C'ville Entremom

I recently had the pleasure of attending the 1st birthday party of a close friend’s little girl.  She asked me to take some pictures of the event while I was there.  When I arrived, I had the pleasure of finding 2 of our very own Entremoms there setting up for the event, Jennifer Hamlin of Events with Panache and Anita Gupta (”cake-maker extraordinaire”) of Maliha Creations.  This great event for little Ava Katheryn’s 1st Birthday was held at the Paramount Theater on the downtown mall and had over 100 guests.  Who knew that we had such a gem of a location for parties here in Charlottesville?  Actually, I can answer that.. C’Ville Entremom, Jennifer Hamlin, knew all about this great spot!

Events with Panache is Charlottesville’s premier event service.  Planned to the minute detail, an event planned by Panache will be one to remember and talked about for years to come. Social and extraordinary events are their specialty and a signature service at Panache. Whether a small dinner for six planned at an exclusive restaurant or a wedding with a 500 person guest list, Panache will make the event extraordinary. Panache is tapped into the hottest trends and has strong relationships with event vendors and venues.  Jennifer, owner of Panache, specializes in designing and orchestrating intimate and large-scale events. She has directed and facilitated programs throughout the United States and Internationally in Hong Kong, London, Lisbon, Brussels, Madrid and Toronto. Jennifer has extensive experience with high-level government officials, corporate clients and celebrities in the corporate, non-profit, association and private social sectors. She is a graduate of Indiana University and earned her designation of Certified Meeting Professional through CMA (Certified Meeting Association) and has a diverse career history in Philadelphia, PA and Washington, D.C. She relocated to Charlottesville in 2008 where she resides with her husband and daughter.

Jennifer, true to form, left no detail untouched.  She helped mix the Wolfe family’s Indian heritage with standard childhood birthday party fun to put on a terrific event for both adults and children alike.

Anita created a piece of art in the birthday cake that she made.  As I walked through the halls, I kept hearing repeated murmurs of “Wow.. Have you seen the cake?”

Charlottesville, below is just a taste of the talent and creativity of our local Entremoms!  You never know what we are going to do next!

There was even a puppet show!

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One of my favorite things about Charlottesville is it’s diverse assortment of locally owned restaurants.  There are great little spots for Thai, Italian, Middle Eastern and Greek foods.  Recently, I stumbled upon a great C’Ville Entremom owned restaurant with a European flair called Horse & Hound Gastropub.

The first thing you notice when you enter Horse & Hound it the Old English bar with an amazing variety of beers on tap as well as a great array of bottled beer.  The second thing you notice is how great the fare smells.  Horse & Hound offers a fairly diverse menu.  They have salads and burgers as well as some amazing entrees like Lemon Caramelized Salmon sautéed with swiss chard, corn bread fritters and lemon caramel butter or Smoked & Slow Roasted Ribs with house made barbeque sauce and French fries.  (OK, this is making me hungry!!).  Horse & Hound prides themselves on making everything from scratch and using local ingredients and companies as much as possible.

Brooke Fedora co-owns the Gastropub with her husband, Luther.  They are both trained chefs and make an incredible team.  Brooke is the pastry chef and the front of house manager with Luther is the head chef.  Both Brooke and Luther graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in NY.  Brooke’s working background was in NYC, while Luther’s background took place in London.  They started Horse & Hound Gastropub after moving here because they wanted to “bring a little Europe to Charlottesville, hence the Gastropub, which is essentially a pub with great food.”  They came up with the name to pay tribute to all of the great hunt clubs in the surrounding area.  It seemed to them like the “right fit.”

So, how does Brooke fill not one, but two roles at the restaurant as well as raise her son Quinn (15 months)?  Brooke finds it very difficult and is still searching for the right balance to make time for not only the restaurant and her son, but herself as well.  Brooke feels lucky to have her parents in town to help out.  She also does a lot of the business side of owning a restaurant from home.  PS.  Brooke is making plans to open a second restaurant soon!  (Wowzers!  What a motivated Entremom).

Horse & Hound Gastropub is located at 625 West Main Street.  You can visit the restaurant online at www.horseandhoundgastropub.com.  Prices range from $8 to $30.

PPS.  You can check out Horse & Hound Gastropub tonight at the C’Ville Entremom Meet & Greet @ 7:00 pm.

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Growing up, I never really thought about eating the right kinds of foods or the importance of knowing where those foods came from. Eating healthy and/or locally weren’t at the top of my list of concerns. That all changed during my pregnancy and even more so when I became a mom. “Pesticides,” “hormones,” “fresh” and “locally grown” were all of a sudden buzz words in my circle of mommy friends. The problem is, we don’t always know where to find the nutritious, locally grown/made foods…until now.

Natalie Russell and her husband fell in love with this area for its wineries, orchards and agriculture – all of which they love to explore – and, after becoming parents, became even more committed to buying local, safe, healthy foods (sound familiar?). As freelance magazine writers (she has written for Real Simple, Body + Soul and USA Weekend  and was once the managing editor of Martha Stewart Living), they decided to create a magazine dedicated to promoting local foods in the Central Virginia area. Edible Blue Ridge magazine features our area’s farmers, chefs, food artisans and activists. This summer’s issue, for example, features Perfect Flavor’s delicious elderberry ice cream, made completely from local ingredients. There also is a story about a couple of foodies in Nelson County who make artisanal vinegars using Virginia wines.

Edible Blue Ridge is available quarterly (seasonal) in more than 170 shops, restaurants and wineries in the area, including Whole Foods, C’ville Market, Feast!, Nature’s Child and Blue Ridge Eco Shop. And, did I mention it’s free?

Natalie, the mother of 2-year-old Sam and five-month-old Amelia, works from home along with her husband. The two of them split time between parental responsibilities and the business, although, like the rest of us, she still finds herself doing most of the writing while her children are sleeping.

This year, Natalie and her husband decided to join in on the local farming fun that they so often write about and grew a garden. But, it isn’t your average garden; their yard gets little sunlight so they had to be creative. They joined the Charlottesville Community Garden located behind Bodo’s on Emmett Street. According to Natalie, “it’s the most amazing collection of gardens thriving in the most unusual little spot – essentially under the 250 overpass.” Natalie and her family have grown sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes and lettuce, which little Sam likes to pick and eat straight from the ground (spray-free so this is okay!).

In addition to the magazine, they have a blog , which is accessible on the main home page. The blog features interesting foods and tablestuff, the happenings in the food scene around town and, the best part, some of Natalie’s family recipes. Bon appetite!

~Mary Beth Bowen

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Attention Charlottesville Moms:  Your child’s birthday party just got easier!  Can’t find the perfect cake to go with your child’s party theme?  No Worries!  Charlottesville has Maliha Creations.

Maliha Creations is a custom cake bakery specializing in unique and edible art.  Anita Gupta (founder, owner, artist and baker extraordinaire) creates one of a kind cakes specific to your desires and your needs.  She creates cakes for any occasion:  weddings, showers, parties and celebrations.  All you have to do is simply contact Anita with your ideas, theme, color, etc. and she creates a one of a kind cake unique to your event.

Is Sally having a Princess Tea Party for her 4th Birthday?

Is Carter having a bug party for his 1st Birthday?

Are you throwing a baby shower for your sister, Jane?

Maliha Creations is proud to not use any trans fats, shortening, boxed mixes or other artificial ingredients.  Flavors range from the Traditional (chocolate fudge, red velvet, chocolate chip pound) to Maliha Creations “Specialty” (Coco-retto:  double chocolate cake layered with Amaretto-Mocha buttercream, Orange Crush: orange scented cake layered with Grand Marnier infused butter cream or Berries and Cream: sour cream almond or vanilla butter cake with fresh seasonal berries) just to name a few.  Anita is also more than happy to customize a flavor just for you!

Anita, who has a Masters in Public Health and a background in Biostatics, always had a passion for being in the kitchen.  She enjoys both cooking and baking.  When her first daughter was turning one, she wanted to find someone to make an all natural cake that featured her birthstone, pearls.  She couldn’t find anyone in Charlottesville to make the cake, so she did it herself.  Eventually, people started asking her to make their children’s birthday cakes and from there she decided to find out what it would take to have a fully licensed and working kitchen in her home.

So, how does Anita find the time to bake such beautiful cakes for the people of Charlottesville??  Anita has 3 children:  Asha (6), Sahana (3) and Ayyan (7 months) and says that they are her first priority.  She, therefore, only takes a few orders at a time.  This way her family is well taken care of and her customers are always satisfied because she can give them the personal attention that they deserve.  She does most of her work at night after the kids are in bed.

Maliha (a word meaning “beautiful” in Hindi) Creations has been featured in several local publications in the area, but relies mostly on word of mouth from satisfied customers to spread the word about these beautiful cakes.  If you are interested in having Anita create your next cake, you can visit her website (www.malihacreations.com) or email Anita (anita@malihacreations.com).

A note from Entremom:  I was truly blown away after seeing some of these cakes.  I was working on this feature when my daughter (Trudy age 3) woke up from her nap.  She literally came and sat in my lap for 20 minutes looking at and drooling over these cakes.  She picked out all of her favorites!  Looking at these cakes honestly made me want to have another wedding & soon!  They are just stunning.  So, here are my favorites (in no particular order):

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