Ashley's Delivers Local Gift Baskets

Looking for a unique, convenient and affordable gift giving option this holiday season? Consider delivery of a locally-made gift basket, overflowing with home-style treats from the bakery at Troyer’s Dutch Heritage. Ashley’s Food Delivery is now accepting orders for a variety of food-filled gift baskets, all available for delivery throughout the holiday season.

Ideal for personal and corporate gift giving, Troyer’s gift baskets reflect the traditional heritage and old-fashioned charm of Sarasota’s local Amish and Mennonite community. Choose from the following options for delivery:

• Troyer’s Heritage Basket features 100 percent locally made treats from the Troyer’s Dutch Heritage bakery and restaurant, as well as a copy of the Heritage Favorites cookbook, a collection of family recipes from Troyer’s employees. Included are a small homemade pie, home-style fudge, fresh granola, apple butter, jam, old-fashioned candies and more ($55, including delivery).

• The Brunch Basket is filled with home-style goodies including homemade sweet bread & cookies, coffee, tea, two ceramic Troyer’s mugs, jelly, fruit mix, homemade peanut butter, candy and more ($55, including delivery).

• The Party Basket offers a sampling of Amish delights including a summer sausage, a cheese round, pretzels & crackers and Amish dressings & dips ($55, including delivery).

• The Florida Basket features citrus honey, orange marmalade, Gator Sauce, orange dressing, citrus taffy and mini coconut patties ($30, including delivery).

• The Popcorn Basket is filled with two bags of un-popped popcorn, buttery topping, sweet caramel glaze and chocolates ($30, including delivery).

Ashley’s Food Delivery makes seasonal gift giving easy and convenient with a complete gift basket delivery menu, and online ordering, at www.ashleysfood.com. Orders can also be placed by phone; call 941-953-FOOD (3663). Gift basket delivery is available every day; 48 hour notice is requested. Complimentary gift cards can be included with all gifts baskets upon request.

About Ashley’s Food Delivery: The area’s only multi-restaurant delivery service, Ashley’s Food Delivery partners with over 25 restaurants in Sarasota to deliver everything from home-cooked, comfort food to elegant, gourmet dining. Ashley’s Food offers residential & corporate meal delivery, drop-off catering services and gift basket delivery. The service is open for lunch delivery Monday through Friday and dinner delivery every day. For more information, call 953-3663 or visit www.AshleysFood.com.

Get Your Thanksgiving Pies Delivered!

Don’t stand in line at the local Amish bakery to pick up your pies this Thanksgiving – have them delivered instead! Ashley’s Food Delivery will bring them right to your holiday table, and is accepting pre-orders now. Choose from a wide selection of homemade pies from the bakery at Troyer’s Dutch Heritage. Traditional favorites like Pumpkin, Pecan and Dutch Apple are available, as well as decadent flavors like Chocolate Cream, Cranberry Pecan and Strawberry Rhubarb.

Whole pies are $10.99 to $12.99, plus tax and delivery. To view a full selection of available pies, as well as other bakery items such as dinner rolls, sweet breads and cookies, visit www.AshleysFood.com. Order online, or call 953-3663 to place your pie order today. 48 hours advance notice requested for pie deliveries. Thanksgiving deliveries will be made Wednesday, November 24.

About Ashley’s Food Delivery: The area’s only multi-restaurant delivery service, Ashley’s Food Delivery partners with over 25 restaurants in Sarasota to deliver everything from home-cooked, comfort food to elegant, gourmet dining. Ashley’s Food offers residential & corporate meal delivery, drop-off catering services and gift basket delivery. The service is open for lunch delivery Monday through Friday (Sarasota only) and dinner delivery every day. For more information, call 953-3663 or visit www.AshleysFood.com.

Rosemary Birthing Home Welcomes Licensed Midwife Kathleen Cardin

Kathleen Cardin, LM, CPM, gave birth to her second child almost twenty years ago, in the comfort of her home, surrounded by people who loved her. By the time her daughter was three months old, Kathleen was accompanying a pair of senior midwives to births, and a few years later she graduated from an accredited Florida midwifery program and began her practice in Tallahassee. After a decade in Maine as a nurse in both a small county hospital and an 850 bed regional medical center, Kathleen is unpacking her moving boxes and packing her midwifery bag to join Harmony Miller, LM, CPM at Sarasota’s Rosemary Birthing Home.

“I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be a healer; that is, to help and support people through life processes and to help them grow, and to grow myself,” says Kathleen. “I was taught right from the start that birth is a beautiful process, an awesome experience, and something to look forward to and enjoy.”

Rosemary Birthing Home was established in 2003 and is owned and operated by Licensed Midwives. A free-standing, accredited birth center in Sarasota’s historic Rosemary District, Rosemary Birthing Home offers personalized midwifery care embedded with the philosophy that birth is a normal, healthy process that most often requires no medical intervention.

"I am so happy to have Kathleen joining the Rosemary family,” says Harmony Miller, midwife, owner and operator of Rosemary Birthing Home since 2006. “She has so much to offer to our community."

Rosemary Birthing Home families and the Sarasota community are invited to meet Kathleen, Harmony and the rest of the Rosemary Birthing Home care team on Saturday, December 11, in the Rosemary Court gardens. For more information, please call 941.330.9966 or visit www.rosemarybirthing.com.

About Rosemary Birthing Home: Established in 2003, Rosemary Birthing Home is a free-standing birth center in Sarasota’s historic Rosemary District. Owned and operated by Florida licensed midwives, Rosemary Birthing Home offers personalized midwifery care, birth center births, home births, water births, pre-pregnancy nutrition counseling, postpartum care, babywearing classes, support groups, lactation counseling, complete childbirth education, a lending library and more. A free Choices in Childbirth Class and Rosemary Birthing Home Orientation is offered on Mondays and Tuesdays (by appointment only). For more information, please call 941.330.9966 or visit www.rosemarybirthing.com.

Introducing: 12th and East Home

On November 23, Sarasota will become the flagship site for a new home accessories boutique, created by one of the area’s most reputed interior design firms. Located at the intersection of 12th Street and East Avenue, 12th and East Home is the retail showroom for hand-picked accents and custom-designed pieces from Jessica Holmes Interiors.

Jessica Holmes has been an interior designer in Sarasota for 11 years, building a portfolio of fresh, effective design for our community’s most savvy clientele. Holmes, along with designer Melissa DeMore, has brought the same level of sophistication into 12th and East Home, carefully selecting each product with her clients’ aesthetic in mind. The store will carry candles, lamps, jewelry, scarves, throws, coffee table books and more, from some of the industry’s most coveted and innovative lines. Holmes and DeMore have also created exclusive lines of custom pillows, dog beds and table linens, as well as small upholstery pieces.

“The concept of 12th and East Home is to marry the vintage spirit with a fresh, modern elegance,” says Holmes, whose fiancé Adam Holiday collects, restores, and sells 18th and 19th century antiques from the adjacent warehouse. “We are bringing some rare and special antiques in to the store and refreshing them with vintage-inspired modern upholstery and accents. The result is a look never before seen in Sarasota.”

A grand opening reception at the showroom, located at 1220 East Avenue North, is planned for December 2nd, 5:00-7:30pm. Guests will enjoy light fare and 10% off of all purchases. For more information about 12th and East Home, please call (941) 365-8205, or visit their website at 12thandeasthome.com.

About 12th and East Home: 12th and East Home is a sophisticated home accessories showroom anchored in Sarasota, Florida. Interior designers Jessica Holmes and Melissa DeMore present an ever-changing collection of vintage-inspired modern accents and expertly selected consigned antiques, establishing a unique and relevant aesthetic for today’s discerning home decorator. Our showroom, established in November 2010, is located at 1220 East Avenue North in Sarasota, Florida, or on the web at 12thandEastHome.com.

Authentic Pilates Comes to Downtown SRQ

When we hear the word “pilates,” most of us think of a generic type of exercise akin to yoga, but with props. But for former Sarasota Ballet dancer Christina Gadar, the word means much more. Christina is a second generation Pilates instructor, having been certified by Romana Kryzanowska, Joseph Pilates' hand chosen protégé, in 2000. She now owns and operates a fully equipped Pilates studio in Sarasota, complete with top of the line equipment based on Joseph Pilates’ original designs. This Saturday, Christina will bring her reformer apparatus (shown above) to Sarasota’s Main Street to demonstrate the difference between authentic Pilates and imitative versions.

“My goal is to preserve the integrity of Joseph Pilates' original vision of physical and mental conditioning while constructing creative workouts tailored to the individual,” says Christina, who holds dual citizenship with Brazil and the U.S. “I love what I do and it brings me a lot of satisfaction to share the benefits of Pilates with others.”

Christina’s exhibit is part of the Sarasota Naturally festival taking place this Saturday, November 13th, on Main Street. Her demonstration of the extensive vocabulary of Pilates exercise takes place on the “Fit Body Stage” across from Smokin’ Joes at 11:00 am.

For more information about Pilates Personal Training with Christina Gadar, please call (941) 955-3800, or visit www.pilatespersonaltraining.com.

About Pilates Personal Training with Christina Gadar: Christina Maria Gadar has been providing top quality Pilates instruction in Sarasota, Florida since 2000. Christina’s fully equipped Pilates studio features the very best equipment in a comfortable and private setting. Proper choice of instructor and equipment is absolutely essential for success in Pilates. Private lessons last 55 minutes and are available Monday through Friday by appointment only. Christina’s studio is conveniently located near Sarasota Memorial Hospital, between the Siesta beaches and downtown Sarasota. For more information, please call (941) 955-3800, or visit www.pilatespersonaltraining.com.

Ashley's Delivers the Flavors of Fall

Ashley’s Food Delivery, the area’s only multi-restaurant delivery service, offers the bounty of autumn delivered to your home or office. Get out of the kitchen and out into the cooler weather—or in front of the big screen--while one of Ashley’s 25 restaurant partners does the cooking for you. Two fall delivery specials are now available through November 30th:

Word of Mouth offers a complete Thanksgiving dinner for two for $24.99 (plus tax and delivery). Your meal includes roasted turkey breast, red skinned smashed potatoes, corn bread stuffing with turkey gravy, cranberry relish and the veggie of the day. Delivery is not available on Thanksgiving Day.

Hooters knows what football fans want: WINGS! The Football Fan combo is just $14.99 (plus tax and delivery) and includes 10 wings (add $1 for all drumsticks) and 10 buffalo shrimp.

Full delivery menus for all of Ashley’s restaurant partners are available on the Ashley’s Food Delivery website, www.AshleysFood.com. Delivery orders can be placed online, or with a customer service representative at 953-FOOD (953-3663).

About Ashley’s Food Delivery: The area’s only multi-restaurant delivery service, Ashley’s Food Delivery partners with over 25 restaurants in Sarasota to deliver everything from home-cooked, comfort food to elegant, gourmet dining. Ashley’s Food offers residential & corporate meal delivery, drop-off catering services and gift basket delivery. The service is open for lunch delivery Monday through Friday (Sarasota only) and dinner delivery every day. For more information, call 953-FOOD or visit www.AshleysFood.com.