Martha's Vineyard Linda Black

’Tis the Season for Roast Duck

Linda Black | Thursday, December 20 2007 - 7:00pm

Vineyard home cook Charlie Cameron enjoys a laissez-faire approach to cooking. He grew up with parents who went to France on their honeymoon in the 1950s, and stayed for two years. They were “serious foodies,” he explained, who passed their love for cooking on to him. While at Vassar College in the 80s, Mr. Cameron dropped out for a year and a half, because he just wanted to cook for a while.

“I’d heard about this place on Martha’s Vineyard called The Black Dog, where they’d train you to cook,” he said.

Coyote Threat Sparks Hunting Discussion

Linda Black

If coyotes get a foothold on the Vineyard, the results could be disastrous, for farmers, landowners and the native wild animal population on the Island.

This was the somber message from Augustus Ben David 2nd, a former director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary and one of the Island’s most respected naturalists, who spoke at a gathering at the Howes House on Monday.

Luxury Commission Leads Artist Steve Lohman to Needy Studenth

Linda Black

Fondly known on the Vineyard as “the wire guy,” or “man of steel,” West Tisbury artist Steve Lohman has experienced national and international recognition for his gift of twisting metal into art. But when he received an e-mail in October from someone at Louis Vuitton inviting him to Asia on a commission, he thought it was a joke.

How to Have a Perfect Picnic: Scenic Spots, Secret Ingredients

Linda Black

There’s lots of wonderful things to eat, And wonderful games to play ... Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

And for us humans? When the gods provide the weather — and they’ve been holding back so far this summer, so let’s hope they’ll be generous from here on — the Vineyard provides many an idyllic spot for a picnic and no shortage of sources to fill the basket with delectables. Pretty much any taste and budget can be satisfied. Seriously, where to begin?

Café Fashions Designer Yard Benefit

Linda Black

What do food, fashion and fine wine have in common? Surprisingly, the Yard, the Island’s choreography and performing arts center in Chilmark. Connecting the dots requires going to the other end of the Island. First, across from the Black Dog Tavern in Vineyard Haven, where fashion designer Stina Sayre keeps shop. Then to Oak Bluffs, at the Sweet Life Café, where husband-and-wife owners Pierre and Susan Guerin will be hosting a dinner and fashion show benefit on Wednesday, June 10.

Expanding a Business That’s All About Cuts

Linda Black

Oak Bluffs business owner Dana Hughes is fascinated with smart marketing. “Like fantastic window displays, things people will remember ... in this economy, you have to have somebody remember you. That’s hard to do,” said the owner of Hair by Dana, one of the anchor year-round businesses on Circuit avenue for 15 years, shortly after she closed her shop in mid March.

Puppet Troupe Tells Toad’s Tale at Che’s

Linda Black

In the age of electronic entertainment, how delightful to see a roomful of children wrapped in the spell — not of a movie, video game or Web site — but an old-fashioned puppet show. Che’s Lounge in Vineyard Haven played host Sunday, Feb. 15 (the second of three consecutive Sundays scheduled) to a local puppet troupe performing a Brazilian folktale — Toad and the Party in the Sky — to a packed house. Children in the audience, ranging in age from one to ten, were clearly captivated, laughing aloud and even singing along with the characters.