Tabla de contenidos para Best of Bliss 2012 en Victoria

Choosing the best of the features we have presented in Victoria over the past five years was quite a challenge. You see, we believe that every story, every column, every page is our best effort. Throughout the year, we listen to you, our readers; we garner ideas from around the country and abroad; and each staff member brings carefully edited suggestions to our planning meetings. This enables us to produce a publication that, issue after issue, allows you to dream, to travel from your favorite armchair, and to be inspired in creative ways. I think you will want to prepare a wish list of travel opportunities as you study these pages, so brew a cup of tea, get a notepad and pen, and settle into a quiet corner for a…

A genuine road warrior, Pamela Williams hits the highway on any given day to scour the country’s best antiques shows and flea markets for her North Carolina boutique, Branching Out. Armed with nothing but a high-top van and her bichon frise, Max, she always returns with a surprising cache of vintage finds her patrons continually deem irresistible. Her shop has become a popular nook within the cozy University Mall in Chapel Hill and a happy diversion for anyone looking beyond the sameness of big-box stores and cookie-cutter design. “My customers are typically very educated, well traveled, and savvy,” says Pamela. “They’re tired of massproduced products from chain stores and megamalls, and they can find what they need here.” The evanescent wares at Branching Out range from handmade antique furniture and…

Around the bend and down the hill into Wiscasset, “Maine’s prettiest village,” there’s a charming sea captain’s home. The Marston House, which is what proprietors Paul and Sharon Mrozinski have called it since they opened it a little more than two decades ago, is one of nearly two dozen antiques shops that have made this tiny town a precious find for collectors. On any visit to the white-clapboard, Federal-style structure built in 1785, you’ll find an array of eighteenthand nineteenth-century collectibles, including handmade French garden smocks, striped harvest sacks, Parisian dressmaker mannequins, handblown glass cloches, and delicately painted milliners’ heads. The inventory also features a Swedish clock, a round bistro table, and a pair of wrought-iron garden benches whose undulating frames are supported by horses’ hooves. “I’m attracted to things…

Long before writing the acclaimed novels for which she is best known, Edith Wharton penned a design manual called The Decoration of Houses. In it she stated, “The desire for symmetry, for balance, for rhythm is one of the most inveterate of human instincts.” At a time when flowery Victorian décor was ubiquitous, The Decoration of Houses, co-authored by architect Ogden Codman Jr., introduced a radical way of looking at interiors—one that included proportion and relatively minimal details. Wharton believed in straightforward design, and the book advocated a return to simple and unfussy decorating. Five years after the work was published, she hired Codman and a second architect, Francis L.V. Hoppin, to bring these principles to life. The Mount, a forty-two-room estate built on the hillside of nearly 50 acres…

Red Velvet Cake Makes 1 (3-layer) cake 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups sugar 1 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 3 large eggs 2 cups vegetable oil 1 1/2 cups buttermilk 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows) 1. Preheat oven to 325?. Lightly spray 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with nonstick spray with flour. Line each pan with a parchment round; spray again. 2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, oil, buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and food coloring. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat batter until smooth, about 2 minutes. Evenly divide batter among…

HOTELS WE LOVE Pages 12–15: Blair Hill Inn, 351 Lily Bay Rd., Greenville, ME, 207-695-0224, blairhill.com. Pages 16–21: The Charlotte Inn, 27 S. Summer St., P.O. Box 1056, Edgartown, MA, 508-627-4751, thecharlotteinn.com. Pages 22–25: Hotel del Coronado, 1500 Orange Ave., Coronado, CA, 800-468- 3533, hoteldel.com. Pages 26–31: Blantyre, 16 Blantyre Rd., Lenox, MA, 413-637-3556, blantyre.com. Pages 32–35: The Fearrington House Inn and Restaurant, 2000 Fearrington Village Center, Pittsboro, NC, 800-277-0130, fearrington.com. SHOPS WE LOVE Pages 38–41: Branching Out, 201 S. Estes Dr., University Mall, Chapel Hill, NC, 919-929-5755. Pages 42–47: Pom Pom Interiors, 1401 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 323- 851-1342, pompominteriors.com. Pages 48–51: European Antique Market, 933 Barret Ave., Louisville, KY, 502-585- 3111, euroantiquemarket.com. Pages 52–57: Tail of the Yak, 2632 Ashby Ave., Berkeley, CA, 510-841-9891. Pages…

Return to a bygone era, where superior service, heavenly cuisine, and exquisite décor envelop your every sense. The romantic European ambience of the Blantyre Estate’s luxury country-house hotel is an experience you will not soon forget. When Robert Paterson acquired the 220-acre property in the late 1890s, he had a vision to build nothing less than a castle—complete with towers, turrets, and gargoyles—modeled after his mother’s ancestral home in Blantyre, Scotland. Construction began in 1901, oftentimes with more than three hundred people working to complete the structure. Unfortunately, decades of economic setbacks and ownership transitions took their toll. By the 1970s, the property had been abandoned. But in 1980, Ann Fitzpatrick Brown became the eighth owner and set about restoring the estate to its premier splendor. Today, the Blantyre radiates…

Anatural storyteller, Shawn Stucker is the owner of Louisville, Kentucky’s renowned European Antique Market—now the largest importer of French antiquities in the state. “It all began,” says Shawn, “with a woman who had a passion for French patina, who was aspiring to enrich her life—a dream that eventually led her to France in search of antiques … but what she found was something much greater.” While working a corporate job in merchandising and operations, Shawn began collecting and selling antiques as a hobby in the early 1980s. “It was a very conscious effort,” she recalls, “because I knew that eventually this is what I wanted to do.” Her endeavors then led to the purchase of an old farmhouse she could use for stocking her wares, and she acquired a booth…

A rich tapestry of history adorns Winterthur, the iconic American estate nestled amid the rolling hills of Delaware’s beautiful Brandywine Valley. Forests and streams surround the 982-acre property, where naturalistic gardens of captivating color combinations pave the way to the centuries-old du Pont mansion. Collected antiques as far as the eye can see fill the stunning rooms, transporting visitors back to another time and place. During the early 1900s, the late Henry Francis du Pont had a vision to turn his family’s residence into a cultural institution: “My idea of Winterthur is that it is a country estate Museum, to show Americans of the future what a country place and farm were like,” he said. Modeled after Britain’s country houses in the eighteenth century, the bucolic home was designed by…

Bordered by verdant pastures and tucked amid stately oaks, the Fearrington Inn was once home to a flourishing eighteenth-century dairy farm. When the inn’s creators, R.B. Fitch and his wife, Jenny, purchased the property in 1974, they dedicated themselves to preserving the farmstead’s architectural heritage and storybook setting. Today, the vibrant Fearrington Village includes a world-class inn, a restaurant, a spa, and quaint boutiques. Inspired by their visits throughout the European countryside, the Fitches modeled the inn and other new buildings after those in picturesque English villages. Graced with antiques, original artwork, and fresh flowers, each of the thirty-five guest rooms radiates romantic country elegance and offers serene vistas of the courtyard gardens or the neighboring bucolic landscape. Soothing amenities such as plush featherbeds, marble vanities, heated towel racks, and…

If you’ve ever tried to imagine what it would be like to walk into a fairy tale, browsing through this Berkeley, California-based shop will satisfy your curiosity. The compelling combination of ethereal whimsy and sweet romance, mixed with a generous dose of peculiarity, makes this one-of-a-kind store seem a world of its own. “We want the store to be an escape from the mundane—a magical place in a world that is increasingly predictable and commercial,” says co-owner Alice Erb. This is a magical place, indeed. Much of the eccentric inventory reads like a list of goods at an exotic bazaar from long ago: colorful vintage Chinese paper garlands, delicate French string, Italian alphabet ribbons, Victorian coral necklaces, hand-knit stuffed animals from Bolivia, Mexican church candles, woven ikats from Uzbekistan, and…

Lemon Butter Cookies Makes about 3 dozen cookies 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1 large egg at room temperature 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons toasted almond flour 1 cup confectioners’ sugar 3 tablespoons ground freeze-dried raspberries (optional) 1. In a large bowl, and using an electric mixer at mediumhigh speed, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in egg, lemon zest, and vanilla extract; scrape down sides of bowl. In a small bowl, combine all-purpose flour and almond flour. Slowly add flours to butter mixture, beating until dough just comes together. Remove dough from bowl, shape into a disk, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.…

Italian Pistachio-Cherry Biscotti Makes 24 biscotti 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 eggs, divided 1 1/2 teaspoons water 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 3/4 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup dried cherries 1. Preheat oven to 350?. Lightly spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray with flour*; set aside. 2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk. Reserve remaining egg white. 3. Whisk in water, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Use hands to bring dough together (dough will be very stiff). Knead in pistachios and cherries.…