It’s Wednesday at high noon. A half-dozen food trucks line the parking lot at Talin Market, and they’re ready to serve up more than the usual hot dog. I’m here to sample the goods, beginning with The Chopping Block’s soft fish taco garnished with mango salsa. I wash it down with organic limeade at Make My Lunch, then head to Oz Patisserie’s over-the-top desserts, where I’m handed one of the best crème brûlées I’ve had in town.

On a recent U.S. National Forest expedition, we broke a golden rule of camping and snapped off a piece of nature to take with us. It was to make an emerald beverage ... a pine sap-arac. Infused into a tart lemon-lime juice that's more whiskey sour mix than lemonade, this uses the bitter medicinal notes of pine to make whiskey that much sweeter. The stuff's fine hand-mixed and room temp if you're still out in the pines. But if you bring the loot back home, blended is better.