Holiday drinks are as much a part of the celebratory season as Christmas trees, blinking lights and presents. At my house, Mexican Christmas punch, ponche navideño, is part of my festive repertoire. Ponche (pronounced “pon-chay”) is a hot sweet and sour punch served with or without alcohol during the holiday season in many Mexican and […]
Andrea Juarez
Andrea Juarez moved to Humboldt County in 2013 from Colorado. She writes about health, the outdoors, business, food and culture. When she is not at her keyboard, you’ll find her exploring her new environs. She is enamored with the area’s stunning coastal trails, the smell of eucalyptus trees after a rain, and wild blackberries.
Posted inStories
Cacao Cocoon’s Sweet Mission
Food is more than what you eat — it’s also about people and the planet. For local chocolatiers Elissa Verdillo and Zach Funk, these values guide Cacao Cocoon, which is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. “I don’t make chocolate just so people can have dessert … it’s revolutionary,” Verdillo says. “It brings people together rather than […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Chop Up Italian Salsa Verde
Several things stand out in my memory of the semester I lived in Florence. I remember narrow cobblestone streets. The tranquility of brisk, autumn mornings near the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio, and the quiet occasionally interrupted by buzzing vespas. I also remember my delight when tasting new Tuscan foods such as Italian salsa verde, green sauce. In […]
Posted inNews
From the NCJ Archives: Cheers! It’s Coquito Time
Editor’s note: Looking for a new way to spread some holiday cheer? Here’s a recipe from 2019 that stands the test of time, bringing a little coconut to the table. Enjoy. It’s the holiday season and you can make it a little merrier and a little brighter with this holiday cocktail: coquito. Translated as “little […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Cheers! It’s Coquito Time
It’s the holiday season and you can make it a little merrier and a little brighter with this holiday cocktail: coquito. Translated as “little coconut,” coquito is the Puerto Rican cousin of eggnog. It’s a deliciously creamy, rum and coconut concoction steeped with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and vanilla. Like its counterpart, coquito is decadent. It’s […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Lemony Soup for the Soul
Greek lemon chicken soup is luscious, bright with citrus and soothing. It’s perfect for a cold or a cold night, which are still plentiful in Humboldt in April. If you’ve had soupa avgolemono, you know what I’m talking about. It is one soup that lives up to the adage that chicken soup is food for […]
Posted inEat + Drink
‘Tis the Season for Tamales
Even though tamales can be found and eaten year-round, it’s the tamales at Christmas that are rooted in the Mexican holiday tradition. Food anthropologist Mario Montano, a professor at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, told me in an interview a few years back that tamales originated from the Aztecs. “When Hernan Cortes arrived in Veracruz, […]
Posted inEat + Drink
The Holiday Pie Divide
Like many of you, my family ate pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. But I never dug it. Pumpkin pie was typically bland and one dimensional, so I usually just skipped dessert and, for years, longed for that sumptuous finale befitting of a feast. Then in my 20s, it happened. I began dating my now-husband and had […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Family Business
Clouds of tantalizing smoke wisp gently and permeate the corner of U.S. Highway 101 and R Street in Eureka, where Sammy’s BBQ and Catering (1709 Fifth St.) resides. Here, locals and travelers passing through line up for award-winning barbecue. Out back of the restaurant, the aroma of low-and-slow barbecuing beef, pork and chicken on the […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Flavors of the Caribbean
If you are interested in being whisked away to a Caribbean Island without leaving Humboldt, get to A Taste of Bim in Old Town Eureka. There you’ll find a comfortable, tropical atmosphere with calypso music playing in the background and cuisine from the eastern Caribbean island of Barbados. The restaurant will be celebrating its three-year […]
Posted inSpecial Sections
Family Business
Clouds of tantalizing smoke wisp gently and permeate the corner of U.S. Highway 101 and R Street in Eureka, where Sammy’s BBQ and Catering (1709 Fifth St.) resides. Here, locals and travelers passing through line up for award-winning barbecue. Out back of the restaurant, the aroma of low-and-slow barbecuing beef, pork and chicken on the […]
Posted inSpecial Sections
Many Hats (and Roller Skates)
From government to the environment to music and the military in Humboldt, Natalie Arroyo has her foot in it or on it — figuratively and literally. One place that has special significance to her is the Eureka Waterfront Trail, the newly completed 6.3-mile contiguous trail that runs north from Herrick Avenue to Tydd Street. “Since […]