Michael Pollan: Come hear this foodie sensation talk about his latest book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, in which he suggests that you should not "eat anything that your great-great grandmother would not recognize as food." (Impossible. Also, yes, Michael Leaverton, we DO need to know the exercise logs of the fowl we plan on eating.) Catch him tonight in conversation with restaurant critic, Hayes Street Grill chef/co-owner, and local food celeb......

Photo of a skilled fixed gear bike rider sliding down Oak Street in traffic. ...

San Francisco Bay to Breakers results...

It's not an exaggeration to say that some families are held together by dough. Our grandmother for instance, used to bake scrumptious apple tarts to lure her philandering husband back home. It seems however, that the dough-kneading gene did not make it to our batch of DNA. So we 're always on the lookout for some good ready-made. Despite its strong following, we felt completely let down by Trader Joe's 99-cent whole-wheat dough: once rolled, we could not get it to remain stretched. In fact, its ability to retract to the touch reminded us of garden snails when you poke their soft parts. Fortunately there is the onomatopoeic Patxi's Chicago Pizza. ...

We want a dog so bad we've taken to following strangers in the street in the hope that they'll stop at the “don’t walk sign” and let us pet Fido. One may wonder why we haven't run to the shelter to adopt one yet. The official reason we give the weary stranger towering over us while we crouch down to scratch his pit bull’s head is that our landlord doesn't allow pets. But truth be told, our common sense buckles at the idea of having to walk a hyperactive mutt called Schnitzel at 4AM when we just barely managed to crawl back home from the Orbit Room. Fortunately there is a heaven for lazy dog lovers and it is called Alamo Square. ...

The SF Bomb Squad's given the all-clear for a bomb scare outside Davies Symphony Hall this morning, on the Hayes Street side. Hey, we don't want to hear about a bomb scare at Symphony Hall -- we're supposed to be meeting the Philistine SFist Ced there later tonight! An alert gardener noticed a 3 foot by 1 foot yellow tub with a wire coming out of it, on top of a bottle and some liquid,......

Here's a riddle. You invite a fisherman, his lobbyist, and his sales channel, ie. a fishmonger and a restaurateur, and what do you get? Not an all knives out fight, for sure. More like hugs and kisses, and lots and lots of fish knowledge. The congregation of the above-mentioned people was assembled to discuss sustainable seafood at the invite of the Slow Food convivium of the Russian River. From the Latin: con (with, together), and......

The Russian River Slow Food movement comes down to San Francisco this Sunday for a Sustainable Seafood Salon, that is a panel discussion on the issues of sustainability in fishing in the Northern California coast. You guys remember we narrowly escaped having no local wild salmon on our plates this year, and it is only one example of fishing going awry. So if you are concerned about having good fresh local wild seafood on your......

Okay, we're only just getting back on the yoga wagon after taking a long extended break from physical activity of any kind. (we're not even running for MUNIs anymore, that's how lazy we've gotten.) But on our first day back, our new yoga teacher mentioned that there's a super sale going on this Saturday for yoga gear from local company Yoga Mats! What better way to reward oneself for re-downwarding one's dog than by buying cute sports accessories? And you know, you can never really justify buying, say, a gorgeous yoga mat bag for yourself ("I can just carry my mat to Yoga Tree," and then you feel like a doof walking down Hayes Street with a big ol' sticky mat under your arm like a hobo), but wouldn't that make a lovely gift for the ardha chandra sana-ist in your life? They've also having a sale on more traditional purple sticky mats and those little bricks that are so handy as you struggle through the triangle pose, if you're an actual diligent yogini and practice at home as well. The sale's at the Third Street Holiday Warehouse at 2455 3rd Street (between 20th and 22nd Streets) and features not only Yoga Mats but lots of other local vendors, including The Cat's Pajamas (PJs as featured on Will and Grace), pet accessorizers, Emily The Strange, and letterpressers, among many others. Cash preferred. Picture of yoga mat from Yoga Mats...

SFist is all about supporting local talent, and what better way to do so than to buy their wares? Tomorrow marks the 2nd Annual Hayes Valley Shopping Weekend, hosted by R.A.G. and azalea boutique and Beauty Lounge. Brought to us by Mystery Girl Productions, youi'll be able to shop azalea's sample sale featuring multiple independent designers, and receive a mani/pedi in their beauty lounge. They'll also be serving hot cocoa and holiday cookies from An......