One of the Best Ways to Use Your Grill This Summer

How to Drill Better, Cleaner Pocket Holes

Pocket hole joinery has a lot going for it. An affordable jig makes the process fool-proof, it comes together in less than a few minutes, and the joint itself is super strong.

The Kreg jig itself does most of the work, but a little knowhow makes the pocket hole clean and precise. This is especially important if the pocket hole will be visible, plugged, or filled.

Ready to make nice, sharp pocket holes? Let's go!    … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

source http://www.manmadediy.com/4672-how-to-drill-better-cleaner-pocket-holes

How to Build a Canoe in 72 Hours

This project began, as it were, with a "crazy idea" - the possibility of canoe travel without taking a canoe with you. Of building one upon arriving in a new place or country, paddling it, then leaving it there upon departure. 

And...?  It worked.    … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

source http://www.manmadediy.com/3407-how-to-build-a-canoe-in-72-hours

Make This: Sweet Zucchini Relish

Grilling season is in full swing. You're slinging burgers and dogs off the fire into the waiting hands of hungry family and friends. ManMade has been, and will continue, to keep your grilling skills sharp, so let's focus on what's going on your food. I'd take a bet you have some store-bought relish sitting next to that plate of hotdogs, right? It's time to ditch that generic stuff, get your hands dirty, and let your guests relish in the best relish they will ever have! (forgive me).

For real though, those of you who are looking for a fantastic gift, a chance to create something from scratch, and, in my honest opinion, the best relish to grace your taste buds, take this summer to make this sweet zucchini relish...           … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

source http://www.manmadediy.com/sweet-zucchini-relish-recipe

10 Summertime Date Ideas: Celebrating the Romance of the Season

The Vanilla Wet Dog: The Summer Coffee Drink You Never Knew You Needed

In my post Head Tea: The Greatest Cold Remedy Known to Man, I mentioned a funky little coffee shop on the main street of the historic town where I went to college. As far as shops go, it's definitely part of the pre-hipster wave of hippie shops: you're likely to find ratty couches, a castoff mannequin dressed according to the season, a take-a-book-leave-a-book shelf, and cryptic messages like "Evolution is not bound by recipes" scrawled on the walls.

Speaking of recipes, most of the drinks you can order are on the "underground" menu because rather than having a comprehensive list on display, there are only some house drinks scribbled on small chalkboards suspended above the front counter. By far the best of these official house drinks is the Vanilla Wet Dog, which certainly does not smell like man's best friend after it jumped in the lake.

Here's how to make the summer coffee drink you never knew you needed.        

… Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

source http://www.manmadediy.com/vanilla-wet-dog

My Tears: Reflections on Crying as a Grown Man

My tears. Since I was in my late 20s at least, they've come more easily than ever before. Sad things can bring them on, sure. But mostly, it's the beautiful things. The profound things. And things that are just poignant and stirring. But whatever the cause, they come with frankness and in real earnest. 

Sometimes I wonder if I should listen to Sufjan in public anymore. Always an emotional songwriter, his last few efforts, Carrie and Lowell and Planetarium, have been especially frank, incisively autobiographical and completely leveling (especially when you get clued into his autobiography.) It is inevitable that my eyes will become wells in a coffeeshop. But I guess I believe that it's not reasonable to blubber in public or have a crying fit while I'm at work, there is a deeper sense of shame that, if I'm honest, rests down in the nether regions of my psyche, and it is activated when my tears come. I am brought to tears in public by openness, but then shame comes and closes me up again. … Continue reading on ManMadeDIY.com

source http://www.manmadediy.com/my-tears