Dine Inside a 25 Foot High Gingerbread House

It’s glued together with 3,300 pounds of icing

A life-size gingerbread house is coming to the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco this weekend, where you can meet Santa or just bask in the marvel of 10,000 pieces of gingerbread sculpted together with 3,300 pounds of royal icing. Executive chef Oscar Gonzalez — and a team of engineers — built the house to reach 25 feet high and 35 feet wide, decorated with 1,650 pounds of candy. It’s the hotel’s biggest gingerbread house yet, with a private dining space inside seating 10 guests for the first time. It’ll be on display starting Saturday, November 24 through January 1, accompanied by a champagne bar and hot cocoa pop-up shop.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Pinkmas

Instead of decking out its sweets-themed rooms in red and green, the Museum of Ice Cream is going pink. “Pinkmas,” as they’re calling their seasonal exhibition, is starting the day after Thanksgiving, adding a rosy tint to festively-themed spaces — some new, some redesigned and familiar — with a glowing pink forest, a gingerbread house, and a new Gingerbread Disco ice cream flavor. The festivities last through December 30 and tickets cost $38, though the Museum of Ice Cream will hand out free tickets to the first 350 solo folks in line every Thursday to, uh, “find friends, love, and even a new community,” so says the press release. Nothing says romance like a pool of pink sprinkles.

Creekwood finally opens

South Berkeley Cal-Italian restaurant Creekwood is officially open at 3121 Sacramento Street. The restaurant has been five years in the making and sees a former Zuppa chef, Liam Bonner, making pizzas and pastas.

A dispatch from... here

Eater National reported on how San Francisco restaurants have been struggling with the smoke-filled skies this past week, with some business owners choosing to close early due to the Blade Runner-like conditions.