I have too many emails. Thunderbird is refusing to accept more. So I guess that's it. No more email for me. I accept the situation.
Post created with https://apps.rhiaro.co.uk/no-ceremonies-are-necessary
I have too many emails. Thunderbird is refusing to accept more. So I guess that's it. No more email for me. I accept the situation.
Post created with https://apps.rhiaro.co.uk/no-ceremonies-are-necessary
Espresso machine started working!
Mushrooms, fried, grilled, gooped. Mushroom and spinach muffins (not a hit).
Berry cakes and apple crumble muffins.
Capsicum, chilli and tomato polytunnel excitement. Excessive courgettes. Harvested the turnips too late and they're not good. Got a second freezer to start bulk processing some of this produce and storing for winter.
Carrot muffins in Community Kitchen. Soft chocolate cookies and berry pies and crumbles at home.
More mushroom pies and mushroom burgers.
Sunshine in Edinburgh. Wander around Murrayfield, mushrooms in Dalry Cemetery, lunch on the Meadows. A long run up Arthur's Seat.
Little caterpillars in my kale, your clever camouflage somewhat backfires when you're hiding from someone who only tries to find you in order to not eat you.
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This weekend's bathroom refurbishment jobs include the ceiling, and sealing. My Dad and I have found ourselves talking past each other more than once.
Post created with https://apps.rhiaro.co.uk/no-ceremonies-are-necessary
Interesting clump of mushrooms growing with one of my broccolis. Haven't identified them yet.
Everything is getting eaten by caterpillars, but rescuing as much kale as possible before I surrender.
Cucumbers and chillis are starting to explode.
Dad came back. I took him to Furniture Plus, and against all odds we got a chaise long into his car. Also to Harbourmaster's Cafe.
Misc flat improvements.
Not-sausage (and mushroom) caserole. Soups, burgers. Waffle's with R's waffle press. Wild berries for berry and applie pies. Chocolate coconut cake with ganache.
Work on the ensuite uncovered an exciting floor void, and rotten floorboards that the step ladder fell through.
Tiles went up, a new floor went down, toilet from ebay and sink unit from Freegle were installed, and existing towel rail was moved. The wooden shelf was yet another piece of beautiful wood, ash this time, scavenged from R's shed, that was almost exactly the right dimensions already, and I sanded down and varnished it.
Dad left, and I repainted the walls with white bathroom paint. Two weeks later Dad came back, and installed the heated towel rail to replace the radiator, and fitted a new ceiling as the old one was rotting a bit.
The mirror had been an issue as the window interfered with the space above the sink, and we need one that works for people between 5 and 6.5 feet tall. Astonishingly at the last moment I picked up a mirror with a frame to match the shelf from the secondhand furniture shop for £3 with a swivel stand, so we bolted that to the windowsill and it was perfect.
A very successful afternoon of mushroom foraging around Kirkcaldy-adjacent woodlands, and Aberdour. Featuring:
The cucumber situation is getting out of hand. All hail our cucumber overlords.
Eight out of eleven of my chillis are now bearing fruit!
Also courgettes, beets, broad beans. Tomatoes are ripening.
Planted some less functional but pretty things in my crate planter to make the place look more presentable.
Chanterelles and boletes! On toast, in pasta, on pizza, in chilli.
Wandering the fields near my sister's place in the Lake District, and picking up mushrooms on the way. Mostly not edible, apart a couple of field mushrooms, but fun to try to ID them all, familiarising myself with the book. Also borrowed a sundew to take home.
Walking in the woods near my Mum's place near Alton, and picking up mushrooms...
Loads of earthballs (not pictured) and lots of amanitas; definite blushers, and pretty sure not death caps, but some other kinds. Very old boletes, scattered russulas, stinkhorns, and some big 'uns in a field that I'm not sure about.
An epic Fife fungal foray. The very local oysters are still flushing, plus some puffballs coming up nearby. A few good scarletina and yellow/red cracked boletes. A milk cap, probably not a good one, but haven't learnt much about those yet.
Went to check on a baby chicken of the woods to see if it had grown, and alas, something had eaten it.. but then.. out of the corner of my eye.. down a muddy slope and through several feet of ferns something was glowing orange.. my conscious brain said "almost certainly some trash" but my subconscious brain knew... I slid down the bank.. and sure enough.. a chicken of the woods as big as my torso. What a feast!
Plus, blackberries on my doorstep.
Afternoon in Edinburgh to see B&J. Food from Seeds for the Soul and Black Rabbit, and a nice sit on the Meadows.
Inside Ravenscraig walled garden (Greener Kirkcaldy volunteer social bbq).
Hen of the woods in the middle of Kirkcaldy town. And misc.
A jaunt into local oak woods to look for more chicken of the woods after last week's exciting discovery, and was not disappointed. Lots of small ones, mostly the right age. And some very high up a tree! Alas. Lots of beefsteak fungus too, but didn't harvest any because though it's pretty I wasn't impressed with the taste and texture of the last one I tried. Got a ton of hen of the woods though, a new one for me.
The Oak Pond in Wemyss woods, and the beach on the walk back.
I walked all the way into town for one specific thing, which I did not achieve. But in some random grass near the train station I found a bunch of good russulas, and loads of field mushrooms. So, not a completely wasted journey.
Breaded chicken of the woods is the absolute best!
Battered puffballs are a juicy explosion.
Grilled hen of the woods goes black and blue with a rich taste.
Made some things with boletes and chanterelles and oysters too. Froze mushroom lasagnes and chicken-of-the-woods and sweetcorn soup. And bottled more when making actually dishes got too much.
Chocolate cake at Community Kitchen. Courgette choc chip cake at home.