mister anchovy's

Moving Day

2009-10-04T17:34:00.004-04:00

The other day I mentioned that I was thinking about some changes to this blog. Well, I guess I got carried away.

This is the last post at mister anchovy's

I hope you all come on over and visit me at my new digs, 27th Street. It's not far, and there's some comfy chairs over there, and I've brought my accordions, and the dog and my fly rods. I might even pour you a little dram of scotch. We're having wild mushroom soup for dinner. Will you stay?

Please take a minute and update your links. See you over there.

Mister Anchovy's isn't going anywhere, so if you need to check out any of the old posts, you know where to find them.

More Samples from the Diversity Table

2009-10-03T22:07:00.004-04:00

Nature is so rich and we see so little. If I were out collecting mushrooms on my own, there is no way I could hope to find this variety. But 15 sets of eyes, 15 brains, and look what we find in just two hours. And these pictures show just a few samples.

There was so much information to take in, by the time the ID session was 3/4 through, my brain was full. No more please. But there were many more. I learned plenty, but if tomorrow or next week I can identify five or six more mushrooms than I could before I'll have done well.

Not only is the mushroom kingdom remarkably diverse, a good deal of it has hardly been studied. That is a lot to wrap one's brain around.

Samples from the Diversity Table

2009-10-03T22:05:00.002-04:00

The Diversity Table

2009-10-03T21:49:00.003-04:00

The mushroom ID class I'm taking enjoyed a field trip today to a forest north of the city. There were about 15 of us and we wandered the forest, foraging for mushrooms for about two hours. After a lunch break, we spread our finds out on some big tables for identification. There were about 60 different species, from honey mushrooms and aborted entolomas to stinkhorns and puffballs and waxy caps and polypores. The diversity of the forest is stunning to me.

Field Trip

2009-10-03T07:48:00.003-04:00

I'm off to a field trip with my mushroom identification class. I'll be back later, but I'll leave you with a swinging little musical interlude called Making Love after Hours, by Rahsaan Roland Kirk, from way back in 1967.

later, alligator.

I feel a change coming on...

2009-10-02T17:47:00.003-04:00

...with this blog I mean. I'm not quite sure just what's going to change, though. I know some people have trouble with Blogger comments, and I'd like to fix whatever that problem is. I see my friend WC has converted to a WordPress format and I must say it looks pretty spiffy. Along the way, I've enjoyed changing up the look of this place from time to time, so maybe I'll try a new format or a new host. We'll see.

A while ago, I had an idea of turning my blog into a neighbourhood with a number of posters, but that didn't really spark the way I had hoped. Maybe one day I'll try that again, when the time is right (whatever that means).

I'm thinking about doing more writing here, but it isn't clear in my imagination yet just what I mean by that. I've often thought about my blog as being similar to a painting or a piece of music. It has texture, rhythm or cadence, colour, it can have narrative or not, be fact or fiction. Over the years, it seems to have developed a feel I'm comfortable with. Maybe I don't want it to be quite so comfortable. I've even considered changing the name of the joint. Har!

Anyway, before I go and mess with things, let me know if you have any requests (yes I know you want more accordion videos, stop asking), complaints, suggestions and so on. I'm not promising I'll listen to you, but then again I just might.

Long day.

2009-10-01T20:53:00.002-04:00

Brain won't turn on. Seeking a double scotch.

Here's Monk, playing Epistrophy.

Catch you later.
(PS I want a hat just like Monk's when I grow up)

Safety Vest

2009-09-30T18:21:00.002-04:00

I bought a safety vest. I did this after my brother the trout, Salvelinas Fontinalis, sent me an email about the upcoming turkey season. By the time I finished reading his missive, I was imagining turkey hunters behind every tree firing away at me and Memphis as we stumbled through the woods in search of tasty edible mushrooms.

When I started foraging for mushrooms, I hadn't considered hunters, but no doubt we frequent the same forests and at the same time too. I know most hunters are very careful about what they shoot, but now and then some guy gets mistaken for a deer somewhere or another and gets blasted.

My brother suggested that a vocal warning accompany bright clothing. He uses "Yo Bob!" which he periodically shouts in the woods, suggesting that not only is here there, but maybe somebody else is in there too, so better becareful.

stormy weather

2009-09-29T20:29:00.002-04:00

Suddenly it's cold and windy with just enough rain so you know it's there. I was out in the park with Memphis and her buddies, and we were unprepared for the chill in the air and the persistence of the wind. I looked up and saw a plane heading north to the airport through rain and clouds, and another, and another. We hardly ever see planes flying in north.

Memphis loves the cooler weather. She feels good and frisky and she wants to run and play and wrestle and even chase a ball or two. The owners of the short-haired dogs are talking about clothing for their dogs. Don't they already have a fur coat, I ask? Memphis is made for the cold.

My knee

2009-09-28T22:34:00.002-04:00

As I expected, the Ultrasound and X-rays they did on my knee didn't tell us what we need to know, namely, what's going on in there and why is it causing me grief. The doc requisitioned an MRI, and I'll have to wait for that, maybe 6 weeks.

Tuffy P and Memphis

2009-09-27T20:49:00.003-04:00

I also posted a video of Memphis swimming here

Still more mushrooms....

2009-09-26T22:04:00.002-04:00

A world revealed (or more mushrooms)

2009-09-26T22:02:00.001-04:00

Memphis and Jacques

2009-09-26T21:55:00.003-04:00

Fiddlesticks

2009-09-25T14:02:00.002-04:00

I've posted this next one before...it's Dewey Balfa

I don't know exactly why it is, but I find fiddlesticks to be a really moving musical experience, like you're witnessing something from the distant past, something secret and special and exotic.

Toronto Mayor Miller not running for a third term

2009-09-25T10:21:00.002-04:00

Toronto Mayor David Miller announced this morning that he will not run next year. He says he wants to spend more time with his family. Good reason!

This is going to open up the mayoralty race next year. The political landscape has just changed radically with the incumbent out of the picture. I'm betting we'll see George Smitherman and John Tory in the race, and I wouldn't be surprised to see someone from Miller's inner circle step up to represent the left.

I'd like to see some change at City Hall. There are a number of councillors who I think have over-stayed their welcome as well.

I'm most interested in watching how events unfold in the coming months as the various politicians position themselves for a 2010 election.

Do you get a flu shot?

2009-09-24T18:20:00.003-04:00

Here in the Toronto area, an unpublished study has been all over the news, suggesting that those who received the seasonal flu shot last year are at significantly higher risk of getting the swine flu this year. I've never had a flu shot. Does that make me more or less at risk?

Regardless of whether or not this study is valid, what hits home is that there is so much we don't know.

Basque button accordion

2009-09-24T17:46:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I posted any Basque music on this blog. It's a fantastic musical tradition. So, enjoy some Trikitixa...

At the swimming hole

2009-09-23T16:52:00.002-04:00

Memphis and I spent the morning wandering through some forests, me looking for mushrooms, Memphis digging holes, chasing forest pixies, smelling 1000 smells...

We took time out for Memphis to have a good swim. Pics at Memphis' blog.

Tuffy P's Animal Crackers

2009-09-22T18:44:00.003-04:00

Jerry and Shadow
This is all about who has the better spot.

Knee woes

2009-09-22T18:01:00.002-04:00

I went for x-rays and an ultrasound on my knee today. Hopefully in a few days I'll have a better idea of what has been causing the pain I've been experiencing for some time. I experience some general discomfort, sometimes have difficulty going down stairs, have trouble finding a comfortable position driving for any length of time, and experience considerable pain anytime I do something that pushes my knee forward, such as stub my toe. I don't have any issues with lateral movement at all.

SqueezeMyLemon

2009-09-22T15:52:00.001-04:00

A reminder to my kind readers that I'm also posting over at SqueezeMyLemon. Check out today's feature performer: Geraint Watkins

Jigs and Reels

2009-09-22T10:09:00.003-04:00

I enjoy jigs and reels quite a bit, but I haven't learned to play very many of them. I've decided to take on the project of learning a bunch of them for both button and piano accordion. I'm looking forward to learning the tunes, but also, this exercise will sharpen up my playing because some of them are very fast.

Jigs and reels are called soft-shoe dances, but I don't know much about dancing, so don't ask me about that. Reels have a 4/4. Your basic jig is in 6/8 time, and slip jigs are in 9/8 time. I'll worry about slip jigs and also hornpipes later.

I've started with an Irish jig called Come Haste to the Wedding.

Good intentions

2009-09-20T22:28:00.004-04:00

I suppose that between the accordion videos and the mushroom material I've been posting, I've been scaring away readers by the droves, since my hit count has been dwindling lately. Some folks are still showing up inadvertently, after trying the following searches:

ian tyson
hey ho between us
kisstony blogspot
har anchovy
friend panzerotti in arizona
mylodica review
3D
how to make patychky
is anchovy useless
american hobos
mushrooms picking memphis
video chromatic accordion
mister corn
anchovy extract
j'ai passe devant la porte" lyrics

The Irish Washerwoman

2009-09-20T22:15:00.002-04:00

Here's a traditional Irish jig that I really like.

Preparing Hypomyces lactifluorum for cooking or drying

2009-09-20T13:58:00.002-04:00

Often when I find this mushroom, which is commonly known as the lobster, it is partially buried in leaf debris and dirt and what-have-you. The Hypomyces contorts the host mushroom when it attacks, sometimes twisting it and creating holes. As well, the host may not have been in perfect condition when attacked. The Hypomyces firms up the flesh of the host, paints it lobster shell red-orange and transforms it into a tasty mushroom.

I start by washing these mushrooms. Water doesn't seem to have any ill effect on flavour or texture. Brush out as mush debris and dirt and grit as possible. Cut out anything that is deep red, spongy, brown or otherwise unappetizing. Then slice the mushroom into thin slices. I usually make them an around eighth inch thick.

Finally, simply cut away anything that looks dirty or buggy or spongy from the slices, and you're ready to go.

I like to dry these for use later. I use a food dehydrator for this, then put the dried lobsters in mason jars. Later, they reconstitute very well, retaining the good firm texture. When you cook with these mushrooms, be sure to cook them well, as you would with any wild mushroom. When eating any mushroom for the first time, eat just a little to be sure your body tolerates it OK.

Coral and Lobster

2009-09-20T13:55:00.002-04:00

Here are some coral mushrooms and some lobsters I found this morning. I think the coral is the same one we found yesterday, Clavicorona pyxidata, the crowned coral. The lobsters is Hypomyces lactifluorum. This is a parasite fungus on a host mushroom.

Eyelash Fungus

2009-09-19T22:38:00.002-04:00

These little cup fungi are Scutellinia scutellata, or eyelash fungi. On close inspection, you can see little eyelashes on the edges. I've never paid attention to these tiny fungus before, since most of my mushroom gathering has been focused on the table. This is a fairly distinctive fungus, which I'm sure I'll see and identify again along the way.

Young honey mushrooms

2009-09-19T17:42:00.002-04:00

Honey mushrooms are of the genus Amillaria. You don't want these in your garden because they kill trees.

Coral fungus

2009-09-19T17:37:00.002-04:00

I believe this coral fungi was identified as Clavicorona pyxidata during our field trip today, for the course I'm taking, Mushrooms: Lords of the Dark Earth It's beautiful, isn't it?

Somebody found this blog....

2009-09-18T21:55:00.003-04:00

....by asking Google if anchovy extract was made from anchovies. Let me clear this up right now. Anchovy extract is indeed made from anchovies. This public service announcement has been brought to you by the Anchovy World Headquarters Parking Authority.

Off

2009-09-18T18:54:00.002-04:00

Tuffy and I are taking a week off work, and we're not planning much. Beautiful thought, isn't it?

International Accordion Festival

2009-09-17T22:37:00.003-04:00

The International Accordion Festival is coming up next month in San Antonio Texas. We attended this event a couple years ago and had a blast. It looks like there is another excellent line-up.

I'd love to be able to attend this festival again in the future.

Among the performers this year are Guy Klucevsek:

Ivan Milev, playing Bulgarian Wedding Music

Jo Miller and her Burly Roughnecks

The Zydepunks

The Black Velvet Band

2009-09-16T20:52:00.003-04:00

I guess the moral of this story is to beware the pretty colleen, eh?

This one picks it up a bit....The Dropkick Murphy's

Rules

2009-09-16T07:54:00.002-04:00

I've made a number of recent posts about hunting for edible mushrooms, and it occurred to me that I should make sure I'm not encouraging any readers to go out and do something stupid like eat a lethal mushroom and die.

Instead, go have a look at the long-lived wild mushroom eaters golden rules

Remember: There are old mushroom eaters, and there are bold mushroom eaters, but there are no old and bold ones!

Lords of the Dark Earth

2009-09-15T07:39:00.002-04:00

I started a 6 class continuing ed course at the University of Toronto last night, on mushroom identification. It's called Mushrooms, Lords of the Dark Earth. I suppose the title is supposed to attract participants. More properly, it might be called: Mushrooms: basic identification for the interested amateur.

We're going to learn about:
The various uses of fungi
Basic mushroom terminology
How to make a spore print
How to use field guides and keys
Useful print and on-line resources
Where to find and how to collect mushrooms
Identifying mushrooms and other fungi of our bioregion
Translating scientific mushroom names
The basic life history and common species of slime moulds

On Saturday, we meet at a regional forest north of Toronto, where we will gather and identify mushrooms. It would be nice if we had some rain this week to encourage fruiting, but it doesn't look like it.

Over the summer, I've been out mushroom hunting quite a number of times, but the species I've been chasing are limited. I've picked chanterelles, lobster mushrooms, hedgehog mushrooms, or sweet-tooth, and a few boletes. I've only picked one agaricus, and that was from my neighbour's front lawn. He's had this edible variety fruit a few times over the season. My interest in the class is to learn to identify mushrooms I haven't collected before and to strengthen my overall mushroom knowledge.

Francis Betters, noted flyfisherman, RIP

2009-09-14T16:35:00.003-04:00

Mr. Betters, who ran the Adirondack Sports Shop near the West Branch of the Ausable River in NY State for many years, has died. He developed or popularized a number of flies that are widely used today, including the Haystack, the Usual and the Ausable Wulff.

Deadwood

2009-09-13T06:23:00.004-04:00

I should preface this post by writing a bit about our curious relationship with television. We have a 30 year old 13 inch TV set (yes, it's a colour set), and we don't have cable. We do have a set of rabbit ears, but since the American channels went digital, we can't pick those up anymore. We've aquired the very addictive habit of watching television series on DVD. Over the past couple years, we've watched The Wire, Homocide, The Corner, Prime Suspect, Cracker, The Sopranos, and now Deadwood.

I told a friend we were watching Deadwood and his comment was, "yeah, fuckin good show", referring to all the swearing. Swearing is so common throughout the series that hardly a moment goes by without it. The exceptions are some conversations involving the few women in the show who are not prostitutes. These conversations are spoken using a stilted, careful, formal language that reminded me of simultaneous translation of United Nations speeches.

Some of the characters in Deadwood, such as Wild Bill and Calamity Jane and Seth Bullock and Al Swearengen are based on actual characters who were in the Deadwood camp at that time. Others are composites or completely made up.

Deadwood is about life in a community which initially has no law, and how that community develops from a "camp" to a "town". We see how characters with cross-purposes learn to live and work together for the good of the community against a common enemy. It is set in an historical town in South Dakota in which prospectors set up camp on native land after gold was discovered.

At the core of the series is the relationship between pimp Al Swearengen and hardware store proprietor come sheriff Seth Bullock. Swearengen is a brutal murdering thug who sees the need to support a character like Bullock to front the town. As brutal as Swearengen is, he is depicted in complex humanity and we see sides of this character that include acts of kindness. Bullock is the good reasonable sheriff but he is also a hothead and a complex character in his own right.

I thought Deadwood was a splendid series, though there were sections of it I didn't think were as successful. The detail around the acting troupe was mostly lost on me. As well, I didn't think the character of Mrs. Garret/Ellsworth was so believable. What makes the series successful though was the ability of creator David Milch to deal with law and politics and power and at the same time all the personal relationships. Well done.

Did you see this series? Do you have any favourite charactors or actors or episodes?

Zydeco Road

2009-09-12T18:53:00.002-04:00

Gino and the French Rockin Boogie

Andrew Carriere

Tuffy P's Animal Crackers

2009-09-12T09:08:00.001-04:00

Jerry, King of the Jungle

Bye Bye Pages

2009-09-11T07:20:00.002-04:00

I'm sad to see the closing of Pages Books here in Toronto. Pages was an excellent independent bookstore that could always be counted on to feature alternatives to big box books fare. It was a place where you could find loads of books published by small presses, plenty of poetry, literary and art criticism, periodicals and more. Almost anytime I found myself in that stretch of Queen West, I liked to pop in and look over the featured books tables. I often found a surprise, a chuckle or a book I just had to read.

It must be tremendously challenging to run an independent bookstore in the face of online competition. It's a hard reality because we're losing places with character, places that have made our city richer. I read the other day that some possibility exists that Pages may re-emerge elsewhere at some point in the future, and I really hope it happens.

Boogie

2009-09-10T21:50:00.002-04:00

Just stumbled across this one...

Tuffy P's Animal Crackers

2009-09-10T21:40:00.001-04:00

Jerry "The Champ"

Miller support sinking

2009-09-09T18:48:00.007-04:00

A new Ipsos Reid poll finds Toronto Mayor Miller's approval rating at only 29%. At the same time, provincial Minister of almost everything George Smitherman stopped flat-out denying he was interested in the job. I hope that if Smitherman runs, John Tory chooses to back away and continue to pursue his talk radio career. This won't all shake down until sometime in the new year, but the players are starting to jockey for position already.

The Mayor dismissed the polls, but these results must be alarming to him and his team. It will be most interesting to see the moves he makes in the coming months.

Searching for Mister Anchovy

2009-09-09T14:43:00.002-04:00

A particularly tasty selection of search terms that brought people to my fish pond

wanker with white socks
jimmy blair accordion orchestra 2009
anatomy of a fisherman
panzarotti vs calzone
scottish fern tarts
transfigured jack shadbolt
chemnitzer concertinas
har anchovy (somebody uses this one every day...you know who you are...)
saskatoon anchovies
allister gillis
jim dickinson
ronald bloore
marinated anchovies toronto

Ronald Bloore, painter, historian, teacher, friend, RIP

2009-09-08T22:05:00.008-04:00

Ronald Bloore died last Friday. He was in his mid-80s, and in his lifetime he made a significant mark on the history of Canadian painting.

photo: from left to right, Claude Breeze, Eugene Knapik, Ronald Bloore

I met Ron when I was a young painting student at York University. I have to confess I was somewhat in awe. I mean, he was the white-on-white painter. He organized the exhibition Five Painters from Regina way back in 1961. Suddenly, they were The Regina Five. Ron used to say, "Canadians paint by numbers", referring to the Group of Seven, The Painters Eleven, The Regina Five. This guy was a painting giant in my mind, and he was my teacher.

In the years that followed, Bloore taught me a lot, and not the least of which was by example. He taught me to never compromise my work, ever. Ever. He taught me that by the bold and determined painterly path he cut for himself. He'd say, "Look, I'm just a simple painter...."

Years later, after University, a few of us started spending weekly afternoons painting and drawing out in the landscape. I don't remember now just how it came about that Ron joined us, but it became a regular event. We joked that we were "Sunday painters". Who knew Mr. white-on-white would enjoy drawing and painting the landscape? We'd hop in the car and drive north for a while, zig zag here and there and finally stop somewhere to draw and paint. Some of us would look for a broad vista or a huge cloud formation or an interesting tangle of trees. Ron would find a comfortable spot and start making pencil drawings of the forest floor at his feet. Always, Bloore had a unique vision, a unique way of looking at the world. One day, we were set up at the side of a road somewhere near Grimsby, drawing groves of fruit trees. Bloore had this little portable stool, and he was sitting down working on a pencil drawing. A car stopped and the driver leaned over and said, "Are you OK...do you need any help?" Bloore looked at him and said, "The only help I need, sir, is with this drawing." On those painting trips we would always bring a picnic lunch. Occasionally, Ron would bring along a bottle of Retsina. They were great days, and I really treasure them.

Bloore was a marvelous painter. I love so many of his paintings, even more so because I got to know the painter through the years. When I saw Bloore in his studio, he always seemed confident and at ease, surrounded by his latest creations. I really enjoyed those occasions a small group of us would gather there, then head out someplace for lunch, to laugh, tell some stories, and argue about the art world.

RIP Ron. We'll miss you.

Running clean trains...

2009-09-07T18:33:00.003-04:00

I confess I hadn't thought about this issue until I received the link from a friend up in The Junction.

Obviously electric trains would be a benefit to all the neighbourhoods the current diesel trains rumble through. Of course, somewhere along the line, the electricity has to be generated and that is another can of worms, isn't it?

What do you think?

Santiago Jimenez Jr.

2009-09-07T11:20:00.004-04:00

A couple years ago, we met up with Candy and Stagg in San Antonio Texas for the International Accordion Festival. It seemed there was an international conspiracy afoot keeping us away. Our plane broke and was canceled, so they rerouted us through Dallas. Then in San Antonio, we managed to get lost (in the car and then again on foot). When we finally made it to the opening night concert, it was Santiago Jimenez Jr. and his Conjunto playing on stage. It was great to see this fabulous accordion player in person! I had been listening to Conjunto/Norteno/Tex-Mex music for some time, but this was the first chance I had to hear one of the Conjunto greats play live.

Here he is with Martin Krousin

Polka Time

Extract

2009-09-07T07:27:00.002-04:00

Extract is a film about a guy who owns a mid-sized fairly successful business who works a lot of hours, doesn't spend much time with his wife, drinks a lot in a local bar, has an obnoxious neighbour, and has pretty bad judgement. There's a little more to it than that, but you get the picture.

I was looking forward to this one, from Mike Judge, who wrote and directed the wonderful Office Space. Extract was fun, and funny too. I thought there was a lot of gold to mine in the factory that received only a light surface treatment, and that was too bad. The plot was ordinary, with an occasional satisfying twist.

I'll call this one a fun night out. I was disappointed in that I felt it could have been something much better.

I give this one 2 and a half anchovies on the 5 salty scale.

In the enchanted mushroom forest

2009-09-06T13:48:00.002-04:00

Tiny Tom

2009-09-05T09:38:00.003-04:00

Pals

2009-09-05T09:37:00.002-04:00

Tuffy P's Animal Crackers

2009-09-05T09:36:00.002-04:00

Keeping that Tex-Mex groove going, just a little longer

2009-09-05T07:23:00.002-04:00

Here's Sunny and the Sunliners...

Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs

? and the Mysterians

El Parche

2009-09-04T16:44:00.003-04:00

The Corrido of Esteban Steve Jordan.
This excellent piece includes some rare interview bits with accordion giant Steve Jordan.

Here's a taste of Mr. Jordan live, from Youtube:

At Last!

2009-09-04T16:32:00.001-04:00

Yes, it's here. Deep-fried butter

I wouldn't kid you about this. Thanks to Salvelinas for sending me this article.

Hornets

2009-09-03T18:55:00.003-04:00

We had two large hornet nests in the spruce that overhangs our back deck, here at Anchovy World Headquarters. Normally, I'm a live and let live kind of guy when it comes to wasps and hornets, but this was beginning to be a problem, so I called in the experts. They use long poles, spray insecticide foam into the nest from the end of the pole, then cut the nest out of the tree. We thought there was only one, but once that was down, we saw clearly the bigger one in behind it.

Electric Dirt

2009-09-03T07:40:00.003-04:00

I've been listening to Levon Helm's latest recording, Electric Dirt, in the car lately. I just let it play over and over and over and I never seem to tire of it. This is the followup to Mr. Helm's so-called "comeback album", Dirt Farmer, a fantastic, rootsy, passionate collection of music. So this album is called Electric Dirt, and the title indicates that this collection of tunes is more firmly rooted in blues and rock 'n roll than the last group of songs. It occurred to me that it was also a nod to the late great Muddy Waters, and his 1968 album Electric Mud, which mixed up traditional blues and psychodelia.

Electric Dirt features a great selection of songs, with crisp, relaxed production by Larry Campbell. I really enjoy the interplay between Helm's singing and the backup singers. This record may be Electric Dirt but it still features plenty of fiddle and mandolin, and yes, accordion.

Levon Helm, once the drummer for Ronnie Hawkins' band The Hawks, which later became The Band, has re-emerged in his later career as a musical force to be reckoned with. I'd love to see his band play a live show!

More Tex-Mex

2009-09-02T17:48:00.002-04:00

Nuevo Loredo by the Sir Douglas Quintet

Here's Joe King Carrasco

Ever have one of those days....

2009-09-01T17:23:00.002-04:00

...when nothing but a Tex-Mex polka will do?

As the Texas Tornados say, Squeeze it Flacito.

Searching for Mister Anchovy

2009-08-31T06:02:00.002-04:00

lego chess - checkmate
polkas and obereks - onblogspots - let's dance
ranco concertinas - I played one briefly
texmaniacs blogspot - fun band
polka concertinas - also called chemnitzer concertinas
difference between a panzerotti and a calzone - I still don't know
mister anchovy - hey that's me
calzone vs panzerotti - 15 rounds
saskatoon berry crumble - oh so tasty
different kind of drums - for different drummers
blues terminology - whiskey women and money
apricot jelly mushrooms pictures and diagrams - diagrams?
paxillus atrotomentosus - my old friend
3D - really?
"shell shocked" "george carlin - I remember that sketch

Julie and Julia

2009-08-30T21:25:00.002-04:00

Tuffy P wanted to see this film. I resisted, but today agreed to go.

On the basis of Meryl Streep's very fine performance as Julia, I found the film charming. I would have preferred it if it were Julia's story without the Julie part, but I also understand that the Julie part is the hook that got the piece made.

I remember Julia Child's television shows very well. I watched them with fascination growing up. Let me say that I have made Beef Bourguignon and it rocks.

Back in the forest

2009-08-30T16:57:00.005-04:00

Memphis and I visited some forests this morning, stumbling about among the branches and fallen logs and stumps, looking for mushrooms. I picked some lobsters and a few chanterelles and some boletes. Memphis came out covered in burrs that had to be oh so gently combed out when we got home. We both had a great time though. Wandering through the forest with your pup is a top notch activity in my book, and finding dinner is a bonus.

It was a rainy morning where I was, but in the forest I hardly noticed. I could hear the rain more than feel it.

Update on the big bolete in the photos... It didn't stain blue, so I tasted it and I thought it didn't taste bitter. Salvelinas suggested I have Tuffy P taste it as well. He has pointed out to me that he can't detect bitter very well, and needs someone else to test boletes for him. Tuffy P tasted a bit of the bolete and said it was bitter, very bitter. Funny huh? Rats.

Site 41: stopped for now

2009-08-29T09:04:00.003-04:00

For those not from around here, Site 41 refers to a proposed dump up in Simcoe county, an hour or so north of Toronto, above what protesters call the world's most pristine water. It looked like the dump was going to be pushed through regardless of any environmental risk and regardless of the protests. However dogged grassroots protest has led to a one-year moratorium on construction, and according to the Globe and Mail, after that vote, "even the die-hard supporters of the dump were changing their tune. It's time to move on and forget about Site 41 entirely, Warden Guergis said."

$11 Million has already been spent on the ill-fated dump. The plan was to use a gigantic rubber barrier to stop toxins from leaching into the aquifer. The proposed dump has some history. It was initially rejected as environmentally unsound, then reassessed. County council approved the dump in 2007 by a narrow margin.

No Water to Waste
Next Council's Problem
Cops Raid Site 41
Protest Against Dump Site 41

It goes to show that organized protest can be successful, sometimes even when the deal seems done. One question remains unanswered....if they need a dump, and it isn't going here, where will it go?

Apricot Jelly

2009-08-28T09:20:00.003-04:00

This looks like an apricot jelly, although paler than the last ones I found.

Lobster

2009-08-28T09:16:00.005-04:00

Here is a nice lobster specimen. They are often found partially and sometimes mostly hidden under leaves. At times they can be contorted pimply, dirty and ugly. They are a very tasty mushroom though.

Since collecting edible mushrooms can be a feast or famine business, I invested in a 5 drawer dehydrator to dry surplus mushrooms. This came in handy yesterday when I found so many lobsters. I'm drying my second batch. Two bowls went to friends, and there are plenty left for pasta with lobster mushroom sauce tonight.

Hedgehog

2009-08-28T09:07:00.004-04:00

This tasty mushroom is known as a Hedgehog or Sweet Tooth. Instead of gills or pores, it has teeth. I found 4 or 5 of these yesterday in two different forests.

Amanita

2009-08-28T09:05:00.003-04:00

Although there are apparently some amanitas that are not poisonous, many of them are, and this group includes our most deadly poisonous mushrooms. Some of them are quite beautiful.

Lobsters

2009-08-28T06:47:00.003-04:00

I collected this big basket of mushrooms yesterday. They're mostly Lobsters, with a few Hedgehogs. I'm drying a large portion of these for winter soups and stews. These all came from a hemlock forest.

Shameless Self-Promotion

2009-08-27T07:25:00.003-04:00

I realized this morning that I rarely mention that I post over at Squeezemylemon, a blog that features all varieties of blues music. You'll see some excellent posts over there from Fitz and Ron, and the usual junk posted by yours truly.

Night Rider's Lament

2009-08-26T21:14:00.004-04:00

Nancy Griffith with Don Edwards' beautiful cowboy yodel

Doesn't that make you want to be a cowboy when you grow up?

Of course, when you're too old to wrangle and ride on the swing, there's nothing left but to be the camp cook on the Goodnight Loving Trail. This next song was written by the late U. Utah Phillips, the Golden Voice of the Great Southwest.

Ok...one more cowboy tune. Here's David Bromberg and the Cowpunchers playing the great Ian Tyson tune, Summer Wages. Nice, very nice.

Will it never stop?

2009-08-26T07:36:00.002-04:00

Jacksons reality show announced.

Islay to be entirely powered by the tides

2009-08-25T17:30:00.003-04:00

Thanks to East Texas Red for sending me this article about turbines to be built in the Sound of Islay to provide power for the island, including the distilleries that make those oh so tasty Islay scotches. Now I'll be a green scotch drinker when next I pick up a bottle of Lagavulin.

Tunnel to Island Airport?

2009-08-25T07:38:00.003-04:00

I was surprised to read about a proposal for a tunnel from the mainland to the Island Airport here in Toronto, to replace the 90 second ferry ride. It wasn't all that long ago that Mayor Miller campaigned successfully on stopping a proposed fixed link to the Airport. Since the fixed link was squashed, Porter Airlines began what appears to be a successful commuter business running flights out of the Island. It's popular with business commuters who can get on plane headed for places like Ottawa without having to go to the suburbs to do so.

I presume the airport is going to continue operating for some time to come, but I think they should simply keep the ferry service in place. It's a historical oddity that if anything adds character to the fabric of the city. There are legitimate complaints about having a downtown airport, and not just from Toronto Island residents. Let's not open the doors to expansion.

soul searching, but they found Mister Anchovy's

2009-08-24T17:55:00.002-04:00

Let's read today's search terms like a poem....

pizza empanadas panzerotti
lobster mushrooms
eugene knapick
Dominguinhos, Sivuca, Oswaldinho e Luiz Gonzaga
saskatoon crumble
anchovy
3D
25
anchovy jokes
tony flaim
mister anchovy
bbq corn
saskatoon berry

Jim Dickinson RIP

2009-08-24T17:33:00.005-04:00

I'm late with this...I just heard Mr. Dickinson died on August 15. Jim Dickenson was a musician and record producer from Memphis. His producing credits include Big Star, Willy DeVille, Mojo Nixon, The Replacements, Mudhoney, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins. He worked with Ry Cooder and played on Time out of Mind, the Bob Dylan album. RIP

Tuffy P's Animal Crackers

2009-08-23T19:01:00.002-04:00

This is Jerry. He's the best cat you'll ever meet.

Anchovy World Headquarters

2009-08-23T18:48:00.002-04:00

Lobsters

2009-08-23T07:23:00.008-04:00

Yesterday I found my first Lobster mushrooms in the woods. These are not your ordinary mushroom, in that there is a parasitic process involved to make them. Mushrooms, usually white Russula's, are attacked by a particular mold. This turns them bright orange or red-orange, and to some degree contorts the shape of the mushroom. The surface becomes hard but the flesh is white. You wouldn't want to eat the original Russula, but transformed by the mold, the Lobster is a choice edible.

You can see the lobsters I picked in the dinner selection photo in the post below. There are also some Boletes in that photo as well as Hedgehogs (Sweet tooths) and Chanterelles.

In the woods, they appear as little bits of red-orange sticking out from under the leaves and other stuff on the forest floor. They're easy to miss unless you're looking for those bits of colour, especially because there are yellow and orange and brown leaves all over the forest floor for most of the summer. When you find one, you get somewhat ugly, pimply, gnarly mushroom. It hardly looks as if it would be delicious.

To clean up a lobster, first wash all the dirt off the surface under a tap. Then slice off anything on the surface that doesn't look palatable, and slice the Lobster into slivers. Because they're gnarly, sometimes you need to trim off bits from your slivers.

Last night we sauteed some up with onions and a bit of garlic, boiled up some perogi, then sauteed the perogi in the mushroom and onion mixture. They were very tasty.

I also picked and at my first boletes yesterday. I picked two edible kinds, but I only ate one variety. In the morning, I found some ash boletes. These are edible boletes and my brother has eaten them and enjoyed them. Many others have said these mushrooms don't taste very good at all. Maybe it depends on the conditions. It could be that the ones I found were too mature, but I didn't find them appetizing. These mushrooms seemed too spongy and soggy for my liking. I had planned to cook them separately just to try, but I was busy cooking a number of things for dinner last night and decided to forgo the ash boletes this time. The other boletes I picked, and I just found two of these, were tan with tan stalks.

There are some general rules for determining edibility of boletes. These rules may exclude some good safe mushrooms, but they are a good guidline. If the pores are orange or red, don't eat them. If they stain blue when you cut or bruise them, don't eat them (it may be better to say, if they stain blue, be careful and do more tests to figure out what you have). If they pass those tests, taste but don't eat a little bit of one. If it is bitter, don't eat it. If it passes these tests, it should be good for the pan. The exception may be the orange-capped Leccinum species. My brother has pointed me to articles suggesting that these may be poisonous, at least to some people.

Dinner selection, before cleaning

2009-08-22T17:53:00.003-04:00

We picked a variety of edible mushrooms today, including chanterelles, lobsters, hedgehogs and boletes.

The lobsters are going to be sauteed with perogies, and the others will be lightly sauteed then used for wild mushroom pizza.

Don't eat that bolete

2009-08-22T17:50:00.002-04:00

3 dogs 1 big puddle

2009-08-22T17:49:00.002-04:00

So, what are you listening to? (or, who says I don't listen to new music)

2009-08-21T17:06:00.002-04:00

Right this minute, I'm listening to Written in Chalk, by Buddy and Julie Miller on my computer. Half an hour ago, it was Steve Earle's tribute to Townes van Zandt, Townes. How about you? What are you listening to these days?

And what a storm!

2009-08-20T21:55:00.005-04:00

When Tuffy P came in from work, she reported the storm was on its way south. I took Memphis for a quick walk. By the time we got to the corner though, I knew I had to turn back and not delay. Thunder cracked and rumbled across the sky. From the front lawn I could see the storm front. A bank of light-coloured clouds were flying across the sky at tremendous speed. To the northwest, the light was strange and sickly. Gulls were flying in strange patterns. Then the wind picked up, and Memphis and I slipped inside. Within seconds the rain and the wind came roaring across the street. The rain came in sheets, one after another and the locust tree in the front yard waved around like a terrified scarecrow. The sky lit up and lit up again.

By 8:00 it was over, at least the first and hopefully main round of it. We could see lightning strike south and east over the lake.

UPDATE
some excellent pics and video footage on blogTO
I've heard reports that multiple tornadoes touched down in our area last night, but then this morning I heard the weather moguls were arguing about which were actually tornadoes and which were other un-named nasty weather events.

Thunderstorms expected

2009-08-20T07:54:00.002-04:00

Thunderstorms are expected in Toronto, but also up where I look for mushrooms. If we get some good quantities of rain today and tomorrow, I think I'll spend Saturday morning stumbling about in a forest.

In heaven there is no beer....

2009-08-18T22:22:00.003-04:00

The Donut Kings

The Wurst Band

Flaco

fleetingdays

On observation

2009-08-18T07:32:00.002-04:00

The other day I wrote about some similarities between my experiences fly fishing and mushroom hunting. Another similarity between the activities has to do with the development of focused observation.

In fly fishing, after a while, you're out there on stream and you start to notice the bugs and how the trout are reacting to them quite clearly. I recall being on the Crowsnest River one late September day several years ago. It was snowing and it was my first time on the river and I hadn't seen any trout. Then I noticed a flash in the stream and another one, and as I concentrated on looking into the water, I started to see a number of trout, angled down, grabbing nymphs from the bottom, flashing as they turned. There are sometimes clues to the behavior of the trout: a splashy rise, a tail rise, seeing the back of the trout, a gentle pop or a slurp on the surface. The same thing happens over and over and at a certain point it is clear what is happening, what stage of the life cycle of the insect the trout is eating. And they can be very very selective.

In mushroom hunting, you need to train your eye to pick up on clues in much the same way. There is a lot of forest to look at, but you're looking for mushrooms, not just looking around. The first time I found chanterelles, they were around me but I couldn't see them, but once I picked a few, I started to see the telltale bits of yellow peeking out from under leaves. One of the things you have to learn how to do is to slow down. If you don't slow down and focus around you, you won't see what is there for you to see.

My brother has a knack for finding lobster mushrooms. These are curious items, these lobster mushrooms. They are actually the result of a mold attacking a mushroom, turning it lobster red, and transforming an unpalatable mushroom into a tasty edible along the way. I've never found one, yet going to the same forests, my brother finds them almost every time out. They reveal themselves, he tells me, as little bits of red under leaves, and sometimes as just bumps in the leafy surface of the forest floor. Salvalinas has somehow or another learned see those bumps, or find those little bits of red that I don't yet see. I expect that once I find a few of them, I'll start to see the signs in a similar way.

Occasionally, of course, nature hits you over the head, no subtlety involved. For instance, there was the day we found the large chicken mushroom. We were walking through the woods and I saw something screaming red. I thought somebody had left a red hunting jacket in the woods and that was what I had glimpsed. It turned out to be pounds of chicken mushroom, bright red-orange on top and yellow on the bottom. Impossible for even a newbie like me to miss.

The character of forests

2009-08-17T07:19:00.011-04:00

I've spent a good deal of time over the years chasing trout, which has brought me into contact with any number of forests. For me though, for many years, forests were places trout streams flowed through. I was more interested in the character of the streams than the character of the forest.

There are some fly fishers who have involved themselves in the phenology of the business to the point where looking at the forest plants provides clues to the insect activity and so to the trout behavior. I've spent lots of time watching trout go after insects and birds go after insects and I understand some of those relationships pretty well. Of course the evidence of that is tying up the right fly pattern for conditions and actually catching some trout. I don't make the associations though, between what's happening in the forest and what's happening on stream. Enthusiasts with that interest might enjoy a fascinating little book called The Phenological Fly, by Bob Scammel.

This summer, since I've been learning about identifying mushrooms, especially the edible ones, I've been paying a lot more attention to forests. It became obvious fairly quickly that my poor ability to identify conifers was a huge liability. Some mushrooms tend to grow around hemlock, for instance, but I couldn't pick out a hemlock in the woods. Some boletes apparently prefer Norway spruce to black spruce. Do you know the difference? There are lots of opportunities to learn in the forest.

As I've been wandering about various forests, looking for and at fungi, I've begun to characterize forests based on the mix of trees (pine plantation, mixed hardwoods, mixed forest with hemlock, hardwoods with plenty of oak, and so on), and based on other factors as well. Some forests are easier to walk in than others, and some are just about inpenetrable. Some are on dry ground, while others are what I've come to call "malarial bog", a loose term describing just about any damp mosquito-infested forest. I know of a couple forests that never seem to really dry out, even without rain.

I've started to really pay attention to where I am in a forest, because looking for mushrooms takes you off the trails much of the time. Of course, sometimes the mushrooms are closer to the trail than you expect. The other day I found several chanterelles smack in the middle of a trail. I guess this is like the fly fisher who regularly catches good trout at the bridge pool. I've also started to pay attention to specific conditions within the larger forest. On Saturday, I was out with my brother and we found a gentle trough with a hill rising on both sides. This spot showed us quite a variety of mushrooms, including some curious and tasty mushrooms known as "Sweet Tooth" or "Hedgehog". Further up the hill on either side, there seemed to be nothing. Yet it wasn't the lowness of the trough that created the right conditions. On the other side of the trail, we looked through forest which was as low and lower with no success. I suppose with experience, I'll be able to identify the right subsets of conditions for various types of mushrooms. For now, although I'm learning quickly, there is a lot of hit and miss going on.

This is similar to my early experiences fly fishing. I recall thinking, well there are rising trout, I'll try a dry fly. Years later, I would look at the same scene and think something like, the trout are on the isonychia duns in shallow water, knowing the fish had followed the isonychia swimming nymphs into the shallows where they emerged and became mayflies, and were gobbling up the big adult flies before they were able to take flight. With experience comes detail.

Dinner

2009-08-16T09:36:00.004-04:00

I picked enough tasty edibles yesterday for dinner. There are chanterelles here as well as Hedgehog or Sweet-tooth mushrooms.

Shelf

2009-08-16T09:33:00.002-04:00

Well, you tell me.

What's this?

2009-08-16T09:21:00.003-04:00

I think this is some kind of stalked polypore but I haven't got an ID on it yet.

Attacked?

2009-08-16T09:14:00.004-04:00

This looks like it was some variety of bolete that was attacked by a white parasite or mold.

Amanitas

2009-08-16T09:04:00.003-04:00

from Wikipedia: The genus Amanita contains about 600 species of agarics including some of the most toxic known mushrooms found worldwide. This genus is responsible for approximately 95% of the fatalities resulting from mushroom poisoning, with the death cap accounting for about 50% on its own.
Amanitas have a cup or vulva at the base of the stem.

Apricot Jelly

2009-08-16T08:52:00.003-04:00

Check out this curious fungus. I'm pretty sure it is Apricot Jelly, or Phlogiotis helvelloides. We found some growing on the ground beside a path. If I've identified it correctly, this is an edible mushroom, more for colour and texture than taste. It kind of looks like a fruit roll-up, doesn't it?

Velvet-footed Pax?

2009-08-16T08:42:00.002-04:00

We've come across this mushroom on different outings. I think it is the Velvet-footed Pax (Paxillus atrotomentosus). My field guide describes it as dry, brown cap with yellowish gills descending thick dark, tough, velvety-hairy stalk
Habitat: single to scattered or clustered, on conifer stumps or decayed wood, especially pine. The field guide goes on to describe it as technically edible but is, in fact, unpalatable.

Bus routes to Anchovy World Headquarters

2009-08-14T07:42:00.003-04:00

calzone vs panzerotti it's a battle
how-to-make-garlic-infused-olive-oil... yum
har har anchovy true that
Amanda\'s Mnemonics Page I don't recall that...
recipe for kringla if you find one let me know
best anchovies in portugal there are some mighty tasty fish in Portugal
Vibrandoneon amazing how often people search for this
diatonic accordion blog and so much more
je passe devant ta porte lyrics a sad lament
saskatoon berry crumble is so very tasty

Les Paul, guitarmaster RIP

2009-08-13T22:19:00.004-04:00

Les Paul, guitarist and inventor, has died at 94. How important was he to contemporary music? Well, he was an important developer of the solid body electric guitar, and as well successfully messed around with recording techniques like echo and multi-tracking. As well, he was an accomplished guitarist with a rich recording career.

Here he is with Chet Atkins

And here he is with Mary Ford

RIP

Hazel to run again

2009-08-13T07:30:00.002-04:00

Long time popular Mississauga, Ontario Mayor Hazel McCallion has announced that she intends to run for another term. Why not? She's only 88 and 11 terms aren't quite enough to accomplish everything.... Last time out she garnered 92% of the votes. It will be interesting to see if anybody takes a run at her this time out.

Memphis saw the vet today...

2009-08-12T18:08:00.000-04:00

some good news here

Following

2009-08-12T07:38:00.002-04:00

I've been using the Blogger 'following' feature as a blog reader, and I've been pretty happy with it. However yesterday, I went in for a look only to discover that Blogger thinks I'm not following any blogs. Grrrrrr. I'll give it another go, and if something like that happens again, I'll go to a different blog reader. Have any of you experienced a similar issue?