Drew Perry

Dec 30, 2024 | ourstate.com | Drew Perry

It took some explaining, this we’d-never-gone-skiing thing. The questions piled up: But your kids, they’re surf rats, right? Skate rats? They’re the ones turning full-twist front flips at the pool? And don’t all four of you practically live outside? I don’t know why, was always my answer. I never skied as a kid, and so it’s not baked into my DNA. Go to the beach, and I’m ready to surf. But my relationship with the mountains was always hiking — distance hiking, even.

Oct 29, 2024 | ourstate.com | Drew Perry |Elizabeth Hudson |Billy Warden |Genie Safriet

On the grill the night before:4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (about 3 pounds or more total)2 bell peppers, halved and seeded3 poblano peppers, halved and seededGrill chicken on indirect heat for about 45 minutes, to about 165º — done enough to shred by hand the next day, but cooking to exact temperature is not terribly important. It’ll simmer tomorrow for a few hours. Why bone-in, skin-on? Flavor. Blister peppers on direct heat, then move to indirect heat until soft.

Oct 29, 2024 | ourstate.com | Drew Perry |Kristin Davis |Lynn Wells |Hannah Lee Leidy

It begins with a text, as all epic quests these days do: Would we be going to the neighborhood chili cook-off? Specifically, was my little one going to be down there on Sunday? He’s been besties with this clutch of kids since pre-K, kids who have become more like cousins, even siblings, than friends. So: Would Nico be down there? Asking for a bestie.

Jun 25, 2024 | ourstate.com | Drew Perry |Jimmy Tomlin |Robin Sutton Anders |Hannah Lee Leidy

I can’t get Starr Teel, who owns Campfire Grill, to talk about Campfire Grill. This story’s supposed to be about Campfire Grill. “How about I just go, and you ask questions when you need to,” Starr says, and I think I say sure, but he’s already going, and going, though I say this without any malice whatsoever. It’s a joy to talk to him. He may be an actual international man of mystery. He spent a not-entirely-disclosed amount of time doing a not-entirely-disclosed set of things in Saudi Arabia.

Jun 24, 2024 | ourstate.com | Drew Perry |Jimmy Tomlin |Robin Sutton Anders |Hannah Lee Leidy

The list is a world unto itself. The list contains multitudes. The list is the vacation. In the beginning, there was the list. No. None of that is true. In the beginning, my dad made the list. It was, and to this day remains, in a burgundy spiral-bound notebook, half-page size, blue-lined paper. It lives in my parents’ pantry, unless it now lives in the office, which was once my brother’s bedroom. The list is in my father’s crabbed handwriting, all caps. The list is repeated every year.