Field Guide: A New Bookshop in South Durham

Hi! Happy weekend.

In keeping with the current heat index, this week’s culture headlines are all about baking.

First up: Elliott Harrell profiles Little Blue Bakehouse, a baking cooperative of sorts in Southeast Raleigh. Run by bakers Allison and Carl Vick, the space houses a commercial kitchen and storefront shared by several bakers where shoppers can come in and choose from a veritable buffet of dessert goods. 

Read the story here and catch up on other coverage we’ve done on the ways that food businesses are banding together to make a more financially sustainable future. 

In Durham, one solo baker has her first day of operations on Main Street. Ashleigh Ratchford opens her cookie shop, Ashleigh Bakes Daily, in a small storefront used as a business incubator to help women-led businesses get off the ground. Read the piece for more on the shop, as well a Lena Geller discursive on the ways that cookies and cookie content have evolved in the past 15 years. 

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a nice weekend. More below.

It’s Watchhouse week! Read all about duo Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz’s new album, Rituals, in a story by Nick McGregor. My favorite song is “Glistening.” 

Some event suggestions for your weekend: Misha Fair at The Cary Theater, a three-day-long solstice festival at Shadowbox Studio, a Loretta Ross talk at Flyleaf, and more. 

Daneen Khan, one of the INDY’s two summer culture interns, wrote a great feature on Daughters, a new independent bookstore in South Durham with an artfully curated coffee menu and book selection that “doesn’t forget about the toddlers.” Read about it here. 

Finally, this is my favorite Lunch Money column Lena has written so far. Click for a visit to Big Bob’s City Grill in Hillsborough, a restaurant “swathed with black netting with vertical slits cut to create several different entrances” that serves burgers with patties that makes “the American cheese on top look like a postage stamp.”

ICYMI: In Praise of Reflections, an interview with comics artist Kayla E., a profile of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center, an interview with Cheetie Kumar about tipping, and Boatman Spirit Co.’s take on hospitality. 

NCMA’s outdoor movie series at Moore Square kicks off this weekend; the museum is also launching a new film and performing arts series in place of its normal outdoor summer concert series. Merge Records has formed a partnership with Secretly Group. John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats has a new book, This Year: 365 Songs Annotated, coming out later this year.

Durham is getting a new immersive experience in the form of the Red Phone Booth, a private speakeasy with tiered plans that range from $400 solo memberships to $4,000 corporate memberships that offer perks like “sofa reservations.” (This particular experience does not call to me, so to speak! Give me a porch beer any day.) The North Carolina Blueberry Festival is back; closer to home, the patch owned by Parker & Otis in Bahama is now open for pick-your-own blueberries. 

— Sarah Edwards —
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