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Clear Pumpkin Pie Is Here To Blow Your Mind This Thanksgiving

Jillian Peterson
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Clear Pumpkin Pie Is Here To Blow Your Mind This Thanksgiving

Alinea, the famous culinary playground-slash-food-lab in Chicago that doesn’t like being called a restaurant, has created a whimsical autumnal dessert just in time for Thanksgiving that is soooo not something you would ever make at home: clear pumpkin pie.

According to its co-creator, chef de cuisine Simon Davies, it’s a distillation (the key to making it translucent) of pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, and clove.

“Texture is very important to us,” says Davies. “This melts away. If it were over-gelled it would not be worth serving. The main texture that brings on nostalgia is from the pate brisee.” (Aka: pie dough.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/Baz6VI_D6D4

Davies created the clear pie with executive chef Mike Bagale as part of a 20 course tasting menu. Ingredients, according to Davies: Pumpkins from an organic farm 20 miles outside of Chicago, cinnamon, clove, ginger powder, All-Purpose flour, butter, water, heavy cream, Tahitian vanilla, sugar and salt. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZb-XMRDlK1

For those naysayers who say Jell-O pie sounds like the most unappetizing thing on the Thanksgiving dinner table, including that weird aspic your grandma brought, Davies has this to say: “I think a lot of people misunderstand how to effectively use gelatin. It can be used in a way that results in a gel that is stable but melts away on the palate unlike the common ‘Jell-O’ that most people are used to.”

Traditional flavor meets modern creation. The best of both worlds.

Says Davies, “It fits into our menu in a playful way and allows our guests to experience something new. We by no means are trying to re-create a classic. It’s just our way of having some fun.”

California Marijuana Now Has Its First Commercial Insurance Provider

Amy Hansen
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California Marijuana Now Has Its First Commercial Insurance Provider

California has taken the next step in boosting its cannabis business. For the first time, California marijuana companies are now able to buy commercial insurance from a state-guaranteed insurer.

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones approved Golden Bear Insurance to be the first admitted (state-backed) commercial insurance company to cover legal marijuana businesses in California. 

In a statement, Jones said:

This is the first of what I hope will be many commercial carriers filing insurance products to fill insurance coverage gaps for the cannabis industry. Consumers who visit cannabis businesses, workers who work there, businesses who sell products to or rent property to cannabis businesses, and the investors, owners and operators of cannabis businesses all should have insurance coverage available to help them recover when something goes wrong just as any other legalized business does.

Last month, cannabis businesses and insurance company reps testified at a public hearing, revealing a coverage gap for the marijuana industry — specifically that commercial carriers were not providing insurance. 

  • Related Story: Inside The Ever-Expanding Complexities Of California’s Cannabis Market

“Our mission,” said Jones,  “remains insurance protection for all Californians, which includes insurance for California’s legalized cannabis businesses and customers. We encourage more insurance companies to file cannabis business insurance products with the department to meet the needs of this emerging market.”

Galen Hayes of Hayes Insurance Agency, the exclusive broker for Golden Bear, tells Business Insurance that Golden Bear will initially write general liability coverage, including professional and products liability; and property coverage, including coverage for buildings, contents and tenant improvements. Coverage will be available for both landlords and tenants.

Recreational marijuana becomes legal in California on Jan. 1, 2018.

Gossip: Spacey And Weinstein In Same Sex Addiction Clinic; Oprah Winfrey Reveals The Worst Guest She’s Ever Had

Naughty Gossip
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Gossip: Spacey And Weinstein In Same Sex Addiction Clinic; Oprah Winfrey Reveals The Worst Guest She’s Ever Had

Kevin Spacey has reportedly checked into a $36,000-per-month sex addiction clinic in Arizona, after the string of sexual harassment and assault claims that have been made against him in the past week.

Sources told the Daily Mail that the “House of Cards” star is at The Meadows rehabilitation clinic in Wickenburg, which is known for having celebrity clientele.

Last week it was reported that Hollywood producer and alleged serial assaulter Harvey Weinstein was also at The Meadows, after he was apparently seen in disguise at a restaurant in nearby city Phoenix.

The luxury clinic has a fitness center and a swimming pool, as well as classes in horse riding, yoga, tai chi, acupuncture and ‘mindfulness meditation.’

It also runs a program called ‘Gentle Paths,’ which supposedly treats male sex-addiction through methods such as ‘Expressive Arts’ and ‘Equine Therapy.’

Oprah Winfrey Reveals The Worst Guest She’s Ever Had

Oprah Winfrey has interviewed every type of guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” but not every one has been delightful, she revealed on the Tuesday, November 7, episode of “Harry.”

“You talk about all of the guests you’ve had over years. Has anyone been particularly annoying, where you’re just like, ‘Gosh, I can’t wait for this person to leave?’” Harry Connick Jr. asks Winfrey.

“Well, I mean, the worst kind of guest — you’ve had this, too — is when you ask them question and they start talking about 1975, and then you think, ‘Oh, we are in 2017. How long is it going to take us to get to 2017?’ That’s the worst,” Winfrey says. “The other worst guests, for me, are those who think whatever they are talking about is so spectacular, and you know it’s not. So, my go to word was always, ‘Wow.’ Like, ‘Wow! Really?’”

But what is the actual “worst?” Well, the one that can’t stop plugging their own products, the 63-year-old host says.

“I had a guest on who was a lawyer and he mentioned the book 29 times. That’s after I started counting. Every sentence started, ‘In my book, in my book, and if you buy my book,’ and so finally, around third segment, I said, ‘We all know the name of the book. Audience, tell him the name of the book … so you don’t have to say the name of the book anymore,’” Winfrey recalls. “After that we started having conversations. Our intention was to tell the people, ‘You don’t have to sell your book. I will mention the book. I will take care of the book.’”

“It’s wonderful the way my life has worked out and that I’m really rich and everything. That’s real cool. I really like that,” Winfrey says. Connick quickly teases: “You know how rich you have to be to say it like that? You have to be really rich to say, ‘I’m really rich.’”

Winfrey replies: “Yeah, but I’m not one of those people who ever [lied about being rich], because I used to hate it when really skinny women would come on the show and complain about their thighs: ‘Girl please!’”

Harry airs weekdays on Fox.

Love the fresh dirt we bring over daily from Naughty Gossip? Let us know in the comments!

Colombia President Compares Drug War To Riding A Stationary Bike

Terry Hacienda
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Colombia President Compares Drug War To Riding A Stationary Bike

Like the United States, the nation of Colombia has been fighting —and losing — the Drug War. And, like the US, Colombia is changing its approach to the issue.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said last week that his country must rethink the “war on drugs” and focus on a health-based approach to fixing the problem. In a report in the Toronto-based Globe and Mail, Santos said:

“We’re like a static bicycle – pedaling, pedaling and you’re left in the same position – so something is wrong with this war on drugs: It’s not working. We need a less punitive, more health[-based] approach.”

In September, the Trump administration “seriously considered” adding Colombia to its blacklist of countries that the US believes is not doing its share to fight narcotic production and trafficking. But Santos was having none of it.

“Colombia is the country that has made the largest sacrifice in the last 40 years [in the ‘war on drugs’]: We lost our best journalists, best judges, best policemen, it was a very high cost,” Mr. Santos told The Globe and Mail.

According to Santos, President Trump recently sent a letter recognizing Colombia’s commitment. “I trust that your efforts will help improve the problem,” Trump wrote. In Colombia, officials viewed the letter as a signal that the U.S. is backing of the September threat.

Santos was pleased with the official communication. “President Trump sent me a very positive, friendly letter of support. He confirms Colombia’s help and the wish of the US to work together with us in the fight against drug trafficking, and thanks us for all we have done,” Santos said in late October at a press conference.

For years, the US Drug Enforcement Agency has focused a lot of its resources and manpower battling the cocaine trafficking coming out of Colombia. But over the past seven years, Santos has made it one of his administration’s goals to address the issue. Just last year, he struck a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the guerrilla group considered a linchpin in the cocaine trafficking business. That deal, which ended decades-long conflict, earned Santos the Nobel Peace Prize. 

In 2016 the illegal coca crops in Colombia reached a record area of 464,000 acres (188,000 hectares), with a potential cocaine production of 710 metric tons, according to US estimates.

Pennsylvania Releases List Of Medical Marijuana Doctors

Mary Schumacher
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Pennsylvania Releases List Of Medical Marijuana Doctors

While state officials predict that the medical marijuana program in Pennsylvania will be up and running within six months, doctors are getting their paperwork and training in to become certified medical cannabis physicians. So far 109 have been approved.

State officials say that over 300 doctors have registered for the program, the majority of them still completing the training and review process. Before the final review, physicians must complete a four hour training course and register with the state.

Dr. Adam Rothschild was approved in Allegheny County and has been inundated with calls since the list of doctors was released, primarily from interested persons who have one of the 17 qualifying conditions. Qualifying conditions include cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple sclerosis, PTSD and other severe ailments like HIV/AIDS.

“There are a lot of patients who don’t get relief from conventional or even complementary medical therapies,” Rothschild said to Pennsylvania’s Tribune-Review. “Cannabis has been used successfully by many patients elsewhere. It is an incredibly safe drug, certainly when compared to opioids and even compared to aspirin. It has the potential to help a lot of people. I’m also not afraid of cannabis. I think a lot of physicians are afraid of this unknown.”

That statement is brave on Rothschild’s part. Many doctors dance around the cannabis issue and even those who recommend it often do so with the utmost of caution. A doctor should take caution when prescribing new medications, yet, as just pointed out, cannabis is more innocuous than aspirin and carries with it innumerable benefits that lead to relief.

Patients who qualify and have gotten their doctor’s recommendations will be able to go to a state licensed medical marijuana dispensary, which will be allowed to sell medical cannabis as oil, pills and creams, but not as flowers. They will also sell accessories in which to imbibe, including vaping devices.

“We cannot underestimate the role physicians have played in making sure that patients can access medical marijuana,” Physician General and acting Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said in a statement. “Our physician workgroup also has been helping to make sure this program remains medically focused and an important tool in our medical toolkit.”

The list of approved doctors thus far can be found here, courtesy of Pennsylvania’s Department of Health.

This Is How Much It Pays To Know Your Cannabis Science

Amy Hansen
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This Is How Much It Pays To Know Your Cannabis Science

It’s been predicted that the marijuana industry will employ up to 300-thousand people by 2020. Most of the jobs available will be entry-level and low-pay (think budtender and bud-trimmer), but not if you have the right degree.

The most competitive job pays six-figures, but requires a science and engineering degree. That’s great if you’re currently weighing your options for college concentrations, but a huge bummer for anyone who isn’t really feeling the classroom.

CNN talked to James Yagielo, co-founder and owner of the Florida-based headhunter Hemp Staff. Yagielo says the biggest demand in the workforce is for master extractors, who process THC and CBD from marijuana and hemp to make products like oils, concentrates and edibles.

The master extractor at Acme Elixirs makes $250,000 a year, according to founder Peter Pietrangeli, who admits the high pay rate doesn’t guarantee a steady workforce, as employees will inevitably build their own labs. And to make matters even more challenging for employers, it’s rare to find someone who has a PhD in biochemistry and a background in engineering, which a master extractor requires.

Yagielo of Hemp Staff tells CNN that entry level pay for master growers is typically $40,000 a year for horticulturalists and $60,000 for botanists, but pay can grow to $120,000 within three years.

He adds that pharmacologists have the potential of earning $100,000 annually if they manage several dispensaries for a chain.

Is going back to school sounding a little more enticing right now?

The $3.6K Blunt: Marijuana Goes High End And Super Luxe

Al Olson
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The $3.6K Blunt: Marijuana Goes High End And Super Luxe

When Alejandro Canto opened up his luxury cannabis retail store in Seattle earlier this year, one of the products on the shelf was a $3.6K blunt that contained 28 grams of ground high-end marijuana and 7 grams of concentrate wrapped in cannabis leaves.

A gimmick? Hardly. Canto, owner of Diego Pellicer — a swanky 3,300-square-foot retail showcase featuring imported Spanish tile, granite floors and ornate chandeliers — sees the future. And the future for marijuana includes a growing sector of the market hungry for luxury and high-end goods.

“We know the market is shifting toward a more sophisticated consumer,” Canto said. “And we want our customers to have a taste of luxury. From the moment they step inside, customers will know that the quality of our cannabis products and service is beyond anything they’ve previously experienced,” he added.

Canto is not alone in his laser focus on the premium end of the cannabis market. A growing number of cannabis entrepreneurs are hoping to establish a foothold in the luxury sector.

According to a recent study by Miner and Co. Studio, today’s cannabis consumer looks decidedly different than the traditional ‘stoner’ stereotype. According to the study, released last month, 65 percent of cannabis consumer report a household income of more than $75,000 and 84 percent hold down full-time jobs.

“Understanding this new cannabis consumer isn’t just important for these new and growing cannabis brands that market to them, said Robert Miner, president of Miner & Co. Studio. “Almost every major brand will have a portion of their customer base who are cannabis consumers.”

Most cannabis consumers do not regard their use of the product as a key identifier of who they are. The average cannabis consumer is, well, average. The lazy stoner stereotype perpetuated by media depictions is just a myth.

“While TV and movies have unquestionably played a powerful role in driving awareness and acceptance of cannabis as a normal part of our lives and culture, media is still stuck propagating the stoner stereotype such that anyone who consumes cannabis becomes the modern equivalent of Otis, the town drunk in Andy Griffith’s Mayberry – hapless, bumbling and out of it,” Miner said.

“Just as drinking a beer doesn’t mean someone is a drunk or an alcoholic – simply consuming cannabis doesn’t make him or her a zoned out stoner. Media has an opportunity to present the new cannabis consumer in a more positive light to overcome the stoner stereotype that still casts a stigma on the consumers in this vast and growing market,” he added.

While mainstream media still giggles about Cheech and Chong and jokes about the munchies, the industry will continue to keep its focus on the future. And the future is as bright as this blingy $2,190 Sweet Leaf anklet from Jacquie Aiche.

311’s Nick Hexum Talks Marijuana Legalization And Family Cancer Worries

Brendan Bures
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311’s Nick Hexum Talks Marijuana Legalization And Family Cancer Worries

Marijuana and music is a timeless relationship, but some musicians have a deeper symbiotic connection with cannabis than others. This isn’t necessarily “stoner music,” though it perhaps fits underneath that category. Instead these are musical acts who aren’t only known to partake in consistent marijuana consumption, but have become activists and entrepreneurs within the cannabis industry as well.

Hip hop acts like Snoop Dogg, Cypress Hill, Wiz Khalifa, but also a band like 311. Though the group can also represent the beer-loving community, 311 has served as an important collective to new-age hippies and stoner kids alike. They were representing the healing and mind-opening powers of marijuana before it was cool—and culturally accepted—to do so.

No one is more outspoken from 311 than Nick Hexum, though. “Bands like us and Cypress Hill, we were carrying the cannabis flag when it was really risky to do that,” 311’s Nick Hexum told Morning Call. “We had instances where we had cops on the side of the stage. We were conscientious objectors. We were about cannabis and using it there, to show the absurdity of the laws.”

Part of Hexum’s brazen nature stems from a personal connection. His mother and mother-in-law are cancer survivors, which has led to Hexum speaking at fundraisers for the Moffitt Cancer Center, like he did in Tampa recently. He told the Tampa Bay Times he wanted to turn that fear into action, which is why he isn’t backing down from his marijuana stance.

“I’m a huge believer in CBD, and how cannabis can be very helpful for the symptoms of what people go through when they’re having cancer treatment, whether it’s aches and pains and chemo, or appetite loss or whatever,” Hexum told TBT. “Being able to work on products in the cannabis field for medical patients like my mom has been another way that I’ve been helping out.”

Those products include a signature 311 vape kit called the Grassroots Uplifter. Currently they only have a THC Grassroots Uplifter available, but Hexum says they’re currently developing a CBD version as well.

If that weren’t enough, Hexum also is in talks with another company to produce a CBD-infused beet juice energy shot. He says it’s a good way to “help with aches and pains and inflammation and some mental stuff as well.”

Still, Hexum continues to speak out in favor of marijuana legalization. While many states have legalized medical marijuana and a smaller collection have also voted yes to recreational marijuana, the drug remains classified as a Schedule I Drug on the federal level.

“It’s an interesting time, because when alcohol prohibition was repealed, it was all at once, and everybody knew, ‘Okay, it’s legal now.’ This is such a messy incremental ending of prohibition,” Hexum said. “There’s so much uncertainty, and to a certain extent, it’s like, who’s going to be brave and challenge the laws? Keeping up on the regulations and knowing where you can sell what keeps everybody in my organization pretty busy.”

Diddy Changed His Name Again Because He Can

Brendan Bures
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Diddy Changed His Name Again Because He Can

Diddy Changed his name again because he can – UPDATE 11/7/17: Just kidding. Diddy decided not to change his name after the social media made numerous jokes on his behalf. Watch his full explanation below.

https://twitter.com/diddy/status/927934658335203328

Original Post

Allow him to reintroduce himself…for the hundredth time. That’s because hip hop mogul and sometimes rapper Diddy changed his name again because you—yes, you reading this story—needed it.

Look, Diddy is a chief example of living life however you want, whenever you want. Thanks to an aggressively-minded business acumen and an ability to out-shameless plug even a Z-list Instagram model, the hip hop mogul muscled his career into existence like few others can rival.

Throughout his life, people called him by his nickname Puffy. Naturally he took on the stage name of Puff Daddy when he started his music career. But then in 2001, he changed his name from Puff Daddy to P Diddy, then dropped the P in 2005, going by simply, “Diddy.” His Twitter name, by the way? Sean Diddy Combs. Now that’s a man of consistency.

Anyways, for his 48th birthday the artist formerly known as Diddy decided to change his name again. Now you can call him Brother Love.

https://twitter.com/diddy/status/926915432556015616

“I have some very serious, serious news. I’ve been praying on this and I decided. I know it’s risky because I knew it could come off as corny to some people … like yo, I decided to change my name again,” he said in a social media video. “I am just not who I am before. I’m something different. So my new name is Love a.k.a Brother Love.”

Call him Love or Brother Love, he further explained, just not Diddy. Which is strange because his Twitter handle, and Instagram handle, and probably three of his award plaques say Diddy so…awkward.

It Looks Like The DOJ Is Waving The Flag In Kettle Falls Five Case

Daniel Shortt
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It Looks Like The DOJ Is Waving The Flag In Kettle Falls Five Case

Last week, the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to stay or remand appellate proceedings in its case against Rhonda Firestack-Harvey, Rolland Gregg and Michelle Gregg, the remaining members of the Kettle Falls Five, because it does not have funds to continue the prosecution. The Kettle Falls Five is the name given to a group of medical marijuana growers in Kettle Falls, a town in North East Washington. The group consisted of Rhonda Firestack-Harvey and Larry Harvey, their son Rolland Gregg and his wife Michelle, and Jason Zucker.

The Kettle Falls Five were charged by the federal government after a 2012 raid on their farm in Northeast Washington. The group was collectively growing medical cannabis plants in an amount permitted by state law. The federal government vigorously prosecuted the Kettle Falls Five over the last five years. The feds originally sought 10-year mandatory prison terms. The feds dropped charges against Larry Harvey who was battling stage four pancreatic cancer. Mr. Harvey passed away in August 2015.

Jason Zucker pleaded guilty and testified against the other defendants prior to trial. He was sentenced to 16 months of prison time based on his cooperation.  The remaining defendants faced charges of growing, possessing, and distributing cannabis, in addition to charges relating to firearms found on the same property as the cannabis grow. Rhonda, Rolland, and Michelle were acquitted of all charges except growing cannabis. Michelle and Rhonda received a sentence of one year and a day and Rolland received a sentence of 33 months.

The Kettle Falls Five appealed to the Ninth Circuit. The DOJ was expected to continue its vigorous prosecution, which makes its recent motion to stay or remand the case quite a surprise. In its motion, the DOJ provided the following explanation:

This motion is based upon Congress denying funding to the Department of Justice for the prosecution of medical marijuana patients in states where medical marijuana is lawful. The purpose of this motion is to acknowledge that the United States was not authorized to spend money on the prosecution of the defendants after December of 2014 because the defendants strictly complied with the Washington State medical marijuana laws.

This refers to the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment which limits prosecution of state-compliant medical marijuana actors.  As part of a federal budget deal in December 2014, Congress cut off funds for the federal prosecution of medical marijuana growers and users in states where medical cannabis is legal, so long as those actors are following state law. Since 2014 the Amendment has repeatedly been renewed.

The DOJ’s motion also cites United States v. McIntosh,  in which the Ninth Circuit decided the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment prohibited the DOJ from “spending funds for the prosecution of individuals who engaged in conduct permitted by the state medical marijuana laws and fully complied with the laws.” The DOJ’s motion states that the “prohibition regarding DOJ expenditure of funds applies even though the prosecution was properly initiated prior to [Rohrabacher-Blumenauer’s] enactment.”

The DOJ asks the court to either back off on the appeal or to send the case back to the trial court. This is promising as it appears the DOJ may have finally seen the writing on the wall and is going to drop its case against the Five. However, it may also mean the DOJ is attempting to hold off on prosecuting the defendants to see if Congress reaffirms the Rohrbacher-Blumenauer Amendment, which is not guaranteed, especially given the current political status of our federal government. It should go without saying that Jeff Sessions has openly lobbied Congress against the Amendment.

In any event, this is an opportunity for defense counsel to ask the judge to toss out the case, which we fervently hope will be its eventual outcome. On a broader scale, this motion shows that the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment is a powerful tool to limit federal prosecution of medical cannabis growers.

Daniel Shortt is an attorney at Harris Bricken, a law firm with lawyers in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Barcelona, and Beijing. This story was originally published on the Canna Law Blog. 

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