A Baker's Dozen

Brio bread and Oaxaca Mama salsa

Local food is the current craze but it is one that works for me. I was reading Tara’s blog and started thinking of some of the local foods I crave…

1) Any cheese by Cypress Grove most especially Lamb Chopper. The quirky label featuring a lamb on a Harley makes me smile but the creamy delicacy of the cheese makes me actually moan and hum with pleasure.

2) Loleta Cheese curds, the fresher the better. Once I was unlucky enough to be at the factory when there were no fresh curds. When the owner saw my disappointed face, he went into the back and scooped up 2 pounds of the freshest warmest most delicious golden curls that ever melted into salty delight. Why don’t they just scoop out the sunshine substitutes into bags whenever the cheese is at the right point? The curds are best when warm.

3) Brio bread, most especially the chewy sourdough with its crunchy crust but the long baguettes and the whole wheat sprinkled with seeds are delicious also.

4) Alpine Strawberries from that wonderful small farm out by Briceland. I can’t wait for the first farmer’s market to buy a blue cardboard box full of heaven.

5) Local beef. For the past 3 years we’ve been buying a cow each fall from ranches here in Southern Humboldt and there is a unique almost venison flavor to the flesh that our guests rave about. The Avenue Café in Miranda serves a burger made out of the same meat; so, if you are a connoisseur, stop by.

6) Waltana apples, the best, most versatile of the apple family and not only are they grown here, they were developed in So Hum by Walter Etter.

7) Oaxaca Mama Salsa, created by local entrepreneurs, the intense garlic brings a flush to my cheek and a tingle to my tongue. I love it on avocados. I prefer the mild though; the hot is just too much for me.

8. Jerky from Ferndale Meat Company. This chewy tasty treat is expensive but great. It hints at the wonderful venison jerky my father used to make by the grocery bag full.

9) The miso soup at the Samurai. Most of my favorite Japanese food can be found in Arcata at Tomo’s but I have eaten in Japanese restaurants all over and have never found miso to match that on 5th street in Eureka.

10) Crab fresh off the boats. Butter, garlic, lemon…I can’t say any more my mouth is salivating too much.

11)Fresh corn from Pepperwood. Don’t forget the blackberry popsicles when you are getting a dozen ears.

12)My water, fresh from the faucet. There isn’t a place on the planet that has water clearer and cooler and sweeter—no wonder I don’t like soft drinks, the free liquid slipping into my glass is worth more to me than any sugary concoction created by a corporation.

Facebooktwitterpinterestmail

Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules

Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

41 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
headwrapper
Guest
16 years ago

the water here is soooo good. Cheers!

Staff
Member
16 years ago

Oh, how could I forget abalone!

thefaust
Guest
16 years ago

I’ll take one of everything you just listed.

My favorite meal of all time? A plate of mixed cheese (usually swiss, cheddar and/or colby), a fresh roll, a green apple, and a glass of milk.

thefaust
Guest
16 years ago

I’ll take one of everything you just listed.

My favorite meal of all time? A plate of mixed cheese (usually swiss, cheddar and/or colby), a fresh roll, a green apple, and a glass of milk.

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
16 years ago

I shouldn’t encourage anyone, because the less other people like them, the more is left for me. I love mussels. With one dipping dish of Garlic butter, and one dipping dish of lemon butter.

Oh, an Oysters grilled until they just open, then make a sauce of Fred’s Fresh Horseradish (that you can only get at the Lolita meat shop), lemon juice, and Tapatio hot sauce.

And Oh…. Hey, I gotta’ quit this!

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
16 years ago

I shouldn’t encourage anyone, because the less other people like them, the more is left for me. I love mussels. With one dipping dish of Garlic butter, and one dipping dish of lemon butter.

Oh, an Oysters grilled until they just open, then make a sauce of Fred’s Fresh Horseradish (that you can only get at the Lolita meat shop), lemon juice, and Tapatio hot sauce.

And Oh…. Hey, I gotta’ quit this!

Heather
Guest
16 years ago

Shameless carnivore 😉

Heather
Guest
16 years ago

Shameless carnivore 😉

Staff
Member
16 years ago

What about Abruzzi house dressing on a spinach salad with a grating of gorgonzola cheese?

Jen
Guest
Jen
16 years ago

Or the Humboldt Special at the Fresh Freeze. Mmmm.
I love the Pepperwood corn and my BIL bought us some crab yesterday. We hadn’t had any yet this season and it was GOOD.
Great post.

Jen
Guest
Jen
16 years ago

Or the Humboldt Special at the Fresh Freeze. Mmmm.
I love the Pepperwood corn and my BIL bought us some crab yesterday. We hadn’t had any yet this season and it was GOOD.
Great post.

Ben
Guest
Ben
16 years ago

We drive up to Watts Lake near the Lassiks every spring with about twenty gallon jugs. Incredible water, it’s also a serpentine formation like Salmon Creek. We also love Oaxaca Mama Salsa, Brio bread (seeded baguette toasted with butter, yum) Ishi Eggs from Salmon Creek and Bodacious corn from our own garden. I’m a fan of Rumiano (Crescent City) aged jack cheese. We had good Miso soup and chicken with morel mushrooms at the Mateel Cafe tonight. Brilliant!

Ben
Guest
Ben
16 years ago

We drive up to Watts Lake near the Lassiks every spring with about twenty gallon jugs. Incredible water, it’s also a serpentine formation like Salmon Creek. We also love Oaxaca Mama Salsa, Brio bread (seeded baguette toasted with butter, yum) Ishi Eggs from Salmon Creek and Bodacious corn from our own garden. I’m a fan of Rumiano (Crescent City) aged jack cheese. We had good Miso soup and chicken with morel mushrooms at the Mateel Cafe tonight. Brilliant!

Staff
Member
16 years ago

Whoa—wait a minute…Ishi eggs from Salmon Creek! What have I been missing…and in my own back yard? Where do I get ’em?

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
16 years ago

What are Ishi eggs?

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
16 years ago

What are Ishi eggs?

Auntie Mayme
Guest
Auntie Mayme
16 years ago

All are indeed my favorite foods, too!

Auntie Mayme
Guest
Auntie Mayme
16 years ago

All are indeed my favorite foods, too!

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
16 years ago

Kym, sorry to drop this on you here, but I just got around to it.

You asked me about the cattle drive to Nevada. I asked my Mother and she said that she had not heard of it, but it must have been to feed the soldiers during the Civil War. I’d not thought of that.

Mom said when she was a kid ’27-’33, that she remembers her father driving the cattle from the El Rancho Primero (Laytonville) to Longvale to ship the cattle on the railroad. ???

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
16 years ago

Kym, sorry to drop this on you here, but I just got around to it.

You asked me about the cattle drive to Nevada. I asked my Mother and she said that she had not heard of it, but it must have been to feed the soldiers during the Civil War. I’d not thought of that.

Mom said when she was a kid ’27-’33, that she remembers her father driving the cattle from the El Rancho Primero (Laytonville) to Longvale to ship the cattle on the railroad. ???

Ben
Guest
Ben
16 years ago

Kym, You can find Ishi Eggs at Chataqua. They are the work of John Mahoney’s wife (sorry, I don’t know her name) just up Salmon Creek Road from the Thomas road turnoff. Good strong shells and dark yolks. My signs of a really good egg. Her hens have been producing well all winter.

Ben
Guest
Ben
16 years ago

Kym, You can find Ishi Eggs at Chataqua. They are the work of John Mahoney’s wife (sorry, I don’t know her name) just up Salmon Creek Road from the Thomas road turnoff. Good strong shells and dark yolks. My signs of a really good egg. Her hens have been producing well all winter.

Staff
Member
16 years ago

Ernie, That kind of fits with the family story. We have a beautiful glass bottle covered with silver work that my grandmother’s grandfather supposedly bought on a cattle drive to Nevada. If he went around the time of the civil war, he would have been new married and possibly inclined to spend a little of the money earned from the drive on a new bride. I’ll have to post a picture someday.

Ben,I just got fresh eggs from my Father-in-law today. But next time I run out, I’ll go get some. They sound perfect. I can’t get my littlest to eat regular fried eggs but ones fresh from the hens he gobbles down and licks the plate.

trackback

[…] story, like the bottle, is intriguing and romantic. Especially as it’s been suggested that the cattle drive might have been to get the animals to the soldiers in the Civil War. This […]

trackback

[…] story, like the bottle, is intriguing and romantic. Especially as it’s been suggested that the cattle drive might have been to get the animals to the soldiers in the Civil War. This […]

alaskasteve
Guest
16 years ago

GREAT post, so descriptive and a great sense of place!

alaskasteve
Guest
16 years ago

GREAT post, so descriptive and a great sense of place!

Staff
Member
16 years ago

Ernie, I found Fred’s Horseradish at the Eureka Natural Foods store. Yum! I’ll be buying it from now on.

Jim
Guest
Jim
15 years ago

It is great that you enjoy our salsa so much, it really makes us happy to be included in your favorites. There is no better compliment to have than to find someone who enjoys what you do.

Thanks again for the mention!

Jim Rose
Oaxaca Mama Salsa
707-502-1562

Jim
Guest
Jim
15 years ago

It is great that you enjoy our salsa so much, it really makes us happy to be included in your favorites. There is no better compliment to have than to find someone who enjoys what you do.

Thanks again for the mention!

Jim Rose
Oaxaca Mama Salsa
707-502-1562

Staff
Member
15 years ago

It is delicious so I should thank you. Will you be at the Farmer’s Market this year or because you are in so many stores now will you be skipping them.

trackback

[…] More local food links […]

trackback

[…] More local food links […]

trackback

[…] wilder, a little leaner, and a lot tastier, the beef that comes from The Ranch on Salmon Creek is a gourmet’s delight.  Last year, Tami and Mark, my neighbors whose ranch can be seen from my home (and who are local […]

trackback

[…] wilder, a little leaner, and a lot tastier, the beef that comes from The Ranch on Salmon Creek is a gourmet’s delight.  Last year, Tami and Mark, my neighbors whose ranch can be seen from my home (and who are local […]