The first time I drove along Hiller Road looking for the Sea Goat Farmstand (1450 Hiller Road), finally parking near its sign, what I saw reminded me of a fireworks booth, one of the plywood structures that seem to materialize overnight in the days leading up to the Fourth of July. Upon approaching it, I saw fresh produce neatly arranged […]
Simona Carini
Posted inLife + Outdoors
When Nature Gives You Rain, Visit a Waterfall
While I don’t mind hiking in a drizzle, particularly in the redwoods, where rainfall is broken by the canopy (“Forest Bathing in the Redwoods,” Get Out, June 15, 2023), the intense rain of recent months kept me away from favorite trails. Finally, on Easter Sunday, after a few days without a storm, I felt it […]
Posted inEat + Drink
A Green Dish for Earth Day or Any Day
Thanks to months rich in rainfall, everywhere I look is green: our yard, pastures, parks. My plate is also green, partly because I eat a large green salad every day (“Take Time for Salad,” March 23, 2023), partly because I cannot resist the bunches of glorious leafy greens available at the farmers market. Neat bundles […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Spreading Vegetable Joy
It’s January and “Eat more vegetables” is in the air. There are variations, of course. Fruits are mentioned as well, the Mediterranean diet makes frequent appearances, the gut microbiome may also be invoked. The core message from many voices remains the same: Eat more vegetables. The path to implementing that resonant piece of advice must […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
A Daily Dose of Awe
One of my favorite outdoor activities is running in Sue-meg State Park. I start on Patrick’s Point Drive; the stretch of road between the two beautiful wooden signs marking the turnoff and the entrance station is like a red carpet laid out by the park’s welcoming committee. Past the entrance station, I turn left at […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Classic Oatmeal Cookies Revisited
Winter has arrived, so far carrying buckets of rain. Spreading a sweet aroma around the house by baking cookies is an excellent antidote to seasonal claustrophobia, when I start feeling caged within the walls of short, wet days. Guided on one hand by my Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies (“What-if Cookies,” Jan. 13, 2022) and […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Fermentation Tales of Koji and Miso
“You may be interested in trying this,” Richard Wagner told me one Saturday morning in April while I was looking at the produce he had brought to the Arcata Plaza farmers market. He and his wife Lauren run Palmer Creek Farm, a biodiverse farm in Fortuna. “I’m always interested in trying something new,” I answered. […]
Posted inEat + Drink
A Simple Carrot Salad
On a recent evening, while grating a carrot for my usual salad (“Take Time for Salad,” March 23, 2023), I thought how much I like them. And it shows: A quick survey of the dishes whose recipe I have shared on this column brings up several that showcase the sweet root vegetable, including Indonesian orak […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Forest Bathing in the Redwoods
One of the reasons I treasure spending time in the redwoods is that “in the forest I do not feel small,” as I wrote last year in the title of a poem. Rather, I am encouraged to take up space, expand my reach. As I hike on the trail, I explore trees’ territory and also […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Seize the Day on the Bay
I pause and take in the surroundings: sky, water, light, boats, buildings. The word that most often comes to mind is “amazing.” Energized, I resume rowing. I learned to row nine years ago during a summer session for new rowers offered by the Humboldt Bay Rowing Association (HBRA). I learned in an eight-oared shell, practicing […]
Posted inEat + Drink
I’ll Have My Spinach with Cheese and Chocolate, Please
“Chocolate is a vegetable,” read a sticky note placed on the refrigerator door in the kitchen of the office where I worked some years ago. I smiled when I read it — that chocolate could be consumed with other vegetables, a culinary path I was not interested in exploring at the time. Then something happened. […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Take Time for Salad
I am not a fan of cold weather. By the time dinner time comes around I am dreaming of a hot dish: a hearty soup or a vegetable side or main dish that warms me and helps me let go of whatever tension the day may have caused. But before the warming course, I eat […]