Fried and glazed: At the Bold Italic, Ethan Kanat shows up at 3 a.m. to do a piece of vital reportage: Following Dynamo Donuts' Sara Spearin around the kitchen as she muscles through batch after batch of sinkers. Kanat is as about as funny as you could expect for a guy stoking his synapses on Red Bull, sugar, and coffee:
One of Spearin's partners is fond of telling her that there is a machine to do a lot of the things she does by hand. Of course, that would defeat the point. When you're making a masterpiece such as the bacon maple apple donut , you don't cut corners. I mean, Leonardo could have gotten himself a set of finger paints and just sat out in the yard drawing flowers. But that's not how you get a Ninja Turtle named after you, is it?Sweet. Now go read.
2. The Sky Collection: $495 buys you 10 stainless steel boxes filled with nearly 250 pieces of dark chocolate and truffle confections from Dallas chocolatier Noka. Did we mention the boxes are stainless steel?
Which means that after the discussion, everybody will take to the streets, walking over to 111 Minna Gallery (111 Minna at Second St.), where they can sample some freebies and purchase full-size treats from such heroes of the movement as Bacon Potato Chips, Bike Basket Pies, Crème Brûlée Cart, Gobba Gobba Hey, Magic Curry Kart, Mission Street Food, Soul Cocina, Sweet Constructions, and Smitten Ice Cream. "It should be a great snapshot of our local scene, especially for those who have yet to run around the streets looking for vendors," Palmer said.
The Street Food Movement: SF Hearts the Cart Commonwealth Club, 595 Market (at Second St.), 597-6700. Thursday, Oct. 29, 6:30 p.m. Tickets: $12 for club members, $20 for non-members, and $7 for students with a valid ID.
Cole's ideal scenario is a buyer willing to step in as publisher, and keep him on as editor. Failing that, Cole said he's seeking investors, though he stressed that the magazine was in no immediate peril of folding. "We had a 40 page-count for two years," Cole said, "now I'm down to 32," a size Cole said was sustainable -- at least for the immediate future. Edible San Francisco's fall issue is due to hit the stands in the next few weeks, though it's rumored that Cole has had difficulty paying the printer, and some contributors from the spring 2009 issue have reportedly not received payment.
One of the nation's early Edible Communities magazines, Edible San Francisco was originally published from Ojai, Caif., with Cole as its editor here in S. F. Cole bought the magazine in 2005. Published quarterly, the free publication relies on ad revenues and fundraisers. There are now 61 Edible Communities publications in North America, according to national Director of Operations Kelly Day. They operate under license agreements with the nonprofit Edible Communities, Inc.
Eight years ago, a group in Maui set a record for a 300-foot-long roll. The Cal organizers hope to beat the record and "bring the California roll record back to Cal!" Eaters, you will be able to eat the results of the sushi made with crab (or, um, krab), cucumber, and avocado, all wrapped in vinegared rice -- after the proper photos and documentation take place. In Japan, the California roll has gained popularity, and is known as kashu-maki (literally, "California roll"). Credit for the roll's invention usually goes to Ichiro Manashita, of L.A.'s Tokyo Kaikan restaurant, sometime in the early 1970s.
The Berkeley roll-a-thon happens at Sather Gate on the Cal campus, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Organizers are planning to set up 56 tables for the event, which is sponsored by U.C.'s Center for Japanese Studies and Cal Dining. You can sign up as an unaffiliated individual or as part of a team -- register here. But keep in mind that team leaders are expected to show up tomorrow at 8 p.m. for a practice roll in the Unit 1 Residential Halls All-Purpose Room (College at Bowditch, Berkeley).
Tomorrow's class is limited to 30 participants, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Oct. 27, at the CUESA Dacor teaching kitchen in the North Arcade of the Ferry Building. Tickets are $45, and should be purchased in advance. Urban Kitchen's classes are geared towards getting city folks interested in getting their hands dirty by making and growing everyday foods.
Brand: Canyon Market
Origin: San Francisco
Found at: Canyon Market (2815 Diamond at Bosworth)
Cost: $4.99
Ingredients: Flour, water, cinnamon, sugar, cream cheese, Nutella, strawberries.
Calories per serving: Not listed
The word: Cinnamon sugar tortilla chips are united with fresh strawberries and generous lashings of Nutella and cream cheese. Why didn't we think of this epic dessert sandwich?
Tasting notes: Though small, these are rich, so they're ideal to share or -- if you're greedy like we are -- eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Even though it's practically winter already, luckily, Canyon Market still has sweet, ripe berries, which really are the key here.
Buy it again? Eff yeah.
Extra credit: Canyon Market has a number of house-made treats that are akin to Scooby snacks; another dessert that caught our eye and held our gaze was a large and fetching pine nut macaroon.
Last week, Kim Severson shined a harsh light on the dark side of urban homesteading. Her Oct. 22 New York Times piece called "When the Problems Come Home to Roost" certainly sounded like the title of a feather-weight horror pulp, but in fact, it concerned actual chickens - specifically, those raised in the Bay Area by amateur coop-tenders.
City-dwelling chicken owners buy their first hatchlings dreaming of fresh eggs, not diseases with disturbing names -- like pasty butt and fowl plague -- or an onslaught of rats and raccoons. Unfortunately, according to Severson's sources, followers of the trend should anticipate such complications and be prepared for no shortage of fatalities, some of which may relate rather directly to the extent to which a collection of cluckers -- and occasionally crowers -- irritates human neighbors.With a different headline, this article could have appeared in The Onion: "Chickens Die Easily, Observes Local Urban Homesteader," or perhaps "Farming Much Harder Than San Francisco Landscape Architect Ever Imagined."
