What’s Wrong With My Southern Cornbread? How to Make Great Cornbread
Guest Post by K. A. Miller

Southern cornbread is a great favorite in the South of the United States. It is also popular around the world. I have had request for my recipe from Germany, India and the Philippine Islands. I suspect that many of these request are from Americans living in these countries. But probably, not all.

You can go on the Internet and find dozens of recipes for Southern Cornbread. Unfortunately, most are not authentic Southern recipes. It saddens me that many people use these recipes thinking they are cooking the real deal when, in fact, they are not. So, let us first determine what is real Southern Cornbread.

The real deal:

1. DOES NOT CONTAIN SUGAR. It is not sweet, it is bread…not cake.

2. Is crunchy and crumbly. It does not have a cake texture.

3. Is white not yellow. (Uses white corn meal)

So, what’s wrong with your Southern Cornbread? You are probably making one or more of these mistakes. Here are some tips for making this old, classic favorite.

Sweet Cornbread

Many people prefer sweet cornbread. That’s fine, put sugar in it if you like it that way. Just don’t call it Southern.

White vs. Yellow

Most recipes you find on the Web call for yellow corn meal. I don’t know why. Every good Southern cook I know uses white corn meal. And I really don’t know the difference in the corn meals other than one is made from yellow corn and the other from white I suppose. But, the white corn meal seems to give the bread a better texture. And, yellow looks yukky to me. It looks too much like cake instead of bread.

Milk

Always use buttermilk in your cornbread. It gives the bread a better, distinctive flavor. If you do not keep buttermilk on hand (I don’t), you can make a reasonable substitute by mixing 1 tablespoon of white vinegar in a cup of regular milk. Allow to sit one minute before use and stir well just prior to use.

Baking Technique

Always pre-heat your oven. Never put your cornbread in a cold oven. (flat, heavy bread). Pre-heat your oven to 400-425 degrees well before you start baking. When the top of the bread is golden brown, remove and flip the bread over to the other side and continue to cook another 10 minutes.

Skillet

Always use a cast iron skillet for Southern cornbread. It gives the best results and…it’s the traditional way. Prior to pouring the batter in the skillet, put cooking oil (bacon grease is best) in the skillet and heat on top of the stove until the oil and skillet are very hot. Pour all but a couple of spoons of the oil in your batter, then sprinkle the skillet with dry cornmeal. This will keep the bread from sticking to the skillet.

There are more tips and techniques, but if you use these to start, you will be pleased with your real, authentic, Southern Cornbread.

Ken Miller provides the best, free recipe for authentic, Southern Cornbread on his website at www.olsouthrecipes.com as well as many other old Southern favorites.

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The Grove Park Inn Getaway
Guest Post by Bonita Worth

Tucked away in the Mountains of Asheville, NC you’ll find an exclusive resort known as The Grove Park Inn. Get your spa experience like no other in the underwater cavern surrounded by lush nature and hear the relaxing, cool sounds of running water while taking a dip in the mineral pools with soothing music. An outdoor massage and outdoor pool surrounded by rolling green hills golf course landscape and fragrant flowers blooming during the spring and summer season are the norm for a typical stay at the inn. Whether you choose from the Mother-to-be wrap to the Waterfall Body Experience you’ll be sure to get the Grove Park body treatment you deserve!

Upon arrival during the Easter holiday, be prepared to be greeted by bellman in derby hats and full English attire as you drive down the cobble stone driveway to enter the grand lobby known as the Great Hall where the chef will prepare a delightful dish that you can sample or you can get your personal massage. The large lodge-style doors also opened up to the Sunset Terrace for outdoor dining or relaxing and enjoying the view! In the evening you can look forward to enjoying the music of a live Jazz band and a refreshing drink from the Great Hall bar. Cruise the storefront shops for those unique gifts or souvenirs to fill your home with gourmet delights, niche clothing or Christmas trinkets.

There is truly something for everyone to enjoy at the Grove Park Inn. Children can also enjoy the fun with a schedule of exciting and creative kid-friendly activities such as an Easter egg hunt throughout the inn, Easter hat decorating, scavenger hunt, bird-house contest and face painting.

The biggest surprises we found were the gigantic 50,000 square foot Sports Complex that offers tennis, racquet ball, a gym to work-out and recreation for children such as ping-pong all in one facility. We were also greeted at the front of the sports complex by the large wild turkey walking the land as though they were welcoming you to their home. The Grove Park Inn also provides a complimentary in-room video viewing of Easter traditions around the world that is a very entertaining and educational for all ages to enjoy!

You can look for the best deals around the holidays to save up to 50% off on your overnight stay. The best price we found during the Easter holiday was $250 a night with a free dinner choice of Prime Rib or Seafood in the Blue Ridge restaurant (valued savings of $80), a free breakfast and a gift basket filled with The Grove Park music cd and more delivered to your room. Normally the room price is $499 a night. The room choice was located on the Vanderbuilt wing which was also very nice with a King-size bed, office desk and refrigerator with a bar that overlooked the center courtyard near the golf course. During the Easter holiday and many other holidays through-out the year, you can look forward to the Grove Park Inn really turning on the charm and providing a variety of options for a memorable relaxing weekend get-away.

Bonita Worth is a blogger at http://www.Mycarolinabuzz.com/blog known as the Carolina Insider’s guide to travel information for residents and newcomers of North Carolina. Her blog covers the best of both: popular destinations and exciting new product review information. If your looking for information on the North Carolina area check out her blog and share your comments and ideas.

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Guest Post by Wanda Snyder Meade

The Sourwood Inn is a twenty minute drive from bustling downtown Asheville, North Carolina.  Just two miles off the Blue Ridge Parkway, the inn is situated on one hundred acres.   Built as a bed and breakfast, the Inn offers twelve spacious and beautifully appointed rooms.   Each one features a wood burning fireplace, set and ready to light.  A large soaking bath tub.  A private balcony with a view of the beautiful wooded grounds.  And plenty of room to sit and enjoy the quiet.

The owners and staff of the Sourwood offer wonderful hospitality and stand ready to accommodate your wishes.  Susan and Jeff Curtis operate the Inn along with her parents, Anne and Nat Burkhardt.  They will be glad to make recommendations for local activities in the Asheville area whether you’re interested in a day of hiking or a trip to Biltmore House.

And the Inn is ideal if you want to just get away from it all and just “stay put” during your visit.  The property offers three miles of walking trails.  You’ll also find a number of cozy nooks for reading as well as a library with books to accommodate almost any taste.  You can also enjoy the large porch filled with rockers.  The main gathering area offers a large fireplace and a comfortable setting for the Inn’s delightful afternoon tea.  While the Inn is not air conditioned, the altitude provides a relief from the heat and fans keep the mountain air circulating in your room and throughout the Inn.

A sumptuous breakfast awaits you each morning.  You’ll find fresh fruit, yogurt and granola for a lighter fare as well as wonderfully crafted and filling casseroles, bacon, sausage, jams and breads.  And on Sundays, they serve an amazingly “sinful” stuffed blueberry French toast.

The Inn serves a three-course “set” dinner Thursday through Sundays evenings for a modest additional charge.   Chef Kacia Duncan serves up an excellent taste treat that should not be missed.  While the Inn does not serve alcohol, you are welcome to bring and enjoy your own.

Come visit the Sourwood Inn once and you’ll see why people return again and again to this lovely and welcoming spot.

www.sourwoodinn.com

Tasty and Nutritious Leatherbritches Beans

Electricity didn’t reach most parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains until the 1930’s.  No electricity meant that there were no modern conveniences for food storage, such as refrigerators and freezers.  So until a couple of generations ago, food was preserved the old-fashioned way: by drying and canning.

Drying fruits and vegetables didn’t require canning jars, and drying was a lot less work than canning.  Green beans (“string beans”) were often dried by sewing them together and hanging them up to dry.  The end product was then called “leatherbritches”. They were popular enough to become the subject of an old-timey fiddle-banjo tune of the same name (played in the video above).

The dried beans maintained their nutritional value and flavor and were quite tasty when cooked.  Here’s a recipe for old-fashioned leatherbritches.

Making leatherbritches beans:

Wash and drain a batch of “snappy” green beans, cut off the stems and strings.  With a darning needle and heavy thread (kite string works nicely) stick the needle through the middle/side of the beans (not down the center), wrap the string around the bean once and tie a quick knot in the string to keep the bean from coming off or sliding down the string.  Continue to string all the beans (I wonder if this is how they came to be known as “string beans”?)  Space the beans about ¼” apart to allow room for air circulation.

Hang the strings in a clean, dry, well ventilated place.  As they dry, they will turn greenish-gray and shrivel.

To cook them the following winter, cover them with water and soak overnight to re-constitute.  Drain the soaking water and put the beans in new water to boil.  Parboil on medium-low heat for half an hour.  Drain them again.  Then cook them slowly in a pot with a little water and a ham hock or salt pork.  Cook until tender.  Serve with corn bread.

Nothing says “southern cooking” like a big bowl of grits.

Most Americans have never eaten grits; some confuse “grit” with “dirt”. To those folks I say: thanks! More grits for me.

To the un-initiated let me say: grits are just corn. In gourmet circles, it’s known as polenta. It’s not new, and it’s not just Southern: grits were being eaten by Native Americans thousands of years before Europeans ever showed up in America. My Cherokee ancestors would soak corn in a mild alkali like lye water for several days to remove the husk and kill the germ (so it wouldn’t sprout in storage). De-hulled and de-germed grain is called hominy. Then, they would dry the hominy, grind it, and sift it. Fine powder from sifting became corn flour, and the coarse meal became grits. Grits would be boiled into a thick soup and eaten, much like they are today.

When Europeans encountered the food they called it “grytts”, which is European for “any grain that’s boiled into a mush”. The Blue Ridge Mountain pioneers quickly acquired a taste for grits. Since corn was a basic foodstuff in the South, and grits store well and are easily flavored, they became a popular go-with-anything food. A few common recipes for grits include shrimp & grits, Jambalaya grits, grits and sausage, cheese grits, and hundreds more. Think of them as Native American mashed potatoes: they go with anything.

There are two kinds of commercially available grits: corn and hominy. I prefer hominy.

I enjoy grits at breakfast. I like them cooked to porridge-consistency and flavored with cheese, butter, and Hungarian sweet paprika. My favorite brand of grits is Quaker, but not the instant kind. Grits need to cook for a while; anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour. Each brand is milled differently and has slightly different cooking directions. Follow the directions on the package. Here’s my recipe for cheese grits:

Cheese Grits

Ingredients: Grits, sharp cheddar cheese, paprika, salt

Boil three cups of water

Add 1/4-1/2 tsp. salt, to taste

Slowly stir in 1 cup grits (go slowly so lumps don’t form)

Cook on medium heat until grits thicken to the consistency of porridge

Throw in a generous handful of grated sharp cheddar cheese

Add a few shakes of sweet Hungarian paprika just to add some color and flavor

If it’s cold outside and you want something that will warm you up, use half-sharp paprika instead of sweet.

Here are a few other popular ways to cook grits:

 Grits and Red Eye Gravy

Ingredients: grits, 1/2 cup brewed coffee, country ham drippings

Prepare grits according to package directions

Put a slice of country ham into a cast iron skillet and cover with water

Cook country ham slices until browned and remove from skillet.

Add 1/2 cup brewed coffee or water to ham fat; stir up all the drippings to create a brown or “red eye” gravy.

Spoon over hot cooked grits and serve.

 Fish and Grits

Ingredients:garlic or garlic powder, butter, salt, water, milk, yellow corn meal, grits, oil for frying, fish (use a firm white fish like catfish or trout)

Prepare grits according to package directions

Add butter and garlic powder or sauté a clove of fresh garlic in butter and add that

Soak fish in milk, water and salt; drain and coat with yellow cornmeal

Pan fry fish and serve with grits as a side dish

And of course like all southern food, they can be fried:

 Fried Grits

Ingredients: grits, water, salt, bacon, butter

Prepare grits according to package directions (4-6 servings), but add a little more grits to make them thicker. Add

Cook bacon until it’s very crispy and crumble it up. Add to the cooked grits.

Add a tablespoon of butter to the grits and stir until it melts.

Pour grits into a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3 inch loaf pan. Cool; cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning remove grits by inverting the pan and cut the loaf into 1/2 inch slices.

In a cast iron skillet heat about 1/2″ oil (prefer a mixture of olive and canola; it gets hotter). The oil is hot enough to fry in when it starts to “ripple” but not smoke.

Fry slices over medium heat 5-7 minutes or until lightly browned, turning once.

Enjoy your grits!

Welcome to Sparta, North Carolina
Guest Post By Kermitt Ham

In Northwestern North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, is the under-appreciated gem of Sparta, the county seat of Alleghany County.

Alleghany is one of the smallest counties in the state and Sparta NC boasts a population of less than 2,000 inhabitants. Despite the small size of the county and the town, however, the picturesque region is overflowing with southern charm and plenty of adventures and activities suitable for weekend getaways and family vacations.

Measuring less than 250 miles, Alleghany County has been known as “The Lost Province” A nickname the county earned due to the difficulty of reaching the region prior to the opening of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the 1930s. This National Parkway is noted for its scenic roadway, which winds through the Blue Ridge mountain chain in North Carolina and Virginia. Visitors to Sparta NC often enjoy bicycling and nature watching along the parkway.

Although travelers can easily reach the region today, Sparta NC has managed to mix with modern times while still keeping the natural outdoor beauty and small town friendliness that the region has become known for. Bordering Virginia to the north and bordered by the New River on the western and northern borders, the county offers a range of outdoor activities that appeal to all ages and physical abilities. The Alleghany County Stone Mountain State Park is probably the most well-known attraction in the region and offers rock climbing, hiking, fishing, camping, picnicking and canoeing to enjoy, all while soaking up the unspoiled mountain scenery.

The New River State Park is located in nearby Ashe County and includes the New River, one of the oldest rivers in the world. Designated as an American Heritage River, Indian tribes utilized the river for centuries and ancient arrowheads, pottery shards and other artifacts have been found in the New River valley. Part of the park extending into Allegheny County can be reached by canoe.

Sparta NC is a mountain community and much of the activities experienced in the county correspond to its unique culture. Traditional mountain music, for instance, can be experienced at the annual Alleghany Fiddlers Convention in June. The Mountain Heritage Festival in September also features traditional music and dance. For a more in-depth look at the history and culture of the county, a visit to the Alleghany Historical Museum can be insightful. Those interested in regional arts, pottery and crafts can check out art galleries and the work of local artists.

Interested in visiting Alleghany County during the holiday season? When the leaves start to change colors in late October, Sparta NC becomes a dazzlingly beautiful little town. By November, the Christmas season is in full effect. Then families can visit Sparta Christmas Tree farms and start the tradition of choosing and cutting down their own Christmas tree, followed up by drinking hot apple cider and going on hayrides to warm up in the chilly winter air.

Part of the charm of Sparta NC is its unique accommodation options. Instead, of just the cookie cutter hotel chains that can be found in any vacation destination, Alleghany County has inns, and private mountain cabins that provide a rustic charm. The privacy and simplicity of such accommodations provides a welcoming haven to honeymooners and families vacationing in the region.

Welcome to Alleghany County, NC and Sparta NC

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Orignially published in Antique Trader Magazine

Read Wayne’s column Behind the Gavel bi-weekly in Antique Trader!

Progress comes slowly to the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia. It was not until after WWII that highways, electricity and telephone service became available to many of the rural areas between the mountain metropolises of Roanoke and Bristol, VA. The cultural stewpot of Scots-Irish and German immigrants simmered there for over two hundred years, cooking up a culture of independence and self-sufficiency. The area became known for its moonshine liquor, coal mines, lumber mills, and mountain music.

In 2010, the local mines are tapped out; the lumber mills and most of the furniture factories have closed. However, the mountain music, now known as Bluegrass, is thriving and keeps the local economy alive. Bluegrass music has become so popular that the Virginia Tourism Board has organized the Virginia Heritage Music Trail (“The Crooked Road”), a winding corridor of southwestern Virginia highways and back roads that takes visitors on a self-guided mountain cultural tour.

Midway along the Crooked Road lies the city of Galax, Virginia, with a year-round population of 6,700. Located near mile marker 213 on the Blue Ridge Parkway and a short drive from Interstates I-81 and I-77, Bluegrass music brings several hundred thousand visitors to Galax annually. The Old Fiddler’s Convention alone (the second week of August) brings over 60,000 visitors in one week. The visitors come to participate in the local music festival, hike the mountain trails, eat southern style barbecue, and shop in the local antique stores.

Galax boasts five antique stores in a two-block area in the center of town, plus LaRavierre’s auction gallery at the edge of town. A sixth downtown store, Bonaparte’s, recently closed when the owner retired. Four of the five remaining stores, A Finishing Touch, A Place in Time, Antique Apple, and Serendipity Antiques, carry inventories of country collectibles and mountain primitives, glassware, furniture, and reproductions. These four stores rely entirely on walk-in traffic from the tourist trade. None of the four have dedicated websites, although they do have single pages in the city’s online directory. The city of Galax only recently acquired broadband service; with such reliable foot traffic, few shop owners in Galax have felt the need to employ internet marketing.

Only one store in Galax has embraced the internet as a marketing tool: the Golden Gallery of Galax. Only seven years old, the Golden Gallery has carved out a product niche and marketing system that separates them from all the other shops in town. The Golden Gallery of Galax has clientele that come from as far away as Florida, and regular weekend visitors from Charlotte and Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Washington, DC; and Atlanta, Georgia. While most Galax antique shops close for weeks during the winter season, the Golden Gallery of Galax remains open for business all year. On a snowy Saturday in March, with the Blue Ridge Parkway closed and Galax under two feet of snow, the Golden Gallery welcomed nearly 60 shoppers into their store.

Golden Gallery of Galax is owned by Erwin Klee and his wife, Angie Mischel-Klee. The Klee’s principal residence and the original Golden Gallery are in Wiesbaden-Breckenheim Germany. For thirty-five years, the Klee’s have travelled extensively across Germany, Austria, France, England, and Scandinavia buying estates. All the estate items are personally handled, inspected, cleaned, catalogued, and photographed by the Klee’s. The Klee’s use no pickers; Mr. & Mrs. Klee personally select everything they are going to sell. Anything that is broken or unusable is discarded. “It costs as much to ship broken items as it does to ship the best items” says Mr. Klee. “I want everything we sell to be decorative and functional”. Once cleaned and catalogued, Mr. Klee personally packs the shipping container for the trip to Virginia.

The Golden Gallery of Galax carries only German and European antiques and collectibles. No American antiques will be found here. “I deal in what I know best: European antiques” says Mr. Klee. “I know the history of the items we sell at Golden Gallery. I personally visit the estates and speak to the owners. I know where the items come from, and the stories about how they were acquired and used. Our customers are fascinated by these stories; without the stories, these are just “things”. The stories make the merchandise come alive. We are like a museum where you can buy the displays”.

The Klee’s grounding in the European antiques trade is evident in the pricing of their merchandise. With over 13,000 items in stock in the Galax store and 10,000 more in the adjacent warehouse, items are priced to move. “I don’t know anything about American antiques; I don’t know how much to pay for them or what to sell them for” says Mr. Klee. “I price the merchandise I sell in America the same way I price the merchandise I sell in Germany”. This pricing strategy turns out to be a boon for local buyers and the American dealers who buy from the Golden Gallery. Antique dealers and Interior Decorators in large metropolitan areas are able to take substantial markups over the Galax selling price, plus have access to a steady source of quality European antiques.

The Klee’s made the leap from Germany to Virginia by way of their friendship with Americans Chuck and Cathy Steffes. The Steffes’ met the Klee’s while travelling in Germany. Their mutual passion for antiques led to a fast friendship. The Klee’s visited the Steffes in Galax, and fell in love with the town. The Steffes own the Galax shop Bearly a Memory, which specializes in new and antique Steiff bears. The foursome hatched the idea for the Golden Gallery of Galax during this visit, and the rest is history. The Klee’s travel Europe and handle the buying and shipping, and the Steffes stay stateside and run the day-to-day operation. For the sake of convenience, the Steffes’ have moved their inventory of German bears into space in the Golden Gallery.

Currently, the Steffes have no plan to add a shopping cart to the Golden Gallery website. “If we added a shopping cart, we would have to raise prices” says Chuck Steffes. “As quickly as items move through our inventory, it would take at least two full time employees to keep up with the changes. We currently have a system that works well, and I see no reason to change it”.

The Klees and the Steffes have built a business based on unique, quality merchandise in the heart of a mountain cultural center. German antiques, Bluegrass music, and friendship appear to be a winning combination.

The Golden Gallery of Galax is located at 211 South Main Street, Galax, VA 24333 and open from 10-5 Tuesday through Saturday. They can be reached by phone at 276-236-1970, and their selection can be viewed online at http://www.goldengalleryofgalax.com.

Blue Ridge Parkway Motorcycle Road Trip
Guest Post By Deborah L Moore

With summer here there is the feeling of wanting to break free, get on the motorcycle and take off. Time to get away from work, routine, and the have to’s in life. Across the United States there are mountain passes, desert land, ocean highways, vast farmland and more all waiting to be experienced and discovered.

One of these places is the Blue Ridge Parkway that stretches 469 miles along the southern Appalachian Mountains. This parkway links two national parks, Virginia’s Shenandoah and North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains. There are many songs and stories that have immortalized Appalachia, with its rolling hills and wildflowers. If you have time it is worth it to drive the entire length of the 469 miles. It is to be experienced at a slower pace. The speed limit is 45 mph in most parts. If you don’t have the time for the whole trip, a shorter version would be to start out in Asheville North Carolina. Follow the parkway north for about 2 hours to Boone. Not a single interstate crosses the parkway. Instead of gas stations and motels it is lined with picnic areas and hiking trails. These trails are lined with dogwood and tulip trees, and red maples, with the beautiful Appalachians as the backdrop. The things to see on this motorcycle road trip are Grandfather Mountain; a United Nations designated International Biosphere Reserve, and the gardens and winery of the amazing Biltmore Estate. This is a 19th century Vanderbilt Chateau near Ashville. Most people do this trip in the spring for the wild flowers, and in the fall for the foliage. The summer though has fewer visitors and cars and it has breezy near perfect dry weather.

Always remember to get your motorcycle road trip ready. This is something a biker can do themselves with a check off list, or they can take their motorcycle to a trusted mechanic to check it out for them. Also remember to have all of the appropriated protective riding gear, such as a leather jacket, chaps and gloves and a helmet. Whatever road trip a biker chooses to take, remember to fill up the gas tank often so you will not be caught on a long stretch of road with not gas stations and an empty tank. Ride safe.

Looking for motorcycle leather jackets? Be sure to visit http://keepyourskin.com and save!

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All the World’s a Stage in Shakespeare’s Staunton
Guest Post By Elizabeth Pellicane

If Shakespeare’s ghost decided to flee gloomy old England for a warmer home in the New World, he might well choose the city of Staunton. After all, Staunton is home to the Blackfriars Playhouse, a modern-day re-creation of Shakespeare’s original indoor theater. Just steps from the renowned Stonewall Jackson hotel, the 300-seat Playhouse hosts the American Shakespeare Center, which runs an ongoing series of lively, often hilarious, but always faithful renditions of plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Think you’ve seen enough Shakespeare already? Not ’til you’ve seen it played in the original language by actors wearing everything from go-go boots and fish costumes, to Panama hats and Hawaiian shirts. Aside from piquing your interest, the costumes provide an interesting mixture of historical and modern that’s at once jarring…and effective. To quote the ASC website, “that’s why we use costumes that speak to our audiences in the most familiar language possible while staying consistent with the words in the play.”

Then there’s the fact that-as the Blackfriars players gleefully announce at the start of performances-they “do it with the lights on.” Explanation? Since there was no electric lighting during Shakespeare’s time, all plays took place during daylight hours. So in the spirit of accuracy, Blackfriars keeps the lights on the entire play.

And be ready for an interactive experience. Unlike modern plays, where audiences passively observe the performance, Shakespeare’s time encouraged and expected interactions between the performers and the audience. Thus, at the Blackfriars Playhouse you can sit on the stage if you’re brave. You can talk to the performers. You may even find yourself poked or prodded with a sword prop or a foam swimming noodle. It’s all part of the fun.

If you want the full experience, don’t miss the one-hour backstage tour, offered at 11 am and 2 pm most afternoons, for just $5 per person. Also, if you don’t mind staying after certain performances, you can join in the Talkback, where audience members and players join in a freewheeling discussion of the play and all things Shakespeare.

A few caveats: if you have a bad back, be prepared. Seating is designed to be similar to the original Blackfriars, and it’s not much more than wooden benches with a little padding. If you have kids under 10, you may want to try a matinee, as the evening performances run well past 10 pm.

Remember, Shakespeare’s language and innuendos can be fairly bawdy and downright crude at times, so choose your play carefully if you’re bringing kids (they recommend no kids under 7). Best advice for the younger set? Hold out for “A Comedy of Errors,” often considered Shakespeare’s most family-friendly play.

Ticket prices for regular performances at Blackfriars Playhouse range from $20-$42 for adults, $18-$35 for seniors and youth ages 14+, and $14-$28 for youth ages 7-13.

Want to go for less? Here’s how: Attend one of their “pay what you will” (PWYW) performances, which are usually the first one or two performances when a new play comes out. It’s quite a deal, because the management lets you literally pay whatever you want those nights.

For more information, or to order tickets, go to www.americanshakespearecenter.com or call 1-877-MUCH-ADO.

Elizabeth Pellicane is a travel writer and the creator of http://www.Virginia-Beach-Family-Fun.com, an insider guide to planning a Virginia Beach family vacation getaway. It features money-saving tips, secrets for discount tickets, reviews and “inside” info on Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, Richmond and beyond. She also edits the Virginia Beach Fun Blog.

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Guest post by Bob Robert Foster

Most people sleep in the same bed each night. They shower in the same bathroom each morning, and brush their teeth at the same sink. While it’s true that people are creatures of habit, most of us don’t really have a choice about this-we have one bedroom, and if we are lucky, one bathroom associated with it.

But what if your home had 34 bedrooms and 43 bathrooms? Would you sleep in the same one each night, or would you try them all?

Asheville, North Carolina is home to George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore House and Gardens, a magnificent mansion on 8,000 acres of beautifully landscaped ground. Built in 1895, the 250 room home is the largest privately owned home in the United States-undoubtedly explaining why it is the region’s most popular tourist attraction.

Over six years, 1000 workers built the 175,000 square foot home. They included 65 fireplaces, three kitchens, a banquet hall, a lagoon and a functional winery in the plans. There is no shortage of things to see, so be sure to set aside enough time in your trip to take it all in. The home is open to visitors 365 days a year.

This incredible feat of construction is home to a priceless collection of art and antiques, collected by Mr. Vanderbilt himself. The entire collection, as well as the family’s original furnishings, has been preserved for visitors to see on a self-guided tour with or without an audio companion.

Every so often, tear yourself away from the man-made splendor to look out the window-the Biltmore overlooks 75 acres of gardens. This amazing space was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, who is best known for designing another famous “backyard”: New York’s Central Park. This one isn’t a typical patch of grass, however-not unless your lawn has reflecting pools, a walled garden, a conservatory, a bass pond and many paths and trails.

The Biltmore Estate Winery offers its own tour of the grapes that make the South’s most popular wine. They offer wine tasting classes and cooking demonstrations, as well as fine dining at the Bistro Restaurant.

For history buffs, take a look at the Farm Village, Biltmore’s functional farm. Over 100 years old, the Farm Village is a great place for kids to get up close to horses, cows, chickens and sheep while watching blacksmiths and woodworkers in action. Check out the historic farm equipment and be amazed at how far technology has come!

About the author:

Born and raised in the Smoky Mountain region, Bob Foster became a passionate expert on this part of the country even as a child. Years later Bob turned that childhood passion and expertise into a profession when Bob became a general manager for the family business that specializes in rentals of Gatlinburg cabins and Pigeon Forge cabins, both towns being in the heart of the Smokies. The company motto is “Creating guests for life by offering an experience of a lifetime” and it is with that thought in mind that Bob started a blog fully dedicated to information about the Smokies, which can be found at blog.patriotgetaways.com.

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