Jada Calypso Brotman

What a totally summery February! I’ve been sending smug pictures of myself on the beach to all my shivering amigos in New York. Ha, ha, suckers! However we all know this weather is not built to last, as is evidenced by the plethora of winter vegetables still plaguing the larder like the last drunken guest. […]

As you may have gathered, I like to cook. That goes hand in hand with my love for eating. This week I’d like to share some ideas for cooking some of my favorite things to eat. We’ll start with — liver. This is possibly a risky way to introduce a column of favorite foods, but […]

The slurry of local eggs that have come slithering down the supermarket aisle pleases me. Isn’t it awesome? We used to have to truck through the hills in search of a hand-lettered “EgGz” sign, to get a fresh dozen for $2. Now they’re available alongside kohlrabi and Jujyfruits at many a hometown mart, shells charmingly […]

My parents don’t really feel squash. They don’t despise it; it just doesn’t provoke any vehement response. I don’t understand their reaction; if my father can spend days finding the right ratio of duck fat to butter for frying potatoes, and my mother giggles like a school girl at the sight of sweet potato French […]

Ahh, the sweet indolent unguence of summer fruits. It is not, per se, summer-like around Mad River Road (I am freezing, the cows are blowing steamy clouds and it’s technically fall), but up in Orleans, around Willow Creek and down in Shively the sun shines on unhindered by shivery fog, and crates of drippy fly-tempting […]

Now is the season of chard. And kale, and beet greens and other tough leafy greens that you planted optimistically a few months ago, thinking, “This will be the year I healthfully gag down mountains of green organic fibrous leaf, thereby cleaning my system and giving my skin the glow of both health and smuggery!” […]

HOLY SMOKES I AM SO EXCITED. At long last, a small but profound earthquake has shaken up the candy world, which lo these many years has been mired in increasingly desperate combinations of chocolate and peanut butter. Now don’t get me wrong — I’m a red-blooded American. No one can accuse me of not supporting […]

I want to marry pork. The crisped, buttery edge of a seared chop is the epicurean equivalent to a money shot; you can’t get more delicious. My esteemed colleague Joseph Byrd wrote a series of articles in this paper pointing out the cultivated leanness and resulting tastelessness of supermarket pork, which is damned not only […]

The thing about pizza is, everybody likes it. We all have our preferences about styles (obviously NYC pizza being the absolute best — end of discussion), but unless you have celiac disease or one of those cheese issues, you can’t really fuss too much when a homemade pie is on the menu. I like delivery […]

God, this is a good dish. I know I should lead in with a catchy hook about its antioxidant flavinoids, or its localvore superiority, or its ability to increase your prowess in between the sheets. Yeah, I’m getting to that. But really, this dish is just awesomely delicious. It originates back in my poverty-stricken days […]

’Tis the season of hearty eating, and people keep coming over for dinner in ravenous droves. These are the kind of nights you want to sit around a table and schmooze and be warm. Meals have been complicated at Rancho Brotman this season by the variety of dietary needs of our neurotic friends; it can […]

As has been said before, we here in Humboldt County are blessed with an extravagant seasonal assortment of locally grown organic fruits and vegetables. But have you ever really ruminated about salad mix? It’s available — fresh-picked — year-round. Perhaps this comes as no great surprise at first, but think about it for a minute. […]