Lynda Wheatley | Author
Barrel Back's Hendrick’s Strawberry Jive
July 11, 2020
You have not tasted summer on Walloon Lake until you have sipped a Hendrick’s Strawberry Jive at Barrel Back restaurant. The ingredients are pure and simple — Hendrick’s gin, muddled mint, basil, strawberries, lemon juice, orange juice, and simple syrup — but the r...
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Blustone’s 2018 Pinot Grigio
July 4, 2020
You can tell a lot about a winery by tasting its least expensive bottle — in this case, Blustone Vineyard’s 2018 Pinot Grigio. Made from grapes grown on its Leelanau estate vineyard, this $14 bottle so wowed us with its crisp, sunny, and not-sweet fruit and fresh-cut-grass fla...
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Burke’s Waterfront Sunset
June 27, 2020
For a taste of classic Up North — the kind Gen Xers have known and loved since childhood — Burke’s Waterfront Restaurant in Cadillac is everything totally excellent. Inside: low lights, a warm, all-wood interior, giant fish tanks and nautical decor, multi-page fold-out m...
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Wren’s Summertime Scallops
June 27, 2020
The elegant and intimate Wren, located in the old Firehouse building in downtown Suttons Bay, missed nary a step through the spring shutdown. Instead, owner and chef Adam McMarlin used the opportunity to make some minor renovations and additions to the restaurant, including a new backyard...
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House Wines’ Rosé Bubbles
June 20, 2020
House Wines, maker of approachable and unpretentious wines sourced from around the world — house motto: “Don’t overthink it, just drink it” — has launched a limited-edition rainbow can of its Rosé Bubbles to “support LGBTQ+ equality and lov...
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COOLHAUS’ Enjoymint for All
June 20, 2020
We admit it: For a long time, we thought COOLHAUS ice cream was a kind of hipster trend. It’s made in Los Angeles, with cage-free eggs and BGH-free milk, and real-ingredients that are usually organic, often dairy-free or gluten-free, and occasionally over the top — things like...
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This Father’s Day, get up in Dad’s grill.
June 13, 2020
Much like working in an office, it appears neckties have officially run their course. That’s great news for dads; tough nuts for those of us frantically searching for their Father’s Day gifts.
Thankfully, there’s a second category for the man who has everyt...
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Every Dog has its Day
June 13, 2020
They say happiness starts with a wet nose and ends with a tail. We’d be inclined to agree. In tribute to our canine co-workers, who proved to be a 12-week quarantine’s most (only?) tolerable companions, we declare summer’s dog days start now.
Rather than...
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Dock Side Brats
June 13, 2020
There’s no shortage of great barbeque up here, but if you’re gonna DIY it, you’ve got to get grilling in true Northern style. First, get a package of Dock Side Party Store’s turkey/pork bratwurst, then, do like owner Matt Hunter does: Boil the brats in beer until a...
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Good News: Music is in the (Outdoor!) Air
June 6, 2020
As the curve continues to drop, the opportunities to take in live music at some of our favorite summer spaces are rising in number. Lavender Hill Farm (pictured above) near Boyne City has announced it’ll kick off its summer season J...
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A Big Apple Bagels Picnic
June 6, 2020
When you’re working from home, the edges of the workday are no longer hard stops — tasks start before the coffee’s brewed, it’s easy to log on and get “one more thing” done after dinner. So why not let lunch be a little freeform, too? Our advice: Pick u...
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Cuppa Joe’s Cold Brew, Dressed to Suit
June 6, 2020
You’ve got to hand it to Traverse City’s Cuppa Joe. Among the first businesses to plant its flag in Building 50 when Traverse City’s old state hospital was beginning its transformation into The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, Cuppa Joe has weathered a Starbucks moving...
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Sleeping Bear Dunes Celebrates 50 Years
June 6, 2020
You might say credit for the Sleeping Bear Dunes goes not to man but to Wisconsin — the Wisconsin ice sheet, that is. May 30, 2020 Rumor has it, gardening is the hot hobby of stay-at-home summer 2020. But guess what other backyard pastime never goes out of style, folks? Lounging — cocktail in hand, body in hammock, and eyes at half-mast as much as possible until August ends. For those of us who see our all-too-...
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May 30, 2020 One of our favorite spots in summer, hands down, is Left Foot Charley’s grapevine-lined outdoor patio. With a kiddie sandbox of toys on one side, a small creek babbling by, and the spires of the old state hospital soaring overhead, it is (or was, pre-pandemic, anyway) the place to w...
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May 23, 2020 We don’t know about you, but after weeks spent living in sweatpants, and with spring finally receding, we’re hungrier than ever for a summer wardrobe refresh. But before you log on to Amazon Fashion or other far-away retailers for your fashion fix, we beg of you: First envisio...
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May 23, 2020 Sometimes it seems as if Roast & Toast Café started roasting and brewing mighty fine coffee inside its quirky concrete-and-coffee-mug-emblazoned walls before coffee culture was even cool. In fact, May 19 marked 27 years for the venerable Petoskey shop. May 23, 2020 In an age where just about everything’s gone virtual, The Kitchen (1249 Woodmere Ave., Traverse City) has still managed to surprise us. It just launched a new virtual takeout/delivery restaurant, Ali Ababwa. May 23, 2020 Congratulations, northern Michiganders — we’ve flattened one curve, and now we’ve got the green light to corner a bunch of them. The annual Accelerate the Cure — a car-enthusiast cruise hosted by the Northern Michigan Alzheimers Association — is on, and you c...
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May 23, 2020 Heather Shumaker, northern Michigan mom and author of renegade rule-making parenting books “It’s OK Not to Share” and “It’s OK to Go Up the Slide” just won a 12-state award from the Chicago-based Society of Midland Authors for her debut novel, “Th...
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The most recent in a 2.6 million-year span of glaciation cycles surging forth then shrinking back, the Wisconsin began nearly 80,000 years...
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Q-Tip: Treat Yo’self with Flowers
Left Foot Charley's Murmur
How to Get — and Give — Local Retail Therapy
Roast & Toast's Cold-brew Whiskey Sour
A lot has cha...
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Ali Ababwa’s Lamb Gyro and Chicken Shawarma Plates
From the taste of the Middle Eastern-inspired food’s robu...
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Good News: Annual Car Cruise is Ready to Roll
Stuff We Love: A Winning Children’s Book Relevant to the Times