Category: Food and Drink

The Macaron District

The Macaron District could easily be an informal name for Hayes Valley in San Francisco. Assuming that the revived La Boulangerie continues to carry them as before and during their Starbucks period, as of my last count Hayes Valley has at least six places to buy macarons in fewer square blocks. Chantal Guillon’s store is entirely devoted to them. This doesn’t even count the restaurants which offer them on dessert menus.

Too bad I don’t like macarons.

Neighborhoods
Nicknames
Desserts

[This was a comment on the article “Great Big City, Tiny Little Districts” by Karl Sluis on Medium.]

Lighter Drinking and the Life of the Street

"(This essay by Dinah first appeared in the Hayes Valley Voice.)
If you haven’t gone before 5pm on a workday, you haven’t really been to our little neighborhood bar on the green. At opening time—2pm—on a recent sunny Tuesday I stopped in at Brass Tacks to talk with co-owner Matty Conway. My plan was to spend a quiet hour discussing a topic of mutual interest: low-alcohol cocktails…"

Oh Facebook, why do you show me the text preview when I write the post and then hide it when you post? Sigh.

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The next big thing?

Yup.

"Manhattan mixologist Naren Young thinks low-alcohol cocktails could be the next big thing. "Over the past five years, there was a trend towards super strong cocktails, served neat," he said. "Those aren't drinks you can enjoy in succession for a long period of time." The man has a point. Taste a temperate future at The NoMad's Bar, which has an entire page of low-alcohol drinks. Or try the popular aperol spritz at Nightcap, a brand-new industry hangout on the Lower East Side."

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Shims on the coast

[Photos by Mum Jinx]

I gave a presentation on The Art of the Shim: Low-Alcohol Cocktails to Keep You Level in the afternoon at Coast Library. Alas, due to a complaint from a modern-day Puritan we could not give samples of even the lowest proof of cocktails, so the attendees just got to taste Luxardo cherries. Despite the sample setback, the event was a success and the small crowd enthusiastic.

There were great questions, including one on the history of an obscure drink or possibly dessert or possibly both, the Knickerbocker Glory, which I'm researching in the picture below.

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It was very windy but lovely on the way back to my folks' house.

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That evening I was able to provide a private sample to thank my parents for their help with the event.

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media I’ve enjoyed recently

Advertising and Selling

– Morgan Spurlock: The greatest TED Talk ever sold (TEDtalks)

– Full Price Beats Penny Saved for Selling Some Items (60-second Science)

– Candidates Affect Viewer Reactions to Ads in Debates (60-second Science)

Creativity

– Michael Pawlyn: Using nature's genius in architecture (TEDtalks)

– Jacqueline Novogratz: Inspiring a life of immersion (TEDtalks)

– 100,000-Year-Old Art Studio Discovered (60-second Science)

Education

– Bill Gates: How state budgets are breaking US schools (TEDtalks)

– Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies (TEDtalks)

– Science Grad Students Who Teach Write Better Proposals (60-second Science)

– Doodles and Drawings Help Cement Concepts (60-second Science)

Food and Drink

– Student Researchers Find Secret Tea Ingredients (60-second Science)

– Molars Say Cooking Is Almost 2 Million Years Old (60-second Science)

– High-Pressure Food Treatment Can Kill Microbes And Up Nutrients (60-second Science)

Health and Growth

– Charity Tilleman-Dick: Singing after a double lung transplant (TEDtalks)

– Molly Stevens: A new way to grow bone (TEDtalks)

– Gamekeeper's Thumb Condition Outlives the Occupation (60-second Science)

– Test Tells Viral and Bacterial Infections Apart (60-second Science)

– Poultry Farms That Stop Antibiotics See Resistance Fall (60-second Science)

– Endurance Exercise Has Stem Cells Make Bone Over Fat (60-second Science)

– Carbon Nanotubes Impale Compulsive Cells (60-second Science)

– Online Gamers Help Solve Protein Structure (60-second Science)

– Health Data Could Spot Genocide Risk (60-second Science)

– City Cyclists Suck In Soot (60-second Science)

– Rapid PCR Could Bring Quick Diagnoses (60-second Science)

– Pathogen Genomics Has Become Dirt Cheap (60-second Science)

– Kid Scientists Show Medicines Can Be Mistaken For Candy (60-second Science)

– Fever Increases Numbers of Immune Cells (60-second Science)

Nature and Sexuality

– Christopher Ryan: Are we designed to be sexual omnivores? (TEDtalks)

– Mole's Extra Finger Is Wrist Bone-us (60-second Science)

– Full Moon May Signal Rise in Lion Attacks (60-second Science)

– Send Ants to College (60-second Science)

– Sea Lampreys Flee Death Smells (60-second Science)

– Toxoplasma Infected Rats Love Their Enemies (60-second Science)

– Modern Rivers Shaped By Trees (60-second Science)

– Upright and Hairless Make Better Long-Distance Hunters (60-second Science)

– Electrolyte Balancers Set Stage for Multicellularity (60-second Science)

– Flesh-Tearing Piranhas Communicate with Sound (60-second Science)

Politics and Philosophy

– Jody Williams: A realistic vision for world peace (TEDtalks)

– Martin Jacques: Understanding the rise of China (TEDtalks)

– El Nino Ups Conflict Odds (TEDtalks)

– David Puttnam: What happens when the media's priority is profit? (TEDtalks)

– Steven Pinker: Violence Is Lower Than Ever (60-second Science)

Technology and Physics

– Johanna Blakley: Social media and the end of gender (TEDtalks)

– Leyla Acaroglu: Paper beats plastic? How to rethink environmental folklore (TEDtalks)

– Dan Berkenstock: The world is one big dataset. Now, how to photograph it… (TEDtalks)

– Medieval Armor: Was It Worth the Weight? (60-second Science)

– Traffic Cameras Save Millions in Canceled Crashes (60-second Science)

– Juno Mission Gets Goes for Launch (60-second Science)

– Channeled Chips Can Spot Substances (60-second Science)

– Smartphone System Saves Gas (60-second Science)

– Sound Sends Electron to Specific Location (60-second Science)

– Moon Not Made of Cheese, Physicist Explains (60-second Science)