We haven’t set foot on Disney property, although rumor has it we might be visiting downtown Disney today. If you want my take on Disney, check out my trip notes from a few years ago.
We arrived last Sunday after a 14.5 hour drive, so we took it easy on…
The organizers of the Christmas Parade are looking for volunteers to help collect trash.Vounteers will walk the parade route twice as a group carrying trash bags. They will meet ahead of time at the Visitor’s Center on Caroline St. at 4:15 pm on Decem…
My grown son has recently become fascinated by the idea of straight razor shaving. He has researched the tools, watched how-to videos, and begun saving for a high quality straight razor kit. The only thing missing is that he had never actually had a st…
My grown son has recently become fascinated by the idea of straight razor shaving. He has researched the tools, watched how-to videos, and begun saving for a high quality straight razor kit. The only thing missing is that he had never actually had a straight razor shave. To me, the idea of investing in pricey straight razor equipment without ever having had the shave was a bit like buying golf clubs without ever having been golfing. So while he was home for Thanksgiving vacation, I decided to treat him to a straight razor shave in a traditional barber shop.
Now Fredericksburg is a historic town with many old timey barber shops. But when I started to call around, I had a hard time finding someone who offered the service. I kept getting the same answer…no one does that anymore. Not even the guy who’s been in business for 65 years. And searching the internet didn’t yield anything promising, until I came across an old forum in which someone mentioned a straight razor shave at a place near the mall. A little more searching turned up a gem of a place, “Village Square Barber & Hair” in the Village Square shopping center across from Costco.
So this afternoon, I accompanied my son to check it out. I could really see the appeal of this place. Men were getting classic haircuts, and everyone was treated to a soothing neck massage by the pretty young women who staffed the place. While there were a couple of women in the waiting area, and one holding a squirmy toddler for his first haircut, all the customers were men. Men’s magazines in the waiting area, and football on the wall-mounted TVs. My son got the full treatment he was looking for: hot steamy towel to soften the beard, an expert shave, a massage of after-shave, and a dusting of powder. All for $11. It was (literally) the closest shave of his life, and when he was done, his skin felt like it did before he hit puberty. While I’m sure there will be a straight razor in his future, at least now he understands the deft, experienced hand it takes to do it right. So this will give him something to shoot for while he’s hacking up his face.
And the point of this blog post is simply that when someone googles “Where can I get a straight razor shave in Fredericksburg?,” the answer will be here waiting for them.
As you may have guessed we had a lot of wine on Thanksgiving. We usually like to drink something we know will be good but that we hadn’t tried yet. Three wines in particular fit that bill this year.
In the afternoon Kyle shucked some oysters which we ate both raw and roasted. We paired them with a wine many say is the best with oysters, a Vin Jaune. Vin Jaune, or “yellow wine”, is somewhat similar to sherry but much harder to come by. We drank the Rolet 1998 Vin Jaune shown in the picture. Click here for a fuller description of this unusual but delicious wine.
For our first course Rebecca made an oyster stew (we had a lot of oysters) which we paired with the Gatinois Champagne, a fantastic wine made by one of Champagne’s small growers. In fact, Gatinois sells their grapes to Bollinger who use it to make their high end cuvee. What they don’t sell they make into this wine which is a fraction of the price of the Bollinger. I love pairing Champagne with food on special occasions. Champagne is great for toasts and parties and such but pairing it with oyster stew will change your view of this wine.
Finally with Turkey we had a new wine from one of our favorite producers, Thierry Puzelat, known for his natural winemaking meaning he uses wild yeast and doesn’t put additives in his wines, sometimes not even sulfites. This year we had the Le Rouge Est Mis, a Pinot Meunier. Pinot Meunier is related to Pinot Noir and is most often used in Champagne. In fact if you’ve had a rose Champagne (from Champagne, not just any sparkling wine) then it was probably Pinot Meunier. It was even better than we anticipated, with bright fruit flavors that didn’t overwhelm the food and the earthy and tea-like flavors that seem to be a signature of Puzelat’s wines. It is worth every penny of its $33.99 price tag – I’ve had Burgundies that cost twice as much that weren’t as good. Plus the label has a gangster on it which is cool.
The Rolet is only at Plank road now but will be available at William Street starting next week. The other two wines are available at both stores but in very limited quantities in case you want any of these for Christmas or New Years.
My grown son has recently become fascinated by the idea of straight razor shaving. He has researched the tools, watched how-to videos, and begun saving for a high quality straight razor kit. The only thing missing is that he had never actually had a straight razor shave. To me, the idea of investing in pricey straight razor equipment without ever having had the shave was a bit like buying golf clubs without ever having been golfing. So while he was home for Thanksgiving vacation, I decided to treat him to a straight razor shave in a traditional barber shop.
Now Fredericksburg is a historic town with many old timey barber shops. But when I started to call around, I had a hard time finding someone who offered the service. I kept getting the same answer…no one does that anymore. Not even the guy who’s been in business for 65 years. And searching the internet didn’t yield anything promising, until I came across an old forum in which someone mentioned a straight razor shave at a place near the mall. A little more searching turned up a gem of a place, “Village Square Barber & Hair” in the Village Square shopping center across from Costco.
So this afternoon, I accompanied my son to check it out. I could really see the appeal of this place. Men were getting classic haircuts, and everyone was treated to a soothing neck massage by the pretty young women who staffed the place. While there were a couple of women in the waiting area, and one holding a squirmy toddler for his first haircut, all the customers were men. Men’s magazines in the waiting area, and football on the wall-mounted TVs. My son got the full treatment he was looking for: hot steamy towel to soften the beard, an expert shave, a massage of after-shave, and a dusting of powder. All for $11. It was (literally) the closest shave of his life, and when he was done, his skin felt like it did before he hit puberty. While I’m sure there will be a straight razor in his future, at least now he understands the deft, experienced hand it takes to do it right. So this will give him something to shoot for while he’s hacking up his face.
And the point of this blog post is simply that when someone googles “Where can I get a straight razor shave in Fredericksburg?,” the answer will be here waiting for them.
My grown son has recently become fascinated by the idea of straight razor shaving. He has researched the tools, watched how-to videos, and begun saving for a high quality straight razor kit. The only thing missing is that he had never actually had a st…
A fortnightly MY FINAL rant, FL-S style.
During the past couple of days, some of you caught the string of YouTube videos posted to Fred2Blue. Much was foreshadowed by them.
And how great was that Viking Funeral?
YES FOLKS, Chris Guy and I have decided that the time has come to for us to leave our little village of Anatevka […]
Four years ago, Stafford Dems published a thoroughly comprehensive field manual. It spanned 30 or 40 pages which required a lot of paper and loose-leaf binders. It was not at all earth-friendly.
Plus, in the end…I am not sure anyone read it.
So I say to all future chairs of the local committees: SAVE THE PAPER!
Really, anything […]
Fresh off the news that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (i.e. the stimulus act) has created over a dozen new Congressional districts (I’m running in the new 00 district myself), it looks like Chairman R. Allen Webb of the 99th House of Delegates Republican Committee has created a new Congressional district himself. From an […]
