When Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom isn't returning our phone calls or emails, he's claiming $400 Louis Vuitton pens and $300 Bulgari ties on file forms for California's Fair Political Practices Commission. Why? Well, according to Bay Citizen, elected officials must do so in an effort the squash anything deemed a conflict of interest during their campaigns. And these gifts say a lot about said candidates. Or not. The Gav also claimed a luxury travel agent and "nearly $2,000 worth of tickets to the symphony, sporting events and the theater." Aw, the Getty life. more ›

Healdsburg restaurant Spoonbar at h2hotel and Waterbar in San Francisco are looking for fruit. Your fruit. Your heavy-hanging fruit. It's all part of an attempt to reduce their carbon footprints. Your fruit, picked at its peak, will spend minutes not days en route. According to the press release, "[t]his will be a delicious and eco-conscience addition to the meals and drinks that are already served at Spoonbar and Waterbar." more ›

A new group of "renegade arborists" is twig-bent on bringing fruit to the streets of San Francisco, the Ex reports today. Calling themselves the Guerrilla Grafters, the group co-founded by pear progenitor Tara Hui, has already produced a couple of pieces of the fruit by grafting a fruit-bearing branch to a decorative Asian pear tree in Hayes Valley. more ›

Similar to the annual tomato hurling that happens in Buñol, Spain, a Seattle-based company plans on bringing the rouge fruit fight to the Alameda County Fairgrounds on October 1. The Contra Costa Times reports, "Max Kraner and Clint Nelson both left finance jobs to start Tomato Battle, a daylong event at which revelers pay a fee to enjoy beer, music and to pelt other fans with thousands of pounds of tomatoes in an hourlong battle." more ›

Have you been to the Diviz Farmer's Market yet? We blogged skeptically about it back in July, but apparently it's been going gangbusters. So gangbusters, in fact, that they're going to extend it to December. Crisp fall apples are allegedly on the way -- it's going to be a good old-fashioned New England Christmas! more ›