Food films — The folks at Detroit Abides will screen two films about big food and small food, Big River: A King Corn Companion and HealthyTown. Director of HealthyTown, Bill Couzens, will be on hand to discuss his film, which explored efforts to build oases in Detroit's "food desert." Big River, a short follow-up to the Peabody-winning documentary King Corn, rounds out the program. It all happens 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, May 19, in Eastern Market's Shed 5.
View and chew — Pinwheel Bakery, reviewed in our humble paper just last week, will celebrate its third anniversary with an art show. Local artist Kill Taupe will show his colorful monster-and-robot-related creations in a solo show entitled Vicious Delicious. The show will be up through mid-July, beginning with an opening party 6-9 p.m. Friday, May 21, at 220 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; 248-398-8018.
Feast your eyes — Pinwheel isn't the only eatery with an art show opening this month. At Royal Oak's Inn Season Café, they're running an exhibition of work by Tamm Lehew Whitty called Flora Phantasmagorical, "a celebration of plants — real and imaginary," which opened May 3. The art is to stay up through July 31, 500 E. Fourth St., Royal Oak; 248-547-7916; theinnseasoncafe.com.
FOOD/THOUGHT
Grace Young's Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories (Simon & Schuster, $35) is more than just stunning photographs and tempting recipes. Young's stories and tips accompany the reader on a journey from the conventional Chinese recipes to such crossover dishes as Chinese-Jamaican jerk chicken fried rice and Chinese-Trinidadian stir-fried shrimp with rum, all delivered with emphasis on the importance of technique.
BOTTOMS UP
Campers and boaters with good taste rejoice — beer in the can is back. Since the beginning of time, industrial beer-flavored drink products were the only alcohol you could purchase that were packaged in convenient aluminum cans. Today, a few American craft beer breweries are catching on. Locally available options include Brooklyn Brewery's flavorful lager in a can, Wisconsin's Capital Brewery's few different styles of canned beer, and upper Michigan's own Keweenaw Brewing Company's several different quality ales.
THE WORKS
Does anyone actually time their eggs? They must. We found a slew of timers, the coolest of which is the Norpro Egg-Rite Timer, which takes the guesswork out of cooking eggs. Soft-boiled, hard-boiled or in between, this gadget lets you know when they're eggs-actly done the way you like them. Placed in a pan with eggs and water, the gizmo's internal sensor reacts to heat just as the eggs do. It even adjusts for number of eggs, the amount of water and the altitude, darkening as the eggs cook. No yolk.
