jump to navigation

Shroomin’! August 27, 2012

Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, Dinner with TCR, macro photos.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
2 comments

After a dreadfully hot and dry start to the summer, which meant that the local mushrooms weren’t blooming, we’ve had a good mix of rain and sun lately. Consequently, we’re seeing a lot of mushrooms in the woods and at roadside.

I’m totally all over that. Free food of a mysterious and slightly dangerous nature… not really, because I’m faint of heart… but the “free” part is all true, and there’s nothing like freshly foraged food.

The Boletes are out, some pretty good to eat and some really choice.  I’m fond of Red Capped Butter Boletes, which are really hard to confuse with anything else. Firstly, they’re a bolete,  so they have a spongy underside instead of having the fine gills of most other mushrooms. Plus, they’re bright red on top, butter-yellow on the underside of the cap, and shading from bright yellow to a vibrant red moving down the stem. There are other red mushrooms, but none which look like  the Red capped Butter Bolete, so it’s a safe choice for mycophagists.

Here’s a freshly picked RCBB lying next to a Russula, which has both gills and a pure white stem which snaps like a piece of chalk when picked:

Some people eat Russulas, some people are sickened by them, so I just keep to the boletes and whatever else I know to be safe and delicious.

I also found some chanterelles, including red (rare,) yellow (common) and black (exquisite!) The black aren’t uncommon so much as they’re invisible on the forest floor. I’ve hunted then fruitlessly for hours, then suddenly realized I’d been walking through them most of the while.

The ones I got this week were thin tubes, a bit browner than their more trumpet-shaped black brethren:

I put a load of these into a cream sauce, and they’re exquisite, with a strong nutty flavor and a texture suggestive of al denté  penne. They’ll meet their end on a bed of polenta tomorrow.

I have a variety of really choice boletes to prepare tomorrow, including king, queen and yellow-footed in addition to the red capped butter boletes. I’m not sure if I’ll get to eat them or just dry them for later; I’ll be away for most of midweek, and don’t want them to go to waste!

The Cooper-Jones Band. May 30, 2012

Posted by littlebangtheory in music.
Tags: , , , ,
2 comments

I had the pleasure to see the Cooper-Jones Band this past weekend, and was totally wowed.

This is a local group which rightfully ought to have a wider audience, both because of their component parts and their whole.

Leading the charge on guitar:

…and tearing it up on vocals, Brian J:

At his elbow, also smokin’ the strings and wailing on vocals, Mark S.:

Stroking a stack of keyboards…

Paul R, multi-keyboardist and vocalist:

Any tree stands or falls on the strength of it roots, and in this case the roots run deep – Bob M, a practitioner of Bass-as-Lead, meaning to say that he goes far beyond the minimum necessary to lay down a floor, and paints the walls as well:

…and keeping it all on the clock:

…drummer Greg T kept the train rolling while singing his share of leads:

This is a fine local band which ought be heard by more people, so if you’re in the area, watch for them.  I understand they’ll be at the  Iron Horse in Northampton on June 7th.  I hope to be there!

All of these shots are from Ziggy, my Sigma 50mm lens which  I got for macro photography (it lets me get within an inch of my subjects, and is fast,) but now serves me well as an indoor low-light lens.

Frost. November 20, 2009

Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.
Tags: , , , ,
2 comments

In this case, mid-morning frost on a carpet of moss in a field where I’m currently working.  The shade of a stand of fir trees kept the frost in place until coffee break, when I gathered my kit and dashed out into the scrub to snag a couple of photos.

I’m glad I did, even though they were quite rushed.

Moss, supporting a sprawl of wild strawberries:

…and a closer shot of strawberry plants gone red as the freeze comes on:

The full-sized versions of these two photos display the temporal layering of successive ice deposits as what looks here to be chunks of Morton salt.  But trust me, it’s good ol’ H2O.

These come our way courtesy of Ziggy, my 50mm Sigma prime lens.

Enjoy.