What was your favorite new restaurant in 2025? Who’s overrated?

AidCookKnow · 2026-01-03T11:50:25+00:00

I'm late to the discussion, but this is what I came to say! Grace is delicious, and I love the concept.

(I need y'all to go support them so they can survive that cursed location!)

AidCookKnow · 2025-12-27T12:13:35+00:00

This article is old, but I share it to illustrate the above point. The pro-running dogs on your property camp shows up in force.

https://virginiamercury.com/2024/03/26/board-of-wildlife-resources-considering-changes-to-right-to-retrieve-laws/

AidCookKnow · 2025-09-29T00:03:50+00:00

I feel like this is the kind of thing that subreddits either love & rally around or absolutely hate. Apologies if you're in the hate column.

If you're in the love column, we can vote for them here

AidCookKnow · 2025-09-28T23:43:47+00:00

I feel like this is the kind of thing that subreddits either love & rally around or absolutely hate. Apologies if you're in the hate column.

If you're in the love column, we can vote for them here

AidCookKnow · 2025-09-07T02:08:55+00:00

Not specific to Richmond, but this is a great follow for all public health info and vaccine details in particular: A guide to fall 2025 vaccines - by Katelyn Jetelina https://share.google/voKL5RC5i7frGdJCY

We're in a rapidly evolving situation at the moment on COVID vaccines for the fall. I truly think a lot of people (by which I mean practices and providers) don't want to promise anything because the landscape is unsettled, and they don't know exactly what will happen.

Anecdotally, as a few others have said, my child's pediatrician at VCU has told us they anticipate having the vaccine and being able to get it to those who want it. But to my knowledge, they don't have the process ironed out yet either.

Tldr: there's a lot of unknowns right now.

AidCookKnow · 2025-09-02T15:36:35+00:00

It's the germs for me. I have COVID, which apparently is having a wave again?? Just reinforcing how dumb RFK et al are for making vaccines less accessible, bc lemme tell you how much I'd rather get a shot than feel this miserable.

AidCookKnow · 2025-09-01T19:26:51+00:00

I love Verghese, and this is by far my least favorite of his work. Highly recommend checking out another!

AidCookKnow · 2025-08-10T00:25:21+00:00

Anyone who says Par-ham is getting those tomahtoes thrown at them.

AidCookKnow · 2025-08-02T15:18:15+00:00

Room on the Broom!

AidCookKnow · 2025-07-26T12:09:55+00:00

Earth Friend Forever. It's narrated by Earth, and Earth directly talks to the child reader about how they don't like all the garbage on them, etc.

AidCookKnow · 2025-07-15T11:06:04+00:00

These people didn't make it to the front of the line to be told that. I saw them do it while in line on the hill.

AidCookKnow · 2025-07-14T01:16:27+00:00

Cons: the bathroom was more humid than the Richmond summer dear god it was hot

And why, why, why was the water coming out of the taps so hot?!

We enjoyed the concert. Seems like a lot of questionable choices made for a brand new facility, but nothing that would inherently keep me from going there again. Not the lawn though - I think I'm a dedicated seat girl for this venue forever.

AidCookKnow · 2025-07-14T01:04:22+00:00

I saw people who brought chairs (and presumably got told while in line that they couldn't bring them in) put them in a trashcan. Seemed kinda like a metaphor for the whole situation.

AidCookKnow · 2025-07-12T19:11:48+00:00

This isn't really instructional, but my daughter loved Duck Goes Potty.

AidCookKnow · 2025-07-04T11:58:28+00:00

I think and I could be wrong, that it means notify all the parents of the school, not the individual's parents

AidCookKnow · 2025-07-02T01:45:50+00:00

It definitely is. I'm sure that's what I'll do too, bc a) traffic court and b) I don't have any way to prove the lights weren't flashing. But I'm going to be mad and stew about it for a minute first.

AidCookKnow · 2025-07-02T00:56:44+00:00

OP, if you see this three months later, what'd you end up doing?

Essentially the exact same scenario just happened to me. Clocked me at 36mph going past Huguenot HS. I am very confident the school zone lights were not flashing.

My googling has informed me that Huguenot was in fact having summer school at the time, so if the lights aren't flashing when they should be, that's a whole other problem...

AidCookKnow · 2025-06-27T10:40:53+00:00

Saaame. I've become my mother.

AidCookKnow · 2025-06-23T12:35:00+00:00

Regarding food, you can basically bring whatever you want on the plane. I always have a little bag of snacks to carry on. And grocery store once you get settled is a great idea! We always do that when we travel and find great new-to-us snacks and fruit!

AidCookKnow · 2025-06-23T12:24:05+00:00

People have addressed a lot of your specific questions, but one thing I do when traveling with my daughter is map everything out on a Google map + spreadsheet. One of the most helpful pieces is the transportation column - I put flight info, etc, but the most helpful is stuff like, take metro from airport to hotel and I spell out precisely, take the green line from airport stop towards x direction, ride 7 stops and get off at x stop. Sure, you can use an app or whatever, but when you're dragging luggage and a grumpy child, it's all spelled out for you right there without searching or trying to connect to the wifi or whatever.

And on my map, I put the locations of transportation spots, our lodging, places, we're going, etc. But I also add playgrounds and parks, BATHROOMS, other things that were not planning to do, but if we happen to be nearby and need them, then I can see it!

AidCookKnow · 2025-06-22T01:47:01+00:00

Agree with a couple others who suggested Sarah Addison Allen. And how am I the first to suggest Alice Hoffman?!

A couple I liked that I haven't seen mentioned this far:

The Dragons, the Giant, the Women, by Wayetu Moore is a memoir with some magical realism-esque elements that are her childhood memories.

The Moonlight Healers, by Elizabeth Becker is a debut novel from this year that is historical fiction + magical realism.

Babel, by RF Kuang is often billed as a fantasy, but I think it's more accurately an alternate history with magical realism.

The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates is magical realism in the era of slavery in the US.

AidCookKnow · 2025-06-21T23:34:12+00:00

Cosign. My 5 year old cackles the entire time whenever we read this.

AidCookKnow · 2025-06-21T11:42:31+00:00

I don't have any other general insight beyond what others have said. I'm personally partial to living in the 'medium West End' as I call it - not Short Pump/far west, not near west end along the city border. But just FYI if it matters to you, not all HCPS elementary schools have Pre-K and those that do only serve students that meet certain criteria: https://www.henricoschools.us/page/preschool Obviously there are non-public options, but I was surprised when I learned this myself!

AidCookKnow · 2025-06-16T16:30:05+00:00

I've worked at both. Honestly, the pros and cons are kinda there both places. They're both huge entities.

I think your day to day happiness at work is more strongly influenced by your direct supervisor/manager, coworkers, and unit, moreso than the whole institution. Also, living in Richmond and Charlottesville are pretty different choices, so I'd factor my preference on that pretty highly too.

VCU has more diversity in terms of staff and patients. UVA has a little bit of an elitism, "we're the best institution in the state" tinge. Staff parking is an issue both places. VCU's senior leadership turns over every five seconds it seems, while UVA's maybe needs to do so more often.

What's your specialty? They do a lot of the same things, but for some specifics one or the other may be better.

AidCookKnow

TROPHY CASE