L.A. UNLEASHED

Biden big with animal group

The Humane Society Legislative Fund recently released a preview of its annual Humane Scorecard, which rates House and Senate members’ stances on animal protection issues.

How did your president-elect and vice president-elect score? Out of a possible 100, Obama received a 67. Joe Biden earned a rare 100+ (the plus, the HSLF says, denotes that a lawmaker has “Scored 100% and also led as a prime sponsor of pro-animal legislation”) -- meaning he is certainly qualified to care for the dog he was promised by his wife, Jill.

Animal issues used to determine the HSLF’s scores included the Horse Slaughter Bill, the Downed Animal Enforcement Act and the Farm Bill.

John McCain’s score? 17.

-- Lindsay Barnett

From L.A. Unleashed: All things animal in Southern California and beyond

For more, go to latimes.com/unleashed

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DAILY DISH

New pastry shop in Beverly Hills

Fulfilled Japanese Pastries has opened. Owner Susumu Tsuchihashi reimagines the imagawa-yaki, small griddled cakes traditionally filled with sweet red beans and often served at Japanese outdoor festivals from street stalls.

Tsuchihashi’s shop is more resplendent -- shiny black granite counters, glass cases, mirrored walls and cabinets and a chandelier -- as befits its Beverly Hills location. There’s a touch of wabi-sabi (rustic elegance) -- a few logs for stools are the only seating. The imagawa-yaki (here they’re called just ima) are griddled up near the window, for the benefit of passersby, best served up hot.

Tsuchihashi’s modern flavors include: Nutella and banana; Ghirardelli chocolate with toffee and crunchy peanut butter; and strawberry with cream cheese and white chocolate. Savory imas are filled with chicken apple sausage and pepper Jack cheese or Mission figs with goat cheese, walnuts and cracked pepper.

Fulfilled Japanese Pastries, 9405 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. Open daily 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

-- Betty Hallock

From Daily Dish: The inside scoop on food in Los Angeles

For more, go to latimes.com/dailydish

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UP TO SPEED

Hot Wheels car loaded with bling

Forty years of making fast cars and now doing better than General Motors. At close of business on Oct. 31, GM’s share price was 5.79. Compare that with 15.01 for Mattel, maker of Hot Wheels. Yes, Hot Wheels started in 1968 (hasn’t the time flown by?) and has also reached another major landmark -- its four billionth car.

The milestone car is a 1:64-scale die-cast model known as the Custom Otto, adorned with $140,000-worth of diamonds, 18k gold and white gold. And in a fitting celebration of a 40th anniversary, the taillights are rubies. There are nearly 3,000 round brilliant and baguette cut diamonds with a total weight of 22.94 carats. If this wasn’t enough, there’s also a custom-built presentation case with 40 bezel-set diamonds in a “Hot Wheels 40th Anniversary” logo and a rotating base on which the car rests, plus an LED display in the case that shows images of the car’s production.

The design and setting was done by Jason of Beverly Hills. This company has a roster of high-bling clients, such as Missy Elliot, Jessica Alba, LeBron James and Princess Latifa Al Saud (who, despite her name, is not a rapper but a real princess from Saudi Arabia).

Toys are for kids, right? So the good news is that this one-off creation went under Bonhams’ hammer at a recent auction hosted by the Petersen Automotive Museum. It went for $50,000 (more than twice the amount of some pre-auction estimates), the proceeds going to a children’s charity -- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire. But the chances are that it won’t be zooming down an orange plastic track any time soon.

-- Colin Ryan

From Up to Speed: The latest auto news, tips and trends

For more, go to latimes.com/uptospeed

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JACKET COPY

Kerouac, Woolf and odd words

The Independent describes the true-life story behind the book “And the Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks,” a pulp crime novel co-written, in 1944-45, by Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. The two never sold the book, which was based on a murder committed by one of their friends (the victim, too, was a friend) -- and it was kept largely under wraps during the perpetrator’s cleaned-up life. Now that he’s passed on, the proto-Beat pulp collaboration is coming to bookstores.

This has been reported elsewhere, but it’s too good to miss: The only known recording of Virginia Woolf has been made available on a new CD by the British Library. The BBC has posted the file of Woolf reading; to my ear she sounds a lot like Vanessa Redgrave with trilling Rs.

Sadly, the blog Obsolete Word of the Day is now itself obsolete: It stopped adding daily words in August.

But its archives live on at the blog Fancy Notions (https://fancynotions.wordpress.com/). Some definitions are straightforward (“roinish -- scabby, despicable”) while others are colorful -- “fittyland” -- No, that’s not the mansion where rapper 50 Cent lives. It is a plow horse. Specifically, of a pair attached to the plow, it is the near one that walks in the unplowed part while the other walks in the furrow. Other words from the archives: sweet-lips (an epicure), slubberdegullion (a slob), tyrotoxism (poisoning from cheese or another milk product) and marooning (days-long picnic).

-- Carolyn Kellogg

From Jacket Copy: Book news and information

For more, go to latimes.com/jacketcopy