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...