What: DIY Desserts: Pie In A Jar
Where: Workshop SF
When: Sat., January 21, 12 p.m.
Cost: $40
The rundown: Nothing is cuter than pie in a jar, and piemaker and food author Julie Propp will show you how to create the magic. The holidays might be over, but that won't stop you from making these and gifting them to everyone you've ever met, including the team here at SFoodie. We love pie.
The class promises to teach you, "how to create a simple and fresh filling, roll out the dough, and assemble your own miniature pie. You will also learn how to create rad trims and lattice tops, as well as how to make simple, fresh crusts." Plus, you'll take home three unbaked and assembled pies in a jar to bake and/or give to us. Deal!
Buy tickets here.
The English-language newspapers and food blogs haven't made mention of it, but in early December, the San Francisco Department of Public Health shut down jook hall and longtime SFoodie favorite Hing Lung (674 Broadway) -- and not a temporary closure, either. The dining room of the space has been emptied out, and onflicting rumors have been making their way around Chinatown and the internet: Hing Lung is reopening in January! It's closed for six months!
SFoodie spoke today to principal environmental health inspector Lisa O'Malley of the San Francisco Department of Health, who confirmed that it will be six months before Hing Lung can open -- at minimum.
• PCRM has some whack attack billboard up equating cheese with big luscious thighs and it almost makes this vegan pick up a hunk of gouda and go to town. JOKE I WILL NEVER EAT ABUSED ANIMAL MUCUS but really, knock it the fuck off, PCRM. This campaign makes vegans look like the human-hating idiots they want to think vegans are. It's embarrassing, and I'm tired of defending us all over the internet. It's exhausting! Plus, I've got delicious vegan cookies to eat.
• This is funny! And I found it via a porn star's twitter! That's a win/win as far as I'm concerned.
With citrus season in full swing, the 100 Year's War ($10, No. 209 Gin, vanilla bean infused dry French vermouth, Combier Orange Liqueur, grapefruit juice) is a perfect mid-January aperitif cocktail: lightly sweet with a pleasant grapefruit bitterness, held together by the woodsy, herbal, and floral vanilla vermouth. Named after the countless battles fought over control for the French throne in the 14th century, the cocktail peacefully unites those old rivals the English and French liquors in a tall tasty glass.
Just be aware that you should grab this drink while you can: Bar Adagio will be closing down at the end of the month (January 31st), for a full remodel and transfer of management from the Joie de Vivre Hotels to another group. Kristin is heading to a new project in Oakland.
Bar Adagio, 550 Geary (at Taylor), 775-5000
In the more than two years since Ryan Farr and his wife, Cesalee, founded 4505 Meats, the artisanal butcher has achieved nationwide fame. He has been called a "rock star butcher" by the New York Times and recently appeared on the Martha Stewart Show.
In Whole Beast Butchery, Farr provides step-by-step pictures and instructions for butchering cattle, lambs, and pigs, as well as tips on tools, techniques, meat storage, and master recipes.
In preparation for his talk this Saturday at Omnivore Books, SFoodie had the opportunity to chat with Farr about his experience working on the book.
According to an article this morning in the Bay Citizen, a group of pediatricians at Oakland's Highland Hospital have begun testing out a new tactic for reducing the risk of obesity and diabetes in children: writing prescriptions for fruits and vegetables. It's just one of a number of pilot programs around the country that are using the authority medical doctors have over patients to get people to eat more nutritious food.
Ordering an apple 2x daily isn't the extent of Highland Hospital's prescriptions, reporter Rosa Ramirez writes. Families participating in the program were given produce boxes and required to attend cooking classes to learn how to prepare their medicine.
"There isn't one program that is going to solve the entire dilemma of the diabetes crisis," said Juliette Storch, the chief operating officer at Wholesome Wave [a Connecticut organization promoting produce prescriptions]. For veggie prescription programs to work there must be "interaction and constant communication between the participants and the clinic. It's not enough to write a prescription and say, 'go exercise,'" she said.
Will the program be successful? Why not? It's a more sensible strategy than simply marketing good nutrition or waiting until people get diagnosed with diabetes to prescribe medical treatments. Too bad there's not enough money in the budget of these vegetable prescription programs to buy an endorsement from diabetic Paula Deen.
Counting down the days before July 1, when California's foie gras ban takes effect.
Three more restaurants where you can eat foie gras this week:
La Folie offers two foie gras preparations as part of its three- ($80), four- ($90), or five-course ($100) menus: A Hudson Valley foie gras torchon with smoked apple barbeque-glazed squab and blood orange marmalade, or seared Hudson Valley foie gras with spice-poached apple and apple consommé (a $10 supplement).
Txoko, which recently changed up its menu to a more traditional appetizer-entree format, now offers foie gras a la plancha (i.e., seared) with Pink Lady apples, sherry gastrique, duck prosciutto, and pan de mie ($18), as well as scallops with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms and a foie gras sauce ($26).
And at Ana Mandara, Chef Duong is serving a dish he calls "Heavens' Reward" ($18), seared Sonoma foie gras with sliced mango, plum sauce, and crispy rice cake.
