"in sixty seconds" news and stories

• A brief background on bloodsuckers, plus "a bloody fete Dracula would thirst for" -- creative fanger foods, pun intended.
• When left home alone with the task of feeding trick-or-treaters, one columnist came to discover the marvelous match of red wine and chocolate.
• Bacon banter has finally leveled out a bit, but isn't going anywhere anytime soon. However, a recent local event preceding April's Baconfest Chicago wowed porcine appreciators, with dishes like the pumpkin-bacon-waffle with pomegranate-glazed pork belly.
• More than "junk food with a European pedigree," Nutella is a "vaguely wholesome" snack with an interesting background -- and can be made at home from scratch.
• The Festival of Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer takes place November 7, and pays tribute to a worthy beer trend on the rise.
• A gallery of ten "superfoods" we should be consuming more of, from avocados and beets to chia seeds and dandelion greens.
• Recipes: Comforting Chicken Pot Pie with Drop Biscuits ("the gustatory equivalent of curling up with your favorite blanket"); the luscious Vanilla Ice Cream with Bourbon Walnuts and Caramel; Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork and Spicy Slaw "warms up a Halloween party;" Sheila Lukins' Banana Cake.

Tricks for elevating Passover cuisine from a kosher caterer.

An osso buco primer that will have you drooling.

A snapshot of the Rhode Island locavore.

All about lamb in time for that Easter dinner or Passover seder.

•Volcanic vino – a critic samples wines sprung from the ashes of Italy's still-bubbling Mt. Etna.

•Charcuterie: Have we gone totally hog wild for cured, salty meats or is it merely a passing fancy?

• Japanese pizza hits Canada; critic pans it as the "Hello Kitty" of slice-ville.

• It's maple syrup season for our neighbors to the north, which they celebrate by visits to "sugar shacks" and concocting syrupy treats like "maple sponge toffee."

• British PM Gordon Brown, in a nod to the unsavory financial climate, picks Jamie Oliver -- aka "The Naked Chef" – to whip up a frugal (or at least foie gras-free) feast for G-20 finance bigwigs. Read more about that here.

Here's what's doing in the Los Angeles Times Food Section for Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008:

Bonjur, dude. Vietnamese street food, with a French and SoCal twist. Get thee to Westminster or make it yourself. In either case, like, bon appetit!

The slow drip: Because you have to know how to make that delicious Vietnamese coffee. Here's how.

Comeback Kid: Years after dying out, the American chestnut is making a slow and much-welcomed return. Russ Parsons reports.

How to skin a chestnut. Right here.

Recipe: Brussels sprouts braised with bacon and chestnuts.

The craft beer revolution in L.A.

The best beer bars in L.A.

S. Irene Virbila reviews BiMi in L.A. and finds it not just another sushi-bar in L.A.

Where the slow food movement is headed.

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• Sometimes pricey-tasting wine doesn't have to have a big price tag, like Priorat, "the Sidney Crosby of wines."
• Old cookbooks, history, and orange/almond Icebox Cookies.
• If you have lots of money to spare, and would like olllld wine and rare, futuristic wine storage perks with your charity donations, how about spending tens of thousands to help the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine and getting a Porsche Design Studio wine fridge full of vintage selections date back to the '50s?
• The ins and outs of "aromatic whites."
• Recipe: Grilled Tuscan-Style Rabbit with Olive, Thyme, and Tomato.
• KFC Canada not only works towards fixing chicken issues, but gets into some "vegan chicken."
• West Restaurant and Warren Geraghty's move to Vancouver.
• Halloumi -- a cheese that doesn't melt.