?
Beginning with the elegant “Study for St. Kunigunda,” c. 1528-1532, attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger or his workshop, which depicts the courtly saint regarding a jeweled cross. It’s a wonderful record of 16th century fashion, beautifully drawn and highly detailed right down to the many rings that grace St. Kunigunda’s fingers. Nearby is “Young Man from the Rear, Holding a Distaff and Spindle,” Anonymous c. 1510-1550, a drawing that has been pounced (pierced along its lines) so that it can be readily transferred. This technique was used to place the outline of an image on a surface that would later be painted and also in woodcuts. Given the subject matter—the man’s lost his pants and carries two items (spindle and distaff) that were signs of women’s work, as well as evidence of his emasculation, one could imagine that it would be made for the latter purpose with multiple versions of this cautionary tale disseminated. However, according to the wall piece, no such prints exist.
Moving from bathos to pathos we come to the figure study for “And the Sea Gave up the Dead Which Were in It,” 1882-1884, by Frederic Leighton. Though it is a study, the placement of the three figures has the gravitas of a finished work and the tortuous rendering of the shrouds’ drapery seems to provide a metaphor for the tortured state of the souls.
Luca Cambiaso’s “The Arrest of Christ,” 1570-1575, is astonishing. The figures have a severe, modern quality and their movement—literally blown off their feet by the force of the energy emanating from the Christ figure (depicted by radiating lines) is unexpected. Across the room, Cambiaso’s “Two Figures” is more conventional, but as a quick study has an appealing immediacy and fluidity.
The “View of the Piazza San Marco,“ early 19th century, by Giacomo Guardi was evidently made for the tourist trade. It’s a charming little Venetian Valentine, a precise rendering of the piazza’s architecture with perfect little dots of paint describing the people walking about the square. Above, delicate clouds drift against a cerulean sky, smoke floats up from a chimney and on a rooftop one can spot clothes drying on a line. Delightful, small references to quotidian existence in this iconic place.
Claude Hoin’s “Portrait of a Man,” 1770-1790, is not only beautifully rendered, but is an extraordinarily sympathetic portrayal of an individual. It’s a fitting work from the Age (albeit the tail-end) of Enlightenment.
“The Four Disgracers: Icarus, Phaeton, Tantalus, and Ixion,” Anonymous c. 18th century is a heroic depiction of the masculine form. Seen from below, the figures seem to tumble down through space at us.
An unusual nocturnal scene, “Pastoral Landscape with a Peasant and his Flock at Night,” c. 1760-1771, by Philip James de Loutherbourg, features white chalk used with deftness to create the effect of moonlight. It’s a stylish, evocative piece.
For those familiar with Francois Boucher’s saccharine paintings, his “Farmyard Scene,” 1733-1766, is refreshingly down to earth, drawn with confidence, simplicity, and dash.
Other works of note include Tiepolo’s “Head of a Youth,” Tomas Ender’s “Study of Trees with Three Figures in a Landscape,” c. 1815, Carl Friedrich Schulz’s “Faust in his Study,” 1822, Caspar Johann Nepomuk Scheuren’s “Hermit Reading in a Mountain Valley,” c. 1840-1850, and Nicolaes Pietersz Berchem’s “Winter Scene on a Frozen Canal,” c. 1647.
“Traces of the Hand” presents a rich and varied survey of drawing, adeptly making the case that drawings have the power to give you a more intimate understanding of an artist than any other art form. It’s as Goedde says in his accompanying text: “In contrast to paintings and sculptures… drawings record the movements of the artist’s hand, and through these traces of the artist’s touch, we can decipher hand, eye, and imagination coordinating in the intensity of the creative moment itself.”
Through May 26 “Traces of the Hand: Master Drawings from the Collection of Frederick and Lucy S. Herman”/The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia
Aziz Ansari promises an evening of “bewilderment and disillusion” when he brings his stand-up comedy act to the Paramount. Image: Publicity photo
Victory laugh
In 2007, when MTV’s sketch comedy and surprise hit “Human Giant” was just underway, Aziz Ansari seemed the likely breakout star among the trio at the show’s helm. His trajectory in the following two years would prove this—paying comedic dues in the Judd Apatow flick Funny People, cropping up on fan favorite “Scrubs,” and starring alongside twitch-happy Jesse Eisenberg in 30 Minutes or Less. But it’s his role as the perpetually underachieving entrepreneur Tom Haverford in “Parks and Recreation” that shot Ansari to the level of recognition he brings with his Buried Alive touring routine to venues across the nation. Heck, he’s even driving sports cars in dangerous circles with the likes of Kanye West and Jay-Z.
Sunday 3/31 $39, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 979-1333.
Eboni Bugg and friends of The Women's Initiative chart the route for Saturday's launch of "Walk it Out."
“Change occurs when there’s an element of community involved and we can support one another,” said Eboni Bugg of The Women’s InitiativeWalk It Out campaign. The Women’s Initiative will host weekday walking groups at the Jefferson School City Center. The walking groups will focus on building community and providing mutual support while relieving stress.
“The Jefferson School City Center engagement team was adamant about identifying opportunities to bring health and wellness to this community. Walking is a free, low-impact way to gradually improve one’s health,” said Bugg.
Walk it Out will kick off on Saturday, March 30 from 2 to 4 pm at Martha Jefferson’s Starr Hill Health Center at the Jefferson School. Joining the event will be Mark Lorenzoni of the Charlottesville Ten-Miler training program and Ragged Mountain Running Shop; Nurse Practitioner Miranda Trent from Martha Jefferson’s Starr Hill Health Center; and Mike Inge, yoga instructor from Common Ground Healing Arts. They will provide tips for training and staying motivated and provide a stretching demonstration.
“It’s difficult to make healthy changes. But, we can support one another and motivate one another. Our route will begin at the Jefferson School City Center and will travel through 10th and Page, Fifeville, and Westhaven,” said Bugg. “While the exercise will energize us, the most important part is building community.”
Individuals can sign up for a walking group with routes starting from the Jefferson School City Center by contacting Eboni Bugg, LCSW, at 434-202-7692 or ebugg@thewomensinitiative.org.
Bookmobile at the Jefferson School City Center
The Jefferson-Madison Regional Library’s Bookmobile will be at the Jefferson School City Center on 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month. The bookmobile has its own collection and carries 1800 to 2000 books to each stop. Patrons can place holds on materials and pick them up at their respective stops. Patrons may also request materials on particular subjects to be delivered to a patron’s stop. Materials borrowed from the bookmobile may be returned to any JMRL location and materials from other JMRL locations may be returned to the bookmobile.
The bookmobile sits low to the ground and has a ramp instead of steps to make it easily accessible. It brings library services to many people in our community who would not have access otherwise. The bookmobile service is frequently used by the seniors at JABA’s Mary Williams Community Center at the Jefferson School City Center.
Diabetes screening a success
Registered dietician Rita P. Smith (right), explains the fine print on the list of ingredients in packaged food.
Thirty-seven individuals took advantage of the free blood sugar screening on Diabetes Awareness Day on March 26. The free service was offered at The Jefferson School City Center by Martha Jefferson’s Starr Hill Health Center. Diabetes is a disease that affects about 27 million Americans, or 8.3% of the U.S. population. The screening enabled people to check for potential signs of the disease.
“Seventeen percent of those we screened were found to be at risk for diabetes. That means we attracted the people we wanted to attract— people at risk at a higher rate than the American Diabetes Association estimate,” said Jackie Martin, Starr Hill Health Center Director.
Rita P. Smith, registered dietician with Martha Jefferson, also met with many individuals interested in learning about food choices that can affect blood sugar levels.
Child Care at the Jefferson School City Center
The YMCA child care facility at the Jefferson School City Center offers many scholarships to families needing low-cost childcare. Scholarships are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year.
B.B.’s Kids Scholarship Fund at the YMCA helps enable children to receive affordable quality child care. It is named after Barbara Brown, a former child care center director who believes no child should be turned away because of income. For more information on childcare scholarships, contact Ikea Prince, kprince@piedmontymca.org.
Free Roller Skating at Carver Rec
Free Roller Skating time is offered at Carver Recreation on most Friday evenings from 5 to 8 pm and Sunday afternoons from 1 to 6 pm. Skates are provided or patrons are welcome to bring their own skates or rollerblades. However, on Friday, April 5, Roller Skating will begin at 6 pm instead of 5 pm due to another scheduled event.
Jefferson School City Center is a voice of the nine nonprofits located at Charlottesville’s intergenerational community center, the restored Jefferson School. We are a legacy preserved . . . a soul reborn . . . in the heart of Cville!
Albemarle County Supervisor Chris Dumler in an October mug shot. Photo courtesy of Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.
The petition to remove Albemarle County Supervisor Chris Dumler from office will be scrutinized in court next Tuesday, despite the fact that the Office of the Registrar has yet to verify the more than 580 signatures gathered by opponents of the embattled official, who plead guilty to misdemeanor sexual battery earlier this year after being arrested in 2012 for forcible sodomy.
Scottsville resident Earl Smith organized the petition effort, turning to a rarely referenced state statute that allows voters to ask a judge to force elected officials out of office by gathering the signatures of 10 percent of the total number of voters in the last election in the official’s precinct. That meant Smith and those who helped him crisscross southern Albemarle in search of support in recent weeks needed 372 registered Scottsville voters. Smith wanted a buffer of extra names—in part because history has shown petitioning for removal of an official isn’t easy. In fact, no one can point to a successful removal petition in recent state history.
Nobody’s even attempted it in Albemarle in recent decades, said County Circuit Court Clerk Debra Shipp, who has worked for the court for nearly forty years. “Never,” she said.
Just what would happen after Smith turned the petition in to the court Tuesday was cause for some confusion among officials and media this week. Shipp’s office originally told reporters that Judge Cheryl Higgins had 10 days to see that the signatures were verified by County Registrar Jake Washburne and his staff before serving Dumler with the petition and setting a hearing date to examine the removal argument. Then came the announcement of the hearing, and word that the verification process was on hold.
That’s not what the State Board of Elections had said to expect, said Washburne, but then, “the exact, specific procedure is not spelled out in the code,” he said.
What is spelled out in Virginia state code § 24.2-233 are the specific instances that can lead to an official being forced to step down—and they’re very limited: certain marijuana misdemeanors, hate crimes, and “For neglect of duty, misuse of office, or incompetence in the performance of duties when that neglect of duty, misuse of office, or incompetence in the performance of duties has a material adverse effect upon the conduct of the office.”
That’s the one Smith worded his petition to emphasize. He doesn’t know if it will pass muster in court, but he says he needed to try.
“I am not a political person,” Smith said Thursday. “I didn’t do this for any reason other than that I thought it was the right thing.” He said he feels for Dumler, who is now serving a 30-day sentence on weekends. Smith thought the 27-year-old had done a good job as a Supervisor, but he doesn’t think Dumler’s claim that what’s happened in his personal life won’t affect his leadership rings true.
“You took the trust and the faith and the energy of the public and you threw it away for a bad choice in your personal life,” he said. “You are the person who’s supposed to make their hopes and dreams come true in the county they live in. For the three or four years that you’ve promised to do that, you should be a model person.”
Tina Fey and Paul Rudd star in the not-so-serious soul searcher Admission.
Comedy neutral: Admission struggles to find a balance between humor and drama
Some movies are serious comedies. Others are dramas that happen to be funny. Then there’s Admission, which can’t make up its mind which it is, and is subsequently neither.
At Admission’s center is Tina Fey, who stretches beyond playing the straight man and being the butt of every other character’s jokes (as often was the case on “30 Rock”). She’s Portia Nathan, an admissions officer at Princeton, who’s contacted by John Pressman (Paul Rudd), a teacher at a hippie- friendly type school in Keene, N.H.
Pressman has a senior in his class who has terrible grades, but aced the SAT and the AP exams (without taking AP courses). He’s also a heavy reader, and self-taught about most things.
And he’s adopted. And his birth date happens to be an important date to Portia. And Pressman puts two and two together.
That sounds like a spoiler, but it’s really a McGuffin—a plot device used to kick the story into action. Because once Portia learns about the senior, Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), she begins to question everything in her life.
Why, for example, has she stayed at the same job for 16 years? Why is her job in education? Why does she stay with the same boyfriend for a decade when there’s clearly no passion between them? Why is her mother (a welcome Lily Tomlin) such a jerk to her? Why is she afraid of personal risk?
Why, the filmmakers ask us? They demand that we care! And it’s hard to care. Director Paul Weitz (most recently he directed the not-comedy Being Flynn) gets stuck between the jokes (Portia gets roped into delivering a calf at the hippie school with John and Jeremiah) and the drama (the whole what’s-best-for-our-kids motif), and the rhythm is off.
None of that would be difficult to swallow if the gags were funny and didn’t come across as time-fillers. Rudd downplays most of the comedy in a way that makes it seem like he’s compensating for the screenplay’s straight-up silly turns.
Still, the movie gets some things right. Portia’s initial reaction to meeting Jeremiah and learning, maybe, who he is, feels authentic. So does her reaction after she bumps into him during a Princeton tour.
What feels inauthentic is much of everything else. For example, do the filmmakers know how far apart Princeton, N.J., and Keene, N.H. are? Do the filmmakers realize Lily Tomlin is really funny, and is wasted in the role of a bitter hippie? Is there any way the ventriloquism show would actually produce the effect it does in the end?
Sure, seeing those scene descriptions railroaded next to each other doesn’t make much sense. Neither does much of Admission. At least the movie proves that Tina Fey can carry a picture (even if it’s not so good), and Paul Rudd can rein it in, which he hasn’t done often outside The Object of My Affection and The Shape of Things. On the whole, though, Admission’s studio should have denied it like so many kids Princeton turns away.
Admission/PG-13, 107 minutes /Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
Playing this week
A Good Day to Die Hard Carmike Cinema 6
Argo Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6
Beautiful Creatures
Carmike Cinema 6
The Call Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
The Croods 3D
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
Django Unchained
Carmike Cinema 6
Emperor Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6
Escape From Planet Earth Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
Carmike Cinema 6
Happy People: A Year in
the Taiga
Vinegar Hill Theatre
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Carmike Cinema 6
Identity Thief Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
The Incredible Burt
Wonderstone
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
Jack the Giant Slayer
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
The Last Exorcism Part II Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
Life of Pi Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6
Lincoln Carmike Cinema 6
Olympus Has Fallen
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
Murph: The Protector
Regal Downtown Mall Cinema 6
Oz the Great and Powerful Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
At Buttz BBQ, you can mix and match Texas Red with Sweet Mustard, Alabama White or the heater Haba Haba. Photo: Preston Long
Barbecue can be so vexing—like one of those vague memories you can’t decide whether it ever really happened, or you maybe just dreamt it. You’ll be driving around the ragged streets of North Philadelphia trying to find that vacant lot where some guy had a half-barrel smoker and was selling brisket and ribs wrapped in wax paper, making change out of his pocket. Was it a Saturday, or maybe a weekday? I thought it was hot outside, or maybe it was winter. Could it have been Brooklyn?
Then there’s always the idle smoker along the side of the road in Carolina. Cold, black steel welded together as tight as a battleship. Where, oh where, could the wonderful man be who’s going to fire this thing up one day and bring us the joy of hot, tender pork?
And it’s utter folly to send a friend to a place that you just happened across. A harmonica player from Kansas City talked trash about me for months, calling into question the reliability of my witness in the barbecue realm, over a barbecue mix up in Georgia. He and his band took a pork-seeking diversion while on tour to try out a place that I had recommended.
I called up the harp player after their tour. “Hey Ernie, what gives?”
“The meat was all watery and the sauce was thin and tasteless?”
“You went to Sam’s off of Route 92?”
“Yeah, Sam and Son’s on Route 52?”
“Criminy. Not Sam and SON’s. I’ve never even heard of that place.”
Apparently I haven’t learned my lesson, because, while Belmont Bar-B-Que dutifully collects Best of C-VILLE awards year after year, and the vaunted Barbecue Exchange lies a bit beyond my range, I’m about to tell you about a self-described “cue-ologist” who will be about as easy to find as the UPS driver that just left the failed delivery slip on your door while you were in the shower. Barry, from Lake Anna, introduces himself as B, as in B Blues BBQ. That’s his smoker sitting at the Joy Imperial gas station on High Street. He smoked there for a few weekends but now sells his pork mostly at the Batesville Store on weekends and in Lake Anna during the week. B is a man of many hats. A snowboard instructor by trade, he learned how to smoke meat back when he had a frame shop in Manassas and spent his off hours at his cousin’s barbecue place.
“He told me, if you’re gonna sit around here all night, I’m gonna put you to work,” said B. That’s where B learned barbecue. He serves pulled pork sandwiches, smoked with mostly hickory but sometimes apple or cherry wood.
He pulls the meat off of a shoulder and mixes in either his Memphis-style sweet red sauce, or a vinegar-based Carolina sauce. I had the Memphis mix with some hot sauce thrown in. Tremendous stuff. As good a sandwich as you’ll get around here. Later that same evening, I tried B Blues BBQ’s pork ribs, dry-rubbed. I wolfed them down like a pre-lingual savage.
Jinx, who has smoked his wondrous pork for 13 years at Pit’s Top, a couple gravestones southeast of Meade on East Market Street, is a Mississippi native, but that’s not where he learned about meat. “The only thing I learned in Mississippi was to get the hell out of there,” he said. He grew up outside of Chicago but got spiritualized about swine when he spent time with family in western Kentucky.
He studied art history in college but, “it didn’t take. I was always meant for food,” he said.
Many pit masters have day jobs and indulge their passion for meat on the side. For Jinx, you get the sense that smoking pork is something he is compelled toward out of a higher calling. And he’s a purist. A handwritten menu in his shack lists coleslaw with the caveat “not recommended” in parentheses. I asked about the slaw and Jinx shot me a glance like I was trying to pass him a joint in church.
“No, I don’t recommend it,” he said. “Slaw is not in barbecue, that’s B-B-Q,” he said, pointing to placard on the counter that explains the difference. “I don’t have any anyway.”
Jinx’s pulled pork is stupendous. World class. And he’s not afraid to leave some gooey, juicy fat in the serving. He goes so light on the sauce you’re not certain there’s actually any there. All the better, because it’s like pork pudding, served on thin white bread.
Ace Biscuit & Barbecue, opened by a former sous chef last summer on Henry Avenue, serves ’cue with a broad range of side options to build yourself a multi-course lunchtime feast. There’s evidence of experimentation inspired by culinary curiosity here, but it’s solid, fat-free meat just the same.
For the biggest selection of sauces, Buttz BBQ on Elliewood Avenue is your place. You can mix and match Texas Red with Sweet Mustard, Alabama White or the heater Haba Haba. There’s also beer (it is the Corner after all) and rumblings of dinner hours in the works.
Guinevere Higgins gets her hands dirty in her Belmont yard. The owner of Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest shares her suggestions for getting your garden going this spring. Photo: John Robinson.
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
Longer days, birdsong, and the return of warmer weather make it easy to incorporate that Margaret Atwood adage into your spring routine. With a relatively long and cold winter more or less behind us, it’s time to get back into the garden. Warm days send us scrambling out into the yard, eager to get to work. But what to do first? It’s tempting to throw some seeds in the ground in anticipation of fresh, homegrown veggies, but it’s also important to take a little time to do some preparation to improve soil health and make sure you’re planting the right seeds at the right time.
Soil testing
Spring is the ideal time to have your garden soil tested. A laboratory test will tell you the soil’s pH, percent organic matter, and nutrient and trace mineral profile. Some tests will also tell you if heavy metals are present, which is important to know if you’re a woman of child-bearing age or you plan to garden with kids.
I recommend the test from UMASS Amherst’s Soil and Plant Tissue Testing Laboratory (soiltest.umass.edu/); for $15, the lab will provide results for all of the above soil properties and provide recommendations for organic amendments. Testing kits are also available through our local Albemarle County Cooperative Extension office (offices.ext.vt.edu/albemarle).
Allow about two weeks between sending your soil sample and receiving your results by e-mail, and do keep in mind that many organic soil amendments including lime (to correct for low pH), bone meal (to add phosphorous), and trace minerals can take months to have an impact.
Compost, compost, compost
The key to successful organic vegetable production has little to do with the plants themselves and everything to do with the soil in which they’re grown. Healthy soil produces healthy plants that are less susceptible to pests and diseases and confer greater nutritional value to those who eat them. What’s the easiest and most effective way to ensure healthy soil? Add compost.
Compost is organic matter that has been broken down by naturally occurring microorganism decomposers. It adds plant-available nutrients to the soil, improves its water-holding capacity, inoculates it with beneficial microorganisms that help feed plants, and provides food for earthworms and other beneficial insects that improve soil structure and add nutrients of their own. If you do only one thing to improve your garden soil this spring, add compost. Local high-quality sources include Panorama Paydirt in Earlysville (www.panoramapaydirt.com) and Black Bear Composting in Crimora (www.blackbearcomposting.com).
Early spring plantings
Now is the time to begin seeding early plantings of lettuce, peas, fava beans, carrots, radishes, turnips, beets, arugula, kale, swiss chard, spinach, cabbage, potatoes, broccoli, collards and onions directly in the garden. As seeds sprout in the coming weeks (or don’t—early spring germination can be tricky!), plan to fill in with seedlings that you have started indoors or purchased from area nurseries or the City Market.
Hankering to plant tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers and squash? Hang tight; we have to wait until after our last frost (usually sometime in mid- to late-April) before those crops can be planted, as they’re not as cold-hardy. If you can’t shake the urge, try planting these seeds in pots indoors for transplanting later in the season.
Happy spring!—Guinevere Higgins
Guinevere Higgins is owner of Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest, which provides consultation on home-scale edible gardens. When she’s not gardening, she works in fundraising with Buford Middle School’s City Schoolyard Garden and the Center for a New American Dream.
Credited as a groundbreaker, DJ Shadow still gets top props as he tours on his first full-length in years, The Less You Know, The Better. Image: Publicity photo
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Endtroducing… dropped all the way back in 1996, but DJ Shadow’s experiment in instrumental hip-hop brought the man unexpected acclaim, and a sound that is still influencing artists across genres. He’s retreated back to the underground in the years since his debut, but Shadow remains just as invested in perfecting and pushing the contemporary musical scope. 2011’s The Less You Know, The Better sees him dabbling in dubstep and trip-hopping through a cycle of instruments. Old dogs and new tricks are finally getting their due.
Thursday 3/28 $25, 9pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 245-4980.
