Table Scraps

Now with 10% less sodium.

• So Crabby, now that you’re a mushroom identification expert (having been on one mushroom foraging expedition), what can you tell me about this enormous specimen I found on my lawn? Delicious sautéd in butter or deathly toxic? A little moot now, since the lawn cutting dude was here today while I was out.

• I just watered your potatoes, which pretty much guarantees we’ll be getting a torrential downpour tonight. As you can see, they’re blooming. Should I be nipping these in the bud (as it were), the way you’d pinch the blossoms off herbs so that energy isn’t diverted from the edible parts into producing flowers? There’s so much I don’t know about gardening (though I do know not to water in the heat of the day).

• One reason (among many) that I don’t want to be a contestant on Hell’s Kitchen is because Gordon Ramsay would constantly be yelling “You didn’t season this!!! Donkey!!!” at me. That’s because I seldom salt food when I’m cooking.* It’s how I grew up – my mom didn’t salt her food either (because of blood pressure issues) and so my palate is probably a little skewed compared to most people. I mention this because I heard on the radio today (and is anyone really surprised?) that most Canadians eat too much salt. I can’t really be smug about this, though. I’m probably getting more than I need from salty foods such as cheese, olives, pickles and so on, and of course from eating out.

*I do tend to use a lot of freshly ground pepper though – maybe too much (he’d yell at me for that too)

-Posted by Jean Poutine

Alberta Mycological Society has a new member

When I was growing up on the west coast my dad worked in the woods. Yes Jean, the woods. He worked for a logging company as a falling and bucking foreman. Several times throughout the year he would bring home bounty he found in the woods. My two favourites were blackberries and chanterelle mushrooms. Imagine my surprise when I grew up, moved out and had to buy my own groceries. Blackberries and chanterelles are so expensive. In an effort to learn what mushrooms are edible in Alberta I joined the Mycological Society. I went to my first meeting on Wednesday. We met at Whitemud Ravine and 23rd Avenue for a mushroom walk. We spent two hours walking through the ravine looking for mushrooms. We were to pick all the mushrooms we found and meet to identify them. Or at least try to identify them. I found:

We could not determine if any of them were edible because most of the people there were beginners like me. I am going to buy a mushroom guidebook so I can study up on the edible ones. One of the ladies at the meeting had picked 15 pounds of morels the weekend before. You can come to some of the meetings for free if you want, just let me know and we can carpool. This time next year I predict I will be rich in mushrooms.

Posted by King Crabby