Thanks

 

Journal columnist in New Yorker

Midnight Moon

The current issue of the New Yorker is all about food. In connection with it, today’s online New Yorker includes a short food related piece by occasional Journal food columnist Jada Brotman. As you might recall, Jada is a cheesemonger in an upscale Brooklyn establishment called Provisions. Apparently her literate cheese descriptions caught the eye of someone connected with the magazine. The piece has her comparing various cheeses to figures in literature.

Among the cheeses, Cypress Grove’s fabulous Midnight Moon:

Fuchsia, Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake
Midnight Moon is my favorite hard goat cheese: sweet, salty, creamy, and vivid. Yet its black rind and the milky pallor of its interior hint at an ominous and slightly gothic character. Like the ill-fated, capricious, and beautiful Fuchsia from Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast, it is profoundly complicated—lovable and doomed.

Jada at work (photo by her Pa)

 

Seagulp

 

Live Blogging from Blogger’s Picnic!

We’re down here in Rio Dell at the Blogger’s Picnic, and since the city is famously wireless, we’ve managed to find a hot spot for live blogging.

Heraldo showed up in full chef regalia and has fired up his very cool grill to cook up some gourmet dogs:

Heraldo's hemi-powered grill

 

Test-Driving Barack’s Chili

Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama’s recipe for chili has been the #1 story on northcoastjournal.com almost from the moment it was slapped up there.

Now Ian Froeb, “Gut Check” columnist for our sister paper in St. Louie, answers the question we’ve all been asking ourselves: Can the man make a decent pot of chili? Click through and find out.

Thanks again to superstar jet-setting freelancer Ari Le Vaux for the interview.

 

Loaded for bear

We like to kill bears in Humboldt County. The Daily Triplicate tells us that Humboldt ranks fifth among California counties for bear kills (117 were 86′d by hunters last year), while noting that its own county — Del Norte — has felt a diminishing appetite for bear over the years (just 29 killed last year, down from an average of 50 a year in the 1990s). The writer suggests steep terrain may have something to do with Del Norte’s gun (and arrow) shyness toward bears — but have the mountains there really been growing, getting more rugged, so fast? And have we not the same jaggedy challenges here in Humboldt?

At any rate, we think Humboldt’s penchant for bear has more to do with the nascent locavore trend that’s gained such tenacious purchase here. You know, our own home-grown bear meat. Recall the joys.

Then read the Triplicate‘s story.

 

Edible Braille

Tired of being thwarted in your quest for a dignified meal in a restaurant because you can’t read the damned menu? Well, the LightHouse of the North Coast wants you to know that it has teamed up with the Humboldt Council of the Blind and other groups to provide free Braille and large-print menus to three restaurants: Northwoods Restaurant in Crescent City and the Lost Coast Brewery and Sea Grill in Eureka. Normally you gotta pay for this stuff.

The LightHouse plans to deliver 10 menus to the Lost Coast Brewery tomorrow, Friday, at 4:30 p.m.

 

Bigfoot’s Boring

You remember Tom Biscardi, the guy who scrapped, most unfortunately, with Coast to Coast AM’s George Noory in the fall of 2005 after claiming he had a Bigfoot in captivity in Stagecoach, Nev.? (You can read the synopsis of all that fun nonsense here .)

Well, the man’s temporarily gone off Bigfoot — such a disappointment — to pursue the “Lizard Man” in Lee County, South Carolina. This is a creature much creepier than our furry man-beast. It’s green. Has three-toed, clawed appendages. Seven feet tall. Likes grill-meat — the tasty metal grill of a van, that is. And it kills coyotes and cows and scares off cats.

Then again, maybe Biscardi’s thinking precisely of Bigfoot at this moment. That is, if there’s anything to the whole aliens-and-wormholes theory, which a Las Vegas reporter wrote about in a two-part series some years back. Where there’s Lizard Man, perhaps there be Bigfoot.

You can read about Bigfoot and Co. sliding down the wormhole here (part 1 is the set-up) and here (part two gets to the good stuff).

 

Locavorophobia

Take note: Our superstar Dirt columnist, Amy Stewart, has officially banned the word “locavore” and just about everything that fits under its umbrella. Her intervention comes at the precise moment locavorophilia makes its blushing debut.

You can listen to Stewart’s take-no-prisoners commentary on All Things Considered on the NPR web site.  And you can read her account of the loco-vores’ outraged pushback at Garden Rant.

 

In The News

The EPA has denied California the right to enact its own greenhouse gas emissions regulations for automobiles. EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson said: “The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution — not a confusing patchwork of state rules — to reduce America’s climate footprint from vehicles.” But calling it a “patchwork” is misleading since at present, there are only two options for other states when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions standards: stick with the EPA’s or copy California’s.

Yesterday, the European Union came out with its final proposals for cleaning up the continent’s cars. This from The Economist:

At present Europe’s cars emit an average of about 160 grams of CO2 per kilometre (g/km). There has been some reduction since carmakers were last threatened with legislation a decade ago, but progress has been painfully slow—about 1.5% a year rather than the 3% needed to meet the voluntary target of 140g/km by 2008 that the industry agreed to a few years ago. The commission is therefore insisting that by 2012, the fleet-average emissions from new cars sold in the EU must not exceed 130g/km, with another 10g/km reduction coming from other sources, such as low rolling-resistance tyres, more efficient air-conditioning and greater use of biofuels.

Mercedes-Benz and BMW aren’t taking the news very well.

The Guardian (London) has a piece on ethical living in which the paper exposes carbon myths. For example:

Myth 4 Hybrid cars are the way forward

There is nothing wrong with hybrid petrol/electric cars. But they are an extraordinarily expensive way of avoiding emissions. The Toyota Prius may be lovely, but its emissions are no better than the latest generation of small diesels, which cost little more than half the price. Buy a small car instead and spend the savings on insulating your walls. It will have far more effect. Worried about the effect on your status of driving a small car? Buy an electric vehicle and people will simply think of you as eccentric.

Also from The Guardian and related to air quality is news that cannabis smokers are exposed to more toxic chemicals in each puff than cigarette smokers. If you’re wondering who partook in testing the weed, the answer is no one. Scientists set up machines to”smoke” the plants and collect the fumes.

In tests, directly inhaled cannabis smoke contained 20 times more ammonia than cigarette smoke, five times more hydrogen cyanide and five times the concentration of nitrogen oxides, which affect circulation and the immune system.

And in San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom is trying to make the Bay Area a more livable place. He’s not cleaning up the air — rather, he’s proposed charging big stores a fee when they sell sugar-sweet soda.

 

Food Safety Alert! Metromint Flavor Water!

This just in from the Co-op folks:

December 6, 2007

The North Coast Co-op has received notification from the FDA and the California Department of Public Health that Soma Beverage of San Francisco is recalling its Metromint Flavor Water with Best Before 2008/12/21 due to possible Bacillus cereus contamination.

Bacillus cereus is an agent of short-term (6-8 hours) food poisoning, symptoms being diarrhea and abdominal cramping.

The Eureka Co-op carries this product and has special ordered several cases for members. If you purchased this item, please check to see if the UPC codes match any in the list below:

658564-23058
658564-24208
658564-23057
658564-24207
658564-24205
658564-23055
658564-24206
658564-23056

Return recalled items to Customer Service in either store for a full refund.

Your food safety is our commitment!

Melanie Bettenhausen
Member Linkages Director
North Coast Co-op

See here for official FDA notice.

Product review at Strange New Products blog.