I never would have called myself a wildcrafter before moving to Humboldt. The sprawling suburbs of Southern California’s desert valley where I grew up weren’t exactly foraging-friendly. But once you move here, nature has a way of enrapturing not only the curious, but the hungry and thirsty, too. I spent my first few years in […]
On the Table
Posted inEat + Drink
Sweet Offerings
In the little workroom in the back of El Pueblo Market Panaderia (312 Washington St., Eureka), a young man in a flour-dusted apron leans over the worktable to knead a pale yellow dough, putting his weight into it. Engelberto Tejeda, the shop’s owner, reaches over, the sleeves of his crisp, white button down rolled to […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Cooking While Traveling
I love summer in Humboldt County for a number of reasons, including the amazing produce our farmers bring to the markets and the fog that keeps us cool (“Get Out into the Fog,” Aug. 26). Hence, I usually enjoy my favorite season in my favorite place. This year, however, after almost two years of not […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Cooking for the Feast
The farther back you walk into the Portuguese Hall Association, past the rows of people young and old sitting at long tables covered in red gingham cloths, the stronger the aroma of meat, onions, peppercorns and allspice gets. And there behind the divider is its source: a team of volunteer cooks and servers dishing out […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Candy Corn Doesn’t Care if You Hate It
Candy corn is trash. Say it all you want; post it on every platform. Candy corn doesn’t give a giant gummy rat’s ass. For one thing, it’s been around and isn’t going anywhere. Candy corn was first manufactured in the 1880s, the same decade that brought us its wax-wrapped cousin from Atlantic City, saltwater taffy. […]
Posted inEat + Drink
What’s Good Roundup
Las Michoacanas’ Regional Redo Muscle memory still brings the odd patron to Las Michoacanas (1111 Fifth St., Eureka) thinking it’s still Rita’s. Don’t feel bad for them. New co-owners Socorro Sanchez and Perla Sanchez (no relation) have made themselves at home with a full bar (no margarita mix, just the real thing made to order) […]
Posted inEat + Drink
The Soup Doctor
Fall is quietly approaching and chilly days are not too far away. It’s the season to nourish our bodies, as my mom used to say. She would make special seasonal soups to prevent us from getting colds and to keep us healthy. She would spend hours in the kitchen making a pot of soup with […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Blackberries for the Wily
I want to write about my soft-focus childhood memories of blackberry picking, a basket on my arm as Disney butterflies danced around me. But as happy as my recollections of berry picking are, it was always a sly business of risk and reward, greed and gluttony. The house I grew up in was defended on […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Simple Summer Salad
In my most recent article, featuring a side dish made with zucchini, tomatoes and carrots (“Summer on the Plate,” Aug. 5), I wrote that ripe tomatoes mark the official beginning of summer for me and I scoop up old favorites and unfamiliar varieties whenever I see them at the farmers market. My love story with […]
Posted inEat + Drink
History of a Nacatamal
Order a nacatamal from the Nicaraguan Food stall at the Henderson Center Farmers Market on a Thursday and owner Alba Lopez will present you with a fat rectangle wrapped in dark banana leaf, trussed with colored ribbon. Warm and heavy in your hands is the Nicaraguan iteration of stuffed and steamed masa, moister than in […]
Posted inEat + Drink
What’s Good Roundup
All in the Familia When Bandit Savory & Sweet left the oak counters of the ground floor of the Vance building in Old Town Eureka, along with the sadness that has followed so many closures in the last year, I felt a twinge of guilt. While I happily shared in this paper and elsewhere how […]
Posted inEat + Drink
The Jefferson Community Center is Turning Up the Heat
It’s a sunny Friday afternoon at the Jefferson Community Center in Eureka when the kids begin their afternoon harvesting. The garden beds bear a bountiful display of summer produce: kale, chard, snap peas, tomatoes and artichokes, all adorned in vibrant leaves. Raspberry and blackberry brambles crawl up the sides of the fence adjacent to the […]