Tasty trickery

What I remember about food, as a kid, is that I preferred the things reserved for treats (cheesecake, white-flour pasta, Hershey’s miniatures)—and given the choice, I’d sit at the table all night rather than finish anything resembling a root vegetable. Hidden agenda: 18-month-old Beau Bianchi devours beets and apricots presented in cute mini-muffin form (right). […]

Fully furnished

If you build it, they will come—or so hopes HandMade in America’s Jenny Moore. The associate director of the Western North Carolina nonprofit, which promotes area culture, crafts and crafters, Moore says there’s a mixture of artistic styles in the mountains. Some artists are doing very traditional work, while others focus on contemporary styles. Contemporary […]

Top Drawer: Fashion news and views

Asheville Hardware (91 Biltmore Ave., Asheville, 252-8088) is not just your one-stop shop for woodworking supplies, renovation materials and classes—the new business also sells great T-shirts. Here, sales clerk (and local artist) Kim Dryden models one. The store also sells a men’s long-sleeved version in black. Speaking of shirts, the Downtown After Five committee is […]

Trash talk

Erica Livingston is a long way from home. Sort of. She grew up in the North Carolina town of Ramseur (population 1,589), but for most of the past decade she’s hung her hat in New York City—the right home base for an up-and-coming actress. However, the roles Livingston lands reflect not the urbanized woman she’s […]

Top Drawer: fashion news and views

Top Drawer wants to get into the minds of Asheville’s notable fashion forecasters, trendsetters and style icons. In this series, we ask boutique owners and designers what inspires them, and what tips they have to pass along. Larry Hopkins, owner and mastermind of Ananda Hair Studio (22 Broadway St., Asheville, 232-1017) is influenced by the […]

Being Blunt

“I write songs because I have to, really, to document my own life and understanding of what’s going on and to process all those experiences.” So says pop artist James Blunt, sounding much like my former writing professor. (The professor claimed she rolled out of bed in the morning and wrote a couple pages before […]