Sarah Gilbert Fox

Sac (and Save) a Baguette

2010-07-08T17:14:24+00:00

Shop Snap! Another loaf bites the dust. Baltimore designer Marybeth Shaw witnessed a little too much bread carnage in Paris in 1992. While the savvy French were already into reusing their totes, or “sacs,” Shaw noticed that these green grocery shoppers had to snap their crusty baguettes in half in order to get them home. Two decades and a slew of design awards later, Shaw has crafted the solution: a stylish, roomy, reusable tote that safely chauffeurs groceries or on-the-go items, plus an easy, snap-on quiver for carrying a newspaper, flowers, or baguette! Each Sac à Baguette is made of canvas cotton and leather, with color schemes inspired by the lively cities of New York (black with a cobalt blue lining), San Francisco (camel and chocolate with a bright yellow lining), and Rotterdam (gray and espresso with a bright orange lining). Not tempted yet? Consider the tote’s zip-out liner and the promise of more accessories to launch in the future. A must-have for the on-the-go city girl. Sac à Baguette is available at The Store Limited in Baltimore or at sacabaguette.com.
Written especially for Baltimore Style Magazine by Zoe Hickerson

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A Little Too Jazzed?

2010-06-22T20:55:31+00:00

Getting Out In our July/August issue, we may have been a little too jazzed up (did we mention there’ll be wine?) when we announced that the Baltimore Museum of Art’s upcoming Jazz in the Sculpture Garden concert series was free. These ticketed events will be happening on select Saturdays in July and August and will feature such artists as Auguste Rodin and Alexander Calder. Meanwhile, let your ears be tickled by the sounds of Steven Kroon, Carl Grubbs, and others. Contact the museum for ticketing information. 443-573-1700. http://www.artbma.org

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July 4th, 2010 in D.C.—the Must Do’s

2010-06-17T16:24:44+00:00

Getting Out A Boom With a View? You bet.
Where’s the best rooftop view, closest to the White House, for the perfect July 4th fireworks display for America’s 234th birthday? The P.O.V. Roof Terrace and Lounge on top of the W Hotel. While those Roman Candles are flashing red, white and blue, The Honey Brothers will be performing their swank and fun (and very intelligent) ukulele folk-indie band (think R.E.M., Rock Lobster and Pink Martini meet Einstein and Ukes!). When the band takes a break, popular DJ, Sky Nellor, will be pick up with her creative, sexy spinning (hey, if she’s good enough to spin for Bill Clinton, Sports Illustrated, and Elle Magazine, she’s going to be great for us).

Specially crafted cocktails and hors d’oeuvres cooked up by Jean-Georges Vongerichten will be flowing as freely as the music.

The Boom with a View package, which includes a Wonderful Room as well as tickets for two for the rooftop celebration, are available for $619 and can be purchased by calling 1-877-WHOTELS or visiting Boom With A View. Beginning Monday, June 14, individual tickets for the evening (without Wonderful Room) will be sold for $200 per ticket by calling 202.661.2478.

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A Girlfriend Getaway Right Outside D.C.

2010-02-25T18:12:10+00:00

Travel The Ritz-Carlton Hotel at Tysons Corner might not be the classiest Ritz in the country, but the location is shopping-amazing. It’s attached to Tysons Corner Center Mall, where Lacoste, Anthropologie, Juicy Couture, L’Occitane, Stuart Weitzman, De Beers, Betsey Johnson, Abercrombie & Fitch, Forever 21, J. Jill, Kenneth Cole, West Elm, BCBGMacaZria meet Saks Fifth Avenue, Lebanese Taverna, See’s Candy and more meet up just to keep us, the shoppers, happy!

For after shopping, the spa is indulgence squared. Take a dive in the saline pool (no chemicals!), and then check in for a 50 minute Reiki Energy Healing, Self-heating Mud massage—or really hit the pampering hard with the Ultimate Day of Beauty, which is 300 minutes of a Therapeutic Massage, a European Facial, a gourmet Spa luncheon, a Deluxe Manicure with Paraffin and Deluxe Pedicure with Paraffin. Hello! This is called service.

Last but not least, the food here is excellent, as is the bar (very comfortable and welcoming). The name of the restaurant is unfortunate - ENTYSE—but don’t let that throw you. The farm-to-table approach of cooking doesn’t let down—highly recommended, the Organic Amish Chicken with Potatoes Puree, Glazed Vegetables and Chicken Jus—and is accompanied by picks chosen by the very charismatic Sommelier Vincent Feraud.

If you’re looking for the perfect Mother’s Day getaway, look no further than this Ritz property.

The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner
http://www.ritzcarlton.com
1700 Tysons Boulevard
McLean, VA 22102
Hotel (703) 506-4300
Spa (703) 506-2694

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ExecuCar - Luxury Travel in Baltimore

2010-02-22T23:59:18+00:00

Travel So who, in Baltimore, offers private late model, luxury sedan service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with experienced, business-attired drivers, for a flat rate fare, with airport “meet and greet” services (if so requested), and airport transfers, point-to-point services, event transportation, etc., etc., etc.? ExecuCar. For those who travel a lot, you’ve probably used the ExecuCar services already, as they’re found in D.C., N.Y.C., San Francisco, L.A., and 10 other major business cities. Having ExecuCar in our city comes not a moment too soon; with the new Hotel Monaco downtown we needed to bump up our luxury travel. We needed something more comfortable than a taxicab and more cost-effective than a limousine. This is just another way that Baltimore is turning away from its Smalltimore reputation.

Book your ExecuCar reservation online, or call (800) 410-4444

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The Willard Washington Intercontinental Hotel in D.C.

2010-02-18T23:44:02+00:00

Travel The lobby is seeped in history-meets-society. The halls smell like a new pack of cards. The rooms are as distinguished as Brioni suits. Here, smack on the cusp of the White House lawn (one long block away), is the historical, Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, Beaux-Arts architectural wonder—the luxury 4-star Willard Hotel.

If you’re looking for the best hotel to hit the snooze button on early in the morning to take advantage of the Smithsonian Museums, the Willard is the place to bed down. And if you are a museum fanatic, you really will want to stay close, as the Smithsonian consists of not one museum, but 19 museums, 9 research centers and over 140 affiliate museums around the world. Lucky for the D.C. traveler, you only have to cover the first 19.

The hotel offers major indulgence, with all the basics of a luxury hotel (huge rooms, marble bathrooms, heavy wooden furniture, flat screen TVs, wired-to-the-hilt everything, and then some). And the 17 pieces of equipment (including treadmills, cycles and weight training) in the Fitness room, followed by a spa treatment (or two or three), will help you pump up or wind down for or from the museums.

WHY STAY? This is the real Washington, D.C., where all the Presidents have been staying or eating almost since the day it opened in 1818. Calvin Coollidge lived here; Ulysees S. Grant took his afternoon cigar and brandy here; Abraham Lincoln was smoked in pre-inauguration by famed detective Allan Pinkerton to keep him safe from a possible assassination; and more pedestrian celebrities joined, among them, Gypsy Rose Lee, Emily Dickinson, P.T. Barnum, Houdini, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg, P.T. Barnum and more. Perhaps the most amazing celebrity incident came when, in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his “I Have a Dream.”

WHERE TO EAT?
Café du Parc is an amazingly authentic French bistro (they’re quite rare in the States, actually), where most D.C. natives go for their puff pastries and morning breakfast meetings. And even though the Occidental Grill and Seafood restaurant might overpower it with history (and photos to back up that history), the food at Café du Parc is perfect for any meal… and so easily accessible from the guest rooms or off the street (plus, no stuffy suits and ties required). Highly recommended is the pate plate.

WHAT TO DO IN-HOTEL?
The Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa at the Willard offers 80 minute Swedish Massages that make leaving the hotel to visit the D.C. museums and monuments almost seem second in priority. Why leave to go anywhere when you can be this indulged.

The Willard Washington Interncontinental Hotel
1401 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Washington, D.C., 2004
1-877-270-1390
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com

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Disney On Ice—100 Years Of Magic

2010-02-03T23:33:06+00:00

Mickey and Minnie have come back to the 1st Mariner Arena, bringing with them the usual Disney suspects: Donald Duck, Goofy, Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket, Timon, Pumba, Nemo, Buzz Lightyear, all the princesses and more.

This year the choreography is particularly spectacular, as if the cast and crew took some sort of magic fairy dust, because there’s not a dull step. The lighting crew deserves a special round of applause, as they backdrop and forefront the skaters, making them appear as if they’re skating inside a rainbow.

Maybe no other town loves to bring its kids to a Disney show as much as Charm City. This is a Baltimorean’s ritual. So get your tickets fast!

WHAT:
Disney On Ice—100 Years Of Magic

WHERE:
1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore

WHEN:
February 3-7

TICKETS:
Ticketmaster.com

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Baltimore to D.C.

2010-02-01T15:50:28+00:00

Travel People who live in Baltimore often think it’s a big hassle to go the 45 miles to D.C. because of the traffic. They’d be right. It kind of is. But there are alternatives. On the weekdays, the MARC train is easily accessible and very inexpensive (don’t even think about taking an Amtrak unless you want to spend an extra $20 or so for no real reason). The weekends, Amtrak is the only way to get back and forth from Baltimore to D.C. without a car. But there’s even an alternative for that. Drive on in to the New Carrollton metro station, park and take the metro into wherever you want to go. The worst part of driving to D.C. is driving IN D.C., so ditch the car early and enjoy the benefits of public transportation.

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The Tides Inn — A Sweet Virginia Retreat

2009-10-04T04:41:46+00:00

Travel Some of the tastiest food in Virginia can be found at the Tides Inn — which also happens to be Travel and Leisure’s number one choice for Best Resort in Virginia (and the only Virginia resort mentioned in their Top 100 issue last year). The evidence for the reason of the accolades can be found, first and foremost, in the savory fare of executive chef T.V. Flynn.

The 50 year old inn sits along the shores of the Rappahannock River. The river — a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay — snakes along the southside of The Northen Neck of Virginia (on the northside, flows the Potomac) — just three hours from Baltimore — and lucky visitors can dine on Flynn’s grilled oysters, while they overlook the water and wait for the tasty Seared Sesame-Encrusted Tuna. The tuna is so fresh (the one rule at the Tides is that nothing frozen is ever cooked here) that those without a high marine biology I.Q.‘s, might swear it had just been caught off the dock. There’s something exquisite in the way Flynn pulls together the crunchy vegetables and seared outer part of the fish, blends it with the sushi-grade rare meat inside, and then serves it on top of black, chewy, seasoned wild-rice. It’s one of those dishes that, once eaten, becomes a daily crave. A conundrum! How can a diner choose between a new favorite and all the other delicious sounding food served up from such a focused, epicurean menu? One can’t, which is why the Tides often gets people coming in for longer weekends. There’s just to much to do here — and too much food to eat — to leave early.

It’s very impressive to have a chef of such standing found in a place where a traffic jam is a “Combine followed by three cars,” says George Beckett, the Tides’ official tour guide (and co-owner of the Northern Neck Heritage Tour group — nnht.com). The year round population skinnies in at around 50K, yet — thanks partially to the reputation the Tides has given the island, and partly to the island itself — high season tops out at 100k (leaving a much longer line of cars behind those Combines).

Bicycles, boats, box lunches and babysitting services queue up nicely on the to-do list for a long weekend getaway splurge here. As do croquet, nature trails and golf (the par 72 Golden Eagle Golf Club, designed by George Cobb, has beauty, wild life and a lot of water—requiring at least two different tee times to feel duffer-satisfied). And for oenophiles — not the ones who lip off vintages at parties as fast as they lap up the freebie canapes, but those who actually know how to admire legs — the vineyards around the Tides Inn are worth the exploration; which is where Beckett comes in — not only is he familiar with each vineyard, his grasp of the area’s history — along with his humorous vernacular — makes the trip a valuable frolic.

There are nine vineyards on the Northern Neck, with more purportedly on the way. The white wines tend to rule the day (for those who love a good Bordeaux, the reds just aren’t quite strong enough yet, but they’re getting there). Highly recommended are the Athena Vineyards and Winery (athenavineyards.com), the Vault Field Vineyards (vaultfield.com), the Ingleside Vineyards (inglesidevineyards.com), and, most impressive of all, the White Fences Vineyard (whitefencesvineyard.com) — it being the closest to the Tides. Nestled in front of this particular vineyard are two gigantic corkscrew sculptures marking the entrance. (A cute off-side story. The town of Irvington doesn’t allow large signs, so Bill Westbrook, the owner, had two monuments made instead, i.e., the corkscrews.) A wine tasting with a food pairing (by genius chef, Anne Kirkmyer) here is the only reason to be pulled away from Flynn’s cooking — once.

Flynn is just that good.

The 125’ “boats” (they don’t take up the entire view of the river) and their International guests stop in from all over the world to stay and eat at the Tides. The mood here is always set for taking it easy and taking it in—it, being the sweet views and Flynn’s Tasmanian Salmon, grilled with a perfect, perfect, perfect honey glaze, and his Filet Mignon, served with cheddar grits and snappy green beans, which almost threaten to make a diner forgo the signature She-Crab soup, chock full of soft-white fresh local crab. But, it’s a simple matter — a bowl is required.

The rooms, decorated in a calming British Colonial theme (dark, enormous wooden furniture and rice beds, against creamy colored walls) seem more luxury than “family beach week,” and the big soaking tub seem more appropriate for a glass of Virginia wine than rubber duckies and toddlers. But don’t think for a minute that children don’t belong here. This is one of those destination resorts that magically blend families and couples, without either one’s ambiance feeling interrupted.

A family should always start their stay by walking the boardwalk from the main part of the inn to the pool — and proceed from there to join the CrabNet Kids (ages 4-12), where they can go crabbing, learn to babysit an oyster bed, build sandcastles and do arts and crafts. Suffice to say, the kids spend as much time outside as possible, with counselors there at all times (parents are invited to stay and interact with the kids, or go off and play by themselves. For girlfriend getaways, the spa beckons, and the cute little shops in the town of Irvington are within walking distance from the inn; they run the gamut from dressy clothing boutiques, to southern garb, to souvenir tee-shirts, all the way to needlework and yarn shops. Plus, the hotel also has a roomy gift shop with everything from gorgeous handmade knits, to books, to Little MissMatched socks and more. For couples, the spa really does become the focus (it’s no surprise that the resort is becoming a major wedding destination) — the hot stone massage for two (using heated basalt river rocks and VOYA organics aromatherapeutic products), followed by a Chesapeake Seaweed Leaf Wrap, is a couple’s blessing.

Family, friend or simply favorite kisser, do take a dining companion or two for dinner in the Chesapeake Club restaurant. And for a treat, send a request into the kitchen, asking Flynn to make your dining decisions, then sit back and enjoy everything. Expect nothing short of crabcakes that can even give Baltimore a run for its money, and some fresh fruit straight from the chef’s garden to make the trip back to Charm City seem so much closer — because, after all, you will be coming back soon.

The Tides Inn
480 King Carter Drive Irvington, Va.22480-0480
Hotel Direct: 804-438-5000 Toll free: 800-843-3746
tidesinn.com

Weekends in October will once again bring together friends and fine wine in Virginia’s Northern Neck. The Women Wild About Wine Weekends at the Tides Inn returns in time for October’s wine harvest and Virginia’s wildly popular wine month.

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Our Second Car Alternative

2009-09-08T14:16:42+00:00

Not long ago I was visiting a new yogurt shop in Fells Point, Mr. Yogato (at 35 calories a cold, yummy serving), and failed to notice a new, neighboring store, Green Rider. However, my colleague, Laura Wexler, came by my desk the next day to tell me her husband had become quite excited over the idea of purchasing one of the new Low-Speed Electric Vehicles (LEVs) that were sold there.

What the heck was I going to do with a, um, scooter? That was my first thought. The second reaction came from our eleven year old daughter, when I told her how “green” the scooters were supposed to be. She went into paroxysms. “No, Mommy, no! You can never get a motorcycle!” After having told her horror stories about drugs, alcohol and motorcycles, I was glad to see that at least one of the warnings had stuck. “Calm down. I would never get on a motorcycle, Jenkins.”

Three months later I found we were in need of another car, so we did what most people would do—we hit the car dealerships. Only—one thing kept gnawing at me. Did we really need a second car, when, for the most part, I’d only be using it to get to the Light Rail? I’m a big fan of the Baltimore Light Rail, because I’m a huge proponent for working on a better environment (and saving money… and not being stuck in traffic jams… and having an extra 20 minutes to read without everyone wanting something from me… etc.).

So, after giving it much thought, we headed down this Saturday to have brunch at Kali’s Mezze on 1606 Thames St. (they have the most delicious omelets in town—and at an exquisite cost), and for some Mr. Yogato yogurt. Then we headed in to purchase a Green Rider Motorino Electric Scooter.

The pros:

no gas (saving me at least $10,000 a year!)
no insurance (another big, monthly savings)
no license registration (although you have to have a driver’s license to drive one)
no tags or inspection (hello!)
no parking costs (they can park on a sidewalk—just like a bike)
can be driven on a non-highway road, just like a car
a 10% tax credit
the costs is between $2000 and $2300 (or approx. $125 a month for 2 years)
not at all noisy (thereby cutting down on noise pollution)
range of about 30 miles on single battery & 50+ miles with duel battery
they’re cool as heck! (We bought a yellow and black XPh)

The cons—not many:

highest speed is 30 miles an hour (average off-highway speeds)
this isn’t Europe, e.g., less people on motor scooters means less car drivers are on the lookout

The extras:

you will need to pony up for a helmet or two (in case you have a rider)
you will need a chain lock
you’ll probably want a tarp to put over it for rainy days
you’ll most likely want an extra little lock box to hold other items than your helmet
i.e., do factor in another $200 bucks, give or take, to the price to cover the above.

For those who want to try before they buy, owner, Ray Carrier rents the LEVs ($25 for two hours; $10 each additional hour; or $50 for the day). He also sells Pedego Electric and Electric folding bikes (called “umbrella” bikes).

It only took a few minutes for us to make the decision to purchase our new Green Rider scooter. It might take a few months to make sure our daughter understands the difference between getting on a motorcycle that can hit the highway, hard, versus a scooter that’s used for environmental purposes. Yes, there are still danger issues, but we’ll teach her these important facts about our electric scooter: we can’t go over 30 miles an hour; we are faithful helmet wearers; we don’t plan on going on any big roads; we’ll watch all driveways and intersections—as well, as the front tires of the cars in front of us—at all times. In other words, we’ll make safety our priority—as it should be when driving anything motorized. Plus, we’ll save the big rides for the Light Rail.

Green Rider

714 S. Broadway St.

(410) 522-5857

GreenRiderUSA.com.

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