Chapulines, or fried grasshoppers, could be the new potato chip if they weren’t so hard to find. A Oaxacan delicacy, in Mexico they are sold everywhere from the markets to the finest restaurants. The tasty little critters sporadically find their way north of the border into our local shops, but their presence is hardly advertised—if you want chapulines, you will have to ask for chapulines. Luckily, in the fertile belly of grasshopper season (May-September), it only takes a few inquiries at Mexican markets throughout Santa Cruz and Watsonville to track them down on local soil.
News
Bug Bites: Sustainable Eating Hits A New Low
Americans crave efficiency. We esteem cars that burn less gas for each mile driven, jobs that generate the most money per hour and mobile phones that pack the most capabilities into the smallest possible package. In short, we want bang for our buck. But we skimp on efficiency when it comes time to eat, because we just can’t resist meat.
Santa Cruz Libraries Not Out Of The Red Yet
Cuts to public libraries are taking their toll on the system. Libraries across the Santa Cruz County system (which excludes Watsonville) are reporting a 26 percent decline in the number of people they are serving now that hours have been reduced. At the same time, they are also experiencing a 40 percent increase in the number of people who use the libraries when they are open.
Earthquake Rattles Watsonville
The U.S. Geological Survey reports that a 3.9 magnitude earthquake struck an agricultural area about 7 miles outside of Watsonville at 5:51 pm Monday.
Local Companies Land Big Government Cash
With more than a little help from the Santa Cruz Redevelopment Agency, local businesses Cruzio Internet and Zero Motorcycles raked in $3.6 million in state bond money last week. City officials say the cash will help the companies create dozens of jobs, and, eventually, produce hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue for city coffers.
Dazzle And Clang at CabMuFest Opening Weekend
Three cheers for Jennifer Higdon! The 2010 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for music upstaged her colleagues—with all of them present—during the two orchestral programs of the Cabrillo Music Festival last Friday and Saturday in Santa Cruz. And the competition was not slight. Englishman Mark Anthony Turnage is enjoying a heavyweight international reputation, promoted forcefully by—among others—Cabrillo music director Marin Alsop through her performances made on his home turf (and previously in Santa Cruz) and recordings. Alsop and her crack orchestra played three of Turnage’s works: Scherzoid (completed in 2004), Chicago Remains (2007) and Drowned Out (completed 1993).
Sundown For The PACE Program
Robert Bulterman never counted on PACE to save his business. The 46-year-old Santa Cruz electrician and solar technician, like a lot of green collar workers, had admittedly held high hopes that Property Assessed Clean Energy would infuse the overcrowded sustainable energy industry with a slew of much-needed jobs. But to count on it doing so, he says, would have been “just plain stupid.” As it turns out, Bulterman’s skepticism was well founded.
City, County Take on Homeless Camp
After a long standoff, officers from the County Sheriffs Office raided the homeless encampment outside the county courthouse and arrested five people.
EPA Praises Wastewater Treatment Facility
The Environmental Protection Agency has recognized the city of Santa Cruz for its efforts to fight climate change.
Migrant Worker Housing Destroyed in Fire
The only people still at home on Thursday morning at the Buena Vista Migrant Center in Watsonville were a handful of latchkey kids. Their parents, migrant agricultural workers, had all gone off to work, in the fields, some of them as far away as Arizona. Then a fire erupted in one of the three bedroom apartments, which was empty. It spread quickly to a neighboring apartment, where only a 14-year-old girl was home. Local and county firefighters struggled to put out the blaze, but when they were done, the duplex and everything in it were destroyed.
