Whether he’s rendering the nuances of a hunting covert or conveying the barely restrained energy of a dog on point, Bob Bertram believes it’s all about what happens when light hits the subject. Years of hunting quail and pheasant in the Midwest—over dogs, of course—have given him the field experience he brings into the studio. He works with that light, showcasing small details such as the height of a proud pointer’s tail, the heft of a retrieved bird, or the knots in a gnarled blowdown.

When asked his favorite subject, Bob replies, “No contest—dogs.” The owner of a Gordon setter and a Boykin spaniel, Bob has a keen ability to identify what to emphasize in each dog he paints.

“The most successful paintings are about something, some aspect of the dog that needs to be highlighted. That could be a striking head, the powerful shoulder structure, the richness of the coat. The light has to hit it and what is most important gets the detail; subordinate things get less focus,” he says.

Chef Joseph Lenn grew up with a love of home-cooked meals served at the tables of his mom and granny in the foothills of East Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains. He’s adopted and elevated the cooking of his youth in his role as executive chef of The Barn at Blackberry Farm. Lenn’s take on foothills cuisine won him the 2013 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast and made him the first chef from Tennessee to earn the culinary community’s highly coveted award.

Lenn, who began as an intern at 4,200-acre Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee, has led the kitchen at The Barn since 2010. The food he serves is inspired by the bounty of the surrounding area—trout, ramps, wild mushrooms, and crayfish. “We make our own pickles and preserves here,” says the Johnston & Wales graduate, whose menus incorporate heirloom vegetables and fruits from the property’s expansive garden.

Recipes include

1 -Smoked Moulard Duck with Parsnip Puree, Farro, and Citrus

2 -Toasted Buckwheat with Grilled Broccolini and Butternut Romesco Sauce

3 -Kale Salad with Creamy Garlic Thyme Dressing

4 -Benton’s Bacon-wrapped Rabbit with Cabbage, Roasted Carrots, and Mustard Glazed Turnips

When we think of a celebration, what’s the first beverage we envision? Champagne. We toast to the bride and groom with Champagne, World Series winners spritz one another with the bubbly, and we clink glasses to ring in the New Year. Champagne is the undeniable drink of choice for special occasions.

Thought to be invented by the French Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon in the 17th Century, Champagne naturally achieves its bubbles in the second fermentation that occurs inside a sealed bottle. Carbon dioxide cannot escape, and sparkles are trapped. True Champagne can be made only in an 84,000-acre region in northern France. If you see “sparkling wine” on the label versus Champagne, it means the bubbly didn’t meet the governing body’s stringent laws of origin. The Champagne region of northern France frequently sues imitators and works with foreign governments to prevent counterfeiting.