Richmond Musts with Deep South Details

Happy Hump Day, readers!

Today is actually my "Friday" as I am headed to Charleston tomorrow for one of my best friend Anna's bachelorette party! I am feeling really sad about leaving our Millie girl, but know she will be in good hands with Bryce. I let him know that I expect lots of pictures of the baby throughout the weekend.

Today I am excited to share a recent interview I did with the Dana and Kendell of the podcast Deep South Details.

I first met Dana in April while at the Southern C Summit in Charleston. We had a great chat over cocktails at The Striped Pig Distillery. She was so down to earth and had me laughing while we talked. That being said, I was thrilled to hear from her partner in crime, Kendell a few weeks ago, asking me to come on the podcast to talk about Richmond. Since getting to know Kendell, she is just as much fun as Dana, and the two are certainly a dynamic duo.

Their timing was also perfect, as I am planning to launch a new series on the blog called "Richmond Musts" later this summer. So much is happening in my hometown, and I regularly get emails asking for Richmond recommendations. I thought a series devoted to all the fun happenings would be a great fit for the blog. In the interview I covered Must Eat, Must Drink, and Must Do as a sneak peek of what's to come in the series.

Click here to listen to my interview..I guarantee after listening to one episode of the Deep South Details you'll be hooked and wanting to listen to more. I love listening while I'm getting ready in the mornings.

You'll hear me spill all the details on the following favorite spots:

MUST EAT

Edo's Squid

Heritage

Shagbark (blog post here!)

MUST DRINK

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery

Ardent Craft Ales

Blue Bee Cider

Quirk Hotel

MUST DO

Maymont Park

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts or "VMFA" for short

Monument Avenue

I always find it funny hearing bloggers actual voices for the first time!

So tell me, what are some of the musts for YOUR hometown?

Have you listened to Deep South Details before?

What else would you like to see on my Richmond Musts list? So far the plan is to cover Must Eat, Must Drink, Must Do, and Must Shop. Anything else I should add?

Have a great day!

Shagbark Soft Opening

Happy Tuesday, readers!

Good weekend?

The most exciting part of ours was getting the chance to attend a soft opening at Bryce's stepbrother's new restaurant, Shagbark! We are so proud of his stepbrother, Walter, and let's just say the new restaurant did not disappoint!

We ate at a high top table in the bar area, and I have to say, it's my favorite space in the restaurant. There is lots of natural light, gorgeous grass cloth wallpaper, custom lighting, and stunning oil paintings!

The name Shagbark pays homage to a Shagbark Hickory Tree which was used to create the communal table in the restaurant. Our hightop was also cut from the Shagbark, as you can see above. The tree used for the project came from a property on the James River. It's important to mention this, because the entire restaurant pays homage to the bounty of Virginia. The shagbark tables, the art on the walls, and just about everything on the menu is hyper local, from right here in Virginia. 

We sipped on cocktails while salivating over the menu. Bryce had the Shagbark Sour pictured above and I had the Shagbark Smash.

We started with the Manakintowne Farms Squash Blossoms and Chicken Fried Chesapeake Bay Oysters. The squash blossoms, were fried with an herbed goat cheese, roasted peppers, tomato coulis and basil oil. The goat cheese reminded me of a creamy pimiento cheese and complimented the blossoms so well! We were also, as always, excited for Walter's oysters! He fries them up regularly at family dinners, so I was pleased to see how he put a restaurant spin on them. They were served with Byrd Mill stone ground grits, shoots & sprouts, dill pickle remoulade, and Tabasco butter. The oysters were scrumptious, and it was a real treat also getting to indulge in some grits!

For entrees, I ordered the Pan Roasted Carolina Grouper and Bryce chose the Autumn Olive Farms Berkabaw Pork Chop.

I can never resist a well prepared fish dish, and well prepared this certainly was! The grouper came with Victory Farms spring leeks, Florida rock shrimp, sweet corn, parmesan risotto, and champagne-citrus butter. I ate every bite.

Bryce's pork chop came with black sticky rice, roasted sweet potato, garlic broccolini, and lime-scented coconut curry broth. It was so juicy and good! 

And of course, we couldn't resist dessert! We shared the dark chocolate tart, which came with chocolate ganache, banana ice cream, and candied peanuts. It was heavenly and I especially can't wait to enjoy the banana ice cream again sometime soon!

Before leaving, I had to snap a photo of these gorgeous Shagbark panels!

To get the recipe for Walter's delicious chicken fried oysters, which was featured in Garden and Gun, click here. 

You can read an additional Garden and Gun spread from a couple of years ago, featuring Walter, as well as several other top Southern chefs here. The piece, titled "For Love of the Game" shares a hunt on the same James River farm where the Civil War-era Shagbark Hickory in the restaurant originally grew.

And last, but not least, my favorite piece leading up to Shagbark's debut, can be read here.

For those of you in the Richmond area, Shagbark officially opens to the public for dinner service tomorrow. However, the restaurant is unofficially open to the public tonight. If you're in the mood for an amazing meal tonight, stop by! Your tastebuds will not regret it!

Are you a local?

What are your favorite Richmond eateries?

Have a great day!

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RdV Vineyards

Happy Monday readers!

Did y'all have a good weekend?

Ours was jam-packed, but super fun nonetheless! Erin's baby shower was a huge success (post coming Friday) and last night we had friends over for dinner. Today is definitely going to be a struggle, as I am worn out!

Today I am excited to be sharing our Valentine's weekend visit to RdV Vineyards with you!

As y'all know, we typically keep Valentine's Day pretty low key. We still did that this year, however, Bryce surprised me with a tasting and tour at RdV Vineyards on the day after Valentine's.

We had an 11:00 am tour and enjoyed the scenic, snowy drive.

This was our view upon arrival!

The architect behind the gorgeous building was Neumann Lewis Buchanan. You can see more detail of his work at RdV here. The silo pays homage to the agricultural tradition of the region.

When we arrived we were asked to keep our coats on, as the power was out (if you recall we had also lost power the night before), and were greeted with champagne. I was absolutely in awe of the design of the space. It was obvious that every single detail was purposeful and planned. I especially couldn't get enough of the orange tulips mixed with the rustic cowhides an skull above the fireplace.

While we sipped on champagne, we were told the history of RdV. Named for its founder, Rutger de Vink, RdV first debuted its wine in 2008. Rutger has a background in the marine corps and business, but felt a calling to winemaking in 2000. Shortly after that he "pestered" Jim Law, the father of winemaking in Virginia to take him on as an apprentice. After his apprenticeship and a trip to Bordeaux the next step was finding the perfect place. The biggest factors were a slope, because of the amount of rain we get in Virginia, and a poor soil. Grapes thrive in what would usually be considered terrible growing conditions. You can see the slope in the first picture of the post and I will talk a little bit more about the soil in a minute.

After learning the story of the vineyard and finishing our bubbly, we embarked on the tour. Our first stop was the fermentation room.

Next we headed to the cellars, or "cave." While we were en route, we stopped right by the display you will see below. RdV sits on granite soil, which is key to the poor soil conditions I mentioned above. Here you see a soil sample of the granite. These 7 samples actually comprise one sample that has been broken apart. From left to right you will see the progression of the granite that was closest to the surface to the granite that was deepest in the ground.

Being that the power was out, our cave tour was candlelit, which actually added a romantic touch for Valentine's weekend.

At one end of the cave, they leave the granite "soil" exposed. This is not only for aesthetic purposes, but also provides a good gauge for what is going on in the soil. They can see factors such as moisture by taking a quick peek at this granite.

Our last stop on the tour was this lab-like room where the winemakers taste and make the blends each year. Eric Boissenot, a world-renowned winemaker, was so impressed by RdV that he travels from Bordeaux each year, free of charge, to work specifically with RdV on their blends. 

And finally, our last stage of the tour was actually getting to experience and taste the wine. We returned to the "tasting salon" where a beautiful spread had been laid out.

Rutger set out to make not a world class Virginia wine, rather a world class wine that just so happens to be made in Virginia and he most definitely hit the mark. Their two wines, the Lost Mountain and Rendezvous, are both red blends. The Lost Mountain is Cabernet Sauvignon heavy blend and the Rendezvous is a Merlot heavy blend. Bryce and I both typically prefer cab savs, but were surprised to like the Rendezvous best. 

After RdV we decided to make a stop at Linden, Jim Law's vineyard, and also Glen Manor, a vineyard founded by another of Law's apprentices. 

As you can probably guess, I slept like a baby on the car ride home!

If you are interested in learning more about Virginia wine making, and Bryce's adventures in viticulture, you can read his one and only guest post on the topic here!

Are you a fan of wine?

What vineyards are your favorite?

Have a great day!

Heart Day Recap

Happy Hump Day readers!

I hope that wherever you are, you are staying warm! We got more than 6 inches of snow on Monday night and have not been to school since. I am definitely enjoying some time to recharge my batteries.

Today I am excited to finally recap our Valentine's Day weekend with you! I had planned to get this post up sooner, but the excitement of snow days had me doing other things (see Instagram...).

This year was Bryce's and my 4th Valentine's Day together and the first one that fell on a weekend, making it that much more fun. Here's a look at what we did!

Valentine's morning, Bryce surprised me with breakfast in bed, a great start to the weekend!

That morning, I also gave him his cheesy Valentine:

After breakfast, we lounged around a bit and then ran some errands (including grocery shopping for our dinner that evening).

I thought my new purple leggings 

(for just $14.99 from the girls' section, no less!) 

were perfect for the occasion!

After our errands, we made some cocktails and got cooking!

For appetizers we had mozzarella sticks with balsamic drizzle and clams!

I need a little more practice to make these pretty, 

but they sure were delicious!

My favorite!

After enjoying our apps, I went about setting the table. As mentioned last week, I had not decorated this year at all and quickly pulled out my heart confetti for our table!

Nothing too fancy, but I did like that my lilies and roses

 from Bryce took center stage!

And for our meal, I came up with an angel hair alfredo with braised fennel, asparagus, chicken and prosciutto!  It was a joint effort. Bryce fixed the chicken and fennel outside on the grill while I worked on the alfredo, asparagus, and prosciutto inside.

The meal turned out to be amazing and I will be

posting the recipe tomorrow!

All evening, the wind had been whipping like crazy and toward the end of our meal the power went out, giving new meaning to the term "candlelight dinner." I was relieved that we had opted for a store bought fudge pie over a homemade dessert, since it probably would have been baking in the oven at that point. From that point on we kept the fire blazing and I made a nest for us on the floor in front of it.

We considered heading to my parents' for the night since they had power, but the wind was even blowing down the chimney. We were worried about it blowing an ember into the house, so we braved it by the fire under lots of blankets!

The next morning, we got up early and headed to my parents for hot showers (and my dad's yummy egg sandwiches). Bryce had surprised me with a cellar tour of RdV Vineyards and we needed to hit the road. The vineyard was over the top amazing and I will be posting a full recap Friday, however, until then I will give you a brief peek at our day:

And you might notice, I got the cape I've been wanting forever!

Did you have a nice Valentine's Day?

What did you do to celebrate?

Have a great day!

Sunday Well Spent

Happy Tuesday readers!

I hope your week is off to a great start!

Mine is going okay, but I am still playing catch up after being out sick on Thursday.

Those who follow along on Instagram saw that Bryce and I spend the day in Charlottesville on Sunday. Between the start of school for me and lots of September work travel for him, it felt like we barely saw each other during the month of September and had spent little quality time just the two of us.  We decided a special day was in order and headed to Carter Mountain Orchard early Sunday afternoon. Neither of us had ever been apple picking before and it was definitely on the bucket list!

Apples of all varieties grow all along the side of the mountain.

As we first walked along, this was all we saw: Lots of apples up high and out of reach.

I'll admit, we even snapped this pretend picking picture, for fear we wouldn't find a single apple to pick!

Eventually, however, we struck gold!

Bryce found a Jonagold tree with lots of ripe apples ready for picking!

The apples were juicy and delicious!

I even managed to get a few that were down a little lower!

My Longchamp proved to be the perfect apple picking tote!

After picking some apples, we headed back up to the mountain to feast on some apple cider donuts!

The line was long, but the donuts proved to be worth the wait!

Not gonna lie, I said I only wanted 1, but ended up eating 3! They were so good and now I'm craving another as I write!

We also explored the country store before leaving:

It was obvious we were in Wahoo territory with an "Honor System" cider station!

I wish I had tried this Donut Peach Cider!

After stuffing our faces on donuts, we made our way to King Family Vineyards. King Family is one of my absolute favorites because of the gorgeous views and polo fields.

We started with a wine tasting...

And ended with my favorite, a Bellair Market picnic.  I sipped on the Merlot and Bryce had a glass of the Meritage.

It couldn't have been a more perfect day and we rode home feeling content and renewed!

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

Have you ever been apple picking or wine tasting?

What are your favorite Fall activities?

Have a great day!