Small Town Christmas & Dinner at Salamander

There's Christmas.  Then there's small town Christmas.

This week, I peeked at a little glimpse of small town Christmas on my way to a dinner party at Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg, VA.

For the DC/Maryland/Northern VA folks - the directions include "take the Dulles Toll Road to the end."  Doesn't this sound like "go to the end of I-95"? Who knew the thing ended? And what's beyond that?  As it turns out, there's miles that are much longer than city miles of horses and farm houses.  And then eventually, you get to the little town of Middleburg.

Here's a little bit about me. I don't live in a little town, but I love wandering through them.  Fresh ice cream, yarn shops, and an artsy little shop.  There's always these spots in a small town.  And 2-lane streets with stop signs where folks really do stop.

1st sign I was in a small town - free parking meters?!  Nice.

Since I was going to dinner, I skipped the ice cream shop.  And of course, I found the yarn like a magnet, except, this wasn't actually a yarn shop.  It was a needlepoint store, Stitches.  They had one collection of yarn from a local farm, Gum Tree Farm, with natural wool.  Wool can be funny, sometimes it can be scratchy as heck, sometimes really soft. This one, I wasn't too sure about, but they had mittens that had been made from the wool and, well, I bought 2 skeins.

Organic wool from Gum Tree Farm

I stopped in a funky little clothes store, picked up a Christmas present (shhh...) and then spent most of my time in Salamander Touch.  Its one of those shops that has a little of this and a little of that - bath soaps, lavender sachets, tea pots, hand lotion, and barn blankets designed by Sheila Johnson.  And there's Fern. Not the plant, but a NYC transplant who after decades out of the city still has the recognizable accent that will tell you about everything in the shop and help you find exactly what you need. I got hand lotion because that is one of my other secret addictions.  There were shop-folks up and down the street putting up wreaths and bows and Christmas lights. The fox hunting Christmas parade is on Saturday.  I admit, I wouldn't mind seeing that.

A friend of mine lives nearby, so she met me for pre-dinner drinks at the Salamander Resort.  We sipped on Parlays - a refreshing vodka based drink with muddled basil and lime juice - yumm - in the dark wood, cozy bar.  Over in the living room, next to the bar, we munched on chocolate chip pecan cookies that were set out for the Christmas tree lighting.  There was hot chocolate, children dressed up in their holiday velvet and bows, a children's chorus singing carols, a bell choir, and Santa - I told you, small town Christmas. The festivities were led by Sheila Johnson, the owner of the Resort.

One of the horse barns as you drive up to Salamander Resort

Our dinner party was in the Cooking Studio.

The Cooking Studio ready for dinner

I was really excited, I love watching a little behind the scenes in the restaurant kitchen. I was waiting for the chef to throw a pan and curse someone out for undercooking the risotto, but alas, there was no risotto and the chef, Dean, was a very nice guy from South Africa.  Our first course included a Pumpkin Cappucino, one of the other ladies frothed the milk foam for those.  For the main course, I had the swordfish, sweet potatoes, and collard greens.  Swordfish can sometimes come out a bit dry, because it's thick and steaky, but this one was moist and well-cooked.

The chef plating our dinner

Swordfish with sweet potatoes & collard greens

Making our own dinner - yukon gold potato gnocchi

What happens when quality control has wine on the job
- but they tasted good.

And for dessert, well, if you know anything about this blog or me, you know what I had. The 10-layer chocolate cake.  I don't even remember what the other option was, I'm not even sure I looked.

 10-layer chocolate cake with
pumpkin ice cream & dark chocolate lace

It was a delicious dinner, but the best part was the company. I know folks always say that, but really it was.  The party was organized by a business associate/friend of my husband and mine and it was a gathering of her invited guests. So unlike most social events in my life, I didn't know most of the other guests; only another couple and a woman that were at the same get together last year, too.  Business also mixed in with social as our host graciously chose my novel, Life in Spades, as a gift for all the guests.  It was fun to meet new folks (the couple who grew up next to each other as kids, but then just eloped last year), laugh over the random connections in our lives (the woman next to me travels to Seoul for work), and celebrate being happy with nice people.

I wanted to stay overnight and indulge in the spa.  However, the place is a bit expensive, and having to get back the next morning for mommy-duty, I didn't think I'd get all my dollars' worth.  It would be more justifiable for a special occasion (like an upcoming birthday, hint hint, dear husband) or a getaway treat, when you could really hang out and relax.  I'd love to wander around the grounds, watch the horses (you can even bring your own, if you got one in the backyard), and of course, melt into the hot towel chaise lounges in the spa that one of the other dinner guests swooned about.

Looking for small town living for a day or two? Go right on out, way past the airplanes and the traffic, look for the horses, and enjoy the sunset.

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Chocolate at Cacao Atlanta

On my last trip to Atlanta, I went to this really cute yarn shop in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood. I planned to go there again when I went down for the Blogalicious conference, but my college roommate told me that the yarn shop was gone – and was replaced by a chocolate shop. Wow, even better!  (Could you imagine if it was combined? Although, then you may end up with a bunch of chocolate finger-printed skeins of wool which would not be too cute. Okay, so better that they stay separate shops.)

Cacao Atlanta is a delicious boutique of chocolate. It’s all white and cocoa-y colored, and with the café tables, you feel like you just want to sit and eat chocolate all day.  And read a good book! In multi-tasking on this trip, I scheduled a book signing for my novel, Life in Spades, in the shop – it wasn’t cupcakes, but it was sweet, close enough.

My debut novel, Life in Spades - available in paperback, Kindle & Nook

For the book signing, they provided champagne and macarons – pistachio, lavender orange, and of course, chocolate.   I have become quite the fan of macarons since my PR friend took me to PAUL in DC and got me hooked.  I don’t ride the Metro often, but when I do, I try to come up with an excuse why I have to get off at the Archives stop just to get a couple.  Note, these are macarons – with 1 “o” – they are light, almond based cookies with a filling, kinda like a grown-up, fancy, much more decadent version of an Oreo.  Macaroons – with 2 “o”s – is a coconut cookie, which I do not like at all.

A completely unique treat was the salame di Cioccolato.  It looked like, yes, salami that you would pick up in a real deli with the rope tied around it and all.  The chocolate is rolled with shortbread and Amaretto cookies mixed in and you slice it, enjoying a delicate sliver at a time.  And the slivers, literally, melt in your mouth. Yum.

Onsite, they make custom bark. They melt the same chocolate they use for their candy bars, give you a choice of mix-ins like pretzels, nuts, and dried fruits, slather this all on a board and let it cool.  Ta-da!

If you love chocolate, they’ve got all kinds of treats for you. In fact, even if you don’t love chocolate, like one of my friends who was with me (yeah, I don’t really get it, either), they’ve got a slightly bittersweet bar for you, too.  So if you’re ever in the city, take a little trip over to the Virginia Highlands shop (there’s another in Buckhead) and satisfy your sweet tooth.

Home-made Chocolate Bark

Just in case, you can't hop a flight to Atlanta: A school-mom-friend of mine makes a homemade version of chocolate bark using chocolate chips and pretzels.  Simply melt chocolate chips (your choice what kind) in the microwave; line a baking pan with parchment paper and lay out broken pretzels, peanuts, peppermints, whatever on it; pour the melted chocolate over your mix-ins. Let cool, break with a wooden spoon, and enjoy.  Be careful because these are so easy to make, you might find yourself making them all the time.  They are also a nice quick gift wrapped up in festive gift bags.

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The Book I'm Carrying Around: Life in Spades by Frances Frost

Yes, we are still in the Mom-Me Celebration. The assignment for today, Day 15 is to Take steps toward your destination.

Ever since I was a kid, walking across the field and then the big 4-lane road to the library, I've wanted to be a writer. I dabbled with poems (what teen-age girl didn't?) and the Christmas play. And in the back of my mind, behind the finance degree, my hands still ached to crank out a novel. And so I have.

My debut novel, Life in Spades.

Life in Spades is my debut novel. It is about four women who depend on each other as partners to win at the game of spades and lean on each other as friends as they face their insecurities, negotiate love, define happiness.  Gina, Sherry, Cookie and Laura deal with inter-racial dating, the desire for motherhood, overcoming loss and starting again, and in all that, determining what they really want.  I'm sure that you will find them to be the girlfriends you'd like to hang out with - or maybe the ones you already do.  (The number 1 question from my friends so far is "you didn't write anything about me, did you?"  Ha ha - no comment!)

At 370 pages, I can assure you that this novel did not come together last month. It's been months, yes, years, in the making. Between shuffling kids, after cooking dinner, while waiting in the car, after everybody has gone to bed, I've been writing. While driving around, swimming laps, and folding clothes, I've been thinking.  Like a mad woman, I've seen people out in public and thought, "hey, there goes Laura and Michael. I like his suit. I like what she's done with her hair."

It's been a long journey and it's almost surreal now that there are 100 copies sitting in my dining room, some ready for shipping, most for my first book event tomorrow. But it didn't just happen. I finally made the decision that I did not want to keep these pages on my laptop forever. And as my husband kept nagging telling me: you aren't really an author until someone reads your stuff. Good point. I determined that I really did want to be an author with readers who read my stuff.

• I made a plan of writing each day.
• I challenged myself with NaNoWriMo; if you are a wanna-be novelist - try it out: write 50,000 words in the month of November. But realize that this is less than half your first, rough draft.
• I thought about my characters and what was natural for them.
• I took writing classes and formed a writing critique group with other like-minded women. The support of the writing group is incredible because you know what you meant when you wrote something and you think it's a great idea. In our writing group, we've developed enough rapport and trust among each other to say "this works, tweak it to make it better", "this doesn't work, throw it out or fix it a lot." Even, "I don't think she would say/do/think that."
• I've determined my strengths and weaknesses in this process, and worked towards my strengths, hired folks for my weaknesses.
• And I am now, with anticipation, excitement, nervousness seeing it all come together.

I challenge you to do the same. What are you wanting to do? What is your big dream? What can you do today, this week, this month towards that dream?

A few months ago, I ran into a friend who was carrying around a "How to Fly Helicopters" book. I thought she had it for some kind of school project for one of her friends. I was wrong. She was reading it because she wanted to fly helicopters! She said she always wanted to, realized she'd be too old when her kids grew up, and was pursuing it now. I've never been in a helicopter, but I want to go with her once she's got it all figured out.  Because I want to fly, too.

Read more about Life in Spades and my debut as an author at www.francesfrost.com.  The book is available in paperback and e-book; currently through the website and Amazon.com.

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Follow along here on my blog or on Facebook - JustPiddlin with Frances for our 30-Day Mom-Me Celebration all the way until Mother's Day.