City Bakery Opens in Tokyo; Blumenthal's Ski Experience

TOKYO— NYC's beloved City Bakery just swung the doors open at a new location inside Tokyo's Shinagawa Station, the bakery's second outpost in Japan. (The first, in Osaka, debuted earlier this spring and caused instant fervor for baker/owner Maury Rubin's pretzel croissants.) According to Rubin, the Tokyo location sold 1,500 pretzel croissants on its first day in business. [EaterWire]

ITALY— Chef Heston Blumenthal will act as host during a "Mountain Gourmet Ski Experience" at Italy's famed ski resort Courmayeur from February 2-5, 2014. Chefs Marcus Wareing and Sat Bains will also be on-hand during the weekend, which pairs daytime skiing with evening dinners by Wareing and Bains; Blumenthal, meanwhile, will consult on menus and prepare " slopeside hot chocolate." More information here. [EaterWire]

NEW YORK CITY— Four & Twenty Blackbirds bakers Emily and Melissa Elsen will appear at NYC's Strand Books for an on-stage conversation with the Amateur Gourmet Adam Roberts. The event, scheduled for December 5, will also feature samples of some of the Elsen sisters' sweet and savory pies. [EaterWire]

[Photo: City Bakery Tokyo]