briefs

Published On: June 25, 2010

SCOOP

Blog, blog, blog

It’s taken a bit longer than we thought, but the Nfocus blog—N the Know—is up and running. A select group of society doyennes, savvy and/or sassy storytellers and our own little crew (Ellen, Sinclair and Madison) will be regularly commenting on all the goings-on about town. And, look for snippets on groovy new shops and beauty treatments—like the Keratin Complex process (we’ll call it hair straightening) that Chris Richardson at Platinum Salon performed on Madison. Hot!

So go to nfocusmagazine.com and click on N the Know. Feel free to comment or share any titillating tidbits you may have heard. But please, keep it clean and libel free! EN

DWELL

Home sweet home

Remember last year when every news outlet in town was running something about Nashville’s growing condominium sector? Well, it’s been a while since we’ve heard what’s shaking on this hip front, so we visited Terrazzo, the first LEED-certified, green in town, to hear what’s been crack-a-lacking. In the midst of tough economic times, Terrazzo held an accelerated sales event in November, offering a limited selection of the condominium homes in an auction format. In one day, the high rise had 27 new homeowners and managed to establish market value. To date, Terrazzo has sold 60 percent of its units.

In April, Terrazzo unveiled its stunning, two-story penthouse collection that includes a furnished model home designed by Dana Goodman Interiors. Recognized as some of the largest condominiums in town, all seven penthouses feature at least one fireplace and multiple terraces. The sizes range from a two-bedroom/two-bath home at 2,400 square feet to a three bedroom/three bath at nearly 3,200 square feet. With 20-foot high windows and a kitchen rocking the newest and coolest features, these dreams home are perfect for those who love to entertain.

But let’s say you don’t want people messing up your home. No worries. Just head to the pool terrace where regular sunset cocktail receptions and other fun activities are always in the works. Or, if you’re into culture and philanthropy, Terrazzo regularly hosts nonprofit art exhibits and other benefits.

But don’t think you have to mingle if you live here. With only 117 residences, there’s a most intimate feel to this building. Just bundle and enjoy the view of the Nashville skyline with your dog (yes, the building is pet friendly!) With 26 different floor plans available to choose from, we’re fairly certain there’s something to suit everyone’s taste. For more information, contact Terrazzo at 256-2003. EN

IMPROVE

I want my baby skin back

Isn’t bad skin supposed to disappear once you hit your 20s? Or is there no justice in this world? We were going with the no justice theory until we talked to Dr. Michael Gold at Gold Skin Care Center. It seems, over the past several years, some new technologies have emerged that can dramatically change everything from wrinkles and scars to disturbing facial lines.

Let’s talk about laser resurfacing. Dr. Gold divides this topic into three categories: non-ablative fractional resurfacing, ablative fractional resurfacing and sublative fractional resurfacing. According to the good doc, here’s how it breaks down: “Non-ablative fractional resurfacing is the least aggressive of the treatments and requires a series of four to six treatments to achieve affective results in improving facial lines, wrinkles, and treating facial scars. It works for many, and downtime is usually one to two days in most cases. Ablative fractional treatments are more aggressive and use machines described commonly as erbium lasers and C02 lasers. Downtime from these procedures can be up to seven days, depending on the machine and the depth of damage. These ablative devices can work in one to three treatments, depending on what is being treated and the amount of damage one has. And the newest modality, sublative rejuvenation, uses radio frequency that is fractionated and also has one to two days of downtime. This technique is showing remarkable results in a short period of time with most noticing demonstrable results in one to three treatments.

Gold Skin Care Center has two non-ablative fractional devices (Affirm and Fraxel), one of which Dr. Gold worked on for FDA approval. He is recognized as a national authority/researcher on the new sublative rejuvenation device (eMatrix). Why does this matter? It means Gold Skin Care is well versed in all the laser treatments and can assess what each client needs and offer it to them. Perhaps more importantly, they know what they’re doing. In the wrong hands, a laser can make your skin worse rather than better. So do your homework before you commit, or give Gold Skin Care Center a call at 383-2400. EN

EAT

Thyme for good eats!

A long-ago phone call to personal chef Sandi Heflin from her children’s after-school program director provides a clue about the worldly and diverse culinary influences already inside the Heflin home in the 1980s. “The teacher called to say my kids weren’t sure they should eat the after school snack, peanut butter and crackers, because they had never before eaten it. She thought they were telling tall tales because they said their favorite snack was fried squid and a Greek-style salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and oregano,” Sandi relates. It was the truth. Heflin’s children lived in Greece while their physician father served in the military. Although the Heflins ate it regularly, Nashville needed a few more years to become familiar with calamari. Sandi said, “I’ve always cooked. That’s how I was raised. My Dad was in the military and we were constantly around people from all over. My parents pushed us to try the local cuisine, no matter where we lived. Just because we were military, we didn’t buy American food exclusively at the commissary, we adapted to what was available locally.”

Sandi, a former nurse who “burned out,” had already lived in Nashville for some time when she took cooking classes during a trip to England. Locally, she was inspired by then-manager Hoyt Hill and his cooking staff at F. Scott’s. After “playing around” in their kitchen, she attended Tante Marie’s Culinary School in San Francisco, where she took cooking and pastry classes. She then served as a garde manger at the now-defunct Rubicon, Drew Nieporent’s flagship San Francisco restaurant which was co-owned by Francis Ford Coppola, Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams.

Sandi stayed two years in California and during her drive back to Nashville, she says “The combination of boredom, the seeming endless, desolate landscape and ‘Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme’ blasting over the radio culminated in my making a definitive affirmation: ‘It’s about time I got on with my life.’ The idea morphed into About Thyme Catering.”

Heflin’s first gig as a personal chef was for the president of the Shop At Home television network. A former Californian, he specifically wanted a California-trained chef. Because her work at the network was not full-time, Sandi also worked at The Trace, a Hillsboro village restaurant owned by the same network executive. She left both positions in less than two years because of the growth of About Thyme. “My business plan was written with the idea of cooking two to three client dinners weekly. Clients began to hire me when they wanted to entertain business guests in their homes, or had several guests for a large family function or special occasion,” Sandi said.

She adds, “For most of my clients, it’s not that they can’t cook, but they don’t want to. Perhaps they can easily cook for six or eight, but beyond that, it is more complicated. Or, sometimes they don’t want to be in the kitchen. Two or three times each year they want me to come in and execute the food for them so they can enjoy their parties. Then, clients began to ask me to cater, saying ‘You do such great private dinners for us, can you also do my daughter’s wedding?’

Sandi says “I do cater, but the events I cook for max out at 150-200 people, tops.” She does the majority of her cooking within client homes, but she also has a prep kitchen at her house in a separate building. For one client, she cooks lunch five days weekly and delivers it. Unlike many personal chefs, she doesn’t prepare routine meals for a large number of clients, but creates special occasion meals for many return and referral clients.

One rewarding and creative outlet for this culinary professional was developing the menu for the YMCA’s overnight camps and helping train the camp cooks. Sandi said, “I found a passion that I could survive on, which is not always true in the kitchen industry. I find inspiration at new restaurants. Nashville has great restaurants, you just have to explore.” MLT