coquus

NAMA is the place to start, ther is a Hudson Valley Mycological society. Check out Wikipedia, there is a link.

Ohh, so sorry, Jean Luc is the dog in the picture, I'm confused? Rest in Peace Josie.

Though I agree with most everything else you said, what is the basis for this statement? A side note, toxic means lightly poisonous to me. There are three types of mushrooms edible, inedible, and poisonous. Pretty much every wild mushroom you find on the sides of roads, and in cities is toxic to a degree because of the environment. It may not be deadly poisonous but just not good for you. I'm no expert on the chemical constituants of mushies, but I don't pick from areas that aren't at least visibly devoid of trash and other signs of human activity except logging. And this is in the forest. So add this to your prerequisites for mushroom hunters. The list is a long one, if you don't feel comfortable in those shoes, don't wear them, find someone with the credentials and see if they will I.D. for you, or, *hrrmph*, let you go for a hunt with them. Or start going to forays.

Is the mystery of the washing of the rice now solved? If so, thanks helenjp.

Rest in Peace Jean-Luc: I just met three Bassets yesterday, they were very calm and friendly dogs. I am so anxious to read about what you are ripping from J.P.'s kitchen, I ripped something from him as well which I admitted to on MelissaH's blog last month. Is it the barn boards?

My first gig ever I worked for a guy said quaiz as in queer+mayonaise=quaiz everytime he wanted something chopped up in the robot coupe. I was very confused the first time he told me to quaise something up. The second time I got it. I finally figured out that he had bastardized the word Cuisinart into this strange quaise word, whatever he meant to accomplish by doing that I will probably never know. I would have said qwiz like the word, or queeze as in squeeze, but he chose quaze. Aside from another partner who mispronounced everything that was French, and he was head chef at a French Bistro, and he was an extremely good. It's almost as if he thought it was uncool to pronounce things properly.

And you're off and running very early. Hudson Foie Gras? Hey, I spelled it right (much thanks to you), that has to be nearby. The Catskills close? Jacques Pepin's home at Hunter would be a good picture. Truite Au Bleu while you are there?

Yep, three hours later and I am still alive. If there is poison I will kill it with Wild Turkey neat. ← Dude, you don't have anything to worry about. Cynic is talking about the smaller puffballs (<3"), though I think what he says holds true from my experience here. So there. Choice edible, I think not, easily recogizable, with no poisonous lookalikes, perhaps. It's a gateway wild mushroom, so be careful.

Cook them with boletes or truffles. I like a little marinaire type sauce on them as well, makes the puff more bearable. Sounds like you figured it out already though. These are giant puffballs, so there really is no mistaking them for other mushrooms that I know of here.

I'll have to check it out, sounds Japanese, I guess that's positive and it's close to the Gall-urea so my girl can get her shop on while I drink some chilled sake.

Now why you gotta go and be all superior, my money ain't good enough. You must have the same irrational dislike of post offices that I have.

So, when you gonna send me a satchel, I can only find the California kind anywhere. Seriously though, I am anxious to get my hands on the real thing direct, any suggestions.

Hey, in your picture, is that a gilled mushroom?

I don't know how good of an idea this is. Doesn't fat thaw faster than meat? But if it's large enough and stocked well with other frozen product and insulation it will be OK. I bought a second hand freezer/cooler for my car a while back and use it for food runs, they work inside too, but they run about three hundred for a small one, and you could probably wouldn't make your money back, but, on the other hand, it could be a good thing to have around at college.

5 This is definately easier than lots of things. I have made strudel for 125 people in 2 hours before, not including baking time, in an unfamiliar (soup) kitchen before with no help. I would say the perfect dark brown roux is a pretty high benchmark. I also have some personal favorites but I wouldn't talk about them on the internet.

You know, I don't think she suffers from a lack of inventiveness, more that she suffers from a lack of experience. And I'm sure she got the Micheal treatment a bit, you know he "expects more" from her. In the end, she played her cards right (simple, straightforward, and right mix of help), and had total confidence in victory, therefore she won. Virginia on the other hand, I don't think she ever gave herself enough credit to win. Plus, she should have trusted Gordon's judgement and picked Garrett before whoever she picked after Keith (because she wouldn't pick Sara).

← I sent some pictures to a bunch of mycologists I found online, and the best guess of the two who've replied so far is that it is Meripilus giganteus – The Black-Staining Polypore. It's edible, but better when young. ← It was in my book, I overlooked it leafing through. There it's called the same common name but it's Meripilus sumstinei, the pores bruise black when you touch them, or when it gets old. I tell you what, that one is quite a bit younger than the ones I've seen this year.

My mom is from there and my grandparents live there so I've been to visit a bit and can understand dialect. It *is* a beautiful city that is off the beaten track for many, at least US, tourists to Austria. I've been in the area of Graz you describe; I'm trying to remember which direction is north, but a block or so from the Jakominiplatz is the Opera House and the city's main farmer's market. Sausages and Eis, yum! (My mon did actually know Arnold when he was a kid; they were among a group of kids who went ice skating and swimming at a lake right outside Graz! My mom doesn't sound like him normally but she can do a mean Terminator impression much to people's amusement!) ← I would really like to see that! It's such an old city, it's really easy to get turned around, but, damn, I think it's Hauptplatz looking at the map. I don't remember a farmers market. I dunno it was about twelve years ago. I remember my favorite was Kazekreiner mit semmel und Sleisen or something meaning sliced. I also loved the other kind of Austrian restaurant, whatever they were called, a little bit fancier than Gasthaus, but also good solid fare. I remember green beans, potato salad, and pumpkin seed oil as well as great tiramisu and pizza margarita. I love that stuff so much, schlagobers.

And he probably gave her her "test" on the first ticket, so she wouldn't have to worry too much. J/K I have no idea, just really wouldn't have liked to be in her shoes where she probably doesn't know what overcooked pasta is, or crappy mashed potatoes, and has to stand up there and taste everything, "yeah, this is good?".

I'll second that advice, I don't have one and I should. But you should mostly stare at the ground and walk, the trees are helpful firstly if you know what you are out looking for such as the most obvious Chanterelles and Birch Trees, and secondly if you need some help with identification sometimes it helpful to know what kind of trees they are growing around or on, sometimes it's impossible to know as those trees are long dead. I found my first Ceasar's Amanita yesterday, and will be eating it shortly, it is the first Amanita I have found that I know is an edible.

shh! Seriously what are you trying to do, give more waistoids jobs as reality t.v. stars. Nah, I get your point, there was a whole lot they could have done differently, like the "tests" come immediately to mind, Keith was the only one who was really tested, since the other two must have known they would have to be on their toes after that. The whole way that was done sucked. Really the whole working the pass thing is contrived anyway so it's about all that really could be done to "test" their skill there anyway. I don't remember this episode in the last season to have a comparison.

Rachel, I didn't see the one we saw in there exactly, though I'm not sure, a couple looked similar, but not very, and they were all inedible, a good book for those of us in the Northeastern US and Canuckia (as far west as the Dakotas and as far south as Tennessee) is Mushrooms of Northeastern North America by Alan E. Bessette, Arleen R. Bessette, and David W. Fischer, it's the most expensive on that I found on Amazon as well at around fifty bucks, but worth every penny. This years North American Boletes, by the same authors minus Fischer, plus William C. Roody is a similar prize for a similar price but covers all of North America.

ludja, dich Steiriche? Sorry, that's all the German I know. They do have a funny way of talking funny there, just like the most famous Styrian, here in the US anyway, your governor Arnold. I have been to Graz, a very beautiful place, I have many fond memories of taking the subway to Jakominoplatz and walking north to the next platz were they have the sausages, then walking back and stopping for Eis (ice cream) at the place on the left. For a place that is relatively removed from everything Graz has some of the best cooks.

Yes, very true. I was just wondering as well what mushrooms do you refer to as Porcini? It's a simple question really, just that there are so many tasty Boletes out there, are they all legitimate Porcini, or just the Boletus Edulis, aka Cepe, Steinpilz or what have you. I have seen bags of "Porcini" that had many varieties of Boleti listed or as they say here in America, Boletes. Though I'm not sure, I think the Latin 101 student would disagree with the Anglicized pluralization.

Sorry Rachel, I saw loads of them on Monday, but they were full of bugs, so I left them. If stringcheese is around it might have an answer for you. I recently ran into the Old Man of the Woods, well met, and noticed some Hedgehogs (I think, the ones with the icicles) coming up in the familiar spot. The Chanterelles are giving their last hurrahs.