Life + Culture

Curated Royal Oak Shopping Guide

Shop local for the holidays with these unique finds Article and Photography by Amy Gillespie If you are like me, it gets harder and harder to shop for people every year. Local unique finds are what seem to win over everyone - even the hardest family member or friend to shop for. Explore these local boutique shops for some of the very best finds around town. Modern amenities, quirky local staples and priceless heirloom pieces for the kids, mid-century modern and antique whimsy – these three...

Life + Culture

Bananas Aglow

Mirepoix Cooking School shares a holiday dessert recipe that’s “fire”—really Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie Growing up, my mother Barbara had two showstoppers in her holiday repertoire: Cherries Jubilee and Bananas Flambé. She didn’t make them often…just on those special nights when the good china came out and she wanted guests to be dazzled. It worked: the flash of flame felt like magic, a brief, bright light of homemade joy. That same sense of hands-on creativity...

Life + Culture

A Bridge Called Hope

This banker turned tragedy into Michigan’s boldest bet on youth aging out of foster care Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie The first thing I notice about Citizens State Bank owner Chris Yatooma isn’t his title or his success. It’s his conviction: earnest, straightforward, seeing beyond what is, to what will be. It’s the kind of conviction you hear in someone who turned the worst day of their life into a blueprint to help others. Chris was eleven when his father, Manuel...

Life + Culture

Exhibit A: Joy

This former litigator turned childhood memories into Berkley’s sweetest precedent Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie On a cold December evening, swing open the door at brownieDr in Berkley. The room will answer with warmth, the kind that fogs your glasses and hushes the day. A tray of dark-chocolate squares cools beneath ribbons of caramel; another carries a crown of toasted coconut, a nod to the German Chocolate cake her husband loves, and her customers now chase in...

Home Services

Calm After the Storm

When disaster strikes, RestoPros offers homeowners both science and compassion Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie A house in crisis doesn’t care what else is happening in your life. Pipes burst during chemo. Sump pumps fail the week your newborn comes home. Ceilings collapse during an ordinary Tuesday night dinner. All of a sudden, time blurs, and you need two kinds of help at once: the kind that brings meters, equipment, and a plan…and the kind that looks you in the eye...

Life + Culture

Gratitude in Green

In Royal Oak’s extraordinary parks system, connection takes root Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie On a crisp spring morning in 2020, when outdoor spaces were lifelines, Royal Oak resident and Parks & Recreation Director Nicole McEachern watched her toddler’s first wobbly steps at Patricia Paruch Park. The memory still anchors her sense of gratitude. “That playground is where my son was learning to walk,” Nicole recalls. “It’s special to me because of those memories.”  ...

Life + Culture

Generations In Bloom

On the oldest family-owned farm in Michigan, gratitude is always growing Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie The first time Jennifer de Beausset walked Westcroft Gardens and Farm, she stopped in her tracks. “‘Whoa,’” she remembers saying. “I knew I’d just entered somewhere really special.” Raised among colonial stone houses in Pennsylvania, she thought she understood history. But stepping onto the Grosse Ile farm that has belonged to her husband Kyle’s family since 1776...

Life + Culture

The Café That Heals

Amber Poupore built Cacao Tree Café on the belief that food can heal Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie Sick and sluggish from a diet of fast food and boxed meals, 18-year-old Amber Poupore was challenged by a friend to look at what she was actually putting into her body. “She pulled a box of Rice-A-Roni out of my cabinet,” Amber recalls, laughing. “And she said, ‘Amber, read these ingredients. You can’t even pronounce half of them. This isn’t food.’ That was the start of...

Life + Culture

Michelin Elegance, Unplated

James Beard Award semifinalist chef Amado Lopez cooks for the people, not the elite Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie When I interviewed James Beard semifinalist Amado Lopez for this article, I was intrigued by—and supportive of—his concept: to offer haute cuisine at an affordable price. My wife Heather and I are both obsessed with The Bear , so I took her to Amado’s Berkley taqueria, Casa Amado, for our anniversary dinner. I called ahead: did they take reservations...

Life + Culture

Wellness In A Cup

Jing DiPiero poured a lifetime of herbal wisdom into her nourishing, functional, all-natural hydration Article by Marshall Zweig | Photography by Amy Gillespie On a bright Saturday in Royal Oak, you might catch sight of a vibrant booth: jewel-toned banners, hummingbirds and butterflies printed on colorful sachets, and a woman who seems to glow from the inside out, smiling as she pours samples of drinks. That’s Jing DiPiero of Plants by People . Her plant-powered blends ship to kitchens...