To start their 2012 tours, Real Richmond Food Tours and More offered their VCU: Alternative Eats tour to a sold out crowd on a bright, crisp Saturday afternoon January 14th.  Maureen and Susan, tour hosts, take ticket holders on a mile and a half walk through Richmond’s culture, architecture, history – and, naturally Richmond’s food scene.  The tours feature at least seven different areas of the city, seven totally different tours. But, even the same tour experienced several times provides a very different perspective by stopping in different eateries along the way.  Tours are rotated so not all areas are available at the same time.

Today’s tour began at the William Miller House Bed and Breakfast, in the heart of the Fan, just a block from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Monroe Park campus. After a quick briefing about the house, the two guest rooms, and William Miller (the marble carver who built the house in 1869), the group visited the dining room where breakfast is served to guests and the wine room where beverages and hors d’oeuvres are available for guests in the evening as they make their dinner plans.  Pat and Mike explained they began renovations in 1996 (still on-going, an old house is never done!) and opened as an urban inn/bed and breakfast in 2000. Then to the inn’s best feature – the Kitchen, where gourmet breakfasts are prepared for guests!

Real Richmond Food Tour tasted creme caramel at the William Miller House B&B during the VCU: Alternative Eats tour

First Mike had prepared creme caramel!   He explained that this version was a little sweeter than we serve our breakfast guests but it is an alternative for our fresh fruit course. Other options include a lavender panna cotta, surprise yogurt, fruit crepes or any other seasonal offering to feature Virginia’s bounty as a first course. That’s right – it’s just a first course.  After the first course, guests are treated to an entree course served on individual platters.  Real Richmond Food Tours is all about tastes, as they visit 5 or 6 stops along the way – so no entree today!

Mike has been perfecting his sous-vide technique for three years now and decided to spend a few minutes introducing the tour to sous-vide process to the tour.  Sous vide or cooking under pressure is a method of cooking foods in an airtight plastic bag in a water bath at an accurately determined temperature.  The temperature is lower than normally used for cooking, usually around 140 degrees F.  The concept is to cook the item evenly, not overcook the outside. The inside then has the same overall “doneness” and the food stays juicier.  This method is often used for meats and can be used for vegetables, etc.  Eggs come in their own airtight container (their shell) – they don’t need a plastic bag!  Mike offered tour-goers the opportunity to taste one of our fresh from the farm eggs prepared soft-boiled in the sous-vide, served on a toast square.  He was surprised how adventurous this group was; he had many takers. The sous vide technique was introduced to the US mainly through the efforts of Thomas Keller at the French Laundry in Napa Valley.  Here in Richmond, Philip Denny, chef at Six Burner, just a few blocks away and also in the Fan, was the first chef in Richmond approved by the health department to use the technique for guests.

Farm Fresh Eggs ready for their Sous Vide bath

Meyer Lemon Sorbet to cleanse the palate between tastes

To cleanse the palate, tour ticket holders were offered a Meyer Lemon sorbet, served on a Chinese spoon, and garnished with a mint leaf from the inn garden.  Next up, guests were offered pecan squares to go as they hit the streets of the  Fan for their next stops.

Miller House Pecan Squares

These tours are so popular that they sell out quickly and you need to plan in advance to purchase your ticket on-line to reserve your spot. It is a wonderful way to experience Richmond up close and personal!

Brazier Studio and Gallery on West Main Street in Richmond’s Uptown area of the Historic Fan District has announced an art event for October!

Brazier Studio and Gallery Welcomes Kevin Menck

First up is an artist reception with Kevin Menck on October 20, 2011 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM at Brazier Studio and Gallery.  Kevin is a landscape painter who spends hours “en plein aire” outside taking his inspiration and working directly from nature. Kevin, who was born and raised in Tennessee,  fine-tuned the fundamentals of drawing as an illustrator.  Finally, motivated by his love and appreciation for the outdoors, Kevin now paints landscapes from nature capturing not only what he sees but the atmosphere of the moment. During the reception, visitors will be encouraged to meet Kevin,  discuss his inspiration and his process, and view many of his latest works.

As an added bonus, Kevin Menck, will be teaching a PLEIN AIRE Workshop October 21 through October 23, 2011 at Brazier Studio and Gallery. Info and Details.  Advance registration is required for this limited space workshop which features demonstrations in the morning and hands-on painting on location in the afternoon. This is definitely an opportunity not to be missed!

The Brazier Studio and Gallery is just blocks from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in the historic Fan District, on West Main Street – in an area filled with galleries, working artists, restaurants, and around the corner from Richmond’s premier bed and breakfast. Known for its hearty gourmet breakfast each morning, this lodging alternative is the best way to stay in Richmond, Virginia.

Loryn Brazier, a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, has her studio adjacent to the  gallery which proudly represents both impressionist and realist works by dozens of artists. Loryn Brazier is known for both her portraits and her landscapes which hang in corporate offices, in universities, hotels, hospitals, as well as private homes.

On Tuesday, October 4, the American Planning Association announced its list of 2011 Great Places.  The American Planning Association brings together thousands of people — practicing planners, citizens, elected officials — committed to making great communities happen through a professional institute for certified planners and through divisions and chapters as well as student memberships. And, the APA identified Maymont as one of America’s 10 Great Public Spaces in 2011.

What is a public space?

A public space, as defined by the APA, can be a gathering spot or part of a neighborhood, downtown, special district, waterfront or other area within the public realm that helps promote social interaction and a sense of community. Possible examples may include such spaces as plazas, town squares, parks, marketplaces, public commons and malls, public greens, piers, special areas within convention centers or grounds, sites within public buildings, lobbies, concourses, or public spaces within private buildings.

Maymont, of course, is Richmond’s own 100-acre estate near downtown, now a city park with free admission featuring gorgeous gardens, wildlife exhibits, and open spaces perfect to romp and play.

As with all categories of Great Places, it is important to identify what sets a space apart from others spaces so as to qualify it for a Great Spaces designation. Public Spaces must be at least 10 years old, Maymont easily fits the bill having been built just after the Civil War and left by its owners, the Dooleys, to the City.

To be selected as a Great Place in America, a public space must possess the following characteristics:

Promotes human contact and social activities.
Is safe, welcoming, and accommodating for all users.
Has design and architectural features that are visually interesting.
Promotes community involvement.
Reflects the local culture or history.
Relates well to bordering uses.
Is well maintained.
Has a unique or special character.

If you haven’t visited Maymont yet, you should add it to your list to assess its features yourself.  And, if you haven’t visited Richmond, Virginia yet – this is just another site to add to your itinerary.  Maymont joins Monument Avenue, which was designated a Great American Place in 2007. More Information about the program and the American Planning Association.

When planning a visit to Richmond, add Maymont to your list, as well as the State Capitol of Virginia (designed by Thomas Jefferson), the Tiffany windows in St. Paul’s, the gardens and conservatory of Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, a stroll down Monument Avenue, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Virginia Historical Society, the Museum and White House of the Confederacy – and the list goes on! As you can tell, a day won’t do it; to fit it all in, plan a few days and stay in the middle of it all at Richmond’s premier bed and breakfast, home to the hearty gourmet breakfast and located in the historic Fan District.

Make your plans today to attend the 2nd Annual Richmond jazz festival at Maymont.

2nd Annual Jazz Festival in Richmond August 11 - 14, 2011

The jazz starts on August 11th and continues through August 14th, 2011. Last year’s event was a wonderful outdoor music event spanning two days; this year’s will span 4 days!

Jazz kicks off on Thursday August 11th at the newly-renovated Hippodrome in Jackson Ward with local Richmond jazz groups performing  a program titled “Homegrown at the Hipp.”  Doors will open at 6 PM and include great local artists: Joye B Moore, Sharon Rae North, Forte Jazz Band, Shanta “Bunni” Jasper, J. Tucker, Anhayla Stanley, Eric Stanley, and Secret Society. General Admission $20. The Hippodrome is located at 528 North 2nd Street.

On Friday, August 12th, the venue shifts to CenterStage for the Richmond Jazz Festival Kickoff with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Bio Ritmo will open for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the doors of CenterStage will open at 6:30 PM. General Admission $30. Richmond’s CenterStage is located in downtown Richmond at 600 East Grace Street.

The big event all day Saturday and Sunday at Maymont, where gates open at 11:00 AM include such jazz greats as Spyro Gyra, Aaron Neville, the US Army Jazz Ambassadors, Los Lobos, Robin Thicke, and Jazz Attack.  Complete schedule and list of artists.  Day Passes and Weekend Passes are available. Tickets for all events are available on line and at Ticketmaster.  Artists will perform on two separate stages, so wear comfortable shoes to be able to catch it all! The musical selections will be predominantly jazz, but will also include R&B, neo-soul and other genres that add diversity and flavor to the festival!

For the music at Maymont Park, bring a chair, food is permitted but bringing in alcoholic beverages is not.  Maymont is located at 1700 Hampton Street in Richmond, and for the festival only the Hampton Street gate will be open.  Free shuttle service is available for those who park at Dogwood Dell, Richmond City Stadium, or VCU’s parking decks at 801 W Main Street or 1101 West Cary Street.  Enjoy smooth jazz, while taking advantage of products and services sold by vendors on site, scheduled wine tastings and chef demonstrations featuring international cuisine.

Make your plans to attend! You just might find the innkeepers of Richmond’s finest bed and breakfast inn there!

As dusk settles in Shockoe Bottom, an unusual flock of purple martins interrupt their migration to Brazil for a stopover for much of July and August.

Flock of Purple Martins

Their “hotel” of choice is the line of Bradford Pear trees just north of the market. The National Audubon Society is offering free walks and insight into purple martins on Wednesday, July 20, Sunday July 24, Wednesday July 27, and Sunday July 31. Gather at the north corner of the 17th Street Farmers’ Market, at north 17th street, just north of East Main Street. Be there at 7:30 PM!

The “Gone to the Birds” Festival will be held August 6, 2011 from 6 to 9 PM with its purple gelato and take home a gourd to house Martins in your own yard. This is the only urban bird festival where onlookers can experience the phenomenon of Purple Martins rushing to roost in the heart of the city!

Learn more about purple martins! Some of the restaurants around the market will even feature a purple martini!

Here are some wine and chocolate pairing tips from Matt and Tim Gearhart of Gearharts Fine Chocolates, here in Richmond, Virginia.  Gearharts Fine Chocolates is the home of handcrafted confections of uncompromising quality made from premium chocolate, sweet cream and pure butter blended with top quality fruits, nuts, herbs, spices and liquors in their kitchen in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Matt Gearhart presented these tips during a seminar at the Virginia Wine Expo in April and agreed to share them with you.

Tips for Pairing wine and Chocolate

Basics: Wine and chocolate can be very complex individually, so keep it simple with these three basics:

1. select a wine that will be perceived as sweeter than the chocolate

2. chocolate coats your mouth when you eat it, so you’ll need a wine thath’s big enough to cut the richness

3. try to find flavors in both wine and chocolate that are similar to one another.

White Chocolate – though not a true chocolate (it has no cacao), white chocolate is a super-sweet blend of sugar, milk, and cocoa butter. Try it with a sec or demi-sec Champagne, or perhaps a Riesling or Gewurztraminer.

Milk Chocolate – containing a small amount of cacao, milk chocolate is the sweetest of the real chocolates with its high sugar content. Reference Rule One: choose a sweeter wine than the chocolate!

Semisweet Chocolate – containing between 50 to 70 percent cacao, semisweet chocolate is the sweetest of the dark chocolates. With tones that are nutty, spicy, or earthy semisweet dark chocolate has a balanced and less sweet aftertaste than milk or white chocolate. A Cabernet or Bordeaux will usually bring out fruity or peppery nuances in the chocolate; a ruby port is the classic pairing with semisweet chocolate.

Bittersweet Dark Chocolate – containing the least amount of sugar and the greatest amount of cacao ( anywhere from 71 to 100 %), bittersweet dark chocolate has a bitter, roasted flavoring so intense that it needs a strong red wine to balance the taste. Zinfandels are the go-to, but an Australian shiraz or a Spanish grenache might hit the spot! Since these wines are the least sweet, remembering Rule One, your choices can include ports and muscats.

Thanks to Matt and Tim for sharing their chocolate expertise with us. Richmond’s premier bed and breakfast inn in the historic Fan District offers guests a sample of Tim Gearhart’s chocolates on their welcome tray – just another detail that makes a stay a gourmet experience. As an extra added attraction, add an 8 or 16 piece box of Gearharts Fine Chocolates to your reservation and sample an assortment of delectable sweets from one of the best artisan chocolatiers.

If you can’t catch one of the Richmond tours during Historic Garden Week, there’s always the Fan Woman’s Club Annual Kitchen and Garden Tour.

Kitchen and Garden Tour in Richmond's historic Fan District May 1 2011 1-6 PM

This year’s theme, Urban Delights, offers a diverse selection of homes and gardens in Richmond’s historic Fan District. Discover how urban homeowners maximize every inch of space both inside and outside their homes. See how each home has been personalized by its owners who focus on blending historic architectural details with the functionality required by modern families.  The tour features homes across the length of the Fan District, from the 1400-block of Grove to the Boulevard.

The Fan Woman’s Club organizes this tour each spring as its primary fundraiser to support its grants to neighborhood non-profit organizations and its neighborhood improvement activities.  The woman’s club has upgraded park facilities with new benches and plantings and funded new period-appropriate street litter receptacles.  Houses are staffed by volunteers and neighborhood businesses sponsor the event.

The Historic Fan District is an 85-block turn of the century (19th to 20th, that is) residential neighborhood, named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 as the largest intact Victorian neighborhood in the United States. It takes its name from its tree-lined avenues and streets that “fan out” from Monroe Park, adjacent to the academic campus of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Best described as architecturally diverse, the over 2,300 classic town homes feature bay windows, turrets, high ceilings, parquet oak and pine floors, mahogany woodwork, stained and leaded glass, and varied porch and balcony designs. Most homes are brick or brick and brownstone.

At the east end of the Fan, close to Monroe Park, sits a unique clapboard residence on a large corner lot.  Completed before the area gained popularity in 1869, on a parcel purchased in 1862, it is now Richmond’s premier bed and breakfast known for its hearty gourmet breakfasts. A stay in our urban inn is a better way to stay: to experience the Fan neighborhood like a local, to dine in neighborhood eateries, and to enjoy live theater, neighborhood entertainment and nearby museums and attractions.

Easter Sunday brings out that Richmond favorite Easter on Parade.  Not a parade like you would normally expect, where bands and marchers march up the parade route! NO! Here in Richmond Virginia we do it a little differently; you’ll find bands and acts stationary on peoples’ porches along Monument Avenue. Parade go-ers parade up and down Monument Avenue taking part in all the festivities. Instead of an Easter Parade, we call it Easter on Parade – and it’s FREE!.

Monument Avenue's Easter on Parade April 24

Parade site is located on Monument Avenue between Allen and Davis Avenues, between the Robert E Lee and Jefferson Davis monuments.

It’s one of the most beloved of Richmond traditions. Each year more than 25,000 people converge on the four-block site to celebrate the arrival of spring and the beauty of Monument Avenue, taking this once-a-year opportunity to stroll in the streets with cars absent and removed. Music, arts, crafts, children’s activities, food, balloon artistry, a petting zoo, and of course, people and pet watching are all part of the celebration. This is a parade for all Richmonders and visitors to Richmond to come out and participate! Wear a hat or even an entire costume! There’s a hat contest so you better start making yours now.

If you happen to be in town for Easter, take part in this event and remember that the Fan district’s premier bed and breakfast inn is located just a short stroll – a few blocks – from Allen and Monument, giving you the perfect spot to stay and enjoy Easter in Virginia’s capitol city. The William Miller House is known for its hearty gourmet breakfast and it would be a great way to start your day with a stick-to-your-ribs breakfast to power a stroll up and down Monument Avenue!

Legendary rocker Neil Young comes to Richmond’s Landmark Theater on Sunday April 17 as part of his Spring Solo Tour.

Neil Young at the Landmark in Richmond April 17

Young will include songs from his currently acclaimed album, Le Noise, as well as his classic material in both acoustic and electric settings.  Neil recently won his second-ever Grammy for “Best Rock Song” for “Angry World,” a track from Le Noise, which was nominated for Best Rock Album. Neil Young has invited British folk legend Bert Jansch as support for his appearance here in Richmond. Tickets are available from TicketMaster .

Neil Young is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation. Young began performing as a solo artist in Canada in 1960, before moving to California in 1966, where he co-founded the band Buffalo Springfield along with Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, and later joined Crosby, Stills & Nash as a fourth member in 1969. He then forged a successful and acclaimed solo career, releasing his first album in 1968; his career has since spanned over 40 years and 34 studio albums, with a continual and uncompromising exploration of musical styles. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website describes Young as “one of rock and roll’s greatest songwriters and performers”. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame twice: first as a solo artist in 1995, and second as a member of Buffalo Springfield in 1997.

David Blaine is “Pushing the Limits of Human Endurance” as part of Richmond’s Forum on Saturday, April 16 at 8 PM. Blaine will discuss his endurance stunts and love of magic at the Landmark Theater at 6 N Laurel Street in Richmond’s historic Fan District.  Individual tickets are $36 to $70 but are limited so call the Forum office (804) 330-3993 for availability.

David Blaine Magic Endurance Stunts

Originally conceived by members of the First Unitarian Church in Richmond in 1964, the Richmond Public Forum brought internationally and nationally known speakers to Richmond to enlighten, educate, and entertain audiences. Speakers included notables like Henry Kissinger, Shirley Chisholm, and Moshe Dayan – to name a few. In 1980, after 16 years, the Forum ceased operations. In 1986, the Richmond Forum revived as a nonprofit educational organization presenting Ted Koppel, ABC news journalist, as its first program. For over twenty years, The Richmond Forum has presented and produced programs that stimulate, inspire, and inform its patrons.  Many of which have been “one and only” type events – available no where else. Tickets are available on a subscription basis, but often single event tickets are available.

The Landmark Theater opened in 1927 after seven years of planning and two years of construction. The theater was purchased by the City of Richmond from the Shriners in 1940 and the City embarked on a renovation to restore its splendor in 1994/5. Some of America’s greatest entertainers have appeared on stage beneath its towering minarets and desert murals. The Landmark is also home to the Broadway in Richmond series, featuring Broadway plays and musicals.

The Landmark Theater, at 6 N. Laurel Street, is within walking distance, just blocks from Richmond’s premier bed and breakfast, located in the historic Fan District. When events at the Landmark are on your schedule, make an overnight at our urban inn part of the plans for a very special treat.