Gluttony in the Name of Hanukkah, Christmas, and Repeal Day: This Week in SFoodie

JM Rosenfeld/Flickr

Sufganiyot, aka jelly doughnuts.

​A few of the highlights from the blog this week:

1. It's day three of Hanukkah. How are we at SFoodie celebrating? So far, by tasting frozen latkes, eating jelly doughnuts, and taking on a double-meat latke delight. We're so oiled up by now we're staying away from open flames.

2. Some of you attend cookie swaps. Some of you await holiday packages from the homelands. Some of you go on a baking bender so severe you end up with a freezer packed with Christmas cookies you mean to give away but eat instead (Okay, that was me last year). This year, we've launched the SFoodie Advent Calendar, scouring the city for holiday eats. Coming up: plum pudding, gingerbread, and enough nutmeg to cause hallucinations.

3. While the holidays are generally considered a time to break out the magnums of producer Champagne, our wine guy, Brant Foehl, reflects on more modest uses for sparkling wine. He conducts some rigorous mimosa research and discovers that money doesn't necessarily  guarantee a great brunch cocktail.

4. With the tomatoes and eggplants faded out of the market, we're in peak winter-squash season. SFoodie's eating as much as we can of the autumnal vegetables until we overdose and pray for the return of asparagus. Cases in point: pumpkin pancakes at new Potrero breakfast-lunch spot Plow and a squash-centric vegetarian empanada at Greens to Go.

5. Every year, Repeal Day ― the day Prohibition ended ― becomes a little higher-profile, a little more loudly marketed trumpeted. Some consider this historic celebration a national holiday, others an excuse to drink on the cheap. Lou Bustamante surveys the local Repeal Day events taking place this Sunday, giving you time to warn your boss you're coming down with a cold and might not be in Monday morning.