Twitter #Weekendeats highlights: Spam musubi push-pops and more

Mondays can be tough at the office. You've just returned from a weekend of relaxation and now it's time to get back to the grind, so we try to make things a little easier by revisiting the weekend fun with #weekendeats. Every Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. we host a #weekendeats chat on Twitter, where people tweet us pictures and recipes of what they ate over the weekend using the #weekendeats hashtag.

This week, the chat was especially memorable with some unique eats, the most unusual being an inventive way to eat Spam in the form of a Spam musubi push-pop -- a genius invention from the blog JustJennrecipes.com. Some of the other highlights included a skirt steak made with an Ethiopian chile paste called awaze from Aliya LeeKong, a recipe from FineDiningLovers.com for paratha, Indian flatbread, and a picture of a foie gras, scallop, spinach and brown sugar reduction shared by Twitter user @Carolineoncrack.

For those with a sweet tooth, we had a couple of unconventional desserts that were definitely worth a second look. Blogger Carol Sacks shared a recipe for spicy brown butter chocolate chip cookies with Mexican Style chocolate and oats from her blog inmediasrecipe.com, and Hong and Kim of the blog The Ravenous Couple shared a recipe for macaron ice cream sandwiches made with black sesame macarons and matcha green tea ice cream.

After the chat, we ask people to upload pictures of their #weekendeats to our What did you eat this weekend? photo gallery. We're going to start featuring some of the photos right here on Daily Dish, so be sure to check back for more #weekendeats fun throughout the week.

Hope to see everyone next Monday morning on Twitter! It's sure to be a drool-worthy good time.

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Object of desire: Congee

Test Kitchen tips: Use foil to prevent over-browning

Dinner tonight!: Spaghetti with green garlic and fried egg

-- Jenn Harris

twitter.com/jenn_harris

Photo: Screen shot of an excerpt of the Monday morning #weekendeats food chat on Twitter.

Parker quits California? Hitler rants! (Well, not really)

OK, so even an old guy like me knows that the whole "Hitler Downfall" video meme is so last year.

But this new one from Red to Brown Productions is still hilarious. It's titled "Downfall of a Cult Californian Winery"; be aware that some of the (subtitled) language is not for sensitive souls. But it's worth it if only for the "Don't worry, your job as assistant Twitterer will still be safe."

And for all of us who have despaired over 16% alcohol Cabernets, vengeance is sweet (and unoaked).

Click here to see "Downfall of a Cult Californian Winery." 

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Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls

Test Kitchen tips: Defining "al dente"

Paula Wolfert's method for roasting peppers

-- Russ Parsons

Ready for summer's pies: Woolly pig leaf lard

Yesterday I was browsing through my Twitter feed at warp speed when the words "Mangalitsa" and "lard" brought me to a screeching halt. Evan Kleiman (@evankleiman), host of KCRW's "Good Food," had tweeted or re-tweeted that McCall’s Meat & Fish Co. on Hillhurst Avenue in Los Feliz is now selling Mangalitsa leaf lard.

Fantastic! I’ve been lugging the same leaf lard home from Seattle’s U-District Farmers Market, where Heath Putnam Farms sells bacon and lard from Hungary’s Mangalitsa (MON-go-leet-sa), or woolly pig. The curly-headed beast is closely related to Europe’s wild boars and has a thick layer of particularly tasty fat, which, according to what I’ve read, is less saturated than that from many other breeds.

After rendering the fat, I used some in every pie crust I made all last summer. The snowy-white lard makes an ineffably flaky crust that has to be tasted to be believed. I’m just about out, so the fact that McCall’s is now selling the stuff is a wonderful thing.

Since the butcher shop is owned by a couple who are both chefs, I asked Nathan McCall and Karen Yoo how they would use the lard.  Nathan said Karen made a batch of biscuits to test the lard.  “They were excellent, easily the most moist and flaky biscuit I’ve eaten," he said. "I've also heard it makes an exceptional pie crust.”

On the savory side, he plans to try duck and pork confit, carnitas, even a quick-cured halibut confit. “I will definitely try utilizing it anywhere I would use duck fat, like beans, potatoes, braised cippolini, fries. The possibilities seem to be endless.” 

McCall’s Meat & Fish Co., 2117 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 667-0674; woolly pig leaf lard is $5 for a half-pound.

Heath Putnam Farms, (253) 833-7591; sells bacon and lard on Saturdays at Seattle’s U-District Farmers Market.

— S. Irene Virbila

Photo of woolly pig courtesy of Heath Putnam Farms

What did you eat this weekend?

Each Monday morning, we put off the beginning of the workweek just a little bit longer by talking about -- what else? -- what we ate this weekend.

Scroll down to take a look at some, but not all, of the highlights, including this heart-stopping foie gras and truffle terrine made by Chef Ludo Lefebvre -- it was served at a holiday feast attended by food blogger Jo Stougaard of My Last Bite.

So how can you play along?

Join us on Twitter @latimesfood bright and early Monday mornings. We use #weekendeats as our hashtag. You can also chime in on Facebook. All the better if you have a photo! (If you take a photo, please upload it here.)

And it's never too late to add a comment in the comments section below.

Now, here's a sampling of what you ate this weekend:

-- Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch 

Photo credit: Jo Stougaard / My Last Bite

What did you eat this weekend?

Each Monday morning, we put off the beginning of the work week just a little bit longer by talking   about -- what else? -- what we ate this weekend. Scroll down to take a look at some, but not all, of the highlights, including this super easy festive appetizer -- a cranberry, orange and brie crostini -- from the blog, Two Peas and Their Pod.

So, how can you play along? Join us on Twitter @latimesfood bright and early Monday mornings. We use #weekendeats as our hashtag. You can also chime in on Facebook too, and just tell us what you ate. All the better if you have a photo! If you take a photo, please upload it here and take a moment to tell us about your dish and yourself: Include your Twitter handle and the name of your food blog, if you have one, so we can all read more. And it’s never too late to add a comment in the comments section below.

Without further ado, here's what you ate this weekend:

-- Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch 

Photo: Cranberry, orange and brie crostini. Credit: Two Peas and Their Pod



BlogHer co-founder forecasts the future

The next two weekends are going to be a blizzard of hashtags.

This coming weekend, there's BlogHer Food. Held over two days in San Francisco, the sold-out conference features some of the most influential names in the food world, including Dorie Greenspan and Michael Ruhlman. A week later, the food focus widens and swings to Las Vegas, for BlogWorld. (I'll be at both events, and I'll be a panelist at BlogWorld, so please stop and say hi!)

The two food-focused events come at a provocative time: Blogging now shares the stage with micro-blogging, old media's aggressive gambit to make up for lost time, and the Rise of Aggregation a la Eatocracy and HuffPost Food. More important, what does this all mean for food blogging (because, let's face it, all we really care about is food blogging)?

We asked BlogHer co-founder Elisa Camahort Page to tell us what the landscape looks like from her vantage point. She forecast these six trends, and what follows are the highlights of our conversation. Long story short: Far from being "over," blogging is just getting started, she said, adding that food bloggers have more opportunities than every before to find a way to turn clicks into bucks.

Fried = healthy, CCH Pounder goes fishing, lunching without lunching, root beer roses and more

--Oscar nominees get together for the annual luncheon. But from the looks of this photo gallery, no one is actually doing any lunching. 

--Chile's wine exporters are feeling the economic squeeze.

--The Twitterverse is all about Mardis Gras this morning. Here, @chefrb shows us her....first stab at a King Cake. Nicely done. (Update: An earlier version of this post attributed the photo to @bonbonvivant.)

--If "Avatar" actress CCH Pounder invites you over for a fish banquet, don't fall for the "I've been cooking all day" line.

--Replacing paper coffee filters with reusable ones. A good way to keep trash out of the landfill?

--Would you pay more to have your strawberries smell more like strawberries? Or your roses smelling like root beer? Scientists find genes that could restore fragrances to flowers. The genetic research may also be applied to restore flavors to fruits and vegetables.

--A recipe for fried Greek Zucchini Fritters that still claims to be healthy? We're sold.

--Rene Lynch
On Twitter @renelynch

Photo credit: Victor Baeza, general manager of Calina winery in Talca, Chile, says the 170-acre operation's sales last year didn't budge from 2008's. Chris Kraul / Los Angeles Times

'We've been shut down': Twitter updates from @SMFoodtrucklot

The Gourmet Food Truck Corner launched Monday at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and 14th Street, but ran into some trouble today:

First:

*We may have an issue... SM may be shutting us down for an alleged zoning issue. Stay tuned.

Then:

*We've been shut down... The land owner was mistaken on some zoning issues. I'm sorry guys... Stay tuned.

And most recently:

*Exploring options. Trying to move fast... We may need some support.

Follow Friday madness: LA restaurants, food trucks and chefs on Twitter, version 3

We periodically update our roster of Los Angeles bars, restaurants, chefs and food on Twitter. Now you can follow them with the click of a button, because we recently migrated these lists to Twitter.

The biggest growth has been in our food trucks list, which had barely a dozen trucks six months ago and now has 58 meals-on-wheels.

Recent additions include: Asian Soul Food Kitchen (a fusion of Japanese cuisines and African American soul food); Little Spoon Desserts; the Sweets Truck; Mandoline Grill (traditional and vegan-friendly Vietnamese food); Komodo (fusion burritos); Fressers (hot pastrami and other deli sandwiches); Grill 'Em All (upscale burgers); Umami (upscale burgers); Vesuvio LA (Italian food) and more.

Sadly, we still lack a poutine truck like Potato Champion in Portland.

--Los Angeles restaurants and bars on Twitter
--Los Angeles food trucks on Twitter
--Los Angeles chefs on Twitter

We update the lists constantly, so let us know what we've missed.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: The Potato Champion food truck in Portland, Ore. Credit: Kathy M.Y. Pyon / Los Angeles Times

Follow food trucks on our Twitter list; Asian Soul Kitchen rolling out Dec. 1

Using Twitter's new list function, I managed to harness one tiny atom of the power of social networking by creating a list of Los Angeles food trucks.

At the top (OK, technically, the bottom) is the newest of the nouveau food trucks, Asian Soul Kitchen. The brainchild of husband-and-wife team Richard Wright and Akiko Konami, it fuses American soul food and Asian food. The duo previously ran the Butta’Cup Lounge, a similarly themed restaurant in the Fort Greene neighborhood of  Brooklyn, before picking up stakes and moving to L.A. in 2008. Examples of their fusion cuisine include teriyaki beef sliders, salmon croquettes and their signature lollipop chicken (fried chicken with an optional tamarind glaze). Barring any delays, the truck should officially roll out on Dec. 1, but check their Twitter feed for test runs after the truck gets wrapped in mid-November.

Asian Soul Kitchen is part of the expanding fleet of Road Stoves trucks, which is also rolling out the Little Spoon dessert truck in the near future. More details to come.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Various food trucks park outside the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA for the Dwell on Design conference in June. Credit: Stefano Paltera / For The Times