Foraging

Chanterelles

We are intent on foraging, gathering, and growing most of our food this year. So far, we have clams, mussels, huckleberries, blackberries, apples, pears, and grapes.

Hazelnuts, more mushrooms and truffles to come. Maybe crawdads and crab.Jewel-like grapes

Steaming to extract the grape juice

It tastes good mixed with sparkling water, homemade Italian sodas, mmmmm...

Plus, we have all the regular garden vegetables (broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, etc.). Cherry tomatoes

We bought the freshest salmon ever on Saturday ($8.00/lb!) at the Portland Farmer's Market, from a Native American man who had caught it in the Columbia River the night before. Luckily, the Pacific Northwest is a pretty good area to live in if you want to eat locally all year long. In the past, I have kept the garden going all winter with cold hardy vegetables and a plastic cloche.

I just bought a shiitake mushroom block. It is supposed to yield three pounds of mushrooms, and can keep going for a long time. It is not an aesthetically pleasing addition to the kitchen, but I need to tend it (keeping it moist*, mainly). Shiitakes are very flavorful and are good immune-system boosters.

looks like meatloaf, sprouting chopsticks

not attractive

*I was listening to Roy Blount Jr. on the radio yesterday, talking about his book, Alphabet Juice. Apparently, the word "moist" is one that many people cannot stand to hear. The kids and I used to keep a running list of what we called "forbidden words". We agreed to avoid them in conversation, not because they were obscene, but because they create an unpleasant visceral response. Mr. Cranky can't stand to hear people say "absolutely" and "kinda", but that is because they are misused and over-used, not because they make him feel creepy inside. I wish I could find that list, I do remember someone hating the word "vile".Here's a quote from the book:
"I do hope you realize that every time you use disinterested to mean uninterested, an angel dies, and every time you write very unique, or 'We will hire whomever is more qualified,' thousands of literate people lose yet another little smidgen of hope."
I love words.