FUNGI PRAISE

There are currently some large fungi growing in the backyard (see picture with the 18-inch garden gnome) which I know are technically mushrooms, because they have a stem and a cap, but they are the "parasol" kind, which every source warns are poisonous.  I know the textbook difference between mushrooms and toadstools but Mother would never collect wild mushrooms;  she referred to all the wild fungi as "toadstools" (toadstools have that name because the German word for death is "tode").  She grew mushrooms in our "upground cellar" to use in her cooking.

Gerald and I love mushrooms and I have prepared numerous varieties including Shiitake, Portobello, Crimini, Enoki, Porcini, and, of course, the common button mushrooms, but none of those have compared to the delectable taste of wild Morels. I so wish that I could feel safe hunting and finding Morels.  The only times I ate any wild mushrooms was when a friend would hunt them and he would request for me to fry them because he said I did a better job of frying them;  his wife was happy for me to perform the task and the reward of eating the Morels was worth the labor.

I use mushrooms in a wide variety of dishes, but our favorite is as an appetizer: pan-fried using egg and Panko coating. We also like Sautéed Balsamic Mushrooms which we have more often because it is easier and faster to prepare and is also much healthier than the pan-fried mushrooms. I prefer the Cremini (baby bella) mushrooms for this dish.

See the cartoon from The New Yorker.

My favorite mushroom joke: A mushroom walks into a bar and the bartender says, "Get outta here, we don't serve your kind in here." The mushroom asks why and the bartender says, "Because you're a dirty filthy thing; look at that dirt all over you." The mushroom says, plaintively, "But I'm a FUN GUY!"