Even with our landscape’s dense redwood groves, inland oak woodlands and riparian forests, we often forget that each bough we find fallen across our paths and every water-worn burl lodged in beach sand has potential just waiting to be released with chisel, rasp, gouge and plane. By spending a little time searching trails and roadsides […]
Kevin Smith
Posted inEat + Drink
Tough Nut to Crack
In many regions, wintertime brings a relative dearth of wild foods, but not on the north coast. In fact, winter is a great time to find one of my favorite native nuts, the often overlooked, incredibly tasty black walnut (Juglans nigra). Unlike domestic English walnuts sold by most grocers, black walnuts are rarely sold commercially. […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Fried and True
The British are not really known for creative additions to the world’s culinary scene, but fish and chips became traditional pub fare for a reason. And few dishes go better with a warm fire in the wood stove on a rainy North Coast winter night than a hot, crispy batch of fish and chips. There […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Cray Cray
Crayfish, mud bugs, swamp lobsters or crawdads — call them what you like; these little crustaceans are as delicious as they are abundant in freshwater along the North Coast. I look forward to every autumn and winter for the abundance of fungi, wild greens, shellfish, and yes, a seasonally strong and impressively sustainable sweet swamp […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Speed Ceviche
Ceviche (pronounced seh-vee-chay), is a dish that can be found along the Latin American coast from Mexico to Peru. Regional variations in the ratios and types of ingredients included in a “proper ceviche” translate to slight differences in taste and texture depending on the country you visit. Two ingredients that are always key to a […]