.Pinch Me

My proverbial last meal would involve fresh Monterey Bay Dungeness crab.

My proudest trespassing crime came as Crab Santa, sneaking into friends’ and family’s houses to leave cooked crustaceans staged in the shelves of their fridge.

My greatest invention is the crab-bacon-avocado-pepper jack quesadilla.

For some, their favorite season is summer. For others, it’s the holidays or pro football. For me, it’s crab season, which started locally Sunday, Jan. 5.

I celebrated by reporting Jan. 6—you gotta give our MoBay crabbers time to drop and retrieve their traps, after all—to H&H Fresh Fish (493 Lake Ave., Suite A) at Santa Cruz Harbor.

David Mora at the counter weighed out a big beauty ($13/pound pound live; $21/cooked), noting there’s been a nice swell in business and customer calls.

Meanwhile industry advocates like Melissa Mahoney of Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust, where I’m a contributing writer, are relieved and hungry.

“After much uncertainty, consternation and out-of-state crab, our very own Monterey Bay crab has arrived,” she says. “Get down there, find a boat to buy from, eat it up.”

UPON FURTHER REVIEW

Hold up. Wait. Two things can be true at the same time, as can two favorite seasons. In this case, my other adored season often overlaps with crab: mushroom season! And Santa Cruz can make a formidable claim it’s a capital for that, full stop. The Santa Cruz Fungus Fair (held at London Nelson Community Center, 301 Center St., Santa Cruz) sits at the center of the celebration, and arrives this year Jan. 10-11, with all the vividness of the Exhibit Hall and its displays of local and exotic fungi, live cooking demonstrations, guided mushroom forays and inspired art. That combines with an ever-expanding lineup of guest speakers talking medicinal, sustainable, fascinating and ecosystemic mushrooms. Now c’mon, rain gods and goddesses, keep the moisture coming, ffsc.us/fair.

BONUS BOOM

More spores in store include: 1) a night called “Mycelial Magic,” with local herbalist Paul Gaylon talking power-to-the-soil biology of mycelium, Amanita muscaria expert Kenneth Lekashman demoing healing creams, and house-made medicinal mushroom teas at a discount from host venue Go Ask Alice (1125 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz) 6:30-8pm Friday, Jan 10, the same spot offering deals on fungus products all month, goaskalicesantacruz.com; 2) Big Sur Foragers Festival—featuring its “Wild Foraging Walk and Talk” and “Fungus Face Off,” the latter a culinary wonderland with a dozen chefs doing foraged dishes paired with selections from 20 local wineries—pops Jan. 24-26, bigsurforagersfestival.org.

FLAVOR SCAPING

Capitola Wine Bar & Merchants (115 San Jose Ave., Capitola) hosts a themed tasting + pairing + book spotlight Sunday, Jan. 11, featuring Good Times’ Elizabeth Borelli, author of Tastes Like La Dolce Vita, capitolawinebar.com…Moss Landing’s arty-eco-excellent Haute Enchilada (7902 Moss Landing Road) welcomed a surprise New Year’s Eve, an early barn owl egg from a new owl couple residing in the restaurant’s nest box high above, hauteenchilada.com…Oh dear or oh yes?: Native is partnering with Dunkin’ (formerly Dunkin’ Donuts) on a line of donut-scented deodorant, body wash, shampoo, and more. “If your resolution was more self-care and fewer donuts, then maybe Boston Kreme deodorant is the answer,” writes The Hustle Daily…Khalil Gibran, see us out: “I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.”