Here in the Toronto area, an unpublished study has been all over the news, suggesting that those who received the seasonal flu shot last year are at significantly higher risk of getting the swine flu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.
It's been a while since I posted any Basque music on this blog. It's a fantastic musical tradition. So, enjoy some Trikitixa...
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.
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.
A reminder to my kind readers that I'm also posting over at SqueezeMyLemon. Check out today's feature performer: Geraint Watkins
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.
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
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kisstony blogspot
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mylodica review
3D
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j'ai passe devant la porte" lyrics
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.
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.
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.
Honey mushrooms are of the genus Amillaria. You don't want these in your garden because they kill trees.
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?
....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.
Tuffy and I are taking a week off work, and we're not planning much. Beautiful thought, isn't it?
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
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
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!
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.
