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“You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win,” media mogul Ted Turner famously opined.   That inspirational quote could just as easily have come from the mouth of Fountain Hills author C.K. Donnelly, the self-described “unsuccessful quitter” who persevered after years of rejection from the book industry and went on to self-publish her debut novel, Trine Rising, The Kinderra Saga: Book 1, last year. It turns out good things do indeed come to those who wait – and who  refuse to quit: Last week, Donnelly received an Independent Press Award for her fantasy epic, which we reviewed last fall.  “Trine Rising is a...

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Peter Kasperski and Richie Moe were two of the most illustrious names in Valley dining until bankruptcy and substance abuse sent them tumbling to Earth. Now the longtime friends have banded together to open a hit Roosevelt Row restaurant – and keep their demons mutually at bay.

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If you haven’t ventured out to the multiplexes since the shutdown, you could do worse – if you’re fully vaccinated, that is – than to re-christen yourself as a moviegoer with Saturday’s double feature at Harkins Scottsdale 101. First up is the 1941 Orson Welles masterpiece Citizen Kane at 3:30 p.m., followed by 2020’s Mank at 6 p.m. Directed, produced, co-written by (though to what extent is debated) and starring Welles in his feature debut,...

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Photo by Nikki Buchanan    Sugar Jam, The Southern Kitchen is the inevitable next step for pretty Dana Dumas, who began baking sugar cookies with jam for friends and co-workers when she worked for NASCAR back in the early aughts. Their effusive praise encouraged her to start selling her cookies at farmers markets when she moved to the Valley with her husband over a decade ago, opening her own bake shop near Scottsdale Airpark in...

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Millions of Muslims around the world are observing the holy month of Ramadan from April 12 to May 12, ending in Eid-al-Fitr, a festival of breaking the fast. The spiritual holiday includes daily fasting from sunrise to sunset, and dates are a traditional way to break the daily fast because they’re easily digested, according to Rebecca Seitz, co-owner of Sphinx Date Ranch in Scottsdale. To that end, Sphinx Date Ranch stocks a full supply of...

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Monger’s Board | Photo by Leah LeMoine   THE SCENE   Charcuterie businesses are all the rage now – I feel like five new ones pop up every time I open Instagram – but my friend, Mahfam Moeeni-Alarcon, was one of the first charcuterie queens to make a big splash here in the Valley.   I met Mahfam nearly a decade ago (!!!), when she was working as a wine buyer at Whole Foods in Chandler. She emailed me out of the blue and invited me and a friend to the store...