This is a reanimation of the Vicaribus blog as lived by Miro Kazakoff and Ehren Foss in 2004 and 2005. The photos may be spotty.

Bah Humboldt

Posted by Miro

The Utne Reader named Arcata California its favorite small town in America. If you’re familiar with the publication, you know that’s an interesting endorsement. To wit, Arcata is the kind of place that actually has a pretty active lobby on behalf of the homeless to let them camp out wherever they like and be free of police harassment. It has two co-op markets and it manages to support a large retail outlet solely for hydroponic supplies.

I’d like to dance around the issue, but I can’t figure out a way to tell this story and escape mentioning that Arcata’s other claim to fame is that the county surrounding it is a major source for US marijuana production. Apparently, from the people we talked to, the climate is ideal for growing and the mountainous geography makes detection and enforcement challenging for the authorities. It also, makes it hard to grow other crops, leaving Humboldt county as one of the poorest in California.

I learned most of this on street corner in the town center from a pastry chef who specialized in making marijuana-based baked goods. I was walking past the bar district (or rather the block with the bars on it), when a guy in a medium sized group sitting against a building ask me if I wanted to try a ganja treat.

Today’s sample was cookies and cream fudge laced with THC. The offer wasn’t quiet or particularly surreptitious. While I was still mute fromsurprise, he yelled the same offer to three different people walking behind me. One of the people who took him up on the offer was a blonde co-ed of the cute skirt and sweater-set variety. Not the kind I usually see taking candy from strangers.

Since I was looking a little dense, the guy decided to explain to me what he was offering. “It’s fudge with ganja baked into it. Just a little taste, not enough to get you screwed up, not even enough to show up on a drug test. Okay, maybe on a drug test, but still not much.” I must have still looked confused because he decided to get even more direct.

“The fudge has got THC in it. THC is a chemical found in marijuana that gets you high.”

“Uhhh, thanks. I know what THC is.” I responded. “And so you make all this stuff?” By this point he’d opened up his rather large cooler to show me the 27 different flavors of marijuana fudge he makes as well as four kinds of cheesecake, and various truffle-like chocolate confections.

I proceeded to get from him, very explicit directions on just how he makes these things. I mean really explicit. He wasn't talking casual recipie swapping; he was talking chef talk. He gave me temperate ranges for various ingredients, cooking times, specific measurements and even a rudimentary understanding of some of the food science behind it. Sorry, but I’m not going to share any recipes in this forum. We already get too many hits to the blog from random search terms (my personal favorite: “Express written/implied oral consent). I don’t want to be the web’s premier source for pot bakery. I will say, though, that the man’s cheesecake recipe is genius.

He knew just a little too much about baking to be your run of the mill pastry/drug dealer. Turns out his mom owned a bakery growing up. She baked bread and when he took an interest in cooking, he started making pastries for her shop. Through a combination of tutelage from other local chefs and personal experimentation, he worked out these recipes. So, he talks like a chef because he is one. Or rather was one, he seemed pretty burned out on that street corner. I don't think he has a regular job.

I worry that it sounds like all I do is go to naked resorts and chat up drug dealers. I’m just not compelled to write about the slower times. The travels from city to city are kind of routine now. While I do have some interesting things to say about Chico, frankly not that much. Rest assured, though, the next few days will be slower. We’re up in Redwood country now. Mostly in national and state parks along the pacific coast.