We're getting so upset to have to keep writing the same post over and over again -- yet another San Francisco independent bookstore is shutting its doors. This time, it's the not-so-long-ago opened Cody's SF, next to the Virgin Megastore in Union Square, who made it about a year and a half before the news today. Is that retail space cursed or what? The store's last day will be April 20, but the Cody's......

The debate rages on about whether Bevan Dufty is right to try and cancel Halloween in the Castro, and what that all means about the future of San Francisco. How do we balance the idea of fun for the city and security for neighborhood residents? As always, you readers impress us with your articulateness, thoughtfulness, and intense dedication to our beloved burg. Thanks, MattyMatt, for bringing up the subject and giving people a place......

While the San Francisco Public Library site is up, their search is not! Far be it from us to criticize anyone for the occasional technical bobble. Get well soon, SFPL search! SFist Rita just finished Fantasyland by Sam Walker, a book about how the author (a sportswriter for the Wall Street Journal) did in the most competitive fantasy baseball league in the country, in 2004. It's pretty hilarious even (or especially) if you don't know......

We've taken to leaving the house -- sometimes for hours at a time -- without a jacket, which can only mean one thing: it's Summer Book Club time. Dude, look at the stipulations: "Small incentive prizes will be awarded to enrolled children who have read for two, four and six hours during the eight weeks of Summer Reading." When we were a kid, we read six hours a day (our "honey, don't you want to......

We don't know if we have a library guardian angel or if our late return repeat offender status has put us in a special class, but we've started getting "courtesy notes" in our inbox when the due dates approach on our checked-out items. Of course, when we get an email from the SFPL we get all excited and assume our online reserves are in, but a reminder to get our stuff in on time......

We were so happy to hear that SFist Jackson is using the first SFPL branch we ever used in San Francisco, the North Beach library. He's even reserving books! Yay, Jackson. Meanwhile, SFist Derrick uses our fine local independent bookstores to get his Reads on. That's right, there's room for all sorts here at SFist. SFist Jackson is reading "the new Dumas," The Knight of Maison-Rouge. Actually, it's a novel that hasn't been translated......

We love those Food Network cookoff challenges! Make a birthday cake for Elvis! Decorate the best gingerbread house! Who can make the tallest ice/pastry sculpture? So we can't wait for Food Network's coverage of the mothership of food contesting -- the biennial $1,000,000 Pillsbury Bake-Off. So Pillsbury picks 100 contestants every two years, to compete in categories like "Wake Up To Breakfast," and "Brand New You" (healthful recipes), and "Dinner Made Simple," among others. The recipes must include at least two designated Pillsbury products, such as Yoplait, El Paso salsa, and Pop-Secret popcorn, among many others. One lucky winner walks away with a million dollars; and other $10,000 prizes will be awarded, including most dairy, and best Latino-influenced. The Bay Area has traditionally done pretty well in the bake-off -- the most famous bake-off winner was the Tunnel of Fudge chocolate bundt cake, made by a San Franciscan, and the first male winner of the contest was from Redwood City (with a macadamia torte). This year, the Bay Area's sending six representatives, including a very pregnant Mountain View cook (making spinach wonton crisps), a 48-year-old San Francisco male painter who's been entering the bakeoff since he was 10 (deviled crab and cheese rolls), and acclaimed food contestor Roxanne Chan from Albany, with a tomato-corn recipe. (Also, a shrimp and rice salad from Windsor, a taco steak pasta from Monterey, and bear claws from San Jose.) The bakeoff takes place from March 19-22 in Orlando, Florida. Go Bay Area cooks! And contestants, you're all just lucky SFist Derrick didn't enter this year -- he'd totally clean your kitchen-timer clocks! ...

We're drooling after seeing what our fellow 'Fisters are reading this week. We have to admit that food-related are the only books we prefer to buy as opposed to borrow, maybe because we promise ourselves that we will get around to making the mentioned dishes. Not that we ever do. SFist Derrick is reading through the latest issue of The Art of Eating, which always jumps to the head of the reading queue when......

With the holiday party rush, we're falling behind on our online reserve reading, content instead to learn about ideas for "Great Hair in a Hurry" from Allure (Yes, they're all basically just ponytails, how lame!) We feel nervous, knowing that our time is almost up with some of our books, and that their coveted status prevents us from renewal. If we were smart, we'd just sack up and buy what we're reading from one......

This came over the wire from helpful tipster Thomas, who found it on Craigslist:Need topless model 18-30 to stomp my grapes for tastefull [sic] documentary film. Pay is negotiable. Will require about 2 hours of time. Please send pic and resume.Hmmm. SFist Derrick tells us that nobody actually stomps grapes anymore outside of Portugal, and we doubt it's traditional to do it topless. But hey, sounds like easy money. Figuring this item would feel......

"I like talking about books" seems like the kind of thing you put into your personal ad, somewhere before "I'm spiritual, but not religious" and after you crop your ex out of your ad's head shot. But it's true (not the spiritual part) -- we like to talk about books, and, even more than that, we like the conversations that books inspire. We've had strangers ask us about library books we were reading, or......

SFist Mary-Lynn gives us all the lowdown on Blogher, and SFist Rain gets the 'get' with Paula Kamen. There are places you can go for unverified rumors, anonymous vitriol and mysteriously funded local political news -- but only SFist offers you the vain popularity contests that you crave! Speaking of cravings, SFist Derrick shows us that money can't buy you good taste. The Office of the Ombudsman is closed until fall, but he leaves......

Gavin considering a run for governor? The SF Call closing its doors? Frankly, for us, it's harder to believe that SFist Derrick tossed cucumber and pasta with butter for a dish. Cooking cucumber? The mind boggles. Matt Gonzalez calls Donald Fisher out for campaign shenanigans, and we call Moss Beach Distillery out for overpriced menu shenanigans (love the view, though!). A moment of silence for our friends and family in London. Thanks to the......

SFist interviews new contributor Derrick Schneider...

It's feast or famine, as we either have a huge pile of books we reserved online, or we have nothing but a Lands' End catalog to keep us occupied on the N. But we know that as soon as we break down and buy something at one of our fine local independent bookstores, a whole bunch of our awaited books will arrive. Is there a "law" (like "Murphy's") for this? SFist Derrick is reading......

Okay, guess that should read "Wine Connoisseurs," or "Oenophiles" as the Supremes did not rule that food stamps could now be used to purchase Thunderbird, Cisco or Night Train. Instead, they ruled that states like New York, Massachusetts and Michigan could not prohibit direct sales of wines from other states if they allowed such sales for local wineries. You can read coverage in the Chron, the Times, the Globe or the Freep. Before the......

We felt uninspired as we shopped at Oakland's 9th Street Farmer's Market on Friday, shivering against the sheets of rain and high winds. But as we chatted with a jacketless worker from Watsonville who hopped about to stay warm, piles of green kohlrabi caught our eye. We've never cooked with this vegetable, so we decided to give it a try. SFist Derrick, contributing. Photos by Melissa Schneider.......

It seemed like every vendor at Oakland's 9th Street Market was selling sugar snap peas last Friday, and it didn't take us long to cave in to the impulse to buy some. We always look forward to snap peas; they look like little green smiles. It's a bit tedious to remove the stems and the little strings that run down the side, but the sweet flavor and the crunch of the pod as you......

When we shop at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, we almost always swing by Achadinha's stall to taste some Capricious, the company's popular aged goat cheese. We've long been fans of the nutty, buttery taste and smooth, firm texture of this cheese, and we're not the only ones. The first time Ginger Olsen and Diane Livingston brought Capricious to the American Cheese Society's annual competition, the cheese won Best in Show and Best Aged......

We first tasted green garlic at the Chez Panisse Café eight years ago. Gosh, was it really that far back? We were mere toddlers, of course, but we remember the restaurant served it with fresh parsley-flecked pasta topped with black trumpet mushrooms and goat cheese. We liked the way the heady perfume and mild garlicky taste—less harsh than the older bulbs most people know—filled out the dish. We tried to replicate the recipe at......

When we asked about asparagus season, the bustling woman with farmers' hands working the Zuckerman's stand gave us a quick answer, "We're three weeks in with 12 to go." The thin, long wands are still just at one or two stalls in the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, but we're sure they'll be everywhere soon enough. That's fine with us; we love the distinctive green stalks with their grassy taste, and we're happy to pretend......

[Ed. Note: Oh, we are so happy right now. New SFist Derrick of Obsession with Food just wrote a wonderful pair of recipes that would make the perfect wintry, local feast. Since the Trimethyldioxypurist is off in the hinterlands this week, we wanted to get this up right away. So please welcome a new foodie to the table. Bon appetit!] We're getting a bit tired of winter's oranges, but juicy, so-red-they're-violet blood oranges caught......