A photo posted by Stray Dogs Grill (@straydogstucson) on Aug 21, 2016 at 9:08pm PDT

Many people say that a picture speaks a thousand words. And, as I stare longingly at Stray Dogs Instagram account, I can definitely relate. As the age of Instagram has taken over life as we know it, I constantly find myself scrolling through the popular page on my feed to see what is out there. As a lover of fashion myself, I always thought that a great pair of shoes would be the only thing I would be lusting after. Who knew that I could have so many feeling about a picture of food. 

As social media has grown, different items of food have taken the spotlight. We all remember the cronut, circa 2013, that swept the nation with its perfect combination of croissant and doughnut. Or, the health craze that flooded the last two years with pressed juices and kale smoothies. But now in 2016, it is time for a different cuisine to take the stage, and this one might a little familiar.

It is something that we have all had growing up, that just seemed like just another sweet treat. But, for some reason this year, there is much more to a milkshake then most of us could ever imagine.

Southern Arizona doesn’t offer that prototypical American autumn (duh). Our fall is more “monsoon-fed-weeds-taking-over-our-yards” than “trees-changing-color-all-around-us.” And more, “Gee, it’s finally going to be cooler than 100 degrees!” than, “Quick, the kids need new jackets!” Even our back-to-school dates are different from in most other states.

But it’s still apple season. Apples may not be native, but they’re grown locally at Apple Annie’s Orchard (2081 W. Hardy Road) in Wilcox, which is happy to let us Tucsonans in on the harvesting experience—this weekend, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 27 and Sunday, 28, for the first time this year.

Drop by orchard headquarters and snag a free wagon ride to take you to the trees, where you can pick your own Golden Delicious, Red Delicious and Rome Beauty apples. If you’re too pooped to pick, don’t worry—you can still take apples home from a previously harvested apple selection. Oh, and if you don’t like apples (really?!?!), you can pick or select some Asian pears instead.

Come early to enjoy a scrumptious apple-themed all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast (served with hot apple topping or cider syrup) both mornings, 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. Or if you’re not a morning person, come between 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a lunch of apple-smoked burgers.

Other stuff to buy and enjoy: just-baked homemade “My-Oh-My-Apple-Pies,” baked each day; “apple crumb pie” ice cream, made in an Amish ice-cream freezer; and crafts made by artisans from Around Arizona, for sale from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

All this fun will continue on Sept. 3, 4, and 5, and again on Sept. 10 and 11 (with a tractor pull and antique tractor show on the 10th). We’re telling you now so you don’t miss out. Then you can tell your out-of-state acquaintances that around here, despite our unique climate, fall is still “as Arizonan as apple pie.”

If you ask me, anyone who thinks Tucson's culinary successes are unlikely hasn't been paying attention. Well, it seems as though some folks are taking note now.

Today, the New York Times published a  story detailing a bit about our Sonoran cuisine under the headline "Tucson Becomes an Unlikely Food Star." Here's a snippet:  

There are food deserts, those urban neighborhoods where finding healthful food is nearly impossible, and then there is Tucson.

When the rain comes down hard on a hot summer afternoon here, locals start acting like Cindy Lou Who on Christmas morning. They turn their faces to the sky and celebrate with prickly pear margaritas. When you get only 12 inches of rain a year, every drop matters.

Coaxing a vibrant food culture from this land of heat and cactuses an hour’s drive north of the Mexican border seems an exhausting and impossible quest. But it’s never a good idea to underestimate a desert rat. Tucson, it turns out, is a muscular food town.

Eight months ago it became the only place in the United States designated a City of Gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known by its acronym, Unesco.

Read the full piece, then call your friends and figure out which local eatery you're heading to for dinner. 

Beer, food and friends. Three things that dissolve worries and leave one warm, hoppy and ready to take on another day.

Now it's one thing to go to the local bar for a drink and a bite and it's another to go to a place where the menu and the people making the food change from night to night. The Tucson Hop Shop at 3230 N. Dodge Boulevard offers such an opportunity. 

The wine and beer bar (they also fill growlers), located within the Metal Arts Village, has a mouthwatering line-up of different food trucks that will be there through the end of the year. Check out the calendar here. 

The bar also encourages patrons to bring their own food, or to order in and dine in the urban beer garden. Get to it!

More on Tucson Hop Shop, including a list of the beers on tap, is over here. 

What do dwarves drink after slaying dragons all day? 

Tucson brewer Benjamin Vernon is pretty sure it would be his Dwarvish Ale, an earthy brew with a hefty oak finish that will be one of the debut beers when his Crooked Tooth Brewing Co. opens Downtown this fall.

Vernon has been working overtime—as in, every spare moment he has—to get the place cranking. First was the renovation of an old auto-service shop at 228 E. Sixth Street, near the corner of Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue. Then brewing tanks came in. Then kegs. 

Vernon has 15 years of brewing experience and beer is kind of elemental to his existence. He and his wife plan vacations around breweries—they visited 16 on a recent trip—and the guy is generally gonzo about beer in a variety of ways.

"I just love beer, man," said Vernon on a recent evening, popping a beer while power tools roared in the background. "Crooked Tooth is going to relish in what makes us different, in what makes a person unique and not a clone. We're going to make good beer and we're doing it our way."

Having talked to many Tucson beer people over the years I must say his approach to beer, and life in general, is equal parts thoughtfulness and intensity. This could get interesting. 

The Tucson Weekly will have a full story on the brewery just before the opening, but for the time being you can keep up with the progress here. 

“Road trip!”

This time of year, merely hearing that enthusiastic utterance may exhaust you. Which means you’ve likely already been on a road trip or two this summer.

But good news: There’s another kind of trip that takes absolutely no packing and only enough gas to get to East Grant Road. During the Kingfisher’s “Road Trip 2016,” this top-notch seafood restaurant’s Chef Jeff Azersky takes diners to various U.S. regions using only food (mostly seafood, natch).

If you fancy traveling “Back East,” head to Kingfisher: An American Bar & Grill (2564 E. Grant Road), by Tuesday, Aug. 23, for first courses like “East Coast Oysters on the Half Shell” (the restaurant is renowned for its awesome oysters), entrées like steamed Maine lobster and desserts like Boston cream pie. Wash it all down with something off the region-specific drink menu, like Finger Lakes chardonnay or cocktails with berries and apples. From Aug. 24 through Sept. 4, the Kingfisher will bring you “Down South”—though it hasn’t released that road trip’s menu yet (but keeping checking the website).

If you’ve eaten the food of award-winning Chef Janos Wilder, you know why he’s a local celebrity. And this Saturday, Aug. 20, you can join him at an event celebrating local restaurants, local food and local agriculture, hosted by nonprofit Local First Arizona at the three-course “Ranch to Table Dinner.”

Attendees will be greeted with a Mount Lemmon Gin cocktail, then enjoy an array of pasture-raised beef dishes, sumptuous sides and delicious desserts. As the booze continues to flow in the form of specially paired local wines from Flying Leap Vineyards, Janos will give cooking tips and engage in some “shop talk” with the artisans of Double Check Ranch, Flying Leap Vineyards and Three Wells Distillery. From 7 to 9 p.m. at the Carriage House, 125 S. Arizona Ave. Prices range from $40 for Localists to $60 (which comes with a localist membership). Learn more, see the menu and buy tickets here.

The twilight of summer is here (womp womp).

Upsides? Walking out the front door will soon no longer feel like accidentally opening a pre-heated oven. And hey, here's a list of five awesome events to attend before the onslaught that is the first week of school descends upon our once empty, tranquil desert streets.  

1) Silversun Pickups at the Rialto
Although ideally we'd rewind back about a month and blast these driving rhythms through an iPod stereo on some beach in Mexico, we'll just have to enjoy them now at the Rialto when Silversun Pickups roll through on Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 8 p.m. Full of sway-worthy, 90s-esque complex sound, the Pickups are the perfect act to celebrate the angst that comes with the last days of summer. Check them out here.    

2) Open Studios Under the Full Moon
The Metal Arts Village's (3230 N Dodge Blvd) monthly gathering of booze, food and art is happening this Thursday, Aug. 18 starting at 6 p.m. Wander around and meet local artists doing what they do best, followed by some food truck fare and perhaps a summery Hef from Tucson Hop Shop. Family friendly and free, check out the Facebook event page for more details.

3) Twilight Bicycle Mural Tour | COX Plaza Dance Party
This one's for the bikers and dancers out there looking for one more night of empty streets and breathable dance floors. The tour will start at MOCA (265 S Church Ave) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 19 and will officially set off at 7:15 p.m. After a 2-hour, flat ride showcasing some favorite murals in the area, (and for the non-cyclists among us) the night will end with a dance party at Cox Plaza with DJs BayBay Ruthless + Illslur. Tickets are 5 bucks or free if you're a MOCA member. Here's the info.

4) Wild Style at the Loft 
This month's Staff Selects takes us to the hip-hop glory that was 1980s New York City, a docudrama that features the graffiti, freestyling, scratching and breakdancing that exploded onto the city scene on the heels of a new artistic culture. Even the actors were taken right from the neighborhoods featured in the film. The flick airs Sunday, Aug. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Loft (3233 E Speedway Blvd). You can take a look at the trailer before heading out. 

5) Brew-HaHa Comedy Showcase
Coming in hot a few days after the first day of school, the Brew-HaHa Comedy Showcase at Borderlands Brewery (119 E Toole Ave) is promising an "amazing" show, with plenty of beers on tap just in case the laughs don't land for everyone. The latter shouldn't be too much of a problem with headliner Monte Benjamin at the comedy helm, with local AZians Randy Ford, Charles Engle and Dan Thomson also on the bill. The show, on Wednesday, Aug. 24 at 8 p.m., has a $3 cover, here are the deets. 

The giants of Arizona craft beer are coming together with Edible Baja Arizona to bring the good people of Tucson the mother of all tasting events: the Baja Brews Project.

Twelve local craft breweries are converging on Borderlands Brewing Co. (119 E. Toole Ave.) on Thursday, July 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. to show off their latest creations created for the event using locally originating ingredients. For this first round, beers made with saguaro and prickly pear fruit will take center stage. Your $15 ticket also goes right to Tucson non-profits working to improve food security in the community including Desert Harvesters, Native Seeds/SEARCH Iskashitaa Refugee Network and Trees for Tucson.

If you can't make it to this first event there's no need to fret, the Baja Brews Project is a yearlong collaboration between Edible Baja Arizona and everyone's favorite regional craft breweries. Count on many more tastings and beer exploration in the coming months, where you can sample, schmooze with the brewers and get educated on the ever-expanding local craft brewing scene.

For more information on the event and to check out the entire tasting list with notes, look for the Facebook event page. In the meantime, keep calm and drink local. 

Yep: It's another Best of Tucson blog. There's just about 2.5 weeks left to make your voice heard in our annual guide to everything entertaining, useful and delicious in the Old Pueblo.

Today just happens to be a National French Friday, making it the perfect time to do your due diligence and make sure you're really picking the most delicious fries on our list of finalists. 

And the contestants are:

Crispy's Fish-n-Chips
Diablo Burger 
eegee’s 
Graze Premium Burgers 
US Fries 

Grab some fries (and maybe a milkshake to dip them in) and get to filling out your Best of Tucson ballot.