If you've stayed up watching convention speeches all this week and plan to next week as well, you, my friend, are a political junkie. The fact that you're reading Slashfood probably means that you're also a foodie. You're not alone. The LA Times recently published an article on political cookbooks, and there's a long and entertaining tradition.

From the "How to eat like a Republican" to the "Watergate Cookbook", to being the White House chef, the LA Times covers it all. There are even a couple of Axis of Evil cookbooks. It seems that wherever the worlds of food and politics collide, there's never a dull moment. What is some of your favorite politically motivated foodie literature?

I heard about this on Marketplace Morning Report yesterday, and thought it was interesting. Kellogg's is shrinking the box size of several of its brands of cereal. They aren't, however, planning on reducing the price accordingly.

Apple Jacks, Cocoa Krispies, Corn Pops, Froot Loops and Honey Smacks will all be about two and a half ounces lighter starting this month. According to the LATimes, the effective price increase is intended to offset rising production costs. The cereal maker wouldn't say of they have plans for similar treatment of other cereals, but I wouldn't be surprised.

I totally understand that prices on everything are going up and that companies have to pass that on to the consumer. I'm just amused by the clever ways in which companies accomplish that.

Are you a chocolate lover with nothing to do this weekend? Well, perhaps a chocolate tour would be fun.

The Los Angeles Times Daily Travel Blog brought us a post about chocolate tours in some cities. San Francisco was the first one mentioned, but you can also find tours in Boston, New York, Seattle, and Chicago. Unfortunately, but understandably, the tours are limited to big cities.

If you're going to be in one of these places this weekend, or plan on it in the future, maybe looking into a chocolate tour would be something to think about. I'm going to be in San Francisco this summer, and I'll definitely be on that tour.

If you love food like I love food, then chances are you, er, have a few extra pounds. Even though I try to be really careful about what I eat, I simply can't resist all the fabulous cookies and cakes and bread that surround me all day (I work in a pastry kitchen).

I actually have lost a lot of weight in last couple of years, even though I do still have just a little nibble of lots of different things. I started reading about how to lose weight safely, and followed a lot of the tips I found. That's why I did pretty well on this LATImes diet quiz. I think I've mentioned before that I'm also a sucker for quizes, so I couldn't pass it up.

It's not a quiz in which you answer the question and then it tells you if you're correct. All the questions and answers follow each other on the same page, but it's still fun. See how well you stack up: I'd love to hear about it.

We're big on the taco trucks here at Slashfood. We've blogged about them again and again, so it's appalling to hear that Los Angeles lawmakers made it a misdemeanor crime to stay parked in one spot for longer than one hour. Truck owners can be punished with a $1,000 fine or up to six months in jail.

The main reason the law was passed? Local business owners were complaining that vendors - like the taco trucks - were taking away the business of the their brick-and-mortar restaurants. The restaurateurs were also peeved because they are forced to pay more bills than the vendors do, so the competition is "unfair."

The part that really kills me, though, is that the president of the local Merchant's Association was quoted as saying, "I don't want to put anybody out of business, but it's the fairness of it all...It's a big victory for the merchants, and it's going to clean up the area."

I have a cell phone that is just a phone. It makes calls. I am online eighty percent of my day. When I'm out of my house, I like to talk to live human beings.

The Los Angeles Times reports that "Wil Shipley, a Seattle software developer, uses his iPhone at the Whole Foods fish counter to check websites for updates on which seafood is the most environmentally correct to purchase. He quizzes the staff on where and how a fish was caught."

Why not trust that the guy behind the fish counter knows about the fish he sells? Do we only place our trust in Google now and not the people who work in our neighborhood shops?

Do you think it was smart for Wil to question the fish counter staff or just plain rude?

The LA Times ran a piece yesterday on blogs becoming a new tool in many chefs' arsenals, and how they're entering a blogosphere that used to be reserved for us commonfolk. The difference, according to the author? Primarily, style and choice of content: commonfolk tend to "natter about what they fed their boyfriends last night, and fuzzily photograph their latest batch of heart-shaped cookies" while REAL chefs tell the stories behind the food, taking more time to detail the food's inspiration and its history.

I beg to differ. I'm biased, yes, but I think our Slashfood Flickr group is a perfect example of primarily amateur photographers and chefs taking outstanding photos of food, ones just as good as any in a cookbook. And I think people read food blogs to take in the "nattering" about day-to-day life and how it fits in with what fix and eat. And chef's blogs can be personal, too - they don't all fit neatly into one (bread) box, as this author seems to imply.

The article details several chef blogs that have been making waves, and how the chefs are using their platforms to make a statement. For some chefs, like Alison Barshak, a blog is a way to show off and advertise your new restaurant under the guise of giving viewers a tutorial on opening up an eatery. For others, like Michael Laiskonis, blogs are a chance to describe eloquently, albeit verbosely, how they got the inspiration and found the ingredients for their extravagant meals.

If you happen to be in LA this weekend, you might want to make your way to the UCLA campus for the Los Angeles Times sponsored Festival of Books on Saturday and Sunday.

While the book festival as a whole is exciting, there are a few things that are of special interest to me as a Slashfoodie. On Saturday at 10:00 AM, there's a panel called "Food Fight: When Did Eating Get Controversial?" that will feature Marion Nestle (What to Eat), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemna) and Barry Glassner (The Gospel of Food). On both days, there will be a series of chef demos on stage, and I plan on going Saturday to see Govind Armstrong, Dave Lieberman, Cat Cora, and Ted Allen (all of whose books are pictured above). Sunday will feature Martin Yan, Barbara Fairchild, Nancy Silverton, and Lidia Bastianich. All of these chefs have books, which will be available at the event.

When plain old chocolate chip cookies aren't quite special enough for the holidays, it's time to turn to a professional. By this, we don't mean that you should buy cookies instead of baking them, but to ask well-known pastry chefs to send you batches of their favorites under the guise of holding a holiday bake off. It worked for the LA Times staff.

They ranked all the cookies, but with chefs like Michelle Myers, chef and co-owner of Boule and Sona; Nancy Silverton; Maury Rubin, chef-owner of City Bakery and Brian Kim, pastry chef at La Terza participating, it is clear that each and every cookie was a good one. The overall winners were the gingerbread macarons baked by Sherry Yard and Sixto Pocasangre.

Fortunately for those of us who don't have professional pastry chefs waiting to messenger us boxes of cookies and bottles of champagne, the Times staff also picked up the recipes for each of the cookies in their bake off so you can try them at home (a subscription is req'd, but it's free). The recipes include pistachio butter cookies, orange madeleines, the above-mentioned gingerbread macarons, cranberry pistachio biscotti, chocolate espresso cookies, rosemary pine nut cookies, chocolate sablé cookies and raisin-filled sugar and spice cookies.

Four new books are an indication that people are starting to make changes in the way we eat - no more industrialized foods, but organic, local, and sustainable.

In the kitchen, call it what you will, but in the end, it's an open-faced sandwich. Recipes are for Arugula, Heirloom Tomato and Prosciutto; Manchego Cheese and Fig, and Ahi Tuna and Avocado. French chef with two Michelin stars, Stephane Carrade, is a local hero because he isn't fussy at his restaurant Chef Ruffet. He shares his recipe for a Vegetable Plate. Octopus Salad recipe comes from Bartolotta di Mare at the Wynn Hotel in Vegas.

Why is $10 the magic number for wine, and what can you get with that amount? It all depends on where you're looking. The Wine of the Week is 2004 Domaine Alary Côtes du Rhône 'La Gerbaude,' which SIV calls "ripe and juicy."

SIV gives the new restaurant at the Hotel Casa Del Mar, Oceanfront, two stars (**). Macau Street, a cafe in Monterey Park, serves lunch through late night.

SIV calls the 2004 Philippe Alliet Chinon from the Loire Valley "spicy and delicious, weaving together ripe, juicy fruit with smooth tannins and a lively acidity/" It retails for about $17.

The Chilean wine industry is putting all its Carmenère grapes in one basket. Carmenère is an obscure French grape that only grows in Chile.

In the kitchen, Russ Parsons looks at the simplicity of risotto, Charles Perry throws a dinner party inspired by the poet Rumi, complete with sweet and sour version of spinach and hassaten pilaf. If ever you've tried the chickpea fritter at the Auberge at Ojai or the bean appetizer at the Chase Restaurant and Lounge in Santa Barbara, now you can make both at home.

SIV visits Petros for Greek food in Manhattan Beach and gives it 21/2 stars (**1/2)! There's also a short story on the Scarlet Tea Room, and a look at the mini restaurant boom in Eagle Rock.

La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint Ange is the French cookbook that inspired Julia Child, and now it's available in an English translation.

We've been suggesting some non-traditional menus, but the LA Times says to forget it. Super Bowl Sunday is an excuse to eat ribs, wings, and beer-battered shrimp, and keep the Buffalo authentic in your wings with Frank's RedHot Sauce.

SIV gives 2½ stars (**) to Sona. Make a trip to South Africa via Springbok Bar & Grill in the Valley.

Thirsty? Try a Bloody Mary. Otherwise, the wine highlight of the week is a 2001 Produttori del Barbaressco.

Arepa? Clayuda? Whatever it's called, it's a pancake.

[photo: LA Times]

The LA Times cooks, starting with the basics of the basic, mirepoix, and glorifies timballo, a dish made of pasta or risotto that is baked into a mold. I think I remember something like this from my chilhood. It was called "spaghetti pie."

Teakettles are put to the test to determine which method is best for boiling water - stove top vs electric. The result? Seems to be a draw.

Dining about La La Land, SIV visits Boneyard Bistro for some barbecue and asks "Really, who wants to eat venison with foie gras in a casual, loud setting?" She gives it two stars (**). Counter-Intelligence heads down to Torrance for a study in washoku at Yuzu, and we get the lowdown on the down lows of Bastide's closing. It was just "too French." I don't know why, but that's funny to me.

In the world of wine, the Times gives us tips on how to spot a bad wine, and SIV highlights a 2004 Blanc Fumé de Pouilly par Didier Dagueneau (say that five times, fast) from the Loire. At $45 a bottle, it's "a relative bargain for a wine of this quality."

Charles Perry was serious about his research. Sixteen pounds of Valencia oranges and a few Navels, a heavy manual juice press and an electric juicer, phone calls to experts all over the country, blind taste tests, and a fancy refractometer. All this to discover that, while pressed orange juice seems to taste better than reamed juice, there is no scientific evidence - or even a generally-held theory - as to why this might be. Oh well. Either way, Perry is going to stick with his "Amazing Hulk of a juicer" because "the proof is in the juice."
[via A Full Belly.com]