Sunday, May 10, 2009

eatin' round town

Back in December, I went to pick up some items from the home of a jeweler. Tofirst loaf my surprise, her house was filled with the smell of baking loaves. All my life, I have been accustomed to the smell of my grandmother and aunts' homemade rolls, but there was something different about this smell. The smell assaulted my nose and I couldn't help asking a few questions. I found that these loaves were sourdough, and had been baked not with store-bought yeast, but with starter. Before leaving, I was gifted with my very own loaf and promised some starter in the future. She told me that she has had the starter since her teenage daughter was a baby, and that you have to "feed" it every week, even if you're not baking. Since receiving my starter, I have kept it alive and baked bread several times. Each cup makes three loaves. Here is the loaf D gave me in December.

I wrote a fewsalmon posts back about how S and I went to the Ship's Cabin in Ocean View after the East Beach open house in December. We had some of the best bread w/olive oil and parmesan and homemade blue cheese dressing. We were given some dressing to go, and I used mine the next day on a salmon salad. Um um.

Two posts back, I wrote about how I'd efood for thoughtaten the same meal at Food for Thought in Williamsburg twice in the past year. I was mistaken: it was three times - twice last spring, and once this past winter when I got carry out. I think those are cheese grits along with the squash casserole. The original combo is still the best.

I think I wrote about the variety of nuts at the Smithfield Ham Shoppe in February. The wasabi nuts are awesome.
nuts
As are the Hot Southern Nuts.

nuts2

M and I went to the Queen's Way Soul Cafe in downtown Hampton in March. I had heard they had good drinks, but had never eaten there, except for the fish sampler served at Wilson's Landing last September. M told me that they have awesome grilled shrimp, and I agree. She had hers with greens and cabbage, and I had mine on a salad. Very good.

Queen's Way Soul Cafe

On to sushi...
A few weeks ago, I was in Norfolk to hold open Widgeon Point townhouses - 0 down, 3.25% interest - and drove down to MacArthur mall afterwards for a quick stop at MAC. (hey, even frugal folks have their indulgences). On the way home, I drove past Domo and thought, man I need to check them out. A few days later, S and I were at Widgeon Point. We had been talking about going for sushi for weeks, so we headed over to Domo. Oh my goodness, what a menu. Domo has the most extensive, creative sushi menu I have ever seen. I satiated myself with reading it, and ended up choosing a fairly tame spicy tuna roll. The twist? It included cilantro. As it turns out, I couldn't taste the cilantro. S got a specialty roll. Can't say I was too much into it - didn't like the sweetness - but I have picked out several specialty rolls to try in the future. And my tuna roll was excellent.
Just a few days later, we were at Musasi in Hampton having lunch. I prefer Musasi's salad dressing to Domo's. Less sweet, more peanuty. My salmon lunchbox was close to perfect. I was disappointed with my rolls though. I expected the standard California roll, with roe! Everything else was excellent, as usual.
Musasi lunchbox
Musasi

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Poquoson

Poquoson, VA is a small town on the Virginia Peninsula, which is also comprised of the cities of Hampton & Newport News and the county of York. Williamsburg is and/or is not a part of the Peninsula, depending on the context. While the population of Newport News is 180,000, and Hampton is 146,000, York County is scantily populated at 60,000. Poquoson & Williamsburg, at roughly 11,000 each, are small towns in comparison. Like all Hampton roads locales, Poquoson has its own personality. While Williamsburg has a similar sized population, with its constant influx of William & Mary students, tourists, and retirees, it feels nothing like Poqouson. In Poquoson, everybody knows everybody. Before December, my experience with Poquson had been a visit here or there to the pharmacy, which sells novelty items, or to the marina on Messick road, where my mother and aunt go just after sunrise on summer mornings to buy fish fresh off the boat. (scroll to the bottom of this post to view active listings in Poquoson.)

In December, I showed a house in Poquoson to a client. Once inside, I could see that this was no ordinary bungalow. What a creative set up! There were vintage bar stools on both sides of the breakfast bar.
long view
And in the kitchen, a huge mural of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, painted onto the wall!
mural 3
I thought the welcoming piggy was a great touch as well, and everyone enjoyed the candy.
This little piggy
In spite of the cuteness, if you know anything about the area, the first thing you will ask is about flood insurance and the like. Poquoson and Grandview in Hampton were hardest hit by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. The seller of this home raised the home to 12 ft above sea level after Isabel to ease his own worries and those of future buyers. Here's a sampling of listings in Poquoson. Check out the extra tall foundations of some of the homes: many of them used to sit on lower foundations, and were also raised after Isabel.

The agent on the other side of the transaction was very competent and friendly. She told me that she had moved over from a more populated city on Southside, and that she loved Poquson. She told me about Heidi's point, just down the street, where Heidi Laura Cayouette, an airline and aerobatic pilot and the daughter of a Poquoson resident was memorialized. She told me the park was privately owned by Heidi's mother, but that she had established it as a place open to the public. Of course I had to visit.
Heide's point
The trail to the lighthouse reminded me of the trail to Grandview.
Someone on flickr took a much better picture of the path. Hey, I'm not afraid to give credit where credit's due.
trail 1
Here is the lighthouse, which my flickr buddy Jerry Gammon took a much better picture of.
lighthouse
And after that, all there is to do is to walk back.
trail  (10)
There are lot of these bottle sculptures in Poquoson. I had previously only seen them in the movie "Ray." Maybe one day I will find the meaning.
bottle tree

Here's a sampling of listings in Poquoson. Check out the extra tall foundations of some of the homes: many of them used to sit on lower foundations, and were raised after Hurricane Isabel. Check out the value on 1327 Poquoson Avenue. At $139,000, it is priced $30,000 below the next least expensive home in Poquson, a home priced at $169,900.

Want to buy or sell a home in Poquoson? Email me at athreatt@greggarrettrealty.com or call me at 757-879-5830.

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Rotunda birthday party

Lofts from the mid 200's in downtown Norfolk, VA.



















Spotted on Flickr.

For more information about the Rotunda and/or homes for sale in Norfolk, VA, email me at athreatt@greggarrettrealty.com or call me at 757-879-5830.

Hampton University/Phoebus area to the Rotunda

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East Beach - Norfolk

Back in November, a few of us participated in the East Beach Holiday Home Tour by holding open two of the houses our company had on the market there - one is a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2,200 square foot home on 28th Bay St. listed below $700k, the other a 6 bedroom, 3.5 bath, 5,900 square foot home on 25th Bay St. listed just above a million - the Norfolk house. Both houses were open on both days. I, along with two of my colleagues, held open the Norfolk House. Afterwards, S and I happened upon some fine local dining at the Ships Cabin.

I absolutely love these his-and-hers sinks in the master.
sink

The jetted tub features the same detail as the sinks, and the master bath features a separate shower.
highlight
dual
shower

The top floor features a music room with ceiling speakers. Way cool! There was a little girl who came in with her family. She twirled and twirled in this room.
music2

Cool mural in the stairway.
ferris

View from the front.
east beach1

Another house in the community.
primaries

Another house in the community. Check out the seashells and the mermaid on the wreaths.
house

Buildable lots with view of the Chesapeake Bay.
lots

Check out the attention to detail here.
detail2

There were carriage rides throughout the day.
carriage1

East Beach
1. window, 2. upstairs, 3. tub, 4. sink, 5. shower, 6. shape, 7. shadow, 8. primaries, 9. norfolk house, 10. music3, 11. music2, 12. music, 13. master2, 14. master, 15. lots, 16. lights, 17. light2, 18. light, 19. house, 20. highlight, 21. ferris, 22. east beach1, 23. dual, 24. detail3, 25. detail2, 26. detail, 27. circles, 28. cbbt, 29. carriage3, 30. carriage2, 31. carriage1, 32. carriage curve, 33. baywin, 34. wellington

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

For more information about East Beach, or for homes in Norfolk, VA, email me at athreatt@greggarrettrealty.com or call me at 757-879-5830.

Southall Landing to East Beach.

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