From now on, I’m seriously going to have to put blinders on when I stroll past the freezer case at Whole Foods.

That’s because the supermarket chain has just started selling fabulous gelato bars by the Bay Area’s Naia that if left to my own devices, I could eat daily.

Forget those lickable ice cream bars of childhood, which were enjoyed mostly because of their creamy coolness, not their flavor. These gelato bars are made with primo, local ingredients including Oakland’s Blue Bottle Coffee, San Francisco’s TCHO Chocolate, Oakland’s Numi jasmine tea  and Alameda’s St. Georges Spirits single malt whiskey.

Yeah, I thought that would get your attention.

Gelateria Naia (pronounced “NIGH-ah”) was founded in Berkeley in 2002 by Chris Tan and Trevor Morris, world travelers who studied with artisan gelato makers in Italy. The two now have two retail scoop shops in Walnut Creek and San Francisco.

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So, you might not want to get behind the wheel of a car after eating a slice of this unique cake.

Or try to recite the alphabet backwards. Or even attempt walking a straight line.

OK, I exaggerate — but just a little.

You see, this cake has absinthe in it. Yes, the potent Green Fairy, the once illicit spirit that was once thought to be hallucinogenic (a notion that’s since been debunked) that’s typically 100-plus proof.

The recipe is from “The Sweet Life In Paris” (Broadway Books) by cookbook author and blogger extraordinaire, David Lebovitz.

There’s 1/4 cup of absinthe in the batter, which largely mellows through baking. But there’s also a glaze of sugar mixed with another 1/4 cup of absinthe that’s brushed over the cake after it cools, giving it the appearance of a winter white icing. This glaze is so wicked strong that my husband wouldn’t even let me give him a few slices to take to his colleagues at work, because he feared they’d all end up tipsy.

This moist, anise-forward cake is made with a little almond flour or stone-ground cornmeal. However, you also can use pistachio meal, which will give it a faint yellow-green tinge like that of absinthe.

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A Cookie of a Time with Alice Medrich

The Bay Area’s award-winning cookbook author and pastry expert Alice Medrich will be hosting a cooking demo at the Purcell Murray Culinary Showroom and Amphitheater in Brisbane, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 5.

Medrich will be demonstrating delectable cookie recipes from her eighth and newest book, “Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy: Melt in Your Mouth Cookie Recipes” (Artisan). Learn how to make the cookies of your dreams at this fun event.

Admission price is $35 per person. Copies of Medrich’s book also will be available for purchase that day. For reservations, call (415) 330-5557.

Celebrate Pisco Sour Day at La Mar Restaurant

Who knew there was an actual “Pisco Sour Day”?

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Are you pleasant, affectionate, gentle, artistic, sophisticated and cautious, and think you have just so much in common with Francis Ford Coppola, Jet Li and Brad Pitt that it’s uncanny?

Then, you my friend, were born under the Year of the Rabbit, as were those celebs, according to Bay Area writer Rosemary Gong’s educational “Good Luck Life, The Essential Guide to Chinese American Celebrations and Culture” (Harper Paperbacks).

Those of us not lucky enough to be born under that fortuitious sign can still celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year on Feb. 3 in a glam way with this “Roast Chicken with Ginger and Soy-Whiskey Glaze.”

The recipe is from revered Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s “Simple to Spectacular” (Clarkson Potter).

A whole chicken is always a dramatic centerpiece, but even more so on Chinese New Year, because whole poultry is a symbol of health and unity of family.

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QUEBEC CITY, CANADA –It’s easy to build up an appetite, strolling around this historic city in the chill of winter. And one of the best and most fortifying meals I had on my trip to this capital city was at the artsy Panache restaurant.

The restaurant is located inside the luxe Auberge Saint-Antoine hotel, just steps from the edge of the St. Lawrence River in the old port district. Indeed, in the 1800s, the impressive stone building served as a maritime trading center for glassware and tableware merchants. During the construction of the hotel, plates, vases and other pottery were unearthed, which are now carefully displayed throughout the hotel. Even the hotel room numbers have little antique chunks of porcelain highlighted next to them.

My fellow food writers and I — all guests on this trip courtesy of Quebec City Tourism — had the pleasure not only of dining at the restaurant one night, but eating in a private room with the chef, Francois Blais, during what would be his last week at the restaurant. Blais, who opened the restaurant eight years ago, felt it was time for a change. But don’t be surprised if he opens his own, more casual restaurant in Quebec in the near future.

Blais has been a pioneer in Quebec City when it comes to sourcing local ingredients within 100 miles from small family producers and championing sustainable seafood. The dinner was testament to that dedication.

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