Here are a few shots from last weekend’s Phoenix Comicon. We’ll be filling you in more soon!
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Snapshots of Phoenix Comicon 2016 #PHXCC
Martha’s Vineyard Local Ingredients
I mostly know Martha’s Vineyard through podcasts. Of course, I’ve heard it mentioned on the news as a place where presidents and hoity-toity people go to vacation.
But the year-round residents are a close-knit community – one that, I learned from This American Life’s annual poultry slam episode, is sometimes plagued by roving bands of wild turkeys.
The most recent podcast to bring Martha’s Vineyard to my attention was The Moth. One of the storytellers is a farmer and chef-owner of a restaurant on the island with food sourced from the area and his neighbors. The menu changes daily and may include ingredients like the mussels his friend grows just off the nearby shore or shiitake mushrooms from a family farm down the street.
The restaurant is called Beach Plum, and they also have an inn and rental cottages. It sounds like a really lovely place to be.
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Photos by Gabriela Herman via Beach Plum Inn.
Up or Down?
“Will you be up here over the holidays?”
“No, I probably won’t be down for awhile.”
My cousin and I used to have conversations like this when she lived in Tucson. I say “up” when someone is going north, as if we’re all on a giant wall map. Other people say “up” when they’re headed to higher elevation.
Tucson is south of Phoenix, but it’s at a higher elevation. If you were headed to Phoenix from Tucson, would you say you’re going up to Phoenix or down to Phoenix?
I don’t think one is more correct than the other, but the language geek in me is curious what everyone else says.
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April Photo: Barn
This is the barn where the post-race wine tasting was held when we spent the morning at Windmill Winery in Florence, AZ .
I’m a sucker for string lights.
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Coffee Sleeve Flower Press
I didn’t expect to be pressing flowers during this winter’s trip to Virginia, so I didn’t pack anything for that. But I ended up with a few rose petals from my cousin’s wedding I wanted to preserve.
I’d been wondering if a cardboard coffee sleeve could work as an on-the-go flower press, so I grabbed one from the hotel. Since the inside had ridges, I tore it at the seam and basically turned it inside out, sandwiching the petals between flat sides. It may not have been necessary, but I slipped another sleeve over the top just to help everything stay put. Then I clipped it all together with a hair clip.
It actually worked pretty well! I imagine you could also use binder clips or wedge the sleeve under something heavy in your suitcase to keep it flat. Another way to repurpose coffee sleeves for crafting!
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