It’s hard to top yourself when you’ve set a standard for culinary innovation. But that’s exactly what Heirloom LA achieved with its lasagna cupcake, a gooey, single-serving, all-the-best-parts-of-the-lasagna triumph, which can be found via mail order and in select locations across town. Now the Los Angeles-based catering company is taking its show on the road, and with more than just cupcakes: They’ve launched a full-service food truck that’s about to raise the bar for locally-sourced meals by pairing them with the sweetest drinking venues in the city.


On Monday night owners Matthew Poley, Tara Maxey, and Talmadge Lowe threw open the windows of a former moving van, turned on some hip-hop, and hosted a preview of their food truck outside a tasting at Silver Lake Wine. Fans queued up for halibut tacos with pickled peppercorn slaw, containers of silky-smooth butternut squash soup, and farmer’s salad dotted with fresh peas. In a way, the truck is not too different from the weekly Sunday tasting events that Heirloom LA has catered for years, says Maxey. “We were already kind of doing this without a catering truck, with a lot more obstacles.”

Those obstacles—transporting, prepping, and heating food—just don’t slow down the Heirloom LA truck, which is quite literally a full kitchen on wheels. Maxey points to the unusually large six-top range, a dish station, and two convection ovens. “There are really no challenges… except parking,” she laughs. The truck was already customized with handsome wood accents and an extra-large serving window, and was further outfitted by architect Ana Henton (designer of Heirloom LA clients Silver Lake Wine and Intelligentsia Pasadena). And in a unique partnership, funding also comes in part from Microsoft Windows Phone, who approached them with a lucrative sponsorship deal that got Heirloom LA on the road.

Each outing of the Heirloom LA truck will feature a different menu, with many ingredients sourced from small local farms. On the debut night, the buttery pork tucked into blue corn tortilla tacos was courtesy of a 210-pound black pig from a farm in the Mojave Desert. Maxey posted photos of the butchering process on their blog. “We turned one leg into proscuitto, we made headcheese—we used the entire pig.” Even the produce has a narrative: The carrots, roasted to a sweet caramelized finish, came from McGrath Family Farm, another of many longstanding relationships that Heirloom LA has cultivated with local growers. We take the vegetables they don’t sell and turn them into salads to sell at the next farmers’ market,” says Maxey.

The truck also enhances Heirloom LA’s great track record of partnering with the coolest drink-slinging establishments in town. Tuesday night’s official grand opening will see the truck parked outside Los Feliz wine bar Bar Covell where Heirloom LA will soon be serving weekend brunch. Maxey is thinking breakfast burritos might pair well with Covell’s mimosas and craft beers on those warm summer mornings. On Thursday nights they’ll be at the Yamashiro Farmers Market, tucked high in the Hollywood Hills in a pop-up beer and wine garden with other trucks and artisanal vendors. And they’ll still have their regular residency at Silver Lake Wine for catered tastings Sunday (which, at $20, including four wine pours, might be the best deal in town) and truck meals Monday night.

Drooling yet? You can hunt Heirloom LA down on Twitter at @WPHeirloomLA. Keep an eye out for those lasagna cupcakes.

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  • Man’s dog suddenly becomes protective of his wife, Internet clocks the reason right away
    Dogs have impressive observational powers.Photo credit: Canva

    Reddit user Girlfriendhatesmefor’s three-year-old pitbull, Otis, had recently become overprotective of his wife. So he asked the online community if they knew what might be wrong with the dog.

    “A week or two ago, my wife got some sort of stomach bug,” the Reddit user wrote under the subreddit /r/dogs. “She was really nauseous and ill for about a week. Otis is very in tune with her emotions (we once got in a fight and she was upset, I swear he was staring daggers at me lol) and during this time didn’t even want to leave her to go on walks. We thought it was adorable!”

    His wife soon felt better, butthe dog’s behavior didn’t change.

    pregnancy signs, dogs and pregnancy, pitbull behavior, pet intuition, dog overprotection, Reddit stories, viral Reddit, dog instincts, canine emotions, dog owner tips
    Otis knew before they did. Canva

    Girlfriendhatesmefor began to fear that Otis’ behavior may be an early sign of an aggression issue or an indication that the dog was hurt or sick.

    So he threw a question out to fellow Reddit users: “Has anyone else’s dog suddenly developed attachment/aggression issues? Any and all advice appreciated, even if it’s that we’re being paranoid!”

    The most popular response to his thread was by ZZBC.

    Any chance your wife is pregnant?

    ZZBC | Reddit

    The potential news hit Girlfriendhatesmefor like a ton of bricks. A few days later, Girlfriendhatesmefor posted an update and ZZBC was right!

    “The wifey is pregnant!” the father-to-be wrote. “Otis is still being overprotective but it all makes sense now! Thanks for all the advice and kind words! Sorry for the delayed reply, I didn’t check back until just now!”

    Redditors responded with similar experiences.

    Anecdotal I know but I swear my dog knew I was pregnant before I was. He was super clingy (more than normal) and was always resting his head on my belly.

    realityisworse | Reddit

    So why do dogs get overprotective when someone is pregnant?

    Jeff Werber, PhD, president and chief veterinarian of the Century Veterinary Group in Los Angeles, told Health.com that “dogs can also smell the hormonal changes going on in a woman’s body at that time.” He added the dog may “not understand that this new scent of your skin and breath is caused by a developing baby, but they will know that something is different with you—which might cause them to be more curious or attentive.”

    The big lesson here is to listen to your pets and to ask questions when their behavior abruptly changes. They may be trying to tell you something, and the news may be life-changing.

    This article originally appeared last year.

  • Throughout history, women have stood up and fought to break down barriers imposed on them from stereotypes and societal expectations. The trailblazers in these photos made history and redefined what a woman could be. In doing so, they paved the way for future generations to stand up and continue to fight for equality.

  • ,

    Why mass shootings spawn conspiracy theories

    Mass shootings and conspiracy theories have a long history.

    While conspiracy theories are not limited to any topic, there is one type of event that seems particularly likely to spark them: mass shootings, typically defined as attacks in which a shooter kills at least four other people.

    When one person kills many others in a single incident, particularly when it seems random, people naturally seek out answers for why the tragedy happened. After all, if a mass shooting is random, anyone can be a target.

    Pointing to some nefarious plan by a powerful group – such as the government – can be more comforting than the idea that the attack was the result of a disturbed or mentally ill individual who obtained a firearm legally.


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