Mushrooms Galore

I have had a mushroom weekend.  The playing fields near our house (the football pitch on it to be precise) gets loads of mushrooms growing on it in the right weather conditions.  We often take the dogs over there as they get a really good run because we can safely let them off the leads and they chase each other all over the field, so it is a regular walk and easy for my achilles tendonitis as it is lovely and flat.  As long as they haven't been playing football that day there are often some mushrooms growing and we have come home with a small bag full or pockets full.  But this weekend the field has been covered with mushrooms.  I am not a person who takes my camera out with me or I would have taken a photo of the field.  Not that I have enough room in my pockets to add a camera with dog leads, treats etc.  My phone does take photos but I can’t transfer them to my computer, so you will just have to believe me that the whole field is speckled with white mushrooms.

So on Thursday we brought loads home and had what ended up as a sort of mushroom and salmon chowder – well there ended up so much that we only had half of it so ate the rest on Friday.  Yesterday we didn’t think there would be any as the day was quite bright but we were wrong and brought even more home with us and I made a large sort of Chilli Con Carne / Curry (it started off as a Chilli Con Carne but then I added a Lime and Coconut sauce with extra coconut and lots of things like Garam Marsala so it sort of turned into a curry with kidney beans too) and once again there was way too much so we are eating the rest of that tonight for dinner.  I am one of those cooks who just adds things willy nilly and usually (fingers crossed) everything turns out great – but I may have a job to reproduce the same dish again as I don’t remember what I added to it as I just add herbs and spices etc. as I go along).  I never taste it first before we eat it so it always hit and miss I suppose and I have just been lucky. 

Today we went prepared to pick the mushrooms and took a carrier bag which was filled without moving more than about 20 ft.  So the rest of this afternoon I have been preparing a huge pressure cooker full of mushroom soup to freeze.  It is still cooling down so I am not sure how much it is going to make but as it is condensed and more water will be added when it is warmed up to eat, I should think there will be enough for about 10 - 15 days.  I put lots of spices in it so I just hope it is not too hot or I will be using it as a base for curries insteadJ  Once when I made carrot and coriander soup I made one batch a bit too hot and had to use it for hot dishes instead of as a soup. 

Isn’t it great when you have “free” food too.  In actual fact the onions that went into the soup were also free as we picked those up a while ago from the onion fields around here.  When they harvest them some get left on the top of the field and they just get ploughed back in afterwards if they aren’t the right size or fall off the onion harvester.  So if we time it right we can get lots of free onions too and as there are quite a few onion fields behind us it is easy enough to know when they start harvesting them (LOL – especially if the wind is in the right direction which luckily for those few harvesting days it wasn’t from the North).  We are eating some gorgeous apples that were picked from a wild tree too that I think are Blenheim apples as they are just like apples from my favourite apple tree in the garden of the house where I grew up.

Todays trivia:

No piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven (7) times. 

Oh go ahead...I'll wait...

Here’s and extra something a bit different today:

5 Ways to Terrorize a Telemarketer

1. When they ask "How are you today?" Tell them! "I'm so glad you asked because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems; my arthritis is acting up, my eyelashes are sore, my dog just died."

2. If they say they're John Doe from XYZ Company, ask them to spell their name. Then ask them to spell the company name. Then ask them where their company is located. Continue asking them personal questions or questions about their company for as long as necessary. Such as when did their company start, who was the founder, are they still with company?

3. Cry out in surprise at the name of the telemarketer name such as "Judy! Is that you? Oh my God! Judy, how have you been?" Hopefully, this will give "Judy" a few brief moments of pause as she tries to figure out where the hell she could know you from.

4. If MCI calls trying to get you to sign up for the Family and Friends plan, reply, in as SINISTER a voice as you can, "I don't have any friends... would you be my friend?"

5. If they want to loan you money, tell them you just filed for bankruptcy and you could sure use some money.

And todays chuckle:

NICKNAMES
If Laura, Sheila, Debra and Rose go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Sheila, Debra and Rose.

If Mike, Charlie, Bob and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla, Peanut-Head and Scrappy.

EATING OUT
When the bill arrives, Mike, Charlie, Bob and John will each throw in $20, even though it's only for $32.50.  None of them will have anything smaller, and none will actually admit they want change back.

When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

MONEY
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he wants.

A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't want.